Continue...

Ahh, yes I am back to add to my lists! Yeah!!! Aren't you excited to hear more meaningless stuff? Oh, and by the way I must make an addition of places to go...Australia, because obviously Jessica #1 will want me to come visit her and her dashingly handsome Aussie husband!

10 Things I love:

1) Porch Swings (I never want to own a house without one...)
2) Sunsets and Sunrises (I can't decide which I like better, because a beautiful sunset makes me think of a day well done, relaxing totally at peace, and enjoying Jesus; I love sunrises because it feels like no one else on the earth is awake yet the day is fresh and new, and you can smell the morning...)
3) Lilies and Tulips
4) Easter Sunday (I am one of those strange ppl who actually enjoys going to the graveyard)
5) Family dinners (theres nothing like 'em)
6) Reading (a good book is worth, or might I say contains a 1000 words, lol)
7) Snuggling in a really warm blanket on a really cold day
8) The smell of a camp fire, actually any burning wood will do...
9) JESSICA #1!!!! lol, :-)
10) Getting total new and awsome revelation from the Word! It's like seeing for the first time, I love the feeling.

13 Things I've Done (I'm sure there's more but these were interesting):

1) Learned to fence (On Guard! lol)
2) Wrote an award winning story (ok, so I was 14...)
3) Showed horses and dairy cows
4) Shot rifle, shotgun, pistol, and bow (I like bow the best...)
5) Been overseas
6) Taken 5 years of dance (tap is the greatest! :-))
7) Broken a window (it really wasn't my fault! I swear!)
8) Baby-sat my friends kids for 2 whole weeks while they were away (Whew!)
9) Been camping in a flood, tornado, blazing heat, and extreme cold ( you know the insane part? I still like it...Humm I missed the Newman Camping Hating gene...)
10) Swam on swim team
11) Played soccer
12) Nutered and Declawed my own cat (With the vet of course *do not try at home*, sorry Jess...Still love me?)
13) Cut my finger off

My Favorite Music (Humm, thats hard):

1) Almost any worship music and Contem. Christian
2) Bagpipes (I know, stupid, but hey...)
3) Classical
4) Country in moderation (you can't go to school in the South and hate it)

8 Things I'm Just Plan BAD At (I'm sure there are more of these too):

1) Shutting up...(enough said on that one, lol)
2) Spelling (yuck!)
3) Doing things the easy way
4) Acting "girly" (hehe)
5) Tact...yeah...
6) Running Marathons
7) Speaking Foreign Languages (maybe English too for that matter)
8) Drawing (I try, but...)

Ok, that should keep the great sfl busy for awhile!

Finally

Yes, I've heard your calls for commenting material, and I am very sorry to have deprived you for so long. Bluntly, the Olympics have been on, and I have watched them every night instead of blogging...sorry...Just be glad that they are almost over.

Well, in deciding what to write about, I have determined that the "list" is the blogging fad right now (i.e. 10 things I like, 10 things I want to see, etc), and so I want to join in :-).

- 5 Places I want to see:

1) Grand Canyon
2) Prince Edward Island Canada
3) Scottland
4) Italy
5) Boston

- 10 Things I want to do:

1) Visit every state in the US (working on it...)
2) Get married (maybe...eventually...)
3) Graduate from college
4) Drive on the Left side of the road
5) Go skiing
6) Own land
7) Use snowshoes
8) Ride a motorcycle (not fast...lol)
9) Go as far as I can go with the Lord
10) Be a published author

- 5 things I hate

1) Spitting on the side walk (gross!)
2) People who don't know how to drive their motor vehicle
3) Poor english (even I fail here...)
4) Swearing
5) 60s clothes (lol, sorry Dad...)

Ok, I have to go now, but I'll try to add to the list later! Enjoy!

Thoughts of Snow...

The weeks fly by, partly due to the fact that we only have lecture Mondays and Fridays, and partly because the rest of the week we have clinical and lab which makes the days seem to disappear. I was hoping for snow this weekend but I don't think it will happen unfortunately. I love snow, and although it is very nice not to have to tramp though it to school everyday, I still miss seeing it. I love waking up in the morning and seeing snow falling outside my window blinds, and hearing the snow plow go by with it's distinctive sound of metal on pavement. To bundle up and go shovel snow on the driveway, which soon becomes almost a neighborhood party as the designated "shoveler" from each house braves the cold. If school has been cancelled kids will be running down the deserted street adding the joyful music of laughter to the rhythmic scraping beat of shovels. The physical work makes you exhausted and by the time you finish the driveway a new layer of snow mocks your efforts, and reminds you that in another three or four hours you'll be shoveling again. Back inside the smell of something warm and good makes the work worthwhile, and I make myself a cup of hot chocolate to heat my frozen fingers. Soon my dog begs to go outside and standing by the door I laugh as she jumps through the snow unable to capture the illusive snowflakes that seem to disappear as soon as she has them. The universal gray sky of a winter day fades far too soon into the dark charcoal gray of evening. Making note of how much snow has fallen by the height piled on the back porch railing, my back accurately tells me how much all that snow weighs. Another day is over, and yet the snow continues to fall, mindless of the time, the day, or the lives lived. My favorite thing is when it's very late at night and I can't sleep. The house is dark and quiet, and I can just sit by the window and watch the snow silently cover the ground, sparkling as it falls around the single driveway lamp. Everything is so still, then far away carried by the stillness comes the faintest sound of a snow plow, or the distant bark of a dog. It's as if you are the sole observe of a sacred moment in time that only the starry sky and barren trees attest to. What a God who would create something so beautiful. It is truly as if all of nature cries out the beauty and goodness of the Lord. How often I forget to enjoy that which God has created all around me. I get so wrapped up in the temperature, or in the inconvenience, that I forget to just sit back and lose myself in the beauty of Jesus. "Humans are the only creatures concerned with time" a quote that I recently heard someone say, and how true it is. We get so busy in our lives that we don't have time to live. Yes, there are days where the weather is anything but beautiful, but in reality enjoying life it is not about the external conditions which uplift our hearts. Instead it is about experiencing the beauty and glory of Jesus, which transforms even the dreariest of days into a celebration of life, love, family, and creation. What a God who made a world in which to reveal Himself to man through each encounter with nature. It is as if God rejoices in our exploration and appreciation of that which we are surrounded by. I suppose that was a rather long means to an obvious ending, but you did request another addition to the blog, and so I have heeded your long awaited request...enjoy.

Back for More

Thank you my dear commenters for remembering your place on this blog. Hehe, no I love watching your conversations, and I love you all. It seems as if time is flying by, and I guess that is a good thing as it will bring me closer to seeing you all again. School is insane as always, but I love our Med-Surg class because our instructor is hilarious! In clinical yesterday she was telling us stories of her self administered rectal tubes (if you don't know what that is look it up), and by the end tears were running down my face I was laughing so hard - not to mention the fact that I will never look at a straw the same way again... Perhaps her creativity and funny stories comes from the fact that she was a nurse in Vietnam and has been teaching for years. Whatever makes her entertaining, I don't care all I know is that she makes class fun.

As for the rest of my life apart from school...Wait! I don't have a life apart from school, who am I kidding! Lol, ok maybe I have a small life one that consists of playing computer games, cleaning, and sleeping as a method to prevent total mental burnout. Actually this semester has such a different feel to it than the Fall term, and so I am still trying to adjust.

Alright, I'm off to class for our very first test of the semester, whoho! :-) More later...