Update...

I will be home a week from today! Woohoo. I can't wait to see everybody but my schedule is filling up fast so if you aren't on it yet then we need to work on that. Tomorrow is my last day to finish everything up for the semester. I have one paper due and a presentation due on Thursday. It is so close yet so far. Hopefully by this time tomorrow night I will be pretty much done. God has been very faithful in providing for me. I have been able to pick up some more shifts at work and still have enough time to get everything done. God is pretty amazing, huh? I was stressed out about missing 2 weeks of work but he has provided several extra opportunities for me to make a little extra cash so I have faith that everything will get paid this month. Sometimes I don't know how it happens but I always seem to manage. I certainly don't go hungry. I love to see how God works in the small things. About a week ago I decided I wasn't going to go grocery shopping any more before I left because I didn't want to spend the money and then just have it sit here while I was gone. Since I have been working alot at Outback it has worked out that I haven't even had to eat much at home and I was able to get free food at Outback(usually I have to pay 1/2). Our little community in my dorm is great becuase somebody is always cooking something. I think that is the way to go. When you have extra, you share and then when you don't somebody else does. Now I am just having faith that somehow I am going to get to where I need to go when I am home. This not having a car thing is going to be a real test of patience. I have alot of it already worked out so hopefully everything else will fall into place. Once again. I can't wait to see all of you!

If you need me...

You can find me right here in front of my computer.
 
The countdown has now started. All of my work is due by next thursday. That includes a large group project, a paper for my theology class, and two smaller papers for my People as Social and Cultural Beings class. As well as more reading. The reading never ends. I already have to start reading for my winterm class that starts on January 2nd. We have 5 books due on the first day of class. Oh well...that is what I am paying the big bucks for, right? The books look interesting though so that is a huge plus. I also have an exciting opportunity for next semester. I will let you guys know more about that if it works out. By the way...I will be home 2 weeks from yesterday! WOOHOOO! See you then. 

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas!

Although I was a little dissappointed that we could not see the performers in person, it was still an amazing experience to be at the Rockefeller Center Tree Lighting and hear them. We saw them on big screens on the side of Rockefeller center. I made a sign for Taylor, and even though he did not see it I think I might have made it onto the NYC fox news. The news reporter talked to me for a second and asked why I liked Taylor. Usually I shy away from news cameras and avoid them at all cost. For some reason I just did not even care. It was crazy. We were just across the street from where Al and Ann were hosting the show. We were just about as close as you could get without having a VIP pass. I am not racking up my celebrity sitings. We were standing beside a private party and one of the guests was one of the former members of N'SYNC, Joey Fatone. I also saw Amy Pohler walking down the street toward the SNL studio. We stood in front of two nice couples from Florida. I heard their accents so I asked them where they were from. We talked to them for the rest of the evening. Later I asked Katie if my accent was as bad as thiers was. She hesitantly informed me that it was. She said that it wasn't as strong now. I think Katie just tells me what I want to hear sometimes though :).
 
This is how the tree looked when we arrived that afternoon.
 
This is the stage that Taylor sang on but we only saw it at 3 that afternoon. 

 
Sara was a good little grad student. She and Katie both studied and read while we waited. I was just a litte too excited to do that. I was too busy talking the people around us and just taking it all in. 

 
Ahhhhh...after waiting 6 hours it was finally lit. It was well worth it! 

 
Sara found her man! Now when is it mine and Katie's turn? 

 
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! 

A Dream Come True

 
Katie and I all bundled up. We were still dry at this point.
 
It's Gobble Gobble Time!
 
The baloons are even bigger than they appear on T.V.
 
The best seat in the house! 

 
This is the sign that I made so Leigha's cousin, Sara, could see me when she walked by. We ended up getting seats so I actually got to talk to her as she walked by in the parade.
 
The Holiday season is here. I think they updated Santa's sleigh. 

Preview of the Big Day!

 
Katie and I went to Macy's Inflation Night Party. We felt pretty important since our name had to be on the list and we got tags to wear when we got in. I owe a big Thank you to Katie's dad who knew someone who's daughter is an event planner for Macy's. The party was pretty fun. Jodie Foster was there with her son. The picture is of the entrance to the tent where the party was.

 
Your hosts for the NBC telecast! Yeah, We're dorks. We know it.

 
I knew the baloons were huge but I was still amazed at the size of them. Most of them were too big to even take a picture of the entire thing.

 
This year is the 80th year of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I feel like a little kid at Disney World. For those of you who don't know, I think I have watched this parade every single year. Thanksgiving Day does not start for me until the parade is over.
We found out that we will have tickets to sit in the stands, so we don't have to get there quite as early. In case you were wondering, this years line up includes: Sandy Patty, Natalie Grant, Barry Manilow, and Diana Digarmo just to name a few. If you don't get to see the parade, don't worry, I will post more pictures then you probably care to see over the weekend. 

Before and After

Today was the day I have been waiting for for over a year now. The hair is finally gone. I was a little sad to see it go but I am sure I will be very excited about it when I have to fix it tomorrow.
 
 
 
  

The Power of Prayer

Back in July I asked for everyone to pray for baby Grace who was having heart surgery. She had her second heart surgery yesterday. For details of the day you can go to her website. I got a text message from Laura, Grace's mother, last night saying that she was not doing well and to pray. Thank you to all of you who are out there praying for Grace because she is a truly a miracle. Please keep praying though because she is still very sick and needs lots of strength to help her little body recover. Below are some pictures from the last time I saw Grace and her parents, Laura and Ryann, back in August. Again, please continue to pray because prayer is a powerful force that works. Grace is a perfect example of this.

 
  

Fall Foliage

I don't have much to report except for working, reading, and writing so I thought everyone might enjoy some pictures of the leaves. Katie, Sarah, and I went to our favorite little spot int the woods at a nearby park and spent the afternoon "studying". Well...we actually spent it walking around taking pictures and talking about how pretty the leaves were. Below are a few of my favorite pictures. I hope they make you as happy as they make me.

 
  

A Fall Collage

  

Happy Halloween from Sleepy Hollow

Sleepy Hollow is just over the Hudson River from Nyack. What better place to have some halloween fun? We went Sunday night to The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Fair. I did not have alot of pictures because it was dark but there are a few of us being silly that I thought were cute. The festivities included a story teller, telling the Legend of Sleepy Hollow of course. If you are not familiar this is the story of the headless horseman. As we walked around random "ghosts" walked around too. At one point one came scarily close to Sarah and me. We laughed as we watched as he went straight towards Katie and her friend Melinda. Although it was not scary at all we had a great time. As we were leaving we saw two little boys running around. One of them had his coat up over his head and was chasing the other one around. The one being chased was begging the "headless horseman" not to get him. It was soo cute. It made me wish I could see things through the eyes of a child again.

 
  

 

Me, Sarah, and Katie 

Its kind of fuzzy but...

  


If you look closely you can see 2 of the stars from the new ABC show 6 Degrees. I have come to love this show since it is one of the few that I can watch online. It was rather funny that I saw them because I was just talking about the fact that I had never seen anyone famous while I have been in the city. We came across them shooting for the show in Greenwich Village. I was pretty excited when I saw all of the cameras and food tables so I knew something had to be going on. I was even more excited when I saw the hottie from the show standing across the street. Everyone reading this knows I am a nerd, so I am sure you will not be surprised that I walked by them and told them that I love thier show. The hottie just smiled and the girl said, "That's awesome." Anyway, the reason I was in the city was because I was studying Koreans for a class. We were working on an Ethnograpy in order to learn how to properly minister to people of other cultures. It was a wonderful experience and I learned alot. If I was a better writer I would tell you all about it. I'm not so if you want to hear about it you will just have to call me. I will say that this trip is one of the reasons that I was attracted to this program. It did not let me down.

A bad day, Lost, and Pumpkin Bread

If you can't tell from the title, this is going to be a random post. First, let me explain that my friend Sarah was having a very bad day today. Katie and I have decided that she is our Kramer. She just comes in without knocking and she usually glides or hops in. Today was a little different. She just wasn't having a great day, which is very unusual for Sarah. This afternoon I discovered that one of my friends has the entire second season of Lost on DVD. Now, that may seem kind of random to most who read this because I don't watch Lost. Well, I do now. I am waiting on the last disc of the first season to get here and then I can start on the second season without waiting for netflix to send me the next disc. Sarah has seen the first season but not the second so she has been anxious for me to get the the second season. Well...I squealed with delight when I saw that Lost box today and borrowed it. I immediately called Sarah to tell her the good news. It brightened her day at least a little bit. Sarah's birthday is on the 25th but nobody will be here so Katie had the great idea for us to sing Happy Birthday for her tonight. So that explains the pictures below. I also wanted to warn everybody that I may not be posting for a little while becuase I will be in Queens for the next 10 days making friends with Koreans. Its a project for school. I think it is going to be a lot of fun. It is going to be challenging but fun. I am not sure what the internet situation will be but I will try to post if anything interesting happens and if I can get on the internet.

 

Sarah walking through her birthday streamers! 

 

When Katie said that we should sing happy birthday to Sarah I went a little overboard. Katie said that she had streamers then I said that Sarah needed a crown. Then the Judson girl came out in me and I decided that Sarah just had to have a sign for her Birthday. You can't really see it very well because all I had to make it out of was a paper bag. We discovered several new uses for paper bags!