oh how I've grown...

Today my boss handed me a card (from the enrollment celebration party that I missed today) that said the following:

"Danielle, you have grown so much! When you first came to the GSB*- as a freshman- you had a look of surprise on your face most of the time- sort of shy- pretty, okay very, quiet- a little reserved didn't know a whole lot about how business offices operate- certainly not a lot of outward confidence. But- always with a light that is shining- always with a sweet voice- sweet spirit- one that reflects the love of the Lord in everything she does. Now- WOW! Talkative! Confident! Laughs! Has a way of showing others "I Can Help!" Thank you, Danielle!"

She read this outloud to our office...and a few others. Ha. Little does she know I've always been the same talkative girl...I just needed some time to adjust!

I thought it was pretty humorous. OH, and my card came with a bookmark that has a fairy and says "get your sparkle on"! That pretty much topped it off for me ;)

Okay, now I'm off to homegroup and then studying my life/week away! Hope everyone is having a good night!


*GSB (for those of you that are completely uninformed) is the Graduate School of Business, where I work on campus.

No. Me. Gusta.

School is starting to get ridiculous. I actually had to turn down an invite to a social outing tomorrow (something I rarely get these days) so that I can stay in and study for History of Christianity test Wednesday. I'd normally just study for it the night before, but I can't because I have an event for work Tuesday night! Not. Cool.

In other news, I've watched like 10 episodes of Police Women of Broward County this weekend, and it kinda makes me want to be a cop. Seriously. Maybe I'll lead a double life one day: Children's Minister by day... Crime Fighting Heroine by night ;)

Law and Order: 4102

**In the average college students schedule, achieving a deep, restorative sleep is considered especially vital. In Dallas, Texas, the students who don't get enough sleep are members of an elite squad known as apartment 4102. These are their stories. [insert cool law and order sound effect here: DUM DUM].**


Ok, so I am officially convinced the universe was against me having a good nights sleep last night. First, I woke up a little after midnight (I had only been asleep like 5-10 minutes) feeling really nauseous. Very unusual for me, so I got up and my lovely roommate got up with me and medicated me while I sat in our living room waiting for my stomach to quit doing somersaults. So we hung out of the couch for a while...watched some TV and around 1:30 I decided I was feeling well enough to give this whole sleeping thing another shot.

Well unfortunately our fire alarm had different plans. Around 3:20am I woke up to three PIERCING beeps coming from somewhere in our apartment. I tried to convince myself to fall back asleep, but it was no use. Every 3-7 minutes we'd hear the same noise. So all four of us got up, and started searching our apartment, checking that our oven wasn't left on and burning us down, etc etc...until eventually we decided we should call security so someone could come fix our problem.

Twenty minutes later, and there was still NO security and that alarm was STILL beeping. Ugh. So we call again...waited another 10-15 minutes, until finally I decided to go out looking for security. Yea, sounds a lot more brave than it is, trust me. It turns out he was on the other side of our breezeway just standing, staring off in the distance. Well, we finally corral him in, explain our situation, and he doesn't know what to do! At this point it was pretty laughable since it was creeping closer to 4 am and we still had no solution to the problem. So he calls another security officer, we wait another 10 minutes for him to get there, and once the second guy arrives he realizes we need someone from Apartment Life and calls the "head honcho guy" who gets there in a matter of minutes.

They discussed the problem for a while (it was the alarm in my bedroom...only a few feet away from my coveted bed), and finally decided they'd have to pull the alarm out and disconnect it for the night. Which, when all was said and done, only took like 2 minutes. Awesome.

Needless to say, I didn't even get to crawl back in to bed until a little after 4, and even then I had trouble falling asleep and probably didn't actually snooze until 4:30-4:45. Leaving me with a grand total of 4.5-5 hours of sleep, with no more than 2.5 hours at a time.

But at the moment I seem to be doing ok. I slept through Greek and have every intention of trying to get off work early, so hopefully that all pans out. All I know is that at the moment I am about ready to smash the next fire alarm I see...

I love my church

Can I just say that I REALLY love my church?! After a long search for a church home, it is such a good feeling to know that I've found a place where I can plug in and really grow in the Word and in fellowship with other believers.

Last Sunday was week two in our ten week series on Progressive Sanctification and it was such a challenging (not to mention painful) sermon to hear. Matt spoke on walking in the light and in fellowship with God from 1 John, and it not only made me completely reevaluate my life and my sins, but it made me look at repentance and redemption in a completely new light (I highly recommend the podcast).

But it's not just the speaking that makes The Village such a great church home...I mean, anyone who has heard Matt Chandler can attest to the fact that he is a phenomenal speaker...but it's more than that. It's the fact that the entire church staff is dedicated to transforming people through the power of the Gospel. It's the fact that it offers and encourages deep, intimate community and authentic relationships. It's the fact that even though it has grown tremendously over the last few years, it is still dedicated to serving people inside and outside the church walls.

My homegroup consists of about 10-13 girls from DBU that are committed to serving Christ and letting Him transform their lives. It has been such a huge blessing to see their hearts and know that there are other people struggling, failing, but still pursuing an intimate relationship with Christ. I can't say enough how grateful I am to be able to fellowship and grow with such a great group of girls and to be a part of such an awesome church. I know everyone probably feels this way about their church (or at least I hope they do), but I just feel so blessed to be able to be involved with The Village.

"The Village Church exists to bring glory to God through lives transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ. We desire to live and serve as a community of God's people throughout the city of Dallas exhibiting and extending the love and hope of Jesus Christ." -Steve Hardin, Lead Associate Pastor

Restless, Reformed and Single

I don't know about you, but I know that when I'm trying to decide if someone is dateable, the first thought in my head is almost always "I wonder how the Doctrines of Grace have changed or affected his life?"!

Finally, a site for someone like ME ;)

SoverignGrace.com finds love for Calvinists everywhere

P.S. If I was ever going to use this site my name would be RighteousReformista. Just so you know.

It Burns SOO Good

Tonight, for the first time in a long time, I decided to go for a jog around campus...and it was glorious! I've never been one of those people who could just ease in to working out (or anything else for that matter) so I just dove right in. We have this jogging trail around the outer edge of campus that is perfect for nights like this. It has been rainy here for the past couple of days, so outside was misty and cool and the paths were soft and sloppy.

I'm not normally a big "jogger", but I forget sometimes how good it feels to just run. After sitting at a desk all day it was nice to just let loose.

Needless to say I came back drenched in sweat and covered in mud, and chances are tomorrow I'll be walking funny...but it was worth it :) This might have to become my new Monday night routine...

The Awesome List

Music
Michael Buble
Frank Sinatra
Patsy Cline
Johnny Cash
Ray Charles

Songs
Revelation Song- Kari Jobe (still stuck in my head from chapel last week)
Give Me Jesus- Jeremy Camp
'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus (I've been singing this one all morning. SOO good.)
Georgia- Ray Charles (I could listen to this song over and over and over and never get tired of it)
Feeling Good- Michael Buble

TV Shows
18 and Counting! (I love me some Duggars)
Law and Order SVU ( they've been showing marathons lately AND the new season starts soon!)
Say Yes to the Dress
Make it or Break it (even though it's technically over, it's still playing in my mind ;))

Time Wasters
Napping (something I NEVER get to do anymore)
Procrastinating
Talking with friends
Reading about motherhood/marriage (I know, I know...I'm WAY ahead of the curve)
Cooking/Cleaning (I feel bad saying this is a time waster, but lately I feel like that's all I do when I'm at my apartment)

Foods
Fruit
Chicken
Pasta
Bucky's Fudge (two stops in one weekend! ha)

Classes
History of Christianity
Intro to Religious Education
Greek (even though I secretly hate all the work)

Phrases
Perf! (I sing-songy-say this a dozen times a day)
Look at me, Look at me! (this can also be replaced with "check me out, check me out!"... and for the record, I only say this to my roommates. ha.)
OHHHH, you would. (in order to say this correctly you must put the emphasis on the "OHHHH", and say "you would" very disapprovingly.)

Topics
Acts/The Early Church
Cooking
The future (mine or other people's)

Acts 4: 5-12

5 On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, 6 with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. 7 And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, 9 if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, 10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. 11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Acts 4:5-12

I have been reading through Acts bit by bit, and so far it has been AWESOME (it helps that I also get to talk about what's going on and the background of it in History of Christianity ;)). Today I got to read this, and it was definitely something I needed/wanted to read and re-read and re-read over again.

"for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved"

I get chill bumps just thinking about it.

Kaitlyn says hi!

My sister sent me this picture of Kaitlyn in an email and I'm sorry, but could she be any more precious?!

Blessed

I know I've said this before, but I am so blessed. I'm blessed to have the family and friends I have, I'm blessed to go to a university committed to offering a Christ-centered education, and most of all I'm blessed to know and live in the saving grace of Jesus Christ.


Today was the first chapel in our new chapel building, and it was wonderful. Kari Jobe (a DBU alumni. whoop ;)) lead worship and we had a string of different uppity-up's speak, but all that was to be expected. I feel like lot of people complain about chapel (probably because we have to go twice a week every week), and even though their reasons sound valid, I just don't get it. For me there is something really special about getting to worship with other believers, especially 3000 of my closest classmates ;). But seriously, today it was beautiful...there's nothing like hearing a huge group of students sing...

"Jesus your name is power, breath and living water"

Listening to people worship never gets old.

Quirks

Today I've been thinking a lot about quirks. I mean, we've all got 'em...right? Lord knows my roommates have them! What even qualifies something as a quirk? Does it have to be weird? Does it have to be unique?

All I know is that I love getting a glimpse of people's weird quirks (especially the unexpected ones!). So without further ado, here are some of my own:

1. Most of you probably already know this, but I really don't like for people to touch me unnecessarily. Example: Today I was sitting at my desk at work and an acquaintance/friend came up behind me and rubbed my shoulders for a couple seconds. Completely unnecessary and unpleasant. To add insult to injury, it was a boy. Double gross.
2. I have this compulsive desire to always be on time...even if "on time" to me means 15 minutes late. Once I have a set time I think I need to be somewhere, that's what time you can expect me. DD.
3. I could eat frozen berries by the gallon. I think I've had them every day since I've been up at school. Regular berries aren't as good...they've gotta be frozen.
4. I feel like this is a common one, but even though I can text all day and night, chances are I'm still going to be a complete train-wreck on the phone.
5. I'd rather be barefoot. All. The. Time. Example: I was reading an article the other day about how all men who agree with the complementarian viewpoint probably have wives that are "barefoot and pregnant" all the time... which made me laugh, because that's exactly what I want out of life ;)
   
6. I type out my thoughts on my leg (or whatever is closest). I'm pretty sure this makes me look crazy, but I usually don't notice when I'm doing it.
7. I don't brush my hair unless I have to. At most I'll do it once a week.
8. I learned to read by sight-reading (instead of phonetically) and because of it I am HORRIBLE at spelling, I skip letters/words when I read, and I have a terrible time with pronunciations.
9. To this day, I still hold on to the grocery cart when I go to the super-market. Especially if I'm with my Mom. Old habits die hard...
10. Even if my entire body is still, chances are my tongue is still moving. I used to play games as a kid (counting things using my tongue on the inside of my mouth, etc etc), so now I can't help it.
    
11. I crack my back every night before I go to sleep. First I twist to the right, then to the left.
12. I always eat ice-cream out of a mug. If I'm really craving it I'll go for a glass.
13. The only place I'm ticklish is on the back of my neck, and even then it takes a skilled hand...
14. Even though I'm am optimist, I always play out worst case scenarios in my head. Not the typical "what if mamaw died...", it's more like a visual image of what would happen if I fell off a motorcycle. On the freeway. Without a helmet.
    
15. This is more of a Black Death quirk, but I always assign characters in movies (and sometimes books) to people I know.
16. I always fold my trash if I can (as opposed to rumpling it up).
    

So there you have it. I probably have more, but I figured these would suffice!

P.S. Feel free to leave some of your quirks in the comments :)