Happy New Year!!!

I just wanted to write a quick post while I have internet! I have been up at my lake house where we don't have any! The last couple weeks have been an emotional roller coaster, from leaving Cornerstone, to being home, to the holiday season. It has been interesting! I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas and I hope that you have a wonderful New Year! See you in 2010!!!

I and Love and You,

Diana

Letting Go...or at least trying!

I hate this bittersweet feeling that is so suddenly consuming my life! Why is it that in the last week of school I am having some of the most deep, interesting conversations of the entire semester? It pulls me in, makes it harder to let go. But I also know it is time. I know it is God’s will for me to leave, but it is hard.

Tonight I sit here alone, in a dark room, with nowhere to go, and no one to talk to. I am completely stuck in my own head. And this is not for lack of trying. It is for lack of people, or at least ones who have time and/or willingness to hang with me. With the way things are looking now I have a feeling that this weekend is going to remind me exactly why it is time for me to go. This week has been great! But the outlook of this weekend is horrible! I can’t help the tears that are streaming down my face. There are so many things that I am going to miss here, it’s just that I miss home more! This internal battle of emotions is killing me! It is taking any and all strength that I possess.

So for now, in an attempt to make it through this pain, and it is most likely not the last time that it will be heard, I will say this: Goodbye Cornerstone, I will miss you! I hold no regrets! Thank You for all you have done for me!

I and Love and You,

Diana

Pictures as Promised!

Here are some pictures of Kevin's birthday dinner! And as an update...the weather behaved, and he passed his driver's test! My little brother can now drive! Scary!!! LOL...j/k!

My brother and me

One of the only pics Jamie would take


My parents

Kev and his birthday dessert

Here is his first bite...but it didn't last much longer after that!

Happy Birthday Kevin David!!!

Sixteen years ago today was a very monumental experience in my life! I went from being an only child to having a little brother! And although he is not so little anymore, standing tall at 6 foot (taller than my dad…and he is very proud of that) it is still his birthday, and a milestone one at that. Today he will go and attempt to get his drivers’ license. I say attempt because I don’t trust the weather to be on his side! I feel terrible that I can’t be there. There is nothing I would rather be doing today than hanging out with him and sitting in the drivers facility with my mom waiting for him to come back with the verdict. Instead I have to attempt to do a presentation as he is off attempting to get his license. I can’t wait to find out whether he got it or not! Well I am going to let this be his day and leave this at that. I will try to post some pictures a little later of his birthday weekend and dinner a little later! We celebrated this past weekend since I wasn’t going to be home today!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEVIN DAVID!!! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!! GOOD LUCK!!!

I and Love and You,
Diana

Grateful!

Let me start by apologizing. I was just re-reading what I posted yesterday and not all of it makes sense. I swear in the 3 hours of sleep I was running on, it made sense. I even re-read it a few times before a posted it. I don’t know what my problem was. Oh well!

Yesterday was a very busy, but great day! I had classes all day; however it was the first time that I was actually able to ask for prayer in class about transferring. I have been needing prayer for specific things for a little while now, but was unable to ask for it since I hadn’t told anyone I was leaving. It was really nice being able to finally ask for it. Right now I could really use some prayer for emotional strength, patience, and peace. This is a very stressful time as I am trying to get everything in order before I leave and time is running out.

Last night I had the chance to hang out with my friend Eve, whom I haven’t gotten to hang out with all semester! It was such a blessing! She is so much fun to talk to and I always have a good time with her. I am so grateful for her! I don’t think she even realizes how much she touched me last night by just being herself! Eve, you’re amazing, you’re such a great friend, and I appreciate you so much!

Well I thought I would share a couple of pics with ya’ll of my siblings and me. My family is everything to me and I am so grateful for them! They are so important to me and I can’t wait until I transfer so that I will be closer to them!

This is my brother Kevin and sister Jamie on New Moon premiere night!

The three of us on Thanksgiving!

I and Love and You,

Diana

It's Time to Trust

“Lord, I thank you that you are in control, no matter what happens. I trust that you are holding me in the palm of your hand, today and always—and that you’ll never let me go.”

This is a quote that I received in an email today. And I realized that this is something that I really need to take to heart and try to say this prayer every day. I think it might be time to pull out another index card so that I can post it in front of me at my desk. As I am sure you will grasp about me, and as I have said before, I don’t do well with change. But it is so important in my life, especially right now that I am in this process of dealing with a very large change, that I just give it all to God, and trust Him for He know best!

My favorite verse that I attempt to live my life by is Psalm 37:5 “Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust Him and He will help you.” Of course being human I very often fail at this, but I feel like everywhere I turn I am constantly being reminded that I need to trust Him. I don’t know if it is a sign that something life changing is about to occur or not. But I don’t want to read into it too much, because then it will just stress me out! I think I may take another index card and just write TRUST!

Okay, now I am going to very abruptly change the subject. I think I could go on and on about trust, but I am not going to. So, last night I had an awesome time at IHOP with some friends. I am really trying to focus my time on spending some quality time with my friends, since time is very quickly running out. If you want to hang out just let me know; I would be more than happy to! I feel like the subject is now going to end up being time, but it really isn’t something to worry about until it is being taken away. And although time is not being taken away in the permanent form of death, it is all the same being taken away in that I am not going to be able to see the same people that I have for the last two and a half years, every day.


Not only is time an issue with not being able to see friends, it is also in a more physical form (or at least the physical form as I see it in my head) that I just have a lot to do. I am now in the homestretch of the semester. All of the final projects of the year are all going to occur in the next two weeks, and then after that there are exams. On top of all the school work, a couple of weeks ago I received an email from student retention giving me a list of things I need to make sure I have all tied up before I leave. Even though I am very grateful for the list, because I love lists, it is just a reminder of all the stress there is to come.

Well I guess trust and time are just two things I need to focus on; trusting the Lord and managing my time wisely. If I remember I will attempt to let you know how it is going!


I and Love and You,

Diana

Music

I just added my favorite Christmas songs! But just wanted to say that the version I love of Grown-Up Christmas List is by Amy Grant, however I could not find it anywhere to be able to add it. So I chose the version that was done closest to hers by Kelly Clarkson.

This Thanksgiving I am thankful for...

FRIENDS!!!

I am writing to tell you about a season of change that has started in my life. Some of you may already know all of what I am about to say, some may have suspected it, and for some this might come as a complete surprise. Three years ago I made one of the biggest decisions of my life: where I wanted to go to college. I took the process very seriously and I had a list of things that I wanted in a school, a list of things that I wanted for my life, and I found those things in Cornerstone. So, when I got my acceptance letter just before Thanksgiving, I was set, and had made up my mind that I was going to Cornerstone. In my eyes, Cornerstone was perfect for me, because it was going to give me more leadership training, a place where I could speak freely about my faith, Christians around to support me in my walk with God, it wasn’t too far away from home, and other smaller things such as the type of dorm set up I was looking for. However, as time has gone on those things on my list have changed, and Cornerstone is no longer a good fit for me. I have felt this way for the last semester or so, but was not actively trying to find a different school, because ultimately I need to follow where I feel God is leading me to go, and although I was ready to leave, I felt as though He wasn’t ready and that He still had some things to teach me about myself here at Cornerstone. So, I have stayed, however it has now come the time that I feel God is calling me to go. So now comes the real point of this note, I will be transferring to Benedictine University, a school closer to home this next semester. I came to the realization God was calling me there over this past summer, but I did not have the time to transfer everything for this semester thus the reason I am transferring in the middle of the year. I am really excited for this new adventure in my life; however I am very nervous at the same time. I think I will really enjoy being closer to home. The drive is only an hour as opposed to the three and a half hours it takes me to get here. As some of you know I was very sick all last year and I was really wishing I could have been closer to my family during that time and now I will have that opportunity. A lot of you also know I don’t do well with change, so this will be a difficult time for me and I ask that you will please pray for me in this transition period in my life.

I also want to thank you for the part that you have held in my time here at Cornerstone. Each one of you has had a role in making my time here a positive experience. I am leaving this campus thankful for everything that I have learned about God, myself, others, and life in general. And I am forever grateful to each one of you for playing a role in my time here at Cornerstone, a part of my life that I will never forget! Some of you were my RA, DC, RD, a hall council member, OTH buddy, a listening ear, friend, and a few of you don’t even go here, but you still impacted me in some way during the time I spent on this campus. I hope to come back and visit and be able to see y’all! Thanks again for everything!

Love Always,

Diana

We Three (My Echo, My Shadow & Me)

Well, this is going to be a new process for me! I have always kind of liked the idea of a blog and being able to get out what is on my mind, but have never brought myself to write one....until now. So I guess here goes nothing!

The purpose of finally deciding to write this is to help me in the transition of transferring schools. For those who don't know, I am going to be transferring from Cornerstone to Benedictine University (Lisle, IL) at the completetion of this semester. I thought this would be a good way, for those who want to, to keep up with me and see what I am up to at my new school. I am hoping that it will help me mentally be able to deal with the change as well. Because for those of you who know me well...you know that I do NOT do good with change, and this is a pretty big one! It will be a journey, and it is one I believe that God is leading me to, so I am jumping in head first, but not gonna lie....I am really scared!

Now I think the title of the blog deserves some explaination. Once I decided I was going to write this blog, I was stuggling to come up with a title. I mean what do you really call a blog that is supposed to be about the journey of your life, or for me, about transferring schools and dealing with change, without sounding too cliche? So, I turned to my all time favorite show hoping it would help! (Sidenote: I have three favorite shows [One Tree Hill, Grey's Anatomy, and Private Practice] and I was going to work my way down the list, but I found it in the first show I looked through.) I decided to start looking through the episode titles of OTH, looking for something that would do. And I found it in Season 2! For those you who love OTH the content of the episode had nothing to do with what I chose, only the name. I did look through the rest of the seasons to see if there was anything else that I liked. And there were some. I also liked "All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone", but then I felt like I haven't really gotten to that point, I know I will get there, but I thought it might also make a good title for a post instead of for the entire blog. I also liked the title of this post "We Three (My Echo, My Shadow & Me)", but then I realized I only liked it because that is how I am feeling right now. I am currently stuck in my dark, boring room with only my echo, my shadow & me. The echo coming from the fact that I emptied most of my stuff out of my room yesterday, so there isn't much in here. And the final one I like was "I and Love and You", but then I decided that I liked that better as a closing for the posts as a reminder to all of you of how grateful I am that you are a part of my life! So, this brought me back to my original idea, and I just loved it! I think it fits, because breathing through the struggles I might feel I am enduring is important!

Ok, I just realized that I just gave a huge explaination for the title of this blog. Oh well! Now you know! I best be off now, I have much to do. I am pretty sure I will end up blogging later today, being that I really don't have anything to do today and everyone is in classes or busy! Also, I will post in here the note I wrote on facebook to all of my lovely friends whom I adore! Thanks for starting this journey with me, I appreciate it!

I and Love and You,

Diana