Sleepless in Sully...

Oops...
I have not gotten near enough sleep in the last week, and now my health is paying for it. I don't have much of a voice left today. I haven't even been on this blog to update since I made such good plans last weekend! Hehe... oh well, here I am now for a quick update before I hit the sack!

I had a BLAST last Saturday. I had a great time with my family, and then I hung out with some wonderful friends. First on the list was traveling to a South Dakota town with called Spink with Ryan, Chelsea, and the Spidahls. On the way, we sang a new Christmas carol every 5 miles, and in between time we took turns updating everyone on what we've been up to. It was a blast to share, be encouraged, and SING! Then we arrived in Spink - population 8! There's a great little restaurant in an old house that we ate at. It's one of those places you just HAVE to go to atleast once. :) AND so was the next stop of the night - an even SMALLER town called Nora - population 5. In this town there's this cute old house with the main room filled with an organ, a couple pianos, a ton of chairs, and a packed room full of people singing Christmas carols! THIS was so fun! Anyone who can play an instrument is invited to help lead the music... and even I got to play the jingle bells and the piano awhile. I even ran into some of my friends from the Maurice congregation there. I had a wonderful time, so much so that I'm hopefully going back again this weekend... :) It's these simple, yet uniquely beautiful things of life that just... make me SMILE and bubble over with warm fuzzies and nostalgic feelings. :)
The night was far from over after this great adventure. When we got back to Orange City, we said goodbye to the Spidahls, and we searched three dorms and the Christmas formal dance for our friend Andrew. We finally found him a few blocks from the college visiting with other friends. It was so great to see him again! Andrew and Chels had just gotten back from their Romania Study Abroad this week... I missed them very much...
Then we went back to West Hall and sang great classic country hits, bluegrass songs, and old hymns with Ryan at the guitar. I absolutely LOVE doing that. :) At this point it was already past midnight, but of course I just had to stay up a few more hours into the morning to look at some of Andrew's pictures and hear some of his stories from Romania. Fun times! The others hanging out all night in the West "living room" even shared their sparkling juice with us... mmm!

Wow and that was just last Saturday. I said I would try to be quick... I guess I'll just bullet point the rest so I can go to bed super soon...

• Said goodbye to MO after breakfast Sunday morning
• Went to the candle light service at my church Sunday night - very well put together... my church family members of ALL ages encouraged us with singing, memorized Scripture, and a thoughtful "children's message." I was blessed. :)
• I don't even remember everything from my eventful Monday, but I a couple of the highlights were confirming my registration into Greek language school, going out for coffee with my grandma & great grandma, and finally nailing down the rest of the details for my great gift idea for all of my friends and family members for Christmas.
• Right before I went to bed I got to talk to my friend Andrew from Canada who will be going back to serve with Hellenic Ministries full time soon too. Yeah!
• Yesterday I spent a lot of time cleaning, doing laundry, and coming up with helpful suggestions for Andrew's newly designed webpage. I really enjoy editing things. :)
• Today I had a phsyical... woot woot, so exciting...eh. I figured I should try to make sure I'm as healthy as I can be before leaving the country. :)
• My other grandma took me out for lunch at the Coffee Cup! I had the Dutch lettuce salad which made the Des Moines Register's list of top 100 things you should eat before I die, hehe. I also split a very yummy peace of pumkin pie with Grandma. Have I mentioned yet that I have an extreme weakness when it comes to anything pumpkin... cheesecake is my other worst dessert weakness!
• This afternoon I got a few more things on my to-do list crossed off, from calling friends to set up dates for my one last visit to NW IA this weekend, to sending in receipts to HM for recent expenses... LIKE MY PLANE TICKET and MEDICAL INSURANCE for GREECE!!! :)
• Then tonight I hung out with my mom getting groceries, making a great supper (ham steak, rice pilaf, and snap peas!), and going to grandma's house to continue working out the design for my T-shirt quilt! So fun! :)

I have also been making more preparations in my head lately for leaving the country in less than 40 days... I tried looking up tips for traveling light. I also go through a new corner of my room each day and make a box full of stuff to give away. Yesterday it was more stacks of books! Today it was a few more T-shirts, jeans, and coats... which yes I still like, and they still fit, and... they're nice and all. I just don't NEED as much as I've got!

Alrighta, that's a quick catch up on my story for the week...

I should do some more editing for Andrew now... but I really need to sleep, or I don't expect my voice back anytime soon, and I have another presentation for a Christian school chapel on Friday! NIGHT!