blurb.

The semester is over. I can't believe I'm saying that! It went by so quickly. In August I was sitting there saying, 'Six more semester of college. Six more." Now I'm sitting here looking at my hand. Why? I can count on ONE hand how many semesters I have left. I'm pretty sure this time it really is only five...not another speed bump in the process of finding out I have more time left.

My heart is in this place of desiring to be creative and make beautiful things. Play piano, paint on blank canvases, make something to hang all my friends save-the-dates, wedding invitations, and baby announcements on. My heart might desire that but instead I find myself stuck in a rut of just wanting to sit and nap and watch mindless television all day. It really is ridiculous. How is it that there have been so many times in my life where I have just thrived in going, going, going, going. But now I'm just tired. I feel like I'm in a season of rest and reflection. I love people, but I also love figuring out who I am. Just me.

I met up with my friend Shen the other day. God placed her in my life almost 3ish years ago and it has been a blessing since then. I feel like she's the older sister I never had. I value her advice and wisdom so much. One of her encouragements to me recently was this, "Bri you are just so magical." Granted Shen loves fairy tales-as do I-I took this to heart. We were also chatting about how this is my time. My time to be me and my time to figure out who I am in Christ and who that makes me in this world. I love this time in my life. As difficult as it is to say sometimes, I really do love it. I love watching my friends experience new things, get married, take adult jobs, and go on crazy adventures. If you think about it, I really have had a crazy 4.5 years of college. Life, learning, and the love of friends I cherish so deeply. I'm so thankful for all the encouragement and prayers I've been blessed with over the years.

This year is almost over. I have a feeling this next one is going to be even crazier than years previous. I have no idea what that looks like...but I'm excited. Excited to see what God has up His sleeve for my life. :) My continual prayer is to embody this verse:

Proverbs 31:25 "She is clothed with strength and dignity, she can laugh at the days to come."

15,000 Words.

Oh mylanta. Half of me can believe, while the other half cannot. This semester is almost over. I'm beyond excited about it though. Do you ever have an idea in your head about what something will look like, and then as it's happening you're like, WOAH HOLD ON. That is my semester. Not what I expected.

As I put on here some pictures from the past 3 months, you'll see I've captured some moments, but missed quite a few. I've had 3 friends get married, even more get engaged, joined a bible study, switched churches, etc. Plus it has almost been a year since I graduated from FLI. Crazy. So. Here are your visual highlights.

Rehearsal Dinner!

Jessica got married on September 24th!

My fake sisters. Shena&Kendel. Love them.

BRABI!! This is Abi. She is my twin. I love her to death.

Annual Family Trip to the orchard!

Shep had a birthday...we all went to an orchard and picked apples...Kendel and I took pictures:)

David Crowder. :) Jessica and I went to one of his final shows on the 7 Tour.

Happy Halloween!!

BRABI cooked!

This frisbee made my day. And........confession.........my lazy self still hasn't mailed it...almost a month later. Horrible I know. I have it in the box and addressed and everything...

My cousin visited!!!

My life long friend was home for Thanksgiving!!!

My dad told my sister and I to pull on the tree while he tried cutting it down...apparently we got two trees in one!!!

She's been home for nearly a whole semester. :)

I've been thinking about blogging more...but part of me is becoming more introverted and journaling more about what I've been learning about God and myself in life. I'm also considering making this blog private and only giving the link to people who ask for it. For so much of my life over the past 5 years I've been such an open book to people. And slowly I'm starting to see the value in more personable friendships. Thoughts?

Where I've been.

It's crazy.

During the past couple weeks I have been super reflective about where I've been the past 4 years. Oh mylanta. Like seriously? It's been crazy. But completely amazing.

God is so great.

Bridal Shower!!!

My dear friend Jessica is getting married in September and I had the sweet joy of helping plan a bridal shower for her!! How'd it go? Wonderfully. Take a look at the food that Jess, her mom, and I put together! Jess and her mom did the favors while I attempted to do a decoration type thing...which turned out very interestingly.

I took an old mirror and put wine bottles with tall candles in them on it. There were also tea lights surrounding the bottles! It looked awesome until the fan started to blow the candle wax everywhere...

Basil plant favors!!!

My dad's Tex Mex salsa recipe.

Carrots and dip.

Sausage bites in the back as well as FRESH bruchetta in the front.

Caprese salad skewers. I couldn't stop eating them.

The spread.

Strawberry cheesecake bites. Literally the easiest thing ever to make. I literally Stumbled upon the recipe!! YUM!!

Coconut Rum Cupcakes.

Overall it was a blast putting everything together-even designing and making the invitations. Mmhmm party planning creativeness.

Show Me Your Glory

So, I've listened to this song before...but never really LISTENED to it. I went to the Jesus Culture conference last week and it was like a brand new song. :)

Listen

I see the cloud, I step in
I want to see Your glory as Moses did
Flashes of light, rolls of thunder

I’m not afraid, I’m not afraid

Show me Your glory, show me Your glory
Show me Your glory, show me Your glory

I’m awed by Your beauty, lost in Your eyes
I want to walk in Your presence like Jesus did
Your glory surrounds me and I’m overwhelmed

I long to look on the face of the One that I love
Long to stay; in Your presence is where I belong

Oh how we love You, oh how we love You
Oh how we love You, Jesus

It's been an insane week. :) In a good way.

My bestie turned 21!!!! I drove into the city to hang out with her and some of the people she's on project with. Before we got all classy and went out for the night-we spent some quality time catching up on life. I cannot express how much I miss seeing this girl! I pray we never live more than 5 hours apart ever again. But we know how God works. :)

I have to share this: when we were leaving the Signature Lounge of the Hancock building...it wasn't raining. 5min later there was a TORRENTIAL downpour. Second time this has happened when I have visited her in the city!! 21 of us had ended up going out for Allison's birthday-and we were all huddled under a building awning. Then the more adventurous of us kind of just faced the fact that we were going to get wet and just danced in the rain. THEN all of us were booking it to the subway. The girls were barefoot-some wearing the guys jackets. By the time we got on the train we were SOAKED. I'm pretty sure that 90% of the people who attended agreed that celebrating Allison's 21st was better than their own.

She is such a blessing.

Waiting for the traaaain.

Just silly awesomeness. :)

Ready to hit the town!!

Friday night some of my friends got married!!! It was one of the most beautiful weddings I had ever been too. The food was AMAZING and I'm pretty sure I danced for 3 hours straight.

I love Kendel :)

Mary=GORGEOUS BRIDE

I just walked downstairs and found an envelope addressed to our family. No return address. I could tell it had been opened already so I looked inside. Someone had folded the a Target gift card into a typed note that pretty much said our family was being prayed for in our time of need with my dad not having a job. It's completely anonymous. I started crying. Why? It made me think of all the times our family has been blessed by someone.

I feel so blessed.

My family feels blessed.

In high school my dad's job situation got a little rough-making our family's financial situation a little rough. Then with all my school transitions things have been rough financially for me. But-God showed up and blessed me through so many people inside the church body-and those who don't even love Jesus but believed enough in me to support me financially to go to FLI. BLESSED.

Our car situation has been craaaaaazy the past couple years. Two of our cars are from families in the church. Long story with the one, but the other was just from a generous heart. BLESSED.

Now that I'm writing this I guess I don't really have words for how thankful I am to belong to a church body whose members meets the needs of those who are in need. Not even just by my immediate church though!!! Over the past couple years I've met people from other churches in the community and it is AMAZING to see how no matter where you go-you can still come together and worship the same God!! BAH. Baffles my mind. I love it. A community who is trying to live like Jesus did.

[I would like to apologize for the ramble randomness of this. I have a migraine right now and am hurrying to finish before I head to work.]

Blessed. Thankful. I want to give back.

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS BLESSED MY FAMILY!! Your prayer, financial gifts, time, and friendship is just sooooo wonderful. :)

Oh my goodness.

The little artsy crafty creative portion of my heart is like BURSTING.

Gotta open that door.

5 minute ramble.

People keep asking me what I want to do when I finish school. GREAT QUESTION. Here's a list. And reasons why.

-Work at a church doing design: I love combining art with reaching people to glorify God.

-Wedding planner: hello. weddings are awesome. and they should be completely representational and unique to that couple-it's the details.

-Interior decorator: I love walking into spaces and just going ::aaaaah:: it's a sign of comfort and welcoming and I want to do that for places.

-Invitation/print designer: I loooove keeping wedding invites, birthday things, etc because they can be so beautiful. They say print is dying. I say "long live".

-Event coordinator: kind of like the wedding thing...except for birthdays, showers, etc.

-Photographer: this one is more for a personal enjoyment thing. I love detailed shots of things. Finding the beauty in the small things. thrumilens.tumblr.com/

Artsy stuff you know. I just adore design and color. I just pray that whatever I do in life involves these things. :)

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.

Anyone who knows me-I mean-REALLY knows me could tell you this: where I am at now is not where I expected to be.

Four years ago I graduated high school. I don't remember where I sat. I don't remember who I sat next to. I don't remember who talked or what they said. I don't remember what the choir sang. I remember what I wore only because it was awful. I remember who came because they were important. I remember where I was heading.

I feel like so many people can relate. Maybe not to the awful outfit choice.

Here was the life plan:

4 Years at Taylor University with a degree in Graphic Design. Maybe a job.

Here's a lovely little timeline of what actually happened:

Aug '07-May '08: Taylor University

June '08-August '08: Kanakuk

August '08-December '09: Kishwaukee Community College

January '10-May'10: NIU

June '10-August '10: Ducky's, Cornfields, Acquaviva Winery

September '10-December '10: Focus Leadership Institute

January '11-present: NIU

So what's the point of this post? Maybe the fact that most of my good friends just graduated college is getting to me. Maybe I'm exhausted from work today. Exhaustion=vulnerable moments.

Here's what I do know.

I AM OKAY WITH THE FACT THAT I WON'T GRADUATE COLLEGE UNTIL I AM 24 GOING ON 25.

also.

I HAVE HAD WONDERFUL EXPERIENCES THE PAST FOUR YEARS.

also.

JEALOUSY GETS YOU NOWHERE.

also.

GOD HAS A PLAN FOR MY LIFE BIGGER AND BETTER THAN ANYTHING I COULD PUT TOGETHER.

yep.

I guess there's a lot of things I want to do with my life right now. Get better at photography. Get out of debt. Find dates for weddings. Do more art. (oooooh might get to paint a mural at a new local restaurant) More things. I also want to get involved in the prison ministries. I just need a girl who is over 21 to team up with me. Praaaayer.

Okay. That's the end of my ramble. To those of you who actually read this, just keep me in your prayers. Send me messages and I will pray for YOU. :)

the end.

Oh hey HIGHLIGHTS

Do not be misguided by this title. I did NOT get highlights. Yes, there are feathers in my hair, but no dying of these strands has happened lately.

Okay. So here you are. Highlights of my 21st year of life!!! (in reverse order)

COLORADO!!

Technically this was my birthday...but...it was a highlight!

Hiking!!!

Spent a TON of time with Andrew and Maggie!!

Got to see these wonderful women graduate!

Hung out with Jules in Chicago!

Allison :)

Sushi girls night!

Jess got ENGAGED.

Coffee date with Heids!

Spent time with the cousins!

Our cousin/sister Laura got married!!! (Seriously...couldn't find pics on my computer! shoot)

You're Forever Written on My Heart

This was my fierce lifegroup that I spent the semester with!

Breck!! Sarah and I spent the whole day wishing we were boarders.

Garden of the God's hike!

P31 Bible Study!

Every single sunrise and sunset.

Women's retreat hike!

Halloween with Joooooy! (and everyone else!!!!)

These women :)

Bishops Castle!!

Going to a wedding with these boys :)

hehe.

My semester at Focus Leadership Institute.

Roommates. :)

Our "bonding" hike!!

Time with the sister!!

Heidso and I visting Rutzen at LGYC!

Bigger and Better with Allison :)

After surprising L2 at the airport when she got home from her super LONG mission trip.

Biking with Netty!!

My friendship with these women!

Seeing Shena and Dave get hitched.

Yes. Finding this advertisement was seriously a highlight.

CRAVE Chicago boat tour!!!!

Turning 21 and celebrating it with Heidi, Justin, and Maggie!!!!

A ton of other stuff happened as well! This is just the stuff I could find pictures for. God blessed me in SO many ways and I learned so much about myself. Things not included: stuff with family and PASSING portfolio review!! I'm thankful for all the adventures and am excited about this 22nd year!!!