A college freshman... say wha??

It has been a very long time since I last posted. 3 months to be exact! I have almost made it through my first semester as a college student. Can you believe it!? God has been so good. My first week of classes went well (besides dropping a teacher). I was the "ex-homeschooler" who had never been to school before who was almost too excited to go to classes. God has brought many incredible people into my life. I have been blessed with a great room mate who "deals" with literally all my dirty laundry. I am such a messy person... I have been blessed with 2 of the best friends I have ever had who live right across the hall from me. I thank God for them almost daily. I have been accepted into their families as one of their own! They constantly pray for me, with me, encourage and uplift me. God has brought them into my life to show me who true sisters and friends in Christ are! I have such an incredible support system. Not only do I have great girlfriends and second families but I have great guy friends as well! God brought some amazing fellas into my life. He has shown me that there are good and godly men out there. I almost always thought of "good guys" as a fable. I think God has brought them into my life to say "Hey! Don't lose hope, I have a great guy out there for you. GOOD guys DO exist. I haven't forgotten about you." They are a constant reminder to myself not to settle, to keep my standards high, and one day I will find my prince charming! Overall my first semester has been a great one. I still have trouble finding the balance of working and socializing, but there will always be that struggle... right?

Welcome to College Life!

I cannot believe I am now officially a college student! We packed up the mini van and headed up to Beaver Falls, PA where I am now attending Geneva College. As we pulled up to unload my “CRAP” a group of 20+ very loud and over exuberant upper classmen were waiting to greet me and unload my things. I guess you could say from the very start of the day I was overwhelmed, and spent the rest of the day being thrown one thing after another. After hours of packing, crying, saying goodbye, crying, unpacking, crying, and organizing I am finally moved into Clarke Hall! Wahoo! I have met many wonderful, encouraging and joyful people in a little over 24 hours. I think this going to be a great 4 years. I still feel as though I am way too young to be considered a college student, and that I'll be going home in a few days. My roommate and I are so much alike it's almost freaky. We're going to be great partners in crime by the end of this year I can FEEL it. God is going to do some amazing things this year, I can hardly wait! 

A Year Full of Memories

My, has it been a while. What a year this Senior year has been. A year full of love, tears, joy, sadness, heartache, heart break, memories, drama, learning, and taking risks. In May I attended my Senior Prom with one of my best guy friends and had the time of my life. On June 14th I graduated high school with only my mom in the audience to cheer me on. It was incredibly saddening not to have my biggest supporter and hero there (my father) to support me. But had a blast with 2 friends I made while waiting in line to graduate. During senior year I stepped out of my comfort zone, made many new friends, lost some, and discovered who my best and truest friends are. But senior year was not only a year full of trials, but a year full of learning. Finally, I discovered who I am and whom I would like to become. I will be attending Geneva College in the fall as an Elementary Education/ Special Education major. Leaving home to pursue a higher education is beyond exciting, but also scary. I will leave behind dear friends, and family to pursue new memories, dreams, and friends. What a great adventure I am about to embark on!

Mom and I at graduation

Before Prom

During Prom

Have Your Way

For the past 6 months to a year I have been feeling extremely unsettled.  I recently made a promise to God and to myself that I will give him everything. He can do all things. I give him the reality of the pain of slowly loosing my father and everyday he finds a way to bring joy into my life. I give him the search for my future husband. By doing so he has saved me from un-needed and un-wanted amounts of pain. Its discouraging waiting for Christ's timing in all aspects of my life. But, his timing is perfect. I have seen his perfection in every aspect of my life. Christ will work everything out. I'm his child, and he is my father. He wants nothing else but to see me grow in all areas of my life. Trusting has always been an extremely hard thing for me to do. But the more I try to trust Christ the more at ease I feel. I have nothing to worry about, Christ is taking care of it. But whether or not I sometimes worry, is for another blog post. With that I'd like to leave you with a song by an amazing woman that changed my life.

Have Your Way- Britt Nicole
Feels like I've been here forever,
Why can't you just intervene,
Do you see the tears keep falling?
And I'm falling apart at the seams,
But you never said the road would be easy,
But you said that you would never leave.
And you never promised that this life wasn't hard,
But you promised you'd take care of me,
So I'll stop searching for the answers,
I'll stop praying for an escape
And I'll trust you God with where I am
And believe you will have your way,
Just have your way,
Just have your way,
My friends and my family have left me
I feel so ashamed and so cold,
And I feel so ashamed and so cold
Remind me you take broken things and turn them into beautiful
So I'll stop searching for the answers,
I'll stop praying for an escape
I'll trust you God with where I am,
And believe you will have your way,
Just have your way,
Just have your way,
Even if my dreams have died,
Even if I don't survive,
I'll still worship you with all my life,
My life, yeah,
Whoa, oh, oh, oh
Whoa, oh, oh, oh
Whoa, oh, oh
Whoa, oh
And I'll stop searching for the answers,
I'll stop praying for an escape
And I'll trust you God with where I am,
And believe you will have your way,
Just have your way,
Just have your way, yeah
I know you will,
I won't forget
Whoa, oh, oh
You love me,
Have your way,
Yeah

Comfort of Comforts

What do you use for comfort? Ice cream? A favorite television show? Talking to a best friend? We as humans constantly turn to things that will only bring us momentary comfort. Maybe you are searching for something to fulfill or comfort you, in a boy friend or the perfect job, but you always come up empty. These things will not fulfill you unless you make Christ your number one comfort. Your boyfriend may break up with you, You may finish your ice cream or television show, but Christ will never leave you. He will always be your comfort. God is the comfort of all. The things of this life will fade, change, leave, break and die. There is no dependency. Our hearts may break, we may loose our health, our lives may change, and family members may die but God will remain constant.

Live a life worthy of the calm in your head

This weekend I packed up my 96' Toyota Camry and drove to York. Where, I packed up my best friend's car and headed to Shippensburg, Pennsylvania for the Uprise Festival.
We...

The Lead Singer of Ivoryline

• Stuff ourselves like stuffed bears
• Loose the feeling in our body parts
• Sleep attempt to sleep in a shady hotel
• Wake up earlier than we would like to, just to eat
• Meet the amazing singer of the band Ivoryline

• Rock out to awesome music for more than 24 hours

 We enjoyed a weekend full of live christian music from all different Genres, food, friends and worship. Every band was there for the sole purpose of worshiping our creator. Whats better than spending the weekend with your best friend listening to awesome bands? Spending the weekend with your best friend listening to awesome bands AND worshiping our creator in an amazing atmosphere. Sure, we came home a little exhausted, star struck and cold. But we would do it all over again. The memories made will last a life time ♥

Beauty Amongst Pain

       My father has been home for two weeks from the hospital. Life has been extremely painful and hard. Since my father has been home we have had our whole live upturned. But, somehow God has shown beauty amongst pain. Amongst all the chaos that has been encircling us we got all our flooring ripped out and replaced with wood floors, which has left the whole house a WRECK. Still, with the new flooring it makes it easier on dad in his wheel chair. The flooring getting redone provided us with the chance to finally get the first floor painted. Though having dad home makes things a lot more difficult, its worth the pain and difficulty. My father is still alive and is doing SO well for being on a ventilator, praise GOD. He teaches us a new lesson each and everyday. He is beginning his fourth year of ALS. Most people with his type of ALS die with 2-3 years of being diagnosed.

      I cannot imagine my life without this important, godly, influential, and compassionate man. And maybe that's because we may not have to loose him. Doctors recently made a groundbreaking discovery. They have found the cause for ALS! Treatment can now be found. See? There will always be beauty amongst pain which I am so thankful for. 

"Beauty From Pain"

The lights go out all around me
One last candle to keep out the night
And then the darkness surrounds me
I know I'm alive but I feel like I've died
And all that's left is to accept that it's over
My dreams ran like sand through the fists that I made
I try to keep warm but I just grow colder
I feel like I'm slipping away

After all this has passed, I still will remain
After I've cried my last, there'll be beauty from pain
Though it won't be today, someday I'll hope again
And there'll be beauty from pain
You will bring beauty from my pain

My whole world is the pain inside me
The best I can do is just get through the day
When life before is only a memory
I'll wonder why God lets me walk through this place
And though I can't understand why this happened
I know that I will when I look back someday
And see how you've brought beauty from ashes
And made me as gold purified through these flames

After all this has passed, I still will remain
After I've cried my last, there'll be beauty from pain
Though it won't be today, someday I'll hope again
And there'll be beauty from pain
You will bring beauty from my pain

Here I am at the end of me (at the end of me)
Tryin' to hold to what I can't see (to what I can't see)
I forgot how to hope
This night's been so long
I cling to Your promise
There will be a dawn

After all this has passed, I still will remain
After I've cried my last, there'll be beauty from pain
Though it won't be today, someday I'll hope again
And there'll be beauty from pain

You will bring beauty from my pain

Trache Time

I turned 17 years young on July 13th. Approximately a week ago. The day I will always remember as the day we got the call for a hospital bed for my dad's Tracheotomy. It should be remembered as the the day I turned 17 and had not a care in the world. But ALS wants me to remember it as a sad day, a day not about me. In all reality that day wasn't just about me and it wasn't a happy day. The next day I left for Bethany Beach and my Dad was admitted to the ICU. On Friday 15th my Dad had a tracheotomy in as I lounged on the beach. On Saturday the 16th my Dad laid confined to a hospital bed listening to music as I swam in the ocean.  Its not fair that I have the ability to eat and talk and move and my father does not. Its not fair that I was forced to grow up earlier than I had hoped to. But life's not fair. It's a good thing we have Jesus, who plays favorites on all of us. He'll favor me and help me cope. Just like he has favored my father and has helped him conquer ALS. Maybe one day soon God will help the rest of us to conquer ALS.

The Simple Things

This afternoon, a lady from our church brought dinner over for us. The dinner consisted of chicken pot pies and mac n' cheese. I am pretty much the only person in the house who eats mac n' cheese and considering it was already five o'clock and it would take an hour and fifteen minutes to cook I decided to save it for another time. We decided to save it for another day. Then, my mother realized that God had been looking out for me. I wanted mac n' cheese for my birthday party (which is tomorrow, 07/13). But my mother hates mac n' cheese and thinks its totally unhealthy and wasn't willing to make it or buy it. God provided! How awesome!? Remember its the simple small things in life that should put a smile on our faces.

Just a Wave

As I got into the car to drive my little brother to dog sitting, I noticed an elderly man on his daily stroll through the neighborhood. I have seen him several times before today, but have never been in the position to say hello. I gave him a cheery wave with a (slightly) cheesy smile as he drove by on his scooter. But all he could do in return, was nod his head. For he has lost most muscle control in his face. But just by the simple act of waving "hello" I could tell it made his day, by the way his face lit up. Its always the small simple things in life that matter the most, that effect lives the most. Don't forget to take time to smell the roses!

Me, Myself and I

It's Official! I've been bitten by the blogging bug!

I have tried many a blogs many a times, and alas I have been unsuccessful in creating an entertaining and regular blog. My sister is a fantastic blogger and has inspired me myself and I to join her in the blogging world. The Simple Life is hopefully going to be a blog about the simple things in life. The small things can out shine the big things occasionally and sometimes people forget to stop and take time to smell the roses. Want to know more about me? Check out the About Me tab! Oh, and don't forget to head on over and visit the lovely Mrs. St-J's blog!