Sweet Visit

This past weekend I drove up to Nashville to meet my mama, daddy, Melissa and the little girlies. It was an absolute blast! The girls are getting so big! I was glad they still remembered me :)

Friday night after finding the hotel (which took a little bit of time..go figure), I pulled up and all the girls were already inside. So I said hi to my dad and by that point mom ran out..crying of course. I went inside and just as I poked my head around the door I saw Tader with Melissa and got this big cheesy grin. Then Ava RAN up to me and gave me a HUGE hug! She didn't let me out of her sight all night.

Right after I first saw them! :)

SOOOO Excited!! 

On the up and down :) 

Saturday we got up and ate breakfast. Then we went to the pumpkin patch! It was seriously the best pumpkin patch I had ever been to. We had an absolute blast! When we got back from the pumpkin patch, we swam for a little bit then got ready and went to Downtown Nashville and ate at Hard Rock Cafe. It was SO good! SO FUN! 

On our way to the pumpkin patch..Miss Ava. 

My sweet Tader Tot.

He really does love me! :)

Rotten thang!

Crazy face!

Such a big girl.

Ah, stop growing!!

Feeding the "aminals"

Cute little chicks 

Milkin' a cow. No big deal.

CoRn!!

Tader FREAKED when we got off of this slide! It was pretty big!

Much happier!

Together again..just as it should be :)

Pass.out!

Little swimmer with her puddle jumper on upside-down! Silly girl!

She is a hot mess. She was being a dentist! Girl loves to dress up!!

Hard Rock :)

We slept in on Sunday! It was amazing! Then we got up, ate breakfast and got everything loaded up. Then we went to the Bass Pro Shop which was highly entertaining. Burger King was next on the agenda then the dreaded "see ya laters." It wasn't too bad though..I did get a little choked up when I hugged Melissa. :( 5 weeks!

I am so thankful they sacrificed a weekend to meet me 5 hours away from their home to do nothing exciting but spend time together! So SO worth it! It was so refreshing and just what I needed to get me through these last few weeks before Thanksgiving!! 

I've been thinking a lot about what's going to happen after school. Obviously that's still two years away buuuu..ya know. I should know by now that MY plan never works out. I'm working on it. :) I'm unsure of where I'll end up at this point which is super alarming to me. But its all in His hands. I have come to LOVE and know this place. God's plan is so perfect. Down to every single detail. I just love it. So I know that no matter what happens, it will be amazing because after all, it is HIS plan. :)

catch up attempt..

I really need to get about blogging. I get too far behind and so much happens that I don't even know where to start! I'll do my best!

Boring stuff first! School is good..its getting to the point where it is consuming most of my time. I dislike that a lot. But I know that this is only a phase..and soon it will be over!! So I must press on! This week I've really been hitting the school work hard because..

This weekend I get to see my parents, Melissa and my sweet girls!!!! 

To say I'm excited would be a complete understatement!! We are meeting in Nashville this weekend..I cannot wait! This week Abby came to visit, too. So that's been really nice to see an "old" familiar face. Some days it still feels like a dream. She looked at me today and said, "I can't believe you're really in Georgia!" Me either! There are days when it hits me hard though. Those are the days when I realize this is my life for the next 2-ish years..I HAVE to make the most of it. 

I've started thinking a lot about what I want to do after I'm done with school. I even looked up Master Degree Programs based off of the Child Life website. Good news IL friends--if grad school happens..it will be at ISU! December 2013 is when I will be done with my undergrad so I definitely have a ways to go, however I really like to have a plan. I should know by now that my plan never turns out the way I expect it to! His plan does. 

I feel like I'm just doing a lot of rambling, just be happy I'm blogging :) 

OH! So the college group here is taking a group to the Passion conference in January at the Georgia Dome. Its going to be awesome and I REALLY wanted to go, but I will be home then. Plus, I don't really want to come back to GA that early. Don't get me wrong..I LOVE it here and I'm sure by then I will be missing my GA family like crazy--buuuuuut I want to be able to spend as much time as I can with friends and family in IL before I have to come back. I couldn't let it go though. I just kept feeling a tug on my heart about this and it just kept on being brought up. So I went out on a limb and decided to send information to Amanda, Whitney and Megan. I totally expected them to be flat out like..no way. It didn't happen like that though! Whitney and Megan both said they weren't sure they could swing it with work and everything else. Plus, the tickets and hotel is going to be a lot of money. I hadn't heard from Amanda so I kind of figured she was out, too. Still, I couldn't let myself just drop it. So I texted Amanda and asked her if she got my information about it and her response was pretty much, "Yeah, I'm going." End of story. SO EXCITED! I texted her back and said, "So wait, like you think you wanna go but aren't sure??" Nope, she's GOING! AHHH! Okay, God..I hear you! God always, ALWAYS provides! Whit and Meg got tickets too! All 4 of us are going to Passion in January and I could NOT be more excited about what God is going to do in each of our lives! I know without a doubt it is going to be a life changing experience!! 

I want to bring them down here to meet every single one of my friends too..still working on that one. :) 

I have no idea what I have said in this and I'm not going to proof read it. So I will leave you  (all 2 of you) with this goal: I will TRY to blog more and take pictures. I have taken maybe 2 pictures since being down here...ooooops! There really are faces behind each person I've talked about down here! I have said this before but I will say it again--I am so blessed to have met so many wonderful people down here! 

Have a great Wednesday ya'll!! 

Blessed.

I don't know how to begin this. The past few weeks have been amazing to say the least. Sure, I have my days where all I want is home. And of course, I miss my family, friends, and little munchkins like its nobody's business. However, I know with all my heart that I am supposed to be here. I continue to learn so much about myself and about Him. Things I have known all my life have become so real to me. I have grown in ways I didn't think were possible and I LOVE it! God is so good!!

So life these days? It's been pretty crazy. School is starting to pick up. Tests are approaching and the endless hours of studying will eventually pay off. (Yes, I have this self talk with myself daily. :)) I'm starting to find a routine-I think!

Mom and Dad are going to be in Nashville in October so I'm going to drive up to see them. Melissa and the girls might come, too!! Can't wait!

I have met some incredible people down here. I am a firm believer, especially after the past month, that God puts people in your life when you need them most. People whom I had never met until 4 weeks ago-- I need them. I don't know what I'd do without them. They encourage me, listen to me vent about how frustrating school can be, listen to the things that are challenging me, hear how God is working in my life, etc. I am loving sharing life down here with them. And I don't think they have any idea the impact they have made. :)

I love sharing life down here with all of you (back home) too, which is the whole point of this blog--that I've been neglecting. I promise I will try and do better!! Hug yourselves for me! 

Loooooooong weekend

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while! Nothing has happened that was worth remembering! Promise! :)

I'll try and recap as much as possible..let's see..

This week was so STRESSFUL! Here's how Monday went-my Child Development teacher had given us a reading guide (on the previous Wed) that went along with the chapter for a quiz. It had 11 questions on it so I did all 11 and quickly realized that there was a TON of material! So, I get to class on Monday and she tells us that the quiz is only over questions 1-6. Awesome...

Tuesday-I get home from class and get on the computer to do homework and guess what?? My internet wasn't working. After being on the phone for over 50 minutes with the most rude customer service people I have dealt with, they tell me that they will have to send a technician within 24 hours. Neato! I had 2 quizzes that HAD to be done before those 24 hours were up so I knew I had to find internet. I decided to go to Panera and get a smoothie and sit and take my quizzes. I bet you'll never guess what happened next.. Yep, Panera's internet=BROKEN. So here I am with my smoothie from Panera and my laptop. Where do I go? McDonald's. Not inside though, just the parking lot. :) Bible Study was that night--Acts 21 & 22 were covered.

Wednesday-Internet fixed after calling to complain that it STILL wasn't working! Silly, silly people...

Thursday-One class. Homework. Nap. Cooked some dinner. Went to Bible Study.

Friday-Class and then met one of my new friends at Starbucks. We had a really nice time chatting!! Came home and did some homework. Took a nap (its becoming a daily essential). Cooked some dinner. Went to the ever dreaded Wal-Mart. I have never really hated Wal-Mart. I mean, its never been my all time favorite place to hang out but I have never disliked it. However, this Wal-Mart really make me mad. Its super unorganized compared to the one I'm used to. I mean seriously, put all your frozen food in the same section. Don't split it up 2 isles in the front and 2 isles in the back! That defeats the purpose of organizing the grocery list-dry/non-refrigerated foods first and frozed/refrigerated foods last. So annoying. But they didn't ask me. Then my mom had the little munchkins so we skyped! Boy I miss them!

Horrible quality..but entirely too cute! They were so excited to talk to me!! 

Sadie was telling me how they went to Dairy Queen tonight and then the following conversation took place:

Tader: "You go Dairy Queen wif us?"
Me: "Oh I wish I could sweet girl!! But I'm in Georgia remember?"
Tader: "You in Joe-gia?? You come home!!"
Me: "Soon!!"


Then when we were ending our skype date, the following conversation broke my heart:

Me: "Bye girlies, I love you so much and miss you! I'll see you soon!"
Ava: "Don't leave us! I miss you Tenja!" (Sad, pouty face)
Me: "I know babe, but Thanksgiving will be here soon! And I will see you then!!! I promise!"

UGH! 11 weeks babygirls!! Hang in there!

Thursdays :)

Not much to report these days! I've finally got my apartment organized after my trip. I kind of just dropped everything when I came back so I finally put stuff away! I also went grocery shopping and officially fall into the category of a "poor college kid". :(

Yesterday and today I've been texting my new friend about getting all set up for our girls Bible Study! I will have Bible Study on Tuesdays with EVERYONE (when I say everyone, I mean all 50+ of us:)) and then again on Thursday with a small group of girls! I'm so excited to get connected with these awesome people!! I'm also excited to attend the church for the first time on Sunday! It's not until 10:45--which means I get to sleep in!

I LOVE my schedule this fall so far! I get to sleep in on Tues, Thurs, Sat and Sun! Thursday's I only have one class and am done by noon. Then Friday's I am done by 11!

Starting next week I will be reading my life away! Booo!!

I realize that this is super random and kind of all over the place but I definitely wanted to check in!

Officially got lost today. And then found..in a good way :)

It happened. The thing I dreaded the most especially in this horrid heat. I.got.lost. And it wasn't just like I made a wrong turn, nope. I actually walked past the building I needed to be in at least 5 times. No big... This was on the way to my math class. There was a reason I wasn't supposed to be in there.....

I apparently accidentally signed up for a Hybrid College Algebra class. Holy Moly! Pretty much what that is, is fast paced math. She explained that we'd meet 1 day a week for 11 times and then the other 4 times we'd meet would be test days. We would have homework and a quiz due every Monday and Thursday. And one of the very first things she said was that if we don't remember our Algebra from high school, this class isn't for us. I haven't had math since Junior year of high school. That was 4 years ago, ya'll! Needless to say, I dropped it!! I feel a huge weight lifted from my shoulders! 

I am 100% convinced that God puts people in your life when you need them most and when you least expect it. I had pretty much decided that I was just going to take this journey day by day and whatever happens, happens. Today, I had to go talk to my apartment manager about something and she asked me how things were going. Needless to say the conversation ended with her giving my phone number to her son who is my age and heavily involved in a church/Bible study. AWESOME! He told me about a Bible study that was tonight at 8. So I went! As I started walking in, the girl that was sitting in her car across from me got out too. She ran up and asked me if I was going into the Bible study and I said yes. She said this is my first time...MINE TOO! We definitely hit it off! At the end of the meeting, we had the opportunity to pray with someone we didn't know. Easy for me, I knew no one! (There were at least 50 students there if not more!) So her and I prayed together and it was a.w.e.s.o.m.e. I can't wait to see what happens next! I met soooooo many awesome people there! Once again, God showed up..just like it always does and always will. :)

First day of classes!

Let's back up a little bit--

So, things here in the 'Boro got a little rough by the end of week 2 and I KNEW I couldn't sit around here for another week doing nothing! I drove home last Friday and spent the week at home! I am so glad I did! I got to spend some time with some sweet people that I wasn't able to see before I left the first time. I also got to help out in the Kindergarten room for the first week of school. BIG adjustment for those sweet kids! Some of my little people started K last week and I just cannot believe it! Where did time go?? Next year it will be my sweet little girl!! Ah! I'm getting off topic..I started the drive back to GA on Saturday and stayed in Franklin, TN with my cousins! I went to church with them Sunday morning then continued the ever dreaded drive back! I got back to GA around 6:30 on Sunday night, unloaded and CRASHED! I was exhausted and I knew I had to get ready for my first big day of classes!

This brings us to today--

Holy cow Toto, we're not at Lake Land anymore! My classes ranged anywhere from 100-260 students! Talk about adjustment! Everything went extremely well..I am however, a little nervous to see how the semester plays out. But I know it will all work out like its supposed to! Just gotta keep trusting :)

Being home made me realize just how incredibly blessed I am to have such an amazing support system. They may be 13 hours away but I know that no matter what, they have my back and are ALWAYS going to be there! Knowing that has helped make today and hopefully  the rest of the semester (year) a little easier!

I knew it was going to be hard...

...I just never imagined it would be this hard.

Sitting in McDonald's parking lot because I don't want to go inside but I need to upload pictures to Walgreens and I STILL don't have internet. Tomorrow should be the day!!

Its been a rough few days. Thursday was hard, Friday was better, Saturday all I did was sleep, and Sunday was hard. Today has been good so far..just gotta keep truckin'. I just keep reminding myself that it WILL get better..it HAS to! And that I WANTED to do this, no one forced me. But it's something I wanted to do. And still do. Just gotta get through these hard days first.

Church was a huge bust on Sunday. Not what I expected at all, so we'll try a different one!

Just wanted to check in :)

"Welcome! We're so glad Georgia is on your mind!"

We made it! We got to GA about 7pm Sunday night and got checked into our hotel. We couldn't get my key until Monday morning after we went and turned my water on. So we checked in and walked across the street and ate some dinner! And of course on our way back to the hotel it was raining!

Monday morning we got up and loaded our stuff into the truck. Mom and Dede went to the water dept. while dad and I drove to my duplex. The 10 minute trip turned into an hour because we missed the turn and the GPS took us the back way! Eventually we got there! (I was a miserable mess--the little girls had colds before I left and decided to share. After everything was moved in I had to have a nap!) When dad and I pulled up there were two guys in my duplex sweeping it. As soon as we opened the trailer, the two guys started helping us unload everything. Dad was on the phone the WHOLE time but in reality it was a blessing because he didn't need to be lifting that much! We got everything unloaded, made a Wal-Mart list and we were out the door. We left dad to put things together.

Tuesday we finished unpacking things and did LOTS of running around. Dad hung pictures for me and then we made dinner, put a movie in and crashed!

Wednesday we went to Savannah. It's not a trip with my mama unless something happens. While we were at the bank Wednesday morning she laid her phone down and realized she had done that when we got back to the car. So we turned around and went back inside but it wasn't there. We looked all over that bank for it. Someone stole it. We called and had them suspend her account/# and then called the insurance company and ordered her a new one. After all of that the bank called and said that the person brought it back. We think it must have been an accident. If they were really trying to steal it they wouldn't of brought it back. So we called and had them turn her services back on and cancelled the new phone order! Geez! Dad finished hanging things for me Wednesday night after we got back from Savannah. Then they got everything ready for their trip home!

They left this morning at about 6am. Mama did pretty well although it took her a long time to walk to the truck. 3 months isn't so bad :)

I get T.V. tomorrow and internet on Tuesday. It might be a looooonnnnnng weekend! I'm sitting at Starbucks currently taking advantage of their free wi-fi!

Until next time.... :) Picture to come, too! Promise!

:) :( :) :(

Tomorrow is the big day!!!!

Why Georgia?

I don't know! Throughout this whole process, I have come to realize that it is not MY plan what-so-ever. Georgia Southern was the first school that I found after I discovered Child Life Specialist. I never thought I'd end up there, though! I emailed the dean of the program and she was the SWEETEST thing ever! I had given her my information so she called me and her exact words were, "Ya'll come down and visit us!" She gave me an idea of what the rest of my schooling would look like. Things just kinda happened! We went to visit in November and fell in love with the town and the campus. I like to compare the town to Charleston only more spread out and lots more cool places to eat. :) The town revolves around the school. The school has almost 20,000 students--quite a bit bigger than EIU. I applied, got accepted, had orientation the beginning of July, and there we go!

I LOVE how things happened so fast. I was worried sick about school and what I was going to do for so long. When I finally started to relax and get the mind set that whatever happens, happens--things happened! I have never been more excited about anything in my life and to feel such a peace about it makes it 100 times better!!!

I have 3 full days left. One of those days I'll be at a Taylor Swift concert. The time is coming fast! The goodbyes are getting harder but knowing that I'll be home for a week in 3 1/2 months makes that a little easier. I haven't told my little girls "bye" yet--not ready for that one! :(

Move in day will be next.. :( :)

Counting down...

I'm 16 days away from moving day!! I am so excited--although it's becoming a bittersweet feeling. I'm starting this because I want to be able to look back when I'm done with school and see how far I've come. Also, because there are several of you that want to know what I'm up to! :)

I thought I would start the first post by sharing WHY I am moving. Since I was 16, I wanted to be a nurse. I did Health Occ. my senior year and LOVED it! I wanted so bad to move out of my parents house and move away to "get the full college experience". Well, Someone had bigger plans for me. Throughout this entire process I've gained a whole new outlook on how everything happens in God's time. He has a plan and just because it doesn't happen as fast as we think or the way we think it should...it will happen when He's ready for it to happen. Every plan I'd ever made to move away and go to school away from home--fell through. I began to get extremely frustrated. I had a counselor at Lake Land tell me if I wanted to go to nursing school I was going to have to go a total of 6 years. I knew that wasn't the case but I didn't care. I got mad, came home and told my mom I was changing my major. This upset my dad greatly. My dad to this day thinks I should double major and still do nursing. Ha! So I changed my major to Early Childhood Education. I love kids so there must be something in that area I can do. I loved Kermit's Cove in high school!! I did it two years and have the most amazing memories from it!! While in one of my ECE classes last fall, my instructor was telling us about how over the weekend she went to visit a little boy at Riley's Hospital in INDY. She told us that there was this lady she talked to and her job was a Child Life Specialist. Basically what she did was explain to children procedures that they would be having so that they understand a little better. My teacher then began to tell us a little more about a Child Life Specialist and then it clicked. This.Was.It. This is what I'm supposed to do. It's PERFECT for me! It's smack dab in the middle of nursing and teaching! I'll get to work in a hospital with kids and teach them!

To learn more about a Child Life Specialist, click here  :)

WHY GEORGIA? stay tuned....