ABC's

i got bored at work the other day and decided to do one of those stupid questionnaires, so here it is!

A
- Available: yes
- Age: 23
- Annoyance: stupid people, bad drivers, hypocrites
- Animal: kitty!

B
- Beer: no thank you
- Birthday: November 25
- Best Friend: Kara
- Best feeling in the world: hammock on a beach with a margarita
- Blind or Deaf: I’d rather be deaf
- Best weather: fall
- Been in Love: yes
- Been on stage: yes, but only in front of college kids
- Believe in Magic: no
- Believe in Santa: no

C
- Candy: nothing chocolate
- Color: lots of colors
- Chocolate/Vanilla: vanilla, I don’t like chocolate
- Chinese/Mexican: yes please!
- Cake or pie: caaaaaaake
- Continent to visit: Australia
- Cheese: delicious

D
- Day or Night: I’m a night owl
- Dance in the rain: get wet
-Dorm Memory: watching Elf every night for a week during sophomore year

E
- Eyes: brown
- East Coast or West Coast: east coast! Although the west coast has some nice spots
- Ever failed a class? nope, never anything below a B

F
- Full name: Andrea Michelle
- First thoughts waking up: “can I please go back to sleep?”
- Food: lots of it -Favorite TV show: Gilmore Girls, Top Chef, Dancing with the Stars

G
- Greatest Fear: sharks
- Goals: graduate and get a job
- Gum: light blue extra
- Get along with your parents: yup
- Good luck charm: myself

H
- Hair Color: dark brown
- Height: 5’6”
- Happy: most of the time
- Holiday: Thanksgiving or Easter
- How do you want to die: when I’m old - Hobbies: sewing, jewelry making, scrapbooking, pottery, cooking, baking

I
- Ice Cream: sweet cream from Cold Stone
- Instrument: scalpel

J
- Jewelry: what about it? Yes, I wear it. And make it, as it were.
- Job: graduate student - Journey or destination: journey

K
- Kids: eventually
- Kickboxing or karate: probably kickboxing
- Keep a journal: tried -Kind of perfume: Victoria’s Secret Angel

L
- Longest Car Ride: Charlotte NC to Los Angeles CA…ran out of gas in the desert
- Love: I’m a fan, but I’ve been turned into a cynic
- Last vacation: went to Monterrey Mexico last Thanksgiving for a mission trip -Last time you cried: at church this morning. Bob was on a role!
- Laughed so hard you cried: all the time - Least favorite food: chocolate
M
- Milk: skim
- Movie: Remember the Titans, Mr. Hollands Opus, Love Actually, Ace Ventura, Good Will Hunting
- Motion sickness: only in a car when driving up and down mountains
- McD’s or BK: BK, better fries

N
- Number of Siblings: 1
- Number of Piercings: 4
- Number of years in school: 17

O
- One wish: that I had made better decisions about certain things -One moment I could relive: first time at Catalyst, Blue Mountains in Australia, debrief time at the Palapa at B2B

P
- Perfect Pizza: cheesy
- Pepsi/Coke: diet coke -PJ’s: big PJ pants and wife beater - Place to visit: Australia, all 50 states, Europe

Q
- Quote: “to reach people no one else is reaching, we must do things no one else is doing” –Craig Groschel

R
- Reason to cry: sad movie, when you’re sad
- Reality TV: no thank you
- Radio Station: K Love
- Roll your tongue in a circle: nope, its genetic
- Ring size: 10, I have huge hands

S
- Song: Glory to God Forever, Steve Fee
- Salad Dressing: ranch
- Skipped school: occasionally
- Slept outside: yup, when camping
- Smoked: never
- Skinny dipped: yes
- Sing well: not really
- Sing in the shower: all the time
- Swear: like a sailor, I’m working on it
- Strawberries/Blueberries: strawberries!

T
- Time for bed: what I would like- 10:30, reality- 12:30
- Thunderstorms: when I’m inside

U
- Unpredictable: I can be - Underwear: like, do i wear it? of course.

V
- Vacation spot: mountains, Australia

W
- Weakness: no verbal filter whatsoever
- Which one of your friends acts the most like you: Jamie, sometimes
- Who makes you laugh the most: funny people
- Worst feeling: throwing up
- Wanted to be a model: never
- Where do we go when we die: Heaven to see Jesus
- Worst Weather: NC summer humidity

X
- X-Rays: good for looking at bones

Y
-Year it is now: 2009
-Yellow: my bedroom is painted yellow

Z
- Zoo animal: monkeys, otters, anything cute

LAST PERSON WHO…
1. Slept in a bed beside you: my mom
2. You went to the mall with: Jamie
3. You went to dinner with: Jeff
4. You talked to on the phone: Ryan
5. Made you laugh: Ryan
6. Hugged you: Jeff 7. Said they loved you: Jimmy
8. You kissed: Jimmy
9. You spoke with: Ryan
10. You cried over: myself
11. You had an interesting conversation with: Kara

don't let me lose my follow-through

Like so many times before
But my eyes
Are dry before I leave the floor
Oh Lord I try...
but this time Jesus how can I be sure
I will not lose my follow through
between the altar and the door

i started thinking about our mission trip to mexico in november because our high schoolers are leaving tomorrow to go down for a week. i can't wait to go back. i love how God will break you down just to fill you back up. i saw so much that week i was there and it changed me so much. i remember being there and thinking how i was going to change my entire way of life, in light of the poverty and hopelessness i saw all week. coming back to the states was hard, knowing what i was leaving behind. i had so much trouble even explaining to people what i had experienced on the trip, and how God had opened my eyes in so many different parts of my life. the whole week, i had the casting crowns song above on my mind, because it talks about how gung-ho we are when we are at the alter, but how as we get further and further away, it becomes harder to uphold the behaviors and attitudes. i prayed that once i reached the door, i would be able to keep up my plans to look at my life differently based on how i had been changed in mexico. but as time went on, we start to forget the alter, and forget the emotions and sights.

one of the reasons i am so ready to go back is to refresh myself with how i want to live my life differently. and i am ready for God to break me down, so that He may wonderfully fill me back up. we were His hands and feet for those 6 days, doing what He has called us to do. and i yearn for that in my life all the time, so my prayer is that i don't lose sight of the plan and that i don't lose my follow-through the alter and the door.

God loves us so much, and if GRACE was an ocean, we would all be sinking in it.

my kitty is a brat.

there she is. this is mojo. and she stood outside my bedroom door for an hour and a half this morning and cried. i've tried just letting her stay in my room to eliminate the whole outside crying thing, but 6 am is playtime for a certain someone. she walks up on my headboard and knocks things onto my face, attacks my feet through the covers, walks on my face, and it a whole-hearted nudge. so i started closing my door at night. she is not liking that one bit. she is a brat. she actually isn't even my kitten, she's my roommate's kitten. but she likes me better, hence the crying outside my door at 6 am. she is actually leaving with my roommate when she moves to kentucky at the end of the month. sad. i will miss her, but she is still a brat.

anyway, onto other updates. we are in module 3, in week 7, which means there are only 5 more weeks of this module. once we get past the halfway point, i start getting bored and ready for new classes. next module is our heavy duty orthopedic module. i have a feeling i am going to be swamped. this module has been pretty busy, but so far, so good. i am going to be sooo glad to be done with physiology. i'm not a fan of our physiology professor at all, and i am glad i only have to put up with her for 5 more weeks.

i can't get over the fact that i am going on my first clinical in less than 6 months. my outpatient clinical rotation starts in january. i don't know where i am going yet because all 4 of my choices said no. so i go into a lottery and will find out where i can go sometime in july. my second 2 clinicals are set, i will be in prescott, arizona next july and august. then i will be in daphne, alabama for september and october. i'm psyched about those, even though its still a year away.

life is good. i'm going on a date next week. i'm excited to go on a date, its been a very very long time. i gave up all of my college-dateable time because of the relationship i was in, so now i feel like its time i get back out there. it should be fun.

to see inside

i held someone's brain this week. i held it after i removed it from her skull. my lab group took out our donor's brain this week. wow, what a process. its way less messy than i thought it would be, but still not something you do everyday. and let me just say, bone smells reeeeally bad when you cut through it with a bone saw. the brain is very hard to get out of the head, which is rather comforting. and i have a whole new found respect for brain surgeons; taking it apart is one thing, but putting it back together is a whole different story.
it was so surreal to hold someone's brain. everything she saw, thought, said, knew, and cherished was in this reddish heavy jello chunk i was holding in my two hands. every essence of her being was in my hands. while it was a lab class and we are studying it for scientific purposes, i still couldn't help but standing back to think about how special of an opportunity i was experiencing. next year, for our neuro module, i will know the brain inside and out! we are just doing the basics right now for anatomy.

it was really neat, so i thought i would share.

long time coming blog

module 2 is almost done. i am in my fourth month of PT school. i have 2 weeks of finals coming up. its going to be a crazy 2 weeks. and then when my finals are over, i am going to baltimore to see my brother, who is on crutches. he broke his ankle last week and had surgery on wednesday. i bought a train ticket to get up to baltimore and i am almost more excited about riding the train up and back! then i will turn around and drive to atlanta for the orange conference. its a student ministry conference that i went to last year with my church and this year i am on a volunteering team. there is great worship and speakers...i'm psyched.

i broke up with jimmy at the beginning of october, it feels like a lifetime ago. it a true testimony that time heals all hurts. the anger is gone, and now i just miss my friend. i find myself thinking how he is doing or what he is doing. i wonder if he would answer the phone if i called him. i don't think he reads this. does he think about me everyday like i think about him? everyday, i think of what we had and i miss it. i know i made the right choice for me, but that doesn't change the fact that we had a lot of great times together. i was discussing the ironies of relationships with kara the other night and how you have this constant companion while in a relationship. the nature of a relationship ending is that you pretty much instantly lose a good friend. not even considering the relationship part ending, but just the friendship. i'm not the kind of person who has handfuls of people that i am especially close with. i know lots of people, but there are very few people who i choose to share my deeper self with. jimmy was one of those people- 3 years will do that. so, thats all i have to say about that.

we are waiting for our clinical slot requests to come back in. we are waiting impatiently. i will be thrilled with any place that i end up going, i just want to know. i want to know for sure that i will end up in atlanta for jan-feb. i have already bought a ticket to passion conference, which is the university student conference that louie giglio puts together. and we do know that louie is my favorite. he is the hottest, 50 year old, married man i have ever seen. i met him last year at orange and i have a picture with him.

on one last note, i have 6 days until i can get on facebook again. i gave it up for lent, and i never thought it would be this hard!! what did we do before facebook?! i like knowing whats going on with people and seeing their pictures! i know 2 people who have had baby girls during lent and i really want to see pictures!! i don't think i will ever give up facebook again for lent. i am a stalker and i'm ok with that!

day one

the promised pictures from my first day of school!




today was our orientation day for PT school, and it was a tad overwhelming. its just so much information all at one time. but overall it was good. i think my class will be good, there are just a lot of people i don't know. i was thinking how much more nervous i would be if i hadn't gone to elon. coming to a new place on top of starting a very rigorous academic doctoral program would be very anxiety provoking for me.

we start classes tomorrow and i am looking forward to it. the first module, which only lasts one month, is most definitely an easing into the program. we take some introductory classes that let us get used to the routine and the way things work. its really the calm before the storm. because when module 2 starts in february, its going to be insane!

i'm watching the fiesta bowl, where ohio state isn't getting their butts kicked as much as i thought they were going to. i will probably go move into my bed to watch the second half though. my days start early now!!!

graduate student i am

well, it has come to be. i am officially a graduate student. a student for the last time.

when i finished my undergraduate last december, i thought 2008 would never come to an end. and here we are, the night before i start school for the last time. the past year was tough for me. starting off with my ankle surgery and the joys of depression that came along with it. it was an emotional up and down year. but as i look back, some wonderful things happened this year. working at st. marks was a wonderful thing for me; i got involved in ways that i never would have otherwise. i got to go to orange in april and catalyst in october. i am pretty sure that if i hadn't have worked at the church, i wouldn't have gone to mexico in november. my church has become such a huge part of who i am, and i am so thankful for that chance.

some pretty crappy things happened this year too. the ankle surgery was not a fun experience at all, and the aftermath was even worse. i had to deal with a lot of depression and anxiety about not being able to care for myself. i never want to re-live that part of my life. breaking up with jimmy was one of the hardest times for me too. it didn't end very well, and it was emotional for me, even though i know it was the right decision. three years of dating is a long time at my age and i gave up a lot for him, and for our relationship. he moved to burlington to be near me, and we talked so much of the future. a certain weekend trip to columbus for an ohio state game turned out to be the straw that broke the camel's back. i saw that i was dating someone who didn't respect me or my mom and someone who had a serious drinking problem. everything that i thought he would grow out of became obvious that we weren't meant to be together. and now its even more obvious. he's already dating someone else, a freshman in college. i guess three years isn't really that long for some people.

but back to school. tomorrow is our orientation day, and i'm interested to see what they do. and the most exciting part? getting to sit through another 90 minute library orientation!! just like freshman year. maybe i will learn something new. i'm anxious to meet the people in my class and the professors i don't know. classes start tuesday. i really don't know what to expect. i know it will be different than undergraduate, but how? i know God would never give me something that i can't handle, so i'm not worried about making it through. its crazy to believe that in 3 years, i will graduate (again) and be able to get a job anywhere in the country i want. thats a pretty cool thing to think about.

i'm going to get some beauty rest for my first day of school. stay tuned for a super cool first day of school photo shoot that kara is coming over for in the morning!!