Monday, October 29, 2012

honor your father and mother

All my life I have been blessed to grow up in a home with two incredible parents by my side. From birth to the day I left for Link Year, my parents have been there for me every step of the way. Even now, I am 12 hours away, and they are still only a phone call away when ever I need something. My parents love unconditionally  and encourage me to do my best in all aspects of life. I am so thankful for all the love I receive even when I mess up. It may be some pretty tough love, but its still love. Being away has allowed me to appreciate everything my parents have done and continue to do for me, so much more! I love that Link Year allows our parents to come up and experience our lives with us for a weekend! Having the chance to talk to my parents and tell them about everything I am learning is a huge blessing on our relationship. It gives me the chance to be real with them and allow them to see the Lord at work in my heart. Its crazy how much a relationship can grow when you're so many miles apart just by allowing God to do his work. If there is one thing I have come to realize, its how truly powerful prayer can be. For months I have been praying for a more Christ centered relationship with my parents. But in order for that to happen, I need to surrender that part of my life to God. Easier said than done. I allow God access to only a few parts of my life, and the rest I keep for myself to control. I surrender only what I am comfortable giving away. When in reality, I cannot handle anything without God's help. So, its silly to try and control things myself. Once I finally mustered up the courage to surrender all parts of my life to God, I slowly began to see some changes! It has started with my parents and is now moving to my relationship with Elliott. We are closer than ever before and it is becoming easier and easier for me to forgive and love him unconditionally. This weekend was so much fun, and was incredibly beneficial for all involved! I am so thankful my parents sacrificed their time and money to come spend the weekend with me in Btown! We had so much fun! I will tell you all about it in my next post!

Friday, October 26, 2012

Parents weekend!

Well after 2 months I finally get the chance to see my sweet parents!! It is Link Years parents weekend and Mom, Dad, and Elliott (my little brother) are headed to Btown.! I cannot wait to see their faces and give them a giant hug! You don't realize how much you love and appreciate your family until you are away from them for so long! There are so many things that my parents do for me that I have taken advantage of, but being away has helped appreciate all that they do! Their flight lands at 6:30 tonight!!! I am so excited to spend time with them! I ameeting them at the hotel and the four of us are going to Hook and Ladder pizza company for dinner! It will be so nice to just sit and catch up with them! This weekend is going to be so great! It would be even better Erich (my older brother) was able to be here with us! But not to worry thanksgiving is only a few weeks away!!

Thursday, October 25, 2012

week of the adams


This is my "weekly review" that we are required to write as one of our weekly assignments! hope you enjoy the recap! 

                After a long week apart from each other, it was great to be back together as a class! I never thought I would miss spending time with everyone until I was gone! Bottom line, I am glad to be back! This week we had the pleasure of hearing from our very own Adam Martin and Adam Donyes! 

Tuesday was all about time management. At our age managing time is always a struggle. We all think we are doing a great job with our time management skills, when in reality we are terrible. Adam’s talk was a wake up call for me, especially when he said that we make time for what’s important to us. If I stop and think what I make time for and what push aside, my priorities are not straight. Lately I have noticed that I push time with God to the back of my mind. I am more worried about spending time with friends and not missing out. I now understand that I need to step back and really think about what is more important! Creating a time block schedule really helped me plan out my day, and I think it will help me stay on top of what commitments I have. 
 Wednesday Adam Martin talked about money management! As college students, saving money is not always easy! I know that for me I don’t always spend my money wisely. Adam helped us see what it looks like to spend wisely and how to manage our money responsibly. He showed us mint.com which I plan on setting up for myself so that I can keep track of my spending in a more efficient way! 

To wrap up the week, Adam Donyes spoke on managing our selves. We learned that discipline is the main ingredient to managing self. Adam told us about 3 different types of discipline. The first one is inward discipline. Those are meditation, prayer, fasting, and studying. The one that stood out most to me was meditation. Nowhere in scripture are we called to memorize, but rather meditate. Meditation takes it from just knowledge in our brain to something meaningful in our hearts that we can live by. The next type of discipline is outward. These are simplicity, solitude, submission, and service. Solitude stuck out the most to me. God speaks to us in a whisper, not a booming thunder storm or a raging fire, but in a whisper to our hearts. In order to hear a whisper you need silence. The enemy hates and will not allow silence in our lives. Satan knows how God speaks to us, and this is why he tries to make our lives busy and full of distractions. When we are constantly going and don’t ever stop and rest in silence, how can we expect to hear God’s voice. The last type of discipline is corporate discipline. Those consist of confession, worship, guidance, and celebration. I most enjoyed learning about guidance. We all get more out of life when we seek wisdom from both God and others who have gone before us. Over the last year I have realized how truly important and beneficial it is to have someone older than you speak truth into my life. It is incredible how much one person can change your life simply by challenging you and keeping you accountable. 

Out of all the incredible speakers we have had come and teach us, I have learned more this week than any other. The information I took in this week is some that will last me a life time and has impacted my way of thinking permanently.  

Thursday, October 11, 2012

First of Many

Well, I made my first bowl of ramen as a college student. I told myself I wasn't going to be the kid who lives off of ramen noodles in college, but little did I know..... When you spend all your money on coffee and weekend meals, you have to deal with the coonsequences at some point! Good thing ramen noodles is one of my favorite unhealthy foods out there! I am sure this is not the last bowl I will eat this year, so maybe I should do a little more abdomination....or maybe not! Stay posted for some more riveting stories about my pathetic meals.
Here it is. The first bowl. 

Shout Out to Momma Smith

Chad, the official rice crispy measurer.
For those of you who don't know, my mom Jennie Smith, makes the greatest rice crispy treats of all time. Hands down. No argument. She makes them for all occasions and I cannot ever get enough of the warm delicious treat! Well, I was feeling a little homesick the other day (shhh, dont tell anyone), so I decided to cure my blues by bringing a little bit of Jennie Kris to Btown. So I climbed in my car and made a trip to the store. I bought 1 bag of marshmallows, rice crispy cereal, and butter. I poured the mallows into a bowl with some butter and stuck them in the microwave. Set the timer for 2 minutes and 30 seconds and wait...the longest 2 and half minutes ever. The timer finally beeped and my friend Chad helped me measure the crispies! At home mom uses her hands and counts out the 6 cups...my hands are too small so that's where Chad came in! His help was greatly appreciated! Once the crispies were in we mixed them up and chowed down...we didn't even waste time putting them in a pan. I grabbed a handful of spoons and watched the bowl disappear in a matter of minutes. I think it is safe to say my mom's rice crispy treats were a hit! I am sure they were not nearly as good as Jennie makes them, but they sure did make me feel better! Momma, thanks for all those batches you've made for me! I appreciate you more than you will ever know!! Love you to the moon and back!

Gettin Fit!

Here at LinkYear, students are required to take part in 30 minutes of physical activity at least 4 times a week! So what do we do for physical activity? Some of us wake up at 6:15 and do a group circuit workout, some of us play a game of pick up soccer, and others take a leisurely walk around campus. Unfortunately my sweet father passed on the gene of being a morning person, so I take part in the 6:15 circuit workout. I haven't decided if that is a good or bad thing. But when you get to spend that time laughing and exercising with some of your best friends, there isn't much room to complain! However, there are some mornings where the alarm is Jamie and I's worst enemy... so we immediately roll over, moan and grumble, hit the snooze, and refuse to get out of bed. On those days we make up the time with a little exercise sesh in the rec. These workouts are just as much fun! We assume our positions, me on the stationary bike, and James on the elliptical, and get to work! We flip on the tv and watch the news,some football, or maybe catch an episode of NCIS. After 20 minutes on the machines, we finish off our rigorous workout with a 10 minute abdomination. Abdomination is officially my least favorite thing in the entire world. It is the world's worst most painful 10 minutes of my life. But hey, at least I will look good when I'm done right? Well that's what I tell myself anyways...I can at least wish for a 6 pack. So whether it's an early bird workout with some pals or a late night basketball game, being active is always a blast here at Kanakuk LinkYear.
James in I workin it. 

Some casual football watching. 

Claire Bear and I ready for our walk in the FREEZING rain.