The Beginning of a Big Finish

Today begins a milestone that probably won't seem so significant in the future, but today, it's a big deal.

I started my last semester of college.

Excited. Elated. Overjoyed. I could go on describing how I feel.

I love Asbury. I've loved going to school here and wouldn't choose a different school if I had to choose a college all over again, (but I definitely don't want to have go through that process again) I would still choose Asbury.

Here's what I'm looking forward to this semester:

Season 3 of Downton Abbey has started and we've already made it a weekly event to watch it in our apartment. Tea and scones provided.

I'm only taking 12 credit hours. This (in theory) will seem like a breeze compared to my last few semesters. 18 credits ... never again.

Wednesday, April 3rd the Reds play their opening night against the Angels and we have tickets. By we I mean Tyler, because that was his Christmas present from me. I knew he'd love them and I would get to go to my first Reds game. It's a win-win.
 
This one is all thanks to the boyfriend for telling me about this band. The Lone Bellow's album comes out Tuesday, January 22 and I cannot wait. NPR is streaming their album online. You need to check it out HERE. Your ears will thank you.

via

After three semesters of having a 4 PM French class, I have finally escaped having to learn a foreign language at such an awful hour. After our 8 AM class this morning, I rallied everyone together to change the class to 2 PM. I was successful and everyone agreed 2 PM was much better. Kids, don't double major. It's overly ambitcious and overrated.

I feel like this is a given, but GRADUATION. Saturday, May 4th at high noon. Go ahead and mark it on your calendar. I know you'll want to be there.

I know much more lies ahead of me this semester and I can't wait to see where God will take me and what he has in store for me. It's gonna be good.

 "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28 (NIV)

Times Long Past: A Review of 2012

Every December I think back through the previous year and am amazed at all I accomplished, didn't accomplish and how things happened/worked out unexpectedly.

Like your average college-aged girl, I consume pins on Pinterest at an incredible rate and attempt to test my homemaker and art skills with the projects I become so ambitious to tackle. I'm not always successful. For example, when I tried creating a photo gallery to hang above my bed. (Frames are still empty) But this project, I'm glad I stuck with this project all year.

Starting in January, I kept a mason jar on my desk and started using it as a sort of time capsule. When I would have a fun night with friends, went somewhere for the first time, or just wanted to remember something that happened, I would place something in the jar that would remind me of the event or write a small note about it.

I haven't gone through the jar all year. I've waited until today to go through it and couldn't stop smiling as I did. I am so incredibly blessed and sometimes it takes retrospect to prove that to myself.

Here are my favorite highlights:

In 2012 I did a lot of growing. I started my last year of college, voted in a presidential election for the first time and turned 21.

The Finale

Getting ready for the 50s Homecoming dance with my roommates

Meeting my new niece

  Remember when I went on a 48 hour road trip to the beach so I could help with a proposal? That's definitely an event I won't forget.

 I spent most of my summer in DC and was blessed to live with the Weckerlein family and have an awesome internship.

Most memorable moment in DC

Amazing poptarts from Ted's Bulletin

Miss them

  

Summer ended with a mission trip to Honduras, which continues to be a blessing to me.

 As of last week, Genesis got her new glasses!

One of the most exciting parts of 2012, that didn't happen until the end was starting to date this guy:

In the short time we've been dating, we managed to fill up a third of the jar with artifacts from dates and adventures we had. I have high hopes for more.

We ended 2012 and rang in the new year at a great party with lots of friends and had a blast.

Here's to 2013. May it be even better and more exciting than 2012.

Dear Blogosphere

Dear Blogosphere,

I have missed you and I apologize for my lack of communication. It's been awhile since October 9th and as you could imagine, a lot as happened.

I know I make a promise to you about three times a year that I will be a faithful blogger and about three times a year, I fail. It's not the new year yet, but I'm going to get a head start on my resolution and resolve to blog more. Considering my blogging record, it's ambitious. I know.

Here's a few updates:

Soon after my road trip to North Carolina, I headed south to Florida over Fall Break. I went to visit the University of Florida for graduate school. I got incredibly sick, lost my voice for the first time ever and to my great disappointment, didn't get to meet Tim Tebow. I did get to go to a football game, hang out with some great friends, and enjoyed my time with them. They might not agree considering I coughed and whispered at them the whole time.

And in case you were wondering, no I did not cheer for Florida nor South Carolina at the football game. What kind of Kentucky fan would I be?

Remember my friend Abe Parker? He made it to the Eddie's Attic Shootout and when I was invited to road trip to Atlanta to see him play, of course I accepted the offer. Seeing him surprised and happy to see us was worth the drive. The competition was tough. He did amazing and played well, but sadly didn't win. Here is a video of his last performance of the night.

Last update: When I was in Honduras in July, I blogged about a girl named Genesis that needed glasses. I wrote to Mrs. Patterson to get an update and she gave me great news. Genesis got glasses!

An American mission team came to Honduras to do an eye clinic and was able to give Genesis glasses. They are not exactly what she needs, but will work until she is able to get ones that are. The church had some money left over in the missions budget from our trip in July and is able to purchase her new glasses. God is good.

 
Grace and Peace,
Janah

An "Engaging" Spontaneous Trip to the Beach

It all started while studying in the library on Thursday.

Sharayah, Heath and I sat in a sea of chemistry and communications notes in a study room discussing how much we did not want to be studying. Productivity was nonexistent. Sharayah kept talking about how much she wanted to be at the beach for the weekend with her family, especially because her sister's boyfriend was proposing on Sunday.

Then she had the bright idea of a road trip.

We were reluctant. Twenty-two hours in the car and 20 hours at the beach over a 42 hour period? If you've been in Kentucky over the past week, you know it's been frigid. Running in the ocean on a warm sunny beach was a very tempting offer. Heath and I both fell into the temptation and agreed to go.

We left in the late afternoon on Saturday and arrived at Holden Beach, NC at 2 A.M. Sunday morning. It was late, we were tired, but too excited to not splash into the ocean.

Sharayah's family is amazing. Not only did they fund the entire trip, but they're just so much fun to be around. We woke up Sunday ready to hit the water, but not before we ate delicious homemade chocolate chip pumpkin bread and sang hymns during breakfast.

Photo taken by Sharayah's mom

The Travelers

After breakfast we headed out to the beach to play volleyball, body board and throw the football around. There were lots of face plants and diving into the water, mostly by me, but others looked ridiculous as well.

Throughout the entire day it was VERY difficult to keep the proposal a secret. I was just too excited. I've known Sharayah's sister Whitney and her fiance Tyler since freshman year. They've been dating for about three years and it's that time of year and life where every other friend is getting engaged, so we were all expecting it to happen sometime soon. Heath, Sharayah, her parents and I were the only ones that knew it was happening that day.

Tyler told Whitney that he wasn't able to come to the beach, because of practice and school. There were many other lies told so she wouldn't see it coming, but it was all in the name of love. We told everyone else that we were going to take pictures on the beach before dinner so we got everyone to dress up.

I was given the daunting task of taking pictures of it all. I was honored, but very nervous. Thankfully the pictures turned out great and tell the story better than I can.
 

Note the small blue dot to the left. That's Tyler

Still clueless

She was shocked

As you could probably guess, she said yes and the ring is gorgeous. Good job Tyler.

The whole thing worked out perfectly and although we were exhausted returning to campus at 8 A.M. Monday morning, it was worth it.  
 

  

Have You Heard of Abe Parker?

Have you ever had an event in your life occur that seemed completely arbitrary at the time, but in retrospect it's an awesome story? I had that moment of realization last night when I asked my friend Abe to recap the the past 6 months of his life.

I can't remember the first time I met Abe. It was probably sometime freshman year when I met several new people everyday and couldn't keep names with faces. Over the past three years we've become friends and I'm very thankful for that. He's kinda awesome at music and when I say kinda, I mean REALLY awesome. Check out his music HERE.

Back to my awesome story ... Last semester, while on Facebook when I probably should have been doing homework, I discovered a contest that Andy Grammer was hosting. Basically you put a video on a website, people vote, Andy and his crew vote and the video with the most votes wins. Winning meant opening for Andy Grammer at one of his concerts. I sent the link to Abe with a note encouraging him to enter. He took my advice and you can probably guess the outcome. He won.

He and his band packed up their gear, traveled to Vienna, VA and were the opening act for Andy Grammer. Abe was able to meet Andy and make some great connections with his band and tour manager. He was able to travel to several cities with him to play for the crowds as they waited to get into the concerts.

A few weeks ago, Abe traveled to Atlanta to play at Eddie's Attic in their open mic competition. Of course he won. I had no doubt that he would. He's just that great, but don't take my word for it. Check out what another blogger who heard him play at the competition said HERE. He met up with Andy while in Atlanta and spent several hours talking to him about music and songwriting.

I got to hear this whole story from his perspective as he strummed my ukelele on my couch last night. It was funny to think of how me sending him a link to a contest started all of this. Another cool thing, the Vienna metro station is the station I got on every morning to get to my internship in DC.

His enthusiasm for music and passion for songwriting is very evident in his relentless attempt to do what he loves. The best part is he gives all the glory to God. He is so trusting in God's sovereign plan and purpose for his life. Keep your eye on this guy. He'll make it big one day and I can't wait until his does.  

Check out one of my favorite songs of his. He wrote it for his little sister before she went to college. Precious, right?

   

Flashback to Freshmen Year

Remember how I said I was going to participate in a Mud Run? Well ... that didn't happen.

Cassie realized that she had double booked herself and decided that taking the GRE instead of doing a Mud Run was the better choice. I decided to forgive her since it kinda determines the rest of her life, but this did not cause my weekend to be a disappointment. It was like freshman year all over again.

I have so many great memories from freshman year. Always meeting someone new, bonfires, staying out until the last minute before curfew, gen ed classes and figuring out what I wanted my major to be. It seems like it was forever ago.

Saturday, the senior class ushered in the fall season by hosting a bonfire accompanied with volleyball, singing around the fire, s'mores (my favorite) and hotdogs (not my favorite).

After the bonfire, a group of us ran to the upper soccer field to lay on the hill side. Blankets were stretched out with us squishing together to keep warm. We laughed reminiscing about how we all met one another, our first impressions, both good and bad, how excited and eager we were to be in college, the crushes we had that now seem ridiculous and the rookie mistakes we made.

I am so thankful for my past three years at Asbury. I have made a wonderful group of friends and will never say goodbye to them. I'm thankful that we can spend our Saturday nights around a bonfire, under the stars and not out partying or getting drunk. I'm thankful that they've been there to comfort me when I've felt at my lowest and to celebrate with me when I've succeeded. I am so blessed.

Highlights from freshmen year:

First bonfire at the Owens' house

Girls' Night Out where I met some of my best friends

Freshmen Class Cabinet at Freshmen Formal

Freshmen Homecoming Representatives

When Asbury was a college

Is it really senior year already?  

Goodwill Hunting

Fall is fast approaching and I am elated. It is, without a doubt, my favorite season.

Chunky knit sweaters, pumpkin spice lattes, the Red River Gorge, my brown leather boots, colorful leaves, campfires, s'mores. Wrap it all up in "brown paper packages tied up with string. These are few of my favorite things."

As part of preparing for fall, I research when Starbucks' Pumpkin Spice Latte is once again released into the world for humanity to enjoy (Sept 6) and bring out my (small) fall wardrobe. I try to add to it every year and this year I had help from my lovely apartmentmates Jane and Sharayah.

After spending some time at my favorite coffee house, we headed to Goodwill to see what we could find. One can ALWAYS find something that is at least intriguing if not purchase worthy at Goodwill.

Like I said, you can at least find something intriguing

 Sharayah is the "Goodwill Goddess." She always finds the best stuff
 

   Jane found an exercise video to go along with her yoga video.

 

I walked out with a gray chunky knit sweater, but was tempted to purchase this. I have no use for it, but it made me think back to my childhood. Do you know what it is?

Sharayah also purchased a DVD of "When in Rome," a Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen movie. We were all so excited to watch our favorite childhood celebrities.

I couldn't handle it. I made up the excuse that I had to bake. It was SO BAD. The acting, the cheesy lines, the ridiculous romances that 15 year old girls should not be having ... 10 years ago, I couldn't get enough of their movies. My how we've changed.

Then

Now