tid bit of my fall break :)

and again we say goodbye.

I had to say Goodbye to Alex again early this morning. I dropped him off at the airport at about 10 minutes to 7:00 this morning.

Every time we have to say goodbye, which by now has been at least a dozen times ( I might be exaggerating but I highly doubt it by much ) , I cry. Today, I started crying as soon as my alarm went off and as I'm writing this, I'm crying again! When I got home from dropping him off, I started crying while watching Friends and when Violet texted me. What has gotten over me this time ?? I guess the fact that it is going to be another 7 weeks until I see him again (December - whenever school is done)

One thing to look forward to though is seeing him December and never having to say goodbye again! (Except when I fly home for Christmas for like a week :) And for that, I will celebrate!

It also means I will no longer live in Illinois, at least for a while.
And 6 months from Saturday, WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!

um.. weird?

I'll write more about my fall break when I get back to school.
Blahhhh! Class @ 8 tomorrow!

questions asked....

Jess and Morgan had some great questions in their comments on my last blog! HAHA! Well, let me answer those for you :)

If he gets his antelope today, (he's really hoping he does because he has to go home today) he is not going to eat it and neither would I if he even decided to keep it. He's going to give it to a guy he knows and his wife - because they like antelope I guess. Alex does not like to eat antelope and says that I probably wouldn't like it either. I guess it's pretty tough and has a real gamey (is that a word because people use it all the time - haha!) taste. Therefore, he is just going to give the whole thing away (except the horns - he wants to keep those).

HOWEVER! When he goes elk and deer hunting in November, for about 2 weeks right before Thanksgiving, he will most likely keep at least some of that. I have never had elk before, but I bet if it were made into ground meat (I almost said beef but no no, it's elk, not cow) I would probably like it because you can put it in stuff - like tacos and such, and you wouldn't be able to tell what it is. Kind of like Deb putting venison in our tacos :) You can't even tell what it is. At least, I'm never able to. But we'll see. That would be a lot of meat for two people (1 entire elk and 1 entire deer). But I would like to try elk sometime so we'll see if he gets his! Haha!

I hope that answers your questions :) See how much I'm learning from Alex just because he's from Montana :) Haha!

alex :)

Alex comes on Thurday. And he is staying until next Wednesday. I am so excited and I can hardly stand it!!! I haven't seen him since August - yeah, it has been about 8 weeks since the last time.

I have class all week obviously so hopefully the time will pass quickly. He is hunting today. You know, antelope. Kinda like cantaloupe. He was excited when I talked to him last night. Hopefully he gets his today so he can go home. Otherwise, he'll stay there and go again on Tuesday to get it. Then, pretty much when he's done with all that, he'll be here!!!

We're going to go on a date either Thursday when he gets here or Friday. We're going to hang out with my Dad and Violet. We're going to go visit my Grandpa for a little bit, too. We're going to go to the Morton Arboretum and take our engagement pictures - finally! :) We're going to the Bears Game on Sunday!!!! We also have our first premarital session with my pastor on that Monday.

I'm sooooooooo excited for him to get here! Ugh I hope this week goes soooooooo fast! Until Thursday that is, and then it can slooooooooow down :)

oh David Letterman.

This video just made me laugh - granted I am really tired.. it might make you laugh, too :) Just thought I'd share before I went to bed.

Not a Christian?

It honestly doesn't matter.

Yesterday, Wes and I talked a lot about this and we both decided, as Wes put it, "it's a load of crap."

We first started talking about a girl that he may or may not like.. the fact that she's good looking and all that - however, is not a Christian. I told him... "well that's a problem, so it looks like there's good and bad." He agreed with that statement. But as our conversation progressed, I started talking about Alex.

Now Alex, I know he believes in God - but he's at the point right now where he struggles with it. He doesn't know where God is because he just simply doesn't 'see' Him like I do. I told Wes that I know from experience that it is a struggle to date someone (or be engaged to someone) who is not necessarily a Christian. That yes I think he believes in God, but our relationship is not progressing in any way in that general direction (of God). That right there is a struggle for me because Alex and I struggle alone with just simply talking about God. I told Wes that you can't force your opinion on someone (I can't make Alex believe or see what I see - he has to see it for himself). Wes agreed with that, too and added that it just takes time, it takes living with someone and it doesn't matter if your "not at the same spot." I completely agree with that entire statement and Wes made me feel good about it when he said "I feel for you."

I then continued to tell him that I think the fact that Alex is not completely 100% grounded in his faith... or really anywhere near 100%... is just more of a challenge for me. I feel as though Alex challenges me from the other end of it. He is not going to be a pastor or a missionary - at least not right now and probably not anytime soon (which I am 100% okay with!) - so he doesn't challenge me in my faith in that way like 'most christian couples' do. Instead, Alex has so many other questions (like If God is really up there and cares for me, why am I sick? - or - Since God healed all those people in the Bible with a miracle, why can't he listen to me when I ask him to heal me?). Honestly, I don't know the answers to those questions, and I don't know if I ever will find out those answers. However, what I do know is that those questions challenge me to find the answers, and to seek the answers through my own prayer life. I believe I have grown closer to God in the last year just because I have Alex. Alex may not go to church and he may not read his Bible on a regular basis and he may not attend a Christian college anymore, but because of him, I am closer to Christ. I also think that through my growing relationship with Christ, and my constant dependency on Him, my relationship with Alex and Christ will fall into place when it is supposed to. I also think that Alex came to LCC and that Alex and I met for a reason.

One other thing that Wes and I talked about was about how so many people 'judge' those who date someone 'outside of the faith' or even just someone who isn't at the same spot as you are (much like Alex and I). I do, almost on a regular basis, feel as though I am judged in some way because Alex is not a super strong Christian. That is when Wes said "I think that is a load of crap!" I couldn't have felt more comforted about this situation any more than I did in that moment. Finally someone understands!

I thought it was kind of funny because later last night, I brought this situation up to Mindy and she asked the question, "So it Alex isn't really a Christian and that doesn't scare you?"

And I know Mindy didn't mean anything bad by that, but, Alex is a Christian. He and I are just at two completely different places in our faith. And I have prayed about it and thought about it and have talked about it and know that it really isn't a problem. I know where God is in my life and I know the power that he has and that he has a plan for Alex's. That is what keeps me going :)

Thank you, Wes, for being my friend.

Don't Vote.

Morgan and Jess both posted this, but I thought it important to do the same. And it's pretty funny, too!

Also, this is the first year that I can vote, and I am voting!

making out.

It's so much fun. I just love the fact that I have Alex; I can make out with him any time I want :) I just love that. (And even better than that, he loves me, too :)

However, I can't actually make out with him when we live like 22 hours apart. That's stupid. Ah!

I'm watching The OC right now - where everyone makes out all the time, wondering, why is Alex not here right now? :(

Dang it!

i loved today.

I just love my Pre-K class. They are just so darn cute; I want to take them all home! There are 19 total in the morning classroom - lots of little bodies running around! I colored a picture of a pumpkin.

Today seemed to be ABC day; everyone wanted to sing them! So very cute if you ask me. Little Shryia, an ESL student, sang them almost perfectly! I was so proud of her - I had never even heard her talk until today!

Samanvi, another ESL student, decided that out of the red, yellow and green apples that we tried today, she liked blue the best :) I'd have to agree with her ;)

Teddy, a student with signs of autism, sang his ABC's too! Except, it went like this: OOOOOOO OOOOOOOOO IIIIII OOOOOO OOOOOOO OOOOOOO! I agree with him too, everyone else must just not know how to sing them right ;) He zipped his jacket all by himself, too!

Today was also picture day so everyone was very proud to show off their smiles!

Chesney's mom made sure to tell us to make sure that her braids were in front of her shoulders for her picture. I kept an eye on that and made sure that happened of course!

Jamari came a little late because he had to get a hair cut just because it was picture day.

Colin followed me around again today (probably because he wants to marry me :) haha!

Hailey was practicing her cutting today. She decided she needed to take all the little tiny pieces of cut up paper home to show her mommy what she learned to do. I'm sure that was greatly appreciated :)

Today was a good day at school! I can't wait to have a class of my very own someday!