Housekeeping: 
1. I had hoped to have time to finalize the new editions to my blog, but as I dive head first into paper season, I think it would be foolish to spend too much time working on this blog. With that being said, I will still hopefully be making additions as soon as finals are over. :)

2. Summer plans are solidified for the most part. Lots of traveling. Lots of school. Lots of work. And hopefully lots of cooking. :D I love it here in Virginia, and while I'm pretty sure I want to live on the east coast, I can't wait to see all my friends and catch up with everyone. I'll be driving down to see my wonderful friends in North Carolina (Yay Lizzy and Hannah!!!). Then I'll be driving further to visit Abby in Georgia. Then it's home to school, family, cooking, cleaning, and hopefully a job. :)

This is where we had the ball. :)

3. Life is good. Life goes on. Lots of paper writing. Lots of test prep. However, saturday night I got a break from it all and was able to attend the liberty ball with a wonderful young gentleman. I had an incredible time. The setting was gorgeous, I got to dance out in the rain, and I even wrote a little song. :) I'm debating bout whether I should give a more detailed summary in story form. I just might; we'll see. :)

Here Mom. :)

A Question: 
Ever since I've gotten on campus my dependence on lists has grown immensely. There's always so much to do! The best way for me to organize it in a way to ensure that it gets done is to write daily, weekly, and monthly lists. These lists don't just pertain to school. I have a running joke with Betsy about my life. ;) Basically, I have this tiny little 3x5 notebook that I fill with my schedules, eating patters, workout plans, and overall life improvement goals. For instance, one entry reads:

"Do you go from struggle to struggle throughout the day? Thinking 'ok, I need to tackle this struggle and once I have I can move on to tackling the next struggle' OR Do you view the Christian life as one continuous struggle, and each day is just another day in that struggle?" 

After thinking about it for a minute I decided that I viewed struggles more along the lines of the latter. He wasn't so sure and was convinced that I partitioned my struggles out in list form (in my mind) in the same way I dealt with everything else. However, five minutes before curfew was not the time to open this can of worms. So we (I) decided to think about it and talk later. :)

So it's today, and I've been thinking about it and honestly, I don't think I abide in either of these mindsets. Here's one of the major errors with this question. It assumes that I'm always focusing on my struggles. This is really not the case at all. I think there is something very skewed with viewing life as merely a series of struggles - or even one long struggle. The Christian walk is a struggle that has already been overcome, and we, as children of God, are victorious. The Christian walk is filled with stumbles, but just because we know we will stumble does not mean we should focus on stumble that's sure to come. Likewise, we should't view the walk as one perpetual stumbling forward. Christ is always beside us. If we are looking at the ground we will be blind to our helper and miss the whole point of the walk, and in so doing, make the biggest stumble of all. Instead, we should fix our eyes on Christ and gain strength, encouragement, and balance from him.

So those are my rather disconnected thoughts on that subject. You'll have to pardon the lack of fluidity. :)