cooking and other random happy things

Today was a mostly-good day.  I got my housecleaning done with a little extra time, which is so nice for Thursdays.  Then, I went to school and sat at the window-table with Lizbelle and studied for a couple of hours.  The sun even shone on us!
After recitation (I only had one recitation today) Maria and I went to the Storm Cellar and looked at shoes and cardigans there, then to Goodwill.  I found both shoes and a cardigan, which made me really happy.  The shoes are black and flat, which is what I needed for the choir concert tomorrow night.  The sweater is a kind of purple/pink color and will match my striped dress.  That made me very happy, because so far I've had to borrow a sweater from Maria every time I wanted to wear the dress.  Maria also got a pair of shoes, at Ross.  Then we picked up some ice cream and hot fudge sauce and went to Claire's for dinner and dessert.  She had made a chicken sauce to put over rice.  It was amazing.  So we had dinner with Claire, Meg and Kathleen and that was great.  Then I came back here and got to chat with Jordan a little, and get my reading done for tomorrow.
And then, when that had all been finished, I went to the kitchen and pulled out a pan and a bowl.  Boiled some pasta, mixed up a parmesan sauce and mixed the two together to make a delicious parmesan pasta meal for my lunch tomorrow (and Bobbi's).  It was good to just get into the kitchen and cook what I wanted to cook, and not necessarily what others wanted me to cook.  I'm also excited about eating a hot lunch tomorrow.  :)
And, speaking of tomorrow- I have a choir concert tomorrow! It is titled "All Creatures of Our God and King" (I think).  At least- that is the theme.  We're singing African, French, Italian, Latin and English songs that are based on the idea of the creatures praising God.  Also- another first is that we'll be joined by the kids choir that Dr. Erb teaches.  They are so cute! They're singing the African song with us, which will be really fun, I'm sure.  We all had to memorize the song, so that will make it more fun, too.  It's always that way.
Also, Dad and Mom and the kids are coming down for the concert.  I hope that we can find something to do after the concert, so that they don't have to leave so soon after the concert.
But, because I have such a long day ahead of me tomorrow, I am going to bed.  Good night moon.

History trip

On Tuesday I went on a history field trip.  Historypalooza 2011's Magical Mystery History trip, to be exact.  Mr. Schlect led us through Nez Perce country and showed us petroglyphs, objects from Nez Perce legends, battle sites, museum artifacts and other Nez Perce-related objects.  It was a *very* long day (we left town at 5:00 AM and got back at 9:40 PM) but it was so worth it.  I loved it almost every step of the way.

I have a lot of pictures that I could put up, but I am tired and have just uploaded them to facebook, so anyone who wants to see them will have to wait until I have more time or go look them up on fb.  But I will put up one shot- the group all lined up along the edge of Whitebird Canyon, looking down into the beautiful depths while listening to Mr. Schlect tell stories.  Which description pretty much describes the whole day.
And now- toodle-oo and pip-pip.

Spring break

Yep.  I made it through the whole week of finals.  I'm happy about that.
My last final was this morning, starting at 10:00 and going through somewhere around noon.  It was a latin final and I am just happy to be done.  I have finished 7/16ths of my time at NSA!!!! Wow.  That is pretty amazing to me.
After my final was done and I had turned in some last-minute assignments, I went to Bucers.  Heather bought me an Italian Mocha just because she's super duper sweet, and because I had just finished me last final.  I love that girl so much.  Then I sat at a table with Kristina and Tara and read Bros K while they worked on their latin translation projects.  Man am I glad I'm not doing that! That would be insane, I'm pretty sure.
Tonight Luke and Laura are coming to Moscow and I'm excited about spending the weekend with them.  I think we're going to go shop a little tomorrow (at Moscow's little mall and Goodwill, haha.  Oh- and maybe we'll check out what the Storm Cellar has.  Sometimes they have nice stuff.)  I think I'm going to also take my shoes back to Payless and try and get the right size ordered.  I need to hurry with that, because I would hate not having shoes on time.  Not that I'm running low on time, but...
Bobbi and I have been playing Scrabble on Facebook and I've won both times.  Haha.  It makes me laugh because she is so much better at words than I am, but I still win.
I think I'm now going to read Bros K some more.  It is so interesting right now and I really want to see who REALLY killed Alyosha's father.
Over and out.

this week so far

Sunday: slept in until 7, went to church, ate lunch with the family, took a nap, picked up my shoes for the wedding I'm in this coming summer, walked in the park with Kristina through snow and mud, ate dinner, and studied for finals, filled out my take-home final.
Monday:  up at 6:30, listened to Rosalie's awesome Thesis presentation (about stories and some famous story-writers), broke bread with the amazing people at my school, had an oral final, studied a bunch.
Tuesday: up at 6:00, studied as I ate breakfast, had an oral final (which ended up being really good), went for coffee at Bucers with Deanna, half-studied for a couple of hours, ate quiche for lunch, had another oral final, took a nap, and now I'm going to make spaghetti for dinner.
We'll have to see what the rest of this week holds, but I have high hopes that no matter how stressful it is, no matter how tired I am, God is right there with me, carrying me in the rough spots and holding my hand in the easier spots of this great life-path I'm on.

Raking Gravel

At Disputatio today Mr. N.D. Wilson spoke.  He encouraged us to keep working at school- even when it was hard.  Or- especially when it's hard? Anyways, he likened it to his childhood and how he and his father would rake gravel when they had nothing to do on the house they were building.  It was SO good and so encouraging! I hadn't realized until today that I had kind of forgotten some of the reasons I am here at NSA.  I am here to make a difference in the world.
That's right.  I am here to be a world-changer.  I'm not a girl going to college to 'find a guy' or a girl who is at college just until that guy comes along, wanting and waiting to be 'just a mom.'
 It could be that I will be a mom.  It could be that ten years from now I'll be toting kids in both arms and struggling to keep the sand off the floor and the laundry folded.  But I won't be 'just a mom'.  I'll be a sword sharpener.  An arrow-crafter.
It could be that I'll be a great- well, something great.  Maybe I'll write novels and articles about random little things like leaves and piles of dirt or drifted black snow.  Maybe I'll magically overcome my nervousness of speaking in front of people and give long beautiful speeches about smart things.
I don't know what I'll do with my life.  Except that I will be living it out, endeavoring to glorify the Glorified in everything that I do.
And that is why I'm at NSA.  To rake gravel, to grow strong in what I'm doing here, in order to be the kind of person who will continue to rake gravel.