East Village Country Christmas

I am a huge fan of the East Village. It is the only place I have lived during my college life and I like that. The East Village consists of my dorm (Beckett), South Hall, and the Lodges. We are located on the...you guessed it..east side of the campus. Each year we celebrate the lighting of the East Village Christmas tree. Here is my post about it from Freshmen year. It is crazy and awesome how much has changed since then. The fact that the first year when I went to the tree lighting I knew a handful of people and now so many of the people that mean the most to me were standing around that tree. My old staff, my current staff, my old residents, my current residents, other sweet friends. My heart was full. K. Now it can be Christmas time.

How did this happen?

I have no clue how it is already Thanksgiving break. But it is. So I have had to face that and move right along into it. This break is a little frightening...mostly because I go back to school and get on top of a really steep slide and can hardly find traction as a slide down to finals and the end of the semester. It will be vital that I remember to laugh and not take myself too seriously.

Anyways. Here are some break highlights so far.

I ran the 4 mile Fox and Turkey race with my dad and brothers. This was my third year. My race numer was 1229 and I always like to find a verse that goes along with that number to meditate on while I run. This year I picked Hebrews 12:29 which is pictured above. It was such a beautiful section of scripture to think about and what a perk that it talked about thankfulness!

I've gotten to hang out with this little guy! His giggle is unreal! He has such a big vocabulary now. It's hard to just not constantly hug and kiss him. Seriously. Look at that face. I am one lucky aunt. I feel for all those aunts with ugly nephews. It must be a hard job.

So maybe I got a little crafty. My black friday experience was filled with repurposing. I went to goodwill and found some incredible things. Two of those would be 1/4 zips which are just my heart song. The pj pants pictured above were a gift from my life coach and mentor Susy. She had bought them at goodwill and they were too short for her so she regifted them to me. They were also too short for me but I was not going to let that stop me from loving them. They are so adorable. Randomly this summer I saw a tutorial of how to make an infinity scarf. I then saw those pants and wondered if I could make it happen with them. I then googled 'how to make an infinity scarf out of pj pants'. Don't worry there is a tutorial for that. So I took it upon myself to tackle it over this break. I had wonderful support and encouragement from my mom and sister-in-law during the process. I was doing laundry, drinking tea, and sewing. Talk about being domestic. I am so in love with the result! 

My Version of Psalm 136

The other night in Covenant we created our own versions of Psalm 136. It was such a great exercise to challenge us to think about things that we are thankful for that are more than surface level or the classic answers. So here is mine:

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.

His love endures forever

Give thanks to the God of Gods.

His love endures forever

Give thanks to the Lord of Lords

His love endures forever

To Him who is faithful in placing me in the right place and will continue to do so.

His love endures forever

To Him who gives me strength for each day and does not withhold.

His love endures forever

To Him who is sovereign over our government

His love endures forever

To Him who provides in abundance

His love endures forever

To Him who is made great in my weaknesses

His love endures forever

To Him who places people in my life as beautiful gifts for the exact moment I need them.

His love endures forever

To Him who wakes me up each morning and meets me in new ways all day long.

His love endures forever

To Him who works in ways that I can not fathom

His love endures forever

To Him who does not let my past define my future and is abounding in grace

His love endures forever

To Him who gives me beautiful times of rest and laughter

His love endures forever

To Him who IS and gives me peace in the waves

His love endures forever

To Him who teaches me to trust an step out to Him.

His love endures forever

To Him who sent His son and gave us the holy spirit to teach me how to love.

His love endures forever

To Him who draws me near to abide in Him.

His love endures forever.

Give thanks to the God of Heaven.

His love endures forever. 

Yes please

This weekend has been exactly what I have needed in so many ways. This was the first weekend this semester that I did not have any major events planned. Originally my family had planned to come visit for family weekend but we decided that it did not make the most sense for that to happen and it was a really good thing! So with a whole weekend wide open what did I do?

Friday afternoon started with lunch with Emily and an afternoon nap with Steph. I got coffee and sat and watched music videos with Noelle for a little bit. After that Ben and I went to Matter Park and walked around. It was beautiful. We then drove around parts of Marion we had never seen and ended up finding a Frank Lloyd Wright house. Who knew?! We went out to dinner and then hung out at his house for a little bit. Then Emily and I went to go see Pitch Perfect. We drove to Muncie to see it which made it feel more like an event. That way we got more car/jam time. We loved the movie. The theater was super sketchy though. Like we were the only car in the parking lot after our movie got out and I had to ask them to turn up the volume. But its fine.

Saturday I woke up around 9:30, got my run in, and talked with Katie. That afternoon I sat in the Beckett Hall porch and drank cider and did work but also read for pleasure (I like a healthy dose of both). I went out to dinner with Katie and her family. It was so great to spend time with them.

Today (Sunday) we went to church, and then impulsively decided to go out to lunch at Casa Brava. And now our staff is sitting and doing hw in the conference room. I LOVE homework in community. Yes. Currently I am blogging. But I am doing homework as well.

Sometimes...

Sometimes they rip down your dream house on the week of your birthday.
Sometimes you can't be what you want to be.
Sometimes you can't be everything to everyone.
Sometimes you need a vacation in the middle of the day.
Sometimes the red cups from Starbucks just get you excited.
Sometimes the semester seems to have flown by.
Sometimes you just need to go to bed so you dont lose your mind.
Sometimes you buy Ghost Juice (sparkling grape juice) because it is on sale.
Sometimes you try too hard to figure out things too far in the future.
Sometimes you look at the waves for too long that everything looks like its moving.
Sometimes you need to apologize.
Sometimes you have to fight to be here now for such a time as this.
Sometimes you need to turn up the music and rest.
Sometimes you just need to remind yourself to rest.
Sometimes you need multiple temporary tattoos.
Sometimes you have to say no in areas you usually wouldn't and yes in areas you usually dont.


Always I need more Jesus. Always I need to remind myself of what He did on the cross. Always I need to reflect on the ways He has been faithful. Always I need to trust that He knows exactly what He is doing in every area of my life. Always I need to give him control. Always I need to surrender my intentions, plans, ideas to Him who is able. Always I need to remind myself that He has creatively designed me and His power is made so great in my weakness. Always I need to rejoice for the grace that is provided to me each day. 

21

It still doesn't seem real. How am I 21 years old? Crazy. Anyways. Thursday was my birthday. Never have I had such a wonderful birthday and I am very realistically thinking my birthdays to follow may never top this one.

First off, my parents came on Sunday and kicked off birthday week. They were in the state for a baby shower and came for church and lunch with me. Katie decided to celebrate my entire birthday week which was fine by me. She gave me a gift each day.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Then, on my actual day of birth I had a knock on my door at 7:30 with a balloon, card, and money for freshbrew from Kim. I then had a text to go to my window where some guy friends brought me breakfast and sang me happy birthday. My birthday could have ended at 8:30 AM and I would have felt special.

But it didn't stop there. I went to my first class and Kim had given a friend in that class a gift to give me.   I went to my mail box and I had a gift from Kim there as well. For lunch, Katie and I went out to Casa Brava. Then, in my afternoon class...again another gift from Kim brought by a friend. Unreal.

Kim made this and the yellow parts are Kenya and Malawi.

After that class I spent some time having coffee with Ben and had unit dinner with my girls. Keep in mind that all through out the day I was opening gifts that my parents had sent and dropped off. I was also getting numerous text messages, phone calls, and facebook posts. Seriously so great. That night we had covenant as a staff and we had pie and ice cream and did other fun things.

I got a lot of awesome books

I feel so blessed. So humbled. So thankful. and So loved.