and so i haven't blogged in a REALLY REALLY long time. not that nothing's been going on, or that i haven't had anything to say... just that things for the past couple of weeks have been quite the whirlwind... school, church, fellowship, friends, etc. overall things have been alright... pretty good.. great... good times with friends and family... but i'll go into a more detailed update in a bit.
i figure that you all probably thought this would be something mushy and sappy in light of the title of the blog... but don't be fooled... i'm not that much of a sap (hahah.. yah right. :P) ANYways... continuing on... reason for the blog title: for lent, i'm choosing to...
...whether that be schoolwork, extra sleep, msn-ing, or tv-ing, etc. i'm choosing to give that up and spend it in the arms of the One who loves me... reading more of His letter to me, and discovering more of who He is... and well essentially falling more and more in love with Him, knowing that He's got my best interests in mind and that i need not worry about any of that stuff, cuz well, He's in control of it anyway. :)
in addition, in light of today's "Ash Sunday" message, i figured that i needed to do something more than just lenting those first moments, spending it just talking with God about me, myself, and i. i felt as though God has blessed me with so many individuals, so many friends, both Christian and non-Christian, that i really shouldn't take these blessings for granted. and so i'm committing to...
... i know that there are probably more practical ways to show these people that i appreciate them, but in light of time constraints and difficulties getting together with these people, i thought at the very least i could commit to praying for them... and like REALLY praying for them, not just casually mentioning them.
and so that's what i'll be up to for the next 40 days... well less than that now. and i found that in doing this it'll really just put everything else in my life in place... forcing me to time manage better, and prioritize better... :)
okay.. update time... what's gone on in the past couple of weeks:
v-day: good times spent with great friends... playing gender gap, bbq-ing insanely large steaks and playing the bible game on ps2... hahaha.. yay!!
ccf retreat 2006: i love ccf, i truly do, and have missed these people so much over the past semester that i've been unable to be there. putting together the handbook was quite the ordeal, but it's done, and it looked decent... so meh. :) i thought that i would get more quiet time at retreat to just be on my own, reflecting, etc. but God had other things in store... He planned for some awesome conversations, and awesome catching-up time with brothers and sisters and i couldn't have asked for anything better... learned what my love languages were... quite the funny actually... there are only five, and here's how they ranked:
1st place: words of affirmation & quality time
2nd place: acts of service, receiving gifts, & physical touch.
and there you have it... 1st and 2nd finish for all five gifts.. don't really know what that says about me.. hahaha... but yes.. anyway, great times at retreat, got closer to a bunch of people, and got saved by a brother who was willing to get my glasses that i so intelligently left at home... hahaha.. all so that i wouldn't be as blind as a bat on the last night of retreat. :P
post-reading week: things have just been flat out awesome. despite the busy-ness of school, it's been great just talking to people more and hanging with people more. i've come to really appreciate the sisters that have been placed in my life, that help keep me sane, help keep me accountable, and keep them boys away ;) hahaha... j/k there are no boys :P life has just really been peachy :D it's been a while since i've felt so solid in where i am in my faith, my relationship with God, and so unbelievably happy in where i am with my relationships with others. of course there are still the ups and downs and highs and lows, but that hasn't really phased me cuz i have such phenomenal people in my life. things have been good.. hahaha.. that's the best way i can describe it, even though it's quite the understatement. :P
summer planning: i really have no clue. i'm done school by the beginning of april, and i essentially have 5 months of summer, save the 3 weeks i have to do my design internship... which i'm still yet to get a jump on... but aside from that i really don't know what's up this summer.. figure softball's a given, summer school's a maybe, and missions is a possibility, but probably something more local and less costly. i'll of course be living at mitchells again.. unless i magically find some other job... and hoping that i scrounge up enough money this summer to pay for school next year. :)
and that's that really.. if you wanna know more details about what's been up with me, shoot me a msg on msn or if you people that are lenting msn wanna know more, shoot me an email. :) hazel.faith@gmail.com...
for now, i need to go to sleep. i should get some work done tmw morning before class. :) i'll try to blog more often. :P
random question: what makes Lays Stax different from Pringles?