So it's been almost three weeks...not my fault!!!
The first week there was nothing I could do about it because I was home on Spring Break and we were moving and the DSL didn't get changed over and we had no Internet. ("And like, no phone!" If you know what that's from, let me know - you'll be my hero.)
And then last week my niece Tate from Boise was at school with me, and I barely had time to do my homework, let alone post.
But now, now I'm posting.
I'm home at the moment, I came home yesterday to take Tate to the airport this morning (we left at 4 am...) and I'm heading back tonight to spend the rest of the night and tomorrow reading like crazy and trying to catch up.

The thing about blogging is that your supposed to have something interesting or at least intelligent to say. What if you don't have anything very interesting or remotely intelligent to say?

Alright, that's it. Later. Skippy

God is GREAT!!!!!!!!!

Ya wanna know why? Here, let me tell you:

1. It's SUNNY outside!!!!
2. I have the GREATEST friends in the world!!!!!!
3. I'm going home this weekend!!!!
4. We're finally moving this weekend!!!!
5. I get to see Becc on Monday for the first time in months!!!!
6. I get to spend a week and a half with my long lost niece from Boise!!!!
7. There are people who love me enough (I have no idea why) to come help us move on Saturday!!!!
8. I get to see T.K. in 72 hours!!!
9. I get to see my chiropractor on Wednesday!!!! (Yes, that is AFTER we move.)
10. Professors at Simpson are AMAZING!!!!

So those are the first 10 reasons that popped into my head, there are about a zillion others.

OH!!! And here's#11 - this makes the second post in a week!!!!

Love to ALL!!!!
Skippy

Yay!!! I made it!!! Another post within a week!!!! SWEET!!!!!!!

There is no real point to this post, I have nothing great to say. But I do have something kinda cool to share! This week is Genesis week, and our chapel speaker has been Christ Brown - he's a storyteller. It's AMAZING!!!! He brings the stories from the Bible to life in a crazy insane way!!!
Anyway, I would suggest that you check him out (www.northcoastchurch.com) if you're interested, there should be some sermons online.

So life is crazy, that's nothing new.

Going to go eat what they call food in the cafe - it might actually be decent because we have visitors on campus.

Love to all,
Skippy

Once again I have failed in my duties as a Blog Writer.
I will honestly attempt to get better, but we'll have to take it slowly. I'll start with an attempt to blog once a week, and as I get better I'll aim for twice a week.

Lets see what's happened since my last blog:

I got through my first set of midterms and am now upon my second. There's something wrong with having two sets of 'midterms'. Bio test on Friday, Bio lab test on Tuesday; Psych paper due Wednesday; Phil paper due Monday and another one due on the 26th that I have to read a DISGUSTINGLY boring book for; NT quiz on Monday, test on Wednesday and quiz on Friday. It's going to be a busy week.

Our boys made it to the final round of Regionals, but didn't make it to Nationals. I'm fairly certain that they will next year as we have no Seniors on the team.

The answer to the trivia question is an hour and a half. Which is why if you don't have a full hour and an half to sleep, you should only sleep for 15 or 20 minutes - otherwise you wake up when you are at the deepest part of the sleep cycle and are groggy and mean. :(

Onto something exciting!!! God is doing amazing things in the life of one of my girls!!!! I cannot tell you what a blessing it is to watch Him work in someone's life, especially when you can't feel him working in your life.

Okay - I'm off to go do my Biology flash cards.

Love from Skippy!!!!

Alright - I know that it's been a month (and a day to be exact) but rather than bore you with excuses, which most of you would probably shoot down anyway, I'll just get straight to whatever point it is that I'm supposed to be making.
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...
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I'm sure that I'll come up with one eventually...
I took a nap today!!!! It wasn't a very good nap, but I did get to take one.
And I get paid this week!!! That's always happy.
And I'm in the middle of midterms!!!! I had two tests and a paper on Friday. Got grades for the two tests today, pleased in both cases. Had another test today. Have an Intro to Biology Lab Exam tomorrow and another test and a quiz on Friday. And then an essay test on Tuesday.

We only have two more basketball games left. One on Thursday (Women only, vs. CSU East Bay) and Men and Women on Saturday vs. William Jessup.

Question of the day: how long does it take to rotate through all four stages of sleep?
Answer - come back later (I won't say how long because if I do and I don't get it posted then, I'll be in trouble) to find out!!!

Love to all!!!
Skippy

Does anyone else find it disturbing that I work more hours than I'm taking units?

It happened again...

Sometimes life sucks. Something happens, something like (let's say) losing a parent. And life just sucks. But you move on and you have support and you have God and you think things are going again. And then you hear the horrible news - someone else has lost a parent. I guy I graduated lost his mother this past week. She had the flu which turned into double pneumonia. Both her kidneys failed and then her heart gave out. The funeral is tomorrow. I've been thinking the past couple days about the last days that I spent with my father, not the last days of his life but the last days that he was really my dad. Sometimes life sucks for you, and sometimes you can't do anything about it. Sometimes life sucks for others, and then you really can't do anything about it. And that makes life suck.

Please be praying for Daniel, his sister Ashley and brother William as well as their father. This is going to be a tough time for them; Daniel lives away from home at school and William is in the Marines, Ashley goes to high school at Biggs. They need all the prayer they can get - please pray.

Sorrowfully - Skippy

I got it!!! Remember how I told you that I had something deep to post, but I forgot? Well, I remembered!!! Or, more accurately, I was reminded. I was driving this morning and I heard this song again on the radio, this is what I wanted to post on.

The title of the song is “If you’re going through hell”, Rodney Atkins sings it, and its pretty popular right now. The title comes from Winston Churchill who said “If you are going through hell, keep going.” (Found that online, thank you DaveShearon.) Here’s the chorus:

If you're going through hell
Keep on going, Don't slow down
If you're scared, don't show it
You might get out
Before the devil even knows you're there

If you’re going through hell
Keep on moving, Face that fire
Walk right through it
You might get out
Before the devil even knows you’re there.

The question of whether or not you could get out before the devil knows you’re there is debatable; however it has no bearing on the purpose of this post.

The purpose here is to agree with the Winston Churchill – if you’re going through hell, keep going. Recently I’ve been feelin kinda down and not really looking forward to anything. And I’ve heard this song before, but yesterday on the way home from Redding I actually listened to it. There are times, lots of times, when I feel like throwing the towel in and throwing my hands up and quitting. Quitting everything – school, work, friends, family, everything. While I have yet to do that, the desire is often there and is often strong. I find that its easier to accomplish something when I don’t have to slow down and think about it. When I can just push through: eyes on the prize, focused on the goal, I can make it.

The point? If you are going through hell on earth right now, keep going. Don’t slow down because when you slow down you start to feel sorry for yourself and you start to get dragged down. Just keep going, focus on Christ and never shift that focus. I once heard a talk on Peter walking on water, he was doing just fine until “seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”” (Matt 14:30 NASB) Peter w as walking on water, but when he took his eyes off Jesus to look around him (no doubt in awe of the experience) he first became frightened, and then began to sink.

And here’s some more food for thought about the second section of the chorus – “face that fire, walk right through it”. Sound like anyone you know? How about Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah? (That’s Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.) They faced the fire, and walk right out of it. Why? Because of the angle of the Lord. How? Because they were focused on God.

If you’re going through hell, keep going. Don’t slow down. Face that fire, walk right through it. Keep your eyes on Christ.

Well, nothin much new to report. Went up to Redding yesterday to work a game. Came back to Biggs today with Allison.

Honestly, other than that there's not much to say.
I had something deep to post, I thought of it on the way home today, but then I forgot it, and so now I can't share it, sorry.

Classes start next week, that might be interesting.

Leaving now,
Natasha

The long awaited revealing…

Okay, so it may not have been that long awaited, but at least one person has asked me what my Christmas pet peeve is, and so now I’m going to share. I know that its past Christmas and that you are all getting ready for the New Year, but I KNOW that you all remember Christmas carols, and if you’re still listening to them, listen for this and you’ll hear it.

My BIGGEST Christmas pet peeve is that songwriters and poets alike all use the phrase ‘born in a manger’. Does anyone else see a problem with that? The Bible does not say that Christ was ‘born in a manger’, it says that he was laid in a manger. Christ was BORN in a stable, and LAID in a manger. One simple word!!!! Why can’t people get it right? You can’t use syllables as an excuse either because ‘born’ and ‘laid’ are each only one syllable and ‘stable’ and ‘manger’ are each two syllables. The only possible (decent) argument would be the need for rhyming. However, I cannot remember one song in which the word ‘born’ or ‘manger’ was used in the rhyming scheme itself; and even if it was! Substitute out the other word, and you’re fine!!!

So, there you have my biggest Christmas pet peeve. In other news, I only have one more week at home before its back to classes, back to work, and back to the insanity that is my semester. My load is slightly less on the school side, and slightly more on the work side this semester, so we’ll see what that turns into.

Family is all good for the most part. Christmas went well and we managed to survive the ‘day after Christmas’ sales. I’m starting to realize how truly messed up life is though, and that’s quite a bummer.

Love to all,

Skippy

So it's been three weeks, whatever.

Postings, of a general nature.

So, I survived finals. I had five of them: turned my Math paper in on Friday (before finals week) and then came home for the weekend. Got back on Monday and studied like crazy for my Geography final, which I took on Tuesday morning. Wednesday was my hard day: I had OT review at 8:30, Hermeneutics final at 10:30, and Oral Comm. final at 1. Made it through all of those and then went back and spent the next two and a half hours packing and cleaning and cleaning and packing. Mom came and got me and we headed home (by way of Red Bluff of course).

Since then I have enjoyed vacation. I’ve gotten some much needed sleep and managed to watch movies for the first time in forever!!!! Mom had to work this past week, which was handy because it allowed me time to myself to recoup from the absolute insanity that was this past semester.

She got done with work yesterday, and we went up to Magalia to hear my LOVELY MPBC’s Christmas program. We stayed up way too late and had trouble getting up this morning.

It other news, I’m looking forward to getting some NON-school reading done this week, and of course Christmas on Monday. Oddly enough, I don’t feel like its Christmas, I keep thinking that I should be headed back to school because I’ve definitely been here longer than a weekend.

Yes Andrea!!! Jacques Chirac is the French President. Now comes the hard question (and I’m not sure it counts as trivia, but I make the rules for this game and I say its in, so there) – what is my BIGGEST Christmas pet peeve? Even if you don’t think you know, it be interesting to hear what you have to say, so respond – it’ll be fun!!!

As to the house, well……I promise that I’ll explain in full, by the time the semester starts.

Lots of love and joy to all in this happy season – remember that Jesus is the reason for the season!!!!

Major Skippy

Hey ya'll. Sorry its been so long - its just the samo-samo, life is CRAZY. I home right now (again) but I'll be back at school tomorrow. This is the last week of classes for the semester - next week is FINALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YEAH and NOOO at the same time. Its a mixed feeling.

Home - still up in the air. I know that I said I would explain all this weekend, well, it got shoved to next weekend.

In new News: Andrea, my dear sweet Andrea - you know me well!!!!! But unfortunately, the greatest food on earth does not have a place in either of those acronyms. MPM is Mission Possible Ministries, that's my mission group that you hear me talk so much about. MPBC is Magalia Pines Baptist Church - the church were I spent my summer working. AND, I don't think you get to ask trivia questions, that's my job!!!!

How lets see, what was the last trivia question? Right! The seven partners that just joined together to build a fusion plant in France are China, Japan, India, Russia, South Korea, the European Union and the United States.

Okay - new question: What is the name of the French president?

Love to all -
Skippy

I think this is the longest I've ever gone without posting . . . its kind of odd. I keep forgetting that I need to post, sorry!!!

Anyway. Thanksgiving is tomorrow!!!!! (I don't know why I'm excited, all I should eat is turkey.) But my grandparents are here, that's always entertaining. And I'm home until Sunday - which is definitely happy news!!!! AND I not only got to have my best friend come home with me for a while yesterday, but the two of us got to go get my other best friend from the airport!!!! Good times!!!!!

As far as the past month . . . I've been home every weekend, which makes it kind of difficult to study a lot. Last weekend was our annual MPM Retreat, and that was fun. We heard happy news (YAY for Rufus Kumquat the 3rd!!!!) and went door to door on Saturday morning; the rally went really well and it was REALLY great to be at MPBC once again - I missed it!!! Sunday night was fun (singing with Doug and Corinne) and the food was pretty good (Baptists sure do know how to do Thanksgiving!) This week was short (we only had two days of classes) and that was DEFINITELY a happy thing!!!!

In other news - still looking for guidance and direction. Praying for those who ask for it, still willing to know more.

Trivia - YES Lesa!!!!!!! And yay Google!!!!!

New question - what 7 partners just joined together to build a fusion testing plant in France?

Love to all!!!!!
Skippy

What is this? The Andrea and Brady show? Doesn't anyone else have some input???

Correct Brady!!!!!! Angel Falls in Venezuela is the highest waterfall in the world.


Well, we're full swing into basketball...okay maybe half swing. We had a Women's Basketball tournament this weekend: three days, four teams, six games, 18 hours on the time card. Our girls did pretty well, and we were mostly injury free until tonight.

We have a tournament just after Thanksgiving, but that's it for the month of November - which is SUPER exciting because it means I might be able to concentrate on only 10 things instead of 12 for once.

Home is interesting as ever, I really will have a nice long blog about the whole story the first week in December. Until then, just keep praying.

Which brings me to another point - prayer request.
I have several, but I've shortened it down to this: I need some guidance and reassurance from God about everything that's going on and where He wants me to be headed. If you think to pray for me, I would greatly appreciate it.

And again - if you have anything you would like me to pray about, just let me know and I'd be glad to do so!!!!

New trivia!!!!!! Africa has three 'great' lakes - what are they?

Love to all from the beautiful Simpson bubble,

Skippy

P.S. Duane-n-ator - you called me General the other day on the phone - does that mean I get another promotion?

Delayed for reasons out of my control.

I really REALLY would have posted on Wednesday, but Blogger wouldn't let me. And I have tried several times since then, and FINALLY today it let me on.

So there's my excuse. Deal with it.

K. Updates on the home front - life is interesting. That's all I'm saying. I'll fill ya'll in later.

Updates from the school front - Soccer is OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I managed to survive through Midnight Madness!!!! Yay God for strength and patience and factors out of my control!!!!!!!!!!!

Updates on . . . another front - I got glasses!!! Oh wait, I told you all that. Well, you'll just have to wait for me to have a cute picture and then I'll put it up. Maybe.

Trivia answer - Yes dear Andrea!!!! That is correct!!!!! The Great Antilles are made up of four islands, five nations. Haiti and the Dominican Republic share an island, then you have Jamaica, Cuba and Puerto Rico which is actually a dependent and not an independent state.

New Trivia: the highest water fall in the world is?????????

Love to all from the Skippy!!!!!

Major Skippy

P.S. MPM folk - Retreat weekend the 17-19, RALLY on the 18th!!!

Lala, whatever.

Lalalalala - so its been a while.

I'm SORRY Brady!!!!!! (See, I can write to you other than in an email!)

Things have been INSANE!!! I know that I say that all the time - but for real - INSANE!!!!
School and work and school and work and homework and coming home to have a crazy weekend and then back to school and work and school and work and then maybe I can sleep after.....oh say - finals?

Anyway - prayer group is going well . . . classes are going well (think I'm gonna meet my grade goal!) and work is going well. We're gearing up for Midnight Madness - if you read this and you go to Simpson, you had BETTER be there!!!!!!! (for those of you who don't know - Midnight Madness is an event put on by the Athletic Department once a year in October to get the students pumped up for basketball season.)

God is good - all the time!!!! Just thought I'd throw that in there, to remind you all in case you forgot!!!

I got glasses today - its been interesting, to say the least!!!! Maybe, if you're lucky, I'll a post a picture.....maybe not.

Congratulations to both Brady and Andrea!!!!! You are both correct - isn't it crazy that a lake is almost 10 times saltier than the ocean?!?!!?!? It's crazy!!!!!

K, new trivia. This is a multi answer question - what are the Greater Antilles???

Love to all!!!!

Skippy

MY FEET HURT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And that's how I feel about that!!! Just thought you like to know!!!!! And so far tonight, homework seems to be going fairly well, so I can take a moment and post!!!

Two days!!! Do you see that?!?! TWO DAYS!!!!! Since then, I'm back at school. Today was okay - but I've been on the run since 8 this morning, and I'm tired!!!!

We had two soccer games today - Men and Women vs. Menlo. Both teams lost, but they both put up a good fight!!!!

Other than that...not much is going on. I can't post a new trivia question, because no one answered my last question!! So get on it people!!!

Love you!! Skippy

Hey folks.

Well, its been a long week. Lemme give you the Cliff Notes version:

Disneyland was GREAT!!! We had a blast!!!! The flight home was good, the drive up to Biggs wasn't bad. When we got home K and the kids had moved out, so we had lots of adjusting to do. This week was okay in classes, although I had a LOT of catch up work to do. Work went well, but I was exhausted by the time the week was over. We had a long weekend this weekend - THANK YOU JESUS!!!! So I didn't have classes on Friday and I won't have classes tomorrow. Because of that, I have appts tomorrow, and the last - my favorite!! - is with my chiropractor!!! So after over a month, my hip finally gets to go back where its supposed to!!!!!!! YAY ME!!!!!!

Last night I spent 9 hours babysitting 5 children under the age of 11. It was great. No really, it was fun!!!

Okay, leaving now because, well, because I want to.

But wait!!!! Trivia!!!

The last question was about Czech and Slovakia - brownie points to Lesa for getting the right answer!!!!

This weeks question is . . . what percent of the Great Salt Lake is salt? And what is the average for the Oceans?

Love to all!!!
Skippy

A week and a day - I'm back to long periods of time between posts - SORRY!!! I thought that I had posted something last Sunday night, apparently it didn't go through. I don't remember everything that was in it, I do know that I said I was VERY excited, but I didn't tell you why. In fact, I believe I said that it would all make sense on Tuesday night. The reason? Lemme tell you:

Monday - I went to three classes and then my sister picked me up and we rushed home and picked up mom and then rushed the airport. We flew from Sacramento to LAX where my grandfather picked us up and took us back to his house.
Tuesday - we got up and that afternoon my sister took me to CBU (California Baptist University) to surprise (and I mean SURPRISE) my best friend, Rebecca. She had ABSOLUTELY no idea that I was coming!!! It was SOOOOO much fun!!!!
On Wednesday Grandpa brought us into Anaheim and dropped us off at the Disneyland hotel. We spent Wednesday in Disneyland and went to dinner at a place by the hotel called Hook's Pointe.
Thursday we went into Fantasyland (early entry!!!) and then over to California Adventure. This was Mom's first time on Soarin, and she loved it!!!!! Jocelyn, although she has been on this ride several times, still loves it, as do I.
Today (Friday) we're headed to Goofy's Kitchen for a character brunch, and then into Disneyland to finish up. We're watching the parade of dreams this afternoon, and the last thing on the agenda is the 50th Fireworks show. Inbetween the parade and the fireworks is my FAVORITE part of the whole place - Fantasmic. It is the best music!!!! I LOVE IT!!!!

Okay, I have to go now. I must finish getting ready so we can be down at the restaurant on time.
Love to all!!!
Skippy

From the Skippy . . . take 2?

So. What do you want? Updates? Trivia questions? RBI's? (Random Bits of Information - I just came up with that myself, right now!!)

K - updates = life is crazy. Class is awesome. Work is tolerable.
It has been brought to my attention again that I have learned a lot this summer. Through the whole thing with Dad I was learning; and the month at Magalia was an EXTREMELY educational experience. Now I'm back in classes (which is the obvious place of learning) plus I'm in meetings and at games and being a prayer leader and all that stuff. So all around - I'm learning a lot.

Random bits of information - we had a theft in the dorm. It's a sad thing when your home isn't safe. Like my home-home is safe. But this is my school home and it makes me sad that the home that I'm at now is not safe.

TRIVIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When did Slovakia split from Czech? And what is that split known as?

Skippy

God is good!!! All the time!!!!

Three days!!! How's that for a change?!?!?!?

Not a WHOLE lot has happened since my last post. But there are a few things. First off, Harold got to come home from the hospital yesterday!!!!!! The second thing is that the rally went really well!!!! (Thanks again Duane!!!) And the third thing is . . . last night I had a conversation with an old friend, and I feel like I have the friend back better than ever. YEAH GOD!!!!! Oh, and another thing to say YAY God to - my financial aid is (finally) finished and I get to continue to go to school!!!! God has blessed me (once again) with money from an unexpected source and has continued to provide for me!!!!

Lastly - I REALLY love my sweatshirt!!!! And I love sleeping under so many covers that you don't really move throughout the night because of all the weight. Good stuff!!!

Okay, going now. I'm starting to get back into the swing of things and I'll begin to post more often and post shortened posts.

Coming next time:

the first trivia question of the semester!!!!!

Until then;

Major Skippy