Reunited.

So far this summer I've been on go, go, go mode. I can offically say that I have seen all the people that needed to be seen since my return and I have done all of the things that I could have possibly wanted to do or had to do upon my return to Lincoln Nebraska. I've seen amazing friends, eaten Nebraska's infamous food, worked at good ol' Champions Fun Center, and hung out with my family.

Just a few familiar faces.


But who is missing? That is correct, Mallory! She left for Texas a few days after I got back from school. She'll be there all summer counseling at a camp there and I could not be more excited for her. She will be back around fourth of July and I can not wait to hear what God did in her life this summer.
Nannying starts in two weeks and I'm more than positive that I will have pictures and stories to tell!

Happy Holiday Weekend.
a.

freshman to sophmore

So, I wasn't going to tell anyone this up front but I must say that this past semester I was a little nervous about the finals that I took which in the ends made me a little nervous about the final grades that I would receive in my classes. This of course has nothing to do with the fact that I took my finals with a concussion as which went along with some short term memory loss, but that is besides the point. Today, as I pulled of the page online to check my grades my stomach began to do some flips and turns of it's own as I slowly but surely entered the password that would show me my grades. Low and behold, I didn't wonderfully! I did even better than I did last semester and I will not lie when I say that I am proud of myself!
I would first like to thank all of you who have prayed for me with this new school year, and basically my new life. It was much needed and from the looks of it I made my way through, I am no longer a freshman in college! Thank you so much for the time and effort that you put into praying for me and my school work as well as the little phone calls that some of you have made to me as well!
So what's up for the summer?! WORKING!! and honestly I can say I'm very excited about that, poor college student needs to make some money!

I'll keep you all posted I am sure!
One love,
a.

JORDAN CHRISTIAN RIGGS

As I sit here, at 12:53 am the night before a HUGE final, I thought I'd check in on my brother's blog before getting a little shut eye & this is what I found.
I love you and I am SO proud, happy, excited, i'm a lot of things!
God is good!

family.

family. there is so much that i could say about my family, but the first thing i would say is that i am very blessed to have been born into the family i have. not only are we a good looking group of people but every single member of is motivated beyond what you could ever think or imagine and God has blessed each one of us with gifts that i see being used more and more frequently as i have grown up.
my brother is 20 years old and lives in california where he attends brookes institute of photography and is majoring in film. my brother has always been the creative one out of the two of us! the most memorable moments i have in my life involve my brother and some crazy stunt he tried to pull when we were little. my brother is intelligent in life and in choices and for that i admire him. his heart is buried in the Lord and you can tell that by the way that he lives his life. he reaches for the stars and it's been amazing to see him actually catch them.
my daddy is another amazing man, literally he is the best, i feel sorry for my future husband who has to live up to my father. you want to meet a man who lives every single day to honor God, meet my daddy. as long as i've been alive, and even longer, my dad has been a pastor. people have always looked up to my father, and so have i. he has a stern hand and it has not been until recently that i can say thank you to my father for raising me the way that he did. i've only become a better woman for it. i've come to terms with the fact that my dad and i are a lot alike, and the more i think about it, the more i am proud to hold that title. not only is my daddy stern and responsible he is the craziest man you will ever meet. all my friends in high school would just come over my house to hang out with my dad. my dad used to take me to school everyday in high school and pick me up when the day was through, and as annoyed as i would get with him everyday at 6:45 am i would look forward to those times that i would spend bonding with my father. my favorite memories with my father still include, the beatles, a car, bad singing, and horrible lyrics!
my mommy is someone who i can call my best friend. i've been saying that for awhile but i dont think that it has really come true until this past year. the best advice i have ever gotten has come from my mom and the best laughs i have enjoyed have been with my mother as well. my mom has always been the type of person to tell it to you like it is. she's never been one to beat around the bush or hold her tongue, i think i get that from her, and for that i thank her! there have been many times when that characteristic has made me angry in some way but the more i look back at i thank my mom for making me go back upstairs to change my clothes. she is an amazing writer and has a beautiful voice. remembering back to the times she would read me goodnight moon still makes me tired.
thank you jordan christian riggs for being my brother. thank you for calling me stupid when i ask you for ridiculous advice but loving me enough to let me make those mistakes i can learn from.
daddy, thank you for raising me the way you did. thank you for the times that we would clash heads and you would just let me win an argument just because you knew there was no point in arguing. thank you for letting me make those mistakes and not saying i told you so when i came back to you crying.
mommy, thank you for being my mother when i was growing up, but being my friend now that we can be. thank you for listening to all my crazy stories and saying "that sucks" when it is needed.
i love you all!
alexandra leigh riggs

RIP Mojo.

A dear friend to a lot of Eastern students passed away this last Thursday night in a car accident. He was 21 years old and a great friend, with a contagious smile which never left his face. There is a sadness that hoovers our campus but a happiness as well. As I sat with a few friends last night we just talked about all the good times we had with him. All the parties we went to and how he's mad that we are crying down here because we know that in heaven he is "having a blast" as one friend stated. We may have lost a friend, but we gained an angel. Watch out of us Mojo!


I must say that this accident did cause a change in my life. Life is full of surprises, and you never know what is going to happen tomorrow. That is why it is important to live for today. Don't focus on what might change tomorrow, but don't go to bed a night being angry with someone or even having one regret. God has given us the chance to live our lives, not be afraid of it! Thank you Mojo for teaching us the smaller but more important lessons of life! We love you

One love,
a

Community

Recently I have really been trying to figure out what the heck is missing in my life. Why do I feel so empty inside when all I am living to do in this moment is live for God everyday. Is it so hard to think that maybe I'm actually doing something right? A few of my friends and I have really been searching for a church home. We had been attending the church right down the street from our school but to be honest it just was not filling the need, the emptiness that I am/was feeling before. I suggested that we should try going to what I've always called my church home, CCV (Christ Church of the Valley). Before we moved to Lincoln, Nebraska this is the church that my family and I attended and we all fell in love with. I was saved at this church as well as baptized by an amazing youth pastor who is partially the reason why I'm studying what I am today.
Christ Church of the Valley is filled with people who love you. You can walk into the building and not know a single person and you will walk out with at least one friend if you try. I've always felt this way about the community at this church. Yes, CCV is huge and there are three services, each packed to the brim of the building we are currently in, but if and when you find "your people": the one who will be there for you when you are crying or make fun of you just to make you laugh, they stick around for a lifetime. Every time I walk through the doors of that church I feel as though I've never left. The same people are there (not all of them, but a lot of them) the same jokes are being laughed at and it's like nothing has even changed.
This community is one that I never have to worry about. I don't have to question if they are going to be there for me when I need a shoulder to cry on, and I hope they feel the same way about me. This community is an unchanging one, that loves me unconditionally no matter what the circumstance and for that I thank you! To all the members of my CCV community I would like to thank you for the 8 years that we have grown together & for the many things that you've seen in me that you've liked and disliked but still stuck by my side. I thank you for letting nothing change and accepting me for who God has made me to be. When I am with you all I get excited and I feel overjoyed to know that I have people who care about me as much as you all do, so don't stop! Push me to my limit, keep asking me those tough questions and make sure I tell you the tough answers because you are the ones I trust. You are MY people, and I thank you tremendous amounts for that!

One love,
a.

almost summertime.

So this weekend my best friend from Nebraska came to visit me here in Pennsylvania, I'm not too sure if that was a good idea or not because now I am just really wanting to go home : ). I've been spending a lot of time lately in the Word and God is really teaching me how much I truely invest in earthly relationships, and not spiritual ones. I'm not talking about spiritual as in just God relationship but even relationships with other Christians especially when it comes to romantic relationships. My good friends here at school are beginning to get in relationships and that's what I've been seeing around me. I'm not saying that these relationships are the strongest that I've ever seen, but we've been praying about them and they seem to be getting stronger in Christ which in the end are going t make the relationships stronger as a whole. I've been really trying to not care about those relationships and have the one relationship I'm worried about be the one that I am in with Jesus Christ (trust me it's harder than it looks). So the result of this is what I like to call lonely and sad. Now for those of you who know me, you know that when I'm sad I don't really like to let myself feel that so sadness either turns into anger, or annoyance, or if I try hard enough happiness. Yesterday I found myself in conversation, pouring out my little heart, with one of the most interesting people on my campus who really helped me see how beautiful the feeling of sadness can be. He explained it as a feeling that is seen as weak but it is only because of the low points that we get the motion to propel into our high points. We wouldn't be able to get high without our lows.
I'm also beginning to worry about Summertime and what exactly that is going to look like. As Mallory was here this weekend I began to think about how she is not going to be here this summer and then I'm going to be alone, but in Nebraska. By alone I dont mean not friends; I mean alone in the physical sense, not having my soul fed by other Christians searching and seeking God together. I've come to the conclusion that God is trying to show me how much I do invest in other people to find Him instead of investing in Him to find God! Again, hardly than it looks, but this is what I'm working on.

In Him (the ONE love),
a.