Spring semester

Well today marks the second day of my Junior year at school :D the spring semester has started off with a ton of snow and ice, my drive yesterday morning was quite a bit longer than normal but I guess that's normal for Wisconsin.... feels like winter is actually here now. now that the roads have been cleared some it I am loving the clean look that the blanket of snow brings

I started my photography class today. I'm excited to see what I will learn this semester! I'm sure my blogs will be a little more picture heavy this spring as I will get to take pictures for homework :D I actually have to take 50 pictures for my first assignment. She wasn't really clear what they should be of or about but just to take them so that I have something to work with when we learn Photoshop next week :) I was hoping that we would be doing a lot of photoshop but it sounds like we are going to focus more on how to take the pictures than how to edit them.

This semester is going to be quite different than last semester. I am on campus from 8 or 9 am to 3:30 or 5:30 pm Monday through Thursday. And on Friday I have two labs that are only going to meet occasionally so it looks like i might not have friday class that often. Being on campus means that I will have more opportunity to get homework done between classes and also more opportunity to do things with friends since I'll be around more. But it also means less time at home, which hopefully won't equal a messier house and less home cooking.

O by the way you can now fallow me by email, there is a little box in the top part of the right side where you can put your email and then you will get email notifications whenever I update my blog.

Necklace Holder

Well this last week I joined a website called Pinterest and have been finding a ton of fun and cute ideas on there... one of them was to make my own jewelry case. I found a tea spoon holder at good will today and thought that I would give it a try. And I am loving it, it took me a while to figure out how I was going to hang my earrings but by taking apart a necklace that I never would have worn and adding some wire I was able to make a good spot for my earrings :D

So other than my little project tonight I have been doing quite well, tomorrow is the last day of my win-term class, which has turned out to be a breeze. The class was scheduled for 5 hrs a day for 2 weeks, well the professor only lectures for an hour and a half and then we do our homework for the next hour and a half and then we don't even have to bring anything home. Plus I found out that they class is set up for both 3 credits and 2 credits and I only need 2 credits so I don't have to go to the last three days of lecture!

Andy is out in North Dakota hunting coyotes with two of his friends. They left last night and won't be home till late Thursday night.... so I have three days to myself. It feels quite strange to be in our house alone and to sleep knowing that he is a few hundred miles away. But I am so very glad that he gets to have some fun guy time with his buddies.

Yesterday I got my hair cut... I really needed it. I had really bad split ends and my sister had to take off about 2 inches just to get to where it wasn't split. But WOW my hair looks so healthy now! It is amazing what a difference it is!

Onething conference was so good and I have been enjoying watching the teachings that I saw during those 4 days online. It amazes me how much more I am getting out of them the second time around.

here is there website if you would like to take a look. I highly recommend the teachings. each one is about an hour long so grab some popcorn and a notebook and take a look.

A trip to Duluth

Last day of winter break is today.... wow those 2.5 weeks went FAST! but I am so glad that I had them, It has been so good to get a little relaxing in before school starts again. And while I'll have a lot of class time the next two weeks with winterm I'm hoping I won't have a ton of homework. I'm taking an Engineering Economy class and I really liked economy in high school so hopefully I will also enjoy this class as well.

This last week Andy and I went up to Duluth for an overnight stay at the South Pier Inn which is right next to the lift bridge up there. We had a fun time exploring the city and eating some very good food (Grandma's Bar and Grill, Northern Waters Smokehaus, Bellisio's, the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and Betty's Pies)  :) We got to see a ship go through the canal while we were in our hotel room, so we were right there as it went past. And we also drove up to Gooseberry Falls and saw some beautiful frozen water falls.

Here are some pictures from our trip

 

Tomorrow is Andy and I's 6 month anniversary! it's amazing how time can fly and how it can go so slowly, I feel like we both know each other so much better that it couldn't have only been 6 months :p

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Hello 2012, Goodbye 2011

What a wonderful year 2011 was! I transferred to Stout in January and lived in the dorms, then moved to Tony and Tara's house in May, then got MARRIED in July and moved into Andy's parents rental house in August. In November I was offered a 2012 summer internship with SMC in Summerset that I accepted and in December I hosted Christmas for my family at my house, and went to the International House of Prayer's Onething conference in Kansas City.

December was a very busy month, finals were busy and I didn't get all the grades I had hoped to get :(
And then there was the busyness of Christmas, we had 5 Christmas's within 3 days, but what a joyful time that was.
Then this last week I went down to Onething in Kansas City and it was a Blast. I felt like I learned so much from that time! I am planing on buying the CD of the conference so that I can revisit all the teachings that I heard... there was simply too much information to get retain in such a short time. I went with a group of about 40 people from the Prepare ministry in the twin Cities (Prepare is the bible study I go to in Menomonie). We took a school bus down which wasn't the most comfortable ride but it was fun to be able to talk to more people on the trip and on the way back we were able to have a testimony time where people shared what God had worked in their life the few days of the conference. I was amazed at how much so many people have been through and how much God was healing them through the conference.

On the way down to the conference our bus ran out of gas (it was totally out). We had not seen a gas station for 40-50 miles and we were only 4 miles from the gas station we planned on getting gas at. Well 4 miles is a little far to walk so we decided to pray. we made it another mile off that prayer and then it quit again so we prayed again and it made it to the bottom of the ramp.... now we had to get up the ramp and over a bridge to get to the gas station..... but through our prayers we made it! That was quite the experience and a great way to start the trip off. Our group saw many other miracles through out the week as well.... a few people prayed for a man and healed his two bad knees, and one of the guys on our trip had a really had migraine that was healed after prayer.

The trip was a huge spiritual booster for me and I am excited for what God is going to bring this year. I learned how God is a God who is requires justice... that we Christians are his bride and he is a jealous husband, he gets protective when people hurt us and if they don't repent in this lifetime they will pay for their sins in the next. I also learned how much God simply wants our time, he wants us to love Him. To read and pray even when we don't "feel" him in the room because we love Him and not simply because we want to feel loved. There are other things as well, in the setting of the speakers calling people to become missionaries and me wondering if that meant me, I felt like God told me he wants me to use the talents he has given me to finish my degree with excellence. And then perhaps be a missionary with my money, by giving much to him with what he gives me.

here is a picture from the conference during one of the worship times... and this is from less than half way back.  (and also from my phone so sorry for the poor quality).
There were around 25,000 people that attended this conference!