Christmastime 2009

My family's Christmas this year was great! My Grandparents who live up near D.C. came down for the weekend, and on Christmas day my Grandparents who live nearby came and stayed the whole day with us. We read the Christmas story of Jesus's birth, opened gifts, hung out for the day, and had a yummy Christas dinner! The night before we went to the Christmas Eve candlelight service which was very good. Here are some pictures from our day (and the days around Christmas).

My new ESV study Bible!

Update (for lack of a better title)

Hello everyone,

School is continuing to go well, and the homework has been manageable thankfully. All of the teachers seem to be pretty good, and the topics have been at least fairly interesting if not more so. I have also officially joined the Aikido club at ODU which has been a lot of fun (and good exercise too).

My church (or our church depending on if you are someone who also goes to Sovereign Grace Church or not) recently had a meeting where they announced many new changes that will be happening. One of those changes has to do with care groups; they will be separating the singles into singles only care groups rather than having them integrated with the married care groups. I think that this will be good, and I believe the pastors are doing what they believe is best (and what God wants them to do), but it will be somewhat hard to leave my current care group. The church is also going to be starting adult Sunday School classes (before the main service). I am excited about this, and am planning on participating. Those are just some of the several good changes at SGC.

So long for now!

It's about time for an update

Wow, I haven't updated this thing in a while. Well, better late then never I guess : )

Joel is doing great. He is getting bigger, and can almost hold up his head on his own! Some people have claimed that he has smiled at them...I have only seen him smile (a real smile) once...at the ceiling fan : )

My Summer class (Language Acquisition) is finally over! I wouldn't say it was a terrible class (in fact the book was rather interesting), but it is nice to be done with it :). I start up fall classes on Sept 1st! I am looking forward to starting; I do enjoy school for the most part. I am taking; Social and Cultural Foundations of Education, English Linguistics, World Regional Geography, Native American History, and Teaching Health and Phys Ed (this ones online). In addition, I will be doing observations in elementary classrooms for 30 hours over the course of the semester. That will be fun!

After my self defense class ended, my Shihan (the title that we call my teacher by) said we could keep coming when the other martial arts people are there to practice. I have been able to go once a week and keep practicing and learning new things. It has been so fun. In the fall I am planning on joining an Aikdio and a Karate club (both will meet at the same time so I will switch each week). For that I had to buy a gi (the white uniform that you see karate people wearing). I wore it for the first time last Saturday. It felt kind of weird at first, but I suppose I will get used to it. : )

C.J. was at church yesterday! He spoke on our adoption by God. It was such a great message; if you didn't get to hear it, I suggest you download and listen to it

Well that's all for now. Hopefully I won't go so long without updating next time : )

Summer...

...is almost here! Today is my last day of class and then I have a final on Friday. Next week I have a final on Monday and one on Thursday and then I am done with the semester! I am taking two summer classes this year, but those do not start until June so I have a little bit of a break which I am looking forward to very much.

Summer weather is also here! I have so enjoyed the hot temperatures. Saturday I went to the beach for several hours. I didn't go all the way into the water, but even though it was freezing it was still nice to get my legs wet and enjoy the hot outside temperatures and the beach itself. Yesterday was the church picnic and it was great (although hot) weather for it. I had a lot of fun there, and came home worn out. :)

Anyway, that's all for now. I will hopefully post some pictures soon.

Busy

Just a quick update on my life. Things are going well. School is good, and it is almost half-way done with the semester! I am working and doing Church things. Volleyball is really fun (even though my team is in like 5th place out of 6 currently).
Next week I have a project due Monday, a test Monday, and a midterm on Wednesday! So that will be keeping me pretty busy!

Hope you are all doing well.

Quick Update

School is still going well; it has not been too hard yet :). I pretty much like all of my professors except for the fact that my Asian History professor is, while a nice lady, not the best of teachers (still ok though). Life is kept pretty busy between school, homework, work, church things, and all the other things that seem to pop up. I am enjoying it though, and it is nice not to be bored :). This year I am playing volleyball at the church. Our first game is on Feb 8th and I am so excited for that; this will be my 1st year playing. Well that is all for now; hopefully I will have something interesting to write about or post pictures of soon!

No Power...No Problem

Last Sunday my family and I arrived to a dark and somewhat stuffy church building. The power had gone out! Several of the guys in our church set up outside and we had a somewhat shorter service outside. It was fun (although warm). The main downside was that although the power came back on by the end of the service it kept going out so the Family Meeting planned for that night had to be postponed :(

SGC Women's Summer Book Club

I had my 1st book club meeting last night. It was great! First each person in the group shared their testimony and then we talked about the 1st three chapters of "Doing Things Right in Matters of the Heart" by John Ensor. The meeting was great! I though it was neat when one of the married ladies would offer advice and/or encouragement to the single ladies (its basically what SG was hoping would happen). I am looking forward to our next meetings! If you are in a book club, please post a comment on what your 1st meeting was like (when you have it) :)

Summer is Here!

I have just walked out of my Biology exam and I am done for the semester! I am so glad that now I can relax and not worry about classes, homework, and tests (until August that is :) Today is pretty busy as I had my exam this morning and then I am working from 1-4. Tomorrow will be so nice as I will not have classes and I will not have to do any studying as I do not have any more exams!

Here is an update on my weekend

Last Saturday I went and watched my sibling's baseball games. Then came Sunday. Sunday was very fun and very busy! I went to my church and the pastor spoke on the passage in Matthew about not worrying about what we will wear, eat, or where we will live and to seek the kingdom of God 1st. The pastor said that this does not mean seek God's kingdom 1st and then we can go seek everything else. but we need to always be seeking God's kingdom. After church I went to my friend Kaitlin's house because she invited all the singles over for a yummy Mexican lunch. I had a great time eating, playing bocce ball, and talking with friends. Liz and I ended up staying a lot later than everyone else and I ended up staying until it was time to leave for community groups (thanks Kaitlin!). Kaitlin and I both went to the same community group that night. At community group everyone went around saying a verse that was their favorite or that God was using to speak to them. Then we had a time of prayer and then a time of food and fellowship. I had a great time last Sunday. I am thankful that God has given me a great church and great friends!

Sovereign Grace Church Picnic

Yesterday was the annual church picnic at my church. Despite ominous clouds and chilly weather it turned out to still be a fun day. There were lots of tables and chairs set up outside as well as some blow-up things (moon bounce, etc) and a snow cone machine (yummy :) Also, a lady from our church dressed up as a clown and went around passing out little goodies (bubbles, rings, etc) to the kids. I helped along with Heather and some people from my care group (Beth, Sarah, Tim, Cort, Katrina, and Allyson) to put tablecloths and centerpieces on the tables before the picnic. Then from about 12-1 I helped out in the kitchen. After a yummy lunch (grilled chicken sandwiches that my mom marinaded overnight) I spent time talking with friends, eating snow cone, and other fun things. On the way home, I stopped at the grocery store to pick up some candy for my care group's game night/ ice cream social that we have on Wednesday night! Then I came home, took a nap, and finished my research paper. I ended up going to bed very late last night!

What everyone looks forward to each year: Snow cones!

Moriah with some of her friends and some other kids waiting in line for the Jousting game

The obstacle course

The moon bounce

Snow cone machine

Face painting for the kids

Worn out :)