Thanksgiving

Well, now that Thanksgiving is over, I guess the official Christmas season has begun and I could not be any more excited =) Our Thanksgiving holiday in Lubbock was wonderful. I could not have asked for a better time or more fun people to be with. All of the food was delicious and there was a ton of it (enough even for the 23 of us!) It was really great to get to bond with all of my cousins, especially the ones I won't see for 3-4 years as they are moving to Papua New Guinea to do mission work. I know they will have such an adventure, but I will miss seeing them for that long.

I have so much to be thankful for in my life. I was born into such a wonderful family that loves me so much. I sometimes muse about how different my life could have been if I had been born to a poor family in New York, natives in Brazil, or a really rich family in California. Things could be so different, but I am glad they are not. I love my life and most everything in it. The only thing I would change right now is that I would be done with school and moving on to the next stage of my life. I know, I know. Supposedly college is the best time of your life, and things only get more stressful after it. But I won't miss the papers and homework, having to worry about tests constantly, and the mundane/boring classes. I'm just a little tired of being at college. It kinda makes you feel cut-off from the rest of the world, like the only thing that matters is school work. But I could not be more appreciative that I am blessed enough to be here.

Now, for a short week of school and then finals week. Christmas will be here so soon!!!

Worries

I have been so preoccupied lately with the inundation of worries in my life. I recently got an internship to begin in the spring, and just thinking about starting a new job and the stress that entails has really been hard on me lately. Don't get me wrong- I feel so blessed to get an amazing job with a lot of potential, but starting a new job is always scary.

So this morning, I did something I wouldn't normally do, but I really felt like I needed to get back in touch with myself and work through some personal issues so I stayed at home rather than going to church this morning. I decided to look through Beltway's sermons they have on their website, and I was blessed to find one totally focused on worrying. Did you know our word "worry" originally came from the word "worien" which meant "to grasp by the throat with the teeth and lacerate or strangle to death" ? We really do torment ourselves with things that we cannot change or fix. If we focus on those things, it will only "strangle" us in a way and prevent us from enjoying life and the joy God wants us to have.

It helped me so much to be reminded of the importance of trusting in God. Finding true, Godly peace does not come from the lack of hardship or troubles, but rather from the knowledge of that God is present in our lives and cares for us.

woops!

Man, you know what is the worst? When you thought up something amazing to do/say, but it is too late. For example, a really good comeback to an insult, an amazing idea of what to dress up as for Halloween, or the fact that a good TV show was on that you should have watched, but didn't know it was on.

Additionally, I really want a puppy. I hope I get to live in a house next year that allows dogs.

Now, back to tedious work at the library.