December Week 2

IT'S HERE! IT'S HERE!

What, you ask? DECEMBER WEEK 2!!

OMGee how awesome! The glory of finals! The thrill of packing! The ride to the airport!

These things and more are just around the corner!!!

There's a good reason I'm posting this.
No, not really.
But I will give you 25 points if you can identify both of these American Girl characters.

So what is the deal? In the midst of our crunchiest of crunch times, we decided long in advance to
BE GENEROUS. GIVE! 
We hereby pledge to focus on PEOPLE instead of PROBLEMOS.

Personally, I plan to do this by scheduling them in. Instead of studying, Tuesday night I will be wrapping books at Barnes & Noble and taking charity donations. Wednesday I will be chilling in my favorite building in all of Provo reading bedtime stories with Rosa (so she can, in turn, read them to her grandchildren during the holidays!) Hopefully I'll be able to go to the temple so I can decide whether I can work 3 jobs and keep up my grades. (Even as I write this, I feel like the answer is "no.") Ok. Hopefully I'll be able to go to the temple and feel good about my decision.
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But you know what I would like to give right now?? I would like to give some thanks.

At the commencement of the FINAL WEEK OF THE SEMESTER (crazy!) I would like to acknowledge how blessed I have been.
It's weird. When I think about it, this semester had a lot of "downs." But on the whole, I feel like the "ups" outweigh them 100 to 1. Really. I can't remember the last time I felt so peaceful and so happy so consistently over a period of time. I love school. (I am posting this before my finals because I don't want the possibility of a bad grade to skew my perspective.) But I do! This semester has blessed my life in ways I would have never ever anticipated.

I got to know- or got a lot closer to- lots of people who I initially found intimidating or thought I wouldn't be friends with. I got a better idea, at least, of things I could do for the rest of my life and things that would kill me. I discovered and redefined what things that are important to me and what I can live without. I had lots of heart-to-hearts. I tried to say "yes" as often as possible- did a lot of new things- made a lot of good mems. I made mistakes and I made good choices and I felt it all.

And after this week, I can say that I made it! One year from now I will be done with college. I used to be scared of graduating but now I'm kind of excited- excited about the time I have left and excited about the future. I have no clue what I'll be doing this time next December, but I think I am going to like it. Whatever "it" is. Moral of the story is, the Lord looks out for us.

            Story Time:
        I know He cares about the intimate details of our lives because on the first day of school I just happened to bump into a friend buying school supplies who just happened to mention the 472 class she was in- that she ended up dropping, but I added. Besides being my favorite class, that was where I heard about Washington Seminar, which prompted me to act on the feeling that I should go to Washington D.C., which led me to change my minor and graduation date. Just one example of the many extraordinary coincidences and tender mercies I've had. I can't even list them all.
           Just last week I called Cebre to discuss some things that had been on my mind. *LITERALLY* every time we talk about topics from this blog- our experiences are so similar, it's a little uncanny. Which means: I CAN'T WAIT to come back from break and plan next semester's goals :)

Dear 2012: I love you already. Here's to the best year of our lives thus far!!
(And yes, I am already planning my 12/12/12 Apocalypse Party. You may start getting excited now.)