Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011

I cannot believe that it is New Years Eve.  I feel like this year has gone by very quickly.  Then again, I'm pretty sure it always feels that way.  Tonight to bring in the new year, I'm going to my friend Linsey's house because in the morning, aka 6 am, we are leaving for Passion!  Passion is this amaaaaazing conference for college kids in Atlanta, Georgia.  There are tons of great speakers and musicians packed into a 4 day span.  I am really excited because I've never been before but I've heard a ton about it.  (if you want to know more, click here)

Looking back over the year, I can't believe everything I've done.  Here is a look back at some things:

• Got my first failing test grade in college :(
• Got my first 100 test grade in college! (in physics, no less)
• Went to Detroit, Michigan for a mission trip where I also celebrated my birthday

• Got to sit in a really nice camero, aka bumblebee from transformers

• Finished my first year of college!
• Watch my sister graduate from college

•  got asked to be my sister's maid of honor at her wedding to her fiance, kyle

•  Did an amazing, wonderful, life changing bible study by reading a book called Radical by David Platt.  I highly recommend this to anyone who wants to grow in their faith by challenging it and by looking at our religion from a new perspective.
• Got a new job at an amazing organic makeup company, Afterglow Cosmetics where I am a "fulfillment specialist".  In other words, I help pack the makeup and get it ready to ship out, as well as put the powder into the correct containers and things of that nature.  Not the most exciting job, but pays well and I get to listen to my ipod all day as well as work with some amazing new friends
• Made some new friends, especially Sally Claire & Sam.  I work with Sally Claire and I have to admit, we are basically the same person.  We get along great, sing together, and we beast in catch phrase.  Sam is my new suite mate who I met in the beginning of 2010, but come August and we start living together, I love this girl.  We yell at each other, laugh at each other, and study organic together.  I am very thankful that she is my suite mate & not some weird smelly kid ;)

Me & Sam at a State Game

•  Got in my first wreck :( poor billy (my old car)
• Got a new car! Elphaba, aka elphy, who is a 1999 honda accord
• Got my first & second pair of TOMS.  I love them!

• Went to an ingrid michaelson concert with the rooms, which was the best concert I've ever been to
• Went to Rascal Flatts with some amazing friends

• Changed my major from Textile Engineering to Human Biology so I can go to Physical Therapy school
• Won tickets to a Kings of Leon concert
• Declared a minor in Health, Medicine and Human Values
• Lost two aunts, my Aunt Sue and Aunt Memory within a week of each other
• Broke my big toe
• Had a white Christmas!

•  Oh yeah, started a blog!

I have done many many many other wonderful things, as well as some sad things have happened to me, but 2010 was a great year and I'm looking forward to 2011. Right now, I have to finish packing, aka start, and get ready to ring in the new year!  I hope every one has a great new year!

Merry Christmas!

<sup>Luke 2:1-20

1</sup>And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.
 ²(And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
 ³And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
 ⁴And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
 ⁵To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
 ⁶And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
 ⁷And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
 ⁸And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
 ⁹And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
 ¹⁰And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
 ¹¹For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
 ¹²And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
 ¹³And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
 ¹⁴Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
 ¹⁵And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
 ¹⁶And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
 ¹⁷And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.
 ¹⁸And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
 ¹⁹But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.
 ²⁰And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and got a chance to spend time with family and friends!

Cupcakes!

So a couple of weeks ago I found this great recipe for gingerbread cupcakes and I asked my mom if we could make them.  Of course, being the bakers that we are, she said yes.  Every year at Christmas time my mom bakes a TON and I help out as much as possible. 

    *side note about me: I LOVE baking shows, cupcakes, cakes, decorating, ect. I would love to decorate cakes or cupcakes for a living.

Last night we got started kinda late making our cupcakes because we had gone out to eat with some family friends of ours & did a gift exchange, so the first ingredient didn't get mixed until 10 or so.  Baking is a great bonding time for my mom and I because we both enjoy it so much and it's fun to do something that is just the two of us.  Even more fun, is when an exciting wonderful great amazing funny friend comes and joins!

My friend Linsey came over so we could exchange gifts!

 This was one of my gifts from her.  It's a teepee - cause she's Indian.  hahaha. And the picture of her is in it so I can put it on my desk next semester to think of her while she's in stinky Costa Rica :(

There were other gifts, but this was the BEST ONE. 

By the time Linsey got to my house, the first batch of cupcakes were in the oven.  We were kinda sad that the recipe only made 12 cupcakes (we weren't sure at the beginning how many it would make)  and even though we had already put up almost all our ingredients, we decided to make another batch with Linsey's help!  The best part of making the cupcakes was decorating them with the delicious frosting we made.  Here are some pictures of our decorating times.

 This cupcake had a sunken hole in the middle, so we put a teddy gram there. His name is Cletus.

 Linsey gave him a santa hat & santa suit

 We them gave him a blanket so he could go to bed & wait for Santa to come!

I had so much fun baking & decorating these cupcakes!  It was great to have bonding time with my mom & great to have bonding time with Linsey.  Since we go to two different schools, we don't get to see each other that often.  She always makes me laugh :)  I can't wait to go to passion with her next week!  

 These pictures kinda sum up our friendship

Remember! only TWO DAYS until christmas!

Poor Computer :(

So my laptop has a virus on it :( It is currently at the computer doctor (aka a friend of the families who is really good with computers) hopefully I will have it back tomorrow.  I have pictures I would like to upload from my time since I've been home from school, but I can't upload them to my home computer because I don't have the right cords.

Oh well, they should be up soon.

Tonight I made two batches of brownies - Ghiradelli dark chocolate and ghiradelli caramel turtle :) they are for my christmas lunch at work tomorrow.  I really would like to eat them now - however, I know that is not an option. 

Random post, but hopefully when I get my computer back there will be more.

God & Science

First, let me start by saying this is the perfect song to describe the mood I'm in right now:  HALLELUJAH!

Today I officially finished my 3rd semester at State by taking my Biology exam.  I switched my major to biology last year, even though if you would have asked me my opinion on biology in high school I would have told you quickly how much I did not like it (I think it's because I did not have a good teacher).  However, now I absolutely LOVE biology.  I have a great professor and something about it just clicks for me.  The last part of our class, and the majority of our final, was on the human digestive system & heart. 

What amazes me is how intricate our entire body is.  Everything has a purpose [unless it's vestigial, like your appendix ;) ] and everything works together.  If one thing was/is off, your entire body can shut down very quickly.  On the other hand, if something is off our bodies know what to do in order to help get back to normal.  I loved learning about the heart and all the functions that has.  The way the blood flows and pumps in and out of our heart & lungs & throughout our body is very specific and perfect for us. 

The more I study biology the more I realize how much thought God put into making our bodies & our environment.  Our oxygen levels must be just so, this limb must meet this limb like this, our bodies need these chemicals in order to function, ect.  How do people think that this happened by chance?  I understand that not everybody believes in the same God I do or believes that we were formed by his awesome & loving hands, but how can our bodies, which have more miracles in them than anything else (in my opinion) happen by chance?  To me the idea that one day a long time ago there was a big bang and the earth is the way it is with us on it and just happening to work perfectly seems much more far fetched than believing that their is a God who made us this way with a purpose.  I cannot wait to take my future biology classes that deal with things on the more cellular level with things like genetics to see how exactly it is our body works.  I feel like these classes, while they may be challenging, will help renew my faith that God created each and every one of us with a purpose. 

Even when you get out of the body side of biology and you look at our environment I can't see how people think this happened by a coincidence.  Did you know that if the Earth were any closer to the sun, we would burn up and not be able to live on this planet?  In the same retrospect, if the Earth were any farther away from the sun we would freeze.  The orbit our Earth takes is perfect.  Perfect by choice, not chance.  When you look up at the sky at night, it is estimated that we as humans can see about 2,500 stars by the naked eye and about 5,000-8,000 visible total on Earth.  However, did you know there is an estimated 200 to 400 billion stars in the Milky Way?  We can only see up to 1000 light years away with our naked eyes, the Milky Way is 100,000 light years across in diameter.  Remember - this is all just in our one galaxy that our solar system is in. The nearest large spiral galaxy like the Milky Way is over 2.7 million light years away.  It is estimated that there are over 125 billion galaxies in the universe.  I don't think that we as humans can comprehend how huge our universe is and how absolutely tiny our little part on Earth is in the big picture.

Here are some pictures to help put the size of the earth into something you can see to try and understand:

 This is the Earth in comparison to some of the smaller planets & pluto

 Now you can see how small earth is just compared to other planets in our system 

 You may need glasses or to zoom in your computer to see earth compared to the sun

 That small orange dot on the left is our sun.  Arcturus is a large star in our galaxy that is 25 times the sun's diameter.  The other two our stars as well

 Beltelgeuse is a bright red star that is 650 times the sun's diameter

And just to put it in a larger picture, that itty bitty dot you probably can't see is our sun with respect to our galaxy the Milky Way.  Remember, the Milky Way is one of an estimated 150 billion galaxies in our Universe.

Feel small, don't ya?

And again I ask, this happened by chance?

Any who, that is  my spiritual thought of the past couple days. There are much more facts about the way our Earth works that fascinate me and help point me in the direction of not happening by chance.  If you ever want to talk about it, let me know, I'd love to!

Have a great week!

MB

"When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!"

Psalm 8:3-9

God Loves You

Suite Love

Things I love about Christmas Break:

• No classes for a month!
• Sleeping in my own bed
• Having homecooked meals most days
• Spending time with hometown friends & family
• Showering with no shoes on
• Christmas itself

Things I don't love about Christmas Break:

• Having to live apart from my NCState family for a month :(

The idea of leaving my wonderful roommate, Noel, and suitemates Caitlin and Sam for a month sounds awful.  Also, all of my friends that live next door as well as others here at State.  While we can still text and chat on facebook, it's just not the same as seeing each other everyday.  Since I'm leaving first on Tuesday, my suitemates and I decided to go out to a nice dinner last night.  We went to an amazing italian restaurant in downtown Raleigh, 518 West.  It was fun to dress nice and go out to a place that we would normally never go to and spend time just the four of us before we part ways in a couple of days.  

No, we didn't plan on matching, it just happened.

Roomie Love

When we get back from break we are going to go to Build-a-bear together and all build some bears! (or cows, penguins, ect)  I love these girls and they are some of my closest friends here at school.  I know Christmas break is going to be hard, but summer will be even worse.  Good thing we're living together again next year!  I can't imagine living with anyone else.

"We will be an encouragement to each other."

Romans 15:32

...and the craziness continues

So today I had exam # 3 of 4.  Today was the day for physics.  Last night after I finished my statistics final (which I think went pretty well) I grabbed dinner with my friends and then headed to the cheesecake factory to get a slice of cheesecake.

I got a slice of Adam's Peanut Butter Cup Fudge Ripple.  I know, it was as delicious as it sounds and looks.

This whole getting a slice of cheesecake was not a random occurance.  Earlier in the semester, the night before our 2nd physics exam, me and my friends Courtney and Murphy were at dinner and I said that I was craving a slice of cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory.  Courtney then informed Murphy and I that she loved cheesecake, but had never been to the Cheesecake Factory before.  That setteled it - we were going.  After we took our physics test we found out that we all got A's on the test!  No, it wasn't the hours of studying put in before the test, it was the cheesecake.  So, the nights before our 3rd and 4th, we went back to the cheesecake factory to get some cheesecake.  Sadly, Murphy and Courtney couldn't go with me last night, but all is well since I got my cheesecake.

Since everybody is studying for exams, my friends and I decided to have a study pow-wow in the lounge on our floor.  We were all studying for separate classes: econ, statics, physics, chemistry, and developmental bio, but it's more fun studying all together. 

Kenneth and Caitlin :)

I know you may not be able to see it very well, but this is the result of last nights studying.  I am allowed to take a sheet of paper with handwritten notes to my exam and this was mine.  Every formula I had in my notes was written at the top, and 38 example problems.  This is just the front as well - almost half the back was filled up in studying this morning.



After going to bed about 4 am, waking up at 8, and taking a 2 1/2 hour physics final that consisted of 30 questions, I am exhausted.  Luckily for me, all I have left is Biology on Tuesday, so I have all weekend to study and I can sleep in as late as I want in the morning.

Have a great Friday!

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Joshua 1:9

Finals Craziness

Just a couple pictures to describe how I'm  feeling currently about finals:



However, no matter how confusing some subjects are, how irritating and frustrating a class can be,

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me"

 Phillipians 4:13

Starting a Blog

So, I've decided to start a blog.  Technically, I had a blog already, but I never updated it, so I deleted it.  This whole blogging thing was encouraged mainly from my friend Courtney, who has an amazing blog.  I told her it would be my new year resolution, but I figured, why not start one now?  Yes, I should be studying for exams, but this is a great study break!  I have all the things I need to study:

A nice big cup of hot chocolate, provided my my bstudy leader, Haley, thanks to our Christmas present exchange yesterday.  I also have all of my study tools:

A calculater, practice test, pencil, chapstick, flash cards and most importantly, pandora! 

This blog is entitled Growing Daily - which is what I'm doing.  I learn something new everyday, either about the world, myself, God, or all three in one day!  Today I learned that statistics is not my favorite subject (actually, I've known that since the beginning of the semester) but if I do the practice problems over and over again, eventually, I will understand what I'm doing!  At least enough to take the exam tomorrow.

Since I should probably be studying for statistics right now, I'm going to wrap this up.  I'm excited about starting this blog and I hope I can keep it up on a daily basis! 

Thanks for reading!

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever!

2 Peter 3:18