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Bring out the balloons, the cake, the fun, and the games because we are celebrating birthdays tonight! My friend, Rachel, turned five years old today, and I turned eight this past Wednesday. These birthdays are even better than our actual biological birthdays - they are our spiritual birthdays, the dates that we gave our hearts over to the Lord. Normally, your birthday is all about you, but this birthday party is all about the Lord. We are having a grand celebration, not to honor us or our decisions, but to praise God for His invitation, salvation, and relationship with us! On February 23, 2003, I embarked on an adventure with the Lord that has brought me today to this place of great celebration. When people ask me to share my testimony or tell when I became a believer, I often point to this date as my "spiritual birthday." However, I am realizing that it is hard to pinpoint the day that I really fell in love with Jesus. Sometimes I think I fell...

The tallest waterfall between the Rockies and the Appalachians falls 204 feet into the valley below, which is hemmed-in by giant, colorful rock faces. As I stood at the bottom of Hemmed-In-Hollow Falls with my head tilted back into the sky, I watched the water tumble over the edge and trickle down into the pool below. "I know of a great campsite right up there." Our backpacking friend announced to us as he pointed to the top of the ridge. As crazy as it seemed, we began to ascend the rock face in search of this perfect camping spot. I felt like such an adventurer as I climbed up the cliff using footholds and handholds while balancing with my backpack. At one point, we even took our backpacks off in order to scale the final portion of the climb. We were definitely "off the beaten path." But when we reached the top, we discovered that it was worth every step. There, overlooking the Ozark Mountain valley, was a 200 foot rocky outcropping with the perfect camp site ...

I find myself in the middle of a dilemma. My social club's spring formal is quickly approaching, and everyone is encouraged to bring a date. The problem is that I don't have a date, and to be quite honest...I am not sure how to get one. I was pondering this problem just the other day, wondering who I could take and how I could ask them. Naturally, I was thinking about all the good-looking guys that I know, but the thought of asking one of them terrified me because I don't really know them that well. Just when I was feeling hopeless and pathetic, a sudden thought popped into my head. What if I embraced this as an opportunity to serve someone else? What if I didn't take the cutest guy I know, but instead offered the invitation to someone who might not ever get asked to a club function? Maybe, I could make somebody's day! So I prayed for God to show me someone that I could invite to our formal function. With that good idea in my head, I headed to the cafeteria for...

This is a happy Valentine's Day because we have the best Valentine ever - a beautiful friend and savior who will will never stop loving us. Read more by checking out my Valentine's Day article here !

We had the up-dos, the dresses, the fancy dining experience, the gifts, and the chocolates - everything you need for a perfect Valentine's date. There was only one thing lacking...no boys. That's right, it was the single ladies' Valentine's Day dinner celebration! This year, instead of letting Single's Awareness Day (AKA Valentine's Day) get us girls down, we celebrated a different kind of love. We may not have boyfriends, but we do have the world's greatest love deep down in our hearts. God's love is enough, and it alone satisfies. And that is something worth celebrating! So we dressed up, fixed our hair, and went out of town for a girl's date night. We enjoyed a nice meal at the Market Place (complete with a sweet potato fries and chocolate mess for dessert), exchanged Valentine's Day gifts, and celebrated our sisterhood. There was so much fun and laughter that we didn't even mind that there were no guys there with us. The ring pop ...

I am so honored to announce that my beautiful friend Paige has selected this blog for a Blogger Award! Thank you so much, Paige, for reading my blog and promoting it as well. I am so thankful to be your sister in ChiOs and your sister in Christ. Your energetic and joyful personality is such an encouragement to me. So here is how this Blogger Award works: 1. Link back and thank the fabulous person who bestowed the amazing award on you. 2. Share 7 things about yourself. 3. Award 7 other deserving and great bloggers. 4. Contact the awarded bloggers to let them know of their award! Here are three wonderful blogs that I have selected for this award: http://emileecmills.blogspot.com/ http://www.lifegavemelemonade.blogspot.com/ http://ijustwanttomakeart.blogspot.com/2010/10/things-that-i-cant-say-but-ill-type.html Seven unique things about myself: 1. I am currently a nursing student at Harding University that is also studying health care missions. I hav...

The snowflakes seemed like they were falling in slow motion as I watched them float to the ground outside the window of the cafeteria. I also sipped my soup slowly, just watching the world turn white outside. Instead of whisking around from class to class and project to project, I suddenly had nothing to do but sit in the cafeteria with my friend and enjoy my warm chili frito pie. Classes were cancelled, the roads were closed, and all previous engagements were put on hold for a little while. As the snow drifted slowly through the cold, crisp air, the world started to turn more slowly, too. A group of my friends joined us in the cafeteria, approaching our table all wrapped up in scarves and coats. "Have you heard about the school-wide snowball fight at 1:00?" Glancing at the clock, I noticed that we had fifteen minutes. "Let's get ready!" I jumped from the table and ran to the dorm to get bundled up. As college students, that means putting on all of your jeans,...

This week in my nursing lab, I learned how to make a bed. While chemists are mixing concoctions and biologists are examining specimens under microscopes in their labs, I am learning how to make beds. The trick is that I can now officially change your sheets and make your bed while you are still in it! I am learning skills that I will be able to use in the clinical setting when I am a real nurse! I have never been more proud of being able to make my bed. First I learned bed-making, now I am learning how to give bed baths and back massages, and next week...it is bed pan time. Yuck! You may be saying. Yes, nursing school is not all about performing surgery, diagnosing disease, or all the "important stuff" that we consider to be the fun part of medical care. That may come later, but for now, it's all about the dirty work. People say to me, "Why do you want to be a nurse? You should be a doctor!" I even had one person tell me, "You should consider becoming ...

About a week ago, the juggling act of nursing school was making me dizzy. With a research paper to write, a group project to coordinate, and clinicals to prepare for, I was beginning to wonder how I was going to make it all happen. I am currently memorizing a list of the names of certain bacterias (which happen to be twelve syllable latin words) and the diseases they cause while preparing for my tests next week in microiology, pathophysiology, professional nursing, and nutrition. As my calendar fills up with assignments, projects, due dates, and tests, I really begin to question myself. Am I really marked out for this? Are you sure you called me to nursing school, God?  As I look ahead at all of the things I have to accomplish this semester, I wonder,  Who am I to do this? I am so thankful that I am not the first one to struggle with this. In fact, the week that I felt the most stress was the week that I read about Moses. When Moses encou...