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| this will be my one post for the next couple months or so  i've been a little overwhelmed lately. but excited at the same time. dave got me a journaling bible for our anniv. and it's so flipping amazing. i used to be skeptical about flashy bibles and look down on them, thinking that God's word should allure people, not a special layout. but now, i feel differently....i have been reading my bible like never before. i love to write and it makes me want to get out my bible all the time! plus since i take notes in the margins it forces me to dig deeper into the text. God is so cool! only 7 or 8 weeks of school left....aggghhhh! and 3 months minus one day til the big day. i'm so blessed to have friends around me who are so supportive of me. i love these girls!!!!!!!!!! i'm just so blessed in general. thanks father. | | |
| i just missed church for the third sunday i've been in columbus  i'm pretty frustrated. this time it's semi-valid....my alarm on my phone got screwed up because of daylight savings. arrghh. in any case, i JUST woke up because of that stupidity. so i'm holding a grudge against my phone for the rest of the day, even though i should be happy i got an extra hour of sleep. last week was good. i finished atonement and it was pretty awesome. i'd highly recommend it. unfortunately the day that we discussed it i slept in. doesn't that suck? i LOVE participating in class discussiosn when i know what i'm talking about. anyway....this week will be good, too. my app is due on wednesday, thank God i can get it out of my life. and monday is the main event! i'm so excited and i can't wait to see how it goes. if you guys are in columbus, COME. it's at 7 pm monday night at st. john arena. it'll be flipping awesome. this weekend was fun. dave came up for manda's last game, and my mom made halloween bags for everyone in my house. lol. dave also helped with the fliers and handed out 25 (lol he counted). it was kind of slow in our area. i'm so proud of him  speaking of him....he's awesome. he spent some time reassuring me last night about how God's in control and loves us. i know i'm weird but sometimes my morbidity gets out of hand - especially when i watch movies or tv or other stuff. like, when someone in a couple dies tragically. which happened (kind of) in the movie we watched last night...sliding doors. i've seen it before. but that doesn't mean i wasn't sad. and it doesn't mean that i am wise enough not to conflate my life with the devastation that makes for a good film. anyway, i started getting a little upset but we prayed, read the word, and he generally tried to calm me down. what a sweetheart. as far as wedding stuff...things are still falling into place, one by one. i ordered the dresses for the girls. we booked the string trio. etc. i can't believe it's less than 6 months away. i've gotten used to it by now but somehow because of that i'm a little weirded out. good weird, though. definitely good weird. | | |
| well..... on some levels, and at some points in time recently, i've felt a little claustrophobic. i mean, i'm always claustrophobic, but in this case, i mean time-wise. like, deadlines and assignments and applications are piling up and i have officially never been this much of a slacker in my life. did you ever watch that show about the family who ended up in their jeep in the land of the dinosaurs? i forget what it was called....i know it's not harry and the hendersons but it reminds me of that in what vague recollection i have of it....anyway. on that show, in one episode, there's some kind of weirdness going on and their house starts shrinking. and the dad is in this room, and the walls and ceiling start closing in on him and thinking about it makes me shudder. ugh. that's how i've been feeling lately. so you think i would want to do something about it, right? be proactive, as the poster on my wall instructs me. wrong. and the worst part about it is EVERYBODY in my life right now is praising me for being so lax - they keep saying "oh, laura, your memories with your friends are going to be the parts of college that you remember" or...."this is your last year, live it up" or other such nonsense. basically my housemates are a really bad influence on me. i'm the victim here i guess it goes hand in hand with my recent convictions of being a better friend. sometimes i can be thoughtful but sometimes, when it matters most, i miss out on an opportunity to serve a friend. that happened recently and it broke my heart. luckily things worked out and i apologized, but i've resolved to make this quarter about serving others, and not myself. in action group we're doing a study on david. i'm not going to lie, i've heard great things about beth moore, but i had my doubts after the introduction to the study the first week. now things are going great, though. one of my fatal flaws is being overly critical in general, and specifically speaking, critical about writing style and delivery. God has been teaching me that even though something may not be as eloquent as i'd like it or maybe a little bit too campy for my taste, He can still use it to make me stronger. i've been learning more and more to swallow my pride in order to learn something from God. if you could, pray that i get things done. my grad app is due NOVEMBER 1!!!!!!! in 1.5 weeks i will be a freer, happier girl | | |
| so..... life is grand. it really is. the first couple weeks of school i felt like i was drowning....not in a terrible way. it's hard to explain. in any case, i felt really overwhelmed and things felt out of control. good thing i have Someone to control those things. now that everything has finally settled down a little, i'm really liking this year. dave is wonderful, as usual. it was his bday last weekend so we got to spend extra time together and hung out with my fam and stuff. lots of good times. i got him an awesome gift, if i do say so myself, and we had fun catching up on lost together. last night we talked a little about marriage and stuff....how God is preparing us while we're apart to be ready for a life together. that comforts me, because during the week i miss him a lot. classes are great; even my pointless education class is slowly but surely getting better. there is this one guy in there who talks to everyone like they're dirt, which obviously bothers me. i need to remember not to judge him though....i don't know his story. maybe he just needs to feel valued. i LOVE having a class with my sister. we're taking shakespeare and film together and it's amazing. every tuesday we watch a film in there so we've resolved to make a treat for the class on monday nights. we're the coolest, i know. real life is going well.....God is really doing amazing things in my life, even though it's so easy for me to show him no respect. i've resolved to make spending time with him a priority. i had the best quiet time today :) i started reading hosea and it's really awesome. for all you ladies lamenting the engagement epidemic, i found these verses and thought of you, because i've definitely been there: i will betroth you to me forever; i will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. i will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the LORD.
hosea 2:19-20 now, of course that applies to all of us, but women, i thought you could use a boost i'm looking forward to this weekend. i'm actually going to go because i have a buttload of homework, but i'll get to see dave, plus ngofeen is going to be in town! woot :) | | |
| so who knows if i'll really keep up with this again, but i'm in the mood, not feeling the need to commit or anything. lol it sounds like i'm starting up a relationship for crying out loud. speaking of which....i'm engaged. pretty cool huh? i think so. april 07 baby. it's wedding planning CRAZINESS here in cville, at least until i go back to school next weekend. i'm praying that God will sustain us through all the hectic chaos of it all. and especially me and dave....like, spiritually. this sounds trite, but i never really fully understood the need for the engagement stage of a relationship, but it's a time of mega spiritual prep for marriage. it's awesome! and fully underrated. if anybody has good book suggestions in that realm, holla. this weekend was real life summit and shep retreat. pretty freakin awesome. do you know what i learned? that i love Jesus. like insanely love him. and i'm not being stupid, it's really that simple. funny that all we talked about in project was getting back to the basics, and lest i forget, God is bringing it up again. saweet. all in all, i just feel so blessed. my heart breaks for the french, for the people in the middle east, for the families affected by 9/11, for my fellow students who don't have the same hope or joy that i do....i remember during project i was walking down the promenade sharing with jim on one of the last days there....and it just looked so bleak. everything did. thousands of people milling around, completley oblivious of the fact that their lives have NO purpose. i never really felt a connection with ecclesiastes until then. meaningless. i felt like i wanted to yell it and shake them. not out of condemnation, but desperation. but as good ol sarah hope has reminded me time and again, i need to get on my knees and pray, since i can do nothing else. i'm excited to start school and meet new people, i'm excited to start freshman bible study, i'm excited to reenter the fellowship of crusade, and i'm dreading saying "so long for a little while" to my love. | | |
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