On the Move

As promised a couple weeks ago, I finally have pics of my new apartment!  But before showing you those, I would like you to see my final visions of the Jackson apartment.

I would like to mention that I HATE PACKING.  I loathe it entirely.  This was what my apartment looked like for about 2 days.  I packed as much as I could before mom and dad came down with the U-Haul.

Well, we finally got everything packed, loaded, and moved to Springfield.  And now, for your viewing pleasure, pics of Laura's and my new apartment!

Laura's bathroom...just as you come in the front door to the right.

The living room.  Of course Walter has already taken over.

Another shot of the living room.  The loveseat and mirror are courtesy of Scottie & Allyce Johnson.  We put a slipcover over the loveseat so it would match better.

The kitchen/dining area.  The "wall art" are actually curtains.  We use it to tie together the dining area with the living room.

1st view of my bedroom.  I have a big girl bed now!  Yep...it's a king.  :-)

2nd view of my bedroom.

My bathroom

Laura's bedroom.  She's still in the process of moving everything over from the dorm.

Laura's closet...it's stupid huge.

Well, that's about it!  Hope you've enjoyed my little virtual tour!  After about 3 weeks, this place is finally starting to look and feel like home.

D-Now 2010

Man, this last week and a half has flown by!  I went home a couple Thursdays ago.  I led worship at church that Sunday.  The next full week was dedicated to helping mom out around the house.  Monday I did random errands...Tuesday we worked in the yard all day...Wednesday I cleaned the house...Thursday we went to Springfield for the day to see Laura's play.  Then the weekend rolled around...

This weekend we had D-Now at our church.  It's like a weekend retreat/huge worship weekend for the youth group.  Everyone is split up into groups of 4-8 people and goes to host homes.  There they are led by college students and go through a curriculum based on the theme for the weekend.  This year's theme was "Revealed."  Aaron Rodgers was the guest speaker.  The Dave Hassell Band led worship.  These guys were amazing.  Aaron did an excellent job telling ridiculous stories and making everyone laugh while at the same time being able to tie these stories into the message he wanted to bring that night.

I had the priviledge of leading half of the 9th grade girls along with my friend Melanie.  We stayed at my house.  These girls were awesome.  There were some crazy moments, but they knew when to calm it down and focus on the important issues.  Oh and if you're looking for any pics from the weekend, don't worry.  One of my girls took 500 photos...500 photos in 2 days!

Anyways, I have a confession to make.  I hate crying in public.  I cannot stand it.  I avoid it at all costs.  When I cry my eyes get all red, my face gets all blotchy, and I snot everywhere.  It's not a pretty sight, and I try my darndest not to let other people see me cry.  But alas, I was very unsuccessful this weekend.  Saturday night's worship hit me hard.  I was completely broken.  It was a combination of things...I hadn't experienced a good, deep, meaningful worship time in a long time.  And I just felt very convicted about not really living authentically for God; it's so easy to just get caught up in the motions, saying the right things, doing the right thing, but not really meaning it...

Needless to say, I started tearing up during one of the songs.  I thought to myself "Keep it together!  Don't cry in front of all these people!  You can cry in the comfort and solidarity of your room tonight."  But then we got into small groups to pray.  I took my girls to the side and started the prayer.  All I could get out was three words: "God, you're amazing."  And then the floodgates opened.  I just stood there and cried for a good 30 seconds.  I can't remember the last time I cried so much in a public place.  Oh, but it was a good cry.  I needed it.  Being able to just completely let go, take down all the barriers, and just live in the moment with all emotions out in the open was amazing.  So I choked out the rest of my prayer and listened to the other girls.  And then we sang some more...and I cried some more.  I had forgotten how important it is to just sit and listen sometimes.  I'm a music major, which is both a blessing and a curse.  I can get so caught up in the musical aspect and technicality of things that I forget what I'm really there for.  But that night I sat...I listened...I soaked it all in...and it was great.

Whew!  That was a lot of typing!  But I really wanted to share it all; not just for me to remember later, but for anyone who reads this too, as a reminder to LET GO and let God reveal himself.  Stop making the relationship a routine.  Be willing to just stop and listen.

Anyway, to sum things up, this weekend was awesome.  There wasn't a lot of drama between all of the students.  The college group did awesome leading the small group discussions.  Scottie and Kevin did an awesome job putting all the technical stuff together.  The host homes and food were amazing.  It was just overall a great success!  Possibly the best D-Now I've been to. 

And now I'm off to bed.  Hope everyone's had a good week!  Hopefully I'll be able to get into more of a routine in the near future.  Until next time!

Here, There, and Everywhere!

So it's been awhile since my last post.  I've been extremely busy the past few weeks.  While I'm waiting for my laundry to get done, I'll give a little update of my life!

I moved out of my apartment in Jackson last Wednesday.  We made an overnight pit-stop in Fayetteville to pick up Laura's stuff from the house, then moved everything to Springfield.  I spent the night in a different bed every night for a week, but we are finally all moved in to the new apartment!  All Laura and I have left are to hang up the rest of the art work and pictures.  But we got a new washer & dryer, reported all the maintenance problems, and have the internet set up.  It's a really nice apartment.  I'll post pictures of it when we get it all perfect.

Well, I'm finished with my undergratuate curriculum.  I had meetings this week with my professors about my internship experience and the upcoming Masters program.  Everything seems to be in the works!  In the next few weeks I plan to take the music therapy board certification exam and the MAT.  Woo for tests...(note the sarcasm).

I had my first real job interview today!  A friend that I went to school with told me about a possible part-time opening at the place she works at in Springfield.  I e-mailed my resume and they told me to come by.  I wasn't quite expecting it to be an interview today...I just though I was coming by to see the facilities, meet people, and schedule a formal interview time.  But surprise, surprise!  I ended up filling out an application and having an interview!  The lady said she would be e-mailing me in the near future to set up a time for a teleconference with another music therapist from the company.  That's a good sign, right?

Sooooo....if everything goes like I hope, starting this fall, I will be taking classes in the morning and doing music therapy sessions in the afternoon.  I'm a big kid now!  And I thought I'd have some down time.  :-P

Well that's about it for now.  Apartment pics will be up in a week or so!  I'm packing up to head back to Fayetteville for a bit.  Until next time!