A&M TRIP!!!

 They gave us fangs at 7 in the morning. What did you expect??

 The beautiful Flor and I

 The Corp Cadets. That went on for forever. Looked cool though

 Me with my loves, Paige and Kelli

My sweet, beautiful girls!!

This weekend, the Goin' Band traveled to Austin/College Station for the Tech/A&M football game. Oh wow. It was definitely an experience. A few highlights include but are not limited to the following:

• marching as an exhibition performance at a high school football game
• marching through the tailgating area of the A&M game to get to the stands (guarded by upperclassmen and leadership to protect us from the crowd)
• a total of 23 hours in a bus, mine was mainly boys, and mainly low brass. what fun. 
• Seeing one of our tuba players put an Aggie in a headlock until he dropped the merchandise he was attempting to steal (and yes, he did this with his tuba still on)
• Seeing a drum major tackle two Aggies who, again, tried stealing merchandise of the Goin' Band (he ended up with a bloody knee and ripped uniform)
• Seeing two of my very best friends
• Watching every scary movie possible on the bus rides (which I'm definitely not a fan of)
• Seeing a member of the Corp ARRESTED for trying to take one of the gaucho hats of the Goin' Band
• Making more inside jokes that should be possible to make

I know it seems like mainly bad stuff, but it sure made for an epic weekend. There was always something going on but the memories have been priceless. It was evident that God's light was always shining. Even in the darkness of College Station and 6th Street :) I'm very ready to get an intense amount of sleep tonight though :) 

Change Blindness

We were discussing the concept of "change blindness" in my psychology class recently. After having heard the lecture and watching several videos, I began thinking about the concept and how it affects me personally. I know, I think too much sometimes. But before I tell you my thoughts, I think you should watch the video below. I've never done this before and can't figure out how to post the actual video onto my page, so just follow the link :) and if/when that doesn't work, simply enter in "Change Blindness" into youtube and watch and follow instructions. So, here you go. And yes, watch the video even if you have a slow computer. No excuses on this one :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahg6qcgoay4 

So... I'm assuming you have watched the video... if not, shame on you. Go watch it now.

For you obedient followers, I will begin my thoughts. Ahem... So after watching this, I felt slightly dumb because I fell into their trap perfectly and never even noticed the bear. After getting over this, I realized how this concept so often plays into my life.

How so you may ask? Well... on a day to day basis, I am often so focused on the small tasks at hand. Getting this paper done on time, updating my blog, getting my study group together. Just whatever. And at the end of the day, I look back and feel as if I missed the big picture.

I am in no way suggesting that these small things are not important because I know they are. However, I feel as if my purpose in this world is to be Christ and show His love to all. 

"He said to them, 'Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.' " Mark 16:15

That's why I'm here. The small things are only whats helping me stay here. So if these small things are whats keeping my focusing, the big picture is slowly being pushed away. This is not okay with me. I want to see the big picture every day.

I know the passes are important, but when are the passes worth missing the bear? I want to see the bear. Every day. 

Trip to Clifton!!

 "Happiness is Lubbock in my rearview mirror" 

 I finally was able to see the band march!

 And I got to see my love, Kelli Anz!

 And of course, time with my sweet nana :)

I sure love her :)

So last weekend, I was able to go back and home and see my very missed family and friends. (yes, I know I'm late in posting, but thats what happens when college decides to give you midterms) Anyways, I was able to see friends in the band that I haven't seen since graduation! Crazy, huh?? And plus one of my all time best friends, Ms. Kelli Anz. I missed her so much! And of course, my awesome family! They spoiled me like crazy and I soaked up every minute of it :) I definitely cannot wait until I see them all again at Thanksgiving! 

Baking with Friends!

The finished product :)

                           Sara drizzling the brown sugar syrup on top!

                                            Mixing the batter

                        Pouring the batter over the pineapples and cherries

                                        


                    They made me take a pic. My mother would be proud :)




So yesterday on my Sunday afternoon, I got together with two of my friends to bake cupcakes. Sara loves to bake and has even taken some culinary classes back home, so she definitely had to help me and Paige out :) We made pineapple upside down cake (just in miniature, cupcake form) and drizzled them with this amazing brown sugar syrup. They were sooo good! So now we have considered baking new cupcakes every Sunday! We're preparing ourselves for cupcake wars :) 

Abide

No pictures this time so i'll attempt to make the words interesting :) I wanted to tell y'all about Abide. Abide is the college church service on Thursday nights that I attended last week and tonight. It's a part of Indiana Baptist church and their Sunday service is called Overflow which I have yet to attend but have plans to soon. And actually, funny story about Overflow that I don't feel I should publicly share, but ask me sometime and I'll tell you about it. Anyways... Abide is pretty different from any church service I have been to. The band that plays is the same one that was at Foundation (the church camp I went to before Tech for incoming freshmen) and I absolutely loved them. So it was nice to see them all when I walked in. Plus, they have this adorable bass player who is a girl. So that just kinda rocks. Anyways, one of my biggest complaints about other church services I have been to is that there are sooo many people. I'm surrounded by thousands of people I don't know everyday here at Tech. I want my church to be a place of comfort where I can have a close group of friends to have fellowship with. Abide has a pretty small congregation so that made me more comfortable from the beginning. Now here's the best part about that. We have worship in a big gym-like area, meaning there is LOTS of room. So while the band is playing, the people spread out to worship. Why is that so great you may ask. Well, when theres no one in a small radius around you, you're free to let God move in you physically. Your hands can go up and down and all around and you will be a distraction to anyone. It's just you and God. Plus, with that atmosphere, I can hear myself singing to God. I hear the words that come out of my mouth before Him and suddenly, these songs take on a whole new meaning. It is so personal. We pray where we are or if someones struggling, we pray over them. The amount of love in the room is unbelievable. It's hard to be in that room and not feel the presence of God in every breath you breathe. I love the worship and I look forward to Thursday's every day of the week. So there ya go :)

Camping in Raiderville!!

Intense doesn't even begin to describe Raiderville...

Carson's sign :)

Fully equipped with port-a-potty

People have seriously moved in. There were even a few RV's

I think it's precious :)



So this weekend is the UT game, right? That means students at Tech began camping out Sunday(yes, a week before the game) to save their spots for the game. There are literately hundreds of kids and tents outside and there is constantly someone saving their spot in their tent. There are certain times during the day where they are required to go sign in so the people running it know they are for real. There have been numerous food chains donating food (Chili's was there tonight with chips and salsa) and the place is booming with news cameras. Crazy stuff is goin on, all for the Texas game. So I started thinkin... what if people anticipated their time with Jesus like that. If they were so consumed with getting to praise and worship God that they would spend every spare minute in anticipation of Him. It's hard to get my thoughts to make sense in writing but in my head, this just amazes me. So that will be my goal this week. As excited as I am for the Texas game, I want to be just as excited to spend some time with my Father. I want to camp out for Him. Give my spare time to Him. Fast my bed for Him. And while doing this, not to lose hope. Instead stand firm. So even when it's hot outside, or the tents next to mine are loud and obnoxious, or when the bugs start biting... focus on what is coming to you. He who stands firm to the end will be saved- Matthew 24:13. 

It's an Intense Coloring Kind of Night

She was thrilled with me for taking this.

I got to color where the Interior Design majors work. Thats kinda a big deal...

The real artist at work :)

Before :(

After!! :)

If I color Cinderella, I should watch it at the same time, right??

See the resemblence?? Eh Eh??



So Mesha had to go work on a project for her Interiors 1 class  and offered for me to tag along. She tempted me by telling me there were special desks just for coloring and I could bring a movie to watch at the same time. Who could turn down that offer?? Not me. So I went. And beasted up my Princess coloring book. It made a for a pretty epic night. Today was one of those days that God just did little things for me and I know they were only for me, no one else. For example, the guy in band who wanted to share how passionate he was about life, or some of my favorite people at Tech to walk by, a friend wanting to grab lunch, one to hang out sometime. It was a hard past couple of days but God just wanted to show me that He hadn't forgotten me. He still cares and wants to do the little things for me. I'm so blessed. And I ended my day with my favorite hobby with my best friend. I love Jesus :)