and the busyness begins again

oh sad, i missed a few days of posting. more like 5 or 6 days. sad, now i'm sure i've lost my audience of 1 (nancy). if i could post video, i would post a video of my self doing the happy dance and blowing bubbles out my nose so i could draw my audience back.

anyway, school has started again and so has work at j crew. i'm not sure how this online english course is going to work for me, but it has to work because i need the class and i want the credit hours over with.

right now i'm on hold with the computer help desk here at school. i've been on hold for 20 minutes. this stinks. all i need to do is cancel my appointment time today and reschedule it for next week 'cause i have to help kristen get her car started before i go to work so she can go to work later tonight. the good news is, i finally got the internet to work on my laptop AND i got a wireless network card so i can use my laptop anywhere on campus that has wireless coverage!! that rocks 'cause i need to be able to get away from the apartment so i can focus on studying and getting my work done. the bad news is, my laptop has a worm virus that norton can't fix, so that's why i need to take it in. it says i've had the virus since 2003...whoops :P

our apartment is officially now the "apartment o'fun". kristen brough N64 with a ton of games, i brought playstation 1 with a ton of games, and boonie got a new kareoke machine for Christmas! plus kristen and i both got some new DVDs to add to our collection. i think i should start renting them out for money. :) oh, and plus we just simply have awesome girls in our apartment, so no matter who's here when you come over, atleast one of us will come out to the living room and play with ya :D

um...so yeah, i really think this is stupid that i have to wait so long on the phone. i wanted to be doing my quiet time right now but realized i needed to call and get my appointment canceled.

i am SO loving my Bible study that i'm doing right now by David Nasser. it's so challenging and i'm learning so much that i am able to apply each day as i go through the day. one interesting and very true thing i learned/was reminded of last night was that no matter how hard we try to grow spiritually, WE can't make ourselves grow. God, His Holy Spirit, is the one who makes us grow. He chooses when and how He wants to reveal Himself to us, He chooses when and how He wants to lovingly show us where we're misstepping and need to change some things. The analogy used was a farmer. no matter how much the farmer plants, waters, takes care of his crops, he can't make the crops grow. in the same way, we need to be doing everything we can to grow closer to God (thru spending time with Him in His Word, memorizing Scripture, worshipping, etc.). yet we can't make ourselves GROW grow - that is the work of the Holy Spirit. but at the same time, like i said, we need to be like the farmer and be doing everything we can humanly do to become closer to God and be more like Christ.

well i'm still on hold. i actually hung up after a half hour and tried calling back and pushing the button that would identify me as "staff". :) i thought maybe they got priority and would get thru right away...nope, i'm on hold again :P nuts.

keep it real.
~jen~

last night in GR

so tonight's my last night in good ol' GR. it's bittersweet. up until tonight i really wasn't "stoked" to leave GR and get back to LU. but thanks to the most letdown night of break, i'm just fine with getting out of here. i still don't want to leave my family, but atleast they'll call me while i'm gone and hopefully i'll see 'em in March down in the Keys.

yesterday was so fun 'cause kristen did the sweetest thing and called a bunch of friends from LU and had them call me at different times throughout the day and wish me a happy birthday. :) that was so awesome! i got some of the best voicemail messages EVER! and of course i had to save 'em :) i think the highlight may have been yeoman's happy birthday song with his friends. jon adam's (i don't even know how to explain his rendition, but it was almost like a male marilyn monroe, for lack of a better description - haha) and josh roschon's (getting the people at IHOP to sing to me definitely earns some extra points) were close seconds though. so thank you so much to all of you who called me or texted me, whether you were from LU or here at home :) i don't like having birthday parties for me so that was the perfect thing!

man i had some super fun times with people while i've been home. i just had a rough couple of last days of break, but that's okay. i know they love me (for whatever reason, probably because i'm really really really ridiculously good looking) and i love them, we all just come across the wrong way sometimes i guess. i think it's just time i leave for awhile again and come back so the newness of having jen home is exciting again and people want to hang out with me :)

i'm getting a goldfish when i get back to LU. i'm going to buy him with the $20 my grandparents sent me for my birfday! and i'm going to name him Gil. and in the morning, i'm going to wake up and represent for What About Bob. if you've seen the movie, you know what i'm talking about. :)
oh yeah, tony and elisabeth got married today!! they had a very casual wedding/reception, but it was different and i liked it and i really pray God blesses their marriage and they're super happy the rest of their lives together :)

alright i need to get to bed. i've totally biffed it up on my devotions yesterday and today. i'm so bad at making the time to do them, even though i have the time throughout the day. URGH!

keep it real.
~jen~

stuck

so i'm back. i'm stuck here at work, waiting for my dad to finish his meeting so we can get out of here. i rode with him today because i couldn't get into my car this morning. :P i went out a little before 8 this morning to leave and couldn't get the locks to unlock. i heard them trying to unlock, they just wouldn't go all the way (i think it's a honda thing...i've never had this problem on cars before). so i got hot water and poured it over the door and lock a couple times, but i got nothin'. then i got the power stripper heat gun out...nothin'. i worked for just over an hour trying to get into my car with no success. so my dad decided he'd just come get me over lunch and bring me to work for the afternoon. it's like take-your-daughter-to-work day. awww :P

man it was stinkin' cold out this morning. even my eyes felt like they were windows for the cold air to get into me. that was weird.

anyway, i just love my friends so much :) i had 6 voicemails to check just from while i was at work this afternoon!

i figured 2 posts today makes up for not posting yesterday. i still am a dork for having a blog.

keep it real.
~jen~

happy birthday to me :)

yea! today is my birfday! i'm 21! and you know what THAT means - yep, i can get a hotel reservation at just about every hotel in the WORLD! woo woooo!!

speaking of hotels, i won't be staying in one for spring break! shane dogg has hooked us up, and a group of us girls are going down to the Keys to stay at his place and soak up the beautiful tropical sun rays on the beautiful beaches surrounded by the beautiful teal colored water. ahhhh :) good times ahead. plus andy, sadie, and little lucy bean will all still be down there. yea!

short post, eh?

keep it real.
~jen~

A Call to Die

HA! 2 days of posting in a row. i'm on fire, eh? (that's a tribute to my roomates, the crazy Canadians)

i'm so stoked, i finally got this devotional book in the mail today that i've been wanting since September. i just never set aside the money to buy it (instead, i wasted my money on clothes :P). i am so stoked to do it, it's called A Call to Die by David Nasser. today i studied what it means to take up your cross and follow Christ. doing that requires dying to self, which i realized i have a lot of selfish parts to me that need to change. and "dying to self" doesn't mean "okay, i'm not going to do this and this and this". it's not about making a list of "do's and don'ts". our motive for dying to ourselves should not be to make ourselves look good, but to glorify God. it's something i need to do daily - die to my own selfish and carnal desires and seek to glorify my Father all day long. He gave His Son for me, why would I not want to give my life for Him? it's interesting to note that Christ's ultimate motive for dying on the cross was not to just forgive me of my sins, but ultimately to bring glory to His Father thru the salvation of us. it talks about that in Philippians 2:9-11.

alright, alias is going to start in 15 minutes, i better go prepare myself and my seat on which i will sit for the next hour in suspense.

keep it real.
~jen~

failure

sad...i'm probably the most pathetic blogger people ever. i think i'm retarded for even giving in to the blog craze and having a blog, but then i read other people's and i'm like "hey...i want to do that". then i don't post. i guess i just need to make it a regular part of my schedule, to update my blog so everyone can be nosy and read what's in my mind. because we all know we're dying to know just what all goes on inside jen's head. i mean, c'mon...i am the BEAST. that should be intriguing enough.

so i don't want to go back to LU at all. well i take that back. today i finally found things that got me excited to go back again. like the passionate love for Christ that so many people have there and that is evident on the campus. i miss the amazing times of praise & worship we have at campus church. i miss the passion. and i miss my friends, especially boonie. i'm losing my west virginian accent the longer i'm away from her. because i know i was getting real close at sounding like a true WV-er. :P i don't REALLY miss my job, but i miss the money. :)

it's funny how your attitude towards things can change so quickly. when it came time to come home for break, i didn't really feel like i needed to come home. i was perfectly content being out there. but the longer i've been home, the more and more i've realized how incredibly much i love my family (which i already knew) but also my friends. and after an awesome college retreat last weekend, i just want to be here to encourage people and see our group grow spiritually, which it's been needing to do for a really long time. but i guess really, i'm not a good encourager 'cause i don't speak up and when i do, people usually don't take me seriously. :) so i guess i might as well go back to LU and just commit to praying for the group and individually for people throughout the semester. **note to WCBC-ers: feel free to call me whenever because i really love talking to you guys while i'm away, even though i'm hard to get a hold of with my schedule. :) so call me even if it's just to say "i got a new chapstick today" 'cause i would be excited for you.

man being home and around my friends has also really challenged me to figure out where i stand on some issues. i have so many questions about some things but i never know who to ask 'cause i don't want to bug people with my questions. :) so if you're willing to answer one or all of them, let me know 'cause they're things i really want answered.

ryan and nancy are so awesome!! i have absolutely loved getting to see them for the first time as a married couple. they have such a healthy marriage, and even though it's only been a few months (almost 4!), you can just tell by the way they handle things that they will continue to have an awesome, healthy marriage. i miss them being in the college class though. sad.

see this is what happens. i finally post on my blog and i write a book and then i don't post again. i'm gonna try to buck the trend this time, for real.

i hope marissa gets a site going for our college class. :) that would rock my face off.

well, kelly slater is calling my name. time to go surf a little before bed.

keep it real.
~jen~