Food For Thought...

A year ago I was in Salzburg, Austria saying good-bye to my new friends I'd made.

While they were preparing to head back home to the States, I was getting ready to take a trip south to the continent of Africa. With three other girls, I embarked on a journey I never thought I would do at the age of Nineteen.

Now, a year later, I have nearly all but forgotten about that fantastic experience in Egypt. How could such an amazing journey be left on the back burner?

I was able to walk the streets of Cairo, ride camels around the Giza Pyramids, snorkel in the Red Sea, and watch the sun rise over the Saudi Arabian mountains. While I was in a far-off foreign land, my parents, relatives, and friends were home most likely worrying about my health, well-being and safety as I travelled through an underdeveloped land.

Don't ever overlook or forget all the blessings in your life. Live each day to its fullest while trusting the future and loving the past.

Catching Up

I talk about it way too much, but it's a major fact of life...TIME FLIES!!

I just received a notice that I haven't blogged in over a month! That is a long time to let all the simple activities and events of life to go unnoticed. Therefore, lets step back about a month ago and begin from there.

One fine Saturday night it was the house, the kitchen, and me. We are best buds and I took advantage of our time alone together. This particular night Betty Crocker, as Kristy would call me, came out from the darkness and cooked up a storm. Two beautiful Apfelstrudeln (Apple Strudels) were created and a fantastic batch of Chocolate Chip Cookies were produced.

The next morning brought on a superb sunny day with Church and an Austrian themed Student meal which included the amazing Apfelstrudeln! It was a great day of food, friends, and fellowship!

The following week was jam packed full of class, papers to write, my Roomies' Manhattan Christian College basketball games to attend, and work. The weekend finally came again and I was able to go to an International Food Festival that included food from over ten countries.

After filling my belly, my friend, Joanne, and I headed to a Praises of the People service at a local church. This was a worship service with prayers and songs in all languages and a message about a young Chinese girl who changed Chinese Christian worshiping. This young peasant girl has written over 900 hymns with an 8th grade level education and no music training, Amazing!

The weekend ended with movies and friends and lead into a week of exams and more papers to write and revise. An organization I am a member of, NAMA (National Agri-Marketing Associaon), decided on the product we will be presenting this year at competitions. I am looking forward to learning from this experience and meeting many new people.

And then there was Thanksgiving! Finally the weeks were winding down and I headed out with the MCC basketball team to Ankeny, IA. At the girls' game I took stats and GOT TO SEE BROOKE!! My amazing Salzburg roommate was able to come watch Kristy's game and all three of us got to hang out together! It was so great! I met Kristy's wonderful parents, saw her farm, and played with adorable kittens. Then it was off to my home!

During my extended Thanksgiving break (Saturday-Sunday), I baked pies, milked cows, fed calves, watched movies, hung out with my fam, went to HSM3, and went to Iowa. In Iowa I ate Turkey, visited relatives, and WENT SHOPPING. Whoever has not experienced Black Friday shopping is missing out...don't panic, there it will come again. However, I bought FIVE new dresses and am so excited about them! Oh, yes!

Thanksgiving drew to a close and it was back in the car to Kansas where I was greeted with more class, more papers, more work, and more Movies :)

And now the semester is coming to an end and while all this time I just want to party it up that English is over and there is only a week left to go, I need to sit down and study. And that's what I will be doing.

Slow down and take time to look around and remember all the simple things in life. Realize just how blessed we all are and Thank God for all of those creations!

Living With FOUR Roomies!

It may sound crazy, but yes, I live with 4 other girls in a townhouse 4 miles off the K-State campus. We have a great place with 5 bedrooms, 2 1/2 bathrooms, a nice kitchen, a living room, and spacious closets and cupboards.

It is usually quite cozy in our place and many people who visit comment on the "home"iness of our place. We enjoy those comments! We like to live in a "Home-y" place! Some of the activities we like to take part in together is eating cookies and chocolate, watching movies and the Disney channel, laughing so hard it hurts, eating the Popcorn I make, dancing, being silly, making fun of each other, and just chilling.

Three of my amazing roommates attend MCC (Manhattan Christian College) along with K-State and are also on the Women's Basketball team at MCC. They are such great athletes! Way better than me!! My fourth roomie is a journalist major and enjoys writing for the campus newspaper, The Collegian. She likes to seek out interesting and out of the norm topics to write about.

We all have super times together, and besides the normal challenges of living with other people, I really LOVE my roommates and am so happy they are a part of my Kansas State experience.

I have not been able to post any photos, so I figured I would finally put up some that show a little of the fun I have been having here in Kansas!! I think without my roommates, I would not have had nearly as much fun as I have already!! From just a simple night out with friends to a Halloween Barn Party, we make things fun and silly and unforgettable!! Thanks Roomies!!

Just a Night out on the town!!

Oh yeah, working the cowgirl get-up! We were the hotties of the night!!


Yay Roomies!!

They are just so CUTE!

Woo-hoo!!

Just Rocking out to some tunes...you know the way I roll!!

The Gangsta and her Gypsy!! And...someone else!!

I could totally be a gypsy!! Right?

Dressing up is one of the funnest things to do! You can be whatever or whoever you choose to be! It is always an adventure and always so fun! Unfortunatley, I do not have a picture of my fourth roommate yet, but that will be coming in due time! You only just must be patient!

Enjoy the photos and drop me a line and catch me up on whats up with you!!

Sounds of the World

There are some things in life that are just so simple, but so wonderful. Music is one of those amazing wonders that seem so simple, but bring joy and happiness to so many. And music doesn't just make people in certain states or countries satisfied, but music is heard around the globe across four oceans and seven continents.

Music is heard in many different forms also. Some like music with a slow, calm feel while others prefer pieces with serious beats and interesting rhythms. Some like hip hop, rap or rock while others prefer jazz, country or classical. Whatever the preference, music is appreciated everywhere.

Last year in Salzburg I grew a great appreciation for classical music and those composers of the 18th and 19th centuries. Back here in the United States and Manhattan, Kansas, I have been definitely feeling the void and absence of this influential music.

Thursday night I was able to step back into that cultural world I held so dear in Austria and experience the sounds of the world again. K-State was able to bring the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra to the McCain Auditorium on the Manhattan campus. Directed by Leon Botstein, this 70 year old orchestra brought a new and rare act to Kansas. The three pieces played were very beautiful and pleasing. These pieces of the night included Erich Walter Sternberg's, The Twelve Tribes of Israel, Leonard Bernstein's, Serenade, with Robert McDuffe on Violin; and Aaron Copland's, Symphony No. 3.

The performance was filled with sweet and easy listening tones and helped me be taken back to the magnificent opera houses and concert halls of Europe. Such a simple aspect of the time I spent abroad, but it has such a prominent piece of me now I will never be able to give it up.

Orchestras and concerts of classical music are not always the norm here in Manhattan, KS, but those who seek out such wonderful art forms will find them in the end and be rewarded with solid performances that satisfy.

For now I still long to walk along the Salzach River or bike down Hellbrunner Allee on bright, sunny days in Salzburg, but, I am making the most of my time at K-State and counting my blessings that God has provided me with here. Taking some moments of a busy week to experience a piece of Salzburg I left behind will keep Austria with me while appreciating what ALL the parts of my world bless me with.

It is a great day to be alive. Although our lives are changing with a new president, an unsure future, and the challenges of daily life in a world of recession; God is good and He is still here. He will guide us, no matter what!

Statistics

32 days finished
27 PB&J sandwiches eaten
19 movies watched
16 online homeworks submitted
5 exams done
5 visits to Advisor
4 roommates acquired :)
4 church services attended
3 Ag clubs joined
3 batches of cookies baked
3 campus ministry events attended
2 rent bills paid
2 jobs working
2 almost all-nighters
2 english papers written
2 changed Majors
1 road trip home taken
1 full all-nighter
260+ miles ridden by bike
150+ friends made
hundreds of prayers said
thousands of laughs with friends
millions of smiles shared
COUNTLESS MEMORIES MADE!

...not everything can be measured in numbers!

I have also:

-learned to think like an economist
-thought way too much about volatile fatty acids
-evaluated too fiercely a written argument
-slept through a little bit of lecture ;)
-almost choked applesauce up my nose
-danced in Ag ECON class
-been amazed by God's work
AND MUCH MUCH MORE!

"How cool is that?"
-Andy Barkley, K-State AGEC 120 Professor, 8. Sept. 08

"Woo-Hoo!"

Any way that you measure it, count every blessing! No matter how big or how small, life is too short!

Rain...

In Kansas, it does not rain very often. However, I have come to find that when the rain does come, it comes heavily!

Here in Manhattan my mode of transportation is my wonderful and trusty bike. It is about 4 miles to and from campus, and from my home it is 2.6 miles to the dairy farm in which I am employed at. No big deal, right?

Wrong, on these wonderful days that include work at 6 AM, class at 8:30 and lots of rain, I question my own sanity and the reason that I insist I ride me bike. So, I headed out at 5:30 in the rain to get to work. At the GRAVEL driveway of work, my pants went from being wet to wet and dirty. So, I am at work and half of my pants are wet. It quits raining and I feed calves.

Now, of course, just as I am to leave on my bike to get to English class where I must be on time to hand in my paper, it begins to rain again. I make the couple miles to class and arrive drenched! Even my water-proof jacket is not doing a very good job of keeping me dry and I am just full of gravel and dirt. I am pretty sure people wondered about me...I was wondering about myself.

Luckily I made it to class! I even survived my other three classes, just extremely wet!! But even walking around campus didn't make me dryer, the lawns were filling up and the sidewalks were running with water! It was a great experience that I hope will not be a constant occurrence.

Every adventure yields learning opportunities. Today has made me want to work even harder to start saving for a car! I love biking and am a true advocate for it; however, not EVERY situation is bike-capable or sane!!

Keep biking, but try to stay dry! Enjoy that last days of summer before fall really sets in!

God Bless!

Changes

No one can ever go through life and not encounter many changes. I sometimes feel like I set out to make as many changes in my life as God will permit. Or at least as many as I can fit into my already complicated world!

My August has come and is nearly gone. I began the month working at the Wisconsin State Fair as part of the Agriculture Staff manning Gate 5 and working at the WI Cheese Grill flipping grilled cheese sandwiches. It was a crazy, busy, and tiring two weeks, but I made it through.

After state fair came the Grant County Fair and then the Fennimore International. They were great fairs with wonderful weather, but it felt so different as I was only spectating and not actually taking part in all the wonderful livestock showing activities.

In the midst of all the fairs I had to ready myself again encounter another school change! On the 21st, my two sisters and I headed south to go for my orientation at K-State University in Manhattan, KS. It was a really quick trip! We left late Wednesday and arrived Thursday morning in order for me to learn about how wonderful K-State is from the Dean, change my major to German, and get my new schedule figured out. After all the details were figured out, we headed home.

Besides fairs and school visits, my parents just celebrated their 25th Wedding Anniversary on the 12th! Congratulations to them! Many marriages these days are fizzling out before the first child is on its way and my parents have made it through four births and 25 years together! They really are survivors and wonderful parents! In recognition of their great milestone, we were able to have an open house to celebrate their years together. Now they are off and running towards another happy 50 years together!

After all the celebration, my parents were able to bring down south here one more time so I could start classes this past Monday. You would think I was used to all these school swaps and changes, but they never seem to be the same and therefore always challenging! I have made it through four days of class and haven't gotten completely lost on campus yet. But I am still getting used to the numerous amounts of people here on campus along with my 20-25 minute bike ride to and from class everyday!

I am looking forward to this next year here in Kansas and really excited about my German major. It will all be fun and exciting and lead to many new opportunities! I am just praying for guidance and seeking out the Lord to lead me on the many journeys I am about to embark upon.

It is Getting Hot Out There!

It is July, the 4th has passed and everyone is realizing the summer is almost half over. I for one am really realizing it. In just over a month, I will be heading to Kansas State to continue my Animal Science degree in Livestock Production. I am really looking forward to the great faculty, facilities and friends I will soon be familiarized with.

But, as for now, I am basking in the heat of summer. After many days and weeks of rain, the sun is finally shining and it is really starting to warm up. I always forget during the winter what it really feels like to step outside and immediately begin to perspire. Now I don't even know what it is like to be chilled! The weather always amazes me! It can be 70 degrees one day and the next 90 degrees! God really made our world remarkable.

Enjoy the heat and the hot, lazy summer days. I will not be missing unloading small square bales on the days where temperatures reach over 100 degrees!

Hope the humidity doesn't get you if the heat didn't! Stay Safe, God Bless!

Time Flies -->

I have returned from Austria about 7 ½ weeks ago, and I can barely believe it. Since that time I have been here in Wisconsin on my family's Registered Jersey Farm.

I am now milking cows, doing chores, cleaning the house, cooking meals, running errands, and helping out everywhere else I am needed.

I also just started my own business as a Pampered Chef Consultant. I am helping families and friends get quality kitchen tools, learn new inexpensive and easy recipes, and bring everyone back to the table!

The economy right now is not at its best and half of Iowa was just completely covered in water. We are all struggling to buy groceries, keep our gas tanks full, and continually be happy and healthy. I wish everyone the best and encourage you to feel blessed in the moments now; we never know when it will all be gone.

Until the next time...I will be milking the cows and working towards a thriving Pampered Chef business!

Where I've been

Today I am in Austria.

Yesterday I was in Montana.

A few weeks ago I went to Australia.

Once upon a time I was in Canada and Mackinac Island.

Hundreds of places, thousands of sites, millions of people, COUNTLESS memories.