where your treasure is

Bad news, guys. My History 303 Emerging Nation notebook is missing.

This is a problem for several reasons. 1. Finals are approaching and I need to study. 2. I have some OCD issues when it comes to my history classes and don't trust anyone else's notes. 3. Did I mention it's almost finals week? I need to study...

I realized the notebook was missing first thing Monday morning. Since then, I have checked my desk, behind my desk, under my bed, my car, Bishop, Bondurant, the Library, and the student government office. No luck anywhere. At a school the size of Ole Miss, the chances of finding it are looking pretty slim. But sometime Tuesday afternoon, the thought hit me. I have clocked in a considerable amount of time looking for this notebook, and I've been really searching for it. Searching hard. Reminds me of a story of someone else who lost something once...

Suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.' In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. [Luke 15:8-10]

I'm searching for a notebook so I can make a good grade on a final. How much more so does our Heavenly Father seek after His lost children?

Second thought, while we're on this whole "searching" thing:

You will seek Me and you will find Me when you seek Me with all of your heart. [Jeremiah 29:13]

I have sought after this notebook all week. How does that match up to how I am seeking after the Father?

For the record, I'm about as stressed out about the notebook as I ever am about anything else like this in life. Which means on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being high stress), this is maybe a 3.5. I really should complain about it less. It is a bit of a predicament, but, hey, it's providing me with some good life perspectives. Walks with friends, a little bit of stalking the royal wedding, and the fact that Nathan got a new puppy and let me play with it today totally all outweigh the whole notebook thing. Inconvenient? Yes. Crisis-worthy? No. I'd rather exhaust my energy spending time with my friends and truly searching for that which matters most - my Savior.

cheesy but true

I came back to the DG house and this song was randomly playing on my iPod. The beauty of it completely threw me off; I had to actually sit down, start the song over, and pay attention to the whole thing the second time around. While I totally recognize that slightly cheesy/predictable/feel good movies might not be your thing, everyone should watch this movie at least once in their life simply to appreciate the music. Especially the cello...the cello may go down as the most moving instrument of all time.

If you must save time, start the video around the 3:15 mark. Otherwise, do yourself a favor and listen to the whole thing. Something about music speaks to the soul.

ensueño

I want to go here again. (Here = somewhere near Canta, Peru. We ran into this abandoned-looking church up in the Andes Mountains.)

I am actually quite content to be in Oxford; spring here is beautiful. But the closer it gets to summer, the stronger my desire for new adventures becomes. A cool thing about this summer is that even my time at "home" will be an adventure; it's basically all new for me, so I'm looking forward to seeing all kinds of places and things I never have before.

Travel quote #1:

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness. Broad, wholesome, charitable views cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth. [Mark Twain]

Travel quote #2:

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say. [J.R.R. Tolkien]

pollen pollen everywhere

I woke up this morning feeling terrible, and I am all too familiar with the source of the problem - literally, my only complaint about spring. Too. much. pollen.

Before I continue, you need to know a few things about me. First, I am almost never sick at college. (This fortunate fact can be attributed to one thing in particular: Juice Plus. I am pretty much a walking advertisement for this miracle drug, but I'll save that discussion for another time...) Overall, my immune system has been remarkable and lucky these past three years; as a result, I have no idea what to do when I actually am feeling under the weather. Second, I cannot stand to be inside when the weather is nice. Something inside of me draws me out into the blue sky, the green grass, and, unfortunately, the pollen. Third, I am constantly on the go. Constantly. I really can only bring myself to slow down for natural disasters and/or death.

Taking into account these things, here's what my day looked like. I made the responsible decision to skip class and stay in bed all morning. I literally did not move until my history class at 2:30, and I was very proud of myself for actually slowing down and staying inside. And as a result of my staying in bed all morning, I felt better! Good, right? Wrong. Because what do I do? Around 4:00 in the afternoon, I decide to go on a walk. A walk of all things. All of the recovery I did was undone by more pollen exposure. Decision-making FAIL. I currently feel just as terrible as I did when I first woke up this morning.

In the midst of all of this, I'm lucky I have such good friends around to help me out. Eric came by to take my homework to Spanish for me, and Julie - who by the way, will be the best pharmacist ever - brought me hot tea and tells me what time to take my allergy medicine. It's the little things in life that help the most.

I'm crossing my fingers that I'll wake up in the morning improved. Until then, I'm hanging out in room 18 with some schoolwork, the roomie, a favorite movie, and my fourth cup of tea for the day. Time to wind this day down and try again tomorrow. If you see me outside trying to sneak in some time in the sunshine, send me back in with a slap on the wrist. Looks like it's rest now, play later...for now, at least.

so that's what happened.

I was doing some happy Saturday blog-stalking and ran across this here.


I knew there had to be a story here. My day is now complete.