Off to Round 2!

I am sitting here with an English summary to write the night before my departure for Laguna Beach. This will be so fun!!! I found out this week that I have a ton of school work to do during this break...the question is, will it get done? I hope to at least attempt to complete the tasks at hand. There are several people that are taking their homework with them to the beach....I hate it that I have to be inhibited by the cloud of school work, but life is life.

Last Thursday night at VFC the leaders handed out paper for us to write down our expectations for the trip. A couple of things that I have been thinking about is that I want to hear from God in the area of how to really serve the local church. Cornerstone really emphasizes Christians being plugged in and passionate about the local church, and I want to find out how I can do that in the context of our church. Also, I just want God to speak to me in certain areas of my life...give me direction about school and such. I anticipate hearing from Him!

I better get started on my summary before it gets too late. Oh, I also hope to get a really great tan and to try my brand new neon green shoes out on the beach! Till I return....

For I am pursuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:38, 39

Flyaway week

I thought that the weeks were flying by when I was having to go to school every day of the week, but they seem to be going just as quickly when I am at home. Spring break has been good. I have gotten some homework done so I feel okay about skipping a whole week of classes. I will probably end up taking some with me so I won't feel too guilty. Ha!

Mom has been feeling bad lately. She takes such good care of her family that she neglects herself of the amount of sleep that she needs in order to function well. Known by my brothers as the family drill sergeant, I've been prescribing (also been called "doc" by a few) more sleep, walking, and carrot juice! Although I've never been a fan of the orange, strangely sweet juice, I have felt less tired on a long term basis after regularly consuming a tall glass. Anyway, Mom seems to be on the mend. She will be 50 at the end of this month. Go Mom!!! I hope I will be as gracious and godly as she is when I am 50. She has been reading "When I Don't Desire God" and "The Dangerous Duty of Delight" by John Piper. She encourages me so much with her enthusiasm and faithfulness to immerse herself in God's truth.

Last night at church, Mr. Freed, the music director, asked me if I would consider joining the praise team to lead worship on Sunday mornings! One of the reasons this is exciting to me is because I have felt the Lord put a desire on my heart for the last month. It's also scary too because I haven't done anything musically in a while. I did play the piano a couple of weeks ago for a funeral, but I ended up butchering the poor songs because my hands and legs got so shaky. The families at the funeral were very gracious thankfully. Like everything in my life, I will just have to trust God for this decision. Somehow I always manage to forget this theme of patience and trust that God is so obviously trying to teach me. Oh, and Mr. Freed also wants someone to get some new songs...I know just the place! Cornerstone Church (Part of Sovereign Grace Ministries) has awesome worship music and I'm going to ask one of the guys tonight at VFC where to get copies or purchase the music. It should be great!

The weather here has been wonderful! The warm wind has been blowing all day today and reminds me of our springs on the farm. I miss living there, but think I am finally able to be thankful for the memories and pictures that we were left with. This is a picture of the Merritt's fields. We used to go sledding down the farthest hill. There was a barbed-wire fence at the bottom so you had to be skilled to get under it if you couldn't get your sled stopped in time!





Speaking of pictures, I copied a picture off of Maralynn Rochat's (Andrea's sister) facebook album of Caleb and Andrea at their wedding! Aren't they cute?? The other is one of their engagement pictures.

Wellll....I need to get some chemistry studying done before going to VFC tonight. I'm studying pH and pOH. Great stuff.

Wedding Pictures-Daniel and Elizabeth

Here is the most recent picture I have of our family. Caleb and Andrea's pictures are still with the photographer. This was taken October 8th, 2005, for Daniel and Elizabeth's wedding. Their service was really unique as they had Deanna, Sarah, and Andrea Rochat-Duncan do a praise dance. I must say, Caleb and Daniel's weddings have been the best I've been to yet! Isn't Elizabeth beautiful in her wedding dress? I am so glad that she and Andrea are my new sisters! It never occured to me that I would get to have sisters that were around my age, and that we would be such good friends! It has truly been a blessing. Also, it has helped me to see that it really is possible to be normal after getting married! I used to think that people that got married would radically change over the honeymoon. LOL! One thing I have noticed about my brothers is that they seem much more relaxed than they used to be. Caleb and Daniel have each filled out their "man frames" as their wives have seen fit to feed them (grin). My new sisters are taking such good care of them, everyone is looking great!

My Grandaddy Moore took this great shot of James at Daniel's wedding. He was the only guy in a tuxedo wearing a diaper! Actually, mom has been pottytraining him, which has been a very slow process. James has been quite satisfied with wearing diapers and hasn't taken too kindly to this sudden change. Today we had so much fun playing with him at my grandparents farm. We packed up all of the kids along with our good friends Deanna, Joseph, and Josiah, and headed out to play in the field at the top property. Caleb let us use his four-wheeler to give the kids rides on. James had a blast and cracked me up by throwing back his head and cackling as we drove along. We walked him all over the place and by the time we were driving home that afternoon he was sound asleep. Actually, we changed him out of his play clothes when we got home and he hasn't been up since! He is a tuckered out fella!
I think I'll call it a night. Keeping up with him today has got me plum tuckered out too!

Round 1 of Spring Break!

Wow! I can't believe how fast this semester has flown by! It seems like it was just last week that I was packing away Christmas ornaments and gearing up to help with Caleb and Andrea's wedding which was on February 4th. By the way, it was a blast. I have never experienced such a whirlwind weekend as that one with all of the preparations, lack of sleep, visiting friends, and nights of dancing! I only wish it had lasted longer. It seems since then I have only blinked and here I am, a month later into Round 1 of Spring Break! Pellissippi State (where I am presently enrolled) takes their break at least 2 weeks earlier than UT's. After next week we will be through half of the semester! During my spring break I will be working ahead in calculus and chemistry because I am going with the college group from Cornerstone Church to Laguna Beach, Florida on UT's spring break! So, I guess you could say I get two spring breaks...can't wait for that fun in the sun. Actually, it is more than just playing on the beach, what I've heard is that it is kind of like a conference with the pastor speaking in the morning and the evening, and then the rest of the time is a big party. I'll have to go on the trip first and then I'll be better qualified to explain. I can't wait to go though, my good friend Anna Priestley is going for the first time and keeps telling me it's worth skipping a whole week of calculus. I hope she is right. I had a calculus test today and I studied A LOT. Last night around 11 I broke out the French Roast to get me through the study guide. It didn't help as I was snoozing within the hour. Reuben woke me up this morning at 5:30 to tell me to turn off my stereo. I had set it so I could get up and study for my Sociology midterm, which was right after calculus. I was having a really vivid dream about a velocity and acceleration problem I was having trouble with right before dozing off. I can hardly get my math problems right when I am awake, let alone when I am asleep!
Volunteers for Christ, the Cornerstone college group, is meeting in a few minutes, so I am going to sign off for now and hope that I will be able to figure out how to use this thing again. Blogging is new for me. I decided that it was necessary for this country girl to get with the times. Ta ta for now!