Clown Car
No one in my family had ever been to the west coast except my little nephew who didn’t remember it because he was so small and my brother in law, Lance. WE started our adventure by piling our suitcases to the ceiling in a Saturn Outlook and all around us. Whew! It was CRAZY! We rode all the way to the Little Rock Airport. Then, we had to get through airport security. Mom got stopped with pudding in our handy dandy snack bags. 

Drake was really excited about flying. Logan was kind of scared. When we were finally in the air, Logan was fine. He talked to me the entire time. 

Viva Las Vegas
We finally arrived in Las Vegas. It was about 5 p.m. When we finally got to the strip, we went to eat in the Hard Rock Casino. Steak, shrimp,  and potatoes were great. We then drove down the Las Vegas strip to lok at all of the beautiful lights. 

The Hoover Dam 
We went and surprisingly spent most of the day there touring inside and outside of the dam. It was beautiful.

The Grand Canyon from Afar
We went to the Grand Canyon on the West side that was closer than the other and it was going to be over $40 a person to see the canyon. How sad the God’s creation cost so much. 

Cowboy Town
 Since we couldn’t go to the canyon we found this cute little ranch. They taught us all kinds of cowboy and Indian skills. We threw axes, shot bow and arrows, and had draws with blanks in guns. 

14 Hours in the Car
 The next day, we started toward San Francisco. We went through Death Valley, which was beautiful and dead. We also traveled through Yosemite National park. The snow capped mountains were beautiful. There were lakes all around the park and beautiful evergreen trees. 

We have only been gone for a few days but it feels like a lot longer. It has been a lot of fun and we have done a lot of things and seen a lot of new, beautiful sights.

lblocke:

Obviously, there’s been a lot of discussion about the new tuition structure at FHU. Here’s a quick breakdown of the facts and my thoughts on the good, bad, and the ugly about FHU’s new tuition.

What Is It?

Essentially, two things have happened:

1. There are no more fees. General, Technology,…

Stress is something we all feel like we have every semester especially when you are an upperclassmen. 

This is a cool acronym that I found that embodies how we need to think about stress:

Stop THINKING. Real EFFORT Stops Suffering. 

aryzyra:

—Pastor Ru dela Torre

Whew… What a semester… Aready?…YES!

It is hard to “have fun” when you feel like you barely have time to get everything done that needs doing in a week.

I have School Work (the most amount of work that I have ever had while at Freed), Class, an internship, teaching a Bible class, and well the list could continue on, but some thing super important that I decided this year is when you feel overly stressed to immediately stop and pray. So far, it is working wonders for me. It is incredible how taking 30 secs or however long it takes to give it to God can truly be a relieving feeling.

So, I challenge you that if you get to where you feel like the world is overbearing, it isn’t just pray and give it to God. It is like a nice shot of espresso that gets you through that moment. 

If there is one thing that is not permissible, it is not having a Sunday afternoon nap.I do not know why, but it seems like if I miss this monumental weekly event, the rest of my week is thrown completely off.  What are the benefits of such an important occasion?

They are

- Being completely Rejuvenated after a LONG week

- Getting over an illness

-Mentally resting before the week ahead

-Me being in a much more personable mood the rest of the day/ week. 

-Praying

-Being refreshed for all of the homework that has been put off all weekend until Sunday night, so it can be finished with precision and grace. 

-It continues family tradition

-Etc. 

As you can clearly see, the essentialness of a Sunday Afternoon Nap. Things couldn’t be the same without  one. I will continue the family tradition that I wish could be practiced every single day, but even if I can’t get a nap any other day of the week, I better get one on Sunday afternoon.

Makin’ Music is often on of the most stressful times on Freed Hardeman’s campus hands down throughout the year. But through Makin’ Music, I have learned and am learning more each year valuable characteristics about myself and others. 

1. Time management is ESSENTIAL! 

2. ALWAYS be positive. It makes things more fun.

3. Do not stress over things. God will always provide a way for you to get through any situation. Philippians 4:13

4. Remember to pray. Prayer will help get  you through ANYTHING. 

5. Spending time with friends is priceless. Especially when they are always uplifting and encouraging. 

So, thank you Makin’ Music for another great year that I will never forget. 

Have you ever just sat and done nothing. I mean nothing for hours. It can be anywhere. Laying in your bed staring at the ceiling, sitting in a chair in your living room, staring blankly at a television that you didn’t even bother to turn on. Nothing. As I laid in my bed attempting to do nothing my mind went all over the place. It isn’t possible to do nothing because we are always doing something even if it is thinking and not moving.

I decided shortly there after to pray. How often do you have time to just sit and pray to God? Telling Him things that he already knows about you and begging Him for forgiveness and pleading with Him to give you things that you want in you life.

Prayer is a special time that a lot of Christians take for granted, me included. How great is it that we get to talk to God whenever we want no matter what we are doing. God is never to busy to hear us. He is always looking out for us and always giving us exactly what we need when we need it. He helps us through hard times. He picks us up when we fall, wipes off our scratch and kisses our ouchy. He is our Dad.

What is the hesitation. Why is it that we only remember to talk to Him when things are really bad or really good. If we make prayer a habit as the Bible commands “pray without ceasing,” we are constantly thinking about God and ways that we can praise Him and glorify Him in our daily lives. Wouldn’t that keep us from a lot of heartache and out of a lot of trouble. I think so. I know that when I am going through a hard time, God will always be there to pick me right back up.

I now realize that my nothing is not nothing,

it is SOMETHING BIG.

So what are college kids suppose to do when they have a million tests the next week and need so form of break from school? Make over 200 Cookies of course. My Dad’s new kitchen has now been the victim of lots of baking. After practicing the normal “Sleep in Saturday,” Britt and I woke up, made pancakes, and baked all day long. It was GREAT!!! WE talked about all of the nasty homework that we should of been working on and life in general. We made three different kinds of cookies:

1. Sugar Cookies with Icing and Sprinkles (My personal favorite)

2. Brownies with M&Ms (Britt’s Favorite)

3. Oreo Truffles with Christmas Sprinkles

4. Chocolate Chip Cookies. (I didn’t take a picture sorry!)

And no set of cookies is complete without a cookie family.

Now after all the baking was over, the fun began… STUDYING FOR TESTS AND FINALS. YUCK! 

What can you learn from baking cookies? Taking you time and thinking things through can make a lot of people happy. 

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God.” -Romans 8:28

Lately, I have had a lot of people have been discovering how large my family is. I am often ask questions with dazed expressions like “How do you do it?” or comments like “I could never grow up with that many people.” The one thing that I always tell people is that you can do anything if you love someone. 

My dad and step mom got married six and a half years ago which literally doubled the size of our family. I went from being the oldest to being the middle child. I am the youngest girl, but I am older than all of the boys. Generally when I am explaining everyone to someone who is asking, it helps if I have my picture timeline so they can see in order. It goes:

Kayla, Kristen, Haley, Christopher, Zachary, Logan

The hardest part about the mix was deciding who was going to be the boss. We eventually decided that the sisters would run the dictatorship over the little brothers. As we got older, we all became like best friends. That is how you deal with a bug family. You love them so much that you are willing to make sacrifices for one another and do anything for them at a moments notice. 

Although we are now all scattered across the United States and Tennessee, we still love each other just as much. Our house is very hectic on holidays. We have to catch up from the last time we saw one another, which was generally months and moths ago. One thing you will notice if you ever meet our family is the love and respect we show one another. Most of my friends that have come and stayed with me generally make a statement like “I wish I had a family like yours, you can really tell that you love and care about each other.” I jokingly reply most of the time, “Well you can have them, at least for a little while.” I am pretty sure my parents have developed a philosophy of “the more the merrier.” Since we have so many children in my family, holidays seem to multiply every year. Here are some numbers for you:

If every kid gets married we will have 14 people for holidays.

If every kids only has 2 children, we will have 26 people for holidays. This is just immediate family. 

Our family is going to be huge. A few things I say about my family is that it is large and we do have a lot of love, but the best thing is we all have the same goal, to help each other get to heaven.