Good News and Bad News

So... good news - there is no longer an 18 in spot on the wall
Bad news - there is not a 4ft. by 4ft spot on the wall
The magic erasers don't really take the spot away, just kinda spread it out AND it definitely took some paint off the wall. Looks like we'll be painting soon. Not very soon, but soon. Dumb.

So on another note. I'm watching the news and to be honest, I think this whole poor economy situation is good for some people. The people who are most affected and most upset are the people whose lives are surrounded by money and people who get their security and identity from money. Maybe this is a good wake up call to show them that there is life apart from having a huge excess of money as your security and that losing some money isn't the end of the world. Maybe it's a good thing for them to lose their life as they know it so that they can take realize the other assets they have in life other than wealth and materialism. I don't like the raise in prices of everything but my mom always says, "God didn't die yesterday you know." And God promises to supply all the needs of those who love and trust Him. It may not be a brand new X-Box or a closet full of designer jeans and shoes, but just like He gave manna in the wilderness, He'll give us food and shelter for today. Maybe it's time that people realize their false sense of security when they rely on their stocks and safety deposit boxes for security and realize that only God brings true security. It could be a revival in America.

Big Black Spot

Ok, so I love my husband dearly! ?He is amazing. But one thing that is very different between us is his desire to change things in the apartment ALL the time. For the past couple weeks he's been talking about moving the office around but I would always kinda just avoid the subject, so it never really got decided. Finally last week he told me he was moving the office around, so after I told him that I think it is fine where it is, but he can move it if he wants to, he moved it all around. Then he started talking about moving the living room around. Our living room consists of our TV on the TV stand, a couch, the poof which is huge, and 2 end tables. Not much... I told him that I think how we have it now allows for the amount of space we have to be used in a good way and that it makes the room look as big as it can. But he persisted in wanting to move the living room around, so finally this past Saturday night (around midnight) he did.

Well, when he moved the TV, there was this huge dark black spot on the wall behind where the TV has sat since we moved in. I don't know what it is, but it was not good. I figured a little 409 spray would take it off no problem. Not exactly. It took off the top layer, but a big black spot on a white wall does not go away easily. I took every cleaner I had in the house to the spot, but nothing worked, not even straight bleach. It looks better than it did, but now since I've scrubbed and scrubbed, the spot is now a 18 inch gray circle where my circular motions from scrubbing are very obvious.

It drives me crazy. When I walk in the door, its the first thing I see. When I'm sitting on the couch doing homework, I can't concentrate cuz the ugly spot is staring at me from across the room. It's horrible. So, today I got some magic erasers but was warned that it might take off the paint along with the spot (just great). So I used the eraser on a small area in the middle of the spot and it took the spot off, but now I'm waiting for it to dry and check if the paint is ok. Please let the paint be ok. I don't have time to paint the room right now, cuz you know that if you paint one wall the others will look dingy so you have to paint them all.

So last night, not even a week after moving the office around already, my amazing husband decides he wants to move it around again....so I gave up trying to make him forget about the idea and told him he can do what he wants. As long as I can get this stupid spot off the wall in the living room, I'll be ok.

I have to go check out my testing area...

Semester Blues

So this semester has been one of the hardest for me yet... not hard as in the work is hard, this is actually one of my easiest semesters in a while as far as the workload goes, but it's just that I've finished all my Youth and Psyc classes, so this semester is just the last classes that I need to finish in December. I'm taking Bible 350 which is good and I'm learning a lot of practical and helpful ways to study the Bible but a lot of it I've already learned. I like the homework. You can't really complain about homework when the homework is studying the Bible, ya know. Other than that, I'm taking two Literature classes, a computer class, and a church min. class. I enjoy the church min. class a lot, but the other ones I just want to get through and move on to my Masters classes. Even though this semester is kind of boring compared to normal, it's flying by, so I really can't complain.

Scaremare is coming up in October. I'm working all 3 Fridays and Saturdays. I'm pretty pumped to work at it again this year. It's such a rush! Last year I worked in the preaching tents which was intense, definitely out of my comfort zone, but I learned SO much! This year I'm actually in a room which I'm sure will be sweet! I need some excitement right now and what better way to get excitement than to scare a few thousand people out of their minds for a few weekends!

Uh oh, I just realized that I just finished off the sweet tea and don't have another gallon ready yet. This is not a good thing in our house! Better go make some more or else tomorrow could be a really long day! Bye for now.

Everyday Irony

It's not even 11:30 am yet and irony has already taken place. Last night I had a dream that I don't really remember but my friends house was in it, and I woke up thinking about my friend and realized I haven't talked to her for a while so I made a mental note to myself that I should send her a quick message on facebook sometime this morning. Before I got the chance, I logged on to facebook and she had sent me a message. It was crazy!

Then, just a few minutes ago, I was getting ready to read for my Literature class and I was recalling a conversation that I had with a friend over the weekend about how being off campus is weird at first but then you find it nice because it is quiet and you are able to get a lot more work done. So I kind of agreed with our conversation in my mind again and was thinking how nice and quiet it was and how it was raining outside and was a good day to get some hardcore Literature reading done. So right when I sat down to read I heard something, and yes, it was my neighbors above me, playing Christmas music loudly. Now, I understand how Christmas music is good music for the most part, but not anytime before Thanksgiving should it be played! Not only could I hear the music, but I could hear someone singing along to it too...just perfect for reading already boring Literature that takes all my concentration in order to understand and remember what I'm reading for the test. Thankfully since starting this post the music and the singing along has stopped. I think that this is going to be an interesting day.

Time to Fly

I feel like I have been surrounded by books and my laptop for far too long. I'm in the mood to do something different; something crazy. I'm getting bored of the same routines and school work. I love school, but I've finished all my Youth and Psyc classes, so now it's hard to get excited about a 200 level Literature or Computer class in the same way that I am passioned for a Youth class. I think I want to go skydiving or something. I've always wanted to do that. I wish it weren't so dang expensive. I need some type of adrenaline rush that blows my mind. I think its always good to get a good mind blowing every now and then, in one way or another.

I'm looking forward to next semester - starting my counseling degree. I've heard that the LU counseling program is pretty intense. I hope it is. I still haven't decided what degree to do. I've narrowed it down to 2. Still gotta go talk to Dr. Barker. He's an awesome professor, and just a real personable guy. I love it when professors genuinely care about their students and want to get to know them. That's one of the first things I noticed when I came to Liberty. Sadly, because the almighty dollar is once again a greater motivator then excellence, classes are getting grouped together in larger classrooms causing it to be impossible to get the interaction and personality of a small class where friends and relationships are made between students and professor and among the students with each other. Ironically, money doesn't always pay.

Well...I just got my new books for this semester. Time to start classes. I have an assignment to complete today, so I'm glad my books finally got here.

Sad

Summer is over. Sad. It went by too fast! Classes start tomorrow, but my summer class also ends tomorrow... big break huh? I still haven't found a job other than my work study job at Jubilee downtown. I have all morning open and need to find a job to get some more money for bills and stuff. I got hired for a job with the Youth Office, which would have been awesome, but I can't have two student jobs in different departments, so I couldn't do it. Now I'm just praying that something else will come up. I know that God has a perfect job for me... all in His timing!

We've been going to this new church that we just found out about, Blue Ridge and we really really like it! We wish we would have found out about it over a year ago! The past few weeks we've gone was a series through Galatians and it was put in a way that I've never heard it before. It was really good and I got a lot out of it! Like I said, we're sad that we are just now learning about this great church. No church is perfect, but from what we've seen so far, it appears to have a really good balance which is something that we are looking for in a church.

The best thing about this summer was me not having to get off work at 6 when Rob gets off at 4:30. I felt like we spent so much more time together because we had an extra hour and a half at night to be together. Since the public schools don't start until next week, this will be our last week of early nights. Getting home around 6:30 each night, then making dinner, then by the time we've worked on homework, it's time to get back to bed again, and the whole night just passes by so fast. I'm hoping to be more disciplined this year since I don't have such a heavy load like last year (esp. last semester) and can get most of my work done during the daytimes when I'm not working. Then we'll have more time to be together. I like that plan!

God is awesome. I was looking for a Bible passage that I could study that I could really apply to my life right now, and last night I kinda just stumbled onto the book of Titus ("stumbled" meaning led by the Spirit). It's 3 chapters that are perfect for some things that are going on in my life, and I'm excited to see what God has to teach me as I take this book slowly and go through it deeply.

Ok, well I have some things to get done before bed. Tomorrow is going to be a crazy day. Bye for now.

Bekah

Summer is ending...already.

This summer has gone by SO fast! I can't believe that it is already the first of August. Time has flown by. I feel like I just finished my spring classes, and now I'm getting ready to start my fall classes. This is my last semester of undergrad! It's so different than highschool. I was sad to finish highschool because I knew leaving my friends would be hard when I came to college. Now, my friends have mostly all graduated and left me, and now I can't wait to finish my undergrad and move on. Some friends are still here, but most of my youth min. friends are done and gone. I am pretty excited for my friends who will be here this fall to get back from home. It's always kind of lonely here in the summer, but at the same time, really nice because its not a battle to find a parking spot on campus and not as crazy there.





I still don't know what masters degree I'm going to do. I need to meet with Dr. Barker this next week if he's in. I want to do the best thing. It's tempting to do the shorter one and then just go on to the doctorate program, but I want to get the degree that's going to be the most beneficial to what God has called me to do. This is the battle that has been in my mind for a long time. What to do?





I had a dream last night that Rob and I had a baby boy, and then somehow I named it without Rob being there, but then forgot what I named it. It was something with Matthew as the middle name, which is my brothers name. I couldn't find the birth certificate and so whenever people would ask me his name I had to tell them that I forgot it. haha. And then Rob and I were living in Warroad (haha. definitely not reality) and we decided to move, and had to tell everyone goodbye and it was sad. Then me and my mom were in Australia looking for a moving truck. haha. I always have crazy dreams.

I took Rob to a WWE Raw wrestling match for his birthday, it was crazy. We really had a lot of fun!!




<--- Here we are in our wrestling shirts. They have different people on them, but it's the closest we've ever been to wearing matching shirts. I hate when couples think it's cute to wear matching shirts, cuz its not, unless its for a reason, then that's different. But this was a big step for us. haha. JK.

I'm glad that it's Friday. Next week I have to find a job and duplicate my huge youth project to give Doc Brown a copy for him to use as an example in his next classes. I miss youth classes already. People always think that the youth degree is easy, but it's not. One of the projects I wrote is 350 pages long and another is about 200-250 pages long. I don't know of any other majors who have projects that are this long or to this intensity. The difference is that in a youth major, we spend so much time and discussion talking and planning how to deal with changing the lives of teenagers. It's something that if you are called to do it, it is exciting to learn and talk about... it's not just another class that you have to go to. Projects aren't just for a passing grade, but for use in the future in helping a teenager develop a mature relationship with God. A book isn't read just for an assignment, but for knowledge in something that we will have to face later on. I have to admit, I can't wait to finish school and get into what I've been training for for years.

Ok, well, I have sociology to read for. By the way, I love the TV show Monk. Whoever thought up all this stuff is either OCD and comes up with these insane things from experience or else is a creative genius! Gotta love it. Bye for now.