Engaged - Incomplete

Friday night I got a text from my very good friend, Pam: "I'M ENGAGED!!!! :-)" She (and I) knew it would happen sometime this year, but she (we) was so surprised by this proposal. Alex flew out to Boston to surprise her and successfully came back engaged. They are a wonderful couple with God at the very center of their relationship. I love them both so much and I couldn't be happier for them.

Despite an overabundance of joy for my friends, I must confess that I did have to fight some feelings of being inadequate and incomplete in my singleness. I know these thoughts are lies; I have been made complete by Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross and I am accepted and loved by God (which I had to continually remind myself of this weekend). Nevertheless, these horrible thoughts entered my mind and I have been struggling to overcome them. It doesn't help that the world and everything around me tells me that I am incomplete as a single woman. But I am pushing through it and am trying to focus on the great things that God is doing around and through me; not to mention how happy I am for the soon to be Pam and Alex Vaughn.

Ring Around The Rosey

Life is in full swing right now and I don't really know where the time has gone... It's almost March and it's almost time for Spring Breaks... School has been going well so far. It's interesting shifting from taking pretty heavy Math loads to taking heavy everything else loads. Studying and learning stuff for Math classes is a totally different process for me then studying and learning stuff for any other class. It is nice to be tutoring though and keeping up with my upper division math memory. I do like my classes and I am looking forward to start doing my classroom observation hours (which I will start next week and try to complete within a span of about 3-4 weeks...).

When I am not at school, I have been doing a lot of babysitting which is a little surprising. The last two weeks in a row, I have spent the day with my 9 month old cousin Noah while his parents were at work. He's super cute and a fun age to play with.

I have also been watching my cousin's 3 month old baby Hailey. It's fun to see how much a couple of months can make in an infant. Hailey is at that stage where all she does is eat, sleep, smile, and then sleep some more.

But she is too cute so I can't really complain. Monday my parents were watching Hailey and her older brother Jameson so I took off school early to go hang out with them as well. Jameson LOVES his Uncle David so much and follows him around everywhere.

Whatever Uncle David does, he does. Whatever Uncle David eats, he wants to eat...

By the end of the day they both were so tired, they passed out on the floor. The kid is just too cute and it makes me very excited to see my parents as grandparents (excited... but I'm in no rush...)

It's been a fun break from school and work and I hope to have the opportunity to continue watching these kids.

Applied

Well, it's been awhile since I have updated this here blog of mine. I guess I've just been preoccupied with the new semester and trying to figure out all of my observation stuff (or I just haven't really had anything interesting to say...).

I had to take a minute though to let everyone know that yesterday I turned in my application to graduate Fall 2011. I am very excited at the prospect of finally graduating and am praying that there are no surprises in the courses that I think I have to take next semester.

As far as this semester goes, I am settling in nicely. 18 units is kinda a lot and I have kinda had a rough time getting myself motivated to do stuff (standard), but it's week 4 and it's time to get my butt in gear. After all, I'll be graduating soon...

Snow Day

How did I welcome in the New Year, you ask? Hanging out with my good buddies Grace, Beau, and Milo... Yes, they are animals. I was house-sitting and under the weather so I went to bed early. The New year is going well though and I am very excited about the things that are on the agenda for this year.

First: I am committed and prayerfully looking forward to another summer at Forest Home Ojai Valley. God has blessed me so much with the amazing opportunity to continue working there these last few months and I can't wait to see what He has in store for me through guest groups and summer program.

Second: I have two semesters left before getting my Bachelors. There have been many times in the last several years that I thought this would never happen, but to actually know that (if everything goes well) at the end of this year, I will be a college graduate.

Third: I need to start preparing for my CSET Math exam which I am looking to take in March. If that goes well, then I will be applying to a Credential program for next Spring.

I know it doesn't look like much, but this is kinda a big year for me. I am so thankful for getting to this point and I am very much looking forward to what God has in store for me this year...

To start, I am getting ready to head up to Mill Creek for a little Rec staff bonding time! I can't wait! Time for some snow!!!

I'm Good...

COMP 447 SOCIETAL ISSUES IN COMPUTING 3.00 Letter Grade B 9.000 ENGL 120 AMERICAN LITERATURE I 3.00 Letter Grade B+ 9.900 MATH 202 BIOSTATISTICS 3.00 Letter Grade A 12.000 MATH 208 MODERN MATH FOR ELEMENTARY TCH 3.00 Letter Grade A+ 12.000 MATH 240 LINEAR ALGEBRA 3.00 Letter Grade A 12.000 MATH 399 MODERN TOOLS IN MATH 1.00 Credit / No Credit CR MATH 399 MODERN TOOLS IN MATH 1.00 Credit / No Credit CR

As much as I complain about it... and as much as I dislike it... I'm kinda good at it...

Merry Christmas

I have always struggled with Christmas time... I can't stand the commercialization of Christmas... The hustle and bustle drives me nuts and people have always called me a Grinch or Scrooge because of it... It usually starts with the early playing of Christmas music that just pushes me over the edge. But this year, I really asked God to kinda work on my heart about the whole hatred towards Christmas thing and I really can say that I am happy that it's Christmas time. I am looking forward to spending time with my family and friends. And I have finally found some Christmas music that I not only can stand, but really like!

So in honor of Christmas time, here are some of my new favorite Christmas arrangements. Enjoy!

Erin McCarley - "Little Drummer Boy"

(Also see Katie Herzig's version of "Silent Night")

Seabird - "Joy to the World"

(Seabird's "Over the Hills and Everywhere" Christmas album is fantastic... So different from what anyone is used to, but so beautiful!)

Also look for Matthew Perryman Jones' "O Holy Night," Jill Phillips' "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear," and Many Mann's "O Come All Ye Faithful" on the "Your King Has Come" album. Absolutely beautiful!

Ingrid Michaelson - "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"

Record Holder

I've been pretty quiet about this, but I thought it was time to share. For the past several months I have been training with my dad to compete in Powerlifting competitions. This last Saturday was my first competition in Powerlifting and I have to say it was really fun! It was neat to see all the different guys participating in the competition. A lot of the older guys had great stories about powerlifting back in the day and it was funny to see them react to the young bucks who "know it all." For being such an individual event, the camaraderie that I experienced was truly a blast!

So... How did I do? Well, I won 1st for my class (there was no one else in my class...) and got invited to work out with Scott Mendelson and his family at his gym in Chatsworth. Who is Scott Mendelson you ask? Well he just so happens to be someone who holds the record for both raw and assisted bench press. How much has we benched? Well, raw (without a bench shirt), he holds the record of 715lbs and with the bench shirt, he holds the record of benching 1009 lbs! Needless to say, he is a strong dude and he invited my dad to come lift with him (his wife invited me... that's why I say I was invited... He didn't technically invite me, but his wife did which I still consider an invite). Along with 1st place in my class and an invite to work out with the Mendelson family, I established an American Record for raw bench (there was no record so anything I benched would have set it...). More importantly, I set a personal best of 133lbs (I have been stuck at 125lbs for a while so I was super pumped to break through that). The best part of the whole day, I have to say is spending time with my dad and seeing him light up as he chatted with the other athletes. I am super excited for the next meet, but I have a lot of work to do before then... For now, I guess I can add American Record holder to my list of accomplishments...

Speaking Of...

Speaking of blogs, here is a funny one on this week's episode of The Fashion Show Ultimate Collection on Bravo featuring Ojai native Dominique Pearl David. It's fun watching someone you know on a national television show. It's also really funny to see how networks spin things to make shows more interesting. The show is basically a really bad version of Project Runway, but it's fun seeing someone you know and rooting for them even though it's already been filmed. If you haven't turned into this show, you should. Even though it's a bad knock-off version of Project Runway, it's pretty entertaining to see what Calvin is going to say next... "Oh here go hell come!"

Avalanche of Gossip?

Yesterday I submitted a 6 page research paper on blogs and I thought it only appropriate to write a blog entry on it. The prompt was similar to any research project; tell the history of blogs, where did they come from? Compare blogs to Usenet... The overall direction of the paper was to determine whether blogs illustrate empowerment and increased availability of information, or do they illustrate the avalanche of gossip and inaccurate or useless information on the Net? Considering that I have had this blog for the last 4 years, I thought that this was the best topic to choose for my research paper.

Blogs first came onto the scene in the mid 1990s with OpenDiary and later followed by LiveJournal and our beloved Blogger (later bought by Google in 2003). Usenet, for those of you who don't know is an online discussion program where users can submit articles and respond/post new articles in response to those articles. Basically it's a very early form of blogging that gives way less control to the users but allows for some great discussions on a global scale. Blogs are useful in all areas of life, from classrooms to large companies to a mini journal of the life of a 23 year old, 7 year plan college student. There are thousands of inaccurate blogs out there and yes, many quickly become "an avalanche of gossip" but I truly believe that as long as people have something to say, blogs with exist and thrive (well, until something better comes out...).

I Might Be Smart...

This semester has been a tough one for sure. Not necessarily in the content of the classes I have, but more in my daily schedule. Being at school Monday-Thursday from 9am-6pm is a big commitment and I don't think I realized that until it was too late.

But anyway, I only have 3 more weeks of this semester and then finals (two and a half really because the week of Thanksgiving is only a half week). I just got back my last two midterms of the semester (in math classes, the professors usually do two midterms and the final... so they really should be called tri-terms but midterms is usually what we call them...) and I was pleasantly surprised with the results. Like I said, the semester has been kinda hard and I have started to fall back into old bad habits of ditching class (especially my two classes that are from 4:30-5:45pm), but to be fair, my Biostats class only involves me sitting on facebook not paying attention (just like the rest of the class) and my Modern Math 4 Elementary Children is absolutely ridiculous! So I ditch a class here and there and before I realize it, I haven't been to class in two weeks and I have a midterm the next week (which is what happened in my Biostats class). I studied like crazy all week long to prepare for the test, and I ended up getting 100%. Holy crap, I might be smart! I also had a midterm in my Linear Algebra class which is my hardest class this semester and I got the highest grade in the class! I might be smart!

I get to register for next semester on the 29th and I have a schedule that I am shooting for. It'll be another 18 units this semester and then 15 the following semester, but then I should be done. It's nice to see the light at the end of the tunnel...