Friday, December 31, 2010

New Year Challenge

I challenged my Sunday School kids last week (as well as myself) and now I challenge you...

"Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator." -Colossians 3:9,10

If you have accepted Christ as your Savior, you have the new self. We are commanded to be "renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator". God is our creator, so how are you renewing yourself to be more like God? Do other's see Him in you? I challenge you to make a commitment to God that you are going to change in at least one area of your life to be more like the image of your creator.

Typing this out, reminds me of what I need to be doing as well. I hope you all enjoy your New Year's celebrations today and tomorrow, and that you have a safe, healthy, and God-glorifying 2011!

Monday, December 27, 2010

Christmas week

I trust you all had a wonderful Christmas remembering the true meaning. The last two weeks, I have been teaching here at home, and talking about the Christmas story. I have been impacted in a new way of what Jesus went through because of His love for me. God Himself loved me so much that He sent His only son, Jesus Christ, here. He didn't come down as a king, but humbled Himself to be born of a woman, in a messy way. He was not only born as a human, but was born in a cold, damp stable. I was even given better conditions then that. The thing that gets me the most though is that He knew His life was not going to be glorious, He knew from the start that His purpose in life was to die. He died for me, because He loved me--Wow! I encourage you to think through that.

Daniel picked me up from school on Friday and we started our long trip home. I am so thankful for the clear weather we had. The worst roads we had were in town before we left. We got in about 12:30 am. We had a lovely week together relaxing. We baked several cookies, and helped mom make other Christmas goodies. We were also able to make it to three of Sarah basketball games, which was especially nice for me! He surprised me with a Cricut! I have had lots of fun playing with that and trying to learn all of the amazing things it can do :) Sadly, I had to allow Daniel to go back to his family early Christmas Eve. After an eventful (no one was hurt) morning, he was getting on the road shortly after 7am. I so enjoyed his visit!

Mom and I had fun spending the day together on Christmas eve baking up a storm. I so miss the time in the kitchen while at college, so I enjoyed making a strawberry pie, homemade cranberry sauce, and a breakfast casserole.

We kept out Christmas day traditions by going to Grandpa and Grandma Hewitt's for breakfast. We had a very yummy breakfast and then a wonderful time of visiting with them. Thankful they are still here to celebrate Christmas with! About 1:30ish, we drove the quarter mile to go to Grandpa and Grandma Meigs'! We enjoyed opening gifts together, and I was excited to add to my teacher supply collection! We had an absolutely delicious lunch/dinner. After dinner we did stockings, watched Mom open her mother-daughter box (one of our favorite traditions as we try to guess each gift). We had dessert (my family loves to bake a little too much...we had five pies for seven people), and then headed for home. What a wonderful Christmas Day we had!

The 26th has always been our family day that we celebrate Christmas as an immediate family! For several years now, us kids have made breakfast for Mom and Dad. This Christmas was not an exception. We had a yummy breakfast, and then headed off to church. After church we enjoyed the lasagna Dad had made and opened gifts as a family. I would have to say the highlight of our family Christmas was the lap quilt my mom made me! It is a bright purple and teal with flannel! After evening service we watched The Ultimate Gift and opened stockings. We had an awesome day as a family!

Last night we got about 12 inches of snow, and the wind has been blowing like crazy. It has been fun to be home with Sarah and Mom and just enjoy being inside. Sarah and I carried firewood in this morning, so I expect to be inside the remainder of the day warm and cozy. I hope you all had a lovely Christmas remembering the true meaning of why we celebrate. I am home for roughly another two weeks before I go meet my niece. Have a wonderful day!

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Merry Christmas!

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Christmas break is coming quickly

I have officially started to pack!! Inside my cozy room with the heater on, snow falling outside, Christmas music, and thinking of home! Lord willing, I get to see Daniel and my family tomorrow--double happiness! Please be praying though for safety and the weather involved. Currently we are experiencing an intense blizzard, and Danville (where Daniel is coming from) was calling for an ice storm this morning. The snow and ice should not be falling from the skies tomorrow, but we are praying the roads are clear for safe travels home. I am over halfway through my exams, and the countdown is down to 1 day!!!

Monday, December 13, 2010

exam schedule

My SPS (Secret Prayer Sister) got me this adorable mug for Christmas, and it has been a great aid to the cold weather.

We are experiencing a blizzard, and are under winter storm warning until sometime on Wednesday. For those of you who have been asking and wondering what my exam schedule is...here you have it:

Wednesday:
-10am Western Civilization
-1pm General Psychology

Thursday:
-8am College Algebra
-1pm Apologetics 1-Origins

Friday:
-10am Old Testament Survey

imperfections

My mom had chapel today at our Christian School, and was teaching on doing our best no matter what. Tuesday is the Christmas Concert, and so she was trying to drive home the idea that they need to do their best. One aspect she focused in on is that we are all different. She brought in several apples to show that we may look different but are still the same. One apple had scabs and bruises on it to which she called "visual imperfections". One girl raised her hand boldly and asked, "kind of like you?" I am still laughing about this, and hope you too can find some humor in this. Gotta love what children say...

Sunday, December 12, 2010

it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

The Christmas season has arrived, and I am loving every minute of it. I brought lots of Christmas music back from break, and have enjoyed listening to it immensely. The countdown is coming to an end, as I am already past the one week mark. I can already feel the warmth of the fireplace at home, and the smell of goodness of the Christmas Season. My room here is quite festive with Christmas lights, a plate of Christmas cookies (from a dear woman at church), and peppermint pinwheel candies. Most of the time, I have my pine candle 'burning', but nothing beats the smell of a real Christmas tree mixed with pies baking. I don't think I have looked forward to Christmas this much since I was a child, and I don't really know why or what makes this one more exciting then the last, or the one before the last, but trust me, I am excited.

When I snap myself back into the reality of my life as a college student, I am thankful the Lord has gotten me thus far in the semester. I look back on several points of my semester, and have no idea how I survived, besides the fact that I serve an awesome God, and have many prayer warriors backing me up each day. This past week was one of those times, I don't know how I made it through. But God is good, and has carried me through on those eagles wings as He talks of. I have experienced the truth behind the verse that states "when I am weak, He is strong" (Becky paraphrase).

Wednesday night, I had the fun of being able to go over to the Peterson's home after church. Mr. Peterson teaches here at the school and was the staff advisor for the Mission's Conference Steering Committee. He and his family have taken the four of us students on the committee under his wing, and graciously welcomed us into their home. I had fun proclaiming the arrival of my sweet niece, and they all shared in my joy, which was much appreciated. While there, we enjoyed sweet conversation with some yummy Swedish treats (they used to be missionaries in Sweden). One of the things we had was a spiced drink that you drink in a tiny cup and put almonds and raisins in it--it was SO good! We also had some delicious Swedish cookies that reminded me a bit of a gingersnap, but they were very thin--again, very yummy! Once our bellies were full, we enjoyed sharing Christmas traditions, and I felt largely outnumbered as I was the only one who had not been on the mission field in the past. We left just in time to be back in our rooms by curfew, but what fun we all had.

Thursday was study day which means no classes. I didn't allow myself to sleep in too much, and got right to work on reading, projects, and other random assignments coming due. I worked studiously all day, and ended up having to pull late lights because of the pile of things due on Friday. My mind was so heavily into my work, that I completely forgot about devos, and after they had done all of their gift exchanging, they noticed I was missing, and sent Kelsey to come get me, haha.

I made it through Friday, which is totally a God thing. My day started with me freaking out because it was 7:19 instead of 6:00, which is what I had set my alarm for. I am proud to say I was still able to get ready in time! Several projects were handed in, and we wrapped the majority of our classes up in lecture. As soon as my classes were done, I raced back to my room to work on my Learning Center. If you don't know what a Learning Center is, let me just tell you it is a ton of work and time. Thankfully, I had the idea in my head and at about 11pm, I finished that up.

Saturday morning, I woke up and immediately got to some reading. I got to talk to my Dad on the phone for a bit, and skype with my niece. It was fun getting to see her in action. My Saturday was full, and I was thankfully able to start and finish my OT Survey notebook. My day crashed at about quarter of midnight when I was more then ready for sleep!

Today has been an interesting day weather wise. When I woke up, it was pouring rain, and at about 12:30, it started snowing. We are expected to get a bunch of snow between now and Wednesday. I was able to wrap up a few assignments, put some last minute touches on my Learning Center, and enjoy a cozy nap!

Now that you have heard about my last several days in extreme detail, let me give you a heads up about the next several days. We have classes Monday and Tuesday, but those will pretty much just be reviewing before finals. Final exams start Wednesday, and my last exam starts at 10am on Friday! The plan is for Daniel to drive up and pick me up, and then together we will head up to VT. Please be praying with us for good weather. I keep hearing rumors that we are to get a storm Thursday and Friday, but then others say it should be clear. We know the Lord has it in His hands, and are resting in that.

If there is any way I can pray for you this week, please let me know. I would be overjoyed to be able to pray for you in a specific way!

Saturday, December 11, 2010

introducing...Annette Grace Hewitt

Now, I understand I may be a bit bias, but I definitely have the most beautiful niece in the world. Annette Grace was born Wednesday afternoon at 4:34pm CST, weighing 7lbs 4oz, and 20 inches long. Look at these pics, and I know you will just have to agree that she is the most beautiful baby girl ever!
pictures come from Daniel and Tim

picture taken a little over 4 hours after birth.


Wednesday, December 8, 2010

proud aunt



I am just so excited, and can't help but tell absolutely everyone in my path, that I am now a very proud aunt of a beautiful baby girl, Annette Grace. I can't wait to meet this sweet little girl. Both Mom, and baby are healthy, and all three are looking forward to some night's rest.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Christmas decorations

This is the wing I am on. We did the theme of elves on strike.


The naughty list was the staff and faculty.





The sleigh was my contribution. I painted that thing with a teeny tiny brush. Might I say very tedious.

You can't read the mailbox "161 Andersons" to realize those small elves are Dr. and Mrs. A.


Bethany's Wing: Christmas in Gingerville!


Julianne's Wing: Christmas in Hawaii!



Thursday, December 2, 2010

story of my life

This is the story of my life this week, next week, and the following...

...staring at a computer screen trying to make sense of it...

...planning and executing a math lesson for fourth grade...

...printing projects and papers galore...

....sticky notes, which are my newfound best friend, and are all over my desk...

....but....

The countdown is 15 days!