~Courtesy of me! ;)

Hey there guys! Hope all is going well for y'all! This week has been quite a week for me...

First of all, Spring has sprung... with a vengeance! Not only have the flowers bloomed and the grass has turned greener, but the pollen is killin' alot people's sinuses here! For some reason it only affects me the first couple of days but then I'm over it. Weird... anywho, thanks to school finally slowing down some I've been able to get out and do favorite hobby I hadn't done in a while: photography. Yep! I got out and took some pictures (as you can see above) of some of the flowers here at ACC in full bloom. It was so nice... and then earlier this week I also happen to a little free time to sit and snap a few shots of a couple of volleyball games... all in all, it was great! ;)







Also this past week, it was my 26th birthday (don't really feel 26...) and it was good. Not much to do when you have hardly any money, time or a car to do stuff. Anywho, people did wish me a happy birthday and I got a lovely home-made card from my friend Rebecca, a massive birthday cupcake from my "twin" Kate (btw, after eating that thing I had to detox from sugar the rest of the day... @.@; ) and a wonderful birthday card from my best friend Rich! Absolutely made my day!! :D



One of the interesting things I've been encountering here at school as well as with people who are a part of my college ministry is the topic of relationships! Yes, spring is in the air and everyone is going to become "twitterpated" (hopefully y'all know what that means and if you don't go watch Disney's Bambi) - and it very much has here at ACC. So many people have going into relationships here and its wonderful to see! As I talk to some of these people, they talk about one thing in particular that they have faced before in other relationships and fear in these new ones: the possibility of losing their significant other and how it will affect them. I can understand... its not something everyone wants or needs. Many of these people have talked to me about how they've become so distraught and in shambles after the relationship has ended. With about every single one, I've told them the same two things: First of all, the human heart was meant to be broken. As I shared in a previous blog about one of the unforgettable quotes that CS Lewis says in his Four Loves book, "To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one...But in that casket...it will change...it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell." We, as humans and more so as Christians, are meant to have breakable hearts. If not, it is a damned heart - one that can't love and can't be loved, can't be changed and will become nothing but a dead weight on one's soul. Secondly, the level of pain and agony one goes through after a relationship ends shows just how much one has lost their true identity in the relationship. I understand loving a person can make you blind and change you in dramatic ways but if you use the relationship in order to add another label to yourself instead striving and seeking God and what he has created you to be, then you have lost perspective of the truly bigger picture in your life. One of the reasons if not the main reason for you not to lose yourself in a relationship is this: how is that going to benefit you and your significant other in the end? If God created you a certain way, why are you changing yourself and not allowing others to see you for who you really are? To do this doesn't help edify the person you are with, it hinders them from growing and maturing and more so goes against God's will and plan in the situation. As Chris McCandless said in the movie "Into the Wild", "...you are wrong if you think that the joy of life comes principally from the joy of human relationships. God's place is all around us, it is in everything and in anything we can experience. People just need to change the way they look at things." If we keep God in the forefront of our thoughts and make all relationships, friendships as well as intimate ones, God-centered then you will not only stay your true self -the one that God created and ordained for his will - but you will see others for who they really are and the blessings and lessons that come out of those relationships. ;)

Finally, I'm entering the home stretch... that's right! School is almost over! This next week is the last week of normal classes and the following will be final exams for the semester! I'm so excited about it almost being over and summer beginning but I'm also sad due to this being my last semester at ACC. As sad as it is though I also know this is what God wants of me so I have peace about it and I look at it as... well another adventure for me to experience, another chapter to the story of my life that God pinned so long ago. I know its going to be interesting to see what God has in store for me: the people I'll meet and the relationships that will come out of it, the opportunities I'll have at this new school and the lessons and growth that I'll experience up in Toccoa Falls. Hopefully, I won't stick out... too much... ;)

Well that's it! Thanks again for checking out my blog! Hope y'all have a great week... and remember you students out there: only a couple more weeks! Hang in there and finish strong! Later!

~Jeanne;)

Hey guys! Hope all is going well for you in your lives. Many things are going on in my life right now so lets get started shall we? ;)

This past week we had dorm wars here at our school. Now, I'll admit, I didn't want to participate because I had ALOT of work and working to do here at school so I was really trying to avoid it as much as possible. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out so well. Our team, the girls' apartment aka The Flamingo Chicas, was having a hard time trying to get people involved so I agreed to help with a few competitions but not all of them. So, of course, they had me in arm wrestling, dodge-ball, and tug of war. I didn't think it would be such a big deal and that I wouldn't get hurt... I was wrong...


*Rope burn that stretched from my wrist up to my shoulder*


*Bruise from the rope straining and rubbing against my arm and one of the girl's fists being pinned under my arm during the matches*

LOL! Sorry if this grosses any of y'all out, out there in internet world. Fortunately, these "battle scars" were worth it because in the end our dorm (apartments) won overall! So I'm proud of my girls for working so hard and participating as much as they did and could! Go Flamingo Chicas!! :)

Moving on to other things going on in my life, right now its the last few weeks of the semester here at our school so of course projects are in the processing of being made and turned in. Luckily I finished one of three of mine (12 page paper on the Egyptian gods of the underworld, focusing primarily on Osiris, Isis and Horus). It wasn't fun typing and constructing but it was fun researching and finding out all these different myths and stories connected to these gods. After researching various articles and 15 or so books (including the original transcripts and translated transcripts of the Book of the Dead and Plutarch's "On Isis and Osiris"), I was able to get it done and with a week to spare. Right now, I'm just letting it sit and "breathe" a bit before I look back over one more time for revision and then I'll turn it in. Right now, however, I'm working on my other two projects: an interview paper for my Women's History class in which I had to interview an older woman, 60 or older, and tell of her experiences and how she could be placed in history. My other project, a group project, focuses on the debate of whether or not Christians should participate in military service and show the different perspectives of people from the 2nd and 3rd Century church and people's perspective today. Hoping to get these two done ASAP! We'll see... ;)

Moving on, earlier this week I FINALLY got my refund check from my school so I'm UBER excited about being able to use some of it to get my car. And then my parents called... they called me last night and told me that this woman had come to our house and telling them how she was working on behalf of our landlord (who we hadn't heard from in like over a month because for some reason he's in the hospital... please be in prayer for him) and was demanding our rent for the month or she would have us evicted! (Please continue to pray for my family and that we can get out of this house ASAP!) Unfortunately my family didn't have all the funds to pay for the rent and asked to borrow money. Naturally, I told them I would help them out however I could. I knew that that money had been given to me for a reason. By the grace of God, he gave me far more than enough to get some kind of a car and pay for the deposit at Toccoa Falls. I knew that the rest of that money was going to be used to bless and help my family or anyone else God needed me to use it for. Thankfully, years ago when I was first trying to get out on the mission field, I went through a type of bible study with a group of people at my college ministry that focused on the importance of being a God-centered steward of your finances. By the end of the study, I learned a number of things:

1) Anything and everything that I possess (clothes, finances, etc) were given to me by God.

2) Anything that is given to you by God will not just bless you but others eventually.

3)Learn the difference between what is a need and what is a want.

4) How to split your money: 10% tithe, 10% saving, 80% spending - first for bills and necessities and after that anything left over is for fun!

I also was blessed to hear my pastor at my church, 12 Stone, preach a series called "Economic Atheist" and explained how we, as followers, will trust God with anything and everything else EXCEPT our money. When we act like that, we aren't fully relying on God and really not believing in God to watch out for us and help us in our financial area of our lives. Not believing in God, no matter how small the area is, is being somewhat atheistic. We are either all in on our trust and belief in Him or not at all, we can't be lukewarm (God tells us what he'll do about that - Revelation 3:16). Just some food for thought... ;)

Any who, earlier this week someone was so "kind" to remind me that my 26th birthday was coming up in the next couple of weeks (April 21st). I swear, the older you get, the more your birthdays have the tendency to sneak up on you. Anyways, just to let y'all know I have no idea what I'm doing and in all honesty I'm too busy to really thing about what to do right now. So I don't know... we'll see what happens as it gets closer...

Well, that's it for now! Sorry if this was really long! I hope y'all have a great week ahead and to the students out there, hang in there! We're almost done! Just a couple more weeks! Love y'all! Later days!

~Jeanne;)

~Courtesy of www.catholicbishops.ie

Hey guys! Happy Easter to you all and I hope all is going well! Things are pretty much going right now for me...

Easter is pretty good this year! I went home for a nice 3 day weekend since we got Good Friday off. It was great spending it with my family, eating some good food and relaxing some (thanks to homework/projects... >.<). My older sister, Jess, sang at our church, 12Stone, for Easter! OMG!! She was incredible! She did Eva Cassidy's version of "Somewhere over the rainbow"... so amazing! The reason for the song was because our pastor, Pastor Kevin or PK for short, talked about how all great stories have the same general make up and structure of the first and greatest story ever told: the story of Jesus. He pointed out that all great stories have the same three basic components: We all get lost, We all need help and There's no place like home. It was such an amazing sermon and it had me and my mom ballin' like babies! We also became witnesses to so many people accepting Jesus as their Savior for the first time and we couldn't help but be moved and rejoice with them! God was there and He changed lives these past couple of days. So incredible! Afterward, we came home, decorated eggs with the kids and chilled out for the rest of the weekend! It was great... :D



Along with all this happening, I've been working through some things of my own (like that's anything new - ;) ). Amongst clearing out all the rubbish in my mind and heart that I'm trying to throw out that aren't true and focusing on things in my life right now that are good and pleasing to God, I can't help but feel feelings I hadn't in a very long time: the feeling of love. Now hold your horses before you jump to any conclusions... I'm talking about a few different versions of love (For those of you who haven't read "The Four Loves" by CS Lewis this might not make much sense but stick with me). I usually experience and know agape love (loving/caring regardless of circumstance) as well as storge love (love/caring through familiarity like family/friends) but recently I've felt more the loves I haven't and I'm not use to feeling: that of philas love (love/strong bond shared between friends who have alot in common) and possibly eros love (the sense of "being in love") have begun to resonate a bit more than they usually do in my heart. I'm trying to understand and figure out what exactly this all might means. In all honesty I'm scared... these are feelings I haven't felt in so long and I'm terrified of jumping to the wrong conclusion or getting hurt because that's how it ALWAYS ends up. Just pray that I can figure these feelings and situations out right now... it would mean so much to me... ;)

Well to end a happier note... I have about 4 weeks left here at Atlanta Christian College! I'm trying hard to finish strong and do my best on these last few projects I have to do here for a few classes! Pray that I can get them done on time and done well! (Trying to maintain my 4.0 GPA as I transfer to Toccoa in the fall) Things are starting to pile on top of me but I know if I buckle down, grit my teeth and do my best I'll get through it before I know it!

Well that's it for now! Thanks for reading and I hope that y'all have a great week and for God to bless you! Later days! ;)

~Jeanne;)

~Courtesy of DFW JobLog

Hey guys! Hopefully all is going well for y'all... Wish I could say the same here...

My family and I are going through some terrible financial stress right now. My dad has been out of job now for more than 9 months and its trying everything he can to find something, pretty much anything so he can provide for his family right now. My mom is the only working in the house right now and I know that's pretty stressful for her, trying to pay the bills and feeding 8 mouths including me and her. I ask that you pray for her that she might keep up her strength and not get stressed out. I'm so amazed by her and her hard work she's been doing to keep the family going. I love her so much! (Mom, if you're reading this, I love you and thank you for everything...) They've also been looking to move out of the house we've been in for over 5 years now. They've found quite a few and all are possible for them to get into but they need some kind of financial stability in order for it to happen. Please pray that this can be done! I'm personally going through some serious financial stress right now. I've been helping my folks however I can but due to that I've become broke and I still need to get necessities for the week (groceries, bathing stuff, etc). Please pray that God would start moving in a miraculous way, not just for me but my family as well...

I do have something to praise about: I found out this week that I've been accepted to Toccoa Falls!! YAY!! :D Now I just have to give them a $200 deposit and attend the Campus Visit Weekend... which is another reason why I need prayer. Again, no money and with my parents strapped for cash they more than likely won't be able to come get me in Atlanta and take me up to Toccoa (which is a 2 1/2 to 3 hour trip just one way! :/ ) or help me pay for the deposit! Again, pray that God's hand move in a big way right now! (more specifically, to have the deposit and the transportation to get there by Thursday!)



If you hadn't notice all the requesting of prayers right now, that's because of so much happening but more so I just helped finishing leading our first school sponsored All Night Prayer night here at ACC! We had about 5-10 people show up (people came and went through out the night) but regardless of that, it was so amazing! Something I hadn't experienced in quite some time (my college ministry use to do it and that's where I got the idea from). We talked about Lent/Sacrificing, Empowerment, Spiritual Warfare, Communion/Communing with God and others, Family and Friends and Community and prayed over all these things in our own lives and in the lives of others... it was some awesome stuff I hadn't seen since I've started at ACC. If there was one thing I can honestly say I took away from there it was this: Spiritual warfare is definitely at work more than we would like to admit and take notice of and my faith in God has been strengthen more so than it has been in a while. Thank God it was so successful and I hope that we can do it again and even more people get involved (maybe some teachers). There's no way to know or truly understand it except to experience for yourself... ;)

Well.. that's pretty much it for now! Sorry it was so short but I've got alot of stuff I got to get back to doing (homework, studying, etc.). I hope you all have a great week and I'll see ya around! Later days!

~Jeanne;)

Hey guys! Hope all is going well for everyone! This past week has been my Spring Break so I've been home spending it with my family and getting somewhat a restful week... emphasis on *somewhat*... ;)

Spring Break couldn't have come at a better time for me. Stress was starting to really get to me with school and everything else going on with life. Luckily, all of that is finished so I was able to take a breather and enjoy some rest. Since I've been home, I've been able to hang out with my family and the kids some which unfortunately I really don't get to do much of since whenever I do come home I'm swamped with homework. Still, homework needed my attention during this time and I gave in to it within the last few days here. Now that my break is ending, naturally, I'm thinking about what's ahead of me at school: schoolwork, projects, tutoring, working, studying, all-night prayer shindig I'm helping put together... just be in prayer for me as I jump right back into the stress and hard work that's ahead for me as I finish up my last semester at ACC.

During the time I've been home, if there is any thing that was prevalent during my time here it was all the different aspects of life. This past week our neighbors, Fred and Cauline, were devastated when their house was burnt down due to an uncontrollable grease fire that broke out in their kitchen. Fortunately they had house insurance and so in about 6-8 months they will be able to have their home back but more so no one was hurt. Please be in pray for them as they pick up the pieces and try to get everything worked out for them to get back into their home.

Even with this going on, more and more things have happened during this week that have just caused me to stop and realized that not only is life unexpected but also is so rare, precious and we only get one shot at it. I've had friends who's family or close friends suddenly died for various reasons. To those of you out there that are reading this and this happening to, know that I'm here if you need a shoulder to cry on and someone to lean on for a time and that you are in my prayers! ;) I've also had two close girlfriends of mine who got engaged this week to their boys. I'm so ecstatic for them and I can't help but rejoice for them before God for such a joyous and wondrous time in life! Girls, if you read this, I love y'all and your boys so much and congrats!!:D

Of course with such things happening, I can't help but wonder myself what exactly God has in store for me. Life for me has never really predictable and I've got to say its been nothing short of an adventure but in all honesty I would like a little predictability. Of course, that's my controlling side wanting to get prepared and ready and make the plans that are good or great to me and not letting God take hold. No matter how hard I pray for the safety and health of my family and friends, eventually they'll leave me as time goes on. No matter how much I may pray and want a special someone in my life so I could feel reassured that I won't face this world and life by myself and know that there is someone who loves me for just being the person God created me to be.



I guess in the end, the thing I fear really isn't death or whether or not I've lived a fulfilling life but what I really fear is loneliness. And yet its the one thing I've pretty much made myself these past several years just so I can try and protect myself and my heart from so many years of moving from place to place, losing friends left and right and falling for guys that either I never had the guts to tell them the truth or them brutally using me and disregarding me. Every time I bump into this conundrum I can't help but be reminded of what CS Lewis depicts of such a heart in his book, Four Loves: "To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket-safe, dark, motionless, airless-it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell."

Gotta pray through that one... :)

Well that's it for now. Gotta finish packing for school and spend a little more time with the family before I'm gone again! Hope all is well and take care guys!

~Jeanne;)

Hey everyone! Sorry its been so long but you know with life, school and everything else in between it can get a bit hectic! Hopefully I won't do that again but you never know...

So for the past couple of weeks have been hectic for me at school with projects, papers and tests (including midterms coming up... O.o; ). However, I did give myself a day off one Saturday to go visit my great friend, Rich Douglas up in Hartwell! It was so much fun and I enjoyed the free time and the company thoroughly! Hopefully it can be done again...

When it comes to the stuff with Toccoa Falls, I'm stilling trying to finish the application process and everything. Yesterday I applied to attend their campus visiting weekend which is to happen close to the end of March so hopefully I'll learn more about the college, the degree program I'm going into and what kind of financial aid I'll receive there. Honestly, I'm really excited but I'm also kind nervous because I really don't know what to expect up there and whether or not it'll work out for me. Please pray that everything goes smoothly for this situation...

Right now for my quiet time I'm reading Brennan Manning's "The Ragamuffin Gospel" which I've heard so much about but never got a chance to read till now. I am learning so much as well as being challenged in my personal/spiritual walk. For example, one of the things Mr. Manning says in the first chapter of his book really challenges me to reevaluate my concept of faith - "If a random sampling of one thousand American Christians were taken today, the majority would define faith as belief in the existence of God. In earlier times it did not take faith to believe that God existed - almost everybody took that for granted. Rather, faith had to do with one's relationship to God - whether one trusted in God. The difference between faith as 'belief in something that may or may not exist' and faith as 'trusting in God' is enormous. The first is a matter of the head, the second a matter of the heart. The first can leave us unchanged; the second intrinsically brings change." I can't wait to tell y'all more about what I learn once I've finished the book. I really enjoy his style of writing and hope to read more of his stuff!

As I sit here thinking about what to report, I can't help but think about the lives of the Haitians and Chileans who have been rocked by the terrible earthquakes and so many lives lost. When I think about that, I realize my life is NOTHING in comparison to these people hellish lives right now. So many people, especially students, feel like life is completely unbearable. But what about those people and their lives? Is it bearable?! Sometimes I feel so guilty and stupid for complaining about stupid little infinitesimal things like school work, my lack of a social life, not having enough money in my bank account... REALLY?!


~Courtesy of AP


~Courtesy of UK Press

Yesterday and today I've spent most of the day working on a current events project for my Geography class that, at first, I thought was really lame but know that I've done it, I'm grateful! For the first time in a while, I looked at other issues going on in the world and realized just how much this world is almost CRYING OUT to God! I just pray and hope that people will begin to realize and pursue after the truth that is Christ Jesus! For the first time in a long time, my heart has begun to align with God's heart and is being broken over such devastation and evil that dwells in the minds and hearts of God's precious children, whether or not they believe in him and call him Father.

Well, that's it for now! I hope all is going well for y'all and I hope that your hearts may align with God's. Then maybe, MAYBE this world has a chance of being saved...

~Jeanne;)

"Reflection" by knowgodknowlove.com


Hey y'all! Another awesome weekend has come upon us and I hope all of y'all will get the rest you deserve and need...

This past week was the week of tests! I think I had like 3 tests which I really didn't think I was prepared for but now that I've taken them I feel pretty good about all of them. I've also had a few other "tests" come my way as well... spiritually speaking I've been tested with how people are reacting and treating me now that they know I'm more than likely leaving. Its been good but still... kinda difficult. Also I've been facing some things about myself. I've done alot of reflecting and after realizing somethings about myself from moving around and how that has developed me as a person, I've had to face some facts as well as feelings and concepts that I didn't realize I had. Its been good but at the same time very tiring and somewhat painful... please pray that I can continue to process these things and find the ultimate truth in it all.

This past week I've been reading through some of the Psalms which I haven't done in a long time and its just so refreshing and rewarding every time I do. I just found in our school library CS Lewis' Reflections on the Psalms so I'm really excited about reading that and really for the first time ever digging into and learning about the Book of Psalms for the first time ever!

Well in other news, I've been talking about applying to Toccoa and getting that going. I can say now that it's official... I've applied to Toccoa Falls for this coming fall. I've had alot of different talks with people about this and leaving Atlanta Christian College. Some of them were goods, others not so much so... but in the end I've had alot of support and encouragement in it and thank you all for that. The hardest one for me was telling my academic adviser. She's been such a blast and a blessing to have in my life and with her being the history teacher here as well as the Dean of Academics here, I was a little nervous/afraid to tell her about this. However, I knew it needed to be done so plucking up some courage I met with her and thankfully she was completely understanding and supportive of me in this decision (although she kept saying she hates losing me because I've been such a blessing to the school and the best history tutor they've ever had). Afterward, I felt so relieved, it really felt like a load had been taken off of me... now I'm truly ready to get this process going and done!

Well... that's it for now! Hope all of y'all will have a blessed and restful weekend and have a great and safe Super Bowl Sunday... peace and chicken grease! ;)

~Jeanne;)