i will climb this mountain with my hands wide open

this weekend was a blessing. i am beyond thankful for friends that get me and my heart and push me towards our maker. genuine friendships. the kind that make me laugh because they are so good. and healthy.

friday night we went to the uptown normal theater to see white christmas (my first time). i went in with high expectations. boy, the movie definitely exceeded my expectations! it was brilliant.

saturday morning i met kails and rach at the coffee hound to make new year's eve plans. we searched bloomington for some rockin' times (obvi). didn't find much. so we settled on dressing up and doing dinner at biaggi's and then watching the ball drop. we have already made a pinterest board with drink, food, and decorating ideas.

after church on sunday, i went over to my small group leaders' house to do some baking. i love steve and laura and their two little boys. they are such a fun family that loves college students. we made buckeyes, kiss cookies, and some delicious german dessert that i cannot pronounce. laura sent me home with a plate full of goodies. so much for trying to eat healthy and work out ;)

i stopped by our medieval looking hotel in bloomington to visit my friend chris at her jewelry party. i picked up a hair pin and earrings for myself, a necklace for my mom, and a necklace for my advisor. all of the proceeds went to a pitbull rescue here in town. chris has three pitbulls and they are the sweetest things i ever did meet.

i finished off the night at the "apostolic abode" aka dakota, mark, kyle, and d's house. we worshipped and prayed. it was so powerful.

my favorite words of the night:

"i'm a lover of your presence and that's all i wanna be."




"we have come to give you glory. you're welcome in this place."



"i give it all to you, god. trusting that you'll make something beautiful out of me."



"i will climb this mountain with my hands wide open."

scarf swap

friends,

i still stink at this blogging thing. i told you i was going to update you on the rest of thanksgiving break..and i never did. well, the rest was filled with family and friends. just the way it is supposed to be. i'm very much looking forward to heading home soon. i'm looking forward to moseying the aisles of the champaign library, snuggling with the pup, having a fire in the fireplace, and spending time with my girlfriends that are usually miles and miles away.

so.
i follow this really great blog. i stumbled upon libby's blog through young life connections. it has been an incredible read for me for a while now. she is a young mama that writes about her daily life and how she does her best to keep Jesus in the center of it. she began her blog when she was diagnosed with cancer. she is such a strong woman and is now cancer free. praise Him!

she is really great about posting about blogs and lots of fun stores that she almost always has a great coupon code for. a couple of months ago i was introduced to crystal's blog via libby's. crystal is a blogger and now an owner of an online store. i love everything in her store. please, check it out!

so crystal invited her readers to participate in a scarf swap. basically, she pairs two people up to swap new scarves and to make a new connection. cool, right?!

crystal paired me up with my sweet new friend, sarah. sarah is a student at the university of cincinnati and is majoring in music history, minoring in german, and receiving a certificate in german american studies. i know you agree, she's a pretty cool girl!

so we chatted..and i sent her info about what i like and she sent info about what she likes. we both agreed that we loved infinity scarves. she wanted a plain colored, potentially monogrammed scarf. and i wanted either a chevron or chunky scarf.

so, the swap began! my scarf came very quickly. hers, however, took a very long time to get to her. i ordered hers through an etsy shop and it got lost in the mail. thankfully, she received hers after i contacted the store.

so.
this is sarah! and the scarf i ordered for her. she's fun. and looks great in her scarf!



and this is mine! it is gray and very warm. and lovely.

she also sent me some goodies with my scarf. (not pictured: the kleenex she sent me. all gone. she must have known i would get sick this week)



i'm so thankful for the opportunity to make a new connection and get an awesome scarf! make sure to check out libby, crystal, and sarah's blogs!

can't wait to see these folks next week!

thanksgiving break part 1

friends,

it is thanksgiving break. hallelujah. so far, it has been a pretty great break. mom had her second craft show on saturday and sunday and she did great. i love seeing people that are so excited about her booth and that they are excited about all of her hard work. and i love watching them haul away their purchases. it's fun to think about all of the furniture and decorations that people have all of over their homes that she has made over the past several years. i will upload some pictures of both of the shows in my thanksgiving part 2 post.

after her show on sunday, i rode down to carbondale with jenna because she doesn't get a week for thanksgiving like i do. we made dinner with her friends from school and i went to bed. i spent all of monday working on my grad school application to IU. it was such a relief to finally send in a complete application. tuesday night we had dinner again with her friends and i even got to watch the movie you again. if you have never seen it..you should. it's a hoot. as for yesterday..jenna took me to the lab to do an ultrasound on me. she likes the extra practice. she showed me my aorta, kidneys, spleen, liver, stomach, spleen, pancreas, and gall bladder. after that, we packed up and headed for home. last night i got to spend a little bit of time with jenn, andrea, and francis. i love them a whole lot. i thank the Lord that he has continued to bless our friendships. i cannot even believe that we are seniors in college.

as for today..i went to the dentist (probably my least favorite place) and now i am at espresso working on my U of I application. tonight i will get to see my townie friends some more.

tomorrow we will hit the road to visit my mom's side of the family in missouri. we will spend thanksgiving, friday, and part of saturday there. i will get to meet my cousin's new baby girl. i'm a sucker for babies. i'm also looking forward to playing with the kiddos, eating turkey, doing a little shopping, and hopefully seeing the new twilight movie.

found this yesterday. i think it's darn near perfect. so thankful for all the leaders in my life.
  
                                                                     

i've found letting go of what you hold leaves your heart and arms a little more wide open.

Lover of my soul, Healer of my scars

fall is a brewing.

so, after eating my weight in candy at my internship on wednesday..i decided to celebrate halloween by volunteering at the fall festival at clearview during the nighttime. i rummaged through my random costume bag to find my overalls, braided my hair, found a plaid shirt, and tied a bandana on my head. what a great excuse to pull out my overalls.

a cowgirl and her barn kitties.

another one of my kitties.

who knew coloring under the table could be such a hit?

aj and jayme set up the photo booth that was at their wedding.

i have the cutest friends.

they are silly just like me. 

j makes a great looking katniss. m makes a terrifying nurse. r makes pirates look like models.

this weekend:

1. shel comes to play at ISU tonight. i can't wait to squeeze her.
2. soph is coming into town to have dinner, see shel, and have a sleepover.
3. mom's first craft show is this weekend. can't wait to walk around to look at all the jewelery, quilts, and outfits for the outdoor geese that people have on their porches.
4. studying for the GRE..not going to be my favorite part

5. studying for the GRE at kopi..can't wait for my pint glass full of warm goodness and spreading my thing out on their wooden tables. i love that coffeeshop.