Home Sweet Home?

From the moment Sam and I drove into Charleston Illinois, everything seemed, well perfect! It felt like it could become home! I haven't met many people, and I don't get out much...I'm just here! However I believe I like it here...aside from the shopping selection! My family and I are SUPER! close! Oh and I'm not talking about like friendly close! I mean I walk in the 2 bedroom APARTMENT and my choices are, kitchen, living room, mom and dads room, laundry room, bathroom 1, bathroom 2, OR my room..oh yeah and all of my siblings as well! It's weird going from taking care of myself, doing what I want, etc. and going to a small. apt (well, it's bigger than the one I just moved from...but different) and having mom cook for you and take care of you! I am definitely not complaining about home cooked meals, but it's different. I have nothing to do. This seems to be my schedule thus far: Wake up @ 7, eat breakfast, lounge around (or fall back to sleep), get in the shower, take my time getting ready, hanging out with mom, pick up kids from school with mom, come home, watch Gilmore Girls, get on the computer because the second Gilmore Girls is over Sam takes over the TV with the Wii. Then I am bored until dinner time, at which time we eat, then I am bored again, get on the computer talk to friends and go to sleep (eventually). Sounds exciting, right? I just need things to do, people to hang out with. HOWEVER! I have a job interview at County Market tomorrow morning (it's the local grocery store) so, hopefully I'll start working soon! We found out dad's job is permanent, and we will be closing on a house next month! We all like it and will be redoing the main floor flooring before moving in, and tearing off wallpaper! We are putting hardwood floors in the entry and kitchen area, and carpet in the dining room (which will be an office) and the living room! We are all pretty excited! (I'm excited for some space and some alone time!) It's funny cuz when I get frustrated or upset it's because I'm alone, but not alone. So yeah. I need to start working. I have only applied at 3 places...but I'm being picky! I don't want a job that will make me hate my summer life! haha, well I think that is all my life consists of as of right now! We are hoping to make charleston our home until Shaelyn graduates, however I do not think I will be returning next summer...I'm thinking about going to Lincoln and getting an internship. We shall see :) Ok, I'm done talking! Have a GREAT summer :D

Growth--Not JUST at the Waistband!

I have almost completed my freshman year of college! It's so exciting to me :) Although parts of each semester have proved difficult, trying, and often times I wanted to quit, I can truly say that I've grown...and I'm not just talking about the junk food I ate during those difficult times (or any time for that matter) that upped my waist size! actually, surprisingly I don't think I've gone up in waist size...hmmm. Anyway, I definitely have come to have a better appreciation of several things:

1) Prayer/Priesthood blessings
2) The Lord's Answer
3) The temple
4) Church leaders
5) Roommates

Through the several things that I've experience this semester I've been able to realize the comfort that comes through prayer. At times I was experiencing some overwhelming feelings that some of the people closest to me were going to pass away, or were dead. It was not just a one time thing, but something that continued on for a few months. Finally, I asked for a blessing, and although I was not promised that I wouldn't lose those people I felt a little more at peace. Prayer also helped me be comforted for a short period of time. When the feelings were still coming, while in an interview with my bishop, I shared what I'd been experiencing and couldn't keep the tears within. He also gave me a comfort blessing, one that seems to have helped quite a bit. Once again, I may not have been promised the life of those I love, but I was promised that the Lord knew what I was experiencing and He also knew what I could handle better than even me. That blessing has comforted me in more than just that difficult time. When classes get stressful, or roommates get on my nerves (well usually my nerves are already short when that happens) I've been able to reflect on both that blessing and been able to resort to prayer to help me calm down and feel at peace and not take offense. I'm really grateful to those that gave me the first blessing, and my bishop for being in tune with the spirit to tell me the things I needed to hear to comfort me.

One day, someone really upset me and I really needed to be alone for awhile..and when you have 5 roommates you don't get that time when you REALLY need it. So I took a walk up to the temple grounds. While walking I was thinking about everything that was bothering me and why I was letting it bother me. When I got to the point that I could see the temple quite clearly I felt an overwhelming feeling that the Lord loves me, and I could feel the frustration and anger melt away as I drew closer to the Lord's house. I've truly gained an appreciation for this holy place. Also, it has been a place for me to find answers to my questions, it's the best place to be to feel near to the Lord....however the answers to my questions may not be what I had wanted to hear, I still received an answer, and I know the Lord is there to take care of me as I make the correct decisions in my life.

So that covers Prayer/blessings, church leaders, answers, and the temple...but I've also gained an appreciation for my roommates. Each one is different and beautiful in their own ways..I'm not just talking physically :) Each one has been able to hold me up from their own experience and their understanding. I'm really going to miss them when I leave...especially those I may not get to see again after this semester :( I've also been able to see the power of roommate scripture study and prayer in an apartment. We weren't very good at having our roommate prayer and scriptures study for the first half of the semester. Let's just say our apartment was pretty tense, and not a fun place to be. There were feelings of irritation everywhere, and it seemed like that was all you could think about...(well for me anyway) One day we decided to start having prayers, which helped immensely, it was an obvious change. No one could miss it, plus all of us felt better. (Once again I speak for me..but also Erin on this one..cuz we actually talked about it) Anyway, so now we try to have prayer and scripture study every night. I guess we have to thank our FHE brothers because they really did help encourage us and help us start the habit. It's truly blessed our apartment! Well this is a super long blog...but I wanted to share the things that I've learned this semester :) (I can't share it all because this blog would NEVER end ;) )

Time, It's all about time.

Well, the end of the semester is drawing nearer and I both want time to speed up and slow down. How I long to be able to go "home" and see my family again, but I'm not prepared for the end of the semester. I have group projects, and individual projects galore that I need to get done. OK, so I'm slightly exaggerating! I have two groups--I have an English group project where we have to write a research persuasive paper together. So we are writing it on how the family values and morals need to be revised and we are looking at homosexual couples, cohabitation, divorce, and duo income families and the effects that they have on the kids as well as the family in general. Then I have a "Heroic Journey" humanities group. We do practically nothing IN class, but we have lots of work assigned outside of class. It's kind of stressful. We have a project due tomorrow, plus we have to go to cultural art events as a group (we have 1 of 4 left) and we have one more project due in class in a couple weeks. It's sort of stressful. Then I have to complete EVERYTHING for my business class this week, so my website has to be complete, I'm missing a few things, but I have a mock interview and a resume review this Friday. So I'm getting close to being done. I have one more test in my math class, and also one paper (yes, we write papers in my math class) due this Thursday. So in that sense I'm ready for the end of the semester because it's kinda stressful, but I need time to complete everything! haha.

Anyway, so I'm going to be spending two weeks in Nebraska during April before going to Illinois to my family. I should arrive on April 11th. Shannon and I will be leaving the night of April 10th and go as far as we can and then stop and stay somewhere. Then on April 11th we will drive to Lincoln where I will go to grandmas and get my family's car! Then I hope to be visiting friends and family while I'm in Nebraska. I really really can't wait :) It will be super exciting. I get to see one of my friends from elementary school who I haven't seen in 7 years! I really am excited. Plus I get to see my high school friends, and Justin who I haven't seen since June(?) of last year. So it will be a wonderful visit. Hopefully I'll get to see my new cousin while I'm there too! Sam flies into Nebraska on the 23rd of April around 12:30, so I have to pick him up in Omaha. Then we will return to Lincoln so that he can visit a friend of his and see family as well. Then on Sunday the 26th after attending church in the Nebraska City ward we are going to drive to Illinois. So as much as I want to return home I'm looking forward to getting to see my friends and family :) :) :)

Well that's the update of my life! I hope you all have a WONDERFUL day :)

New Adventures

So my family is headed off on another adventure on Friday! How exciting, right? They are moving to Charleston Illinois. It's just crazy how fast things are happening, how short we were in Grand Island, it makes me wonder why we were even there. But no worries. I'm really excited to go "home" to a new home. It is going to be interesting. I can make more friends, and maybe I'll meet a boooooy! LOL. Anyway, I really am excited to be moving again, and yeah. I just thought I'd share that :) I hope I don't end up marrying someone who wants to stay in one spot their whole life..oh goodness, I'm not sure I could handle it! oh well, I'll worry about that when it presents itself...haha.

ME? SOCIAL!?!?

Over the past two weeks I have gained a better understanding of charity as I have been praying for that gift for about 3-4 weeks now. As you've all ready read before you've seen how irritated I got with a certain roommate, well get ready for this.....I'M OVER IT! No more complaining b/c I can now see her as a daughter of God and see her for the good she is not the things that drive me crazy!! Insane right? Well the first time I got along with her for reals was two Mondays ago. We had a flour fight while preparing sugar cookies for FHE, fun huh? Yeah, well then she thanked me for the fun we had. At that time it was like a punch in the stomach like: look how appreciative she is for that and imagine how she's felt in the past when you've ignored her and excluded her..hmmm. Anyway so we've been getting along. It's been exciting and makes my life so much more fun and worthwhile! So I've been in a really good mood for the most part over the last week and a half-ish.

But I've just been super proud of myself for being such a social butterfly! Thursday night I went out to eat with 2 friends, then went back to Cherean's apt. and played games with a bunch of her friends. Then Friday night my apt invited a bunch of different apts over to play games at our apartment, which was fun. We played Cancellation Hearts (interesting game..) then we played Mafia. We played two rounds of that, the 2nd time around I was in the Mafia, yeah mafia kicked butt, and totally won. Me and Phylicia worked together on it and WON!!! haha. Anyway, so after that Phylicia, Tandy, Zach, Francisco, Jakob, Taylor and I went Latin dancing. It was WAY fun. Francisco was AMAZING, but no matter what our skill level we all had fun. Tandy and I had to leave after an hour so that we could get some sleep (we both worked at 8 am Sat. morning). So we left at 11. Then Saturday I worked from 8-12 and then had lunch with Tonya (my cuz) and then Phylicia and I decided that we wanted to go ice skating, so we called up Jakob and Zach, but Zach was sore from snowboarding that morning, so I called Taylor who agreed to go with us. (Jakob and Taylor are our FHE brothers) So we went ice skating and had TONS OF FUN! After ice skating we came back had hot coco and played hearts. Then around 11:30 they were gone and I made a phone call to my brother Sam and we talked for 30 mins when I finally laid down to go to sleep :) Then I woke up for church this morning. Anyway, I'm just so proud of myself for developing charity and for being sooo social! (oh and Jakob and Phylicia decided to try and dance on the ice..we got a video of it, up until Phylicia fell..they did pretty good though, I was impressed :D )

What are ya gonna do??

Well, we had a day off of school yesterday and I spent all day on my butt staring at the computer screen. It about drove me crazy. So then today I only had one class to go to, and we got out 30 mins early (1 1/2 hr class) and so I came home and was researching stuff for my paper for English. We have to write a paper about "The Other." Someone who has had an experience I haven't so I decided to write it on my friend Boo Bah. She is in her 30's and lives in Grand Island. So I decided to look up some background information so I had a better idea about what she was talking about. When she was about 7 years old her and her family left Laos when the communists were taking over and walked to Thailand. After that a church back in NE sponsered them to be brought to the US. So as I was researching I found information I had never known. I didn't know anything about "The Secret War" (haha imagine that) that occured DURING the Vietnam war. I was shocked to learn that when they were discovered as helping the US pulled out. The politicians afraid for their jobs backed out of the war, leaving the people in Laos to fend for themselves. (They had trained the Hmongs and were fighting along with them, so these people were automatically targeted by the government). They were forced to hide in the jungle and to this day there are still people hiding in the jungle, because those that turn themselves in are never heard of again and forgotten about, and those that remain in the jungle are hunted and killed. However as in the video that I watched we are about to do almost the same thing in Iraq. We started a war, we've stirred things up and now we are going to back out of this war. Ok that was off topic, Laos is the most bombed country in history because of "The Secret War". Innocent people were killed in an effort to stop communism, but then we backed out and let communism take over. It's really sad the things I learned today. I saw pictures of people who had lost limbs, someone who lost half their face b/c it was shot off, I read about the refugee camps in Thailand and how they were like prisons with no sanitation. It was terrible. And it definitely made me sad. I wish there was something we could do about it and help the people that are hiding for their lives. I can't imagine living in those circumstances. Also, how come after so many years "The Secret War" is still fairly secret? We don't talk about it in school, it's hard to come by on the internet unless published by non-American citizens. We should learn from history, and how do we do that if we don't know about it? If only there was more that we could do to help the Lao people.

Anyway I ended up spending all day staring at my computer screen again, and work called and told me not to come in, so all I have left is my flute sectionals. Then clean checks and some last minute homework :)

Here's the video I watched:

What A Week!

It's been such a long week, yet it's flown by so fast! (yeah it doesn't make sense, but somehow it still happens) Anyway, so I've stayed pretty busy. I have classes, and homework, and I'm supposed to be working, but I've only worked one day out of 3 this week, because they just don't have any work. It's not good. So so far I've only worked 3 hours. I need to find a new job, so next week if I get called I'm going to go job hunting. Let's see, tonight I am baby-sitting for a guy I work with. It's his wife's birthday so I'm going to watch their kids (haha two days in a row the wife gets treated like royalty!! haha) Then Saturday I am calling my friend Boo Bah and asking her some questions for the profile paper I have to write, then Saturday night I'm going on a date. Yep..that's right I actually have a date for the weekend.

My friend Adrienne from Grand Island is taking a road trip out here to Rexburg, she's supposed to be here today. I'm also planning on taking a trip down to Salt Lake City. I want to see my friend Torvald Johnson before he leaves on his mission, and his older brother Eric who got back last year, but we never got to hang out. So I'm going to go and hang out with them and Randall :) I'm kind of excited. I just need to find a week I can go. One of my friends got her mission call last night to Brazil, Porto Alegre North Mission. So that's an exciting thing! It makes me very excited to go on a mission. Oh and the other day I was talking to my friend Pama and she said that hopefully the Winter of 2011 I would see her and this guy together a lot (because they will both be here at BYU-I and he will have just returned home from his mission) and I realized that I won't be here in the Winter of 2011! I'm going to be leaving for a mission!!!!!!! So I figured it out, I have this summer, 2 semesters, another summer, one semester and I'll be about ready to leave!!!! I am really excited :)
Ok, that's all I have to write right now, so have a fantabulous day :)

Adrianna