Are my parents crazy?

In case I haven't told you, sometimes I think my parents are strange. Or ridiculous. Or hilarious. Or inappropriate. Or wise. Or silly. Or sometimes, awesome.

A while ago, I heard a gal say she had never been on a plane or out of the Midwest, much less the nation. To some, this is their norm. However, I was surprised. While I understand many people have not had the same opportunities I have had or share my love for travel, her remark made me reflect.

• I flew in a plane for the first time at age 9.
• With my family, I've traveled to various places within the nation.
• I left the country without my parents at age 13. And again at 14 and 15.
• I flew and left the continent with five people my parents didn't really know at age 19.

WHAT were my parents thinking?!?!?
That they were not going to stand in God's way. 

When I first left the country, I went with my youth group on a week-long mission trip. I was a freshman in high school, the youngest person on the trip.

Let's not judge the fashion, okay?

Again, when I went to West Africa last summer, I was the youngest person on the trip.

Six years later and I'm still pale. Good.

When I told my parents that I was thinking of going on a mission trip for the summer, they were behind me. Sure, they had questions, but they were in step. My dad said that it helped that many things were in order and organized (Shout out to Missions Staff) as well as the fact that I wasn't going to a super dangerous part of the world.

But he also said that he knows God is doing big things with or without you. If God "invites" you do get on board with something, you can say yes or no, but saying yes will take you on a wild ride full of "turbulence." He'll get you through it, and it might not be easy. It will be crazy, and you might even see great, wild "God things."

As my dad and I parted ways before my trip, he told me, "I can't wait for you to go because I can't wait to hear the stories you'll have when you come back."

So mostly, this post is not to brag about my rockstar parents, but to encourage other parents to let your kids go and do great things for God. Your kid and you won't regret it. (And your kid might recognize how cool you are.)

Blessings and birthdays

I made it to 20! How crazy is that?

This past weekend, the fam came down to visit! Our foreign exchange student made it to the Large Group All State Speech Festival!! (I'm so proud of her!) But Friday, sis came and we hung out at an ISU gymnastics meet. It was so fun to have sister time! We haven't gotten to spend a ton of time together, so that was super special.
Saturday we made chocolate chip pancakes (a favorite!) and met up with the parents to watch all the cool acts. We loved watching everyone; they were fabulous! Then Mom and Dad spoiled me! Mom and I bargain shopped. After a while, I went to work. From the play-by-play via text, I'm sure they had fun. They also brought down a few presents and baked goods. My apartment is still in no short supply of sweets! Grandma baked cookies, Dad baked a cake (complete with frosting and funfetti sprinkles!), and Mom baked a pie. I had made brownies Friday night with sis, so we were stocked!
Sunday church was wonderful, and we had plenty of time to eat and clean a bit before I had to be at choir rehearsal before the concert, which went wonderfully!
They fed me again before leaving. It was the best weekend I could have had! :) Thanks fam!!

This coming weekend is the Salt Company Spring Retreat! We'll have almost 700 people there!!! Pray for us as we talk about the Glory of Christ. Everyone is super pumped! (I would say I'll get pictures, but I try to make promises I can't keep)

Birthdays are so fun! Can't wait for spring to come!

Connection group adventures!

Well, what a semester it has been! Today I got some shots for my trip overseas. Much to my surprise, I survived. There may have been cute bandaids involved. Here's how my past however long has been:

 In April, one of my connection group girls got baptized! My church has baptized so many people within the past month; it's so wonderful to see each time!

 This past week, most of my group and I went to a super park in Ames!! It doesn't look like Ames at all, so it's fun to sneak away! We walked down the crick, traversed a path, hunted for mushrooms, probably got a little sun, and enjoyed the nature all around us!

A cute elderly man walks his dog on this path.

 We all want to return in the fall and enjoy the leaves! These ladies have been a huge blessing to me this year.  I can't even write all their fabulousness in words! I love each and every one of them!! They've grown so much this year; it's been fun to see!

This year has been so wonderful co-leading with this wonderful lady!! It's been so much fun, we're going to do it again! Can't wait to see Mia after we each have a great adventure ahead of us this summer!

Somehow, I don't think we'll both come back this pale. Oh well!

BIG NEWS!

The last weekend in February, the campus ministry I participate in had its Spring Retreat! The speaker, Todd Ahrend, spoke on missions. He taught 600 college students about the global ministry God had in mind from the beginning (Genesis 12:2). Have you heard of the 10/40 window? (I put the link to Google images, so you can see not only the countries but also the religions focused on.) Have you heard the acronym "Thumb?"

Tribal
Hinduism
Unreached or Chinese
Muslim
Buddhism

I loved the retreat: learning from and teaching my small group girls, learning about so much about the history of missions work, and feeling so much more excited and prepared to go!

I'm so crazy excited to tell you! This summer 5 of my friends and I will go to Africa and share about Jesus!

      

Would you like to know more? I would love to inform you of what I will do and where I will go. Send me your address, and I will send you a letter! (I really hope to see elephants!) 

Also, if you enjoy the "Harlem Shake" Youtube trend, check out this video! I'm on the right side (somewhere around 1/3 of the way down from the top) shaking a light blue coffee mug! Can you find me? :)

To catch you up!

Here are things that keep me from blogging 24/7:

Class and paper writing. It gets pretty crazy around here! 

L: Me, Andrea, Jamie

My friends and I went to a dance for charity, and we all look really cute so I thought you might like to see the pictures! :)

Me and Chris

Some of my small group girls!
L: Renea, Aislinn, Me, Molly, Janae

Cool College Commotion

Baseball!

They let me put in the number for the inning! :) It was super cool!

















President!

Can you see him? He came to Iowa State University on August 28! It was really cool to hear him speak! I don't really agree with his politics, but it was still interesting to hear his platform. Security that day was absolutely crazy, but I was glad I got to go!

Football!

Iowa State won their season opener against the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes 38-23!!! It was an awesome game! :)







Baking!

 For fun, my friends and I decided we would cook dinner and then get all fancy! My kitchen skills went to baking super delicious cupcakes! On the right you will find the secret ingredient. Yep, mascarpone cheese! Our theme was Italian, so I went to this website and followed some links to this recipe. I had never made them before, but they were super easy and sooooo good! I definitely recommend it!

I'm fairly certain 9/10 of those people are in engineering. Guess who's NOT?!?! ;)

 We had so much fun!

Celebrate!

This past weekend was VEISHEA! It's a celebration of the original six colleges at Iowa State: Veterinary, Engineering, Industrial Science, Home Economics, and Agriculture. I had so much fun Friday night with all sorts of friends rock climbing (I made it to the top!), jamming out at a dance, watching cruise-line worthy entertainment, and eating pancakes at midnight! We spent the night laughing and just having fun.

Veishea brings out multiple trailers of fair-like food, including Tom Thumb donuts! My favorite!!! Don't worry, I didn't pass them up!

Saturday, there was a parade that we enjoyed even through the rain! We even ended up with a nice candy stash! Later that day I retired to my dorm and participated in fun there. We threw gummi bears, wrapped people up in bubble wrap and saran wrap, and I got saran wrapped to a mattress and shoved into an elevator! No worries, everything and everyone ended up okay (and safe)! I became a lame-o that evening, though. I went to bed at 10:15! (yeah, be jealous)

I have two more weeks before I return home. This semester has gone by so quickly and been filled with so much stuff. I love it! My family wants to make move out quick, but I'm so bittersweet about it! I've come to make a home here and my friends have become family. I can't wait to work over the summer. I'll be working most of the time, but hopefully it will go quickly. Before I know it, I'll be back in Ames eating supper with my best friends.

On a happy note, I'll be singing "Carmina Burana" one week from today at C.Y. Stephans! Come on out! All four ISU choirs accompanied by the orchestra! :)