Day 4: Music

Anyone who knows me knows how much I LOVE music.  Contemporary, Old School, Christian, Secular, Instrumental/Orchestral, Broadway: there's all kinds of great stuff! So today, I'm thankful for music.  I'm thankful for my ability to not only hear great music, but also for the ability to sing it and play it as well!  

What am I currently listening to? Well, to be honest, YES, I am one of those people.  I'm already adding Christmas music to my ipod.  Here are my top five songs/albums of the week:

1. Thankful

Album: Noel

Artist: Josh Groban

I love this song!  It's my favorite secular Thanksgiving song ever recorded.  Seriously.  Thanks, Josh Groban, for stepping up and actually including Thanksgiving on your Holiday CD!

2. Cold December Night

Album: Christmas

Artist: Michael Bublé

Michael Bublé + Christmas = Does it GET any better?!  This guy is one of my all-time favorite artists EVER! If you like his other stuff, let me tell you this: his Christmas CD will NOT disappoint!  This song is a fresh new Christmas love wish!  

3. One Thing God Can't Do

Album: Just Stand

Artist: Legacy 5

"There's just one thing God can't do, and that's stop loving you."  Wow.  Talk about some awesomely powerful lyrics!  This song has spoken to me in many various ways over the last year.  I heard it for the first time last January at my very first L5 concert, and I've gotta say... it stuck!  No matter how sinful and unfaithful I may be, God is always faithful and will never stop loving me. Thanks for the powerful reminder, L5!!!

4. The Singer [Let There Be Light]

Album: One Wintry Night

Artist: David Phelps

As always, David Phelps delivers an awesome God-centered song!  This one focuses on Christ's coming to earth as a child to bring the light of hope to a lost and dying world.  "And the Singer sings on, still writes the song of the redeemed!"  What great lyrics to focus us on the true meaning of Christmas!

5. Around the World

Album: 16 Most Requested Songs

Artist: Buddy Greco

Again, no surprise, but I'm a huge HUGE fan of the new ABC show Pan Am!  This marvelously catchy tune, which is a remake of the old Frank Sinatra song, was featured on the TV Premier trailer.  Can't get it out of my head!

Well, there you have it.  The top five songs of my ipod for the time being that make me thankful for all kinds of music!

So... what are YOU thankful for today?  :)

Thankful Thoughts

Thanks to my friend Jess over at An Aroma of My Savior, I've decided to {try} to post every day of November about something for which I am thankful.  So, in order to catch up, here are days 1, 2, &3!  PS- Thanks for the inspiration, Jess!

Day 1: Family

I have the most amazing family!  This past weekend, we had a small get together at my aunt and uncle's house to celebrate another aunt's birthday.  Most of the cousins and family were there, and I was just reminded of how blessed I am to have such an amazing family!  Also, in the chaos that is my life, I'm thankful specifically for my parents.  They are the anchor that keeps me from drifting into dangerous and treacherous waters.

Day 2: Church

People who aren't part of a church family have no idea what a blessing they're missing!  I'm so thankful for my church family!  They support me, pray for me, and love me no matter what.  I'm thankful for their presence in my life and for their genuine concern.  Missing church makes me sad because it means I won't get to see my honorary aunts, uncles, grandparents, siblings, and nieces/nephews for at least another few days!  I couldn't ask for a more amazing church family than the one I have at First Baptist Church in Farmington!

Day 3: Cold, Rainy Days

This won't make sense to most people, but I'm honestly thankful for rainy, cold days like we had today!  I love how these kind of days in November make me want to cuddle up with a fluffy blanket and a good movie/tv show/ book.  Coffee somehow tastes even better on cold, windy days too!  There's just something about days like today that make the holidays seem that much closer!

Stay tuned for the rest of my Thankful Thoughts, and feel free to try it yourself!

Wild, Crazy Fun!

It's been awhile since I posted for the Photo Challenge, so for today- since I have nothing new to report on my crazy life- here's a photo of 

People with whom I do wild & crazy things!

These girls are wonderful! They make me laugh so hard!  We recently went out for a "girls night," and Oh. My. Word!  We had WAAAAYY too much fun!

In other news, I should know by the end of the week what's going on in my crazy, wonderful life!  Thanks for praying & stay tuned!

Seasons of Change

I think I may have mentioned this before, but just in case you've forgotten, this is my absolute most favorite time of year!  The weather is changing, and the promise of winter is in the air.  The changing leaves remind us of God's perfect plan for His creation as they drift to the ground.  My three favorite holidays are just around the corner:  Thanksgiving, the day AFTER Thanksgiving, and Christmas!

As some of you know (and all of you will know after reading this post), life has been pretty crazy for me over the last few weeks.  I'll give you the short rundown here, but if you really want to know every single little detail, I can probably send you a seventy-five page e-mail later. :)  Last weekend, I had a little mid-life crisis.  This scares me a little bit because I'm only 22.  I hope that doesn't mean I'll be dying at 44!!

Anyhow, I was sitting at my desk working on my homework, and it hit me:  I really don't want to do this!  Now, it wasn't just the typical college kid "I hate homework and would rather be doing ANYTHING else!" kind of thing. It was more of an "I definitely do not want to do this for the rest of my life" kind of realization.  This realization, combined with a large number of other things God brought to my attention sealed the deal. So the short version is that last Monday, I withdrew as a student at Iowa Wesleyan College effective immediately.  I got a pretty sweet refund out of the whole ordeal, and I am SOOO much happier and at peace with my life!

God is so good to us, is He not?  I knew for positive sure that He was leading me back to school, so it was hard for me to understand at first why He would lead me away from college half way through my first semester back. However, after thinking it over during the last week, I came to this conclusion:  God led me back to school so that He could SHOW me why He doesn't want me to be a teacher.  I tend to be a little hard-headed, and God knows that, so He told me the only way I would listen (or at least the way I would listen the fastest).  I'm so thankful that God works very suddenly in my life; otherwise, I'm afraid I would over think things and rationalize my own agenda.

So now what, you may ask?  Well, that's a very good question.  I applied for a few full-time jobs.  One was in Des Moines, the other is pretty close to home.  Again, in keeping with the "short" version, I can tell you I'm pretty sure that I will NOT be moving to Des Moines.  I have not yet been offered the job, and there were just a number of other things that led me to believe God had other plans for me at this time.

I have applied for what I think will be the perfect job (close to home!!), but I have yet to hear whether or not they are considering me for the position.  I am definitely qualified, as it is a secretarial position, and that is what I went to college for!  I'm really hoping and praying that God will open the door to this huge potential pseudo-ministry! 

As soon as I know for sure what's going on in my life, I'll be sure to let you all know too!  Thanks for stopping by!

Finding My Place

Life confuses me.  It seems that no matter what I choose or where I go, it's not right.  I feel the Lord leading me, but sometimes I feel like once I arrive, He abandons me.  I know this isn't true, but that's sometimes how it feels.

That being said, it looks like change might be once again in the air.  Maybe it's something in the water... Nothing concrete yet, but I'll keep you posted. All I can say is that I feel like I'm living the real-life music video to Michael W. Smith's Place in This World. I find this interesting because that was one of our Senior class songs my last year of high school.  Anyhow... hopefully I'll find the place where I belong soon!  This is just getting ridiculous!  Don't worry... I don't expect you to understand or even agree with me.

In other news, my wonderful-amazing bestest friend in the whole world is coming for a visit this weekend.  I haven't seen Laura (unless you count some sketchy Skype) since we took her away in August.  Her birthday is this coming Wednesday, so we get to do some serious celebrating this weekend! I soooo love that girl!

I guess that's all for now.  Stay tuned!