Hey ya'll ;)

dang we haven't kept these up have we? a lot has been going on lately - a lot of school, and a lot of crap too. I've been changing churches, and i still haven't found one yet - i'm in between two right now, but i haven't exactly been praying about it so i don't even know. if you guys could just pray for me to balance out my time between church, school, and entertainment that would be awesome. i spend too much time procrastinating and then my school work is crappy, and then i don't have time to spend with God - and this is a cycle i've been going through for a while now - and i'm feeling spiritually dead like this. also, since i don't have a church home i'm kind of like a floater so that doesn't help much either. other than that though, i'm pretty good - i CANNOT wait until this wednesday, because then i'll be done with tests - at least for another week or so. alrighty, gotta go to one of the churches i'm lookin at lol - bye! love you guys, miss you!

Life. In Anna's Perspective.

Hey guys, it's been a while, hasn't it?

Things are going well, I've been praying about the church and what to do there...so today we didn't actually go to the service, but we went to this Sunday School class that was really awesome - and we actually learned something for once. it was amazing. :) we're studying Judges - so much to learn in that book! About the services though, I still don't know what we're going to do...we're still trying to figure that out. Another thing with this is since we feel separated from the church, we're kind of getting separated from our friends at the church, which is really sad. I love the people there, but I guess subconciously it's like they're part of something that I don't agree with, so I guess the separation is probably partly my fault too. But it seems like they have their own little groups now and I don't quite belong to any of them anymore - I don't know if this is God's way of telling me that I need to leave, but then today we had an amazing time at the Sunday School. So, I don't know. Just pray for that please. I'm hanging out with Kathy on Tuesday, so hopefully we'll be able to have some quality time.

Other than that, just STUDYING. I'm taking a break right now, but i need to get back to studying soon. I have three tests tomorrow, and they're all beasts - the Greek one in particular. So hopefully I'll do alright on all of them - pray for me that I would be focused please. thanks! Love you guys, and miss you!

WOW i haven't updated in a long time!!

So, sorry for the above statement...i somehow forgot about this place...don't know why. weird.

Anyway, i have one week left of Summer B at UF, and it's been awesome!! my roommates are so cool, and we got done painting my room in the house. and next weekend, I move in!!! and then...i go home for a week or so, and then head back up for Fall semester. cannot WAIT for everybody to come back!!! and football season of course ;)

Let's see...i went to my cousin's wedding in Chicago a few weeks back - that was really cool. :)

and....i might possibly have the chance to go to Ethiopia next spring!! still a maybe though - not set in stone or anything.

oh! and me and my cousin Hope want to take a hiking trip in the Appalachians or to the west coast - so we're figuring that out.

other than that, just hanging out with friends, today we're cleaning the room in my house, and im doing laundry...later we're prob going to watch sweet home alabama with the roomies. YAY!

I MISS YOU PEOPLE!!!! emily, who is in rwanda - hope you're having yourself a flipping BLASTY BLAST, and britt in TN, you too missy, and let me know how your neighbor is! Abby in Venezuela, you are an awesomely awesome person and i miss your face!! dang...everybody's in different places. craziness. but anyway, hope everyone's doing well, love you guys!

May Madness.

So in May, i got out of college, met some europeans, my two best friends left on separate trips, but one is back now YAY, and hung out with people from high school. oh! and i might be going to a 3 doors down concert with em. :D yay! which i think we should TOTALLY do it. and then in june, i have like 2 weeks, and then i leave again for college, and i have 2 random roommates who are sisters - i hope it works out good. and then in august i move into my HOUSE!!!!!! :D and that's about all in my life right now. i went to gainesville this past weekend, hung out with people, it was fuuuunnn :)

some things to pray about this month:

Scott's grandpa just died yesterday :( they're going through a tough time, so just pray for them and for strength.

Daron - he's getting better, he has most of his thinking back praise the Lord, but he's still in a lot of pain.

My brother Kenny - that he wouldn't make stupid decisions in Italy.

But anyway, thanks guys!!! and yes. May. we have like 10 or 11 days left of it. so ENJOY it while you can.....MUAHAHAHAHAH!!!!

i don't really know.
but. i love you guys, and see ya latah!

the chicken and the chipmunk played hide and seek.

i took 2 tests today. LAST DAY OF CLASSES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
3 more tests tho haha ;)

but still.
im pretty freaking excited if i do say so myself. about the no class thing haha.

WHATCHU GUYS UP TOOOOOOOOOOOO???????????????

Some updates on life :)

So this week has been CRAZY.
Let's start it out on....Saturday. that sounds good.

Saturday:
My parents came for my birthday!!! And we went to Olive Garden, and then drove around Gainesville, drove to Paine's Prairie, stuff like that. Then they went back to their hotel, and I went to a puppy party at Kacey's....SOO cute. It's a golden retriever...
yay! and then Sunday, went to church with the family, went to Chili's with parents and friends, and then...did other stuff, and went to church again, THEN - the surprise party. AMAZING.
And...after that - on Monday - me and my friend Hanna led someone to Christ!!!!!!! AHHHHH!!!!!!! that feeling, lemme tell you, is awesome. seriously. it was CRAZY.But just pray for him - his name is Quinn :)

And then Tuesday, another movie night and cake with candles, and more presents, and a mini shopping spree, and it was MY BIRTHDAY!!! and....yes.

Wednesday - 43:10, school, Choir, random stuff...
Thursday - school, Pride and Prejudice play, then Stats quiz...
and then Today - maybe scrapbooking, maybe a baseball game, maybe some swing dancing - not exactly sure yet. but some combination of those three sounds like fun. :D

Blood in my mouth beats blood on the ground

That's the song i was listening to. im not super crazily angry, i promise. ;) Well, i guess with me, you couldn't really tell, so the song kind of defines my anger resolution strategies?? i don't know. but anyway. im not angry right now lol. that's the point haha.

Soooo, today is Sunday, and i have to study this whoooollllleeeee week. Because - guess what??? i have 3...yes. 3 ------ tests this week. UGH. BUT, this weekend im going home to see the labelle besties, which i'm SUPER excited about!! im going to miss one of my besties up here's birthday though. sadness. :( but that's ok. because i'll see her when i get back!!!! Oh!! and my parents are coming up to Gainesville next weekend for my birthday - so im excited about that :) and.....what else is new? not too much, one of my friends is getting a new puppy, so im gonna go visit her when she gets it yay!
I have to talk to an advisor soon about double majoring - adding classics on. i still don't know if i want to do it - but i need to talk to somebody either way.
And that's about it! im listening to music and studying for pompeii archaeology - hopefully i'll get a good grade on that test - i need it to get a B in the class. ahhhh.
Some prayer requests for me:
Ivan Ruiz is in Tampa in the hospital right now - he needs a heart transplant!!!! :( :( Just pray that he gets a good heart, and that his body doesn't reject it or anything. And pray for strength for him and his family.
My prayer and Bible study time has been getting kind of dry lately :( I haven't played the piano for worship either lately, which helps me a lot....so i think i'll play some tonight. but just pray that i get better at doing my devo and just motivating myself to live for God each and every day. I have good worship time, but my prayer has been off. i don't know.
Im getting over my feelings for kyle more, but now our friendship is dwindling and it's mostly my fault. i've kind of been avoiding him, because of everything and partly something he said on the phone the other night. it was weird. but anyway, i feel like we shouldn't just let our friendship go down the drain. that would suck. so just pray for that.
And....I HAVE THREEEEEEE TESTS THIS WEEK!!!! ahhhh!!! and one of them i have a C in the class, and another class i got a D on the first test (HOW the heck do you get a D in stats. come on now.) So, just pray that i focus and get my lazy butt in gear and actually study and work on everything...and just pray for my stress level. because i know im really laid back but...when things actually start to stress me out, i get REALLY stressed out.
Thanks guys!! I hope you all are doing great, and i love you guys very much!

New Orleans

Saturday
So, Saturday we left for New Orleans!!! It was AMAZING, but i'll start from the beginning. So, we left on Saturday around 8 in the morning, and listened to some amazing music on the way up...and yea. It took us a looooonng time to get there - but it was FUN. :D Then, that night, we went to Bourbon Street to witness and give out tracts. And we ate at this really good Gumbo place - i had a po boy - super good!! It was a very interesting experience - i saw things i've only seen in movies haha. But i was kinda disappointed in myself - I felt God tugging at me to go talk to this guy sitting on some steps outside a store on Bourbon street, but i didn't. And i don't know what could've happened if i would have actually listened. :(
After that, we got begneys at Cafe Du Monde (Amaazing) and then went back to the hotel and slept.
- Sunday
We got up, got all our stuff, and went to breakfast, and Kyle and James met us there (they drove up separately since kyle had to work). after that, we went to the Seminary College where we put all our stuff in the dorm rooms where we were staying through tues...and then went to the Seafaring Center. THere, we met some seafarers, and then started doing construction with James and Dave (SUPER cool guy) and Terrel. it was fuuunN!!! i got up on scaffolding and stuff. i felt tough ;) After that, we got lunch, and then dinner, and then went to the college, where we had a worship service and met other college students from Georgia and Tennessee. But...some of the guys started being jerks and talking smack about the other football teams, so that kind of alienated them from us. :( The girls and terrel talked to them for a while though. They were nice, just a lot quieter than our group lol :)
- Monday
Some of us went to paint, and some of us went to the Seafaring Center - I went to the Seafaring Center. This place was soooo cool - we got to use their kitchen and bake whatever we wanted, play games, do construction (funny story about that lol) and hang out. We met some seafarers, and they were all super nice! We sorted things, baked things....random stuff.
Then, we went and had dinner, hten went back to the center to hang out with more seafarers, and got to talk to some very interesting people. :)
Tuesday - We went back to the seafaring center/painting, and it was cooool - Anthony kept tracking dirt in lol - drove me and geny crayz because we were mopping haha. And then we went to the basketball court.
This was one of the most awesome times of the whole trip. seriously - i think did the most for God there than anywhere else (except for maybe painting). It was in an alright neighborhood (well, we thought at the time) and it was right next to the police station. We went and steve and kyle and terrel went out first to see if we could play basketball with the guys there ( all thug looking guys you know) and they said sure. So we all go over there, there's 2 little boys playing, and we play with them, and then we girls go prayer walking for a little bit, meet these two guys - David and Aber. They were intoxicated and more...but they really appreciated us coming out and just praying for them. It was cool. And then, we went back to the bball court, and just hung out with the guys. They were sooooo nice!!!! we had a blast with them - we were just telling them what we wanted to do with our lives, what tv shows we liked, what we liked to do...and then we started singing and then terrel and one of the guys started rapping. It was super cool!!
And then - Kyle and Dave were talking to this guy the whole time. HE ACCEPTED CHRIST!!!! :D PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE pray for him though. i can't really mention his name either. He's in an EXTREMELY hard situation right now...probably one of the worst i've ever heard of in my life. He could be killed at any time. And pray for all the guys there - they're his boys, and they're all in hard situations that i couldn't even imagine being in. They don't know Christ though. If i would have known all these things i heard later, i would have been extremely scared to go to that basketball court. but God was with us the whole way, and it turned out soooo amazing. Just pray though. Pray like you've never prayed before for this guy. Seriously. Thanks.
Wednesday - we left New Orleans, and came home. And now i have to unpack lol. So that was the gist of the trip - there's a lot more stories of things that happened, but you'll just have to ask me. :)

Great Weekend, Crap, New rlOeans, and beyond!!!

Great Weekend
So this weekend was pretty sweet - Britt and Jaclyn came up :D I hadn't seen Britt since Christmas, so it was super sweeeeet.We went to Gator Nights, got henna tattoos, and saw a bunch of friends like Daron, Micha, Vanessa, Laura, and Kat. We hung out at Kyle's house, watched 10 Things I Hate About You and ate cookies and milk, then had Bible study. On Saturday (AMAZING day) we went to Lake Wauburg, had Publix subs, and canoed some (Jaclyn and Ashlee were hilarious) and then laid out in the suunnnn (with a poor poor dead duck accompanying us). Then we left, and went to Tijuana Flatts for dinner :) After that, me and Britt went to the mall for pedicures to finish off a great relaxing day. And then on Sunday, we went to church, saw a whole bunch of really cool people, and then went to Cracker Barrel with Terrel, Vanessa, and Kathy. And after Jaclyn and Britt left, I went to church, then went to Sonny's (FUN) and then hung out at Chris's house (not so fun - that's the crap part haha).
Crap
Well i guess it's not really crap - it's actually a good thing because i'm making progress....but at Chris's house, we hung out, played some apples to apples and some telephone pictionary...but i was in one of my quiet moods (you know what im talkin about.) so kyle calls me later and asks me why i was sad and says just to say what i need to say and all that stuff. So i basically tell him that i can't open up to him right now because of all that crap...and that i need space. And he let me have it - and so yeah. i don't know what God wants in this situation because i've prayed and prayed for feelings to go away...and i think they're gone....and then they come back. bleh. But just pray that with this week of not calling him or texting him or hanging out much with him will make some progress with this. because i really really want it all to just go away.
New Orleans
ahhhhhh New Orleans is coming up in a WEEEK!!!!!! so super excited. We're working on our skit allllllll week. But I'm Death in the skit - and i have this super awesome black cloak thing - it's AMAZING!!! And we're going to do construction and do a youth night, work at a seafarer's center, witness on Bourbon street, and work on cruise ships. I'm very excited. :) Just pray for the people there that we're going to work with, and just pray that God would prepare their hearts for the work we're going to do. And pray that God would prepare me too. Because...I'm a scaredy cat. And we're going to Bourbon Street. yeah. Yayyyyy though - can't wait!!
Beyond!!!
Emily's coming next weeekend!!!! YAY!!! very excited to see you my dear - haven't seen you since - Christmas?? :( :( :( So....I will see you then!!! And after that, it's almost SUMMER!!! well, for six weeks. and then i go back to school lol.

But anyways, that's my update for the (month i guess??) yay!! Overall i've had a good time, and God's with me through the little bad spots as well as the good ones. :)
Love you guys!

Lately :)

Happy Valentine's Day!!

I hope you guys are all doing super great. :)
Update on life - still getting over feelings for a guy, but now i actually do want them gone because they're bringing me down. So hopefully that fact, some quality time with God, and some space will do me good. And pray for the space thing. because that actually means i have to TELL him i don't want to hang out with him for a while - and you guys know how non confrontational i am. Also, that would probably mean not hanging out with other friends too, but i really think it's gotta be done - at least for a little while. Thanks!

I miss my brother. :( he's doing ok, but what i think i told you guys - the fact that he doesn't have a good group of Christian friends in miami - is bringing him down. and i can feel it, and it's not fun watching your closest family member and one of your best friends falling.

Kind of struggling with school - i realized i've been spending too much time procrastinating and hanging out with friends than actually doing what i went to college for - studying lol. So just keep me in prayer for that.

And of course i miss you guys. Can't wait to see you!!! :D whenever that is....lol.
Other than that though, i've been really good! Today we're going out with the girls and eating, then watchin a movie. we're getting dressed up :D
Thursday we practiced for the Lifehouse skit, and it's coming along really well. I can actually kind of do my part ok - (i'm Death by the way lol) without laughing! it's amazing. ;)
That's about it on my end, miss you guys super a lot, can't wait to hang out again!!
Love you so so so much =)

Life in the Here and Now :)

Sooo.....a LOT has happened in the last month or so....

1st off, i discovered that the guy i was talking about last time doesn't like me like that...or at least "God isn't convicting him of anyone romantically" lol. Soo...now we've turned into kind of like best friends, which is pretty cool i guess. There's a lot less tension with us now, so it's nice. :)

And....what else??

D - Now weekend was this weekend, SUPER fun!!!!
we (me, Rachel, and Rebecca) had 15 6th and 7th grade girls living with us for a weekend haha. it was pretty crazy at times, but very fun. We had tears, laughter, anger, ADD ness....everything. Oh. AND......
SHAVING CREAM SOCK THROWING PARTAY!!!!!!!

;)

But seriously, just pray for those girls that they got something out of what we talked about - the last session we did - we felt really discouraged because the girls were really tired and not focused at all...and it was like THE most important lesson. but we planted the seed, so just pray that it'll grow.

And...I'm goin to New Orleans for Spring Break on a mission trip - that should be a BLAST. i've been sooooo busy with school, practicing, friends, FAITH witnessing, (oh gotta tell you about that too haha), choir and orchestra, d-now planning....just EVERYTHING going on i'm like AHHH!!!!

but it should be all better after this week. it's pretty hectic this week with a test, all my new orleans stuff due tomorrow, gotta buy a textbook, go grocery shopping, Bible study, laundry, a BUNCH of homework.....AHH!!!

but it should be good.


OH!!!! just to let you know and for you to pray that i don't cut myself on thursday lol ;) we're making STONE TOOLS.....US....on thursday!!!!! SOOO EXCITED!!! :D

anyway, yea!!!
:D

YAY!!!!

So. here is my update.

WE WON!!!!!!!! THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!!!!!!
AHH!!!!

ok. had to get that out a bit.

God is good. My life has been going amazingly, with a few little cool/weird/confusing as crap - things happening in between that im still very confused about. But my relationship with my Father has improved, and God is just amazing. Just everything He blesses us with - crazy.

I have 5 classes now - Intro to Stats, Intro to Geology, Italian 2, Intro to World Archaeology, and Pompeii Archaeology Lab. SUPER cool, and i'm excited. OH! and my professor for the world archaeology class is looking for volunteers to help archaeologists on campus, so i'm going to talk to him about that this week sometime. :D

I just bought a perfume......ooh la la ;) it's Miss Dior - Cherie hay hay!!!! but yeah.

Ok - i have a couple prayer requests.
First off - Our family is really nervous right now because Costa Rica just had a 6.1 ranked earthquake near San Jose and Alajuela, where some friends of ours live. Also, we can't get ahold of any of our family over there right now so we're not sure what's happening....and it's nerve wracking.

Second - my aunt's mom has CRAZY health problems - like they're surprised she's still alive right now. But she has a hack doctor who is doing basically malpractice, but my aunt's dad is STUBBORN as crap and likes the doctor who's killing his wife. My aunt was asking this doctor why he'd done some of the things he had done, and he got in her face and threatened her. and her dad didn't do anything. So, just pray for that situation and that they finally get away from that doctor and that her father realizes what he's doing.

Another thing - i need patience and wisdom for a certain situation that most of you know about lol - that's the confusing quirk that i was talking about. guy situation. ahhh. i don't know what's going on at all - and i think i might have messed up a little. Also, i'm like terrified of getting in a relationship since i have no experience, so that doesn't help much either ;)

And that's it for now, thanks guys!!! love you all :)

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

--Reinhold Niebuhr

I had never read this whole prayer before - and it totally describes my life right now. It's awesome. I don't know why most people leave out the rest of the poem - it's super good. But anyway...food for thought.

:)