What I've learned thus far...

well, it's been a while since I've been on here...

This semester is almost over! CRAZY! I have 2 school days left and then finals! I only have 2 finals I have to take, which is fabulous. Only one of the 2 finals I have is cumulative so I don't really think this week will be stressful studying at all.

Well a lot has happened over the past couple of months. I've been through a lot, grown a lot, and learned a lot. I've lost some close to me because of death and others just because of broken relationships that have ended. But with the ending of some relationships, I have found the beginning of others. Others that I know will last.

I've learned to appreciate the little things in life... like not having to wear flip flops in the showers at home like I have to in the dorms. Or like walking a short distance to the refrigerator when I want something to eat/drink at home verses walking downstairs into the market to wait in line and PAY for a drink or snack. Or having to save up quarters to do laundry instead of just putting my clothes in the laundry basket for my mom to so kindly wash for me. There are SO many things I have come to realize that I have SO easy at home, that I have just taken advantage of for so long.

I've learned that a Daddy is the only man a girl can really trust (in this point in my life anyway) and that when there seems like there is no hope anywhere in reach, God is just around the corner. I've learned that sometimes what I WANT isn't necessarily what I NEED. I've learned to be completely content with where God has me right now. I've learned that there are people who care and will always be there, no matter what, and those are the friends to hold on to.

I've learned that there will be days when I just want to lay in bed all day and cry, but if I just get up and move forward, God will make it worth while. And I know there will be days where I don't feel like anything was worth my while, but that doesn't change the fact that I have a God looking out for me, who loves me, who wants me to run to Him so He can hold my hand and lead me through whatever troubles face me...and sometimes doing that is the hardest thing, but it just comes down to trust. And faith. That's what it's all about.

Hebrews 11 has really gotten me through a lot. It's all about faith and that's what I've relied on. I don't understand everything that happens, but I still have faith that God loves me, He has a plan, and He will never leave me.

I am writing this as I sit in Barnes & Noble with some friends...we came here to study, yet I always somehow seem to get distracted, so instead I updated my blog

:)

That's all for now.

College Part 4

I have now experienced my first homecoming as a Midland Christian ALUMNI...

MCS homecoming was September 25, and I made the short drive back home for it and 4 friends from Tech came back with me: Sergio, Ryan, Lauren, and Emma. These 4 have become some of my very closest friends! They got to experience a Friday Night Light Football game at Mustang Field with MCS beating Breckenridge. Getting to see some of my old high school friends was a lot of fun.

While we were in Midland I took my friends to 2 of my favorite local restaurants:

Murray's and Carambas! We ate at Murray's before the football game on Friday night and on Saturday we ate at Carambas before we went back to my house to watch the Texas Tech-Houston football game.

Texas Tech lost to Houston by one point and it was quite an upsetting loss...

Let's just say it wasn't the most fun evening in the Guthrie household after the game.

We went to church at GCR on Sunday, ate at La Bodega, and headed back to the LBK!

Sunday night I worked at the South Plains Fair in the Wesley Foundation booth!

The Wesley Foundation is who puts on "Underground" which is the service I attend on Thursday nights. I worked the booth with 2 of my friends that I met at Foundation and who also go to Underground. We had a lot of fun working together.

The next week I experienced my first round of tests in a few of my classes! They went pretty well and I have a few more tests coming up this week! Classes are all still going well, and I'm still enjoying the college life!

This weekend was family weekend at Texas Tech. Friday evening my parents and my aunt and uncle (David and Debra) drove up to Lubbock in David and Debra's motor home. We cooked out steaks and sat around the fire pit Friday night. We even got in a cigar-smoking session for the boys! Sergio and another one of my new friends, Taylor, stepped in to fill the "son" positions to smoke with Dad since Cody Hammond and Jay Cunningham (who usually enjoy an evening of smoking cigars with my dad) are in College Station. Saturday before the game we cooked out hamburgers for lunch before heading over to watch the game.

Tech played the University of New Mexico and won...thanks in part to our back-up quarterback, Steven Sheffield. We did not play well the entire first half and our primary QB, Taylor Potts, was really struggling. With less than a minute to go before half-time, Potts took a hard hit and got a concussion. He went off the field and Sheffield took over. With about 40 seconds left Sheffield marched our offense down the field and managed to get a touchdown in before time expired for half-time! He continued to play very well, making several great completions throughout the second half leading us to a 48-28 victory over the New Mexico Lobos.

That's pretty much it for now...

Tech plays Kansas State next week and hopefully we can get another W in the book!

WRECK EM!

College Part 3

Today is my roommate Patrice's birthday and one of her sorority sisters just brought a slice of cake to the room so we split it and it was delicious, so I'm in a great mood right now

:)

This weekend was the big weekend for Tech football...the Tech-UT game!

Most of my friends went down to Austin either for the game or to just go be in the crazy environment for College Gameday! I, however, did not go to Austin. I went to Ruidoso with my sister, her boyfriend Joel, my aunt and uncle (David & Debra) and my dad! My mom was not with us because she was in San Diego with her family for her and my Grandma's birthdays!

When we got to Ruidoso it was about 55 degrees...it was GREAT!

We ate at Alto Country Club Friday night for dinner and got free peppermint martinis!

(peppermint ice cream with strawberries and whipped cream served in a martini glass)

Then Saturday night we watched the game. The spread was in Texas' favor (17.5 pts) and most people said that Texas would KILL Tech! Not so much...

Tech played pretty awesome and really proved themselves! Even though Tech had several opportunities to make it an even closer game, we lost. The final score was 24-34 UT. It was a great game!

The weekend in Ruidoso was fabulous. It's always great to just get away for the weekend and spend time with family!

School is still going well. I had my first test today and it was in my Mass Communications class. I think I did fairly well, but I guess we'll see when I get the grade back! haha

Well that's really all I have to say this time... I hope everyone is doing great back home!

College Part 2

Well, here I am, 3 weeks into this whole college thing and it feels like I've been here a lot longer than that...I also thought that I would have time to keep this thing updated - HA! I barely have time to sleep! I have been unbelievably busy with my social life, church, my social life, church, my social life, a little bit of school, church, and my social life...and I have loved every minute of it!

I have visited 3 different churches since I've been here: Trinity, Experience Life, and Redeemer! They are all great churches, but I think I see myself going to Experience Life. I love it there. It is a new church (they just had their 2 year anniversary this past Sunday!) and I just really feel like God brought me there for a reason! I am also going to visit First Baptist. They have a college service that I have been to before, but I haven't been since I've moved up here as a college student! I really feel like Experience Life is where I will go, but I definitely still want to keep my options open! My best friend, Sarah, found a church she loves called Church on the Rock that she wants me to visit with her, so I will probably go try it out there too. There are SO many awesome churches to choose from!

I have also been going to a college service called Underground on Thursday nights. It is put on by the Wesley Foundation at Tech. It has great fellowship, worship, and an awesome message. It has really been a HUGE blessing since I've been here.

Now, onto other things... like TEXAS TECH FOOTBALL!

We have now had 2 games, both at home. The season opener was against North Dakota and we won 38-13! Every game there are different groups of people who get together and paint up for the game... they paint their bodies and put a letter on each person, spelling out some phrase. I was a part of one of those groups at this game! We painted up black and one of the groups spelled out "A Boy Named Sioux" (we were playing the fighting sioux) and the other group spelled out "Trail of Tears"

It was so much fun! The game started at 6, the gates opened at 4, but we were there at 1:30 waiting to get in! We hung out at the student entrance for 2 and 1/2 hours and painted up about 45 minutes before the gates opened. The gates opened, we rushed in, claimed our seats, and saved the ones around us for the people who weren't dedicated enough to come 4 and 1/2 hours early, but still wanted to sit with us! haha

The game wasn't the best played game by Texas Tech, but a win is a win!

This past weekend was a pretty packed weekend for me!

Friday night was the annual BYX Barn Dance! BYX is a Christian fraternity at Texas Tech and each year they put on a country dance for anyone who wants to come! So Friday night rolled around and we put on our dresses and boots and headed out to the barn dance! Sarah and Morgan are 2 high school friends that came to Tech, but our other friend, Kaleigh, stayed at Midland College. Kaleigh got to come up this weekend for Barn Dance and the game though! It was so great getting to hang out with the 4 of us just like in high school!

Saturday was Allison's 21st birthday so at midnight after Barn Dance we went to a restaurant and bar called Cricket's! The next day we went to eat with my mom and dad and then went back to their hotel room for birthday cake! Then, like the week before, I went over to the stadium entirely too early for the game, but it's always a blast! I didn't paint up this weekend; I just sat and enjoyed the game in my comfy, warm clothes! (it was cold and overcast the whole weekend) We beat Rice 55-10! We looked a lot better compared to last weeks game against ND, but I'm still nervous about this coming weekend as the guys head down to Austin for ESPN's College Gameday against UT!

My time up here has been great, but I miss everyone back home. I hear the volleyball girls beat DSL for the first time in 6 years?! I'm really sad I missed that! Maybe they can carry that over to basketball! :)

I'll be back in Midland in 2 weeks for homecoming so I can't wait to see everyone then!

First Week

Wow...I've been in Lubbock for a whole week now!

Well I guess I will update you on what's been going on in my life.

The 3 days before I moved up to Tech I went on a retreat called Foundation Camp. This was put on by Tech students and it was just a way to get plugged in with other incoming freshmen who are seeking Christ. There were over 250 campers and it was AMAZING. It was an incredible few days and I met some really great people. The friends I've spent most of this past week with in Lubbock are the friends I met at Foundation. It was a great time of growing closer to God while building solid relationships with fellow believers! Foundation was a HUGE blessing and helped make the transition to Tech a lot easier.

However, there was one down side to Foundation camp...

We played different games while we were there, one of which was called flamingo football. In flamingo football, it was guys vs. girls and we just played football, but the guys feet were tied together. Even though their feet were tied together and had to hop around, if they got close enough to whoever had the ball, they could tackle them. One time I was running the ball and I got tackled from the side and ended up tearing my MCL and meniscus. The MCL did not completely tear, so I don't have to have surgery, but I have to wear this huge brace for 6 weeks which isn't fun. After those 6 weeks I'll go back to the doctor and see if I need to get my knee scoped for the cartilage.

Oh, but even though I got hurt, I scored the touchdown

:)

Needless to say, move-in day was not easy...

Well, actually, it was very easy for ME! I sat in my room and told my family where to put all of my stuff since I couldn't help carry anything in! haha

Now, a week later, I am almost completely settled and have my dorm almost completely set up the way I want it! One of my friends I met at Foundation and one of my friend's mom came in and helped hang stuff up on the walls since I was a little helpless, crippled girl and couldn't do it myself... haha

My roommate, Patrice, is from Allen, Texas and she is awesome! She's SO sweet!

I didn't know her before, but it's been great so far!

I've been to each of my classes once and they went well. I go from about 9am-noon every day and it's been nice having the afternoon to do whatever I need to do. I am taking 16 hours and I'm taking intro to mass communications, atmospheric science, history, intro to journalism, and contemporary math.

Last Sunday, I went with 2 of my best friends from Midland to Trinity Church and we really enjoyed it. It was a great church, but we still want to visit a lot of different churches. Tomorrow we are going to a non-denominational church called Experience Life, and we have a few more picked out that we want to try out. Because of Foundation, we've had so many different connections to different churches which is great because now we have a lot of different options!

Well that is just a little taste of my life as a college student! It's now 2:53am and I think I'm going to try to get some sleep! Yes, I blogged at nearly 3am...because that's the ONLY time I have to do this! haha

I know there are many more stories and memories to be made and can't wait to see what God has in store for me!

welcome to my mind...

well, i really have no idea who all (if anyone) will read this...so i guess i will use it kind of as a journal, or a place to vent when needed.

de·pressed (d-prst) adj.

low in spirits; filled with melancholy and despondency

I just returned from possibly the most incredible trip of my life. I spent 12 days in Kenya, Africa. I have ALWAYS wanted to go to Africa and work with kids over there. It's been a dream of mine, but I just never got the chance to go. This year, an opportunity came up and I jumped on it as fast as I could! 36 people gathered at Midland International Airport on July 17, 2009 about to embark on one of the most intense, draining, trying, yet amazing adventures of our lives. We had gone to countless meetings, trying to become prepared for what awaited us on the other side of the world. We thought we knew what was coming; we thought we knew what to expect. WE WERE WRONG. I'm not entirely sure WHAT we were expecting, but I do know that what we got was not it.

Let me start out by saying that Kenya, Africa is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been…but also one of the worst. There is such beautiful scenery and the people are wonderful, but the reality is that it IS a third world country, and a completely different lifestyle. There is so much poverty, it’s extremely dirty, and very crowded. The number of people in this small of an area is unbelievable. The people, however, are incredible. Yes, I know I only spent time with people at the orphanages, so I may be blinded to how everyone else is, but the other strangers we encountered were such a blessing as well. They were all kind, welcoming, and very helpful whenever we needed it.

The time spent at the orphanages...I can't even begin to describe it all...

There is just something about traveling to a 3rd world country on the other side of the world, going to an orphanage to bring joy to these children, see how little they have, but see how much happier they actually are than we are. I think that "something" is a slap in the face, a reality check, a very humbling experience...

These kids have no parents, have 1 or 2 pairs of clothes, very little (and extremely unappealing) food, no running water, awful diseases and sicknesses spread throughout their orphanage, and just live in down-right horrible conditions, and they are full of TRUE HAPPINESS and are genuinely content.

*REALITY CHECK: most of us have ALL of our needs met on a daily basis, and hardly ever are deprived of anything we even WANT... yet when we don't get that one tiny thing we do want, we throw a fit

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS?! WHAT IS WRONG WITH US?!

I really came to understand that it's NOT about the material things we have, it's not about how much money we have or how big our house is or what kind of car we drive... after all, most people in the rest of the world don't even have their very own car...but it's about what we do with our life and how we choose to glorify GOD!

These people we spent 12 days with were happy, and loving, and absolutely PRECIOUS.

They yearn for God, they yearn for His will, they yearn for HEAVEN.

They live with HOPE. They live in a way that pleases God. They live so that one day they will receive that promise of SALVATION, and so they will see their Savior face to face.

THAT is what true love and happiness is about.

We are equal with every other person on this earth...we are no better, no worse, no different...WE ARE ALL GOD'S CHILDREN!

We are all the same because we ALL have the SAME promise of SALVATION!

Now, you may be wondering why I started this post the way I did

depressed...

it comes and goes a lot. it comes at the end of trips, at the end of summer, and after an extreme high in my life, like I just had.

It's a mixture of so many different emotions.

Exhaustion, sadness, confusion, fear...

I am exhausted...exhausted from this entire summer, physically and emotionally.

I've basically been living out of a suitcase.

I haven't been home much at all; travel, travel, travel.

My emotions have been up and down in so many different ways.

I am overwhelmed with sadness... because I have realized what a broken world we live in, because I can do all I want but I can't fix it, because several of those I love the most still don't know the unconditional love they could have from God, because I miss those I met and spent hours and even days with in Africa and I want so badly to be there with them again, because I look ahead 3 weeks to when I move to Lubbock and I know I will desperately miss my family and friends who won't be going with me...

I am left here confused...why me? why was I born here? why am I so blessed? what did I do to deserve it? what can I do to bring the Kingdom of God into others lives when I feel so broken myself? why, why, why?

I am fearful for these fourth days...what if I forget? what if I go back to the selfish attitude I had before? what if OTHERS forget? what if we get back into the routine at home and forget what we saw, what we experienced?

My mind in a mess right now.. I honestly don't know what all I wrote tonight, I just began typing and this is what the end result was

take it for what it is... and know that God is a God of power, love, FORGIVENESS, and a God who wants to know you and have a relationship with you... go find Him

Blessings -

xoxo

Steph