Haven't been on in a while!

Thought it was about time to blog again. So much has happened since last time I was on here.

Decided on the next few years of my life:
I PLAN on going to school at Shawnee State, which is in Portsmouth, Ohio. I want to start in January and possibly live with family (but I am not sure about that yet!!). I wouldn't mind living at the dorms, or condo's is what I would actually be living in. However, that's an extra 5000$ a year... so yeah, i'm not sure. I'm SO very excited about this, but also so scared. I'm gonna be leaving a full time-secure job, living on my own for over 5 years, my church, my family, my beautiful niece n nephew and my comfort zone! So yeah, i'm really scared. I feel like this is really what God wants me to do. I have to take the opportunity that is arriving.

I had the best birthday ever:
This year I turned 26. I definitely never thought that I would be where I am at 26.. I imagined a husband, a few kids and a home. Oh boy, God sure has a different plan for my life!! I'm ok with that. This year though was the best birthday ever for me. I basically got to celebrate it all weekend with so many people I love. It started on Friday night when I went out to sing karyoke with some friends, that was a lot of fun! Then when I got home Friday night, I found my apartment all decorated for my birthday (thanks to Emily, Julie, Jonathan and Jacob!!) It was truely one of the best surprises I have ever gotten! They wrote 26 things they love about me all over my bathroom mirrors and I still haven't cleaned those yet! (Yes, my birthday was over a month ago haha!) Then Saturday I had class, blah haha.. then went to my parents house and had dinner and fun times with my family. This year, I feel like was the only year when me and my 3 sisters didn't fight haha. If you know us at all, you know we bicker SO much! lol. Then Stacey, Nancy and I went over to my parents neighbors house to hang out and play games. It was alot of fun!! Then Sunday was a loooong day. I was exhausted to say the least. I will explain why in a later portion of this post. But needless to say, I still had a great day. We had an all day puppet practice. Basically I got to spend all day with the great teenagers at my church. Then I wanted to go home, I really wanted to SLEEP haha. Someone told me though that I needed to stay and go to dinner with everyone. Duh, it was my birthday dinner haha. We went to Applebees with about 18 of my wonderful friends and IBC family. I remember sitting accross from Craig and he ate somehting with lemon and salt, I don't remember exactly, but I have a picture on my phone to remember that moment haha. His face was priceless!!
Needless to say, it was a great weekend! It was so nice to spend all that time with my 'family'!

My feeling of safety at my home was stolen:
My apartment got broken into ON MY BIRTHDAY!!! Yes, that is why I was so exhausted on Sunday after my birthday. I came home around 1 am from my parents house Saturday night to walk in and find my couch flipped over in my living room. It took me about 15 seconds to grasp what had actually happened. After I finally did, I ran out of my apartment and dialed 911. At this point I was already in tears and shaking. I had no idea if they were still IN my apartment or even worse if they were outside of my apartment watching me or going to grab me! I had no idea, and I was terrified! The 911 operator asked me all sorts of questions and tried talking to me while the police were on their way. I have no idea how he understood my address between my sobs haha. The search helicopter came out first and then the police got there. When they did I walked back towards my parking area and they motioned for me to stay back- I had NO problem doing that :) About 6 officers went into my apartment together with their shotguns out and loaded! It was pretty exciting to watch! About 2 minutes later, one of them came back out to get me.
Thankfully, the only thing the burglars got was my desktop computer. & I havent found my bible either, so I think maybe they took that! But honestly, I am ok with that haha, clearly they need it!!
They broke in through the front door and also cut my window screen open, probably to communicate together. I'm so thankful for my parents. I called them around 130 to come out to my apartment, at that point I didn't know what I was going to do. I went back to my parents house FINALLY around 5:00 am and slept there (and when I say sleep, I mean I tossed and turned for 2 hours before I got up for church!) I stayed with my parents for a week, I was so scared to go back to my apartment. We went over there the next Saturday and I got an alarm system set up and alarms on my windows. I'm all set, right? Eh, not quite. I was still so scared, in fact I still am sometimes. Just last night, I heard something and couldnt stop thinking about it. I just have to remember I have a BIG God and he will protect me (thanks Craig!).

I would say that the break in was the worst experience of my life so far, but it could have been much worse for sure. I could have been there sleeping and gotten hurt, or I could have walked in on them and gotten hurt. I'm thankful for that. Now if I could just find my bible...

:) That's about all I got. Thanks for reading!