aagh!

i'm feeling kinda frustrated today.

there's not one specific thing i can pinpoint as to why i'm feeling the way i am.

but it's yucky.

so, instead of dwelling on my pitiful state, i'm going to make a list of blessings in my life.

1. my room. it's so peaceful. definitely my happy place:)
2. piper chen waldemar. she is such a delight!
3. mommy. she's so wonderful, i can't even explain it! i love you, mom!!
4. INSIGHT. the students are a continual blessing to me and my family. love them.
5. emilie brown. she's coming over tonight! we always have a good time together. she's hilarious. and she can be really deep. we have the greatest conversations!
6. minneapolis. i love this city.
7. culligan water. so yummy!
8. hannah currie. i got to talk with her with her about life on monday night. we haven't done that in SO long. and she's really funny. always makes me laugh:)
9. jon winslow. he's a great listener! especially when i need to vent.
10. the sunshine earlier and now the cool breeze coming through my window.
11. tessa joy. she is so sweet.
12. saturday nights. church - always awesome! then hang out time with the students! definitley my favorite night of the week! [and it's tomorrow! whoo!]

hmm, well, i guess that's a good enough list for now. i'm definitely feeling happier:)

side note: taylor swift is great sad/crabby day music.

something about her sound and stories that is wonderfully therapeutic:)

thursday thoughts

so, it's supposed to be 80 degrees today. yes!

i'm really happy listening to rascal flatts: mayberry

i just took my glasses off. 1 - blast, my eyes hurt; 2 - i have those funny little red marks on the side of my nose. hahaha. for some reason they're making me laugh...

taylor has a baseball game tonight. can't wait!

the word running through my head is "ka-chow!" from cars.

THE STUDENTS WILL BE HOME TOMORROW!! (if i wasn't sitting on my bed with my computer on my lap, i would definitely be doing a happy dance:))

cake wrecks is hilarious. i can't even tell you. http://www.cakewrecks.blogspot.com/

i'm wearing shorts. i love wearing shorts.

i want to dance. and no one is around to go tonight. blast.

pi just woke up. we're going to go outside for a while.

enjoy this glorious spring day!

¡estornuda!

it means 'sneeze' in spanish.

i just sneezed. it was cool. i love sneezing. in fact, i used to make myself sneeze by sticking

q-tips up my nose. how gross is that? whatever it takes, i guess...

it made me think of north central. every time someone sneezes at NCU there is always

at least one "bless you!"

i've never seen nor heard so many people being blessed in my life!

i wonder if blessing a person after a sneeze is in the rule book...

michael buble

he's bascially brilliant.

he has an incredibly soothing voice.

he's been the background music in my room the past few days.
his "call me irresponsible" has been on repeat all afternoon:)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlePsVrExPo

[photo from michaelbuble.com]

i love windows

they are dang cool.

but i really don't like cleaning them.

:)

update

i'm doing much better today! it may or may not have something to do with the bright sunshine pouring through my window today:)

but, really, the Lord has given me so much joy in being in minneapolis. i still miss the students and wish i could join in on the fun, but i'm really happy to be right where i am. praise God! i can't make myself joyful, but he has given me much joy!

anna posted some pictures of the conference so far - the bus ride and bible stacking. i loved getting a little taste of what's going on in chicago!

oh, and i just realized that jenny rigney's baby shower is this saturday! i'm darn excited!!

Life is hard, but GOD is always good!

Tears are leaking out. My heart is feeling sad.

I think this is going to be one of the hardest weeks so far this year for me. And not because of school. This week, all of the INSIGHT students are at the Gospel Coalition conference in Chicago. They are driving in the BBC van as I write this. I am so glad that they have an opportunity to set up for and attend this incredible conference. But I am so sad I can't be there with them.

There are now three weeks until INSIGHT graduation. One of those weeks, I am not able to spend every precious minute with the students. And that is really hard. Every time I am reminded of the students (and believe me, it is often. Almost everything I see or hear reminds me of something involving INSIGHT) I almost lose it. I have a sinking feeling in my stomach knowing that most of them will be leaving so soon.

If this week is only a taste of what my INSIGHT-less summer will be, I fear that I will be a complete wreck.

The timing of the conference is actually very good. I am starting to feel the pressure of the end of the semester and I need to be studying. So, not having the students as a delightful distraction is helpful. But, oh so sad.

But, praise GOD! He is still good, especially when life is hard and I'm sad. I need to keep reminding myself that I may not see many of the students after this year, but I will see them in heaven. And, not only will I see them, I will get to spend eternity with them, worshipping the LORD! How amazing is that?!

My mantra the past few years has been that life is hard, but God is good. I know that this could hardly be called suffering or a hardship, but I am sad, and God is still good.

So, Anna, Kat, Emily, Amy, Julie, Karissa, Raquel, Celinda, Courtney, Nick, Luke, Jon, Dana, Josh, Matt, TJ, Josh, and Mac...

I miss you all! I hope you have a wonderful time and love Jesus better after this conference. And I can't wait to see you all this weekend!

PS - this song is making me happy. It's one of the songs that was played when we went swing dancing last week.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roTE4htKJek

a sign of summer

taylor had a baseball game today. way fun!

i love watching baseball... mainly because it's the only sport i basically understand:)

anyway, yay! i love summer baseball games!

good job, tay!

aaiieee!

lost is most definitely on tomorrow.

hooray!

i think there needs to be an AA or something for lost.
"hello, my name is whitney, and i'm addicted to lost."

:)

it ain't me, babe

it's stuck in my head.

but that's ok, i love johnny cash.

and i love how joaquin phoenix and reese witherspoon sing it in walk the line.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0P6BIlikDBs

enjoy:)

A Knight's Tale

I watched A Knight's Tale with the students last night. I have seen it before, but I didn't catch much of the humor. (Mainly because I couldn't understand the accents. I couldn't figure out what in the world they were saying! How sad is that?) Anyway, last night, I caught SO much more and it was WAY funny.

So, good movie. But, for the most part, it was fun because I was with the students! They are all so wonderful and I'm SO thankful for them! I only have about four weeks left with them, and I'm grateful for every minute I can spend with them!

26 days

26 days until the last day of class.

The end is so near and I'm feeling the stress. And it's yucky.

A certain amount of stress is healthy and keeps me motivated.

The kind of stress i'm feeling is so not fun.

I feel the pressure of so many papers to write and books to read. It's nearly crippling. So, I decide to escape from it all in music, facebook, talking to mom, playing with piper, etc. Ugh.

I am commanded not to worry or be lazy, yet I continue worring and being lazy. I need to continue reminding myself of this and then turn my stress into productivity.

God is good. Only by his grace will I make it though.

chickens? yes.

so, our neighbors have chickens. they run around in the back yard. it's weird.

so, this morning the doorbell rang. it was the chicken lady asking if she could look for her two missing chickens in our back yard.

just this afternoon, they (they neighbors, not the chickens:)) reassembled their trampoline. mom looked out the window at their back yard and said: "hey look! they put the mattress on the bouncy thing... so the chickens can hop!"

what?