Day 143: 22

This picture looks fairly ridiculous, but I was holding my breath for quite a while waiting to blow out those candles. Today was my birthday - woohoo! My sister and Mom made me a fantastic white chocolate raspberry cheesecake. Yum yum. And Dad grilled steaks for dinner. It was a good evening.

I also worked my last day at my job. I am now officially unemployed, which is kind of scary. I have no idea what I'm doing next!

Day 142: Cake Balls

My Lifeteam got together for a fish fry and my sister made these yummy lemon cake ball pops. I forgot to take my camera with me, so I don't have any pics from our little party.

Day 141: Hello

Hello to my parent's house and hello to chaos. I'm moving in, my sister's moving out and everything is everywhere. I feel like I'm going crazy in the mess. I'm glad to be home, and I'll be very glad once my stuff is all organized.

Day 140: Goodbye

Today I said goodbye to my home for the past two years. I was cleaning the kitchen, living room and hallways from 10 this morning to 4 this afternoon, with lots of help from my mom. After a long day of cleaning, we locked up the house and left it ready for a new batch of girls.

It's sad, because I have a lot of great memories in this house. And leaving it reminded me of my roommates and other friends who are now scattered across the country. I hope we stay in touch!

It was also nice and hot out today. Our car thermometer said 114, though I think the official hight was 109. Either way, it was hot.

Day 139: Empty

I completely cleaned out my room at my house today. It's kind of sad, moving out after two years there. My room looks incredibly small now that it's empty. I find it hard to believe that all of my stuff fit in there!

Day 138: Snake

This is the sight that greeted us this morning when we walked into the tack room. I'll admit that we freaked out a little before we realized that it wasn't a rattler. Nevertheless, he was a big dude and we shooed him out of the barn as quickly as possible. I think it might be a bull snake, but I'm not sure.

Despite the snake scare, we had a great time riding. And I really like this picture of me and Soldier. It looks like he loves me, but really I think he was just trying to wipe his face on my shirt. I love these days when I get to go riding. It's one of my very favourite ways to spend time.

Day 137: Tool Kit

I received this tool kit as a high school graduation gift. It sure has come in handy since then! Today I used it to measure some furniture, pull out nails, and unscrew some screws. I'm still working on moving out of here, so I have lots of pulling stuff down and cleaning to do.

Day 136: Cajun Cone

I had my first snow cone of the summer today. After work, Anna and I drove over to Cajun Cones to get a refreshing treat. It was 101 out at the time, so the frozen ice was particularly welcome. One of my favourite flavours is princess, which is what this is (the purple colour connects to Princess Di). I'm not real sure what's in it, but it's yummy!

Day 135: UAE

Today I shipped an article to the United Arab Emirates through Interlibrary Loan. I always get excited when we send something to another country (I have to get my kicks somehow at work). I think it's cool that people in foreign countries are requesting something that ACU has.

Day 134: Catching the Bouquet

Holly, one of my roommates, got married this afternoon. She had a lovely wedding and was a beautiful bride.

And I caught the bouquet! So I guess I'm next!

Day 133: Blinds

I spent much of today doing laundry, packing and cleaning. Blinds are always particularly fun to clean. Two of my roommates are back in town this weekend, so it's good to see them again. I already miss them!

Day 132: Cookout

Tonight I went home and Dad grilled burgers. We divided the meat up and put it into baggies; everyone then fixed up their own burger. I put onions, bacon and feta cheese in mine. I wasn't sure how that would turn out, but it was one yummy burger.

Day 131: Paws

Java paws at people when she wants them to pet her. And she'll focus in on your hand, licking and pawing at it. But she's a cutie and I think it's great how much she loves people.

Day 130: Sinai

We sent out a book in Interlibrary Loans on the geography of the Bible. Of course, I had to flip through to find this page. It's kind of crazy that I was there, in the Sinai Wilderness, just a couple of months ago.

As I hear new of continued violence in Egypt, I am also thankful that we had a safe trip. It seems we hit the small window of opportunity to travel to Egypt in 2011.

Day 129: Junebug

Today was a fine day for horseback riding! Stacie and I went out and rode this morning when it was still nice and cool (after some yummy blueberry muffins that Gail made for us). I rode Junebug this week, and she was particularly well-behaved.

Day 128: Screwdriver

We went out to my grandparent's house for dinner tonight. Ever since they moved here, years ago, we have done dinner with them every Monday night. Once I started college, my attendance was considerably less frequent. Granddad had a screwdriver for Amara and me, which was fun.

Day 127: Maid of Honor

One of my best friends got married today. She was a beautiful bride and had a lovely outdoor wedding. The weather even cooperated!

I have lived with JoAnna for three years, and it will be strange to be in different cities from now on. For your viewing pleasure, I'll throw in a picture from yesterday as well.

Day 126: Alumna

I am officially an alumna of ACU. Crazy!! The ceremony was good, and it felt great to walk across that stage after all of my hard work. I graduated summa cum laude and with University Honors.

Mom and Amara made these wonderful cupcakes for me. Aren't they awesome! I don't have pictures from today yet, because they are all on Mom's camera. A picture of my graduation cupcakes will have to suffice.

Day 125: Honors Banquet

I donned my graduation regalia for the first time this evening. The Honors College banquet was tonight, and I received my gold stole for University Honors. Dr. Ashlock was the chair of my capstone committee and is also the chair of the Bible Department.

Day 124: Amara's Home

My sister Amara returned home today after her semester in Oxford. I was so happy to see her! She brought me a cute leather purse from Italy and lots of yummy European chocolate. Cadbury's chocolate is fantastic. If you've had it in America, it's not nearly as good as it is in Britain. Americans put wax in chocolate to keep it from melting; Europeans do not.

I also had a fun dinner with part of the Bible Department. It ended up being mostly girls and one boy, but I'm sure he didn't mind.

Day 123: Crackers

Anna and I made crackers tonight, just cause we felt like it. They are basically homemade wheat thins, and they are pretty tasty. To see the recipe check out this website.

They were a nice treat after church this evening. It was one of those nights; the kids just would not calm down. We were making pictures of Jesus ascending to heaven and the kids kept saying, "Look, I drew Jesus punching me." I asked another kid about is picture and he said, "the disciples are shooting Jesus!" guns and blood. Good grief.

Day 122: Cool Breeze

We were blessed to have a cool breeze in Abilene today. This cooled us off, as it was 102 on Sunday. I took a picture as I was walking to my final today. I realize I have very few pictures of campus!

Day 121: Countdown

We began this countdown during the snow week. The chain had 99 links and stretched across our entire living room wall. We are now at 5. Yep, five days from now I will be graduating. My hardest final is out of the way, and I just have two more left!

Day 120: Party

My parents threw a party for me and my friends this evening. Mom's food was awesome of course. Dinner included teriyaki pork tenderloin and homemade rolls. For desert, she rolled out coffee granita, chocolate sheet cake and chocolate covered strawberries. Yum!

I love my parents and my friends so much!

Day 119: Gaga

Tonight we made our last Saturday night coffee run. It's sad, in many ways, that this chapter of my life is coming to an end. I love these ladies and I hope I'll stay in contact with them for years to come.

Full of caffeine and sugar, we made a Lady Gaga video. It was pretty awesome, but will never be posted online. We went all-out with our costumes and had a ton of fun.

Day 118: Final Chapel

The picture's not great, but I got this cute dress today at a consignment sale, which a couple ladies from my church host. The dress was $8! I love a good deal.

Today was the last chapel of the semester and, therefore, my last chapel as a student at ACU. Over the past four years I have been to chapel more than 350 times.

Day 117: Fake Tiramisu

For small group tonight Anna and I made this fake tiramisu. It's incredibly easy and really yummy. Our whole group loved it. Thanks to Mom (Linda Childers) for the recipe!

Easiest Tiramisu:
2 packages of chocolate chip cookies (not chewy)


2 Tbsp Instant coffee
1 Tbsp sugar
1 cup boiling water
(or 1 cup of strong coffee)


2 (8 oz.) packages of cream cheese
3 Tbsp milk
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

12 oz. cool whip
Chocolate chips (optional)

Mix cream cheese, milk, powdered sugar and vanilla. Fold in Cool Whip.

Using 1/3 of the cookies, dip one at a time in coffee and place in trifle bowl. Layer 1/3 of the cream mixture of the cookies. Repeat with 2 more layers of each. Sprinkle top with shaved or crushed semi-sweet chocolate chips, if desired. Refrigerate 2 hours.

We ended up needing two cups of coffee (we may have soaked the cookies more than dipped them). In our bowl, we made four layers of cookies and cream, instead of three. And we used a cheese grater to shave the chocolate chips on top.

Day 116: Dude Ranch

Maybe I should go work at a Dude Ranch. Preferably in Montana. But Wyoming, Colorado and Texas are all options too. Too bad all they want are seasonal employees. I graduate in a week and I have no clue what I'm doing next!!

Day 115: Excelling

Anna and I both received the Excelling Award at our Bible majors award's chapel. It's for "outstanding academic achievement in devotion to the Lordship of Christ." It's nice to be recognized. And the certificates aren't really blank - the sun is just glaring off of them.

We also found it pretty funny that we received the same award. We have recently had several professors comment on our inseparability.

Day 114: Story

I read this book for one of my classes. It's a great guidebook for group study sessions that's actually written by one of my professors. My roommate and I were surprised by the number of times the word "story" appears in the book - 24 times on this one page.

Day 113: May Morning

We wore our cute little flowers in our hair this May Day. One of my early memories is of heading out on May Morning in Oxford, watching the Morris dancers and drinking Snapple. I think May Day is a bigger celebration in England then it is over here!