The Home Stretch

There's so much due for school in these next two weeks, it makes me feel like I might go insane.
Here are things I am trying to remind myself of in order to keep the sanity:

-God blessed me with the ability to write well. All these papers seem big and scary but He has equipped me to handle them.
-God has really clearly shown me that this is the path He has for me. I have never been more confident about the career path I am on. 
-This is two weeks of my whole life. That's not a long time. All the stress/anxiety/fill-in-the-blank-with-a-negative-emotion I'm feeling is temporary. 
-Everyone else is stressing out too. That keeps me from exploding all over everyone and telling them every thing I have to finish. Sometimes it's good to share but sometimes it's just plain annoying. 
-I have handled academic stress before and I am still here. It did not kill me. My head did not explode. I lived through it. 

There are plenty of things standing between me and winter break. There are lots of things I am looking forward to over that break too, so that's pretty neat. 

The biggest issue is jumping from "Here's what I have to do" to "Now I am getting that thing done". I told my friend Jess that it's like that bridge was Hulk smashed. 
Tonight I have a few more pages of reading about multiracial churches and then studying up on steroids and inhalants. 
I love college. Even though I complain, I love learning this stuff. 

Memories

Thanksgiving is a great time to reflect on the past.
Lucky for me, I got a little push in the right direction.
While doing some prep for today, Mom came across a box in the pantry.
The pantry in general was a HUGE mess, so prep took a detour to handle the organization in that little part of the world.
It looks great now.

I don't have a before picture because I didn't know it was going to be cleaned. Also, I'm not sure my mom would want that out there for the world to see.
So the pantry was cleaned. Great!

I was assigned to the green bean casserole. So yummy! I opened the second can of cream of mushroom and cut my finger. Ouch. A normal size band aid can cover it, so it's not huge, but it really hurt yesterday. I won't post a photo of that, but maybe if/when it scars over, I'll post a photo of the matching scar on my other ring finger in the same spot also from a kitchen injury. Weird.

Back to the box of photos. Some of these were TOO precious. I had to share them. Some of them are really unattractive  I'm also thankful for those because I don't look like that any more. I did not scan these photos. I put them on the couch and took a photo with my phone. :)

This is me in a Barney track suit. 

Barney and myself were tight. 

Mom and Kayla with our 1st family dog, Ginger. 

Dad and me kissing Ginger! I knew I was a dog lover from the start. 

Daddy and Ginger a few years later.

In my kindergarten shirt carving pumpkins.

I think this is another Halloween. PS see that McGruff thing in the window- does anyone else remember that?  

We still use those Christmas dishes.

So stinking cute. 

There's Ginger again and the Christmas card holder we still use. 

Me with Grandma and Grandpa Smith

Kayla at Timber Lee with a snake- brave!

I got this phone for my birthday and was really excited! 

Grandma and Grandpa came to our house for Dad's 40th birthday. 

The fam on Dad's birthday

A not so good hair day

I love a little blast from the past now and then. It's a good reminder of how blessed I am and how God has blessed our family. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

Help Me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, You're My Only Hope

Have you heard about this stuff? It's delicious! I've had two cups in the last two days. There is some joke waiting in the title of this post and the name of this tea (Good Hope Vanilla) but I can't find it. Let me know if you can. 

This is my last full week at school before Thanksgiving! Yahoo!

I love Thanksgiving. This year, we (the fam) are breaking tradition a little, but more on that story as it develops.

This week, I know I have 

-A math test. Thanks to the extra credit video project which meant sitting in a study room with a friend reading a cheesy script, I have over 100% in that class right now. BOO YAH.

- A test on "The Latino Threat" I have 60 pages left to read, but the author lost me talking about politics, economic inequalities, and neoliberal reforms. Hopefully he gets back on track :)

-The birthday of Jessica. Last Friday was Kate's birthday, and this Friday is Jessica's!

-There's more I'm missing, but that's okay. Right now I have tasty tea, a fireplace, and a book. And a pen because I like to write in my books. I am definitely blessed. 

Week[end] in Photos

Too funny to keep to myself  

Art I saw on campus

Jess has introduced me to the love that is rainbow sprinkles and waffle cones. 

Huff Post alerted me that Obama has 4 more years in office. 

Saw that. 

Saw that. 

 I went to Kokomo for access to a Target. The quest: Black boots and a bridal shower present. 

Reunited and it feels so good. 

This is on my Christmas list like you wouldn't believe. 

I liked these but didn't love them. I really didn't love them $145 worth. 

Out with the old. 

In with the new! 50% booyah.

Also got the gift for the bride :)

Reading this bad boy. Got through 80 pages already today! 

I use this book almost everyday for psychopharmacology. I like that course. 

Last week, we learned about marijuana. 

This week is hallucinogens, PCP, and ketamine!

Perhaps a late night viewing? 

A New Week

Lately, a lot of lies I've been believing have been challenged. Even when things are untrue, if life is built on top of them, they hurt to take out of the equation. In social psych last chapter, we talked about the self concept. Everyone has a self schema and that your big file folder of ideas you have about you. Within that file folder, there are smaller folders of the working self concept. The more an idea is interweaved in the little file folders, the more true it is for you. 

For me, my small file folders include sister, daughter, cousin, student, granddaughter, friend, roommate, classmate, etc. The idea might be something simple like "I am an empathetic person." That particular trait about me is tied into everyone of those file folders. 
I have a lot of data from interactions and self reflection that says "True. You are empathetic."

But sometimes an idea about me isn't true and it gets in anyway. It gets into all those file folders and negatively effects every one of them. Lately, like in the past week, these lies have been confronted in a lot of arenas of my life. No matter how not true something is, my self concept has still been built on them. To extricate the lies means upsetting whatever was built on top of it. This is a painful but necessary process. 

Lately I've been focusing on the student file folder and not a whole lot else. In fact, I've forgotten to put first the most important category of ideas about myself: Daughter of the King. 
How did that get buried in the mess of life? How did I begin to believe that the promises in the Word weren't meant for me? 

What kind of file folders do you have? Mom, co worker, brother, spouse, whatever. In different situations, it is appropriate to access different file folders. But what's my main role? It has been student but a change is coming. The lies that are intertwined are getting dislodged. In terms of file folders- I'm putting the most important folder first and making sure the information in all the folders is accurate. 

This week I felt God pursue me like I have not felt in a long time.

God is Good. 

Pumpkin Violence

Happy November!

Every year around this time, I get ostracized for not liking pumpkin anything. Pie, latte, bread, seeds, etc. What do you care- more for you!

I found this video that shows a bunch of large cats playing with pumpkins. Some of them bite into it and have this "Yuck" face. When I consume pumpkin things, I have a "yuck" face. Therefore, I am a large cat.

Just kidding. Probably.

One panther gets distracted by his tail which is really cute. This video is nothing life changing. It's 4 minutes of kind of bad editing and some really cool animals playing with pumpkins.

How's that for a Thursday?