It Snowed in Spokane

Hey All,
I have very little time to write this, so it will be short. I apologize for the lack of blogs recently. There ahs been so much I've wanted to share and soooooo little time. Anyway, for anyone who doesn't know, the guy I asked did say yes and we had a really good time at TWIRP. I got to ride a mechanical bull, which was probably the highlight of the whole weekend for me.

Anyway, I just got back from Spokane after a week with my family. I missed 3 days of school, but it was really worth it. I got to spend time with my old friends and seee a good portion of my extended family. Plus, I got in over 30 hours of work, which was a blessing. I flew down, but rode back with s couple a guys who I went to church with growing up. I discovered it is possible to survive a 6 hour car ride with two people in the backseat whom you barely know. Yeah, the guys failed to mention that there were two additional girls in the carpool. Oh well, it worked out. It was really cool though because God very clearly protected us at 3 different times. The first time we almost got hit by someone being an idiot. The second, a car a few cars ahead of us blew a tire and veered off the road. Luckily no one was hurt and no one ran into eachother. The craziest on e was the third one, though, where I looked up to see a car doing 360s down the interstate at 80 mph. Somehow, the car avoided all the guardrails and managed to end up facing the right direction on the shoulder. It then pulled right back out into traffic. Everyone else was again able to safely manuver around the vehicle. It was really encouraging and comforting to see God protect us and everyone around us in all of those situations.

Anyway, I need to be going. Be praying for me and my focus on God, as well as my walk with Him. Pray too for strength and endurance and motivation as semester comes to a close and finals are only a week away.

As always, love you guys and hope to hear from you soon. If nothing else, I'll be home again in a couple of weeks :-)

AK

It Snowed in Boise!!

Hey all, I have been meaning to do this blog all week and haI have not. My bad. Anway, it should be short. Track is going well. Official practice started this week so we actually have coaches and we practice Mon-Fri instead of Mon-Thurs. Tuesday we got to actually vault, but as soon as I tried to plant from a full approach I freaked out. So, we'll work on that. The coolest thing, though, is that there is this girl who is on my powder puff team who runs track and we started lifting together after the workouts. Seriously, she is an incredible lifting partner, very driven and very technical (she doesn't cheat on form) as well as very capable. So, that's kind of an answer to prayer. Another female I am grateful for is a lady from my church. She is so sweet. We got to hang out this week because I needed someone to hold me accountable on some stuff and she was willing to. Man, what a Godsend. She is truly an answer to prayer and I really look forward to getting to spend more time with her.

Let's see, other news. I had a list and now it escapes me. Oh well. I'll tell you about TWIRP and then get off of here. TWIRP is basically a massive casual group date and it's girls ask guys (TWIRP- The Woman Is Required to Pay). Everyone tries to get super creative, so I went with a spy/mission theme. There were a lot of changes in plans, but the final product went as follows. At dinner Thurs. night, one of wing mates gave one of here guy friends a note to give to the guy I was asking. On it was instructions to call a certain number at 9:25 that night.When he called, the girl (one of my other wing mates) simply said "Be at the clock tower in 10 minutes" and hung up. At this point, I and a third wing mate booked it to her car and parked in sight of the tower and waited. As soon as he got there, we called the wing mate who he had called. She, then- dressed entirely in black with only her eyes showing- went running past him, thrusting a package at him as she passed. Then we started the car, turned on the headlights,, picked her up and took off. In the package was a disposable camera with $5 and instruction to develop the film. Well, the film pictures were individual letters asking him to go to TWIRP with me, however, when they were developed the roll was entirely blank. We're still trying to figure out what happened with that. Anyway, on e of wing mates had gone to develop the film with him and she came back and reported what had happened. So, at nearly 1 am Friday morning we had to come up with a new idea that actually asked him and still continued the theme. My RA actually sparked it when she mentioned she had class with him after Chapel. What I ended up doing was writing up "Operation: Black Night" in which he was assigned to attend TWIRP with me. I was pretty excited. The papers were printed off and put in an envelope and delivered to him. I have since talked to him, but he hasn't actuall given me a yes or a no. However, the guys are supposed to try and be creative in how they resond if they are saying yes (not if they are saying no) so I'm not too worried. Anway, I will let you know how the tale ends after I find out, but that's my half of it. All in all, I had fun doing it. Plus, I have incredible wing mates who I am so thankful for and grateful to for helping me out and putting up with me. God is good.

So yeah, that's all I can think of right now at 2 in the morning. I will hopefully write again soon. Until then, may life treat you well and may you walk closely with God.

Later,

AK

Backstreet Boys

Oops, forgot to post the link in the last post. Here you go, it's pretty funny.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MelESP8e2EY

Week In Review

Hey all, it is 11:00 at night and I still have to do Cornerstone homework, but I figured I would give you all a "quick" update. Ummm.....the quick list for the week is that one of our wing girls got married, another had a birthday (we went to dinner on Tuesday for her and did not get to do our eleveator stunt, and we can't next week because there is a Toga party in Culver :( ) and we lost our powder puff game. Oh, I don't have any realy funny stories I can think of, ut we did make another video and it's even funnier. Yes, the Backstreet Boys live in my wing. Oh, one quick story is that Esmy, who got married, is in the video and we were showing it to her family after the wedding and when Sarah came on (she is in a green jersey with a bandana), the best man goes "Es a mujer!?!?" ("It's a woman!?!?"). I think he got embarassed when a couple of us busted up laughing, but it was hilarious, and even more so in spanish.

On a more serious note, I went on the Christian Ministry retreat this weekend. I did not want to go, but it's part of my grade for my Intro to Christ. Min. class. I rode the late bus and got there at 1 Saturday morning (we were up in McCall). The two guys who sat in front of me were blown away because I fell asleep with my head tucked in the corner between the wall and the back of the seat, and then my knees were by my nose. Seriously, every time we had a meal or something, they brought it up. It was pretty funny. That aside, the retreat wasn't that bad. The food and fellowship was really good. At one point we had small group discussions that I was nervous about (that was the grade thing) but basically it was just testimonies and they were really encouraging. ACtually, that was probably one of my favorite parts. The "sessions," on the other hand, left something to be desired. Not to dis anyone or anything, but there was very little real spiritual food up there. They focus so much on stories and personal testimonies (which are great, but not for every sermon as the whole sermon) and so little on the word of God. (quick sidenote, the Nazarenes are against dancing and drinking any wine, yet both are done in the Bible. However, you can ordain women, which is clearly against the Bible......IDK, it just baffles me) We did take communion though, which I have not had the chance to do in a long time, and that was really neat. The absolute best thing, though, was that I did get a little time to myself to study and pray. If you think of me, pray for me. In so many ways God has been so good, even as He continues to reveal areas of weakness and struggle and sin in my life. The two biggest are pride and selfishness. I can run away and get distracted here at college, but the truth is that I just see more and more of how undeserving I truly am. But, God is faithful. It was so good to pour my heart out to HIm. Pray that He would grow me and that He would be number 1 in my life. I truely desire to serve and love Him, just pray I would not lose focus. Back to the retreat, the only oher really cool thing was on the bus ride home where we spent over an hour singing hymns and praise and worship songs. It was so encouraging to worship in song in that setting; you'd have ot be there to fully appreciate it.

Sort of changing gears, I did get to go to college group tonight. That, on the other hand, is probably the one place I feel spiritually fed regularly here in Nampa. Man, the people are incredible. It is so good to fellowship with like minded believers who genuiney care about eachother. There is a unity and a joy there that you can not find outside the church. A number of people noticed I hadn't been in church today and wondered why. That really means a lot one month into attending The Rock. Unfortunately, the messages are usually short and more application than Bible Study, but they are Biblical (which is rare from my experience here). But, again, God is good. He really did bless me with finding this church and people who give me rides every week. I love seeing how He worked everything together those first couple of weeks to get me there. I can't express how encouraged I was today, how at peace there. I love my wing mates and all, and I respect the people who have different views on the Bible and stuff (not that I agree with them, but God judges the heart so I'll leave it to Him), but there is always something lacking that can only be filled by people who share your convictions. Anyway, I'm sure you get it. I am not, again, trying to dis anyone or whatever, I simply wish you could understand how blessed I feel here and at the Rock and I want God to be glorified for it.

So, that is about it from my end. I will write again soon, hopefully. I would love to hear from you all, prayer requests, life, stories, whatever. Call, write, email....Yeah. Love you guys.

AK

The complete update

So the last post was some of the funniest stuff that has happened recently, and this is the more complete version of the last week and a half.

Ummm...classes haven't been too bad. With everything going on, it gets little crazy sometimes. One day I went from class to track to dinner to rehearsal, not sure I would be able to go to my dorm in between, though I actually got to, which was good. I continue to love economics class, and art is still a struggle, though my first project received a lot bettergrade than I expected, which was good. Track is incredible. Yes, the warm-ups (not the workout) just about kill me, especially the ones where we jog around campus and then go straight into figure eights (doing exercises diagonally across the field, jogging to the other side, doing more exercises, jogging....). But he workouts are usually okay, though I haven't done stairs yet or heavy sprints. After the warm up, the workout, and the cool down we are supposed to go to the gym and do weights or circuit training (depending on the day) and abs. Yup, it's nuts. But I am am glad to finally be really working out, not just doing bench press. Football is also going well. I love being an offensive/defensive lineman, though I also play tightend, linebacker, and corner on occasion. At practice the other day, I was the only defensive line man since we didn't have many players there. Grady told me to hit as hard as I wanted. I was pretty pumped. Our third game is tommorow, and I am excited. Maybe we can win this one. Switching topics, drama is also going well. I love being in the play and rehearsals are going well. The best part though is filling in for one of the other girls when they're not there. It's really good experience, and the cast is a lot of fun. So, we'll see what happens there in the coming weeks.

In other news, we had a sad event happen in our wing as one of our girls (actually the 3rd) left. The first two just changed wings because of a roommate thing, but Anna actually left NNU and that was hard on us. We all liked her a lot, but God wants her elsewhere, apparently, and she is at peace with the decision. I hope she stays in touch because I was really hoping to get to know her better. She is a lot of fun. Pray for her roommate who a) has a heart condition they're trying to figure out, and b) is struggling with Anna being gone, I think.

On a lighter note (kind of) on of our other girls had surgery recently and she was put on pain meds. One word: loopy!!!! She goes nuts, and it is absolutely hilarious. The other day we were walking back to the dorm and she is going "myyy buuutttt fellll offffff." Then she points at one of the other girls and goes "her butt fell off too!!!!" She was so out of it. 3 minutes later she goes "my butt itches....IT CAME BACK!!!!" Yeah, awkward, but so funny. That night when the meds wore off she had no idea what we were talking about. Now she get embarassed when tease her about it, but it's pretty funny.

Ummmm...what else? I think that is all the big stuff here. I am sure there is more I could tell you, but I don't remeber what it was. If I think of it and it's important, I'll post it. Other than that, I will try and keep you updated atleast weekly. Thanks for reading, hope you got a kick out of it.

'Til next time,
AK

Hilarity!!

Note: Read this if you need a good laugh!

Just a couple of the stories from the last week of so.

First was Tuesday night.Every Tues. from 8-10 is open house in our dorm where the guys are allowed in our rooms if our doors are open. Well, me and 4 other girls from my wing decided to be really random and play cards in the elevator. Picture it, there are two elevators, and we set up a table and chairs in each and for 45 minutes rode up and down playing cards. It was so funny!! People would look at us like they weren't going to get on and we would be like, "well, there are people in the other one too so you might as well." We even got some people to play a hand with us. However, the best story happened when I was playing Go Fish with Sarah and Caroline. Two guys got into the elevator and were watching us play. I was on a roll and getting a lot of cards. Well, I look up at Sarah, and realize that Josh, who is standing behind me, was signing my cards to Sarah. So, well, I reacted. I apologize to all the males, but I really meant to connect with his stomach I swear. But me sitting, him standing, elbow....yeah, you get it. He, kid you not, rolled out of the elevator. I tried to gasp out an apology but I was so embarassed I couldn't breathe (well, and then I started laughing after the door closed......) I did apologize the next day, and he asked what for, so I guess he doesn't hate me. Anyway, story number 2 happened last night. After going to the Brick House on campus for coffee and a gladiator fight that ended in fire extinguisher being sprayed all over the place, me and some other girls sat outside for about 2 and a half hours and talked and stuff. I was really wound up, so when I went inside at around midnight I joined some other girls watching a movie. When it was over, Jenny, Krysta, and I went to mine and Jenny's room and were just talking about gold fish and the fact that jenny had rearranged and other stuff. All of the sudden, Becca jumps out from under my covers and yells. You know me. The other two knew she was there and planning to scare me, so I am the only one who flipped out, literally. I knew it was Becca so I didn't hit anyone to defend myself, but at the same time she had practically scared the living daylights out of me. So I, in typical fashion, screamed, flailed my arms around, and then propmtly body-checked the floor. No joke, it was a full on faceplant, though my hip took most of the damage. I layed there, splayed out and not moving for probably a full minute. Becca was crying she was laughing so hard, but the other two were standing above me and hysterically yelling (I kid you not) "Becca, you killed her!! Oh my gosh, she's dead. Becca, it's not funny. Amanda!! Amanda!! Is she dead?? Oh my gosh!!!" Yeah, after the initial scare I thought it was hilarious. I tried to get up but the adrenaline was pumping so hard I just layed back down and laughed. It took me awhile to get to sleep that night, and my hip hurt so bad I couldn't sleep on my side, it that gives you an idea of how hard I actually threw myself. Don't ask me why, I don't know.

So, that is typical life around here. Plus, if you care, we got bored last Friday and made a movie which is on youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6YJgmE-Ejw We plan to make more of those, so check back.

The Heckticity Begins

I'll try and keep this short. Life here has been okay. Sometimes it feels like I am alone and don't fit in, but usually I'm okay. Anyway, today officially marks the start of my crazy schedule. I had a track meeting at 5, drama at 6:30, and powderpuff practice at 7:30, though I missed almost all of the last one. Be praying for strength as I tackle these next couple of months. Track goes until the end of the year, but powderpuff will be over by the first week of october and the play is the first week of November. I now have three roles and have officially like quadrupled my lines (well, I started with 3...) I also need to work in studying and working out. So, be praying. I realize I never let you all know about my finger, but it's not broken. It still hurts, but I have no idea what I actually did to it. Also, changing topics, I had my first college group last night and it was a lot of fun. The food was incredible!!! It is so cool to be plugged in at a church that it so much like Faith. God was really good there. Be praying, though, for me spiritually. I get very frustrated in my religious classes because they are so weak and touchy-feely, and "everyone has their own opinion". Grrr. Also, be praying for my individual growth and walk. I want to grow in my faith, but I am struggling between everything that vies for my attention. Finally, I would love to hear from you all. I don't email much, but you can usually get me on my phone and I have yet to get any smail-mail, so that too would be appreciated.

Finding a Church

Thank you for the updates to those of you who wrote me. I hope Family Camp was fun, people at Faith. Things have been pretty busy around here, being the first weekend of college life and all. Yesterday was pretty nuts. NNU sold seriously discounted tickets to a water park in the area, so I went with a group yesterday to hang out from 10:30 to 4:45 or so. Then we all went back to school for a luau dinner. After that I went with a group of girls to see Get Smart, but they were sold out so we went to Walmart (that worked out because I had to get there anyway and I wasn't sure if I would be able to without a car. It's just one of those God things that are so cool). But the night was just starting as we had Broom Ball at the local Ice rink from 10-12. THat was a blast. I could hardly walk afterward because my knees were so swollen and bruised. Plus there's a chance I broke a finger sliding into a wall (go figure), or it's just really badly jammed. We'll probably find out tomorrow. But, I guess that's just half the fun of broom ball :-P Anyway, on to a more serious note. Today, being Sunday, I went with that carpool I told you about previously to The Rock church. Let me tell you, it was incredible. It is truly another one of those God things. He started orchestrating my being there, well technically since before I existed, but the actual specific events started with the Rendevouz. The worship was good, but more than that, he sermon was solid Biblically. The pastor, Cliff, didn't go off on pointless tangents about himself and he backed up all of his points with scripture. I finally understand what it means to hunger for solid food. On top of that, the church reminded me a lot of Faith, not only in its teaching and worship, but in its desire to reach the community to be a light for Christ and in the fact that they really want people to get plugged into small groups and grow there too. I don't know about them yet to fully say they're completely solid, but I truly believe they are striving to follow the Bible in all they do, and that is super encouraging. ON a side note about Cliff, you can pray for him because he was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's Disease this summer and given about 6 months to live. It was so neat though because he got up today and preached on James 5:13-20 (go read it, you'll get it) and he wasn't biter or angry or emotional. You wouldn't have known how personal this sermon had to be for him if they didn't tell you about his condition. So, yeah, I am pumped about this church. They even have a college ministry on Sunday nights where they make us a home cooked meal. (Adults, if you get the chance to offer a college student a meal and/or free laundry, they would greatly appreciate it. Believe me. There is a big ministry there.) Changing subjects again, I forgot to tell you all that I tried out for the play. It came up suddenly (like in about 3 hours) and I took a chance. I ended up getting two small parts, but it is a start and I am excited to officially "be" in a play. So yeah....

Adjusting to College Life

Just a short update, I hope. Classes started Tuesday, and so far they aren't that bad. They are long and boring, but fine. I have calculus, microeconomics, cornerstone (freshman req), 2d design, fundamentals of wellness, and intro to Christian ministries. Actually, so far Econ has been easier than art, which is really weird but w/e. Umm...I am meeting lot of people, but especially I am getting closer to the girls in my wing. There is Becca and Stephanie and Hesu who are all a lot of fun. There is also Anna and Bri, who I am excied about getting to know better. They're both pretty crazy and very athletic. today I walked out of my room to both of them dancing in the hallway with pillows under their shirts....don't ask me. In other news, God is doing His part of keeping me humble. There have been a couple of stupid things every day for the last three days that were kind of embrassing/frustrating, and at first I was irritated, but then I figured it's an answer to prayer. I'll post those stories on my blog sometime. Another answer to prayer happened today in the gym. I had met this guy named Joe who is the only other Non-Denom. that I know I've met. He is a junior, I believe, so I wanted to find out what church he went to ( I have to tell you younger people who haven't been to church outside of Faith, it is such a blessing. I didn't fully appreciate it until I got here. Everything is more watered down and there are a lot of stories and illustrations that don't really flow with the message, they just "keep it interesting", and there is very weak spiritual food in the chapel services and other messages I have heard. Be praying for growth and a good strong church for me). Anyway, back to Joe. He ended up being in the gym this afternoon with a friend of his named Eric (and was actually a part of one of those humility moments, but it was pretty funny. Call me and ask). So I got my chance to ask him, and he ended up being a part of a Nazarene church, but his friend goes to a non-denom church called the Rock, and offered to pick me up with his carpool this Sunday. So, hopefully that works out.
Umm...that's about all I can think of. I really enjoy hearing from you guys, though I don't get much time to reply to your emails (sorry). I hope things are well, and I would love to hear about how life is going for each of you. When I think of more stuff to tell you, I'll email it or post it on my blog..... ANyway, love you all, miss you all, talk to you all soon.

A New Chapter

So, most of you know about my crazy weekend, but just in case I'll sum it up. As I stated in the last email, I thought college was out of the picture,but God had other plans. I got a call around 10 on Thursday morning from NNUsaying tehy had somoe more money for me and would I come? Well, they hadcome up with enough that it was about the same to attend NNU as SCC, whichwas back in the picture anyway. So I called my dad around 2 and told him (Iwas out working a concrete job) and then we met at 4 and decided that NNUwas where I should be. So, time to stock my dorm room, for which I had ablender, at the time. We had less than 16 hours to shop, pack, and leave tobe there the next day. It was hec-tic!! Anyway, we pulled it off some how.
We got into Nampa around 5:30 and cehcked in and unpacked. That night we hada meeting and an icecream social, which was fun. Saturday I had a technologymeeting and a dorm meeting, as well as finally met my room mate Jenny. Letme tell you, if the finances weren't enough of a confirmation, Jenny is. Sheloves the outdoors and plays guitar, and, yes, she describes her room athome as "bright cheeto orange" ;-) Anyway, I am looking forward to knowingher better. So, back to Saturday....The night concluded with a "scavengerhunt" for new students. I put that in quotes because, even though that'swhat the upper classsmen call it, in truth you could better describe it as"Explore the campus, break some serious ice, and play games that are usuallyreserved for camps". Yep, we got messy and a little upclose-and- personal. Iwas on team 2 and we started the night with the orange pass (this involvesan orange passed from neck to neck without hands....usually), except we usedraw trout. Yup, the whole fish got passed down the whole line. But that wasonly the beginning. The mild activities were the Ha game, the entire teamjumping in a pool, the human pyramid (well, that was a little of a bubblebreaker since the bottom to rows laid down instead of kneeled because of theteam size....), the Human Knot with Cisco on our hands, and the ice-blockraces. The not-so-mild games were the ones with food. They involved crackingeggs on eachothers heads just for the heck of it, bobbing for gummi bears inbowls of flour, and shoving bananas in eachothers mouths through nylons. Thenight concluded with milk chugging. I was one of the two on our team who hadto help chug a gallon of milk. I made a few dicoveries. A) It is hard tobreathe while chugging milk. B) You cramp up and feel sick before you get tohalf-way finished. C) It is indeed impossible to keep the milk down afterchugging so much of it. Sorry to be graphic, but there were twenty peoplecompeting and most of them lost it on the lawn. I personally made it in to agarbage can, but I hurled so hard it came out my nose. Yeah, that was gross.Like I said, sorry. Anyway, we went from there to the Brick House which is ahang out area on campus, and I went to the dorm shortly after.
Overall, I am really looking forward to a year here. I don't know what theplans are after this year, but we'll take it one step at a time. I haven'treally met a lot of people, but that will change. I miss oyu all in Spokane,but I am excited about this new chapter here. Please pray for me, not onlythat I would settel in and be at peace, but that God would be the center ofmy life here. Everything is so new, I know it wil be easy to get distracted,but I also know how lost I am when I am not depending on God. I will do mybest to keep you all posted, especially in the first few weeks, and I wouldlove to here from you. For all of you with Facebook, I am posting a videoonline of my dorm room here in a few minutes.
So, hope to hear from you soon, and love you all lots!!

Snow Day Number Three......

Have you ever heard the word "restless"? I’m sure you have. I am also sure there is some fancy definition out there to explain its actual, literal meaning. But I have my own definition. Restless is having three snow days in a row and not knowing what to do with all of one’s free time. The result is strange, unpredictable movements and mood swings, as well as the production of sounds that really make no sense but resemble a scream at a sound-level slightly above a whisper. Also, berserk is an antonym in this case. If you do not know the history of "berserk", it originally applied to a specific group of warriors who would get so hyped up for battle that literally they would gnaw on their shields in anticipation. Yep, that about sums it up.

Anyway, I realize it has been over a month since I have written, but I will keep this short. Basically, finals ended last week, and the new semester should have started Monday…Grrrr….One snow day was really exciting. This is ridiculous. Okay, moving on, pole vault started recently, which I am absolutely thrilled about!!!!! Except the weather means practice is cancelled. That’s the worst part of this deal. That, and Physics is going to be ridiculous because we were already behind and the test is in May.

Other than that, I really don’t think there’s much to share. God has been teaching me a lot in these last few weeks, more than either of us have time to write/read. But, I’d love to tell you about it in person. One really cool thing is that He, in His perfect timing and provision, provided a laptop for me from my aunt. It’s a really cool story, ask me about it sometime. So yeah, hope all is well with you. Write me back soon.

PS I just updated my video so you should go check it out, it's pretty sweet!