So, the week before last week. I discovered that studying for Spanish = studying for about an hour and then spending the following three hours chatting and going to taco bell. super productive (but fun :). For our Spanish study sess. the following day I made some yummy cookies:
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| {chewy chocolate with mint chip} |
I had dinner with Jill that night and then she showed me her lab. That's right.She works in a lab. How cool is that? Super cool. It was really neat to see where she works and to actually see the stuff that she tells me about. On Thursday my boss had her baby, so on Friday some of the other RAs and I walked over to the hospital to visit them. Little baby Evie was the most precious little perfect baby girl I have ever had the privilege of holding. It's such a humbling experience to hold this new little person and to think that they had so recently been with our Heavenly Father, that they are so innocent and pure. What a sweet experience.
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| {hello adorable baby :)} |
Friday was my cousin Cathy's birthday, so I spent that evening with her and my cousin Richard and her friends. We went to Pizza Pie Cafe (which is so good) and then went back to one of her friend's apartments for cake and ice cream. I ate soooo much. Everything was so good I couldn't help it.
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| {me, Richard, Cathy, and her other cousin} |
In order to make up for the previous night, Cathy and I went on a lovely 10k run around Provo. I have missed running and it was nice to go with someone. That afternoon the same bunch of us Spanish hijos went to an El Salvadorian pupuseria. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's a corn tortilla sort of thing that is stuffed with any mixture of cheese, meat, and beans. They are so delicious. After that I went on a little double date. It was at Jill's apartment and we watch the new Star Trek movie and ate eggo waffles with boysenberry syrup...yum.
That week I also got some missionary letters and found out that I made it onto the Dean's list for last semester...woot! good week :)
For FHE on Monday we played Jenga and truth or dare. It was so fun and I just love my FHE family! What a great group of people. Also on Monday I got a forwarded e-mail from Kade's mom with a video. I almost died. At first I couldn't decide whether I wanted to watch it or not, but eventually I broke down and I watched it and cried. no joke. I cried. sigh. On Tuesday I went to Devotional with Bahaar and then we went to the Skyroom for lunch. The Skyroom is this fancy lunch buffet that's on the top floor of the student center. It was a chinese buffet and it was so yummy :) On Wednesday I had this dinner/ ceremony thing for the Golden Key International Honour Society that I just got inducted into. The invite said formal so I was pretty excited to wear a dress and stuff. When I got there, there were some girls who were even wearing pants. yes, pants. at a formal event. blew my mind. It's sad that a good chunk of my generation doesn't even know what formal means!! Cathy came with me and I surely enjoyed spending time with her.
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| {me, in my dress} |
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| {Cathy} [this is why I love her :)] |
After that I trekked back onto campus to do a Spanish presentation with Codie that was due the next day in class. In our defense, we only found out that we were giving this presentation the previous night. We were there until 1(am) making this awesome presentation about how to get a date in seven days for Valentine's Day. yeah. we were desperate. but it was actually really fun to do. The presentation went fabulously in class the next day. That night Codie went back to the pupuseria for dinner and got one for me and left it outside my door. Isn't she sweet?
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| {pupusa!!} [what a happy sight, to see this little white box in front of my door] |
Friday consisted of going to the TRC with Graham, dinner with Jill, lecture about dating, and work. Yesterday I spent the majority of the day doing homework, applying for scholarships, and reading my backlog of bookmarked general conference talks. Saturday night I made these cookies for my floor meeting today:
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| {cute little valentine cookies} |
Today has been great. I woke up and got ready for church only to walk outside and discover that there was snow on the ground and that it was still snowing quite a bit. Church was great (as always). And floor meeting was fun making valentines and eating cookies and chatting.
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| {this is what it looked like outside} |
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| {these are the shoes I decided to wear to church} [cute? yes; intelligent? debatable] |
And last but not least, some food for thought:
Think of the purest, most all-consuming love you can imagine. Now multiply that love by an infinite amount--that is the measure of God's love for you.
God does not look on the outward appearance. I believe that He doesn't care one bit if we live in a castle or a cottage, if we are handsome or homely, if we are famous or forgotten. Though we are incomplete, God loves us completely. Though we are imperfect, He loves us perfectly. Though we may feel lost and without compass, His love encompasses us completely.
He loves us because He is filled with an infinite measure of holy, pure, and indescribable love. We are important to God not because of our resume but because we are His children. He loves everyone of us, even those who are flawed, rejected, awkward, sorrowful, or broken. God's love is so great that He loves even the proud, the selfish, the arrogant, and the wicked.
What this means is that, regardless of our current state, there is hope for us. No matter our distress, no matter our sorrow, no matter our mistakes, our infinitely compassionate Heavenly Father desires that we draw near to Him so that He can draw near to us.
-President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "The Love of God"
