It’s official, my final spring break of college has begun!!! The Great Florida Tour of ’09 is here!! We’re only one day in…and it’s already been…pure awesomeness!!! I survived my lit test on Thursday(my only test of the week – Rob had four midterms!) and so yesterday I spent some time cleaning my room before heading off to Ocala to start off our adventure with a blast!! Me and Rob and Galan and Laurie and Marianne and Katheryn and Jess T. all drove south to Ocala(stopping on the way at Payne’s Prairie to watch a most excellent sunset!). We eventually made it to Ocala where we stayed at Laurie’s house!

We had a magnificent evening of eating home-cooked lasagna and salad and good conversations before relaxing in the living room drinking coffee and listening to Rob serenade us on the piano…it was most relaxing just being with friends(and friends’ parents!) and talking and enjoying a beautiful night!!

After a good night’s sleep, got up this morning to a yummy breakfast of eggs and bacon and biscuits and more coffee and then we explored Laurie’s yard! And before you think that exploring a yard couldn’t have been that interesting, Laurie’s family has some thirty acres of property, including cows and everything! So we walked around for a while, before discovering some awesome mounds that made for a perfect mini-game of capture the flag! After we wore ourselves out playing that, we went back to the house and cooled off by sticking our feet in the pool. At this point, Mary and Allison came down from Gville and then we all went off to Rainbow Springs!

We spent a happy afternoon there playing frisbee, pseudo-volleyball, and swimming in the springs…topped off by a nice picnic lunch. Nothing better than eating outside in the beautiful early-spring air!! As the sun set, we decided it’d be good to head back to Gainesville, so we made the drive back, whereupon me and Rob and Galan discovered our apartment drastically needed cleaning…especially since the girls were going to eat dinner with us at our place! So we did a quick(yet thorough!) cleaning of our place and then the girls(Laurie, Katheryn, Mary, Allison and Jess) came back and made a yummy dinner of spaghetti, garlic bread, zucchini..mmmm!! My stomach was most impressed!

The topping off of the night was the best part…we read(well, actually Rob) the first four chapters of John(we’re going to be reading through that this spring break, YES) and then we indulged in some coffee and more good discussions. Wow. God is good. And that’s pretty much all I can say.

The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming(He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.” – John 4:25-26

Some boast in chariots and some in horses,
but we will boast in the name of the Lord, our God.
They have bowed down and fallen,
but we have risen and stood upright.
Save, O Lord;
May the King answer us in the day we call.
-Psalm 20:7-9

Amen and Amen!!!!!!

Why am I writing…I don’t know!! I just thought I should, since I’m in the Christian Study Center right now, and it seems I do half my entries from here. Maybe it’s because I’m trying to escape my homework. Yep, I’m sure that’s it. Even though my homework right now is pretty fun. I need to write about a “first” of my adolescent life in either a short story or poem…I have no idea what to write about. Any ideas??

And in other news, the weekend was pretty sweet(as always!!) Last night after Prayer and Praise(in which we did NOT watch the Super Bowl…didn’t really care what happened there), me and Rob and Drew came back to our place and chilled, watching the Ten Commandments. Epicness. Yes.

Ok, I really actually want to write a long post just about the nature of life and emotions and random stuff like that…but I think instead I will pour my muse’s energy into doing my lit homework. Once I think of an idea…hmmm….

Back to staring out the window into the rain. Farewell, all!!

Such a great day!!! I am going to sleep soon, but I just had to write a few lines on how lovely today was!! Woke up today and made some bacon and hot chocolate…and then me and Rob and Andrew just chilled at our apartment relaxing and NOT doing homework. Then for some reason I felt pretty tired…so took about a three hour nap. GLORIOUS. After that, I felt so awesome…apparently, I really needed the sleep!

Later this evening, went over to the Lebos house for Mrs. Lebo’s 50th birthday surprise party!!! It was great times(and she was indeed surprised!!). I had a most enjoyable time…meeting a bunch of the Lebos’ cousins, hanging out with tons of awesome people, drinking way too much coffee, playing Assassin, watching crazy homemade videos, making more crazy videos, dancing in the kitchen…fun times or WHAT. I am indeed blessed to have such good friends!!! God is so good to me…He always has been and I am confident that He always will be. Have a great night, all!!

Once again I am chillaxin’ at the Christian Study Center…it seems this is my best time for posting lately!! I had a very nice early morning(Ok, 9:35 is moderately early) lit class…I love that class so much because it’s such a sharp departure from my engineering classes. Most refreshing to be talking about books and their mirroring of teen culture rather than discussing the best way to have a lean manufacturing plant(not that that’s bad of course, seeing as that’s what I’ll be doing once I step into the “real world”!) Anyways after class, I ran into Chris and Andrew…great seeing them for a few minutes! Then I meandered on over here and have been enjoying the beautiful day ever since, drinking hot chocolate out on the front porch while reading the paper…the simple pleasures of life!

Anyways, what else should I say…I don’t have class for another hour, so feasibly I could write the whole time and have the most MAMMOTH entry ever. That would be awesome. But of course half of it would probably be rambling nonsense…ohh, I know what else happened today. We got a sweet assignment in my lit class – we have to watch a short film online and then “creatively respond” to it with either a short story, poem, comic strip, or essay. Seriously. That is awesome. I have never had an engineering assignment in which I get to write a poem. Of course, a poem involving time studies and differential equations would probably be most dreadfully dull. I think I’m going to try and write a poem but if my muse won’t help me out with that, I’ll just write a short story. Anyways…enough of talking about lit!

On another note, I’ve been looping Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” on youtube while writing this…it is probably really terrible that that’s been stuck in my head lately. I’m considering buying her latest album just because that song’s so awesome…and yes, I’m a terribly hopeless romantic. I can’t help that! Well, at least most of the time..

And now I need to get ready for class in a few minutes…but I’m just enjoying sitting here sipping my coffee too much right now. I have to say, it’s so weird thinking this is my last semester in which all I have to do is go to classes and hang out with friends…I still can’t really comprehend that my college career is almost over! Even weirder is to think that I started this livejournal account more than four years ago now…when I was still in high school and so ignorant of what my college years would contain. I remember thinking about college and knowing that it would be a grand adventure, but I don’t think I really understood how life-changing it would be. I’ve changed SO MUCH since my high school experience. While high school was super fun…I think I lived my life almost in separate spheres during my high school years. I had my school life and my school friends…and then I had my church life and my church friends. I think I can safely say that I was almost a different person in each of those spheres. Thankfully by God’s grace, these past four years I’ve learned that my true identity is in Christ. These past four years, I’ve become less dependent on man’s praise while I’ve looked ever more to God and His glorious righteousness. Might I always seek to serve God and in serving Him, love my fellow brothers and sisters and the rest of the world. Might I never look to my own glory and pleasure, but always to the glory of God! All that I am is His, because He made me who I am. Sometimes I despair in myself and foolishly wonder what’s going to happen in my future…but why do I forget the goodness of the Lord? Why do I doubt His mighty Hand?

And as I really do need to get to class, let me leave you with one of my favorite verses:

Therefore prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit and fix your hope completely on the grace to be revealed to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. -1 Peter 1:13

Hopefully y’all didn’t mind this rambling post too much…it felt good to just talk and talk and talk…and remember, if anyone did read this all, you get a cookie. Made by me. Which means it is awesome.

Now I am off into the cold. Farewell to all!!