The Latest Escapades

It starts Friday, Valentines Day, the day of love and couples. I'm not a part of a couple, but a boy did ask me to spend that night with him by making dinner and watching a movie. It was fun, but not how I had imagined it going. I didn't get home until about 1:30am. By then my body ached and my mind was incredibly foggy. 

Saturday I didn't wake up until 1:00pm. I was stiff and achy, only stayed awake for about 3 hours. Soon I was asleep again until a dear friend came over asking me to go to a movie with him, right then! Do you know how hard it is to get moving after sleeping?! Do you know how much effort it takes to put on jeans and brush my teeth?! It really shouldn't be such a big deal, but it is. After a burst of action to get ready I collapsed into the passenger seat of his car to drive to the movie theatre. 

After the movie I could feel my body crashing. But I ignored it and afterwards ate a waffle infused with sugar. Such a bad move on my part! 

Sunday morning was difficult to get out of bed for church. I practically went through church with my eyes closed and just going through the motions like a zombie. I probably should have stayed home. BUT I really wanted to take the Sacrament, others call it Communion, to renew my covenants, or promises, I had made with God. I needed it:/ And another reason I wanted to go is I might be able to talk to a boy I like. So I went anyways. 

I had been over exerting myself for days and on Monday I took it as easy as I could. But that didn't help cause on Tuesday it all came crashing down on me anyways. I was in a review session. I had such intense pain I became nauseas and my body began going numb. My body started tingling and shaking. I knew what was coming. I got out of that room with all the people cause I didn't want to make a scene. In the bathroom I fainted. When I was able to come around to be able to stand and walk on my own, I went back to find an empty review room. I grabbed my things and began the long walk home. 

So maybe it wasn't that epic. But it was an adventure! Thanks to the best if friends I didn't have to take the entire walk home. They picked me up half way:)

The Curse of Sugar

I love sugar. But it hates me. I am lured in to the sweet smell, the delicious taste, the yearning for more and more. I can't just have one price of cheesecake or one homemade chocolate brownie fudge cookie. I need at least 5 because they are sooooo good tasting! 

Then I'm trapped with the sugary curse. I am weakened and become pained in every muscle. It hurts to move. My stomach revolts. My body aches and my eyelids can't stay open. I'm literally sleeping as I walk every painful step to and from campus. 

So, I try my best to stay away from the manufactured candy. No more Milky Ways. No more Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. :( Then I realized that I probably should stay away from the home baked sweets. No more brownies. No more cookies. Then after this drastic action not completely taking the symptoms away, I realized that in processed flours there are sugars. So then I began taking out all white and or processed flours. I was doing pretty good for quite some time:) well... Like three weeks. Then I decided to eat pizza. I only had two slices. Those slices hit me hard. I am drained. I can't stop yawning!! 

Was the pizza last night worth it? Probably not. 

Do I need to have more self discipline? Yes, yes I do. 

The good side to all this is that I can still have natural sugars. I can eat honey and real maple syrup, which are delicious! So I am coming up with great new recipes and trying to find substitutes that work for my old favorite recipes!! It's actually pretty fun!! I feel like a scientist in the kitchen. And have begun receiving the nickname of the 'sweet health nut' from my roomies:) 

I Have a Really Good Life... fo' reals

I can't seem to be able to count high enough to be able to count all the blessings I've seen in my life lately. I must be on the list of people that God pays close attention too. I definitely have had divine protection and loving care this first week or so of being back at school. 

My most favorite example is the amazing people I have the privilege of calling my friends. This past weekend I had plans with a few different groups of friends. Because of miscommunication on my part, my roommate began wondering where I was. She knows of my health concerns and does a great job of looking out for me. Of course after 45 minutes of worrying and not getting me to pick up the phone or return text messages, she and all the others she was with had a reasonable level of panic. As they searched the parking lot and neighboring apartments etc. I was having a lot of fun dancing and playing games with a good looking boy. 

Eventually my dear roommate and other friends were appeased upon my return:) I hadn't fainted and or been swallowed by the toilet as some of them thought. We all laughed a ton the next day as we all found out the entire story. 

What I found out that night were priceless gems. One: I love dancing with a partner that can lead well. Two: I have a high reputation for fainting. and Three: my friends care a ton about me. They are heaven sent and angels in my life. Nothing horrible happened that night, but if anything had, my friends would have been there immediately trying to help. They truly are the best! I love them a lot. God is constantly watching over me. That's a fact. 

Oh! And another random tid bit, I am sleeping a bit better! It's easier to get up on the morning, kinda. It's not as painful, so that makes it easier:) 

Thanksgiving Bliss

Over the past week with my family I've had some crazy adventures. I've chronicled them through pictures... So here's my week! 

This was a crazy game of golf that perpetuated throughout the entire week:) it started at the airport...

On the plane ready for take off!!

We arrived at the beautiful beach front condo... Do you like our view?

I hung out with cousins friends and family all week! We saw a few movies together. And hung out at the giant Christmas tree:) Restaurants were frequented, but the best part was being together!!! I love my Family!!!! 

Crazy faces!

Pose! My brother wanted to look disinterested, haha. 

All cousins, even the photo bomber peeping through!

Fun with my mom. 

Posing with my dad. 

Tired brother wanted me to look sad in the picture... I don't think I pulled it off too well but was okay with it!

Waiting for the Hunger Games movie to start!!!

Late night out on the town. 

Early morning out on the town. 

Beautiful momma fishing;)

Monopoly. Enough said. 

I must point out that in this monopoly game I lost, but was the only one that got three hotels!!!!!! That was the first time I ever had enough money to get one, and I got three! I am proud of myself and thought I'd share. 

We had Thanksgiving dinner:) my brother and Dad did the honors of carving the turkey and we shared the evening with family and pie, the best way to do it!

Then we decided to go fishing!!!! It was cold. We had to try two days to get anything, and then he fish were extremely tricky. On day one my dad posed with another guys fish... We tricked my mom who had already been defeated by the cold and retreated to the warmth of the car into thinking my dad caught it. On day two, two of my cousins and my mom came off victorious and snagged one fish each!

My brother taking the relaxed approach. 

Lovely hooked bait. 

Cranes or herons were close friends while we fished. 

My handy dandy fishing pole. 

Good eatin:)

And in any spare moment we were either in the pool, the hot tub, or out in the waves and catchin some sun on the beach:)

Isn't this water gorgeous!?

My brother found a dead crab...

On the last full day at the beach I officially turned twenty four! We celebrated with leftovers salad and this delicious homemade Oreo cheesecake. 

Of course, I'm still a kid:) and bummed that my vacation is over. Back to real life with homework, work, grad school applications etc. I made some good memories this week! 

GRE

For those of you not familiar with the demonic term 'GRE,' let me explain. It's not really demonic, I'm just being a bit dramatic and over exaggerating the dread that is usually accompanied with this test. The GRE is a test, the needed, required test, to apply to many graduate programs around the country. I had to take it! A necessary evil has been presented in my path towards my goal of being a Speech-Language Pathologist, so I rolled up my sleeves, started studying, and signed up for a test day. 

The fated day for this dreaded test finally arrived this weekend. Yesterday to be exact. Ugh. I was not looking forward to taking it. I had some amazing friends try to help me with my math skills, and some fun apps for my phone to quiz me on my vocabulary. 

As this weekend had been getting closer and closer I have been spending less and less time studying for it. This caused me some concern Friday night as I prepared for the big test day. But I was reminded that I did the best with what I had in doing my preparations, and I took courage. 

Saturday morning I was blest by my amazing visiting teacher and friend giving me a ride to the testing center. I took the test with a mighty prayer in my heart! When I got the preliminary scores back I was satisfied. In fact, I was happy! I got above the score I was aiming for! Wahoo! 

So now no more GRE studying and now no more stress. I can use these scores to apply to graduate schools and eventually become the worlds best Speech-Language Pathologist:)... The next step is actually filling out the graduate school applications... Wish me luck!! 

Birthday Fun

It's way early to celebrate my birthday... But if I celebrated when my special day really was no one would be around to celebrate with me. So this last Friday we made it happen. My roommates and I went to Zuppas and then to the temple. All together:) it is absolutely amazing to be living with girls that are all endowed and able to go to the temple together!! Each one of us are so strong in the Gospel of Christ. We bouiy each other up and support each other through Christ. It was the best way to celebrate my birthday. 

Before we left the temple, the temple president and his wife came up to our group. They shared their testimonies with us and got to know us a bit better. Then a man came up to our group by the name of Peter Mourik. The temple president introduced us and then proceeded to tell us a story about brother Mourik. Here's the version of the story president Monson, the Prophet, shared in conference: 

"I am always humbled and grateful when my Heavenly Father communicates with me through His inspiration. I have learned to recognize it, to trust it, and to follow it. Time and time again I have been the recipient of such inspiration. One rather dramatic experience took place in August of 1987 during the dedication of the Frankfurt Germany Temple. President Ezra Taft Benson had been with us for the first day or two of the dedication but had returned home, and so it became my opportunity to conduct the remaining sessions.

"On Saturday we had a session for our Dutch members who were in the Frankfurt Temple district. I was well acquainted with one of our outstanding leaders from the Netherlands, Brother Peter Mourik. Just prior to the session, I had the distinct impression that Brother Mourik should be called upon to speak to his fellow Dutch members during the session and that, in fact, he should be the first speaker. Not having seen him in the temple that morning, I passed a note to Elder Carlos E. Asay, our Area President, asking whether Peter Mourik was in attendance at the session. Just prior to standing up to begin the session, I received a note back from Elder Asay indicating that Brother Mourik was actually not in attendance, that he was involved elsewhere, and that he was planning to attend the dedicatory session in the temple the following day with the servicemen stakes.

"As I stood at the pulpit to welcome the people and to outline the program, I received unmistakable inspiration once again that I was to announce Peter Mourik as the first speaker. This was counter to all my instincts, for I had just heard from Elder Asay that Brother Mourik was definitely not in the temple. Trusting in the inspiration, however, I announced the choir presentation and the prayer and then indicated that our first speaker would be Brother Peter Mourik.

"As I returned to my seat, I glanced toward Elder Asay; I saw on his face a look of alarm. He later told me that when I had announced Brother Mourik as the first speaker, he couldn’t believe his ears. He said he knew that I had received his note and that I indeed had read it, and he couldn’t fathom why I would then announce Brother Mourik as a speaker, knowing he wasn’t anywhere in the temple.

"During the time all of this was taking place, Peter Mourik was in a meeting at the area offices in Porthstrasse. As his meeting was going forward, he suddenly turned to Elder Thomas A. Hawkes Jr., who was then the regional representative, and asked, “How fast can you get me to the temple?”

"Elder Hawkes, who was known to drive rather rapidly in his small sports car, answered, “I can have you there in 10 minutes! But why do you need to go to the temple?”

"Brother Mourik admitted he did not know why he needed to go to the temple but that he knew he had to get there. The two of them set out for the temple immediately.

"During the magnificent choir number, I glanced around, thinking that at any moment I would see Peter Mourik. I did not. Remarkably, however, I felt no alarm. I had a sweet, undeniable assurance that all would be well.

"Brother Mourik entered the front door of the temple just as the opening prayer was concluding, still not knowing why he was there. As he hurried down the hall, he saw my image on the monitor and heard me announce, “We will now hear from Brother Peter Mourik.”

"To the astonishment of Elder Asay, Peter Mourik immediately walked into the room and took his place at the podium.
Following the session, Brother Mourik and I discussed that which had taken place prior to his opportunity to speak. I have pondered the inspiration which came that day not only to me but also to Peter Mourik. That remarkable experience has provided an undeniable witness to me of the importance of being worthy to receive such inspiration and then trusting it—and following it—when it comes. I know without question that the Lord intended for those who were present at that session of the Frankfurt Temple dedication to hear the powerful, touching testimony of His servant Brother Peter Mourik."

This story was told in the October 2011 General Conference. In the temple as we heard this story from the temple president and brother Mourik my testimony of needing to be spiritually worthy and able to receive revelation as well as act on the promotings of  the Spirit grew a ton. 

Then we came home and enjoyed homemade chocolate cake together. 

Such a great birthday celebration:) 

Dancing in Costume

I was not going to the dance. I had wanted to earlier in the week but hadn't written my paper yet and really needed to do homework. But as you can see... I gave in to peer pressure and went to the dance anyways. 

These are me and a few friends at the dance. I threw together a costume in a few minutes and went as pippi long stocking. Braids sticking out of my head, and mismatched knee high socks were all I needed:) I learned the polka and was swept off my feet by a pirate and 'where's Waldo'. 

Being recently back from my mission I was a bit freaked out by the music choice, dance moves and boys. I have been back for about six months but still have to motivate myself to be social and participate in normal social events. I feel like I am not normal. I'm having to find a new normal. I'm not who I was before the mission. Nor am I the person I became on my mission. I am still different, having to put into the equation that I am also having to deal with chronic pain and fatigue makes finding this new normal difficult. BUT NOT IMPOSSIBLE!! 

I am finding this new normal slowly but surely. I had fun at the dance. I didn't freak out when boys asked me too dance. That's a step in the right direction. I soaked in a warm tub and wrapped myself in an electric blanket to make sure my muscles didn't give me too much pain after dancing. That's also a step in the right direction:)