Another Week

Another week is done, and I can't believe how fast the time has gone. We're already five weeks in, almost to midterms already! Ahh! Though this week did seem rather long. Everyday felt like it should have been later in the week, and friday couldn't have come any quicker. Between rehearsals, lessons (prep & practice for the two) as well as homework, I've been so busy just trying to keep up. The weekends are always a welcomed respite, though way too short in my opinion. I'm sure you all know what I mean. :-)
It's saturday morning & it's actually quiet in my apartment because everyone else is sleeping. It's weird, but it can be a nice break too. I love all of my roommates, but with four girls in here all of the time it can get crazy!!! As I'm sure you can see from the pictures. Worship team is also going really well. We're still getting comfortable with the new worship leader and trying to build our teams. It takes time to get to know each other, not only personally, but also musically. Once that happens, things tend to flow a lot easier in a service. This pic is from my first day of worship team least week. My roomie didn't tell me she was taking any pics. haha. Thanks, t!
So, that's about it for now. Oh, I heard that shining lights started last week. :-( it still makes me sad to think about it. I really miss those kids so much. please send them my love! and tell them i miss them. :-) oh, and i know you've all been praying for tanya's family in houston. they finally heard from them this week. they are ok, but without power, and probably will not get it back for almost a month. so please continue to keep that whole area in prayer. it's still really bad.

We made it!

So after quite a scare thanks to Ike, I am happy to report that we are safe and sound. Dallas just got a bit of rain and some heavy winds from the outskirts of Ike, nothing too bad. Unfortunately, houston and galveston were not so lucky. They still need are prayers, as they haven't even begun to clean up and assess all of the damage. My roommate Tanya's aunt and grandma were near houston, and no one has heard from them since Friday night, so please keep them in your prayers as well. Most places don't have power, so we're just waiting to hopefully hear from them in the next day or two.

Also, I wanted to tell you that I put up links to both my brother's blog and Julie's as well. My brother is currently on mt. washington doing an internship. he's got some awesome stories & pictures, so feel free to take a look. And julie's has lots of pics and videos of her worship team....which is amazing if I may say so. Go Orange! :-) yes, i am a little biased, but oh well.

have an awesome week! love you all!

Ike...and a few other things

Hi again!

In case you didn't notice, I was able to put up a slide show in the top right corner of some pics from this semester so far. I'll be updating those quite often, so please check back. I'm sure they'll provide a good laugh if nothing else.

Things have been going very well the last few weeks. My worship team was actually up for morning chapel yesterday and today. We ended up getting pretty much preempted yesterday because of 9/11, but it was an awesome time of prayer and worship.

And in other news, our apartment was fumigated this week. Julie started waking up with bug bites all over her, so we called maintenance and they are going to be fumigating two more times over the next few weeks. Though yesterday's seemed to work, since she had no new bites this morning. :-) thank God!

Finally, we come to the big news of the week...Ike! I cannot even count the number of texts, emails, comments, etc. I've received from everyone back home. And since I don't have a tv, it really started freaking me out. But we've been keeping up with the latest online and so far everything seems to be ok. Late tonight into tomorrow it will probably hit us. We're in a tropical storm wind advisory (up to 40 mph) and, of course, heavy rains. But we won't be evacuating or anything like that. Actually, we've got quite a few evacuees headed this way from the coast. So, I will keep you updated on how things are throughout the weekend. And of course, all of your prayers are greatly appreciated!

Love & miss you all! Stay safe & dry...like I'll be trying to do! :-)

My First Blog...Ever!

Hello everyone! Welcome to my blog. Yes, I finally did it. After much aversion to blogs, I finally realized that they really do make sense. So, instead of the mass email I was sending every few weeks, I will be periodically updating the blog. This way, you can catch up on what' s been going on with me whenever it's most convenient for you. :-)

So, the last few weeks have been a whirlwind. After a great summer at home, and an awesome vacation (yeah Sandbridge!), I was headed back to Dallas for my fourth semester at CFNI. The trip from Virginia to Dallas was uneventful, thank the Lord. The day after I returned were worship team auditions, so I had to get back into the swing of things very quickly. I got a callback for Wednesday afternoon, and then they set up interviews with everyone on Thursday. There's a new worship leader here, so he wanted to sit and talk with everyone before he put you on any team. After a very long week, I found out Friday that I made Praise Band, which is the main worship team here at CFNI. We lead worship for the morning chapels and some Tuesday night services, the monthly nights of worship, and other special events around the area. Luckily, they have enough people to make up two full bands, so every other week I will have a break. Practice schedules are three hours twice a week, and I'm required to take voice lessons as well. So my schedule is pretty full.

But there's also time to for hanging out with my awesome roommates! One of whom just so happens to have made a student worship team for drumming. Many of you know, but some of you may not, that Julie Garbowsky began attending CFNI this fall. She is from my home church, and practically my little sister. And it just so happens that she is one of my roommates. :-) And my other two roomies are Tanya & Kim, both of whom I've lived with before. The four of us are having so much fun together. It gets a little crazy at times, but that's to be expected. Especially when we start playing nertz!!! That's right, Julie & I taught the girls nertz and we play almost daily. Haha. With no tv, what do you expect?!

Also, I am very proud to announce that my brother has officially started his position up on Mt. Washington. He's having an incredible time up there doing what he loves...stuff with weather! lol. I don't really know all of what he's doing, but I know he is loving it. I am so proud and impressed with him for taking this position. It is a challenging one. If you get a chance, check out www.mountwashington.org. He writes the blog on the front page every few days.

Well, I guess that's it for now. Thank you all so much for your prayers and continued support. They mean so much to me. I got the chance to talk to so many of you this summer who were so encouraging. Thank you! Keep checking back. I'll be updating soon. Love & miss you all!