It's Been a While

I'm back.

For today, anyways.

I don't have internet yet at my duplex, hence not blogging for a while and the low activity on facebook.

I got on campus early this morning to pull tickets for the game (whoop) and now I have some time to kill before Anna and Hannah get here. At first I was trying to think of something to do, and then I remembered that I hadn't written on here in a while. So I headed straight to the SCC, which is completely packed, by the way.

It's the first day of school! I think I'm a nerd, because I absolutely love the first day of school. I have been walking around campus a little this morning, and seeing all these students everywhere makes me want to pee in my pants. I get postively ecstatic! I love the hustle and bustle of kids trying to make it to class. I love seeing the freshmen with their cute first-day-of-school outfits, Fish Camp t-shirts and their campus maps. I love seeing the Fish Camp counselors with their dyed hair leftover from camp. I love seeing people I know as I walk across campus. I love the poster sales in Rudder Plaza. I love seeing the corps people whip out to each other. I even love the people who give out free newspapers and then try to sell you a subscription.

I love the first day of school! I absolutely love Texas A&M. It's pretty much the best school in the universe.

I guess this means that the summer is officially over. That's weird, because it just started not too long ago. Well, about 3.5 months ago, but it just flew by really fast. Let's do a recap of what happened this summer:

- took a Texas history class and made a B

- started going to Coffee Station very regularly

- met a wonderful guy at Coffee Station

- learned a lot about wisdom

- had some awesome Bible studies with my sister

- took a trip home to visit my family

- started hanging out with the people from Coffee Station a lot

- learned a lot about fellowship and the Body of Christ

- took a trip to a farm in Leona

- learned how to shoot a gun and fish

- started hanging out a lot with the wonderful guy I met at Coffee Station

- drove to Cypress to visit Ashley

- took a Pilates class and passed (it was pass/fail)

- took a Statistics class and made an A

- went to tutoring for the first time in my life

- saw about a bajillion movies

- got visited by my family about 3 or 4 times

- took a trip to Houston with the wonderful guy I met at Coffee Station

- learned a lot about the power of prayer

- started dating the wonderful guy I met at Coffee Station

- prepared for my British friends to come

- went to Dallas, Ft. Worth, Denton, Little Elm and McKinney with my British friends

- drove to College Station

- hung out in College Station and waited for school to start

There's probably a lot more things that should be on that list. But that should give you a rough idea of what I've been up to!

Anna and Hannah are still here, of course, so we are trying to plan lots of stuff to do in B/CS. We went to see Hairspray last night, and they loved it. You can't stop the beat! That is a fun movie with an even funner (it's a word, trust me) soundtrack.

Hopefully, soon, Nana will call me and tell me she will be on campus soon with the girls. I am going to finish giving my campus tour and then we're going to the George Bush Library. I've been here for 3 years and I've never been there. I'll let you know how that goes.

I love life.

God is good.

I'm out!

- Katie

Tremble

Your wickedness will punish you;
your backsliding will rebuke you.
Consider then and realize
how evil and bitter it is for you
when you forsake the LORD your God
and have no awe of me,"
declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty.
Jeremiah 2:19


Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore stand in awe of God.
Ecclesiastes 5:7


You came and chose to wear the skin of all of us
And it's easy to forget You left a throne

Face down on the ground do I dare
To take the liberty to stare at You

Oh let me not forget to tremble

Today's the Big Day!

Wow, 4 comments??? That made my week, y'all. Now let's see if we can step it up and exceed that number this time.

Only joking. :)

But it seriously did make me happy to get those comments! I guess parenting is thought-provoking...??

So anyways, TODAY IS THE BIG DAY!!!!! In 6.5 hours, I will be leaving to go pick up my friends from the airport. It's good that I have that much time, though, because I made a list of the things I really need to do today:

clean out the car
get gas in both cars
vacuum the house
buy food for Anna and Hannah for when they get off the plane and are hungry
get ice water ready
get a sandwich ready since I will be hungry after picking them up
make a country music CD for the drive home (gotta get them used to Texas straight away!)
wash/fold all laundry
clean bathrooms
get a map to the airport and print it out just in case

Is anyone else excited about the wintertime? I think I was reminded of the winter because I am wearing my cozy sweatshirt, which is something I haven't done all summer. I am excited about making my house all warm and cozy, wearing sweaters and scarves and gloves and possibly hats (we'll see about that one. I really want to be a hat person, but my hair is kinda difficult for that... that's another subject entirely). I want to light candles all throughout my house and play relaxing music. Most likely John Mayer. I can't wait to snuggle under blankets and watch Christmas movies. Most of all, though, I can't wait for the Christmas party! I can't explain how pumped I am!

Last night, Sarah came over with Deborah and Krista. We had a wonderful time eating Sonic (I rarely ever eat fast food, so that was good for me), having tea, cake and homemade chocolate chip cookies, playing poker (I almost won, but went all in and the very end. Christina took everything!!!) and watching a PBS documentary about ferrets. Sarah had rented it from Netflix. This documentary was insane... I can't believe how crazy people get about ferrets! Most of the people interviewed on this show were middle-aged, overweight women with way too much time on their hands. My favorite ferret person was one such woman who made up a song about ferrets. They showed her singing various verses at intervals throughout the show. Here's one of them (sorry Kellie, I stole this from your blog):

Priceless. We all learned the chorus and sung it every time it came on.

My favorite quote from the movie was this:

"It seemed that as I got older, I replaced my children with ferrets as they moved out of the house. The advantage was, I could put them in a cage, but they arrest you if you do that to your kids."

Funnily enough, it was the same lady who made up the song that said this...

So I had a dream last night where I lost my favorite shoes - the shoes I have worn every single day this summer (brown flip flops with gold straps). I was at some party or something, and I guess we all took our shoes off. I don't understand that, but whatever. Then I went back to collect them later, and someone had taken my shoes and left their own, which looked similar but definitely weren't the same size. I was very upset about this, which is kind of funny because last night I read about seeking the Kingdom first and not storing up treasures on Earth... Actually, come to think of it, the last time I read those verses (earlier this summer), I had a similar dream. I dreamed that someone stole the car that Carolyn and I share. Hmmm, that's very interesting... maybe God is trying to tell me something?

I wish I could pop my back. I think it needs to be popped right now, but I'm not sure how to do it.

Last night it started raining really hard, which made me really happy. It was thundering and lightning, too, which made me even more excited. I love thunderstorms! I just checked the weather, and it says that it's supposed to thunderstorm all day. I would be pretty happy about this, but I'll be driving to the airport. I don't like to drive to places I haven't driven before in bad weather. But whatev.

Well, I guess I should get a move on and get ready. I am hungry, my breath is not pretty, and I am in desperate need of a shower. Sounds like a recipe for disaster if I don't do something about it soon! :)

6 hours.

-Katie

Moms and Such

I have been working on a post with Carolyn for a few days now. It's been something that has been on my heart, but I'm not quite sure that the post is finished yet. It's times like these when I feel like my words are never good enough. I love to write, but my words don't seem to accurately convey the things that weigh so heavily on my heart. My mind seems to process those thoughts without words.

I wish there was a way to communicate without using words sometimes. Maybe that's why I like hugs so much. You don't have to say anything; a hug says it all: I love you, I'm excited to see you, I care about you, I'm here for you, Thank you, I'll miss you, You are important to me... the list goes on.

I am absolutely in love with this song:


Except that the version from the CD isn't so produced. It's simply the piano. You can go here to listen to it. Click on "Sophia." Kellie introduced me to her... :)

I think something is wrong with me. Well, maybe not wrong, but I'm definitely weird. I have become absolutely intreagued with moms. Maybe part of it is because that is something that seems to be built into the very core of my being. I can't wait to be a mom! It'll be amazingly difficult, but I am sure I will love it. I think that being around so many moms this summer (in my women's discipleship class, at church etc.) has made me think a lot. I want to know the Biblical way to raise children. I want to know what the Bible says about spanking. I want to know about a woman's Biblical position is with regards to parenting. I want to know what submission looks like in marriage (not so much a mom thing, but something I've been thinking a lot about also). I want to know if it's ok to tell kids that the tooth fairy isn't real, or that Santa doesn't exist. I want to know how much tv a child should be watching, and which shows are good or bad. I love talking to moms and watching them interact with their children. It's kind of creepy, I know. I guess I just think that maybe it's a good idea to think about this stuff before you have kids. Hmmm. It makes me want to get my life in order because your children will imitate you. According to the Bible, we are to teach our children and train them.

I stood in line at Walmart yesterday for about 10 minutes, and listened to a whole conversation between a mother and her teenaged son about chewing tobacco. She was trying to buy him some, and they didn't have the kind he liked. He was trying to descibe why each brand wasn't right, and his mom kept saying "I don't know what that means... I don't know a lot about this stuff." I seriously couldn't believe this mother was being educated about tobacco by her son! I also couldn't believe that she was perfectly ok with buying him that disgusting stuff. I don't really know why I'm telling this story. I guess I was just a little shocked, and it reminded me of the kind of mom I don't want to be. I will love my kids too much to let them get involved with stuff like that...

It's getting late. I should probably get to bed! I have a lot to do tomorrow to prepare for Anna and Hannah's arrival on SATURDAY!!! I freakin can't believe it.

Just for fun: this picture is for Austin. I don't have to explain anything - he'll understand! :)

-Katie

P.S.

I guess it is officially official! Ha. :)

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig...

I need a massage more than anything right now. I just spent the past couple hours driving in intense Dallas traffic and my back hurts pretty bad. But it doesn't matter that much because I'm home!

Home in Little Elm.

For a week and a half.

On Saturday, Anna and Hannah arrive. We will spend a few days after that hanging out in the DFW area, then we will head to College Station on the Wednesday or Thursday before school starts. I'm so excited!

I can't wait to show my British friends around big ol' Texas. After almost 10 years, they get to see where I lived before I moved to England. I will teach them all the Aggie traditions. They will melt in the hot sun. They will learn to two-step. They will see the Aggies win a football game. They will shop in the biggest mall in Texas.

We will have a blast.

My family came down to College Station on Friday to help me and Carolyn move into our new houses. I got everything (almost) set up, and it looks pretty nice! I love my new room. The best part is how dark it gets at night -- I no longer have a very bright light outside my bedroom window! Another thing I love is how much bigger my new room is from my old one (not much, but it feels like it!) and how much softer the carpet is. I love soft carpet!

Even though the weekend was crazy, we had a lot of fun with the family. We got to have a hamburger party on Saturday night with Austin, Natalie, Chris, Natalie's dad, Anna and Leigh Ann. I love hanging out with awesome people! My family really liked Austin, which is good. :) My dad even offered to give him his old road bike, which is a pretty big deal if you know my dad. Then last night, we went to Coffee Station and hung out with Chad, Wilfried, Anna, Natalie and Austin. I'm so glad Kellie got to meet everyone! There is never a dull moment there.

Anyways, so I'm home now, and Sarah is about to get here. We might head to the pool and relax a bit. My parents have gone to Pennsylvania for a week or so, and so it's just us girls here for a while. Good bonding time.

Well, Sarah Green is here, so I should go and hang out. Peace!

P.S. Don't ask me what that picture is... I don't even know where Little Elm Park is... haha!

Free.

It's really weird to look around my room and know that in two days, none of the stuff in it will be here. I really do love my bedroom - it's cozy and comfortable and it's actually pretty cute. Nana helped me to decorate it two years ago. It looks like everything in here was really expensive, but that was definitely not the case! Most of it was pretty cheap, and then the rest was free or handmade.

I will miss my bedroom.

Last night, me and four other college peeps from my comgroup gathered at the Tillery's house for dinner. Jennifer and I cooked spaghetti and cheesecake, and we sat around and talked for hours. It was the first time I had seen Greg all summer, and the last time I will see Justin for a very long time (he's moving back home for a year or so). Bittersweet times! I think one of my favorite things to do is cook and eat dinner with my friends.

I really do love to cook, but only when I'm cooking for someone. I love to have people over and enjoy their company. I especially love it when there are no deadlines, no one has to be anywhere, and we can just sit for hours and talk.

Acts 2 talks about the early church eating together:

Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Acts 2:46-47

Things happen when the church meets to eat together. I don't know what it is, but it is special. When I think of times where God has worked powerfully in the lives of my Brothers and Sisters in Christ, it is normally when we have met for dinner. It's an interesting thing.

On a funny note, Andrew was telling us about a fortune cookie he had recently got at a Chinese restaurant. It said, "You laugh now, but wait until you get home." Isn't that creepy? Haha.

Recently I have been thinking a lot about freedom. I think as Christians, we tend to settle when we are struggling with something. We may say something like, "This is something I'll be dealing with for the rest of my life."

Whether it be

depression

an eating disorder

pornography/other sexual sin

a horrible temper
alcohol/drugs

overeating

anything else.

Do we seriously think that God can't free us? Jesus came so that we may have freedom!

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1)

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. (2 Corinthians 3:17)

Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil. (1 Peter 2:16)

...because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:2)

You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. (Romans 6:18)

Those are just a few verses. God wants us to be free! Look at the end of Galatians 5:1 - it says to not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery, because we have been set free. The number of times Christians do this is phenomenal! We don't claim the freedom that we have.

In the Bible, becoming a Christian is often compared to a slave being set free, or a person becoming new.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17)

For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin -- because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. (Romans 6:6-7)

So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir. (Galatians 4:7)

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:11)

But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. (Romans 8:10)

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. (Colossians 2:13-14)

There's just a couple verses.

We were made to be free. God wants us to be free! If you read the Gospels, you will notice that Jesus is constantly healing people.

He cures the sick

heals the lame

gives sight to the blind

stops internal bleeding

raises people from the dead

and even feeds the hungry.

Not to mention, He changes hearts and transforms lives.

He has the power to change our lives and set us free.

This is what God wants to do in everyone's life. I have seen Him heal people who were told they would never walk again. I have seen Him cure people of illnesses. I have seen Him help a close friend lose 81 pounds in less than 7 months. I have seen Him give peace to the anxious. I have seem Him provide for those who don't know where their next meal is coming from. I have seen Him save people from a life of drugs and alcohol abuse.

He can change you, too! I don't want this to sound cheesy, but it's true. If you don't know Jesus, just know that He loves you and wants to change your life.

The freedom He gives is amazing - not to be burdened by something is a wonderful feeling! That is what God has done in me. :)

I am very excited about this weekend. My family is coming into town TOMORROW (I can't wait to see Kellie -- she has been in England all summer!) to help me and my sister move into our new houses. Saturday night, we are going to have a BBQ at Nana's house for my roommates and their parents. I can't wait. I really love my roommates a lot. I am going to miss living with them so much! I can't wait for Saturday night. My favorite people, all in one room together.

Amazing.

Have a blessed day.

-Katie

Key Lime Pie Flavored Yogurt is Really Good

I know, I know. I'm such a slacker.

I have been a very busy little person these past few days! Life is good. I am completely done with classes.

Well, I could be.

I am having this moral dilemma over my statistics class. I found out today that if I don't take the final, I have a B in the class. That's good, right?

I would have been happy with that, if my teacher wouldn't have said, "If you make an 83 or higher on the final, you will get an A." Hmmm. I really don't want to take the final, because it's cummulative, and that means more studying. Plus, getting an 83 on those tests is hard! I got an 85 on my last exam, and I only missed 3 questions. So... you see why I have having issues about it.

Maybe I need to believe in myself more.

I just really want to be done with summer school!

On a happier note, Anna and Hannah will be here in 12 days. 12 DAYS!!! That's so close. I really really can't believe it. I am planning lots of fun Texan things for them to do.

This morning, I felt like I was dreaming as I was walking to class. I had pilates at 8, but I got to the building at 7:30. As I was walking up to the doors, I saw tons of 50-65 year old farmer-looking guys everywhere. Overalls, hats, boots. They were all wearing them. As I got closer to the door, I noticed cows outside of the building. Inside was even weirder. There was some convention going on. Like a cattle auction thing. It was bizzare! At 7:30 in the morning! I'm pretty sure there were live animals inside the G. Rollie White building. Which is supposed to be reserved for volleyball. What a strange university I go to...

I'm sorry guys, but my mind really isn't in this right now. I need food, and that is preoccupying my thoughts.

I'll write soon.

You Can Have What's Left of Me

***I had to take Nick Lacey's face off my site. Seeing him there every time I came to this page was creeping me out. I don't really roll that way... I'll keep the video, though. Ha.***

So I listen to Nick Lachey... what's it to you? Haha. I just heard that song on the radio. If you sing along (like I do), you have to act it out and put passion and heart-felt agony into it. Just like Nick does. People may make fun of you as you drive past, but they don't understand the pain you are going through. You are half a man... wanting to be whole once again... because you want her, you feel her, crawling underneath your skin... like a hunger, like a burning.... you're broken...

Ok I'll stop now. I'm sorry, but I feel goofy.

I realize that I haven't blogged in a while. I'm sure you have been suffering greatly. Not really. My life has been a little hectic, apart from the 6 hours a day I spend in Coffee Station. That part is actually quite relaxing. I seriously love that place.

I am nearing the light at the end of the tunnel... the tunnel of summer school. I finished my pilates class today, pretty much (provided my grade is high enough that I don't have to take the final, which I'm sure it is). I had my last stat lecture yesterday and my last stat lab today. Tomorrow I have a test, and if my grade is high enough for that, I won't have to take the final in that class either. And I really don't want to take it. We'll see.

Turkey is definitely nature's candy. I love it. What an amazing meat, y'all.

I'm very ADD today. I don't have anything interesting to say. It's raining outside. I love it. The sound makes me happy, like always. I guess this means more crickets. Whoop.

Ok I have to take a shower now. Maybe once I've calmed down I'll post again. Because the more typing I do right now, the worse it gets for everyone involved (my brain starts going crazy, and you guys have to read it).

Shower time.

-K



Now that was just for fun. Hahahahaha......