Wildhorse...Not to be Confused With Crazy Horse

So I am now 21...I know its pretty exciting!  The other day Emily McCarthy asked me what I was going to do for my birthday.  I hadn't really thought much about it so as a joke I said that we should go to the Wildhorse since I had never been.  Well if you know anything about Emily you know that she is all about a good party so she quickly set all the details and before I knew it my whole family (minus Graeme), Steve and Emily, and Laura were on our way downtown for some good country fun! We had a blast learning line dances and avoiding crazy drunk people. I got in free because it was my birthday and I didn't get an X on my hand (which means I am over 21 and can purchase alcohol).  So even though I didn't get any alcohol (shocking I know) I was pretty excited just to be there.  Here are some pictures from our adventures:

Wake Up Call

Well I'm feeling the stress of senior year starting to settle in. I have two papers due and two tests next week. The weekend just doesn't seem quite long enough for me to get everything done.  To make matters even worse I still haven't received one of the books I ordered from amazon.  So I am a little behind in my Romanticism class.  I definitely don't get much time to socialize because I am always trying to stay caught up with my reading.  So yes, basically I am stressed and to make matters worse I can't seem to motivate myself to focus on anything that has to do with school.  This next week is definitely going to be my senior year wake up call.  I don't feel like a senior at all so I don't think I should be having to endure all this stress one month into the semester!

My birthday was very nice.  I didn't do anything crazy like most people would on their 21st birthday.  We had some friends from Australia come stay with us for a few days so we took them sight seeing on my birthday.  We went to Cheekwood Botanical Gardens and Centennial Park and then downtown to see the city.  I really did have a great time and it was definitely nice to catch up with old friends.  Their son, Russell, is getting married next month so we will get to see more of the Aussies at the wedding!

The pressure is settling in!  So I thought it would be a nice break for me to drive to Searcy next weekend and see Parker!  By then I will have finished my papers and my tests and I will be ready to forget about school for awhile.  And since he has already come home once I figure it is my turn to go see him...I'm really excited, I miss him like crazy!

Well, this blog served as a great distraction from doing my homework.  I always seem to find something that takes priority over homework...and I am starting to think this is a very bad trend.

God Bless!

Hannah

Fall is in the air

God must have been happy when he created Fall. Something about the turning of the leaves and the cool gentle breeze makes me happy. It is unfortunate that this beautiful weather is wasted on the school year. It rained all weekend which was a direct result of Tropical Storm Lee. So, indeed, it was a depressing, rainy weekend but I can't hate it too much because it brought me this lovely weather. School is still about the same. My reading is beginning to pile up but now that it feels so good outside I will be able to sit out on my porch swing and catch up on all my reading.

God Bless!

Hannah

Daily Bible Verse

What a great verse! I think this is the very reason we were created. God wants us to know him and he wants to have a relationship with him. I don't know of any other religion where their god longs for his people to know him. And now our God has set up a church where we can grow and strive to be more like God in a community and family of believers. How could a person not want to believe and be apart of this wonderful gift and promise?
God Bless!

Hannah

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.

Philippians 3:10

Rambling...

So today has been a pretty average day. It consisted of me sleeping till 8:30, doing a bit of homework, driving to Lipscomb and spending 40 minutes looking for a parking spot, sitting through convocation (ugh), writing a paper, going to class, attending the mandatory English Major meeting and driving back home while very sleepy. As you can tell, there is not much excitement in my days. It is definitely weird/hard not living on campus. I miss out on most/all of the drama but I also miss out on spending all day with my friends. And now that I am a senior and have a ton of reading every night, my social life is pretty much non existent at the moment. But when I really think about it I think that God is protecting me. When I lived at home last semester, it was hard, but I made all A's. I was able to focus on homework and on my classes. Since that worked last semester I can only hope that it will work this semester too!

Well I feel like I'm rambling. I'm just in a really strange mood that I'm not sure I can explain with words...so I guess we will never know! I think I need just need sleep, and I need the weekend to get here faster.

God Bless!

Hannah

Weekend Happenings...

Well I didn't have much to this weekend since I am living at home this year. I don't know if it was because my parents felt sorry for me but Saturday night we all (plus Natalie) went to the movies and saw The Help. I highly encourage everyone to go see it. It is such an inspiring story (and the clothes are really cute too). Sometimes I wish the forties and fifties style would come back. But that is besides the point. I wish I could have read the book before seeing the movie but there is no way I will have time to read any books for fun this semester. But eventually I will read the book. So if you get the chance to read the book first, do it. But you should see the movie all the same. The weekend sort of dragged by. This was a good thing and a bad thing. It gave me more time to prepare for week 2 of senior year, but it also got quite boring at times. I am officially registered for my Spanish class and Laura and I worked on our homework yesterday after church. We also spent some time filling out our Jovenes intern applications and researching good mission trip preparation books. One of our goals to prepare for Honduras is to get involved with the Hispanic church at Smyrna Church of Christ. We have been helping with the children's class for four weeks now and every week it gets a little better. The children are not used to getting attention and discipline so it has taken a while to set the ground rules. Yesterday we decided to try speaking some Spanish to them and we figured out that speaking their language helps a lot.

I am ready to knock this next week of school out! This week I get a breather in my Romanticism class. We are watching a movie for the entire class period today and then we might not even have class on Wednesday so that makes me feel tons better. Well its almost time for Spanish so I am gonna go find Laura!

God Bless!

Hannah

Wrapping up Week One

So if you didn't already know, I started my senior year on Monday. I was already not looking forward to being back in school and then when I went to my first day of classes and started suffocating I thought to myself "what have I done?". So for the first three and a half days of classes I was very negative about my semester. I began to freak myself out about the amount of work I had. After talking to several people I realized that I basically needed to just get over myself and suck it up. Yes, I will have a tough semester and a lot of homework but it is manageable and I am not the only one who is feeling all this stress. And then Dr. Hearn kindly reminded me that at least I am not taking Organic Chemistry. So it has been a rollar coaster kind of week for me.

Last night was the first Sanctuary of the semester. I am so thankful for that time set aside in the week to just forget everything for an hour and give everything to God. Sanctuary is definitely going to be one of those things getting me through my crazy semester. I know that God will not give me any task that I cannot do. So even though it may be hard and I may feel stressed out at times, God is there for me.

So I am still going to need prayers and encouragement but I think, as I end this first week of school, that I will do great this semester. I will enjoy my classes and I will learn a lot from my teachers and fellow students. I am excited to see what all happens and how it happens.

God Bless!

Hannah