It's finally that time...

In less than 2 weeks I will be a college GRADUATE! Can you believe it???? I never thought the day would come. I can celebrate now because I have completed my last term papers and given my last presentations! All I lack before walking across that stage is 3 final exams... and I honestly am NOT worried about them at all. One is for an online class (that is open book), one is for a class that I have an overall average of 101.5... don't ask how that's possible... and one is for Senior Seminar where we have to take 8 different tests over Communication or Mass Media courses we've taken in our time at ASU. I'm pretty sure even if I don't study for them, there's no way I could fail the class and not graduate. And that's all that really matters anyway... graduation!

I walk the stage Saturday, December 10th at 2pm. After that, Ryan and I are driving to Dallas to have an early Christmas with my mother-in-law's side of the family. Our friend from the Christian Campus Center, Christene, is going to ride to Dallas with us because she doesn't have a car and her parents were going to have to buy her a plane ticket to get home for winter break. It was so sweet when she told her mom that we were going to give her a ride. She had her speaker phone on, and all I heard was "Well, praise the Lord!!!!!!" So sweet.

The only slightly stressful thing about graduating early is the time of year I'm looking for a job! I haven't had any luck (yet... I'm not giving up completely!) at any radio stations in town, and that is definitely my dream job. It's just the time of year, I think... no one is hiring during the holidays. At least not for the work I'm looking for... please pray for me though! At this point, I just need a job. I applied at Michael's craft store online today, which would probably be a last resort, but it will be good to have options. I also just submitted an online application to be a bank teller at Wells Fargo. I'm hoping this college degree will help me out a little! I'm willing to wait to hear back from a radio station, but I need income in the mean time. Today was really trying, but I'm not giving up. God's hand is in all of this, and I know He will work this situation out for good, because I love Him and I am called according to His purpose! (Romans 8:28).


I am so excited to be done with this chapter in my life and open a new one (whatever that may be)!

Oh that I may rejoice!

We got TONS of rain this past weekend and it was so, so wonderful. We kept our front door open as it poured down all Saturday afternoon and through the night. The temperatures are slowly but surely lowering, and dare I say it, it's almost feeling like autumn!

I have completed my first true crochet project. I don't really consider the few scarves that I've made anything big... but I made the CUTEST baby beanie hat for my great niece! I actually made 2, the first one wasn't terrible, but not as perfect as I wanted it to be. Of course, it's too small for my 3 month old great niece, but I think it will be perfect in January when Ashley has her little bundle of joy, Kylie. Speaking of Kylie, Ashley's baby shower is coming up! I'm excited to help plan and organize it... it's so much fun to be able to plan and craft all things baby without actually feeling the responsibility of parenthood.

I should totally post these pictures that I keep promising... like my apartment with pictures on the walls, our sponsored child from Haiti, Rose, and this hat that I crocheted. I promise, I will get around to it! I'm hoping that Ryan and I will get iPhones soon so uploading photos to the computer will be that much simpler.

Oh! And I think I'm finally getting the hang of this couponing thing. Like I've said before, I'm no extreme couponer... I just use a Sunday newspaper insert and occasionally some I'll find on the internet. I did, however, save nearly 28 dollars the other night at H-E-B! That's definitely the most I've ever saved with my coupons, but I also saved 19 last night. I'm getting pretty excited about this. :)

I love saving money... especially because I'm not exactly bringing a whole lot of it to the table right now. 18 hours a week at minimum wage just isn't cutting it anymore. I'll be SO SO SO ready to graduate and get a new job.

Tomorrow is my mommy's birthday. I love her so much.Definitely wouldn't trade her for anyone else's mommy. Ryan and I are taking her to lunch to celebrate. It should be a fun time. :)

Ryan and I are also going to Dallas this weekend for a friends wedding. It will be great to visit with my in-laws for a few days.

I think I'm finally out of my "funk." I'm enjoying life again... things are looking up. and up. and up. Praise the Lord.

Little Rose

To be honest, I'm a little overwhelmed. I feel like crying and I'm frustrated because I'm not sure if its from joy, sadness, or some crazy mixture of both.

God is so good! As I was sitting here in my quiet apartment contemplating my somewhat heavy heart, I heard something outside and looked out the window to see rain falling gloriously to the ground. Praise the good Lord in heaven! This makes my heart smile because just 3-4 hours ago, my small group was praying for rain. Such wonderful reassurance that God hears us when we cry out to Him.

The Christian Campus Center went to retreat this past weekend. It was a great time. Our guest speaker was Milton Jones, president of the Christian Relief Fund. I must say, he is a REALLY neat guy. His stories are truly remarkable. I recommend his blog.

www.miltonjonesblog.com

www.christianrelieffund.org

I'm excited to say that this weekend, my small group decided to sponsor a little girl, through the Christian Relief Fund who was displaced by the earthquake in Haiti. She is 3 years old and her name is Rose. I love her so much. She was the first face I saw in the sea of sponsorship cards. She's beautiful. They're all beautiful, but I know that this was the child for our group. I feel this odd connection with her. And I want her to know how much she really is loved. We only have one picture of her right now, but I will try to post it soon.

I can't imagine how much love someone can feel for their own, flesh and blood, child. I'll probably never meet Rose, but she's already changing my life.

I ask for prayers for little Rose, and for my group as we take on the responsibility of this sponsorship. I also ask for prayers for myself. I know it may sound selfish, but I'm just in a funk right now. I'm wanting to do so much to further God's kingdom, but I find myself getting in the way. I need to truly hand everything over to Him, and quit trying to deal with my struggles on my own. I also need to quit taking out my hurt, anger, and other frustrations on other people. I'm working on being a nicer person, because really, as a Christian, I'm setting a lousy example with all this negativity I've allowed in my life.

On that note, I think I'll finish this episode of Grey's Anatomy and head to bed. Ryan went to bed early because he pulled an all-nighter last night doing tons of homework. I love him even though he does such crazy things.

Where did my summer go?

Can you believe it's already September?!?! Today, I have been married for 2 whole months! Occasionally I get the feeling that I can't wait to be married... and then I realize, OH WAIT! I'm living my dream. :)

Speaking of dreams, I had an absurd one last night... Justin Bieber and I were best friends and I was trying to get a picture with him to prove it to people and my camera kept messing up so I never had my proof. BUT I did get to ride on a private jet with him. Gosh, I'm weird.

Ryan and I had our friend Casey over for dinner last night and we made egg rolls! It was quite hilarious watching Casey trying to roll them... his first one looked like a burrito! I must say though, it was SO much cheaper to make them at home and we had a TON! So yummy. :) I think I love my deep fryer a little too much... and my waistline is starting to show it... eek!

Good news, good news! Singer/Songwriters JJ Heller and Matt Brouwer are coming to Johnson Street Church of Christ in San Angelo soon! I believe the date of the concert is November 19th and it is going to be a worship style of performance. SOOOOO excited!

In other news, Ryan and I have volunteered to host a small group bible study in our apartment on Wednesday nights. Everyone at the Christian Campus Center tonight got to pick what small group they wanted to be in, and we had 11 people sign up to be in ours! For now we have 8 girls and only 3 guys, but I told the girls to bring their boyfriends, so we'll see how many we total in the next few weeks. I'm so excited to have this opportunity! It will definitely give me a reason to keep the apartment clean, and a wonderful time to get to know some of the freshman better. :) Seriously though, I'm stoked. I've never really been a part of a small group like this before, and what better place to have it than my home?!

My radio show, "Motivational Mondays" starts back up next week. Tune in to Ram Radio from 7-8 pm to hear some great, uplifting music! I will also be reading world news every weekday at 3:30pm! Ram Radio is an internet station, so you'll have to go to www.angelo.edu/services/ramradio and click "listen" on the left side of the page to tune in! You can also check out my radio facebook page by doing a facebook search for Amanda on Ram Radio.

I'm also working on some NPR (National Public Radio) that will air on 90.1 FM in San Angelo on Tuesdays at 1pm. I've been producing a Singer/Songwriter show hosted by local Singer/Songwriter Daniel Makins. Starting the first week in November (hopefully) you'll be able to hear me and get some updates on what's going on at Angelo State University.

I'm excited about this semester... after all, it's my last one ever! Then it's off to finding a true career in radio... which I hope to be a promising one. :)

The beginning of the end... or something of the sort

Okay, the title of this entry may seem depressing at first, but I promise it's totally NOT! I am about to embark on my LAST SEMESTER OF COLLEGE! SO excited! I think it finally hit me when I took my final exam for my FOURTH and final Spanish course. Since I took it online through Midland College, the semester ended this week, leaving me 4 final days of summer without any homework. And you know what? I'm totally not complaining because even though this was my first experience with summer school and I took 12 hours of online courses all while turning 21, getting married, honeymooning, and moving out for the first time ever... this has honest to God been the best summer of my life.

AND I'm that much closer to graduation. I seriously can not emphasize enough on how much I really am ready to be done with school though. And homework. FOREVER! No Masters degree for this chick... honestly, a BA is more than enough for me. :)

I am so excited to finally be a true grown up with a big girl job. Now, I know I won't be making a TON of money, but I am totally fine with that as long as I'm doing something I enjoy. And I remember some adults from my church telling me a few years ago "you have the rest of your life to work, why wish your youth away?" and I promise that is not the case.

I believe you're only as old as you feel... and I'm still feeling pretty young! I am so excited to take on the world... and I seriously think I'll have more free time when I'm done with school. Instead of work and school and homework, I'll just have to worry about work! :)

I want to learn to crochet

Yes, I know that may make me sound like an old lady, but I don't care. I genuinely want to become fantastic at crocheting. My nephew and his wife have a little girl, and my niece Ashley is pregnant, and I feel like this is the perfect opportunity for me to learn how to make super cute things for the babies to wear!

I have another week before school starts, and I'm working on getting this stinkin' apartment cleaner. I'm going to schedule a time for a carpet shampooing... which is really desperately needed... and I feel like I need to scrub EVERYTHING... like really... I have this urge to scrub the walls for some reason? I just want this place to be perfect and clean... even if it is for just a short amount of time. :)

ALSO, I really need to hang up all of our paintings and pictures and what not. I got the okay from the landlord to put nails in the walls, but I'm afraid I'll put something somewhere and decide that I don't like it there after all.

We've been married for a little over a month now, and I'm loving every minute of it. I do find that I'm getting lonely while Ryan is at work though. I'm used to having at least my dog around for company, but no such luck here at the apartment. I think if Misty (my dog) wasn't so old, we'd move her over here with us, but my parents' house is her home... she'd freak if we put her in a new environment. Alas, I want a puppy. I think I'll try convincing Ryan of this in December when I graduate. :)

Ooh, wonderful news, by the way! We found out that I received nearly $3,000 in grant money for this semester, and that on top of my $1500 scholarship means that I'll get a REFUND of something like $939! Such a huge blessing! I jokingly said that "maybe we should have gotten married sooner!"... but I still think we waited just the perfect amount of time. Still pretty amazed that I will be getting PAID to go to school... what a crazy thought! Ryan received the same amount of grant money, but he doesn't have the scholarship that I do, so he'll still owe a little, but my refund will cover it. SO glad that we won't need to take out another loan for him. I'm not sure how far in debt he is, but I'm honestly not too worried about it. I mean, ASU is a fairly affordable school, considering our other options, and our God is in control!

I'm getting a little nervous about the idea of graduation and getting a big girl job... but I think I'm probably more excited than anything!

Is there a coupon for that?

I have the next 2 weeks off of work before school starts. When I first found out, I felt kind of worthless, because that's just 2 more weeks without me providing any financial income to our marriage. HOWEVER, I've been cleaning this mess of an apartment and grocery shopping and cooking like a good little housewife! :)

Last night I made us some delicious cheesesteak sandwiches. Tender steak, mushrooms, onions, sherry wine, worchestershire sauce, and cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese! Ryan rated them better than anything I've previously made EXCEPT for the mind-blowing meatballs. Haha! I asked him at lunch today if he wanted me to get stuff for more meatballs when I go grocery shopping tonight and he was like, "um of COURSE!" Silly boy.

I've been meaning to ask my wonderful mother in law for some of his favorite recipes that she makes. I might give her a holler soon. :)

I really do enjoy grocery shopping and cooking and all that jazz, but what makes it all even more fun is COUPONS! No, I'm not an "extreme couponer"... I don't have enough time to invest in that. However, I DO clip coupons out of the Sunday paper and that little insert they send you in the mail once a week. We rarely shop at Albertsons (even though it's across the street from our apartment complex) because it's usually REALLY overpriced compared to Wal Mart or HEB. This being said, last week I clipped some Albertsons store coupons, and got about $16 worth of groceries for something like $6.78. I was really impressed with myself. Granted, it was only 2 bags of groceries and not a big trip, I saved some money and got us some name brand food items for cheaper than the bargain prices! :)