The Bushmans

These lovely people in this picture are the Bushmans [minus Blake, who is my age, and Chase]. They moved to Morton when I was in 3rd grade and I've been tight with the family ever since. They then moved to Groveland [and conveniently only about 6 houses up the street] when I started high school and that only fostered an even closer relationship. We then came to realize that somewhere along the family tree, somebody's something or others were related and I was third cousins with Blake, Chase, and Jourdan.

That's all beside the point. Last night, I called Shannon at about 7.30pm to see what she was up to. She was home and doing nothing so I grabbed a glass of water and my cell and headed up the street to hang out with her. We sat on their back porch, talked, and Captain T [he gave himself his own nickname] even joined us for a bit after he was done fishing. Aimee joined us a bit later as well as Chase when he got home. We all hung out until about 11.30pm when we decided it was time for some shut-eye. Moral of the story: I love that family. I can go up there and just talk and talk about whatever and they don't seem to mind. Or I can just go up there and chill with the parents for a night and totally be fine with not going out with friends.

The Stand

So I'll stand

With arms high and heart abandoned

In awe of the One who gave it all

I'll stand

My soul, Lord to You, surrendered

All I am is Yours

Daytrip to P-town [no, the other one]

What a satifying day. I went down to Petersburg today to hang out with Nick and his friends. It was so awesome to finally put faces to names and get to know them as a group. Right when I got there, Bryan, Nick, and I went out on the water and I got to watch Bryan slalom and Nick ski. That didn't last too long since there were a ton of boats out (thanks, Memorial Day weekend). After that, we went over to their friend's house and kind of hung out there, expecting to grill and eat. It so happens that everyone in that family was gone and wasn't coming home anytime soon, so we went to Kendahl's instead. Ate burgers, watched the guys swim, played basketball kind of, and sat around. It was good. The drive home went quickly and I conveniently got to speed since there weren't a whole lot of cars on the road at midnight. Now it's time for me to get some sleep. Exhaustion hit me about 30 seconds ago...

Satan? Psh!

I believe that God allows Satan to attack us. Disagree with me if you want. But God knows what we can and cannot handle and, therefore, would never let Satan dish out more than we could take. Because of these attacks, we are forced to rely on God more and more, trusting that He will provide us with what we need in order to get through it. I pray that I will always be teachable and willing to listen to what God wants throughout all of these moments. Nick pointed out that Satan usually always attacks something that is good. There is no need for him to attack lukewarmness or mediocrity. So if you ever feel as if he is attacking you (and there is a definite difference between Satan attacking and falling away/doing something you know isn't right), don't ever think it's because you aren't right with God. I think God let's Satan attack those that He knows are the most rooted in their faith, will trust and rely on Him, and will be open to teachable moments.

Apathy

I don't like American Idol. Never have. Never will.

Standard Summer Nights

So tonight I ran into Morton to hang out with my right hand pal, Aimee. Number one, I love that girl to death. She will sit and talk with me about anything and everything and somehow she always tells me what I need to hear or doesn't say anything at all when I just need her to listen. She's the greatest best friend a girl could ask for.

Number two, we decided that we wanted to make crafts tonight (actually, that was all my idea but she was down). So we headed over to Walmart and perused the craft section. And let me tell you, it was a disappointment. They had the worst craft section known to mankind. I think Aim and I might've actually shed a few tears...but that's beside the point. After many grueling hours in that wretched superstore, I finally picked out some beads and string while Aim decided that she was just going to scrapbook (psh).

Number three, we also decided that we would watch a movie. So we drove over to 2nd Cinema and picked out "Elizabethtown." After watching it for a second time, I think it might be one of my all-time favorite movies. A lot of people said that they didn't like it or that it wasn't worth the money that they spent to see it in the theaters but I absolutely love it. I won't give the plot away but the main theme is extracting joy, happiness, and laughter out of unexpected events in your life. These events could be good, bad, sad, amazing, funny...whatever. But you live, you learn, you love, and you move on. I love that. It's such an important lesson that we all forget from time to time. I hope and pray that I can always find the good in people, situations, and whatever else God puts in my life.

Be Proactive!

Have you ever wanted to be the change in the world?

Why don't you start by making a difference where you're at now.

Set aside all these big plans you may have for the future.

.Start NOW.

[pray] - [listen] - [act]

See where God's calling you...

...because He is.

Jumbled Thoughts

I just checked my grades. 4 As and a B. I'm pretty satisfied with that.

This rotten cough needs to get out. And pounding headache. Gross.

I think BBB forgot that I existed. And that's fine with me. How great would another week off be?

Tomorrow is my ICC final. I should study...

The patho called today. Negatory on cancer.

A Brady Bunch Bible Study

Tonight we had Bible study (as usual) at the Shorts. We watched a DVD of a talk given by Louie Giglio. All in all, it was really good. But one tiny thing he said stuck out to me. He didn't really elaborate on it and the talk wasn't centered around it, but it's one of the best ways (that I've heard) to describe what our relationship with Christ should be. I never really thought about it much in depth until tonight. The quote went something along the lines of: We should desire God the way that He desires us. Think about that for a minute or two. In what ways would our walk with Christ change? How would our daily lives be affected? Would our priorities change? I'm not going to type a huge thing about this or anything. I think it's more of a heart question that doesn't need to be analyzed by me or anyone else. But I do want to say that it's so important for you to first understand Christ's deep love and passion for us before trying to understand anything else.

A Little Bit of Everything

Things I Want To Do/Accomplish (before I die):
1: Be known as someone who loves God with everything she has
2: Play guitar like JJ
3: Own a coffee shop
4: Live in the 'burbs
5: Live in Cali
6: Go on a few more short-term missions trips
7: Learn to cook really, really well
8: Backpack across Europe
9: Adopt 2 kids
10: Write a book
11: Record a cd (not necessarily of singing)
12: Have a garden
13: Take voice lessons
14: Learn the piano again
15: Make a portfolio of my own photography
16: Own a restaurant (this one's still up in the air)
17: Design my own house
18: Go to NYC
19: Live on a farm
20: Visit all 50 states
21: Road trip...me, a friend, a full tank of gas, some cash, a video camera, and no maps
22: Rock climbing/sky diving/bungee jumping

I'm sure that list will be added to as I think of more stuff. But that's all I got for now.

I found this really funny entry from my old LJ. I thought it was fitting seeing as how Nick was in my small orientation group of 10ish. Enjoy!

well orientation was pretty much the dumbest thing i have ever been to. honestly. it is a waste of good summer time and i wanted to leave SO bad but i knew that i would have to live up to the good kid stereotype and stay. after saying all of that, i have no desire to talk about anything that happened at orientation...minus the fact that i am rooming with nichole mahrt next year:) super happy about that.

Summer

It finally feels like summer :)

I am so, so, so thankful that God has blessed me with an incredible group of friends.

The Past Year

When I woke up this morning, it finally hit me that everyone went home. It's so weird. This entire year, I've been so used to everyone being in Peoria and having the security that some of my closest friends were only a 15-20 minute drive away. But not anymore. They're all either one to five hours away now. It's so funny to think of that first week of college when all of us were trying to scramble and make new friends quickly so we wouldn't feel awkward and scared alone. It's amazing to think that I've grown so deeply connected to some of these people in such a short amount of time. I'm truly going to miss them this summer and hopefully we'll be able to pick up right where we left off next fall. And on the other end of the spectrum, all of the Morton kids are slowly filtering back and I'm getting used to the fact that some of my closest friends from growing up are back in town for the summer. But they have changed...like I have. We've slowly grown apart, lost touch, made new friends, experienced different things, etc. And somewhere in the middle are those who I've grown up with but are staying at college for the summer. I guess I just need to find that happy little medium. But it's weird. Not weird. The word "weird" brings about a negative connotation. It's different. I never thought "growing up" would be like this. I mean, you always hear about friendships changing when you go away to college and all that jazz but I never ever thought it would happen to me. But it is/did.

Benign

Thanks to all those who prayed for my surgery. Things went well and the doctor found no cancer! Praise God. I got home at around 4.30ish today and have been sitting on the couch for 5 hours watching tv and not moving my neck. I have a pretty wicked 3-4 inch incision and a hole in my chest where the drainage tube was. I'll be on the DL for a while but oh well. What a fantastic way to start the summer.

The Mechanics of It All

I really love how God works.

Nick and I have been talking a lot about our friendship and how we came to be 'Nick and Kim.' We have absolutely no idea how it happened. That's the beauty of it. There wasn't one specific moment or anything, just the gradual friendship and then the realization that maybe God wanted more for us than just friendship. God had been slowly intertwining our lives together (since orientation) and we didn't even know it. Ever since then, we have been slowly realizing how much we really were in contact with each other before we even became friends. Craziness.

And it's not just the good things. I love how God can throw us (what we think are) crappy days/situations and then use them to teach us amazing lessons. It's just up to us whether we make the most of them and seek Him throughout the whole ordeal. For instance, summer. Nick and I know that summer will be tough but it will certainly strengthen our relationship with each other and with God. We have to rely on Him first and foremost. As long as we are seeking Him, things will be more than all right with our relationship. And if it falls to pieces, then we know that it wasn't God's design for us to be together (as harsh as that may sound).

As weird as it sounds, I love that. I love that God works that way.

Finished

So at around 10.15am on Saturday morning, I officially finished my first year of college. Holler. It flew by so incredibly fast but God definitely taught me more than a year's worth of lessons. I think that my finals went well and I'm looking forward to next fall with renewed excitement/optimism. I for sure am going to miss everyone, though. Hopefully we can all keep in touch over the summer. I'll be busy with 3 ICC classes and working at BBB. Yuck.

Nick, Andy, and I went to Riverside this morning. It was really good. Pastor King talked about heaven and how every single kind of person is going to be there. I thought immediately that it would turn into a sermon about tolerance and all that jazz but it didn't...thank goodness. It more focused on racial and ethnic discrimination but the overall message was still really good (if you carry it into other areas/types of discrimination). The message in a nutshell was to love everyone because 1: God created them and loves them and 2:there is a chance that they're going to be in heaven with you someday. Amazingly enough, God had been convicting me of that very subject (more along the lines of [pre-]judging people). I had actually told Nick the night before that it was something I wanted to work on and knew that I was bad at (stereotyping people and the like). I love how God can convict me of something and then just shove the truth in my face like that. Gets the point across with no fluff.

So I went down to Petersburg on Saturday afternoon with Nick to meet his family. It was a lot of fun. We first met up with Bryan and Becca at the shop and then headed over to his house so that he could change for their prom coronation thing. So we headed out to that, picked up Bryan on the way, watched a half an hour's worth of awkward high schoolers in formalwear be announced and have their pictures taken, and then watched last year's prom king (aka Mister "I totally just THROCKed MORTON") crown the new one. After that, we sprinted out of Porta and had a family dinner at Nick's house where I got to finally meet everyone (and then some). It was good. Really, really good. No awkward moments or nervous jitters. Thank goodness.

Well, it's about that time for sleep. I'm on summer break. Wow. This is so awesome...

Still Buzzing

I almost exploded today. Seriously. Never ever go to Kade's more than once in a day. Self-control goes right down the drain. And apparently, too much caffeine is bad for you. Who knew?

Love God. Love Others.

We're not supposed to have everything figured out. The more you try, the more confused you're gonna get. I mean, what's the point in faith if we think we can do everything on our own? All we need to know is in the Bible and for the most part, it pretty clear-cut. Don't make Christianity harder than it is. Love God. Love others. I hate the phrase "...then everything will fall into place." No, it's not going to "fall into place." If you love God with everything you have, He will work it out for His glory. I know that sounds a little backward (in our society, everything is always about what we get as a reward). But it's true. His glory, not ours. It's a good thing God loves us so deeply that when His glory is shown, we are blessed.

All right. It's time to make good use of this "study day."

I'm Back!

So I've decided to start up my blog again. I had shut it down before because it was a way for me to avoid homework/responsibilities but I think it'll be better now that summer's approaching. So yah. That's all I got for now.