Life...

I am once again amazed at our Father.  Right now, I am being pulled in one hundred directions, yet I'm loving life and extremely happy.

I'm working three (sometimes four) jobs currently: my normal job at Career Services during the day, home basketball games (I work the shot clock) a couple of nights a week, intramural basketball (bookkeeper) one or two nights a week, and occasionally babysitting.  On top of that, I'm taking 15 hours, which isn't bad.  Plus, some other stuff is going on.

So to the normal person, you'd think, "wow, that's crazy."  But I love it.  I like the ever-changing nature of my days.  I like that I'm making some great memories at college.  Hmm...though I do miss sleep, I like my life.  : )

So this "other stuff" is cool too.  You know that verse in Luke 2 that says, "But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart"?  Well, I'm not having a baby (haha), but there is some stuff that I'm really thinking/praying about.  Feel free to say a little prayer of guidance and direction for me.

I love you, friends.  I wish I could spend time with each of you, catching up on life, sharing experiences, laughing.  It makes me sad that I don't get to live life with people that I love.  I miss those whose lives intersected with mine during Master's Commission, or those who I've met here at SAGU but have moved on, or those I grew up with in Graham or Van or Longview.  God has allowed people to come in and out of my life who have marked me forever.  Thank you for your impact.

Christen

Some random thoughts...

I think it's safe to say that Karissa wasn't exactly thrilled of the picture I put on here of her and me. haha

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So, my covenant ring from Master's Commission hardly fits anymore. It falls off quite often lately. haha It's the silver band I wear on my right hand. I never take it off because it's far too dear to me. But anyway, everytime I look at it (or go searching for it), it makes me remember the symbolism of its meaning. I made a covenant with not only my Master's, but also with God, to live a life above reproach. A life that is without question and that causes people to turn to God.

I really believe that's what Christianity is about. We weren't called to condemn people, shove their sins in their faces. We were called to introduce them to Christ, whether through our words or actions, and then let the Holy Spirit do His thing in them. Hmm....what do you think?
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Got to hang out with my parents tonight. Did I tell you they bought a Suburban? It's seriously sweet! My dad sold his truck to my Granddaddy and got the 'Burb. I really like it. Anyway, we met in Terrell for dinner and some outlet shopping. I got a sweater for $7, a thermos from Starbucks, a keychain, and some new vitamins. Wow, I'm seriously a nerd, huh? haha

Okay, I have to go to bed. Between the past 2 nights, I've only gotten 7 1/2 hours of sleep!! Out of control!!! Just to stay partly conscious today, I had: 4 Diet Cokes, a latte, a red bull, and some tea. My stomach hurts. : ( Oh well, tomorrow should be fun. I get to go watch the baseball team then the basketball team. Love it!! Good night!

Christen

The Good Life

When I was in Master's Commission, Pastor Jeremy (our director) would tell us we lived the "good life." It's SO true! I serve a God who loves me, cares for me, desires greatness in my life, and longs to see me happy and fulfilled. I am daily reminded through my friendships and experiences how true this is. I walk in the favor of the Lord. He blesses me beyond what I could ever ask for or what I could attempt to deserve. I believe in His principles of sowing and reaping because I see them take fruition in my life every single day. I am diligent in what I do. I pick my friends wisely. And I choose to live above the norm. Are these all a pat on the back for me? NO WAY! They are a testiment to God's faithfulness in my life.

I know it seems strange that goofing off with my roommates would remind me of God's loving nature, but it does. I see my Father's love in every aspect of my life. He has blessed me with the most caring, genuine roommates possible.

Karissa and I became roommates by the luck of the draw. We were both incoming freshmen in the Fall of 2002. Karissa's from Seattle. I'm from Longview. Why in the world SAGU put us together is a mystery, but I think it was completely God. And I have found my closest friend at Southwestern due to this "luck."

Since I can be honest in my words with you, oh Xanga world, I thought I would be honest in pictures, too. Karissa and I, home alone, got a little crazy a couple of nights back.

High, off to the side ponytails + Make believe cheerleading moves = FUN!! (I have no shame):


Then, to leave on a high note (and with a little pride), here are the good looking Carter kids (Scott, Sheila, Baby Eli, Mark, and me):


Love you, friends!!

Christen

I love my family!!

Another wonderful weekend. I skipped classes on Friday so that I could come home to see my adorable nephew, Eli. He's incredible and does tricks now.

Eli will be 3 months on Wednesday, and he's developing the cutest little personality. He's "talking" now where he coo's and makes noises in response to you talking to him. It's the coolest thing in the world to talk and have him respond. He "sings" too. While Sheila was still pregnant, Mark and Sheila would sing this song to him (Psalty's Praise, anyone?): "I love you, I love you, say to the Lord, I love you." Ever since he was born, it's his favorite song. It soothes him and makes him smile. He makes noises while you sing, and his inflections mimick the song's notes. It's incredible. I thought they were kidding when they said he did it, but Eli and I sang together all weekend. Amazing! Okay, okay, here he is:

Aunt Chris and Eli. I bought Eli this outfit. Isn't it adorable?!:


Grandma and Eli:


Uncle Scott and Eli:


Look at that smile!!! Hook 'Em Horns:


My crazy brothers and their nasty hair:


I love my family so much!

After Mark and Sheila left to go home (I'm so sad), Mom and I watched The Sting. It's an old Robert Redford movie that's along the same lines as Ocean's Eleven or The Italian Job. I loved it!

Then I got an invitation to try out my mad dancing skills at the Reed's house for some late night Dance Dance Revolution. Let's just say that Derek has too much time on his hands. Just kidding. He is really good, and I have zero rhythm!! But I had a blast getting to see Derek, Amy, and Derrik Holmes.

Love you!!

Christen

I'M SO STRESSED!!

It's 10 pm, and I still have to do a project, study for a test, finish some word morphology homework (Intro to Linguistics), pack to go home tomorrow, and SLEEP! And I've been diligently working ALL afternoon on my homework! AHH!!!

Christen

CRAZY Weekend!!

I had a wonderful yet SUPER crazy weekend.  Friday night we celebrated Jenn's birthday with an all chocolate themed party.  We had cake, brownies, candy, milk, hot chocolate, and cheesecake ALL in chocolate!  We watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and the decorations and signs were all in brown.  haha  It was a blast!!

The party group:


Shelby and Jenn:


Me and Karissa (I love my roomie!!):

Saturday we celebrated the future Mrs. Angela Bazan Fellows.  The shower was beautiful and so crazy.  We played all the appropriate shower games, opened presents, ate some amazing food, and even danced around for a while (Little Sally Walker, anyone?).  SO FUN!  It was really nice seeing some of my girl friends who I haven't seen in a while.

The beautiful bride, Miss Angela Bazan, with our good friend the Texas Peanut (inside joke...not dirty):


Everyone who has ever roomed with Ang (Jessica, Katie, Karissa, Ang, Me, and Karla):


Joanie, Kelli and Me (we grew up with Ang):

That night we took Andrea Bazan out for her 24th birthday.  We went to Gloria's, which is an El Salvadorian restaurant in Dallas.  It was an interesting night, but overall, I absolutely loved getting to spend some time with Andrea, Karla, Danae, Ang, and Karissa.  Much needed.

Birthday girl, Andrea Bazan (with Karissa smilin' in the background):

Sunday after church, I was fully devoted to homework.  12 hours!!!!  I did make quite a dent in everything I had been procrastinating though.

Anyway, sorry if this post was not interesting to you.  haha  This week is going to be SO busy!! Lots of homework: 2 tests, 3 projects, tons of reading.  THEN I get to see my little Eli on Thursday!!  Can't wait.  I haven't seen him in a month!

My little boxer:


Look at that sad face!!!!


My happy nephew:

Love you all!

Christen

So good to me...

During my stint in Master's, I really, really struggled with who I was and who God said I was.  I couldn't get it through my head that God really does love me more than anything and wants to see me succeed and prosper.  It was a daily battle (usually accompanied with tears) of asking God to show me my worth.  Finally, towards the end, his Word revealed so much truth to me.  These verses echoed in my heart daily as a reminder of who God says I am:

Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Psalm 139:5  You hem me in�behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.

Psalm 139:14  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

After Master's, I knew all these things to be true, but I felt somewhat neutral about it all.  I didn't feel worthless, but I didn't feel this surge of love like I had in Master's either. So for the last year and a half, my life has been good but without a lot of "God moments" (my Master's friends understand).

But the last month has been amazing.  Ever since that chapel service about dreaming, my heart has been alive.  Daily, God points out to me the love and genuine affection he has for me.  I feel confident about me (I don't necessarily mean the outward), knowing that God chose me, He loves me, and no matter what, I will never lose that.

The future is so open right now.  I have no commitments, no real plans.  I don't know what's in store for careers or relationships, or whether I'll ever get my master's degree.  And yet not a thing about any of it scares me.  I'm confident in the Lord's will for my life.  And I'm resting upon it.

I love this old song:
Lord, you have my heart, and I will search for your's.  Jesus, take my life and lead me on.

Christen

I had a fabulous weekend!! Couldn't have been better!

I got to meet little Kaleb Sorgee who is absolutely adorable!! He sure made me miss Eli though. Two more weeks til I see my little guy again. It's too long!

Saturday I got to spend some wonderful time with a lot of friends: Mark Sorgee, Oscar and Bridgett Jackson, April and Stuart Kaufman, the many wonderful youth kids, among others. Though I shamefully lost a softball game (let's just say that I didn't catch a ball or get past first base once), I had a blast playing! My dad even came out and showed a few people up (no names of course, Mark). That night, I managed to lose at a game of Pictionary due to the fact that we didn't play by the rules!!

Super Bowl Sunday was excellent as well: an afternoon at Jason's house with him, Mark and Danny followed by the game. I went for the Seahawks just to get on Mark's nerves. haha!! Though my team lost (what's new?), the fellowship was highly enjoyable and entertaining!!

On my way back to Waxahachie, I got to talk to Sheila for a while. Can I just say that I am truly blessed to have the best sister-in-law possible? She's such an encouragement to me in every way! We got to talk about dreams and goals and Eli and life in general. Wow, I love her so much!

Another cool thing...I had good talks with my parents this weekend. I mean, I talk to them ALL the time, but it was nice to get to really sit down and discuss stuff. I love them so much!

I hope your weekend was as great as mine. Can you tell I totally loved it? I'm headed back to the View in 2 weeks to see my favorite little nephew and for other fun reasons. I love you all!!

Christen

Sorry no pictures...I've been lazy.

I don't know why all of a sudden I feel pressure for my entires to be of some quality. haha But I do!

This week some people on campus organized a game of Assassins. (We played in Master's once for those that remember that.) Basic rules: Everyone who's playing goes on a list; you are assigned someone to "kill" (but keep in mind another person on that list has been assigned to kill you); the game runs 8 am to midnight excluding church services and chapel; to kill someone, you must touch them and say, "You're dead." but no one can see or hear you do it; after you kill someone, you take over the person who they were assigned to kill; you may make alliances with fellow players but evenutally one of you could be assigned to kill the other. It's a big circle of deceit and murder. haha Anyway, I died FIRST DAY!! I was being so careful, staying in groups, having people walk me to work, etc., so as not to be vulnerable. I even prepped everyone at work not to leave me alone. Well, the girl who killed me found out on Facebook that I worked on campus and killed me at work. I was in the back office alone, and she just walked it. The guy at the front desk happened to "step out" right when she came to kill me. Punk co-worker. It was pretty funny though cause I sure wasn't expecting it.

My roommates are in on it as well as a bunch of my friends. It's hilarious and makes for a campus full of paranoid people. haha! Karissa's assassin lurked outside our dorm for HOURS yesterday. It was kinda creepy. haha Anyway, it's made my week more enjoyable.

I was going to post a picture of my bruise. It's one of the biggest bruises I've ever had. And get this...I have NO idea what I did! It's maybe 5 inches long. Yeah, it hurts like crap. BUT I know how grossed out some of y'all got from my mom's black eye, so I won't. (Unless y'all want to see it.) haha

LONGVIEW: 2 days!! Yea!!

Christen