Donating Blood

I think one of the wonderful opportunities college students have is to donate blood. Each year at my school we have 3-4 blood drives. We usually will have 1-2 in the Fall and 2-3 in the Spring. I think blood donation is such a great way to give to our community. They are in need of so much blood everywhere these days because many blood banks are drying up. So yesterday I donated blood through the Community Blood Center. This is obviously not a super fun thing to go through, but I think it is necessary. I have plenty of good blood that I might as well share with people who are in desparate need for blood. I am glad that as a college student I have this opportunity to save someone's life in a very tangible way.

My Adorable Niece Lilli!

So I have decided to post some pictures of my niece Lilli. She is now almost 15 months old and is the cutest thing. She is running around and talking up a storm. She is absolutely adorable. Enjoy!


Lilli and her favorite doggie


Lilli exploring her new house


Lilli in her new home, Seattle


Lilli playing with Granddaddy's BIrthday card with a doggie on it


Lilli showing off to her family


Lilli just being adorable


Trying to get tired Lilli to look at the camera for one last picture

First Ever Speeding Ticket!

Well, last night I was driving home from the BSU and I accidently got a speeding ticket. The speed limit was 25 and I was going 37. It was because I wasn't paying attention to what was going on around me. As I was driving I saw the cop sitting on a side street ahead and slowed down, but he had already clocked me by that time. He pulled out behind me and once I turned on the street to go to my house, he pulled me over. I know that for most people this is really not that big of a deal, but for me it kind of is because nothing like this has ever happened before. I am definitely embarrassed and mad at myself that I did this. Oh well, I guess things like this happen to a lot of people. I have definitely learned my lesson and will be much more careful about my speed the next time I drive. One life lesson learned.

Weekends

Unlike usual, i have had social things to do on a lot of the weekends this semester. This has been so exciting to me, especially since I don't usually have anything to do and I sit at my house all weekend and just watch TV. Two weekends ago, I went on a float trip with the BSU. We floated down the Niangua River which is near Lebannon, MO. It was a whole lot of fun, even though the water itself was freezing. I got to meet a lot of new people and remember a lot of great things from this summer at camp.

Last weekend, I went to a conference called Getaway, again with the BSU! It was a lot of fun as well and I learned a whole lot. I was also definitely challenged that I need to be spreading the great news of the gospel to the lost and dying world around me which is my campus. I learned several staggering facts:One is that college students are the second most unreached people group in the United States when it comes to knowing about Christ. The second is that about 70% of the teenagers that were very involved in their church youth group in High School (just like I was) will drop out of church and/or any religious affiliation within one year of going to college. Wow! This is so sad. God definitely put it on my heart to reach out to my college campus.

This weekend I am going home to see my family. My brother, sister-in-law, and niece are coming into town from Seattle for a wedding. I am so excited to see them and my niece. Even though they have only been gone about a month and a half, I'm sure she has changed so much. I will try to put up some pictures of her later from over the weekend.

My next big weekend adventure will be the weekend of October 31st - November 2nd. I will be going down to the retreat Center that is hooked up with the camp I work at in the summer for a singles retreat with my home church. I wouldn't usually do something like this because there is going to be some much driving involved and it is kind of expensive, but it is the perfect excuse for me to go back down to camp and I am still quite emotionally attached to this place. I am so excited about this. It will be a great opportunity to meet some new people, just hang out, and relive some of my great memories from camp!

Even though this schedule is kind of crazy, I am so excited that I have things to do on the weekends instead of staying home and not doing anything exciting.