Visiting my Parents

I am finally on Thanksgiving break. I get the whole week off! :) I arrived at my parent's house this morning, just in time for the CSU vs. Wyo game...CSU won by the way!! We're keepin' the boot!

This week will be full of R and R and probably some homework here and there as well. Tim is coming down Monday night and staying through Wednesday morning. I'm super excited for him to spend time with my parents! I think they're going to love him and I think he will love them as well! :) I have a dentist appointment Tuesday as well and Tim and I are going to my old high school to visit a couple of my mentors. It'll be fun!

That's it for now! :)

Christmas Shopping!!

Tim and I did some Christmas shopping this past week/weekend. :) It's exciting because I'm almost done with all my shopping. It's the first year I won't buy presents right before Christmas. Very exciting. :)

School is going well. I can't wait to go home next week! The Johnston's from Texas, whom I've known since I was born, are going to be visiting. :) It will be nice to relax. Hopefully I won't do too much homework. Turns out I don't have any finals during finals week...technically. I have a final online and a take-home final due the week of finals, but it's still not a typical test. I'm very excited about that. I do have a couple presentations due too, but those are all the week before finals. :)

My neck has been REALLY bad the past week. My physical therapist is suggesting I find a chiropractor, but most won't take my insurance. That, and I don't think I could ever trust one. I am absolutely terrified of someone popping my joints and whatnot...Yuck!! But I'll keep praying about it, hoping my pain will just cease.

The Rams may get to go to a bowl game this year!! If we beat Wyoming, we will! Yay!

Tonight, Tim came over for a little while. I had just made dinner for us and I had music on because there was nothing on TV. Tim walks in and he hugs and kisses me and we started dancing...in the kitchen. :) It was super cute. We're cheesy, but I love it! God has blessed me in so many ways and Tim is absolutely amazing. I never thought I could be this happy!

This Week in Erin's World

Last weekend, Tim went with me to my scholarship banquet. It was nice to get dressed up and recognized. It was a long ceremony, but I had the privilege of meeting some important people.

This week definitely started out kind of...:(. I registered for classes the minute I was able to on the 30th, but the one class I have to have to graduate was full. There were 3 classes but only 1 fit my schedule. So, I emailed the professor and asked for an override. She had so many people request for an override that she declined my request. I started freaking out! I called Tim crying and worried that I was going to have to take my senior seminar online. The basic idea of this class is throughout the semester, you do a bunch of grant work and make a huge presentation in a group. If I had to that online, I think I would struggle big time. But by the grace of God, I was checking the website where I register every few minutes and 1 person had dropped out of the session that I needed and I quickly registered for it! So I have the schedule I want and need to graduate. :) I'm actually very excited for the Spring.

Tim and I have been together for 3 months this past week. That's pretty exciting. :) I finished putting my resume and cover letter together and I went to the career center on campus wanting someone to review it with me. The gal that looked over my cover letter and resume didn't really have a lot to critique. :) I was pretty psyched. She thought it was well put together and thought I had a lot of great qualities listed. I can't wait to submit my resume for my first real job. :)

My throat is feeling a little better. I finished all my medication, but I still can't sing. That's the hardest part about laryngitis. I think not singing is one of the hardest things I've ever had to do! And it's only been a week and a half!!! I have at least two weeks left! :( Oh well. A month of no singing versus a lifetime is a big difference. I'll suck it up so I don't permanately damage my vocal chords.

Today I cleaned my room, vacuumed, did laundry, watched football...the usual. Tomorrow will be fun. I have the kidos at church in the morning, the Packers and Vikings game is on at 11, and I am running to the ARC Thrift Store to donate a bunch of clothes I'm getting rid of. That's about it for now. :)

Good news and bad news

Here are pictures from Halloween and when Tim and I carved our pumpkin. :) I love the pic of Rae and Matt as McCain and Palin. Hilarious! And since I can't figure out how to put pictures at the bottom of my post, this is a little out of order). The first pic is of me and the other intern for this semester.

This last week has been super busy. A lot of good things and a few bad things have happened. Let's start with the bad news and end on the good news.

I've had a sore throat for over three weeks now and I finally gave in and went to the doctor. Tim and I were at his brother's house for a surprise birthday party and when we left I started crying because my throat was hurting so bad. It hurts to cry, to swallow, to yawn, to blow my nose...it's ridiculous. So I went to the doctor and it turns out I have laryngitis. :( He looked in my throat and said the inflammation looked like it goes from my tonsils to my vocal chords. I'm not allowed to sing for at least three weeks! :( I'm on the schedule to sing at church next weekend, but that's not going to happen. And I'm one of those people that sings EVERYWHERE! Shower, car, my room with my guitar, church, walking to class, etc. It's been really hard and it's only been three days! But it's pretty serious and I don't want to damage my vocal chords. I'm on steroids for the inflammation and antibiotics for the infection. Hopefully it'll completely heal and I can start singing in December.

Still on the bad news, one of the participants from where I work wasn't picked up by anyone last night. She's 20, but has the mind of a 12 year old. (I'm not sure what her disability is). She's beautiful and has an amazing personality. But since no one picked her up, her family is being charged with abandonment and she has been at the hospital all night and day. We're just praying they don't put her in some kind of institute and give her a ton of drugs. I know she's terrified, so please just pray for her and her safety. This is the same girl that was missing for about a week a couple months ago.

Ok. On to good news. Last Sunday, I had the kidos at church and they were so cute! One boy turned 4 this week, so he's moving up to the 4 year old class. :( But he gave me a huge hug before he left. Then, after Sunday school, one of the girls in my class was with her mom and sister (who was previously in my class as well) and she saw me leaving and yelled, "Bye teacher!" I felt so special! It's little moments like that that keep me going back every weekend. Also last Sunday, Tim and I were supposed to have the night off from playing/singing, but a drummer and a backup singer were needed last minute. So, we went and I sang and worship was great! At this point, my throat was still pretty bad and I should've said no, but anyone who knows me knows I have a hard time not singing. Anywho, my voice was about to crack towards the end of the set, but the last song, I was the only one singing. It's one of my favorites and I was worried I wouldn't be able to get through it, but God pulled through and it turned out great. :) After worship, quite a few people came up to the band and told us how awesome worship was! One of our friends said that it was probably the best worship he's had! It's such a good feeling knowing that Tim and I and the band helped bring people into worship with God. The feeling I have when I'm on stage singing out to God and then hearing about people in the congregation who are just filled with God's spirit during worship...it's that feeling that makes me want to lead worship! I really feel God is calling me to do that and I can't wait to see what He has in store.

My roommate is moving out tomorrow. It's not really good or bad news, but it'll be good for her. She needs more space for all of her stuff. So now my other roomie and I just have to find a replacement.

Tim also got a new job and is LOVING it! :) I'm so happy for him. He's a drum salesman at Guitar Center. TOTALLY up his ally; not to mention mine. I love that we both love music! It's nice because if I go visit him at work, I can hide away in the acoustic room and just play away on expensive guitars. :) It's wonderful! That and it's right across the street from where I work.

I turned in my huge term paper this week and caught up with an older professor of mine. She's the professor that influenced me to change my career focus. She's the reason I am doing what I'm doing and I can't thank her enough! She's an amazing mentor and an amazing friend. So that was nice to catch up.

For Halloween, at my internship site we had a big get together for all the locations. Each building had their own room to decorate and the residents came and then all the kidos came. It was a lot of fun. Also, that morning one of the residents I have been giving computer classes to thanked me like there was no tomorrow for all the help I've given him. :) It was nice. Then Tim and I went to a party at the Donor household! They're old friends of mine I met through Cory and Kendi. We stayed for a while. He was a guy from the matrix and I was a cowgirl...but I looked like I was 12...Ha ha! It was fun though.

Umm, today I went to the BYU/CSU game with Mabby...and we almost won! It was ridiculous how close the game was. I was disappointed we lost in the last minute, but only by 3. Oh well. I hope I get to go to the last home game this season because it'll be my last game..as a student anyway. :(