Katie’s Blog!

Well, here I am once again.  Only this time, I am a university graduate.  Yes, the time has finally come.  I have completed my undergraduate degree, and have “renested.”  Yes, that means I moved back home, and am living with my parents again.  However, that is what one does when one does not have a job.  :)   I hope to change this soon, really soon.  

Of all that has happened over the past month of  my life, I think that  you will enjoy hearing a little from my heart/mind instead of a bunch of boring details.  So here goes.

I have changed a whole lot over the last three and a half years.  I have had my ups and downs, and I have grown and have been molded into who I am today.  The most significant change that I see in myself is not so obvious to all.  I think differently than I did four years ago.  I think deeper, and wider, and broader, and well, more cynically.  However, that last one is not so glorious.  It does provide for some good laughs, but it is not who I want to be.  It is okay to be cynical once in a while, but there comes a point when it rules your life.  And instead of seeing everything for its negatives, I want to see the beauty in everything, nay, everyone.  This is something that God truly has to be in, because all I see is the human failures.  But God sees beyond these, and God knows what is beyond the failures that we hide behind.  I desire to know what is beyond the failures that each person is hiding behind, because that is where you finally find beauty and creativity, and amazing characteristics that no one takes time to search for in others.  And yet, we all secretly, and sometimes not so secretly long and yearn for someone- anyone to take the time, with true care and concern, to know us beyond our appearance.  Appearance is so much more than just the way we dress or do our hair – it’s the way we carry ourselves, it’s the words we speak when everyone is listening, and the things we do when everyone is watching.  

Knowing one another beyond appearance takes two, though.  There has to be trust on both sides, and openness on both sides.  It also takes prayer.  Praying for one another is vital to a deep, healthy relationship.  Prayer goes beyond what we see or know, or even feel.  In prayer a deep bond and love is formed through the love of Christ.

Alright, now I have began rambling.  :)  Here are a few random details about my life this past month that I will leave you with.    

• I apparently forgot how to drive in snow and ice, as I slid into a curb the first week I was back home.  However, I was driving my sister’s car.  Yeah, I bought her a new tire rim.  Praise God that it was pretty inexpensive to fix! 
• I didn’t straighten or curl my hair for an entire week after I graduated.  :)
• It has been extremely cold here, until this week when it was in the 60’s.  
• There was a lot of family time spent together at our house this past week – two days worth of ALL of us being sick.  Not the quality family time that is desired.  haha.  

…you have to figure out how to post again because everything has changed since the last time you posted.  Although, I have to say, I am excited about the new dashboard layout.  It seems cool, and in a few weeks I will have time to actually check it out.  :)  

So. . . . a lot has happened since I posted last.  (I think I should stop writing this because it seems to be in every post. . . .lol)  I had a wonderful, wonderful Thanksgiving.  I loved being at home, and spending time with family and friends.  Oh, and the Turkey dumplins were FANTASTIC, as always.  hehe.  Really, the break was pretty close to perfect.  (There were a few details that I would have tweaked if I could have. . . but nothing to write about.)  

However, the drive back was NOT so fun.  Let me start out by telling you that I have never seen so many people on the road at one time –EVER.  And I have done my share of traveling.   Not only was I almost constantly surrounded by cars, there was always two full lanes of traffic going the opposite direction.  Crazy I tell ya!  

So, it was snowing when I left Troy, and it was great.  However, the first sign of snow mixed with all of the traffic on the road made for a VERY crowded gas station in Troy.  After I waited a few minutes for my turn at the pump, I was minding my own business, getting my awesome, super-cheap gas.  Meanwhile, these two ladies pulled up on the other side of the pump.  When the driver got out of her car, she realized that the pump would not reach to her gas tank.  So, she got back in the car and her passenger got out and asked the person who was at the pump in front of them to move their car back a few inches.  Apparently this person was not agreeable to this solution, and the driver rolled down her window and said, “I only need like 6 more inches.  You just don’t know how to drive.”  All I could do was chuckle to myself, and when I got back in my car the perfect song for this situation came on the radio:  ”It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…”   

Ok, back to my drive.  About 45 min down the road, the snow turned into flat out rain.  So, I turned some Christmas music on (Just in case you are not in the loop:  there is Christmas music on 90% of the radio stations in every U.S. city the Sunday after Thanksgiving, so I had a plethora to choose from.).  Although I do not like driving in the rain, I do it enough that I tolerate it.  Until it gets dark.  And for those of you who have not noticed, it gets dark EXTREMELY early this time of year.   After driving in the rain and the dark with more people than I ever want to meet for about three hours I was done.  I was so frustrated with people who do not know how to drive, and with the constant splash from semi-trucks that I could have beat someone up.  So, I decided that I was going to sit down and eat at McD’s when I stopped at my half-way point, whether I was hungry or not.  About twenty to thirty minutes before I came to my stopping place, it stopped raining.  When I arrived at McD’s, I ordered my food and went to sit down.  I was searching in my purse for my hand sanitizer, when I found a BIG SOMETHING.  I had not put it there, and I did not think my parents had (found out later, that they had in fact, NOT put it there), and the only other place I had been was church.  So, someone wonderful at church had slipped a $50 bill into my not-so-little purse.  The thing  is, I really needed it.  I had just enough money for rent and such, but I was not sure how I was going to buy a little thing called groceries.  And $50 was just enough to buy what I need to get me through these last few weeks.  

Do I need to tell you that I had a little attitude adjustment in McD’s that night?  I really felt like God was telling me that everything is going to be alright.  Everything- all that I was worried about, and stressed out about.  (Which is a whole lot at this point in my life.)  

So, I continued down the road, a much happier driver.  It hardly rained the rest of the way, and traffic in Nashville was nothing to talk about (I was really worried about this, and I found out later that it took people two to three extra hours to get through Knoxville that same day…).  The thing that topped it off, though, was going down the mountain.  There is a very steep grade between Nashville and Chatty on I-24.  I have driven this road more times than I can count.  I absolutely hate when I get stuck behind someone who is riding their brakes.  Yes, you have to use your brakes when going down this mountain, but riding them is so bad on your brakes.  Last time I came this way, I got stuck behind someone who was riding their brakes.  And they were going the same speed as the truck that was next to me, and I had no where to go.  It was aggravating to say the least.  But this time was perfect.  Everyone who was in front of me and going slower than I was, got over into the other lane, like you are supposed to.  It was fantastic.  

I am so thankful for the little things, and the HUGE things God blesses me with.  

I want to leave you with two more lists I have compiled (see previous post).

Most played songs on the radio (learned from 7 hours in a car by myself, and divided by genre):

• Christmas:  Do you see what I see? (several artists, but I think it is Carrie Underwood who wins the award here)
• Country:  Love Story (Taylor Swift)
• Other:  Womanizer (Brittney Spears)

T.V. Series that I want to watch way too much of after I graduate:

• Gilmore Girls
• Prison Break (I have only watched the first two or three episodes of this season!  sad day!)
• Lost
• Friends (I know this is not the best show morality wise, but it brings back good memories, and makes me laugh nonetheless)
• I forget the others at the moment, but there are others. hehe.  

And lastly, I have to tell you that in exactly a week I will be sitting in the first of the two graduation ceremonies.  But before I can do that, I must finish my last research paper and last three final exams.  And in order to do that, I must go to bed now, at 8:30 on a Friday night, my last Friday night as a college student.  And I couldn’t be happier about it -in fact, have been anticipating this moment from before I got out of bed this morning.  HAHA!  (This week has been one of the most physically draining weeks of my life, and I have a full week ahead of me.)  

Thank you all, for your prayers and support.  I love you, and appreciate you.