Scary... ;)

Well you can tell it's Friday :) Let's see...so far...our parts supplier brought in 2 dozen donuts for everyone. Then my project manager brought me a carmel frappucino, and now our mechanic just offered to take me to lunch...umm...I can tell this is going to be a bad day for calories!! :) I also made double chocolate chip cookies last night for games & movies with the boys tonight! Wow...I am going to have to starve myself the rest of the weekend! haha...right, like that will happen.

Why am I surprised?

I am really excited about new possibilities and new friends. In the last couple weeks God has really shown me that He's in control, I don't need to worry about it. Life will play out beautifully. He can bring good friends into my life when I least expect it. It's been a long time since I've met someone new, that became a close friend, so I am enjoying this time of getting to know new people! Just when I think there isn't an area in my life really open to meeting new peoople :)
I was driving home from class last night and just had this overwhelming thankfulness for my car :) I don't know why or where it came from....but I LOVE my car and everytime I drive, I am reminded that it is a gift from God and he has provided for me yet again. Maybe its not your typical story where God is faithful, but for me it is something in my life that makes me happy and I love it!

Pictures!!

The new mustang! Kurt took the Sholtz girls for a ride :) Seriously...is she not the cutest thing you've ever seen?!

Lucy loves to lick her :)

She likes the floor...where she can kick and move around :)

Mondays!

wow! Today has been crazy! I am officially exhausted :) but I would gladly repeat it all! I left Boise Thursday night and flew into Spokane...where my brother and sister (in his new Mustang GT convertible) picked me up from the airport! The 3 of us, always excited to be together, drove to Kellogg, ID to my Uncle Kieth's house. Kieth & his wife Jackie just had a baby girl one month ago! We had so much fun! She is the most beautiful baby ever! And I am super impressed...she has never spit up! haha. That is my least favorite thing about babies, I can handle the dirty diapers, its the constant spit ups on everything that drives me crazy! So needless to say I was very happy not to have to carry around a burp rag the whole time :) But yeah she's perfect and it was so fun to see Kieth as a dad! I will upload pictures once I make it home! This day began with my 6am flight back to Boise, a full day at work and will end when this class finishes at 10 tonight! Makes for a long day! Back to the weekend...we spent Thur-Sunday morning in Kellogg and then drove over to Spokane Valley for Sunday to visit the Sholtz's. A few more of my favorite people! I can't believe how big the girls are now! Crazy that I remember Claire when she was but weeks old...and now she is almost 10! How can I be that old?! :)
It was nice to have a weekend with family, lifetime friends, and oh yes, NO homework! haha. Not that I didn't have any...just that I didn't do it :) well this week should prove to be busy catching up from everything that didn't get done, but I'm excited! It's amazing how rejuvenating and yet exhausting weekends such as these can be!
Well to end...today I am thankful for $29 Southwest tickets! And new friends :)

Insight...

I ran into this comment yesterday in a devotional, and feel like it goes along perfectly with what I was feeling. It's from Job 23:10, when Job is struggling he says "When I'm tried, I shall come forth as gold" And then the author says in that we should be reminded that 1) It takes fire to produce gold. 2) Only the refiner knows the degree of heat and amount of time required. 3) To rush the process is to produce something of lesser value.
So in the light of my frustration with trust, patience and control; I think this is a great way to think about it. I need to continue to have patience in order to wait and let God take care of His creation.

Patience

Does anyone else argue with themselves? It's like my head and my heart haven't quite figured out how to agree. I don't know...in my head I know that my life has a purpose. God has a reason for the situations I encounter, the people I meet, the stupid things I do, the regrets I live with, the dreams I have, the family I've been given...He has a reason. Everything is a part of my life, my world for some purpose. I believe that. And though it may be years before I ever see His reasoning behind this time in my life, I know it is there. The problem is moving that belief from my head to my heart. Or maybe its the other way around, but either way a part of me still struggles with that. I am a "little" bit of a control freak :) haha...ok, I AM a control freak. Basically I just like to know what's going on, when it's going on, and how it affects me! Well that part of my personality has a really hard time with this whole trust issue. I always try and take it back, I feel like its up to me to worry about what happens in my life. But yet at the same time I love that I'm not in charge! I don't want to be the one responsible for figuring out my life. I know that my life will have much more of an impact when I trust God to take care of me and lead me. If it was all up to me, I would most definitely screw it up!
I guess today I'm just praying for patience.
That God will be patient with me as I work to fully and completely release the control I want to have on my life.
That the people I love will be patient with me as I make mistakes, and let them down.
That I will be patient with myself, as I struggle.
That I will patiently (and peacefully) wait for God to reveal His plan, in His time.

Graduation?

How has it been an entire year? I don't understand! I am officially sad that my life has become that of every other adult :) No longer am I a recent graduate...I am now just an alum. And while I never thought getting old was something that bothered me, it is just a little strange. I seriously can't believe I've been done for a year. And to think next year at this time it will be me again. I will be sitting through those 5 hours of ceremonies @ the Idaho Center for NNU's graduation. Wow...crazy! I am excited about graduating with my "class"...at least all my friends. It is the class that I started NNU with, the class that has been through the same things I have, gone through the wonderful times here in Nampa and at the same time faced those horrid thoughts about actually living in Nampa! It is the class that showed me how great God is, the power of a dorm wing, the beauty of a Godly woman, the faithfulness of prayer, the importance of friends, and the joys & sorrows of "growing up" far from home. This class is my family. This class has taught me so much. And though my diploma disagrees, I will always consider myself a part of the class of 2009.