Leaky Ceilings..

So before I start in about my day, I would just like to say that my ceiling is leaking literally right above my bed. :( the ceiling is all squishy, so I went upstairs to talk to the girl above me; come to find out that her bathroom isn't even what's causing the leak; it's the stupid rain water coming in from outside! I'm not sure how that's even possible, but the maintenance guys are coming tomorrow to fix it! Until then my furniture is all moved around in weird places so I don't wake up soaked. I HATE the rain today!

I think it rained as much today in Rohnert Park as it does in one year in Clovis... Like seriously, no joke, it poured for the majority of the day! I wore my rainboots and used my clear and barbie pink umbrella to make it out to my car so I could drive to psych this morning. When I got to psych, my professor handed back our first "discussion papers" where we had to present an argument and support it. I got mine back and I managed to get a 10/10 (which is apparently unheard of in psych classes, especially for freshmen) and he included a note on my paper that said, "Erika. Wow. Wow again. This is very impressive. Did you say you were a first year? If so, I'm REALLY impressed" ...He also asked me to send him a copy of my paper so he could use it as an example of an "A" paper in the future. That right there made my day!

So needless to say, I called my mom after class to tell her the good news! We got to talking about how much I like my psych class and how I had mentioned a few weeks ago that I may want to switch my major to psychology, and she gave me the support I needed today through our little phone conversation. Hearing her say that this was my life and it is my decision really gave me the reassurance I needed. I feel so passionately about helping other people and hopefully using my degree to have a career in ministry. I have been praying about this for the past couple months, and I just feel like this is something that God has really put on my heart... And I'm excited to see what He has planned for me and how He will use me in the future! I'm definitely trusting in His plan and really trying to follow Him right now, even though the future may be uncertain and seem a little scary at the moment, I'm not worried (:

"Be strong in the LORD and never give up hope. You're going to do great things, I already know. God's got His hand on you so don't live life in fear. Forgive and forget, but don't forget why you're here. Take your time and pray." -Sidewalk Prophets

Rain Rain, Go AWAY!!

It was SO cold the whole day today! I was pretty upset when I had to walk to philosophy this morning when it was only around 40 degrees outside. But when I got there I received the best news ever! Drum roll please!... I don't have philosophy until next Wednesday! Which means that I can sleep in Wednesday, Friday, and next Monday! I was so excited; it definitely made up for the stupid weather! Then (my day just keeps getting better and better) I went to math and he handed back our midterms; I got a 96 out of 100 on my first college midterm! I was so excited, I took a picture of my test and sent it to both my parents (:

After class, Kaitlin, Chloe, and I went to lunch then to Target. There, I rewarded myself with a pair of rainboots, and I'm sure that if my mom saw me in them she would give me that look that she always does when she doesn't like something that I like, and she would say, "Interesting... Well you're the one wearing them, but personally I wouldn't leave the house in those" haha good thing she doesn't have to see me in them! But I really did need them because the stupid rain came in tonight! Good thing I'm prepared!

So altogether, today was pretty productive, and I even got to start reading a new book about what it means to really be a Christian... I can already tell I'm going to enjoy this book. Within the first 40 pages it's already made me think a lot about the way I live. Then coincidentally I heard the song "The Motions" by Matthew West today, which just made me realize that much more that I don't want to be sideline Christian. I want to live my life fully for God, not just on Sundays. So that's my goal this week... to remember to glorify God in everything I do and to come to Him in prayer with every decision I make (:

"I don't want to spend my whole life asking, what if I had given everything instead of going through the motions?" -Matthew West

Parents Weekend

So after getting more sleep than I have in the last 8 weeks, I was finally feeling better and my parents were in town for parents weekend. Friday night after they brought me some much needed groceries, we went over to Mary's Pizza Shack (best pizza in Sonoma County, fyi) and had pizza and pesto breadsticks. Then I managed to sneak in a quick trip to Target. Somewhere in there my parents realized that I am not kidding when I say it's FREEZING here, so they bought me an electric blanket (YAY!). Saturday was filled with random little adventures... From bike stores and the mall, to model homes and furniture shopping; we finished off our day with dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Santa Rosa with Jenna, Liz, and their parents. This morning my parents went to church while I volunteered then we all went to dim sum.

After breakfast I had to say goodbye to my parents, and even though I know I'm going to see them next weekend, it was really sad knowing they were going home without me. I don't know why it was so weird because I really haven't been living with them for the last 2 months, but I guess it's one of those things that I'll never really get used to until I move out for good. For now I'm still the type of girl who has to call her mom more than once a day and still wants to be filled in on everything at home; at this point I really don't see that changing anytime soon. Even after what has seemed like forever, I miss home... Obviously not enough to pack up right now and transfer to Fresno State (NO WAY!!). I love it here, but nothing beats home (:

Sick at College... No Fun :(

So the last 3 days I managed to get some sort of head cold that started with a sore throat. All I've wanted to do is sleep, so that is exactly what I did last night. I took some niquil and slept for 12 hours straight... It was so nice! But my excitement was ruined this morning when I woke up feeling worse than I did last night. Plus, I had to miss Nexus last night and half of Private Practice. Being sick here seriously sucks, but it's a good thing that I have amazing friends who have been taking care of me! Also, my mom and dad are coming today which will be good; my mom can make me miso soup just like when I would get sick at home. Pretty much all I'm going to try and do this weekend is relax and get better. I just love having the worst immune system in the world.

Productive Day

Tuesdays are one of my favorite days of the week for a few reasons: 1. I only have one class 2. That class is psychology which happens to be my favorite and 3. I have from noon on to get whatever I need to get done finished. Today I managed to study for my math midterm for a couple hours, take an hour nap, finish my philosophy homework, and start a new book. It was a majorly productive day!

And yes, I FINALLY finished The Shack (I've been attempting to finish that book for the last 3 months). I stayed up an extra hour last night to finish it, but it was so worth it! I didn't think any book could really captivate me as much as the Twilight Saga did, but I was extremely wrong. The Shack is an amazing book... It really causes you to think about things from a different perspective and to evaluate the way you're living. Now I know why literally everyone I know has read it!

This evening has been pretty uneventful; I just hung out with my suitemates and then studied a little more. I plan on going to bed early tonight so that I can fully concentrate on my midterm tomorrow. I don't know why, but no matter how much I sleep lately, it is impossible for me to catch up on sleep! I am exhausted by the time I actually get to sleep, yet I'm still tired enough throughout the day to take a nap. My sleeping schedule is all messed up! Just one of the many perks of being in college I guess (:

"Faith never knows where it is being led, but it knows and loves the One who is leading." -Oswald Chambers

PS.. Here is the link to the video for Urbana, the missions conference I'm going to be attending in St. Louis at the end of December... Needless to say, I am BEYOND excited!
http://www.urbana09.org/inviteothers.video.summary.cfm

I honestly don't have very much to talk about from my day today because most of it was spent sleeping. I feel like I've only been getting four to five hours of sleep every night for the past couple weeks, and even when I went home I didn't really make up for any of my lost sleep. So today after my classes and lunch, I came home, laid down with the book I have been trying to finish for the last 3 months, and I just relaxed until I fell asleep about 5 minutes later. I only meant to take maybe an hour nap at the most, but I slept for about 3 hours instead. I felt so much better when I woke up; especially because I was in such an odd mood today. I felt like I was on the verge of tears the whole day but for no reason in particular. I guess it was just one of those weird emotional days.

I did, however, kind of a have a small eye opening moment this evening. I was talking to one of my suitemates about how we feel about the school and our work loads, and I was extremely surprised to find out that up until this last week she has been feeling out of place and extremely homesick. While she is not exactly someone that I "click with" I couldn't help but feel bad. I didn't realize that she felt like this; she seemed so well adjusted to everything within the first 2 days of moving in.

This just got me thinking about how lucky I feel to be so comfortable when I am over 200 miles away from home. Yes there have been times that I've struggled with being here and being so far away from my family, especially my mom, but I also feel like this has become my home away from home. I prayed for so long before coming here that everything would turn out right in the end and that I was making the right decision by coming here. I was so nervous, but it's just crazy how blessed I am... God provided me with a church, Christian friends, a Bible study, girls I can go to for advice and I look up to so much, and also family friends close by that I can call if I am having trouble. Looking back on it now, I can't believe I was so worried.

"You are everything that I live for, everything that I can't believe is happening... You're standing right in front of me, with arms wide open; all I know is everyday is filled with hope"

What is Love?

The last four days have been so crazy for me. Thursday I spent all day and night revising my 15 page paper for philosophy and studying for a math quiz. I was so tired by the time I finally got to bed. Friday I went to my classes then I drove home with Kaitlin and we dropped off Liz and Jenna in Modesto on the way. Over the weekend Kaitlin and I went "sight seeing" in Clovis and Fresno (not that there's a whole lot of exciting stuff to see). I mostly just took her to my favorite places to shop and eat. We had a lot of fun driving around and I told her so many stories about each place we visited. It's funny how many good memories I have of my hometown; as much as I complain about how much I hate it there, it's been my home for so long... It's a part of me. Then this morning I got to take Kaitlin to The Well! I was so excited to be back there; I miss it so much! The familiarity of the people and the building and everything was so comforting for some reason, even if it wasn't the service that I normally attend. After church we headed back to Rohnert Park, but picked up Jenna and Liz on the way. They mostly slept while I drove. When we got back to the school, Chloe welcomed me back with an energetic hello. She and I went to an Intervarsity small group meeting tonight, and that is where they posed the question "what is love?"

This really got me thinking about what I think love is or what it means to love someone. They followed that question with, "what things do you love?" "is love conditional" and "is love eternal". When you really stop and think about it, it's kind of funny that we talk about how much we love this kind of cake or we love that brand of shoes. Do we use the word love in that same sense when talking about people? I would sure hope that my family doesn't love me in the same way they love a type of dessert.

So I asked myself what I thought love is... I think love is a feeling we get when we don't have the words to describe how much we really care for someone or something. I also think that love has a broader definition than what can really be defined in one sentence. I also think that love can overcome all things and is, by certain people, conditional. I think I've learned that last one recently the hard way. But I also know, that I am loved by a God whose love is unconditional and eternal. He loves me no matter what I have done or where I am in life. It seriously just amazes me, looking back on everything now, that the God of the universe can love someone like me... A person with so many regrets and someone who has made countless mistakes. It's nice to know that when the whole world is keeping score on how many times I fall or fail at something, I have a God who will welcome me back time and time again and continually hold me in His arms. I feel so incredibly loved.

Now I challenge you as you go about your day to think through these same questions... Really ask yourself: "What is love?" "Is love conditional" "Is it eternal?"

Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, Your faithfulness to the skies. -Psalm 36:5