The Lake House

Here is the house! It looks kinda small, but it is very deceiving...

This is the front of the house

Here is our fenced in back yard...and the LAKE!

Entering the house...it's much bigger than it looks, this is only half

Part of the sun room with a view of the lake

Part of our deck where we are going to have a BBQ's!!!

Part of my bedroom...I can't wait to decorate it!

My bathroom...you can tell it's an older house by the matching color of everything! I'm gunna have to add different color than blue!

This was used as an office, but we are making it into a bedroom....notice fireplace number 2

Here is part of the downstairs, it's carpeted and has heat..there is a bedroom and bathroom on the other side, 3 storage rooms that go off of it, 1 has the washer and dry, 1 is just a storage room, and the other was used as a work shop...This place is seriously huge!

The other side from the picture above..notice fireplace number 3! This is not the other bedroom just a continuation.

There is still the kitchen, and 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms that I don't have pictured here, but you get the jist of it. I wish the pictures did the size justice but they really don't. I'm so excited that it is spread out a big house because that will make living with 5 other girls easier! I can't wait to decorate it and make it look nicer! I also can't wait to wake up to the sun shining on the lake! Y'all will have to come visit!

New home

Well it's official...or will be Monday, but I have a new home! I'm really excited about this...number one because it's on a LAKE! That's right for one full year I will be living in a house that is on a lake! It is so cool. The house looks small from the outside, but it is huge on the inside! There will be 6 of us girls living there! It's so weird how God works. The one girl, who currently lives in the basement of the house I'm in now, I met freshman year, just briefly through a mutual friend. And now 4 years later we are living together! How crazy is that. Another one of my roommates is a quadmate of mine for freshman year who left Liberty for a year and a half and is now back and we are going to be living together! It's so crazy how God brought all these girls into my life. Looking back I know it's all through Him. And this housing situation was all Him as well. We found out about the house and in less than 4 days got a call from the Landlord saying it was ours! I'll put pictures up on a later date, but I'm just so excited for my new home!!!

I'm Probably going to die...

As this is true, hopefully it won't be any time in the near future.

As you have probably caught on by now I'm hoping to have the opportuinity to go to Afica this summer for a missions trip. Well in order to go you need certain vaccines such as Yellow Fever. I got this vaccine 1 week ago to the date. I experienced no problems until last night when I noticed it was feeling a little tender, when I looked at it this is what I discovered:

A red, raised, warm, tender area. Now as nursing majors we become hypocondriacs! and I was flipping out.."I probably have yellow fever, but I don't have any systemic reactions" "Why did it react a week late!" and all this stuff. I've never had a reaction to a shot before. So my roommate said that we should trace it and see if it grows...the first dark circle is the trace from 9pm the night before. When I woke up it was just a little bit past the line, but I decided that was enough to go to the Dr.s. First I went to my nursing instructors because they know all! (literally) and no one was around! go figure. So then I just gave in and went to the Dr.s. Turns out its probably an infection/ reaction. Which I thought briefly before the thought of yellow fever popped in my head. So she put me on an antibiotic and anti-inflammatory so hopefully it will go away. The second line is from my friend about 20 hours after the first line. As nurses we are told to initial and date everything...so she did. Hopefully it won't grow any bigger and will just shrink. The Dr. measure it as 4 inches by 2 inches! ahh and its on the back of my arm. It's so annoying.

Anyway I'm still alive and need to get back to studying! Just be aware if you ever get the Yellow Fever shot!!!

Quick, Random, Catchup

Well I'm on the downward slope...I can see the light at the end of the tunnel...or so I'm told. I think I migh be blind because I am not seeing any light except the light coming from my alarm clock at 6:00 am.

We only have 7 weeks left plus a few days of finals...that's awesome, except for the fact that I just got off spring break and I didn't get any rest and I'm just as worn out now as when I left Lynchburg 1 week ago. Owell that's life I suppose. But the numbers keep getting smaller, 7 weeks left, 6 clinicals, 4 profiles and I think 4 is the smallest number...but hey I'll take it! The only problem is, the numbers may be getting smaller, but the work isn't. I finished my Philosophy class (thank God) and I passed with a good grade too!!! (thank God again!!) Now I'm starting up Humanities...this should be interesting. We still haven't finished round 2 of tests yet and after that we still have round 3, ATI testing, and finals. So in this short amount of time, I have a lot of work to do!

Plus on top of that I'm still working on going on a Missions trip. The one that I wanted to go on is all full, however, I'm still going to fill out the application and get on the waiting list and hope...Then there are a couple trips with Pioneers which look cool. I had originally disregarded this trip because they conflicted with an event this summer, but that event go moved so it's a possibility. So I'm in the process of filling out a bunch of applications! If not I found out that there are 2 different missionaries who will be in my home town that my church supports that both have medical degrees that they use in missions..how cool so even if a trip doesn't work out, I would be sad but it's all in God's plan.

So I guess that's my life in a nut shell. It's not too exciting and it's very very very busy. But I have a good education and I'm healthy and on my trip back down to Liberty today I saw Daffodils! I always love seeing those flowers because I know spring is actually coming! So I'm not complaining!


P.S. Please pray for my roommate, she's going through a really rough time health wise right now plus shes doing everything I'm doing school wise as well! She needs it

Philosophy

At Liberty it is required that you take certain classes to graduate. These class include a couple of bible class, theology classes, evangilism, general education classes, and a philosophy class. Because I'm a nursing student with a schedule restriction, I decided to take my philosophy class online DLP thinking that it wouldn't be hard at all. Well the jokes on me! This class is kicking my butt! I've never struggled with a class before this one. The tests are only 21 questions, mainly true and false with a few matching thrown in there (which in my opinion are the hardest types of questions) on a subject that I'm not interested in and that I don't understand..what a mistake. Along with the tests we have some discussion boards to do. If you've ever taken a DLP class you know that the only purpose of these discussion boards is to have communication with your classmates and teacher so it seems like your in an actual class. I really don't mind these discussion boards at all. They are all short answer and they really make me think about different situations. For example one time we had to talk about artificial intelligence and whether we will be able to achieve it some day and whether they should be equal to humans. One classmate brought up the fact that we already have artificial intellegence; computers, GPS systems etc. I never thought of it that way. But anyways my point in this post:

My class is an 8 week class and I'm on the 2nd to last week with the final discussion board. As I went to read what I needed to write about this is what I found:

Read the following scenario:
To Torture or Not to Torture?
You are a federal agent working for the Department of Homeland Security’s Counter-Terrorist Team (CTT). Part of your duties involves the investigation of terrorist activities and the interrogation of suspected terrorists. In recent weeks, the CTT has been investigating evidence that a large-scale terrorist attack is imminent in a major metropolitan area of the United States. The threat level is very high and sources have confirmed that a major disaster is certain. Until recently, CTT has not been able to discover the details of the attack including the city that is going to be targeted.
You just had a major breakthrough, however. In a raid on a suspected terrorist cell group, a number of high level terrorist leaders have been arrested. During their arrests, you have uncovered important details about the attack. You discover that a thermo-nuclear weapon has been smuggled into the country and is planted in a major US city. Though you don’t know the precise day or time of its detonation, the evidence indicates that it will be soon.
In an effort to get more information, you are assigned to interrogate the leader of the terrorist cell. You have been authorized to use whatever means necessary to achieve your goal. After hours of interrogation you have learned little. He has confirmed that there is a nuclear bomb and that it will go off very soon. In fact, he has boasted about it, but he has refused to tell you where it is located. You can tell he is resolved not to reveal its location and no amount of pain you inflict on him will get him to change his mind.
However, along with capturing the terrorist, you have also captured his family, including his seven-year-old daughter. While you are convinced he can withstand torture himself, you are also convinced that if you torture his daughter in front of him he will break down in time to tell you the location of the nuclear device. Because of your experience in interrogation you are virtually certain of these two facts. However, you cannot fake the torture of the girl – he will not be convinced unless he actually sees you torture her and hears her screams.
You bring the daughter into the room and strap her into a chair. You light a cigarette lighter and prepare to hold the flame against her skin.
Two important points: (1) We know that this will work and (2) It is the only thing that will work. Should you torture her? You are not allowed to alter this scenario in any manner.
In approximately 250 words, write what you think is the morally appropriate response to the situation. Be sure to offer the reasons for your actions. In your response, you may not change the scenario.

I know right? What do you even say to something like this? That is why I am posting this to share with you guys. I have already answered this and submitted my response, but I want to know what you guys think? Is it morally right to torture the little girl? Is it morally right to torture anyone? What about the hundreds of peoples lives at risk because of this bomb? I struggled with this for a while debating back and forth in my head, and I am satisfied with my answer....

What about you?

Birthday

So I've never been too big of a fan of birthdays. It's just one more day to become a year older and remind myself of all the stuff that I wanted to do by the time I reached that age. Plus being away at school birthday's have been an extra bummer because I've always had like class or some homework or something to do...this year, however, was a little different. There's something about turning 21 that changes everything. Yes, it still has that depressing feel "I'm 21 and I still haven't _____ (fill in the blank)" But then again turning 21 is a HUGE milstone in your life. For example you can buy alcohol, go gambling, and buy a gun! I mean who DOESN'T want to turn 21 just because of all those options? (chuckle) Along with those great opportunities, turning 21 means that you completely do not need your parents anymore. I mean you can do anything now that you want, rent a hotel by yourself, get a loan, buy or rent an appartment. 21 is a big deal..if it hasn't hit you that your a grown up before, then the day you turn 21 (or the day after when you sober for all of you who decide to get smashed on your birthday) it will hit you, your a grown up!

So this year to celebrate the big day, I slept in! My birthday feel on a Monday, which for everyone else is a day of classes, but for nursing students it is a day for clinicals for Pediatrics or OB. I got lucky and on February 16th, I did not have clinical so I slept in. I was then going to go work out but I thought, "It's my birthday, I don't want to" so I proceeded to get ready. Now even though I did not have clinical or class my 4 other roommates had clinical, and my sister had class. But luckily she had a long break so we went out to lunch on mom to McAdo's. Neither of us had ever been there so we decided to try it out. It was pretty good, but O'Charlies is still our favorite. We then went to Cold stone on dad and got some ice cream to go since we were still full from lunch. I then took her back to her dorm so she could do homework before her next class. I went home. As I walked in my door, my roommate who was now home from clinical, came running down the stairs yelling "Happy Birthday!" She had bough me balloons, a teddy bear, and reeses pieces! We chated for a bit and I walked up to my room and was greeted by this:

She's such a sweet heart! We then studied on the couches for the next 5 hours. During that time she had asked me for my lighter because she "had to fix her sweat shirt strings" I told her where it was and she came back with a lit birthday cake and sang Happy Birthday to me! She then left and my other roommate came home and her and I went over to her boyfriends house to watch TV and hang out with him and his roommates. Overall the day was special even though I studied OB all day!

Earlier that week my sister was instructed to get me flowers from my father. These are the ones I picked out:

I like them a lot..I'm a huge sucker for flowers! The partying hasn't stoped yet though. Yesterday was my roommates Leigh's birthday and on the 2nd of February was my roommates Candice's birthday so this weekend we are throwing a joint b-day party for all of us! We are each having our own cake too! I have never had so much cake before in my life!

So overall my 21st birthday was still depressing, but I enjoyed it a lot! God really has blessed my life and I still have a lot of life to live (hopefully). He's definitly done great things for me and has put so many precious and wonderful people in my life and I thank him for that! We will see what this year of life has in store!

P.S. an update on the whole missions thing. I am not going to go to Thailand, my heart is just not in this trip, although it would be wonderful and it is a great trip, it's not the one for me. I have found another trip to Africa with World Ventures that is the perfect trip (in my mind at least), I am just waiting to hear back from them. It's funny but I never had a desire to go to Africa and God is opening up all these doors for me to go!

P.S.S. I've had a brief change of plans for after college. I am praying about possibly going straight into ministry and working with an orphange somewhere. The group Children of the World that is affiliated with World Help came (look them up online they are amazing!) and I just think it would be so much fun and it's always been my dream so why not, I'm only 21 right!

Prayer and Insight Needed!!!

Well since I went on my first missions trip to Guyana a little under 3 years ago now I've been wanting to go on another trip for longer and to do medical stuff. In the past I've always made excuses of why not to go, money, family, and much more but really it was because I was scared. I'm still terrified, but this summer I have decided that I am going to go! I originally was going to go with an Anatomy Professor to Guatamala and it was the "perfect" trip! But because of some unfortounate event's he is no longer going. I then began looking for different trips, but it seemed for a moment that maybe it wasn't going to work. I was upset, but content. However, I kept looking and now there are so many opportunities and I don't know what one is right for me if any! Here are my choices:
1) I have an opportunity to go to Thailand for 5 weeks backpacking around the country doing some medical missions as well as helping in orphanages and working with a place that helps former prostitues learn life skills. This is a decent priced trip, $3200, with amazing people and what will be doing there sounds great! Plus it goes from May till the middle of June so that still gives me time to go home and work! This trip is a definite that I can be on...if I tell them I'm going, I'm going
2) I have also found a trip with Pioneers missions to West Africa. This trip is 6 weeks long and very expensive, $5750. It is medically based and sounds really neat. We would mainly stay in one place and work with missionaries there. This trip runs from June to July, so I would still be able to come home and work and catch up with people. I am currently in the process of applying for this trip and it is not like the Thailand trip wheter I can definitly go on it or not.
3) My third option that just came about tonight is possibly going by myself to Guatamala and helping out a missionary that our church supports (Kathi Archer) do slight medical stuff possibly one day a week if that, so not nearly as much as the other 2, I can stay as short or as long as I want up to 3 months. I have to fill out an application for this as well. It will probably end up being the cheapest out of all three. It's 150/month for room and bored plus travel expenses and anything else that I would need. I can choose when I want to go, but again very little medical experience.

That's it for now, possibly another Africa trip with church, but that was just an idea thrown around with no real planning or anything to it. I just don't know what to do. There has definitly been a lot of prayer about a trip, but I still don't know. At first I was totally turned off to Thailand, but then after talking to people about it I really enjoy the idea. Africa sounds AMAZING, but it is very expensive. I know that if that's where I'm suppose to be God will provide but I am a worrier! And Guatamala would be totally fun and such a great experience, but I really wanted medical and although I will have some, it's not that much medically based and it doesn't involve orphange ministry which is another big thing. It's always been my dream to run or at least work in an orphanage.

So if you could pray and if anyone has any suggestions or idea's that would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks! and I will keep you updated