It's Been a While

I haven't blogged in so long.  That just goes to show that not anything very exciting is happening in my life. I had a two month Christmas break at home, which was wonderful, but now I'm back into the old grind of school.  School, unfortunately is about the only thing I have time for anymore.  I am actually putting off studying to write this, not saying thats a bad thing, but I am.

  I guess a few really cool things have happened since I last updated. I got the best present ever for Christmas, a Kindle.  Most people probably wouldn't enjoy it as much as I have, but I absolutely love to read and am thoroughly enjoying having an entire bookstore right at my fingertips.  I have probably read close to 10 books since I've been back at school!  I know, I'm crazy for reading for fun after hours of school reading.

I found an apartment in Huntsville!  I'm moving in the first of May.  I absolutely can't wait to live somewhere larger than Auburn, and to be closer to home.  I'm going to have to talk to my mother about her plan for me to come home every day though.  I'm also really excited about having a room mate again.  It's been a really long time since I've lived with someone else, so it'll be an adjustment. 

I guess that's about it for the boring life of Kristen.  I'm going to Vegas for spring break, so who knows, maybe I'll come back married or something!

Kristen

Listening for God's Voice

Last night when I was doing my evening devotion in the book Single Servings by Lee Warren (a great book for single Christians) a question was posed asking about a time when God "whispered" to me. There are numerous times in my life when I believe God has spoken to me, but there is one time in my life when I had absolutely no doubt that God was speaking to me because it came as more of a scream than a whisper.

When I was a senior in high school, I was very undecided about which college to attend and which major to choose. My mom had been encouraging me to go into pharmacy, while I was contemplating a political science major and maybe law school (my dream for years was to become the first woman President, lol). So, one Wednesday night when I got home from church, I sat down and had a heart to heart with God, and asked Him where exactly did he want me and what did He want me to do with my life? I then went to sleep that night not expecting such an immediate answer to my request. The next morning, I walked into my calculus class at Calhoun (I was doing dual enrollment that semester) expecting to do math but was met with a surprise, a recruiter from Auburn's pharmacy school! I listened intently and was impressed with everything he had to say, but was still unsure if this was really what I wanted to do with my life. My favorite classes in high school were my history and literature classes, not science and math! I had always thought about being a doctor or some other type of health care professional, but when I realized that I wasn't huge on science this kind of slipped out of my focus. What really got my intention was after the recruiter left, my professor stood in front of the class and informed us that this was the first time anyone from Auburn had ever come to talk to one of his classes. He had been teaching at Calhoun for over 20 years! This got my attention! I went straight to my car and called my mom to tell her that I had decided on major, pharmacy.

As I was thinking back to this day, I realized that my life is now so full of outside noise (school) that I often no longer hear God's gentle whispers. So, I just encourage everyone to take time to listen for God's voice amongst all of the static in our lives.

As for the election results, I am very dissappointed and worried about our country, but I believe that God answers prayers. So, I just encourage everyone to begin praying right now for our new president.

Gone Flying

So, my clumsiness is a very well documented fact. This is a fact that all of my friends like to tease me about unmercifully. Stairs, curbs, holes, you name it, and I have probably tripped and fell over it. Well today, I took it to an all new level. I was cleaning my house this morning (it was in dire need of a good cleaning) and decided to dust my kitchen table. I took my placemats off of the table and laid them on the floor while I was dusting. When I was finished dusting I turned to walk across the kitchen, forgetting about the placemats, and my socks hit the placemats. After that everything was in slow motion. I knew what was happening and had absolutely no way to stop it. Cuss words slipped from my mouth as I flew across my kitchen and wound up landing on my left hip. So, needless to say I am pretty sore, but at least I didn't break anything this time!

Wednesday Words of Wisdom

So, I thought that Wednesdays would be a great day to share some words of wisdom with everyone. For the first day of words of wisdom, I thought there wouldn't be a better place to turn than God's Word. The passage I chose for today is not only from the Bible, but it was written by the second wisest man to ever live, King Solomon (the first is Jesus). This passage is one of my favorite's from the book of Ecclesiastes.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 NLV
For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.

A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest.

A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to tear down and a time to build up.

A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance.

A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones. A time to embrace and a time to turn away.

A time to search and a time to quit searching. A time to keep and a time to throw away.

A time to tear and a time to mend. A time to be quiet and a time to speak.

A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace.

This has always been one of my favorite passages in all of scripture because not only is it beautiful and poetic, but it also shares one of the most important principles for every Christian to realize: Everything happens in God's time. I often wonder when certain things are going to happen in my life. This wondering then leads me to question God's timing and judgement, but reading this passage reminds me that everything happens exactly when it supposed to happen, and not a moment before. God's timing is perfect. Even the bad things in life are there to teach us and prepare us for better times. All of my life I have been a planner, and I can't stand to not know exactly what I will be doing today, tomorrow, five years, or even ten years from now. Whenever I start to get impatient in my life, I read this passage to remind me that everything will work out in it's own time. I hope if any of you are feeling impatient about something, that this passage can help you to realize the same thing.

How many pharmacy students does it take to open a tailgate?

Thought I would share a funny story that happened yesterday on my PPE visit. Somehow Tori's jacket got caught in the latch for the tailgate of my Escape. The jacket wouldn't come out and the tailgate would not close completely (my door open light was on), but it also wouldn't open. We worked on it for about 10 minutes in our patient's driveway before we left. Finally, we decided that we would just leave it for later and drove off. A few miles down the road (with my door open light still on) I decided to pull over and give it another try. It was making me nervous driving down the road without my hatch completely closed. Thanks to mom, we got the idea that Tori should climb over the seat and into the back end of my Escape and push the tailgate, while Jennifer and I pulled on the tailgate from the outside. After alot of pushing and pulling, the tailgate finally opened all the way and we were able to rescue the jacket. So the answer to the question is 3: 1 to push and 2 to pull!

Should be studying........

This is for Leah and Ashley!

My First Blog

Okay, this is my very first blog. My friends suggested that this might be fun, so I'm going to give it a try. I'm a third year pharmacy student at Auburn , and well, that's about it! I love my life, and I have the most amazing family and friends that a girl could ask for. I guess I'll use this to keep everyone up to date on my life (well, it it ever gets interesting).

I guess I'll start with this past weekend. I went home for my cousin's surprise sweet 16 party and had an amazing time! I loved getting to spend time with family that I haven't seen in forever. I also went yard rolling for the first time in at least 7 years on Saturday night, and had a great time with the exception of my sore shoulder and scraped up hand (stay away from the prickly bushes). It was great getting to pretend that I was 15 again. Those were the good old days. Man, I didn't think I would ever hear myself say that. All I know is that if I'm going to keep going yard rolling, I'm going to have to start working out more!

Well, I better get back to studying now. So, this is it until next time!

Kristen