2012 :)

When I think about the fact that it is the year 2012, I sorta understand what adults mean when they say that time starts to fly by as you get older. I think about how twelve years ago I was a little girl anticipating a double digits birthday, staring in toy store windows at dolls that I wanted for Christmas, and just discovering that boys could be oh so annoying but oh so fun to play with...

Twelve years later...my jaw wants to drop, I want to scream, and I just can't believe all that happens in a little over a decade. Or that I am less than six years away from being done with a formal education...never thought that day would come. Adulthood becomes scary at about this moment. Yet also exciting!

I have less than a week of break left before I head back to Nyack for my second semester. Honestly, contemplating last semester I can't say I am excited to go back, but I am trusting that there are new things in store these next few months so I am eager for change and new things!

To recap last semester, it was hard. It was stressful. It wasn't what I expected from my first semester at a Christian college. But it was eye opening. And I believe than challenges are opportunities to strengthen faith and grow. So I am thankful.

Other than going to school at Nyack this spring semester, I don't know what 2012 holds. I don't think I'll be coming back to Colorado for spring break, so I could be going four to six months without seeing my family...a big challenge! Summer plans are still under prayer.

My prayer for this year:

Why so serious?

So around the end of May Dad was at his last day of work (he's a math teacher). In the afternoon he walks out to his truck, and this is what he sees. As you can imagine, he is stumped and confused. Nevertheless, he and his co-workers get a kick out of it. Turns out, they come up with this idea that one of the other math teacher's (who was getting married that month) classes meant to decorate HIS truck but mixed it up with my dad's. That afternoon Dad comes home and sits down by me. "Guess what?" he says. "What?" I say. And he proceeds to tell me the story of how his truck got decorated instead of his co-workers. Funny thing is, they didn't do it.
:D :D :D
My friend and I did it. (Let me clarify, though, I am NOT evil or smart enough to have thought of it. It was my friend's idea). So the next couple of months were ones of muffled laughter as we listened to Dad telling everyone about how "stupid high schoolers mixed up my truck with my co-worker's!".
This is where my mom becomes a criminal as well. It was her idea that we re-do it exactly the same on the first day of school this fall. So of course we did! Now it all would have been so perfect if there hadn't been one blunder. See, the poster we used that said "Just Married" was saved after the first time. Mom used it to make a poster for my birthday, and then I again snatched it in case we needed it again. So when we decided to re-do the truck, I re-used the poster. With my name on the back. I'm sure you can use your imagination to guess how events unfolded.
The funniest part about the second time around is that that afternoon my friend (the criminal) got a ride home with my dad. In the truck he decorated. As my dad puts it, it's like in all those shows where the murderer is the first person to go comfort the victim's family. So my friend rode all the way home as he listened to Dad trying to figure out who on earth could have decorated his truck AGAIN!
Thankfully it wasn't until that night that Dad actually noticed the back of the poster. And the rest is pretty much history. Let's just say there was a lot of shock, almost-screaming, and "You're lying!!" and "No way!!!!" happening that night. And of course Dad is on his pay-back streak. So don't be surprised if I don't post for a while...he might hijack my computer to play Miley Cyrus's "The Climb" every time I turn it on. Thus, I would never turn it on.

"Take these broken wings..."

Less than a week and summer bliss ends. Overall this summer has been rather unproductive. Other than climbing to the top of Pikes Peak for the first time ever (after living at its base for 18 years). And if you count surviving living in a house with six teenage girls for a week an accomplishment, then I now have two to add to the list. Yep, the highlight of the summer was having two Chinese exchange students live with us for three weeks as well as having a good friend from the East Coast come to visit for a week. On top of that, we have an exchange student girl from New Zealand living with us until December. So this summer our family (and house) has been stretched large and we have experienced several different personalities and cultures all at once!
Dad gave me a mission at the beginning of the summer: find scholarships for college. Yeah, I've found them. I just need to do them. And find colleges, as well. This semester for me is going to be jam-packed with research, homework, and lots of decision-making. Which, as those who live with me can tell you, is NOT my strong point.
My sis started her first day of high school yesterday. She didn't come home crying, so that's a big plus! We bought a cupcake for her at a new cupcake shop by the movie theatres--it was cherry Dr. Pepper flavored! Oh gosh, what I wouldn't give to make beautiful cupcakes like that one. But it is my mission to become a cupcake expert! Which is quite a feat at high altitude, let me tell you.
Oh yes! The reason we were by the cupcake shop was because we (Tracey the exchange girl and I) went to see Inception yesterday. Dudes, let me tell you. It was insane. I didn't walk out as confused as I thought I would be. It just...makes you think. And wish that you dreamed more. I don't remember my dreams anymore. Well, rarely. I only seem to remember bits of dreams that relate to people or events that are real in my life now. But after the movie, Tracey made the remark that what if we are all living in a dream now without realizing it? In a way, we sort of are living in a dream. If Heaven is my real "home" and should be my reality, then life on Earth is like a visit in a dream. Except that what we do and believe on Earth matters in Heaven.
I should have been writing some of my scholarship essay right now but I wasn't. So ha. Not really ;) I'm not a major procrastinator. Just a minor one.