I LOVE Christmas!

Well...technically it's not Christmas here yet...but it is somewhere in the world! :)I love not having to think about what I have to do next, i get to relax, look at the 11 foot Christmas tree and watch the snow come down. There's not much more you could ask for! Last night we got about 5 inches of snow, but we got sleet before that so a lot of Christmas Eve services were canceled (come on ppl this is MN....5 inches?lol) I asked our music director yesterday if he wanted me to sing for the service since I was going to be home. He's like yup! So today I got to sing on our wonderful stage with just a guitar, piano, and 2 other voices! It was SO awesome! I think it's one of the best times i've sung! There was one song where we did 3 part harmony. MAN! it sounded SO good!I had so much fun:)
Something Pastor Matthew said today that I had never thought of is: usually when I read Luke 1 i pass over Mary's song. What Matthew said was that this is a girl who is probably only 13 or 14 years old and what she says is amazing!
My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
And his mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
he has brought down the mighty from their thrones
and exalted those of humble estate;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,as he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”
This is after she finds out she is pregnant, which since she is not married yet, she could get stoned to death. This is also after Elizabeth thanked Mary for coming to see her!

After coming from church we kind of just lounged around the houes which was really nice! We ate some pizza and had some coke (tomorrow is the big dinner:). Then we played Clue as a family....and you would never guess who won. YOURS TRULY!! It was a very nice way to end the game:) Now I am again sitting by the tree watching the snow fall, the cat sleeping on my legs, no hot coco though...and the fire will be on tomorrow! Merry CHRISTmas and God Bless you all!

Wow...life changes fast!

So, my life has turned a 180 since i last wrote! (i mean i haven't written in forever...so it's bound to change! My relationship with God is always a work in progress, so right now i actually like talking to God and i'm not angry with him anymore! My relationship with my parents is now GREAT! My mom and i are best of friends, she is seriously my closest friend right now!

My friendships have been SO amazing! I have 3 really good friends...all totally different personalities, but exactly what i need! Elise-i have been friends with her for a loooong time, but we are now spiritually friends too. She and i were in the same boat together and one day we went out for coffee and we're like...WAIT! Your going through that too? Your not perfect? Since then we have been having a Thursday night coffee date, which helps my week SO much! Hannah-she the quiet sarcastic person who keeps me laughing...especially when i have a hard time catching her sarcasm :) She and i have been able to really talk about what's going on in our lives, with God, parents, friends, and life in general! I had a wonderful time this week when she prayed over me...definitely a God moment! Josi- she is an outgoing and on fire for God. I have gotten to know her more this last month on lunch dates. She has encouraged me to do things that i believe is right even though it's hard. She and I are in really similar situations with guys that we like (they like us too:)

And finally, there is a wonderful guy in my life! He and I are not dating (which sounds weird) but we're fine with that! He is 5'4....so he's 2 inches taller than me! lol Nate is going on a 1 year stint to Australia, he's suppose to leave on the 5th of January but it's taking longer to get his visa (which isn't so great but we're also excited 'cause we have more time together!) We're praying that he gets his soon! It's pretty crazy how everything has happened. Neither of us were looking for a relationship or even a liking! God has defineitly been a part in this whole thing! He started coming to my church this past summer and wanted to be in a small group and it "just happened" to be in the same small group as me (we didn't even know each other!) My parents actually lead this small group of college age people! He started hanging out at our house a lot and we would run into each other at friends' houses. We had some really good conversations and we slowly started liking each other.The most exciting thing about whatever you want to call this, is that God has given us, our friends, my family such a peace about what we are doing right now! We are not dating so it's really different for both of us...we are taking it slow because I feel that I need to have a better relationship with Jesus before i enter into a dating relationship and since he will be gone for a year so that changes things too! So needless to say this has been an exciting last few months! God has given me SO many blessings! I can't wait to see what He does in this next year!!!

This is just a quick update on what's happening in my life right now! I hope that all of you enjoy a very Merry CHRISTmas! God Bless you all!!