These Last Three Months Were A Dream...

Since I haven't been able to upload photos on here for awhile, I decided to take all of my favorite memories, moments, and highlights of the past three months in Germany and post them here, complete with captions! (this could be a LONG entry folks, I've had alot of good memories...) I hope you enjoy browsing through the life of a curly-haired, free-spirited, God-fearing, food-loving, never-gonna-settle-down,  woman! :)

 When I first got to Germany and was wandering alone, I ended up being a part of some street guy's magic show. It involved me throwing fire-lit torches at him whilst he was balancing on a unicycle. (go figure) I made 5 Euros. :)

The very first day I got to school a random group of us biked into town--it's amazing looking back and remembering how we didn't know anything about each other; all we were really confident about was that God had brought us into each others lives for a reason.

 This is the backyard of my beautiful school, back when it was warm and sunny!

 At night a bunch of us ran into the cold, cold lake--at the time, we barely knew each others names.

 Chocolate face masks!!

 Ohh baby. Rittersport chocolates were honestly a part of my daily diet. (I quit that now...)

 After filling Jessica's door with post-it notes...

 She pranked me back by saran-wrapping my bed. This is WAR.

 The German flea markets = Awesome!

 Germany is so clean, except, they don't use doggy-bags while walking their dogs. Henceforth, I stepped in dog crap.

 See that path? Yeah, I hiked that. In the Swiss Alps.

 We made it to the summit! (And yes, that IS a real bird in the background! Adds to the whole inspirational aspect of it eh?) This was an exhausting hike, the most challenging one yet, but reaching the top was hands down the BEST feeling. I remember trying to take in all the landscape around me, sweat dripping in my eyes and thinking, "looking at this, how could you not believe in God? These mountains are a mere reflection of his beauty, his wonder, and his MAJESTY!"

 International night at school. These are all my fellow Canadians!

 A spontaneous and random dance party erupted one Sunday evening--it was nothing short of an awesome, sweaty, and incredible time.

 Everytime there was a birthday in our 10-room, we stole cactus's and and other plants from the school's window sills, pillows from the lounge, and food from the dining hall and created a Birthday party extravaganza in our room! :)

Hiking up to castle Neuschwanstein! (The Disneyland Castle!)

 The most random photoshoot in the world. But oh so much fun.

 I live for french-fry pizza.

 Running the 10K race. Wow, I still can't believe I was capable of this.

 Our awesome carved pumpkin! But it obviously couldn't beat the E.T one.

 Seniors Bingo Night!!

 My sing-team singing for the group of 14 year olds that stayed at our school one weekend. What a great weekend!

 Sarah, Jessica and I stumbled upon this cute little tea-shop in Meersburg. It was here where we fell even more in love with each other. :)

 I'll never forget all those nights with our mattresses on the floor!

 After cleaning the tea-kitchen (my work duty) we brought in the stereo and rocked out.

 My 10-room photoshoot. I LOVE these girls!

 Heeheehee...

 Swedish night at school!

 Swedish dinner. Mmm...there's nothing like swedish meatballs and potatoes.

 Sarah and I would find unlocked laptops in the lecture hall and change their desktop backgrounds to normal stuff like this.

 Painting a picture for The Crossing. It made me miss high school art class!

 I honestly live in a winter wonderland.

 One of the many cuddle-puddles.

 We found a merry-go-round. :D

 Brandi and I singing Taylor Swift for open-mic night. Haha

 The Christmas market in Stuttgart. You don't even know how wonderful it is! As soon as you step off the bus you smell Christmas in the air!

 So. German.

 I fell in love with Berliner's from the German bakeries. Judging by my waist, I think I fell a little too much in love...

 On St. Nikolaus day (the 6th of December) we all put our shoes outside of our door...

 To find them filled with chocolate, oranges, and German Christmas cookies!!

 Yes, I went to Paris and saw the Eiffel tower. Not gonna lie, I slipped a headphone in my ear and played "Enchanted" by Taylor Swift. I wanted to sing to the Eiffel tower: "It was enchanting to meet youuuuuuuu!"

 My whole school sang outside at the Christmas market in Friedrichshafen. It was here where I ultimately had one of those moments where you just stop and smile and wish that it would never end. I really couldn't wipe the smile from my face. :)

 Drinking gluwein at the Christmas markets. (it's a hot red wine) and keeping to just one is a good idea...bahah

 All 108 of us miraculously fit on stage at our Christmas concert.

 Singing for the Christmas concert--honestly one of the best things I could have ever done for myself.

 Our last night at the Bode before Christmas break--straight hair and J-signs. :)

I can't even begin to describe how blessed I am to have experienced all of this. The past three months had its ups and downs (thankfully more ups than downs), but coming home for Christmas really made me realize how much I love my school. All I can do is thank God for everything he's done in my life. Who knows what second semester will hold? :)

Change of Heart.

I've thought long and hard about that last entry I wrote...the frustration and the stress of being busy...and I realized that I need a change of heart. If my time is spent right, then being busy should be treated as an honor! If I'm spending my time with the people I love, doing the things I love, and honoring God with every ounce of my being, then I'd say my time was well spent. I should be thankful that I am busy; if I weren't, I'd be sitting on the couch watching mindless movies and scarfing down heart-attack-inducing foods. I should be grateful for having people in my life who want to spend time with me and who want to be with me. Being loved...it's absolutely wonderful!
Lately, I've been feelin' like I'm not living my life. In fact, my life has been livin' me. I need to take control of my time; I need to stop wasting it. I need to write more, journal more...blog more. I need to read my Bible more. It's exactly 2:21 AM...and I need to sleep more. :)

Ha ha ha.

"When I was a little girl I used to read fairy tales. In fairy tales you meet Prince Charming and he's everything you ever wanted. In fairy tales the bad guy is very easy to spot. The bad guy is always wearing a black cape so you always know who he is. Then you grow up and you realize that Prince Charming is not as easy to find as you thought. You realize the bad guy is not wearing a black cape and he's not easy to spot; he's really funny, and he makes you laugh, and he has perfect hair."

— Taylor Swift

?!?!

WHY AM I SO BUSY?!?!

You know how it goes, places to go, people to see...

I feel like all of this business caused me to miss Christmas completely. :(

All I'm asking for is one day, just ONE wee little day of complete relaxation.

Sigh. If this doesn't happen soon I am going to explode.

Yeah, no. It doesn't look like I have a day like this coming up in my schedule.

So it was nice knowing ya'll.

Merry Christmas...?

Don't worry about me; I just don't like the fact that I'm blogging the night before Christmas. As much as I love blogging, doing so is lame on a night like this. Even being near a computer on Christmas Eve is completely ridiculous to me. Sigh.

Be myself, Be yourself.

Last night as I was lying in bed, I stumbled upon a realization--I know, right? How many realizations can this girl come up with?
I don't know how well I will be able to explain myself, but I'll give it my best shot.

Until now, I held onto a twisted mindset; one that effected my relationships with the opposite sex. And I truly believe that God has worked in me these past 3 months, picking and prodding at my brain until this great change was brought about.

So here's the diagnosis: when I liked guys, I was someone else. In fact, I was anyone but myself. I strove to appear "perfect" around them. I liked all the things they liked, just so they'd believe that we have so much in common, just so they'd believe that we were perfect for each other. I laughed at all their jokes in the hopes to encourage their belief that they were so very funny. I never once went without makeup; these guys only knew my face with a mask. I never talked about God around them for fear of appearing too religious. I actually gave them the impression that drawing, playing piano, and getting good marks in school came as natural to me as breathing. I refused to do anything remotely "goofy" or childish around them, believing that they would think I was stupid if I did. I made it a point to minimize and hide all of my flaws.

Let me just say one thing; these guys were missing out. And, if none of them liked me for the girl I pretended to be around them, then I guess I can't really feel rejected, right? I have no reason to bitter about those past "relationships" because I wasn't being myself; I wasn't being the girl who actually hates wearing makeup. The girl who would way rather watch High School Musical than sit through that lame action movie with him. The girl who has the dorkiest laugh on the planet. The girl who sings to the very top of her lungs in the car while driving. The girl who is without a doubt, the youngest child in her family and enjoys making it obvious. The girl who actually now speaks her mind, tells the truth, and is slowly learning not to fear rejection and failure. The girl who sometimes would rather be in her solitude than out at a party. The girl who finally knows how to laugh at herself. The girl who isn't afraid to say "I'm praying for you." The girl who is so very far from perfect.

In a sense you could say that I wasted their time; it was unfair of me to be somebody around them who I really wasn't. But I also wasted my own time, and with the grace of God, all is forgiven. These first three months at Bible school have opened my eyes, and I like where things are heading. :)

In case you haven't caught the moral of the story, it's the old cliche "Be Yourself" one. And don't you dare take those words lightly. Can you imagine walking into a relationship believing that the guy will only like you if you're nothing but perfect? I can--and it's awful. It's exhausting walking through life on a path of eggshells. Be yourself. If you hate country music, let him know. If his jokes aren't funny, don't laugh. If he pressures you or disrespects you, don't be the girl that stuck around; run for your life and never return. If he only thinks you're beautiful with makeup on and a tight dress...then he has some serious issues. If he makes fun of your passion for tap-dancing and scarf-knitting, don't even consider giving those passions up just to please him. Be who you want to be, and do the things you want to do!

I like living in a school with 108 students because we're practically family. We've all seen each other on our worst days and on our very best and loveliest days. We've all seen each other without makeup, in our sweats, and our hair a train-wreck. In such tight quarters its impossible to hide your flaws or to pretend that you're perfect, and to have an embarrassing moment (or two) is inevitable. And despite all of this, we love each other even more for who we are! These past 3 months have also made me realize that not all guys out there are shallow. What a nice realization. :)

Singlehood.

"Well, i just say embrace your single-hood while it lasts! We're at a period in our life where we can like and flirt with whatever guy we want! (that is the shallow side). But at the same time, we can figure out what we want to do without the complication of thinking about what you as a couple are going to do with your lives. This is when you can figure out what YOU really want to do: where you want to live, where you want to go to school, what you want to take - whichever! Really embrace it because the right guy is going to come along when you're ready and you're going to look back at these times and see God's hand in your life, directing you to where he wants to take you. Plus think of it this way, after you find 'the one', you're never going to be single again. This is the only time of your life when you're going to be single, so just love it!"

And those, folks, were only the wisest words ever said! I really do know how to choose smart friends, don't I?

Idols.

I am listening to Norah Jones...and it is nothing short of wonderful.
Anyway, this mornings' lectures were about idols. Growing up with the words, "don't worship idols" dug into my ears, I had always brushed it off. I did this only because the word to me represented a tall, golden statue that somebody would bow down to in their backyard. And I knew with full confidence that I would rather do many, many, many others things than worship a statue. In other words, you will never ever see me worshipping a statue! Now that we've gotten that outta the way...haha...I would just like to share with you what an idol REALLY is. And idol is something that takes the place of Jesus in our hearts. It can be anything from money, your family, your boyfriend/girlfriend, your husband/wife, popularity, or fame. Ask yourselves the following questions, and answer them to yourselves honestly. The first things that come to your mind are your idols...

Where do I give my best effort?
Where do I go to first when I am in need?
What makes me angry or jealous if I don't get it?
What do I think of or talk about the most?
What is my life beginning to look like? (This question is important, since after time we begin to look and act like our idols)
What is the one thing I cannot let go of?
And last but not least...has this idol really even brought me satisfaction?

Answering these questions for myself, I know exactly what my idols are. Exactly...and I hate to admit it. I wish I could say that yes, I give my best effort to Jesus, I go to Jesus first when I am in need, I think about Jesus all the time, my life looks like Jesus' life, Jesus is the one thing I cannot let go of, and Jesus has indeed satisfied me.
The idols I hold onto so dearly are nothing but unhealthy and they bring me nothing but dissappointment. My idols are certain things, people, ideas, moments, memories, and desires; all of these things I wish I could just let go of. And I know that with constant prayer it will be possible!

An idol I would be willing to share with you guys is my obsession with music. When I am feeling sad, angry, lonely, or homesick, the first thing I do is avoid all contact with human beings, crawl into bed and cuddle up to my ipod. My sad feelings correlate with sad music, and my angry feelings correlate with angry music. Now, can anybody tell me how this can possibly help a person feel any better about their emotions? How could a sad song ever make a sad person feel better? Sigh sigh sigh. As I said before, with prayer and getting my priorities in order, I can overcome this idol, and all of the other idols I hold to me.

Jesus should be enough for us, just listen to this promise:
"Don't fall in love with money. Be satisfied with what you have. The Lord has promised that he will never leave us or desert us." (Hebrews 13:5)

Spilt.

"Everything on earth has its own time and its own season.
There is a time for birth and death, planting and reaping,
for killing and healing, destroying and building,
for crying and laughing, weeping and dancing,
for throwing stones and gathering stones,
embracing and parting.
There is a time for finding and losing, keeping and giving,
for tearing and sewing, listening and speaking.
There is also a time for love and hate, for war and peace."

"God makes everything happen at the right time. Yet none of us can ever fully understand all he has done, and he puts questions in our minds about the past and the future."

"Nothing on earth is more beautiful than the morning sun. Even if you live to a ripe old age, you should try to enjoy each day, because darkness will come and will last a long time. Nothing makes sense."

"Be cheerful and enjoy life while you are young! Do what you want and find pleasure in what you see. BUT, don't forget that God will judge you for everything you do."

"Rid yourself of all worry and pain, because the wonderful moments of youth quickly disappear."

The verses above all come from the chapter of Ecclesiastes in the Bible. To be honest, I have had alot of trouble concentrating during lecture time. Lately my mind is just heavy. Sigh sigh sigh, that's all I can do. Anyway, with this lack of concentration, I decided to read through the book of Ecclesiastes and...I fell in love. I have finally found a book of the Bible that I just want to read over and over again. The author doesn't just fill the pages with words of condemnation to the sinners of the world; rather, the author speaks of his own life and shares with us his many struggles in trying to find out the meaning of life. Thankfully enough, a conclusion is reached: "Everything you were taught can be put into a few words: Respect and obey God; this is what life is all about. God will judge everything we do, even what is done in secret, whether good or bad."

If I could, I would type out the whole book and post it as an entry. Hmm...maybe I should? Ha. But I do strongly encourage you to read through it.

Many things are going on right now: My little white macbook is no longer functioning, since water has been spilt on it. So these days I have to use the school' massive desktop computers, all the while wondering if ALL my pictures, music, and documents have been destroyed from my macbook's memory. Sigh sigh sigh. At least Christmas is around the corner...
As for school assignments, I have to more papers to write, and one more Bible verse memory test. With my laptop being done-zo, who knows if completing these papers will be possible.
A few weekends ago, I did Outreach, singing and hanging out with 38 German-speaking fourteen-year-olds. That was a growing experience, definitely. And I am glad I did it, definitely.
Last Sunday afternoon we had a Christmas party. This involved decorating thousands of sugar cookies with oodles of frosting and differint colored icing. Let's just say I did more eating than decorating... Then Sunday night my K-group and I indulged in American pancakes, along with Aunt Jemima, while wearing our pajamas, and playing stressful games.
Last night the whole entire school split into groups of 7-ish and went caroling around the whole town. Each group was given a specific street, a bucket of homemade cookies, calendars, and invites to our Christmas Concert night to hand out to each house. To my surprise and amazement, the people at every single house were extremely nice. Before we left to sing, we were under the impression and doors would be slammed and noses would be lifted, but we were blessed with smiles and an offer of Schnopps and 10 Euros. (Haha--don't worry, we accepted of the latter) Then when we arrived back at the school soaking wet and cold, (did I mentioned it rained the whole entire night, while there was snow on the ground? Talk about slush-filled streets, but an angel gave me an umbrella so I was completely dry. Hee hee.) the school cooks prepared hot bowls of stew for us. How wonderful!
Tomorrow evening the whole school is heading into Friedrichshafen to do some more singing at the Christmas market. I am super excited because apparently these Christmas markets are AWESOME.
Saturday evening is the school's Christmas concert, which I am performing a song for with 3 of my close friends. I don't want to brag or anything, but these people I am performing with are so incredibly talented with their voices, their violin, and their piano. Oh man. The song is called "Here With Us" by Joy Williams. Let me know if you've heard it before, 'cause it is absolutely beautiful!
Then Sunday my Outreach team is performing at a Sunday-morning church service! How exciting. Then Sunday evening we're having Christmas dinner with our K-groups!!
Then after our Christmas Banquet on the 17th, it will be officially Christmas Break!! I am so excited. And so far, these last two weeks are moving at a snails pace...Sigh sigh sigh.

I apologize for the messy entry, but I don't have much time for editing when I'm without a laptop.
Thank you for reading, and I am wondering if you could just pray for me. I can't explain it on here, but I just need some peace...comfort...love...yeah. Thanks ya'll.