The Holidays....:)

My goodness! I haven't been on here for awhile! Well, lots has happened. Thanksgiving was so wonderful with getting to be with my favorite people, my family and friends. They are such a blessing to me and I'm so thankful for them. I loved getting a big warm hug from my mom and dad, and getting to see my little nephew and give him a kiss....he's so cute, I just can't help it. :) God must have planned this out perfectly because I was able to get to see my new niece Hannah over that weekend during my Husky meet to see her only four hours after she was born. She is so precious! Babies are such wonderous creations, God really does miracles in a woman's body. She has a full head of brown hair!! Which was so exciting for me to see! I think it comes from her auntie...;) Although, I'm not sure that the brown is gonna stay very long seeing as how both of her parents are blonde. :) Oh well, I'm gonna enjoy this while I can. :) She is such a sweet baby, very quiet. I love being an aunt...it's wonderful.

The Huskies meet went very well! I went a couple of seasonal best times in the 50 free, and life-time best times in the 100 back, 100 free, and in the 400 free relay! God has been so good to me this season in swimming. I am very thankful not to have any injuries or to have fallen out of love with the sport like so many people I know that still have to survive the season. I think it's because I feel that the actual swimming part of the sport is only partially what I am focused on. God really called me to the sport when I went to Whitworth, and I've been trying to praise him through in it in whatever ways I can think of. But what it really comes down to is the people on the team. You are always being watched. -not in a creepy way or anything. :) but it's more of a feeling of duty, responsibility, and servanthood. People may be looking to me to set a standard, of work ethic, love, and service, in how I treat others, and how I love the sport. This is a hard balance though with school because both demand quite a lot from me. I had a bit of a struggle between school and swimming in the previous years and which should come before which, and when. This year however has been such a gracious year for me. God finally showed me what my passion is and how I can do it in the work force when I graduate...that took a lot of pressure off of my school and helped me to enjoy my classes more for what information that it gave me, rather than just thinking about how I HAD to take them in order to fulfill my requirements. So God has been faithful. :)

Finals went well and I think I did better than I had probably deserved for the amount I studied on the last one, but I'm not going to complain. :) I left for Home Friday at one. I had just walked out of my house at Whitworth when I tried to start my car and the battery had died! So I called a friend to come and help me jumpstart it cuz all my housemates were gone or taking tests, and thankfully he was able to stop by real quickly. I was a little scared at this point because the weather report had said that there was a blizzard approaching Spokane by that evening, so I had to get out of there fast! God was so wonderful, I made it through the pass, just before they closed it due to the snow-fall! I've gotta say, I seem to be noticing God's provision for me so much lately, he's EVERYWHERE!! haha! Kinda weird, but VERY cool. :)

I came home to an empty house. My parents are in Palm Springs spending some wonderful time together. I'm so thankful that my parents love each other so much and want to be around eachother and still go on dates...I think that is really cool. However, I was kind of saddened that because of this, I was not able to see them. :( I got two calls from my sisters Krissy and Lindsey, both offering for me to spend the night with them if I was lonely! How sweet is that!?! I have the best sisters ever....sorry I'm bragging, but as I've gotten older, its been so good to be able to talk to them as friends and more of on an equal level, and we've all gotten a lot closer...so they are pretty much amazing. :) I didn't however end up spending the night, I was pretty tired so I watched law and order and made a dinner for myself. It was good, but the best part was actually after that. I had a great hour or two with my Father which made that night SO worth it. :) God is so cool.

Anyway, I gotta get to bed, tomorrow is church and the kids are presenting their little Christmas show which is always so cute...man, I remember those days of singing in the choir, choir practice, and me, Sarah and Allison goofing off in the back row haha! I never did a significant part in any of the plays, but one year I remember doing a duet with a girl, I think her name was Riley. I was so nervous so I just kinda mumbled into the microphone....my poor parents had to witness the disgrace of their daughter in front of our whole church hahaha! They are troopers. :) but anyway, it snowed tonight! It's so beautiful right now! God's the best artist ever, can't do any better than him, that's for sure. I'm gonna go admire it now. Goodnight!