Happy December!!!

Well, my friend Lauren just did a themed blog in November, so I want to do one for December (even though it's already the 4th day - blargh!) So my theme this month is going to be things that remind me of the reason for the season (a celebration of the birth of my Lord and Savior - Jesus Christ)!

So, for the 1st thing, I would like to say that the Christmas hymn, "What Child is This?" is a reminder of Jesus Christ. Obviously! ;) But Dakota, Amy, Cody, and I are performing a special for the church next Sunday night, and we chose to do a mash-up of that hymn and "Silent Night." Just singing the arrangement makes chills go up and down my spine as I envision the Christ-child coming down from Heaven to be laid in a lowly manger for my sake. =D

As for the 2nd thing, MY MOTHER reminds me of Jesus Christ. We spent all day yesterday puttering around the house, and we have been trying to organize a lot of our clutter around the house lately. We were going through one pile of documents to see what to keep and what to throw away. There were a lot of devotional-type papers that my mom has completed over the years. Even though she's not an in-your-face, talk-about-it-nonstop kind of Christian, I definitely see Christ reflected in her life and her decisions.

And now for the 3rd thing. My CHOIR DIRECTOR, Jerry Smith, reminds me of Jesus Christ. This morning in church, he walked to the pulpit to lead the first hymn of the service. And before we sang it, he said, "Did you realize today is the first Sunday in December?" The whole congregation said, "Yes" after some hesitation and scattered laughter. "Do you know what that means?" he asked. No one really answered, because we had no idea where this was going. "That means we get to start singing CHRISTMAS hymns! So turn in your hymnals to..." and we began to sing a hymn about Christmas. LOVED IT!

So that brings me to the 4th thing. RELIENT K reminds me of Jesus Christ. HAHAHA! Bet you weren't expecting that one, were you? They have one of THE BEST Christmas cd's I have ever heard. And it has a penguin on the front. Which is super-winter legit. So you should listen to the cd. There's one song in particular that I love. It's called "I Celebrate the Day" and the lyrics say, "The first time that you opened your eyes, did you realize that you would be my Savior? And the first breath that left your lips, did you know that it would change this world forever?"

GOLD.

So anyway, thus begins my themed December. Time to go to choir practice! More soon!

Ruminations of a College Kid.

Have you ever been doing homework when all of a sudden your brain just EXPLODES? Not in a sci-fi, literal way with brain parts all over the wall and floor, but rather an inspired way where you want to do ten million things at once and you just get super curious about EVERYTHING. I don't know, maybe I'm weird.

I've been procrastinating for about 2 days on doing my Master's work for this week. Then, when I started to read about all the changes that take place in the mind of a child in adolescence, I experienced the brain explosion thing. Maybe it's a sign. Maybe I should go into a field of psychology that has to do with adolescents. Or maybe I should go into a field of psychology where I create all kinds of empirical studies to observe different trends and correlations in the world around me. I just don't know! All I know is, I wish I had someone in the field of psychology or counseling to just talk to and bounce ideas off of. The closest thing I have right now is Jordan's parents, but they're so professional and over-my-head and secular that it scares and intimidates me.

Just one of the things that's running through my head is about social networking sites. On average, how much personal information do people share about themselves on Facebook and MySpace? Do people even use MySpace anymore? What is so appealing about sites like Twitter that just feature constant status updates? How many people have stunted social abilities in person because their lives and relationships are so wrapped up in the cyberworld? These are just some of the questions I'm thinking about right now.
My brain feels swollen. Only 60 pages left to go...Yay.

ANYWAY, that's just my random ramble (redundant?) of the day. Hope you enjoyed it! =P

More recap from my life.

Well, since I had to leave in such a hurry yesterday, I figured I could continue my recap today =)
Sometime after I got home from Germany and before I left for my cruise, I went on a trip to Ormond Beach with about half of my church. lol

Milanie and I had a competition to see who could fit more gummi life savers on her pinkie finger...both of our pinkies ended up purple. haha

Attempting to play Take Two using Cheez-its with letters on them. Except Caleb was eating more than he was playing...cheater.

Dakota and I riding a ginormous turtle...like in "Finding Nemo" hahahaha

...Our feet were dirty...?

We carved our names on a table in the pizza place where we had dinner. Classic ;)

I know none of these were pictures actually taken ON the beach, but I had more important things to do than take pictures the whole time ;)

The next major event that happened was my sister, Sara's, bridal shower. We had it at my other sister, Jessica's, house. The morning of the shower, October 15th, my grandmother, Joyce Acree Landers, passed away. It was a bittersweet experience, because she had been sick for awhile. I know that she's gone home to be with the Lord and that I will see her again one day. =)

Future brothers-in-law helping with the decorating. Precious moment #1

Precious moment #2: Aunt Sara and her niece, Bella, getting ready for the shower.

The amazing cake for the happy couple.

Precious moment #3: My little Who-like nephew, Liam.

Sara with her FAVORITE niece and nephew :)

And here's the happy couple now!

The contestants in the toilet-paper wedding gown competition. Guess who won?!

The attendees of the shower taking the "Paul & Sara" quiz I cooked up about...well, Paul and Sara =) The winners - Ruth and Leticia (Paul's younger sisters) tied at 14/20 questions!

Time to open presents! While they opened presents, we played Bridal Bingo. Marianne won!

Aww, their first "fight" as a couple...?

Then they made up :)

L to R: Leticia, Ruth, Paul, Sara, and Mrs. Ramnarine, Paul's mother.

L to R: Mom, Sara, Bella, Jessica, and me!

After the shower, family started arriving to attend Grandma's funeral. It was a beautiful day of celebration, but also a solemn day of remembrance. There wasn't a dry eye in the house. Her testimony of raising seven godly children and the contributions she made to her church were beautiful to witness.

Not much else happened between the funeral and Sara's bachelorette party other than me starting Liberty online (sooo much work) and beginning a tutoring job with the Polk County School Board. Obviously, I can't show you ALL the pictures from the Bachelorette party/surprise lingerie shower. But here are the ones I can show you:

Marianne and the chocolate fountain. Mmmm!

The caterer, Jessica ;)

Sara's face when she opened the first gift and realized what kind of party this REALLY was!

...And when she opened mine and Jessica's gift. Classic =)

Playing Boxers or Briefs. It's a Parker Bros. game, so it's not as racy as it sounds! lol

The bride and bridesmaids (minus Danielle and Leticia, plus Kassi)

The next weekend, 11-12-11, the big day had finally arrived. My sister's wedding!

Waiting for the photographer...

Me, Jessica, Sara, Bella, and Mom =)

Mother and Daughter =)

Ruth, Sara, and Leticia - sisters-in-law <3

Jessica and Matt with their little flower girl!

Amy, Alona, Christina, and Hannah - the musicians for the wedding.

My sister and her family <3

Reppin' FBC!

Sisters =)

Unity candle. During the lighting of it, Hannah and I sang "How Deep the Father's Love for us" while Alona played the piano and Amy played the cello.

Bride and flower girl.

Bride and nephew, Liam.

The ONLY picture I was able to get of the couple!

So there you have. My life, in a nutshell, since I got home from Germany. Hope these pictures make you happy! Have a wonderful day, and there's more to come soon!

Long time coming...

Well, as someone pointed out to me, it's been a great while since I've posted in my blog. Fail. Meanwhile, I have so much to post about!

First of all, after I returned from Germany, I went on a 4-day long cruise with my aunt and uncle to the Bahamas. Take a gander at some pictures from said excursion:

My Uncle Gil and Aunt Louise who funded the trip :)

A picture of the ship I was on. (It's not a boat, because it has life boats on it. That's what my uncle told me.)

We were allowed to order as many desserts as we wanted on the trip - all included! Woot!

They let me drive the ship one night. I hit an iceberg. And, well, you know the rest.

Getting fancy shmancy drinks in the Starlight Lounge.

The beautiful sunset :) Taken from my seat at the dinner table.

Our excursion to Coco Cay. What a fun day - except for when it rained and I missed beach volleyball :/

Me and Uncle Gil at dinner on the Captain's Formal night.

A picture of the 2 pools and 2 jacuzzis on board the ship at night.

The BEAUTIFUL water in Nassau :)

A view of the balconies and the stage inside the ship.

Sometimes the cleaning crew would leave towel animals in our room! This one is a bat :)

Me and Aunt Louise :)

Well, those are just some of the pictures (I took a lot!) We had a lot of fun on the cruise, but I was glad when it was over :)

After I got back from the cruise, I tried looking for a job. Then my birthday came around! On my actual birthDAY, I went with Mom, Sara, Jessica, Bella, and Liam to Red Lobster and partook of their all-you-can-eat shrimp deal. Soooo good! Pictures:

Jessica and Liam being silly!

Bella with her Aunt Chrissy :)

Jessica, Liam, and Mom :)

Sara, Bella, and me!

The next night, I had a girl's night out for my birthday. lol So technically, I ended up having two birthday celebrations! Woohoo! Amy, Hannah, Dakota, and I all went to Carrabbas for an AMAZING dinner! Then we went back to Hannah's house (when Kelly came over) to eat Amy's AWESOME original cherry cheesecake with brownie crust. It.was.phenomenal. More pictures:

Before we left for dinner.

In the parking lot after dinner :)

Best friends <3

Kelly. HAHAHAHAHA! Love that girl :)

Amy's cheesecake! (Before the cherry topping was added)

So that was what happened at the end of September and beginning of October. I also went to Ormond beach in there somewhere. More about that later. Also, I will post more about my sister's wedding later :) As for right now, I have to go to church!