Mid-semester already...finally!

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while...I really don't have much of an excuse. Since my last post, I had a cross country meet at Concordia, and it didn't go so well. It rained a ton that day, and the whole course was basically mud, so I was focusing so much on not falling that I didn't have such a good race. It was our last 5K, but we have Conference this weekend to make up for the bad times. I wasn't sure that my coach would have me go to conference, since I am one of the slower girls on our team, but he decided that I had earned the right so he let me choose! It was nice that he was looking at more than just speed. This week has been nice and easy for cross country because we have been tapering to prepare for Conference. Only four of us girls are able to go because the others have injuries...we started out with 8, so it's weird that only half of us are racing now! I race at 11:00 (my time), so I would greatly appreciate any small prayers if you remember :)

As far as school goes, we are half way through the semester, which is kinda weird. It feels like it's gone by so fast, yet a whole half of a semester until Christmas seems so long! I have a C+ in Anatomy, which is my hardest class. As long as I'm passing, I'm happy! We have an exam tomorrow, and I'm hoping that I will be able to bring my grade up to a B by the end of the semester. Luckily, for this exam, I was smarter in preparing, so I won't be cramming tonight. A little studying each night is definitely the way to go! Half of a semester done, and half to go 'til I get to see everyone! Woohoo!

Here are some pictures from our cross country meet on the 17th...


I half-tripped going around a corner...only one knee went down, but it definitely got muddy!

Homeless Church

I had a wonderful three day weekend! I got to see Lauren on Saturday and spend the night with her in her dorm. She took me to her church, Salem Alliance, and we went to a Mexican restaurant with two of her friends from cross country. Then, Sunday morning, we led worship together at the homeless church she's been going to, and it was one of the most amazing experiences! I can't wait to spend more time with those people. It was amazing seeing the love they have for each other, and to get to meet them. Just this one experience changes my viewpoint of homeless people from the stereotypical homeless person on a street asking for money to buy drugs, to a person who needs a friend, and who I can be friends with. I was so humbled and encouraged! Thanks for letting me lead worship with you Lauren :)

Fire Drill

Last night, at 5:25 a loud screaming noise woke me up...it was a fire drill. I quickly put on a long sleeve shirt and some tennis shoes as I ran out the door with the five other girls from my floor and the others who were here for the weekend in the whole dorm. We stood outside in the cold, in our pajamas (one girl just had a blanket), for over 30 minutes as the fire department came and security made sure we were safe to go back in (even though it was just a drill). It wasn't the most pleasant way to wake up, but thankfully I got to go back to bed and sleep in this morning! Today I get to go see Lauren!

My Niece!!!!

Wednesday afternoon, Beth had Tyler Elizabeth Joy, 6lb. 8oz.! I am so excited! I get to see them over thanksgiving, and I can't wait! Here are some pictures Tanner took.

New PR!

I had my third cross country meet this morning at Willamette University. There were about 300 runners, so it was a pretty big race. The exciting part of this race was that I got a new personal record! I ran it in 22:32 (that's my approximation...i don't know the exact time) and my prior record was 22:45. It was about a minute faster than my last time too! Even though that's not super fast for college, I was excited! Plus, I got to see Lauren, which made my morning even better. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures from the race :(

You should also know about the adventure I went on last night with my roommate and a couple other girls from our floor. It was a little after 7:00, getting dark, and we started driving with no real plan...first we went to Safeway. Then we found a pet cemetery (kinda creepy), then we drove 15 minutes to McMinnville, and took pictures at an airplane museum. It was closed, so we just took pictures outside. There were two suspicious cars ahead of us that drove around the parking lot then left... Then we drove back to Newberg and went to McDonald's for Dana. We went back to George Fox and wrote our RA notes in her room. It was quite eventful!