30 things you may not know about me...

You think you know me but you have no idea! Here are 30 things you may not know about me....

1. My middle name is Joy. I guess my parents knew what a joy I was going to be! haha

2. I was born September 6. My older brother, Adam, was born September 21. We are the same age for two weeks between my birthday and his. Weird I know.

3. I love Redvines. Yes, they taste like red plastic. Yes, they turn your mouth red. Yes, if the bag is left open they get hard as rock. So why do I love them? I have no idea! I just do!

4. I have ADHD. I take medicine for it. Judge me if you want, but it is a part of who I am!

5. Vintage anything is my passion. My mom always says I was born in the wrong time period. Heck, I wore a flapper dress to my senior prom! I love to wear it, shop for it, look at it...

6. I have a secret love for bad TV. I love to watch horrible reality shows. My roommate and I sat in our living room last night and watched the worst ever News broadcast and I loved every minute of it.

7. Until middle school, I slept with a stuffed lamb named freddie. I probably would be still sleeping with Freddie if my brother hadn't ripped the ears off in a fit of rage. RIP freddie.

8. I have a fake tooth. It's my front left tooth. I was rollarblading in elementary school and fell and smashed my mouth into the cement.

9. I love anything zebra. Sometimes when I am looking at all of the zebra stuff I own, I think that maybe deep down inside I really am an old woman who used to be slutty but now is just tacky! That may not make any sense to you, but it makes perfect sense to me!

10. I am an general education/special education major. However, sometimes I find kids annoying. Other times I absolutely love kids!

11. I have always had a love for the Food Network and anything to do with cooking. My mom thinks I should try a culinary class this summer.

12. My perfect future husband is a quirky, creative, artsy, extremely good looking, chuck taylor wearing, thrift store loving, God loving man. I know God has someone special out there for me because it is gonna take someone special to be able to handle me!
13. I am not athletic in the least bit. I never have been very good at sports. Part of that I think is because I never had a desire to continue doing sports. I have always wanted to be really good at something athletic though!

14. I am a certified High Ropes Instructor. This is my second year of being certified. I love being apart of helping people overcome obstacles they didn't think they could overcome! It is an amazing thing to watch and be apart of!

15. My best friend is my mom. She is someone who always is there to listen and give advice. We love to shop together. We both love retro things. We both like to try new projects. If I turn out to be just like her when I am older...I will be so greatful. She is an amazing woman.

16. Taco bell is a place I probably visit once a week. Not even kidding. I know it is a sad thing, but I love love love Taco Bell (or SOBO as my friends and I lovingly refer to it)

17. My biggest fear in life is to get to the end of my life, look back and realize I didn't make an impact on the world around me. My life motto is to Love God...Love People...Serve the World.

18. There are three women in history that I find fascinating. 1) Jackie Kennedy Onassis 2) Audrey Hepburn 3) Lucille Ball

19. If I could I would be barefoot all the time! However, I own over 100 pairs of shoes.

20. I love books. I love to read anything and everything. And I have been told I am a really fast reader. One of the things I got from my mom!

21. Numbers and I do not mix. I am not good at math, so therefore do not enjoy anything to do with math.

22. I am a sucker for romance. This includes cheesy romantic movies, cheesy romantic books, and a good proposal story! I think the Lifetime network was made just for me! hehe

23. I have a very sarcastic sense of humor. Sometimes this can be a bad thing. I also thrive in awkward situations!

24. I love my family! My two brothers, Adam and Ben, crack me up! My dad and mom are two of my favorite people in the whole world. I love when my extended family gets together because it usually means a crazy but fun time!

25. My favorite food in the whole world is plain noodles. I don't what it is but I love them.

26. The best two summers of my life have been spent working a bible camp up in Onekama, Michigan. I love everything about it!

27. I love to sing and dance. That used to be all I did in high school!! Sometimes I miss it.

28. When my hair gets greasy and I don't feel like washing it...I just put a bandana on!

29. One of the hardest but best weeks of my life was when I spent a week sleeping in a parking lot in New Orleans on a mission trip. Ask me about it sometime!

30. Fall is my favorite time of year!

So, there you have it Blogworld! That is a glimpse of who I am! I would have to say it is a very small glimpse because God made me to be his unique masterpiece. I didn't put my faith on this list because I would hope that my faith would be something that shines through and would be so obvious that I wouldn't need to put it on this list. That is something I strive for!

So, if you are out there in Blogworld and sometimes find yourself on my lovely little blog wondering who this crazy girl is...now you know! I would love for you to leave a comment telling me a little bit about yourself! Let's get to know one another!

I heart Faces- Halloween entry

This week's theme at I heart faces is Halloween Dressup! I knew I had the perfect picture! This is a picture I took up at the camp I work at. My friend Hannah was wearing this helmet for no particular reason, but I love this picture because I feel like the look on her face is brilliant!

Check out I heart faces for more entries!

the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy

So my weekend at camp was amazingly fun! But i'll blog about that later. Today's blog is going to be about my ride home!

Honeycutt started out driving while I slept in the back seat and Adam kept him awake in the front. About an hour into driving the power steering in the jeep stopped working! We decided to stop and get gas in basically the middle of nowhere. After getting gas and piling back into the jeep, we tryed to start the jeep up and nothing! We got out and started to take a look at the engine (but lets face it we are three college kids who know nothing about cars!). Basically everyone and their mom at this gas station was looking at our engine! Finally one of the guys told us that there was no way it was going anywhere anytime soon! A part in the engine had froze up and a belt was not working properly. I guess our accelerator was shot! So here we were 5 hours from home in the middle of nowhere.

One of the guys who was looking at our engine asked where we were headed to and we told him we were trying to get home to Indiana. Would you believe our luck? He and his family was headed home to Goshen, Indiana! After some pushing of the jeep and organizing of this guys family in his car...we were off! This awesome family had moved their three kids to the way back trunk area of the suburban and found a way to squeeze us in! We are so greatful that God put them at that gas station at the same time as us! The kids were so funny and Jon and his wife Nicole couldn't have been nicer! It was an interesting trip to say the least!

Honeycutt and I were joking that things always happen to us when we are coming home from camp! The last time he was driving the jeep home from camp and I was riding shootgun. We hit a patch of ice and were up on two wheels spinning! It was so scary! Maybe I won't be riding home from camp with honeycutt anymore! haha

Now our jeep with all of our clothes and sleeping stuff from the weekend at camp is stranded in New Era, Michigan! My dad is getting all of that situation taken care of! I love my daddy!

So lesson of the story.... there is hope for the people of this world! You will be surprised by the gracious hearts of strangers! One of the last things that Jon told us as we were thanking him and his wife in a Mcdonalds parking lot in Goshen, Indiana was to just make sure when the time comes to do the same thing for someone else. It made me think of one of my favorite movies, Pay it Forward. I think that I will be looking for a way to pay it forward!

Thats all for today! More on my awesome weekend later!

Weekend Wackiness

So I am headed to Camp this weekend to help out at the Jr. High retreat! I am excited to see people and enjoy a weekend away from school! It will be good! There may be a few slightly awkward moments with seeing Jason for the first time, but I figure might as well get those awkward moments out of the way so things can get back to being as close to normal as they can (I'm not dumb and I know they won't ever be completely normal).

I also have a really bad head cold which will probably suck. I think I hate head colds more than I hate the flu. With the flu, you can have an excuse to lay in bed, sleep it off, and it is usually gone in a day or two. But with a head cold, you still can function enough to do things but still are miserable and for me personally head colds last longer than the flu. The worst is when you are sitting in class trying to take a test or write notes and your head is down looking at the paper and your nose won't stop running!!! And don't act like that doesn't happen to you!!

Well that all for this post! I will hopefully have lots of pictures and fun stories to write about after this weekend! Before I go I will leave you with some camp pictures (mostly to get me pumped for the long drive to one of my favorite places on earth!) Much love bloggers....Bless K

He is stronger...

Today in chapel, we sang Stronger. I really felt God lay some stuff on my heart. I have been struggling with a lot of stuff emotionally lately. I am really stressed about school stuff and am hating school right now. But through everything, God is stronger. He is going to get me through this period in my life! I've always known that but never really felt it...if that makes any sense. So it was amazing to feel God this morning in chapel while singing that song. Here is Hillsong singing it.



It also is so encouraging to have people in my life who are praying for me! I also am so glad to have friends like Kreach and Cassie who let me vent about things but also respect when I don't want to talk about things and just pray for me and lift me up with encouragment! And to think I met them both at camp! I love them both dearly!

Here is Kreach and I...

Here is Cassie and I...
So that is where I am at in my thought process! My mom was making fun of me a while back that I never write anything profound on my blog and that I just write what I have been doing....so there you go mom! Is that profound enough for you! haha


Isaiah 40:29 NIV
He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak

In a rut...

Lately I feel like I have been in a rut...and Monday night it all boiled up and I just started crying after watching a movie with my mom. I hate school and I hate that I hate school. I just feel kind of at a standstill.

I just need to stay busy and keep my mind off of how much I am not enjoying where I am at for the moment. Pray for me.

Fall Break is Within Viewing Distance!!!

I have two classes today and two classes (one with a midterm exam) tomorrow and then I am home free until Wednesday of next week!

There is so much I have to do and want to do while I am home for Fall Break! I feel like I am going to have to bring so much home for only four days...but oh well you do what you got to do!

My list of "Want to dos" for fall break:
-relax
-knit something fun
-go thrifting with mom
-eat chinese food
-fuse together plastic bags (beth and I are both going to try this and bring something cool back to show each other)
-hang out with my family
-sew somethings
-refashion something
-sleep in!!!

My list of "Have to dos" for fall break:
-laundry
-WIAT testing for Assessment class
-Lesson plans
-Color maps
-study for math
-do a take home test
-find 2 childrens books that I need
-switch some summer clothes from school for winter clothes from home
-do 2 observation reports

We shall see which of my lists gets more crossed off of it! haha I am really excited to spend sometime at home! I am a true homebody. I would much rather be at home than out and about. I think that has been the hardest thing about getting older...having to move away from home and spend summers away from home. It has defiantly been challenging at times. But through the challenges I grow closer to the woman God created me to be!

I finished a hat that actually fits my head! I am so proud of it! It is super cute and vintagey looking! It is made of burgundy yarn that has little flecks of color in it. It folds up into a cuff and I knitted a gray flower that I put on the cuff of the hat. I absolutely love it! I am now in the process of making a matching scarf. I will hopefully get some pictures of both finished things on here in a little while!

Have a great day and remember that GOD IS GOOD! (all you readers shout...ALL THE TIME! haha)

The Knitting Bug

Sound the alarm....hide your children.....lock up your windows and doors... THE KNITTING BUG HAS INVADED!!!

That is right folks. I am addicted to knitting! I bought a book called "I taught myself to knit" at Walmart last week and that is exactly what I did! So far I have made a really cute scarf that I put a little bird on and a hat that ended up being too small for my head but just right for a little kids head! Carrie is going to give it to her niece! I am currently working on a hat that will hopefully be bigger and fit my head! we shall see!

If you are looking for a hobby to try, I suggest knitting! I love that it gives me something productive to do while watching TV or just hanging out in the apartment! It was fairly easy to learn and I am excited to try a few harder things!

Here are some pictures of my two finished products: (please disregard how dumb I look in these pictures! I am just not photogenic! I am really cute in person...I promise! hehe)

A little encouragement

This is one of my favorite poems..... enjoy.....

Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of 99...

Wear Sunscreen

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experienceI will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; oh nevermind; you will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded. But trust me, in 20 years youll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you cant grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked.Youre not as fat as you imagine.

Dont worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing everyday that scares you

Sing

Dont be reckless with other peoples hearts, dont put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss

Dont waste your time on jealousy; sometimes youre ahead, sometimes youre behindthe race is long, and in the end, its only with yourself.

Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch

Dont feel guilty if you dont know what you want to do with your lifethe most interesting people I know didnt know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds know still dont.

Get plenty of calcium.

Be kind to your knees, youll miss them when theyre gone.

Maybe youll marry, maybe you wont, maybe youll have children, maybe you wont, maybe youll divorce at 40, maybe youll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversarywhat ever you do, dont congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either your choices are half chance, so are everybody elses. Enjoy your body, use it every way you candont be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, its the greatest instrument youll ever own..

Danceeven if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.

Read the directions, even if you dont follow them.

Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents, you never know when theyll be gone for good.

Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go,but for the precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography in lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.

Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do youll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Dont expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one might run out.

Dont mess too much with your hair, or by the time its 40, it will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than its worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen...

Why I love my friends......

I love my group of friends here at Huntington! They bring me joy in so many ways:

Brittany- my roommate of two years....we could not be more different but at the same time be so much the same...I love when we are getting ready for bed and just venting about our day or telling funny stories that happened to us! She challenges me spiritually to think about things...and even though it seems like I am not listening she knows I am! I also love it when she gets super passionate about something and her voice gets louder and louder and her hands move around! I know someday she will realize that the people in the TV can't hear her! haha

Carrie- Oh Wow! How I love my closet weirdie! I haven't known Carrie for super long...we only started to get to know each other towards the end of last year! However I feel like I've known her forever! She is an amazing person to have in our apartment because she brings so much joy and laughter to it! She is always telling us funny things, making weird faces, making weird sounds and making me laugh and I love her for it! Plus she makes the best popcorn and fricker dip ever!

Bradie- The loudest girl I know and I love her for it! Bradie brings so much joy to my life with her loud voice and laughter. I love it when she yells at people really loud in a teasing way! She and I have the same "who cares" attitude and I know I can always count on her to listen and emphasize with me! I also know that if I ever had the urge to drive somewhere to slash a certain person's tires, Bradie would be right there beside me!
Emily- Em and I were suitemates for both freshman and sophomore year...and we didn't even plan it that way! It was slightly sad this year because we don't share a bathroom for the first time! She is the most chill person I know and I love her for it! She is a good person to anchor me when I am feeling crazy! She and I also can just look at each other when we see something stupid and know we are both thinking the same thing! We love the same music and love being artsy! She is also telling me new bands or songs to listen to!
Erica- Erica (or Rico, as I sometimes call her, mostly to annoy her! hehe) is one of my best friends! When she came to HU the second semester of our freshman year...we just clicked! She is the one person that I feel I could talk to about anything! I love how blunt and sarcastic she is! She is also such a good example of faith for me and I look up to her spiritually! I love her dearly and don't know what I would do with out her!
Cassie- Cassie is my crying/venting to person! She has probably seen me cry more than anyone at HU (which is saying alot because I do not like to cry in front of people). She is a joy to have in my life. I love that she gets excited about the smallest things! We have similar senses of style...we sometimes wear things that people might think are weird! I look forward to my daily "how is your day going?" talks with her and feel slightly weird when I don't get to have that talk with her during the day!
Heidi- I love my Heids! To other people watching, it may seem like we are always making fun of each other or bickering....but I love that about us! She is a great encourager and notices the little things. She and I also have a lot of inside jokes that make me crack up even when I am not with her! I love going to SOBO with her and look forward to my Heidi arm squeezes!
Beth- Like Carrie, I haven't known Beth for very long. I am so glad God brought her into my life! She is someone that I look up to in so many ways! She is strong in her faith and is a shining light to everyone around her. Her calm quiet personality is a good balance to my craziness! I love how even though she seems calm and quiet...she can get crazy and make me die laughing! She is one of the best apartment mates a girl could ask for even though she is an international spy!
Those are my HU girls! I love them all so much! We had bible study last night minus Heidi because she wasnt feeling well :( It was amazing to see God work in our group last night! I am excited to see where the Lord will take these friendships in the next couple of years!

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

⁹ Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their work:

¹⁰ If one falls down,
his friend can help him up.
But pity the man who falls
and has no one to help him up!

Chapel Reflection

I really enjoyed chapel today! We had a speaker named Brenda Salter McNeal. She told the story of the invalid at Bethesda from John 5. She talked about prayer and how most of us think that prayer is a formula. Usually when I hear a sermon on this story the speaker focuses on the question, "Do you want to get well?" But today she talked about how Jesus talks about God always working and how he must always be working as well. I don't really have of spiritual intelligence to say in regards to her sermon...but I don't think I need to have that. The sermon just hit home with me!


Tonight is the first night of my groups of friends and I's bible study! I am excited to begin to grow closer to God as a group of Christian women!

I know she had brown eyes!!

I had a great weekend! It was filled with friends being crazy and awesome!

Friday night we went to see Andy Davis in concert at IWU! It was amazing! I loved every minute!

Andy playing the piano

All of us that went

We are pumped

Beth and I on our way!

Then Saturday night was Davis Hall Follies. Adam and I got third place!! It was super super fun!

Here we are performing!

After Davis Hall we took Wick's jacket and went on an adventure! It was super fun riding around on our bikes in the middle of the night! I love my friends!