32 days?!

First of all, let me say I have absolutely no idea where my time has gone here! I could have sworn that I just got here! I now have 2 weeks and 3 days left of class, and 3 weeks of the exam period left. Basically only 32 days left in Australia. I have so much to do before then!!!!

So, since the end of the semester is approaching, I have had to buckle down on my studying. This semester hasn't been too strenuous b/c most of my grade depends on my exam. Uh oh... That means that during the entire semester I was supposed to be reading and studying to prepare? Oopss... :) Well, while I may joke saying that I haven't done much, I really have kept up with my schoolwork pretty well (definitely considering I am in AUSTRALIA with a lot of distractions!). But, since I only have 3 weeks before my exams start, I really feel like I should put even more emphasis on my class readings and studies. Naturally, that means I have been finding more ways to procrastinate (Isn't that always how it goes? You decide to study more and end up finding more things to distract you? It's weird.) Anyway, my current distraction has been American Idol. Yes... I am definitely a fan. I love music and singing (and even though I am an ok singer, I am definitely NO American Idol.). So, since I love music and singing, I love the last few episodes of the show. You know the ones where the people are actually really good and have wonderful voices? I don't particularly care for the first few episodes where there are people trying out whose friends and family should have told them to look elsewhere for their calling. Well... I could not decide on who I wanted to win this season, because I loved both. I will say that I did like Scotty's deep singing voice! Definitely Josh Turner-ish... :) So, American Idol then led me to doing a little catching up on my favorite former American Idol winner, Carrie Underwood. Can you tell I am a country music fan? While hearing all of her new songs (that I LOVE), I also found out that she is going to be in the movie Soul Surfer. If you have not heard anything about the movie, it is definitely one to see! The movie trailers and interviews will leave you inspired and believe that with God anything is possible, so I can not even imagine how the movie will leave you! I can not wait to go see it in theaters! Anyway, in one of the interviews, Carrie was giving a recipe for a personal pizza. Since I have been trying to come up with new lunch options (I'm getting a little tired of sandwiches) that are healthy, this seemed like the perfect recipe to try. It is delicious and not bad for you at all! I have a feeling I will definitely be bringing that recipe back home. :)

Ok... Don't think I have been in my room watching American Idol and listening to music all day. You know Australia has way more to offer than that! I have been taking swing dance classes and attended a hip-hop/jazz dance class last week. They are both so much fun! Also, I have gotten in the habit of spending Sundays in the city before going to church. This Sunday I ended up going to the city and walking around for a few hours in Rundle Mall as well as doing my devotion in a coffee shop. Sundays have always been my favorite day of the week, so I'm glad that I've found a way to enjoy my Sundays here in Australia like I do at home. After a wonderful church service, a nice woman took me to the bus stop so that I did not have to walk about a 1/4 mile to the bus. So, now that I have finally gotten in a schedule that I enjoy, it is almost time for me to leave!

So, I have been doing a couple different devotionals (Rick Warren on youversion.com and a daily one from Jesus Calling). That time with God daily definitely keeps me in good spirits and I can tell when my time has been cut short! So, I want to leave with a message from Jesus Calling that I absolutely love!: "Approach each new day with desire to find Me. Before you get out of bed, I have already been working to prepare the path that will get you through this day. There are hidden treasures strategically placed along the way. Some of the treasures are trials, designed to shake you free from earth-shackles. Others are blessings that reveal My Presence: sunshine, flowers, birds, friendships, answered prayer. I have not abandoned this sin-wracked world; I am still richly present in it. Search for deep treasure as you go through this day. You will find Me all along the way." So often I find myself just going through the day without paying much attention to things around me. I'm in a hurry to get to my next class or I'm trying to get back to my room to get some work done. After reading that, I have been trying to pay attention to everything around me. If God has placed treasures around me, I want to see and experience them!!! :)

Have a great week everyone!

God has a sense of humor!

So, yesterday I spent the afternoon playing tennis (which I love doing!) and came back to a Disney movie marathon with other people in the hall! I absolutely love Disney movies so that event was perfect for me! Well, yesterday was also supposed to be the beginning of the rapture according to Harold Camping at about 6 PM. Well, as my brother likes to say, I'm living in the future, and when 6 PM came here, I guess God decided that He wanted to play a little joke on everyone in Australia. We were all in the middle of watching Beauty and the Beast when about 2 minutes til 6 it started lightning. Now, this is the first thunderstorm that Adelaide has had since I've been here. I do NOT enjoy thunderstorms in the least bit. I love rain, but thunder, lightning, and wind have always terrified me. So, when I saw that lightning, I was trying really hard to just focus on the movie. Disney movies are a lot more fun than thunderstorms. Well, with the first lightning strike, every single person in the room ran outside or to a window. I was the ONLY person still sitting in my seat. As you can guess, I was a little bewildered. So, I asked the people who were gathered around the window what in the world they were all doing. They then responded with, "Maybe the world really is going to end!" When they said that, I literally could not help myself from laughing. As they were thinking that the world possibly was going to end, I had a picture in my mind of God whispering to Jesus, "Watch this!" and when He sent the lightning and everyone went running, I could just see both of them getting a good laugh.

Now, I definitely do not think that Jesus' returning should be anything to joke about or make fun of. For all Christians, we should be rejoicing in the thought that He will return someday and should be mourning for those who do not know Him. However, I do think God enjoys a good laugh every now and then. :) Come on, He created all of us, so what creator doesn't like to play with their creations sometimes?

So thankful that I am the result of the aftermath!

First off, let me start off by saying that whoever said being a Christian is boring has obviously never seen Hillsong UNITED live! They are jumping and dancing all over the place, and I loved every bit of it!

Ok... Now, Truth. This is actually really hard to share, because it means that I am vulnerable and let's be honest. No one likes to be vulnerable.

So, this semester has been harder than I could have ever imagined. I have been dealing with a challenge in faith, a challenge in friendships, a challenge in self, and well... just challenges. Well, my recent (ok... not so recent, just current) challenge has been in my self. Now, I know most girls have probably faced this little demon: Body image. If you haven't, put your guard up, because that challenge is coming. I blame it on the devil using the media's "thin mindset" against us. Well, I have a history of dealing with this little demon in not so great ways. It's one of my downfalls that until now not many people know about. Anyway, it's recently been a challenge for me to climb. And, to be honest, I wasn't doing such a great job in climbing that mountain. When life gets hard, I tend to run. Why? I don't know. Anyway, so I may not have been doing a good job of climbing the mountain, but I was doing a perfectly great job of running from it. However, in running (physically and metaphorically) from this challenge, I was also running from God. A little lesson that you should learn from me: You can't outrun God, and you can't hide from Him either. It just doesn't work. God is the perfect seeker!

Alright, a couple of months ago, I signed up for the Hillsong One Day Conference. At the time, I was super excited and could not wait for the day to come. But, since I have been trying to avoid confronting God, I was not so sure how I felt about it when the day arrived. I really did not want to get up at 5:30 AM so that I could get on a bus for an hour and a half at 6:30. I also was not so sure about going alone. I kind of wanted a friend to be there. (Being alone ended up being the best thing that could have happened. It was just me and God for an entire day!) However, there was the bigger part that really did want to go and didn't want to lose that $30. :) So, I got on the bus and arrived at Paradise Community Church (where the conference was held) about an hour and a half early. It was either be that early or be late. If you know me, you know I can not stand being late! So, thankfully I arrived early, because my wristband still had not come in the post. I got to the registration table and explained that to them. At first the response was, "No problem. We'll look on our list. What's your surname?" So, the devil REALLY did not want me at that conference. My name was not on that list. They then called the conference headquarters and it was not in their system either. On top of that, my confirmation email was automatically deleted by hotmail and my mail had decided to completely reset itself about 2 weeks ago causing me to lose all of my emails. (The volunteers were all looking at me like I was completely crazy or trying to get in for free. Either one wasn't good.) So, I had no proof that I had signed up. At this point, I was ready to give up and was actually on the verge of tears (come on... I had been up since 5:30 and had been on a bus for over an hour!). However, I decided on one more try. I tried to look up my bank account to see if the purchase was online. Well, I was so flustered that nothing was going right that I failed to read the print that it is "caps sensitive". So, it would not allow me into my account for anything. Thankfully, I calmed down and read that before giving up. I was then able to get into my account and show them that I had paid for both the day and night. Whew! That was definitely not easy. Listen here devil, God's bigger than you! (THANK GOODNESS... Because I certainly was not).

Ok, so I was meant to be at this conference. Every single thing spoken in the sessions seemed to apply to me. Like BAM! BAM! BAM! The first speaker Casey Treat (from Seattle, Washington!) basically said what I had been avoiding straight out: "Get comfortable with yourself, and enjoy who you are; it is a better witness." Seriously? Are you kidding me? were the two thoughts going through my mind. Casey also said that you are anointed to be "You" and no one else! Yep... I could go on and on about how absolutely wonderful ALL of the sessions were, but you just can't understand it without being there. So, God completely broke me down and built me back up again. I am revived and have no doubt that these next 6 weeks are going to be completely amazing! I can not wait to experience them!

I'm going to leave you with one little thought that I loved from the conference. Actually I loved a lot, but that would take hours to write. Ok, I take that back. I'm going to leave with 2 thoughts. :)

#1Bobbie Houston (one of the pastors of Hillsong) gave the analogy that God sees us as a garden. God tends to the garden of the Church and with Him as the tender, that garden is going to explode with life in the darkness! God sees us as a GARDEN! I don't know about you, but I think gardens are absolutely gorgeous and one of the greatest creations God could have ever made. I could honestly spend a whole day sitting in the garden smelling the flowers and just admiring the beauty.

#2 We are in a BLOOD covenant with Christ. Jesus Christ shed His blood and has covered all our sin with it. That puts us in a blood covenant. Well, there will always be bloodsuckers that will try to suck the blood out of you. (This is where the analogy comes. A leech is called a "bloodsucker". Well, do you know how to get leeches off of you? Shake salt on them. They can not live in salt and will immediately back away.) Well, we're in luck, because Jesus said in Matthew 5 that we are the salt of the earth! So, when a bloodsucker tries to suck the blood out of you, just "Shake some salt on them, and say 'My God is bigger and is able!'" My day was absolutely amazing, and I could not have spent it any better way. So, I'm going to go to bed for now, but I may post a few other things from the conference as I go over them some more. :)

6 weeks and 5 days...

Yes. You read that right. I only have 6 weeks and 5 days until I board the plane for home. I'm having a few mixed emotions about that. I'm ready to see everyone at home who I have missed so much, but I don't want to leave the good friends I've made here. I am definitely ready for summer, but it is so gorgeous here! So, I only have 20 days of classes left, 1 "study week" with no classes, and 2 weeks of exams. Oh... something I am also ready for is a good home cooked meal! This cafeteria food is just not cutting it!

On to other news, I haven't really been too busy the past few weeks. Last Friday, a huge group from the Hall (where I am living) went to the city to a place called the Woolshed. Ok, so this is a bar downtown with a MECHANICAL BULL!! Those of you who know me know that I really enjoy a challenge (maybe a little too much sometimes). I was so excited to try my luck on a mechanical bull. I don't really understand the appeal, but it was even more appealing once I saw that the blow up ring that you are thrown onto was an American flag. Yep... challenge accepted. The majority of the people who try their hand at a mechanical bull are pretty intoxicated, so I had the mislead belief that since I was not intoxicated I would have an easier time holding onto that bull. Boy was I wrong. Lesson #1: Do not wear blue jeans when you are going to ride a mechanical bull. They make you slide off the bull really easy. Lesson #2: It is just as hard to get onto the bull as it is to hold on (especially if you are a little vertically-challenged). Lesson #3: It is NOT easy! Ok, so I did ok the first time, but the second time (you are given 3 times), I ended up cutting a back flip. Don't ask me how, because I had no control over that. It did look pretty impressive on the video though. :) Anyway, along with the back flip, I somehow managed to hit the side of my face on the body of the bull. I got out of that turn with a nice bruise on the side of my face that was a pretty blue and later on in the week a pretty yellow. That did not stop me from finishing my 3 turns though. My third turn started off with the decision that I was going to run and jump onto the bull to make it easier on myself. I'm telling you, this thing was made for men so it is really hard for a short girl to get on. Well, I ended up backwards on the bull. Once I turned around so that I could hold onto the rope, I did not last long my third turn. It really is not as easy as I was hoping. However, I plan on going back to conquer that bull before I leave! Hopefully I will be posting later that I stayed on the bull for as long as they will allow. :) But, for those of you who would like to try your luck at a mechanical bull, remember: Do not wear jeans (I would recommend shorts) and do not take it lightly. Along with being completely owned by a machine, I had the best time dancing. I had not danced that much in a while, so I was enjoying the oldies being played (Cotton-eyed Joe, Summer of 69, etc.)! I got back that night and realized that I had definitely danced for about 4 hours straight. Oh! I also taught some of the Australians the Electric Slide. They had never seen the dance! I still don't know what they do when the song comes on. I just don't understand.

Fridays must be dancing nights, because last night we had Swing Dance class. Swing dancing is a lot like Shag dancing at home, so I basically knew what to do. What made the class interesting was that there were only 2 males and about 15+ females. So, I ended up being the "male" and learning how to lead. Since swing dancing is so similar to shag dancing, I was doing everything backwards. It was extremely confusing for me and my partner, because I tended to go into the opposite step a few times. Oh well.... It was a lot of fun and next week, I'm going to have a male partner go with me so that I don't get confused! :)

I will never forget...

Today, as I watched the President's address, I remembered very vividly where I was on September 11, 2001 as Alan Jackson says, "when the world stopped turning". I was in Mrs. Starla McRae's 6th grade Social Studies class. I remember seeing the tears in her eyes that she was trying so hard to hold in. I remember the feeling of complete terror that I felt and the chills going through my body as I watched the replay of the first plane hitting the World Trade Center. I remember the increase in terror that I felt as I watched the second plane hit. Nothing felt right at that time and nothing can describe the exact feeling. I remember going home and sitting in front of the television all afternoon watching the events of the day unfold. And, I remember the feeling deep down inside that all Americans were feeling. The feeling of complete hatred for someone. A hatred I had never felt before.

Today, as the feelings and events of that September day almost 10 years ago came flooding back, I began to think that I will always remember THIS day. Where was I when the American troops finally killed the person responsible for the murders of 3,000 fellow Americans? When I found out that Osama Bin Laden was dead, I was in my room in University Hall at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia where even the Australians know on the other side of the world how big of a day this is for America and the world. I may not be in America right now, but my heart is sure there. I am so proud to be an American and will forever remember the soldiers, civilians, and rescue workers who lost their lives due to 9/11.