'Tis The Season....

Christmas is almost here! Unbelievable! Where has the time gone? I can say that I have just about all my shopping done, I did it the easy way. My work has employee appreciation days 2x a year where the employees get an extra percentage off their employee discount. And I used one of them for Christmas shopping and got almost everything from my work, except things I had already gotten. I only have a copuple things left to get and they will be easy.
Since Christmas is right around the corner, 11 days to be exact, that means that finals have started, will start or are over for some of you. Good luck to those who haven't taken yours yet and good job to those who have. My finals start Monday and will end Wednesday. I think my math final will be the toughest because math has never been on my side but I plan on working the problems until I understand them. Tonight we have a review session that I am going to because I'm pretty sure it wont hurt and I might learn something. Haha
School this semester has been tough, especially Physics but I started understanding it more the later the semester got, plus our final is open book open notes which is AMAZING!!! I am very thankful for that.
I have taken my resume and availability to Body Unlimited Fitness and right now all his positions are filled and he is waiting to see what the auto industry does. Please pray that God's will be done with a job for me there or somewhere else. I would really like to get out of CB but if God wants me there I will stay, but it's tough and I'm tired of that place. (Anna I think you understand me on this one lol.)
Corey and I are doing great. I am the happiest I have been in a LLLLOOOONNNNGGGG time, maybe ever. It is the best relationship and I say that because we are actually keeping God centered and doing it His way, not saying that God wasn't in my past relationships but this one is just different. I am sure you understand. :-\ He is a great guy and makes me happy and I make him happy which is important in a relationship.
Please continue to pray for my mom and I as things will be happening at the turn of the season. Thank you! God is good and will provide everything for us. I have faith! Home is a little more tense it seems but I have told myself and felt in my heart that I am taken care of, God will not let me be tempted past my ability of resisting, yes it is tough when Satan attacks but I have it in my mind that if people on earth want to treat me like that, that's ok because one day they will have to stand for judgement and I would not want to have judgement like that. I know I will stand there one day as well but I am trying to lead by example and pray that He will be reflected out of me and my actions, words, thoughts, etc. reflect Him. I want to be more like him everyday. I love my Jesus!
My grandparents are taking in a little kitten, his name is George and he is adorable. Tiger striped. He has been at our house for about a week because he has had a respiratory infection and been on antibiotics. We wanted him to be completely better before we took him back to my grandparents so if he needs to go to the vet he can go immediately and we wouldn't have to drive up there and decide. He is about 6-8 weeks old and acts just like a baby. He will come to you and cry if he is hungry or if he is tired and wants to be fed. He likes playing with Sadie (dog) and Callie (cat), however Callie's maternal instincts have kicked in even though he is not hers, and she thinks he need about a dozen baths a day. George doesn't like it but sometimes he doesn't fight back its funny.
My sister has her license! :-O I can't believe it, she is growing up fast! My brother will be the next one. We have all gotten closer as we have gotten older even though we don't live together. I am very glad to have them and be as close as we are.
I think that is about all, hope this finds you all well and ready for Christmas.
Please remember why we celebrate Christmas and never let the Christmas or Salvation story get "old" to you. :-)
God Bless!

Turkey Day...Give Thanks...

Tomorrow is the day. It is Thanksgiving, also known as Turkey day. What are you thankful for? We all have been blessed and should be thankful for something. Be at least thankful that you are a child of God and He calls you friend. He shed his blood for you so you do not have to spend eternity in damnation. His mercies are new every morning and He gives you new blessings every day. Be blessed and give thanks!
Corey and I will be going to the Watson Thanksgiving at my Aunt Joanie's and then later come back to my house for the Talbert Thanksgiving. MMMM Good food!
The day after Thanksgiving is usually when people get up at ungodly hours to go stand in line for merchandise that the store only ordered ten of so you are out of luck either way. Just wait....it will come on the next truck. I know that ruins all the fun. Sorry, but 4:30ish is way to early, unless its for vacation. HAHA.
However, this year the day after Thanksgiving is my birthday! :-D I will be 23. I don't know why I'm excited because its not a big one anymore. But none the less I am.
I hope you all have a wonderful and safe holiday. Much Love!

One Semester Down....

I am about finished with my first semester at IUK. I will be applying for the Radiography program even though I am not expecting to get in because I have to retake Anatomy and my math and science GPA is not there yet. Close but not quite. My advisor told me to go ahead and apply though, so I have to get in two job shadowing days and write an essay and send it in.
Work is work. Drama seems to be creeping in all the time. I am sick of it and sick of the issues we have. I am taking my resume to Body Unlimited Fitness, the manager there knows my advisor at IUK and even though he doesn't have an opening right now he said he would keep me in mind when and if something opens up. I just want to use my HPW degree and get out of the Barrel.
Home is home. I feel like I am being tested all the time when I am around Marty. He asks the same questions day after day week after week. The answers are not going to change. I am trying to lead by example because he needs Jesus. It is easier said than done. I pray for strength and try not to let Satan get me down. I am blessed to be surrounded by friends and a great boyfriend who support me and help me out. Thanks guys you are great! I ask that you continue to pray for my mom and I and for Marty's salvation. Even my worst enemy I would not want to see go to Hell and suffer that horrid death and torture. Heaven is the only way!
I worked the polls on election day. That was interesting. We had people lined up about 30 min before we were even opened. I enjoyed the people I worked with, some of which I worked with in the spring others I knew from other places. Sad about the outcome, and scared for our country. I pray that God will bless this country and I pray for our President Elect.
I do believe winter may have arrived earlier than we wanted it to. :-( Being cold is not fun but after 22 years of living in Indiana you learn to deal with it. haha

well i am in the full swing of school and it's wierd because i don't live on a college campus. i find myself at home finding other things to do rather than the studying or homework i should be doing. that is a reason why i didnt go home when i went to iwu, because i dont get things done. well i cant procrastinate because we all know where that gets you. :-) school is good physics is my most difficult class but i HAVE to get through it. my goal is to get A's in my medical terminology, computer and math class so that the C i get in physics wont hurt my gpa as much. i heard that IUPUI doesnt take that many people into their programs so i need to do as well as possible. if i dont get in next fall i will be looking for a better job, still hoping and looking to find one with my hpw degree in the area, so that i can pay my bills. :-( God is good and He will provide and I will keep searching.
the weather has been marvelous has it not? you can sit outside with or without a hoodie and its great! plus i can still wear my flip flops, but come on those of you that know me, when did cold ever stop me from wearing them lol.
one of my best friends from high school that i am still pretty close to just got engaged about two weeks ago. i am REALLY happy for her and drew. and my dear friend anna is helping her save money :-D GO ANNA! so this past weekend i went down to see her and we went to the IMA gardens and her sister did her engagement pictures. steph has 2 cats that she treats like children and so she thought it would be a great idea to take them with us. well....i bet you can imagine how that went. cats dont like being on leashes and harnesses very well, nor do they like walking, or being outside since they are indoor. maverick hid under every tree possible when we stopped and flattened himself to the ground so it was very difficult to pick him up. soumia on the other hand sort of walked occasionally and she didnt hide. the cats were miserable and dirty and it made for a very long tiring day. the pictures turned out great however.
things at home are getting a little confusing....just pray. :-/
well i think that is about all, i better get ready to go to class....
peace
~lou

The older you get the faster time goes! The summer is almost over. I am registered to start school August 25 and have got my books. Buying books is so expensive even when they are used.
Tomorrow one of my really good friends gets married!!! I am happy for her!!! They are going to have a beautiful marriage!!!
This summer has been crazy busy it seems. I have worked at the Treasurers Office to help with the property taxes getting mailed out and coming in. And have been working at Cracker Barrel as well.
Please keep me and my mom in your prayers because we are going through some stuff in our family. I know God will bless us and provide everything we need. I just pray that she will stay strong and her faith will increase. Hard times are ahead but I know we will make it through. She has done it before, when she was a single mom, granted things were cheaper then but I know we can do it again! God is great!
Katie and I went to see Miranda Lambert in concert at the Jay County Fair. She puts on an AMAZING show!!!! If you like country I recommend seeing her! Also that weekend we had Anna's bachelorette party. That was fun!
This week I am chillin at my dad's with my family. Just drivin to work when I have to.

well it has been a while since I have been on here but I just thought i would update. on what i am not sure. no new job news. still workin at the barrel and they are giving me hours so i am thankful for that. i can save money for school and other things, put gas in my car, pay my bills and tithe. so its all good :-) i had an interview at panera and i was in and out in about 5 minutes. it was a very short interview. the girls asked me what i liked and disliked about cracker barrel and what i liked about working at the Y and that was pretty much the interview. im truly beginning to wonder if for this season in my life if God wants me at the barrel. which is fine, i like the girls i work with, some of the managers thats another story. anna you know what im talking about :-) our district manager is coming in to talk to the retail side of the store about things that have happened with our GM.

my mom and i are going to be going through some family changes in the fall so if you could please pray with us about that i would appreciate it. it will be for the better but it will be tough. God will provide for us and her and i will have to work together but we are strong women who have been through a lot and we can make it. i have faith in us and Faith in God. :-)

i am tired of all this rain though, i am definitely a sunshine type of girls but we do need rain every now and then, just not in large quantities like we have had it here recently.

this weekend is the first wedding that i am attending of my friends. it is crazy to think that people are getting married now. but we are at that stage in our lives and its a happy time.

my friend danilee and i are participating in the YMCA's Dynamic Duo Fitness Challenge this year. it is fun and tiring but i am starting to see a difference which is good. even though the weight didnt go on over night we sure wish it would come off overnight but somethings require a little extra work. :-) dani moves to florida in august which i am happy for her but i will miss her. however i will make it a point to go visit because hello she is living in west palm beach :-) and when she gets married we will probably have to go to florida for her wedding but im not sure. :-)

well i think that is about all for now.

~ Lou

My mowing season has officially begun. During the summer I help my grandpa mow the pastures that he has and help with any other outside or inside work they might need help with. Yesterday I went up there to help my grandpa with just trimming the shrubs or so I thought. But when I got there he informed that I would be mowing, no big deal I like mowing its fun and I enjoy it. Usually when we mow the pastures we have what we call a tag along with hooks onto the regular riding lawn mower and is basically just an extra mowing deck that is longer/wider than the regular mowing deck and mows a row next to you while the riding lawn mower mows. But I couldn't use the tag along because the grass was too tall and my grandpa hadn't yet started it for this year. It took a little extra time to just use the regular mower but it was still a great day to be outside and enjoying the nice weather. :-)
My mom thought of a good place for me to put an application/turn my resume in at. Curves a women's fitness center. That is what I will be doing today. Hopefully something will come along. And I think working there would be fun and I think they would work with my school schedule because I had a friend work there while she was going to school, I believe. I just keep praying and having faith that God will put me where He wants me. That's all I can do. :-)

~Lou

Graduation has come and gone

Graduation was April 26 at 10 am. 494 people graduated from IWU in the 10 am commencement. There was also a 2 pm and a 6 pm commencement for adult graudates. The speaker was Joane Lyon. Graduation is still sinking it. It is becoming more real as the days go by but it just seems like it came and went so fast. Time sure flies the older you get and the toys only get bigger. After graduation we all congregated outside the Rec and Wellness building and took some pictures. Then we parted ways :-( and Katie and I went back to our TOHO for the last time. My family took some pictures there and then we headed to Kokomo for dinner at Pastarrific. Thank you Brian, Jaye, Jess, Wes, Anna & Joseph for coming it really meant alot to have you there!! :-) Don't worry Brian I will come back and help out just probably not like old times when it was every week :-( which is sad.

Now I am job searching and still having Faith that God will provide what I need and put me where He wants me.

I am starting to miss all my friends and realizing that things will never be the same. But that is part of growing up. My mom has a friend who still gets together with her close college friends and its not just a once a month thing. These ladies take a week during the year and go do something together. That sounds like a great idea to me and maybe we can all do that sometime down the road.

Last day of college almost the first day of the "real world"

Once again the only word that seems to come to mind is bittersweet. Today I took my last final at IWU and now we are preparing for graduation and moving out and on to "big kid" things. As the Pull Ups song goes "I'm a big kid now!" I have had my loan exit counseling meeting, those numbers are never fun, and I have taken my last finals here at IWU. Graduation is right around the corner, Saturday to be exact, and it's crazy to think that I am already graduating. These four years have flown by and I can't believe that I am a senior and graduating. AHHH!
I have been worried about graduating because I had a couple tough finals but I know in my heart that God would not have brought me into this major and had things go the way they have to not have me graduate now. Let me explain for those of you who don't know, for those of you that do I am sorry you have to read this so you can just skip to the next part if you wish. I came to IWU as a nursing major, my mom wanted that more than I did, sophomore year when you are supposed to apply to the program my GPA was not high enough and I just wasn't feeling it. I had also failed a couple classes along the way and I didn't know what type of department I wanted to work in. I prayed long and hard about if God wanted me to change my major that I pretty much needed a slap in the face with obvious signs of where he wanted me to go. I also felt that if nursing was God's will for me that passing and getting into the program would not be as hard as it had been, granted I do know that I do have to use my brain which I did but things just weren't working out. Our family doctor had told my mom a few times that Radiology was always a good field to get into and that it could be a good option for me, prior to me changing my major and praying for God's will not mine. That summer we came over and talked to the head of the Biology department because I still felt God wanted me at IWU but we just weren't sure where. I knew that I was called to help people and be in the medical field. We talked with Dr. Jones and he said that Biology probably wasn't my best option and that I should try nursing again. I said no thats not what I want and he offered me Health Promotion and Wellness. The following few days I was in contact with my new advisor and had been to Records to change my major. Then about a week or so later I came over to campus and met with my new advisor, Coach Bowman who is the head softball coach. We sat down and looked at everything I needed to take and that I could get it done in 2 years and still graduate on time. Mind you this is about 3 weeks before school started. I got into a class that had one spot left. I have passed all my classes and have not had to re-take any of them. Last spring when my advisor and I were talking about this year and planning my schedule we were not sure that I was going to be able to meet my credit limit (124) to graduate. We looked for some classes (activity or language etc.) that I could take and everything just started falling into place. She was amazed that everything just fell into place like it did. I have said all that to say this...I do not think that God would have brought me this far to just yank it out from under me. I studied my butt off for those finals and thats all I can do. Thank you to all who have been praying and are continuing to pray for my job search and for me to continue my education. I will be attending IUK in the fall to start my second bachelor degree in Radiation Therapy. I have always felt that working with cancer patients was my calling. No I have never had anyone in my family or close to me die of cancer if you were wondering. I will finish up the Gen. Eds that they require then apply to the program and finish at IUPUI. I should be done in 3 years instead of 4 because all but a couple of my credits from IWU transferred. Another answered prayer I must say. God is good all the time!
This has been one of my best years here at IWU. I have bonded really close with 7 girls (Anna, Katie, Lauren, Jenna, Sara, Katie & Ashley) who I am very sad to leave but we have made amazing memories and I will never forget any of you. I am ready to graduate I guess but just not ready to part ways with my friends. I am going to try my hardest to keep in contact with those I am closest with, which is kind of another reason I created this blog. So that if you are close to me or have had any part in my life you can see how I am doing and where God is directing me. I will also call, email, text my friends as often as I can but we all get busy and life happens. Thats the sucky part about graduating and growing up. Life happens and you sometimes lose contact, I don't want that. These are my friends and they always will be. I love you all!

~Lou