merry christmas.

remember to spend time with your family. take it all in, because you never know what'll change the next time you all are together : )


merry christmas!
alex.

to my brother

JORDAN CHRISTIAN RIGGS : ). Hello. I just wanted to let you know how much you mean to me. Recently I've been thinking about how much you mean to me. Not seeing you everyday, or even being in a place that is common for both of us, home, it has made me realize how much I actually do miss you. I want you to know that God is doing amazing things in your life and I truly and honestly do believe that you can't even fathom what God is going to do in your life. I find myself talking about you AT LEAST once a day and I can't stop bragging about this new movie you have coming out. You are a genius, like really you are! You've ALWAYS, for as long as I can remember, have had a mind that has thought outside of the box!To this day I will hold memories of you drawing and mom and dad having to talk to you about the "boobs" on your drawings needed to become more realistic. That's another story within itself.
I take every conversation we have to heart, if we talk online I print out every conversation because you're words are that powerful to me. It's taken me awhile to realize how wise of a person you are but now that I know I refuse to take that for granted. It's a gift you have. I tell everyone you are a prophet, and truly I believe that! You words are powerful but your thoughts are even more so. Just to be a fly on the walls of your mind.
One of my greatest memories of you and I would definitely have to be in CT when you would have the ingenious idea to make a zip line across the yard, and ALWAYS have me test it out before you would. Or even at that outdoor pool at the YMCA that mom would make us go to and the water was freezing cold!You never did really like the water, but I did and you stuck it out for me! Hawaii was fun with you as well.I know I scared you to death out in the ocean!! But memories is what we made!

Honestly as weird as it sounds, you are the one that's been there for me every time I have a problem, and you're the first person to call me stupid, and I appreciate it! That's what a best friend is! Therefore making you one of my dearest and bestest friends!!!!!

I LOVE YOU!
a.

home sweet home.

So arriving at on my home on saturday night was a wonderful thing.filled with tears and laughs and jokes and stories, and of course with the riggs family, MEXICAN FOOD.I had been talking to my parents for days and days about the countdown to my arrival and how i wanted things to be the same as i left them, and as i pulled onto the street of which i lived for three years i could catch a glimpse of my house and the lights that my parents (i know now) spent ALL DAY putting up JUST FOR ME. thank you parents : ). My mother believes that i do not appreciate what they did because the house was decorated in a way that it was eligant and classy, which of course is something that you would expect from my mother. To the side of our house we have bushes, and on those bushes were colored lights, NOT GOING WELL WITH THE ELIGANT THEME AT ALL. half of the bush was flashing and the other half of the bush was not, and so i expressed that THAT ONE BUSH WAS "so tacky". My mother was offended, yet continues to share this story on her blog as well as in church on sunday morning. My mother never ceases to amaze me!

One love,
a.

dorthy's red slippers.

if i had a penny for everytime i wished i could click my heels together when i wanted to come home i would be a very very rich girl. but the day has come, and i am not HOME. i saw all my friends : ) i slept in my own bed and it was great! i'm looking forward to this next month. i'm not too sure i need any other christmas presents it's just going to be good enough to see all my friends and family (especially my brother)


one love,
a.

airport terminals

as i sit here in the airport waiting for my departing flight to minneaplos where i will then connect to omaha nebraska, where i will then meet up with my parents and take an hour ride home to my house in lincoln nebraska, i think about much it takes for me to gret from one place to another.

i hate traveling.

one love,
a.

finals=over.

So today i took my last and final exam today and let me tell you...i know that i did not do well, at all : ) but hey i've been sick all week and studying didn't really happen at all yesterday. i had an A in the class all semester so i wasn't too worried about my grade on this last test. my youth min final was the one that i was most worried about and i the test ended up but something that the syllabus said it wasn't. but we all got an email saying that the parts that we didn't know were off the test therefore the tes it easier than i thought and i did better than i though

: )

one love.
a

homeSICK

So this week has been the worst days of my life. One because I am so close to coming home, and two because I'm sick beyond which you could ever imagine. I've been feeling a little drousy and a little not myself but yeterday is when it all started. I woke up with congestion and then all of a sudden during the day my stomach began to get a little not so okay, and the vomiting began.
I've stayed in my room all day, doing NOTHING but sleep. Being sick away from home is the WORST feeling ever. I would just like to be at home, with my parents & my own bed. Do you know how hard it is to be sick on a twin size bed...not easy


3 Days.
One love,
a.

12 hour study day.

So tomorrow, i guess today now i have the hardest final of the week. YOUTH MIN you would think it would be easy considering it's my major and all, but it's not, its the one i'm most nervous about taking. i started studying today in the lib around 1pm and now it's 1am and i'm offically done. no more can come into my brain, i'm being to forget some things i retained. pray for me, final 9am.

one love,
a.

i'm not sure i want to go to heaven, and i certainly dont want to die.

when i was little, and even now i would get the thought of heaven and how scary of a word that was. i would lay at bed at night just thinking about eternity and what it means to die and what it means to be somewhere forever. the thought would begin with me thinking about my day and realizing that the day was over and i would never get to relive that day, ever again and that it was one step closer to me dying. dont get me wrong, i'm not scared of dying and the thought of being dead is not something that scares me, it's the eternity part. the thought of being somewhere FOREVER is very scary to me and something that eats up my stomach. i remember times when i would run downstairs to my mom crying telling her i didn't want to die, it's not that i didn't want to die it was more like i didn't want to go to heaven, i didn't want to be somwhere forver. it hadn't had that thought in a really long time, well that is until a week ago i when i was laying in bed thinking about the end of the world and my day was over and it would never be back and one day i'm going to be somewhere forever. i'm never going to leave, things are not going to change it's going to be like an ongoing church service FOREVER, just typing about it gets me scared. i know i know, how can i call myself a Christian and yet be scared to go to the one place that we are living to get to go to? how can the thought of being in the presence of God forever be something that scares me, isnt that what i'm living for? YES YES YES!! i know, but it's a problem i have, so i guess i'm asking for prayer. prayer that the thought of being with my king forever will be something comforting, not scary.

i got my first final done today : )
2 more to go


one love,
a.

much needed countdown.

ONE WEEK PEOPLE!

i'm in need of a much needed break.
it's 2:27 in the morning.
GOODNIGHT!

dedicated to...EVAN FLORA

So to give ya'll some background as to why I dedicated an entire post a a kid named Evan, who most of you don't even know. Well Evan Flora, one: is one of the strongest Christian males in my life, after my father and my brother. Everything he does is for the Lord and you can just tell that he has a passion for our Father and that just brings a smile to my face. He and I were in the same youth group when I was in middle school, and that was before he became a Christian and just to watch him grow spritual has been a pleasure for me. I moved away to Lincoln Nebraska and honestly it was probably the worst time that I could have ever moved for Evan. All of his friends seemed to be leaving around the same time as I moved; including his girlfriend at the time, my best friend. But that's another story of itself. But anyway, so whenever I need someone to talk to about my spirtual life or someone who will listen to me cry over the phone, THIS IS WHO I CALL. He's like my other brother. So recently this thought has been put into Evan's head that he wants to go into the army. Now I'm all for serving your country and doing what the Lord calls you to do. But the ARMY is a kinda scary word. I mean we are in war and the reality of him going over seas is very likely.

So basically Evan:
I want to say that we have been through so much, you've watched me fall in my faith and you been an aid in getting me back up. I enjoy our conversations and I really appreciate that you are my friend. Although your decision is one that scares me, like always, and you know this, I support you in every decision you make. I will pray that you are able to decern God's voice and what he wants you to do with you life. I love you kiddo : )!!

One love,
a.

Christmas

so it is finally December, and being on campus I can honestly say that my view of Christmas is really changed. I called my house last night & my mom was washing dishes so she gave the phone to my father & we talked about Christmas. One thing ya'll should know about me & Christmas is that I am an absolute FREAK about the holiday. I love decorating the tree, and going to cut down the tree is one of my favorite things to do. Not only because I love real trees and the smell of them & the feeling of them BUT it's a bonding time with my daddy. My mom NEVER wants to go and I also throw a fit about going and so she sends my dad and I to go get it. EVERY YEAR. I love putting up the decorations on the tree. All of them I remember something about them. I'm not going to lie we have the tackiest tree EVER on Christmas, but I love it. The family comes together and we just hang out, there is always Jazz Christmas music playing and my dog (although she won't be around this year). Christmas is just the best holiday ever. Yeah, I"m one of those crazy people that start listening to Christmas music the day after Thanksgiving (I'm listening to it now actually) and it's great. I love the lights on trees & i have to have lights on our house i'll throw a fit if we dont. I just have to have things the way they were when I was growing up. Actually I'm alittle embarassed to admit this next part, but even now, just because I've done it every other year I look outside the window on the roofs of other houses and make sure there are now prints on the houses if there has been a snowfall I KNOW I"M A FREAK! this just tells you how much I LOVE the Christmas season.
So anyway I just ranted, I called my parents last night to make sure everything would be in order. THEY WEREN'T! We are not getting a real tree, my mom got this fake tree with pretty ordiments on them now our family ones, and she has no intention of getting a real one. This just reminds me that when I go home, I'm going as a visitor not as a person who lives there...things are going to be different, and different scares me.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS,
a.