just awesome

This time I only have awesome things to share. 

Nothing too awkward has happened in my life, but tons of great things have happened! 

+Having my whole family here for Christmas and New Years!!!  

+Finding my old watch under my bed- I had been looking for that thing for a couple months! Of course I found it after buying myself a new one.

+A 6 or 7 paragraph email from my beloved anatomy and physiology teacher. She’s sooo sweet... one of those teachers who really do care about each and every student. :)

+A kind stranger walking by sees that I’m scraping my car windows without gloves, and then scrapes them for me. Thanks!

+When professors grade on a big curve, and I end up with 100% on a final.

+Making tons of hot cocoa for all to drink.

+Ugly Christmas sweater parties and friends.

+Eating fresh pineapple ‘til my mouth is sore. 

+My three brothers coming into my room to wake me up by singing Soul Sister by Train (Nate was on the ukulele.) :D

+When Elias laughs and giggles. It’s so adorable!

+When my mom rescues Mr. Scofield (our beta fish) from going down the sink drain while I try to clean his tank. 

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and here are some pictures that have nothing to do with the things above ;)

my grandparents' neighbors' creation

(notice the armpit hair?) ;D

a walk through nature

winter wonderland

sledding with family in minnesota (& a crash)

we had the whole hill to ourselves.

All 7 of us (yes, my whole family is here with us for Christmas!) packed up into a rented mini-van and drove about 4 hours to St. Cloud, MN for my grandma’s birthday. We spent two nights there, and drove back up to Grand Forks after that. While we were there, my dad and 3 out of 4 brothers went shopping for some good sleds. They got 3, so that afternoon grandpa, my dad, three brothers and I drove to a large hill. I had been debating the whole morning about going (even 10 minutes before we left, I still wasn’t sure if I wanted to go.) on one hand, its lot’s of fun. On the other hand, I twisted/sprained my ankle pretty badly last year from a sledding incident. So I went through the pros and cons of going over and over and over.

FINALLY, I decided to go. Go to this huge *icy* hill.

I slid down once- didn’t get hurt. Went down again, fine, but third times a charm, right? Right.

I used a different sled the third time. It was a circular sled (which is difficult to steer) and tried to avoid the ramp half way down the hill, but instead I headed right towards it. And BAM. That was the end of sledding for me for the day. Maybe ever? Haha. I landed on my jaw/head/hip/knee. Don’t ask how I landed on all four of those places at once. I didn’t even notice my knee was bruised until that night… Ha. *ok, back to the crash* Nate said I was lying there for quite a bit of time. I don’t think I ever lost consciousness though. The rest of the day I had a painful pounding/throbbing feeling in my head, and I also felt nauseous and really dizzy. Around dinnertime those symptoms began to clear. Praise the Lord. We were planning to go out to dinner for Grandma’s birthday, and I didn’t want to hinder that! I was extremely tired though. Even with all the coffee I drank, I wanted to sleep. My mom didn’t let me- I guess that’s something you’re suppose to do if someone possibly got a concussion- do not let them sleep. I might have had a concussion, but we didn’t go to the hospital to confirm it.

Now a few days after the lovely sledding experience, I only have bruises and a scrapped chin left as “battle scars”.

finals week

 finals week is already over for me. i had my last final yesterday morning: two on monday and two on tuesday. i'm kinda happy about that, because now i'm completely done. no more studying for a whole month!  

i debated about posting this now seeing as a lot of people still have a couple tests left. i don't want to rub it in; instead, my encouragement to you all who are still taking tests is:

finish strongly! and

do your best, and let God do the rest.

when i was in an empty classroom waiting for my last test to start, i doodled on the chalkboard.

i have a love/hate relationship with chalkboards. i absolutely hate the sound of screeching chalk. it's probably the worst sound ever, but i love all the cute things you can do with them! :)

#chalkboardsarenotformath haha

you know that awesome moment when you open up your Bible and the perfect verse is right there in front of you? it doesn't happen all the time, but when it does, well, it's amazing. about 10 minutes before one of my hardest test, i did that. (it was the app on my phone though):

"i am the vine; you are the branches. the one who remains in me and i in him bears much fruit...
*and the best part*
...because apart from me you can accomplish nothing." -Jesus (john 15:1)

thanks for that reminder, Lord. i was encouraged.

this round of finals (compared to ones in the past) seemed low-key and simply unstressful. i blinked, and they were over. don't get me wrong, i did study- a lot, but i felt like i was on autopilot the whole time. i think it was partly because i wasn't concerned with getting +95% in all my classes like i was at pierce for dental hygiene. but also, the other reason is because i'm learning that God doesn't love me/us more or less depending on the grades we get. he loves us for who we are (not what we accompish). i did my best and let God do the rest.

God really gave me peace. and without the stress factor, more info can get into this little brain of mine.

thank you, Lord, for your goodness and that little faith booster.
You're pretty incredible.

plants + lamp + movies

random pictures of my life.

I tried growing oregano, chives and basil- only the basil sprouted.

I'm pretty much a failure when it comes to growing plants, but this must change!

 I love plants...

any tips/suggestions?

Notice the lamp?! Our living room doesn't have a ceiling light, so at night we weren't able to study very well. Thanks to my great aunt and uncle, we inherited one! Now I don't have to squint while reading/studying. :)

My handy grandpa made this plant stand! That's right, built it!

Pretty awesome, huh?

I think so.

(the bottom pots only have dirt in them. haha...)

Contrary to popular belief, VHS tapes are not extinct yet. Here’s the proof.

My grandparents volunteered at a church rummage sale, and they got Nate and I 30+ videos.

We'll never be bored again.

This was the temp a week or two ago... yesterday it was 39 and today it's down in the teens.

crazy, crazy weather.

Look at the reflection in my glasses ;)

Someone showed me the private rooms on campus where I can play in peace and quiet. Yay! Not that I'm good or anything...