2010, really?

Can you believe that it's a new year?! We're in a new decade, in fact. Wow.

Isn't it amazing how much can happen in one year? For example, I blogged 27 times. Impressive, right? That's more than twice per month, people.

*waits several moments for applause*

*gives up waiting*

So, what's in store for this year? Really, only God knows what will happen in the coming months, but I trust that this year will be filled with blessings for all of my readers. (I feel like I can finally talk as if I have readers since I now have reached a whopping twelve followers....)

Yesterday I posted my last paper from last semester. My apologies for any formatting issues...Microsoft Word and Blogger don't get along very well. In fact, I spent at least an hour editing the html of that post so that it would look readable. There are still some problems with the footnotes, but let me assure you that they are correctly formatted in the actual document (proper spacing and all!).

Anyhow, it is the argumentative research paper that I wrote for my Research and Writing class. Yes, the "dangerous" paper that I wrote about a while back. And while we are on that subject, I must announce to a particular reader (*cough*Erika*cough*) that I STILL HAVE THAT SCAR!!! Just FYI. ((See, it wasn't exaggerated.))

In that post I mentioned my nightmare wherein I had worried that I had ended my paper with the word with. That's why it was rather humorous when my professor commented that my last sentence was good. If only she knew...

So, now I finally have my class grades and cumulative GPA. I am satisfied but not thrilled (Yep, I wanted that elusive 4.0.) But God is good! He is so faithful and it was only by His grace and the encouragement of friends and family that I got through the first few rough days of college and had the stamina to finish.

You see, I did something that I would never recommend anyone try: from the time that I was accepted at PHC to the day that classes started, I focused on anything but college. Finishing high school wore me out and my summer was busy while I worked a full-time job. My last day of work was Friday, my friend's graduation party (in our yard) was Sunday, and college started on Monday. So, that Monday morning, I logged onto the student portal and started trying to navigate my classes for the first time.

Incredibly. Bad. Idea.

That is why my first week of college was one of the worst weeks in my life. I learned that I did not have all my books, and I was just scrambling to keep up. In fact, the entire semester I was barely on track due to my stupidity and carelessness at the beginning.

Why am I saying all of this? Because I have determined to do better this time. College officially starts next Wednesday (or Thursday, depending on who I ask) but I have already started getting ready. I hope to be completely organized, have all of my books (I have many of them, but a few are still in the mail), finish the preliminaries (PKATs, etc), and have started the reading before the first day of class.

I think what I've just written is very much along the same lines as something my good friend just posted. She wrote,

I must not hold back when God is clearing the path for me. I need to be watching for the opportunities He puts before me, and when He says 'go', I need to throw myself into it instead of asking "are You sure?"

(Can you believe I just quoted you on my blog, bestie? You're famous now!)

Anyhow, what she said rings so true to me. I think it is so important that we seize the opportunities that God has given us. My acceptance at PHC was, I feel, an open door that God gave me to increase in knowledge and broaden my horizons. Rather than continually questioning what I will do with a degree and where God wants me to be in the future, I ought to focus on making the most of this amazing opportunity.

Moving on...

Break has been wonderful. I'm afraid that I took the catching-up-on-sleep-thing to an absolute extreme. I am definitely not going into details (though I'm sure Erika would be happy to satisfy your curiosity...please don't ask her!!). Let me just say that I think I've slept enough now that I could be up for the next week....

Besides sleeping excessively, I've been hanging out with family (sleigh rides, Christmas caroling, sledding, making snow angels), spending time with friends (especially one friend who will be leaving soon for several months...sniff, sniff!), playing piano (I've started playing piano with the congregation now...what an experience!) and overall just loving life.

Oh yes, I should mention the one adverse affect that college has had on me: wisdom teeth. At least, I think they are starting to come in (which means I need to get them all out right away before they ruin 4 1/2 years of orthodontic work) and my mom said that since college is making me so smart, it only makes sense that my wisdom teeth would come in.... Very funny.

Yep, break was fantastic, but...Spring semester, here I come!

Carpe diem, folks!!