Since I can't seem to sleep...

I just got back from a Broadway show at the Lied Center (on Lawrence West campus) and for some reason, I've decided to procrastinate sleep. That sure doesn't sound like me, now does it? For anyone who knows me, I like to go to bed early and feel refreshed. Well, I was checking up on the other blogs that I frequent and saw that I was tagged. Kelly, who I had the amazing pleasure of meeting through working at Lincoln Perk tagged me with a little fun game sorta thing. So I'm supposed to use my middle name SHAE and make up a little fact about me for each letter. So we'll see how this goes:

S miley. Yes it's true. I love to smile. I smile when things are great, when things are just OK, even when I don't feel too hot. I even smile at random students on KU campus who give me a glare as if I shouldn't be smiling and that I should continue to stare at my shoes. OUTRAGEOUS!!

H aving trouble finding joy in THIS moment and living for each day. I am a planner and almost to a fault. I tend to look ahead for my next satisfying moment, but instead falling short at each passing moment. I've been challenged by this lately...

A nticipating the weekend. Not to totally contradict what I just wrote, but tomorrow is Friday and as of 9AM tmr, my weekend will begin! Steve and Steph are comin up with the children and also on Sunday AGD has a philanthropy event (a children's carnival)...should be lots of fun!

E eeekkk! Well, so I got really lazy in trying to think of something and writing this has made me increasingly tired with each passing minute. Halloween is next week and then it is NOVEMBER. Woweee.

Hopefully all of my faithful readers appreciate this for what it is worth :o) AND, I'm tagging my two favorite neighbors from childhood, and my really great friends---Whitney and Shelby. Can't wait to see how creative you will get. Off to sleep...

Livin the Cali life

My time in California this past weekend was truly a blessing. I had a wonderful time and I most surely did not want the weekend to be over. I think the worst part of the weekend was the flight back. I was SUPER tired and the flights were very very bumpy. I am not one to get sick but I was near tossing chunks...thankfully I didn't.

The above pictures are some from the weekend. First, of me and Whitney. She made the sacrafice to ride the train over the Sacramento and it was so very wonderful to see her. She and I even had a chance to watch KU fball. Good thing they were on ESPN. Next, is with my California cousins. Abram lives in San Diego and he was the one that I hung out with the most during the weekend. It was really very cool to be able to have conversations like we did. 10 years different seems like a lot more when you are younger...say 17 and 7. But we actually were able to have many conversations and see each others point of view. Very challenging in many ways. Celeste was the cousin getting married. The wedding was very pretty. Out in a park by the Capital building in Sacramento and a reception in a big ball room. So so cool. Next pic, my mom's side of the family out in the park. And next, real california lemons in my aunt's front yard.

The trip out there increased my desire to want to be in California. My aunt and unlce have an extra room behind their house that they said I could totally live in. Now wouldn't that be sweet?!?!? But, who really knows...right now I'm just trying to get through the school year. AND that is a true challenge. I wonder if I will ever like school? Probs not with the attitude that I have right now, huh?

Well...just some thoughts.

Steph told me to...

And I obey her :)

Steph said that I needed to write in my blog more often...so I figured that she could be my inspriation for the next post. So this blog is my tribute to Stephanie Kaufman.

I'm pretty sure that Steph's first words when she sees this will be, "OH MERCY"

I just got back from Fall Break this weekend and my time at home seemed to go entirely way too fast. I suppose that I feel a sense of refreshment to push through classes until thanksgiving and then another two weeks after that until finals. Just keep swimming...just keep swimming. (On a side note, I am meeting with my advisor next week to plan out classes for the spring semester. Looks like I will have classes only on tuesdays and thursdays from 9:30 to 5:45. Not sure whether to be excited for the freedays on MWF or to be very scared about having class ALL DAY LONG on T/TH. Any comments would be helpful :)

Back on track to about Stephanie...I got to see her this weekend! Always a joy. I asked Landon (her youngest) if he wanted to come to Lawrence with me. Mom said yes, Landon wasn't so sure though. But, the very exciting news is that Steph and family are coming up to the Lawrence area in two weeks, Oct. 26th. I'm planning to go to the pumpkin patch with them. It should be a very wonderful time celebrating our favorite season, Fall!!

While I was at Hesston College we had an assignment where we were supposed to write our personal history including events and people that had impacted our life. Steph was one of the people that I wrote about and so I thought that I'd share that with you all.

At my church, when kids get into the 7th grade, they are allowed to choose someone from the congregation that they would like to be their mentor. Each relationship is different and they can do a lot of things together or just get together every so often. A mentor is just supposed to be there for the mentee if they need help, or just somebody to push them spiritually, or a person to talk to who isn’t a parent. I had my mentor picked out since the 5th grade. I knew that I wanted her to be somebody special in my life, so I wrote her a little note and put it in her church mail box. The person that I choose was Stephanie Kaufman.

Steph, as I like to call her, would be a sister-in-law to Janelle who I mentioned earlier in my personal history. She was seriously dating Steve, Janelle’s brother, when the accident happened. I remember going to the funeral home and walking through the family line. Steph let me hang on to her and hug her and not let go for a long time. I will always remember that moment for the rest of my life.

My relationship with Steph has grown a lot over the years as I have matured and also and her family has grown too. Steph and Steve now have four children. Steph has always been there for me when I wanted boy advice or friend advice or just to talk about what’s going on. It’s sometime easier to talk to her because she is younger than my parents and she understands better what is going on because she has been through it more recently. She shows me an example of a great marriage and how to be a great mom. I respect her and value her opinions.

Steph is very creative and has recently become very active in my church. She sings in the praise band and also is coordinating the Wednesday night activities for the children. I love that Steph and I can talk about faith and push each other spiritually. I thank God everyday for the special people He has placed in my life and I always put a little prayer in there for Steph and her family.

Stephanie, thanks for being you and I'm so very blessed to have such an awesome gal in my life!

Procratinator's R us...

After fixing myself an excellent lunch consisting of grilled chicken, mashed potatoes, and lemon-pepper steamed vegetables (I'm so gourmet, I realize) I was all prepared to buckle down to do some homework. But as how my life usually goes, I get distracted. This can be attributed to many things:

1) I enjoy facebook, blogging, random internet searching, etc...all too much. In fact, I will check my e-mail multiple times in an hour just to see if there are any new e-mails. Most of the time there isn't, but lots of times there are! Exciting, right? Facebook, is consuming and I get sucked in every time...ahhh!!

2) I don't want to do the work/studying that needs to be done. It's hard, it takes time, oh yeah, did I mention that it's hard??? For instance, I have an Italian test tomorrow (which will require molto molto studying) an excel homework assignment for stats, and bible study tonight that I haven't quite worked on yet.

3) I have too much time. I feel like I'm always thinking that there isn't enough time to get things done, but that is just because I wait until the last few moments to get stuff done. In actuality, I work best when there is a set amount of time I have to get stuff done. For instance, I was done with class today at 12:15 and so I have the entire afternoon to work on stuff. My next scheduled thing is at 7:00pm...that's a lot of time. So I choose to fill this time by doing things like writing this blog. yay!!

On to another note: The picture up there is from the Senior Pub Crawl with my sorority sisters. I was pretty sure that I wasn't going to go. After all, the theme was Bar Golf. We play 9 holes (bars) and keep score throughout the night. Theoretically, one is supposed to take a drink at each bar. If I would have done this, I would've ended up in the hospital. Nope, definitely not for me. But my fellow sister who goes to church with me, talked me into going so that we could hang out together and drink water and such. What a relief to have somebody else who didn't want to drown away the night with alcohol.

Some positives from the night:
* I got a great tour of Mass. Street and am now more informed of the night life in Lawrence.
* I got to hang out with my sorority sisters
* I developed better friendships with the "water drinkin 30 year olds" pictured above. (we joked that we were the old mothers just trying to ruin everybody's fun)
* Excellent bonding...we all have t-shirts made up and there were 27 girls "crawling down mass with class" Quite a sight to everybody else I'm sure.

Ok, well those are the highlights from my life right now...I should probs do some (a lot) of homework. We just recently learned how to say "I love you" in Italian...so here ya go

Ti voglio bene!!

Dalla chiromante

I have my first oral presentation for Italian II tomorrow. Am I excited??? No, more like very nervous. We are given the topic (Dalla Chiromante: at the fortune teller's) but we are not given the partner with whom we will have to present with. We then have to go up infront of the class and perform a small skit to showcase our Italian speaking capabilities. I sure wish that I would have done improv or forensics in high school so that this wouldn't be such a big deal. Good news is: I practiced w/ my Italian class friend, Carmella aka Lindsey, today and we ran through some senarios. Maybe we will get lucky and be partners tomorrow in class too!!

In my devotional from Monday. (In Touch ministries recommened to me by Bonnie) It talks about the purpose of our Trials. We were told to read 1Peter 4:12, "Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering as though something strange were happening to you." Three points were raised in the devotional. 1st, the heavenly father will sometimes use painful experiences to cleanse and purify His children's lives. Trials drive us to the Lord. 2nd, the Lord at times allows difficulty in our life as a way of testing us--He might be trying our faith faith, endurance, or devotion to Him. And 3rd, God uses suffering to demonstrate His power to sustain us. When he brings you through difficult times, He glorifies Himself. Ultimately, hardships strengthen our testimony. In the midst of adversity, we might feel overwhelmed and discouraged. But once the storm has passed, we can often look back and see the Lord's providential hand carrying us through. I thought this was the perfect way to describe life's many struggles. Even as I struggle with this year, God is glorified when I cling to him and praise His name for he is testing me.

Random thoughts:

* My bff Whitney has a wonderful blog. I am so amazed at what God is doing in her life. I only wish that she wasn't in California. The Lord has BIG plans for her...just you wait and see!

*I wish that there was a Lincoln Perk up here that I could work at. I applied for a job at a local coffee shop, but was given a big run around and it has just been a difficult process. The owners don't want to seem to tell me if I got the job or not even when I've called almost every day for the last two weeks.

*My family is coming up for the fball game this weekend!! Woohooo

*I bought the Billy Blank Tae Bo workout DVDs. Had my first workout yesterday and felt like a moron in front of the TV...especially when my roomies were walking around. They sure got a show. These tapes reminded me of PE class in high school when we sweat into the oldies with Richard Simmons and did a little Tae Bo too. Oh good times.

A presto!

Redeeming Love...

So the latest and greatest news: the book that I just finished was just amazing. Yes, maybe I shouldn't have procrastinated my Italian homework for a full afternoon, but this book just couldn't be put down. I recommend it to all my girlfriends (or to any guys who love a christian romance) I got the book on tuesday night and by thursday late afternoon I had finished all 465 pages. Yes, I am my mother's daughter. (she will read till all ends of the night just to finish a book and then be tired the next day and wonder why?) My wonderful sorority sister, Anne' , gave me the book as it was her favorite book of all time. I felt so special to be given the opportunity to read her fav! And the book didn't disappoint. It is a love story based upon the book in the bible Hosea. Nothing makes you want to be in love more than reading a book like this. So I had to be careful and not let my girly emotions run away with themselves.

On another note, I'm still struggling with being back at school and having homework, etc. I need major prayers that instead of loking at this semester as something that I just need to "get through", it needs to be more a time of enjoyment and making college memories. On the bright side, the weather has turned chilly and we are on the verge of my favorite season of all FALL!!!
However, maybe I'm just having a mournful monday as I spent the past weekend at home. I went with my mom to my grandparents house on friday night, to wichita on saturday to visit Ty and Ron and had church on Sunday with an awesome Sunday noon meal prepared by my dad on the grill! I got to see pictures of Trey playing on the Jr. High football team. People can't seem to believe that he is only 13. Neither can I. I certainly wish that I were closer to home to see all of his games. He looks so very grown up in his football getup. He is pumped about their new jerseys. I always dread the drive back to KU, but it seemed to go relatively quickly because I chatted on the phone with Angela. Always a special treat to talk with my Hesston College friends. She is having trouble adjusting as well. Why did HC have to be so grand?? Oh well, I'm so very thankful for the 2 years I had there.

Can't believe tomorrow is September 11th. I'm sure that we can all remember exactly where we were on that day 6 years ago.

Until next time....

Start of something new...

Wow...here I am. Starting my senior year of college. Seems incredibly exciting, yet also waaay too scary. I want to press the fast forward button, but people continue to tell me to enjoy my college years. My 2nd year at KU has started off well...even though I was very unsure of being back here after having an amazing summer at home. I LOVE being at home, but my dad frequently reminded me that I couldn't work at the coffee shop for the rest of my life so here I am back at school.
This semester will prove to be very challenging. Italian II is attempting to kick my rear (my teacher informed us the first day that by the end of the semester we will have learned 14 verb tenses...ahhhh!!!! Not to mention, everyday at 8AM.) However, my other business classes offer a nice mix of fun and learning. The big news is that I'm part of Alpha Gamma Delta...which is a great blessing and also a major challenge. Recruitment was overwhelming, but offered me quality time to get to know my sisters and finally release the title as the "new kid". I think one of the biggest reasons why this semester is so weird is because a lot of the friends I made last year were seniors and they have moved on to bigger and better things. Can't imagine why they wouldn't want to stay an extra year and hang out with me??? Maryland, Kansas City, etc...AND my business school buddies are off in Italy (yes, I'm jealous...but I will be there in summer '08.)
Most importantly, the Lord is good. In times of anxiety I am continually reminded that HE is with me. While times are tough I realize that I need to put on the full armor of God. A verse that has been place on my heart is:

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of the dark world and against the spritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in palce, and with your fee fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kids of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for the saints. Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.
Ephesians 6:10-20