Some pictures from our skiing weekend at Boyne and Crystal...

It was so pretty. It snowed both days all day.

We had WAY too much fun!

Mohawks

Conquering the gorge

The weekend was full of smiles and laughter. Jenn and Scott got to come along this year and we had so much fun. It was such a blessing to be with the whole family. What a joy!

Then we had the Kloosterhouse family Christmas party

I LOVE CHRISTMAS! xoxo

Study Break

Today my joy was enjoying a much needed study break and chat time with my friend Jana. We colored Christmas pictures and watched a Christmas movie! It was so good to get away from the books for a while.
Tomorrow is the first day of exams. I hope I'm ready!!

-aubs

Winter Wonderland

So, yesterday was 40 degrees and raining. Then, this morning I woke up to wind whistling through our window. Me and Meris like to sleep with the window cracked open a bit so it doesn't get so stuffy in our room and this morning I found a cute little snow pile inside our window sill. I proceeded to open the blind and this is what I saw... *SnOw*

We've been in a blizzard warning since last evening and have accumulated almost 2 foot snow drifts. I then proceeded to trek over to the rec center for our end of the season soccer team party...

Haha, lets just say it was an interesting journey :)
So here's hello from a wintery Iowa!

love always!
Aubs

Take Time

Yesterday's joy was the gingerbread house contest! with the freshman and sophomore girls. I was on a team with Merissa and Sara Byron, my friend from the soccer team. Each gingerbread house had to tell a story so we chose to make a castle and tell the story of Repunzel locked in a high tower guarded by an evil which when her knight on a candy cane horse rides in to save the day. It was so much fun! :)

Today I was reminded to take a break from life even if it is only for a moment. The bright colors sweeping the horizon in the sunset tonight stopped me dead in my tracks. The sky was filled with vibrant pinks and purples. It was such a blessing to be reminded to take time and just breathe during such a busy week. I needed that so much during this week before exams with professors all cramming their last minute projects and assignments into the semester on top of preparing for exams. It has been so hectic. I try to take it one step at a time, but I find myself feeling overwhelmed numerous times daily. That's when I need reminders such as this to stop me and remind me to enjoy life right where I am.

Love always,

even when life seems out of control

aubs

Catching Up

Today what brought me joy was that one of my classes got cancelled. I only had one class today, Math. And it was a test, but it was fairly easy, I think.


Thanksgiving break was so wonderful and I have been so busy that I haven't posted for a while. Today, life finally slowed down for me, at least for a little while. But, it looks like I'll be spending my weekend in the library working on projects for my Education classes. It's nice being an education major because I only have to take 2 exams :) but the rest are large projects that I have to have finished by the date of the exam. So, if I buckle down this weekend, the rest of the semester will be a breeze and before I know it I will be home again!


In the spirit of Christmas, me and Merissa have a Christmas tree this year. I had so much fun making these star ornaments from a pattern I got with my Grandma when she visited me out here. Over Thanksgiving we got together and looked through all her old fabric scraps. They are so easy to make and I think they turned out quite cute.

2:00

I am all packed up and am leaving as close to 2:00 as possible this afternoon for the long awaited treck home! I woke up to and ice covered wonderland this morning, so hopefully that will all have melted away by then. Our projected time for arrival is about 2:00 a.m. tonight (your time) and I cannot wait to see you all once again!!

love always and forever

So Ready

This week was busy, but most of my free time was spent dreaming of home. I cannot wait to be home again. So in preparation, I made the saddest little countdown I have ever seen out of sticky notes lol, began thinking about all the things I want to do while I am home (the list consists of shopping, being with family, seeing my friends, and lots of time spent at home!), and began writing Christmas lists so I can do my shopping when I get home. And, since I have absolutely no idea what is in all the stores I did some online window shopping :) Target, American Eagle, Best Buy, Old Navy, Delia's ... the list goes on and on. There are some exciting deals and I have a pretty good list going now. This felt like the longest week in history. Hopefully I can keep myself busy this weekend to make it go faster.

I am SO READY to be home again!

Miranda Day

Today I got to go to Kinsey Elementary to meet up with my "little sister" Miranda. We ate corn dogs and macaroni and cheese for lunch and then went outside to play Good Luck Charlie which aparently is a tv show on the Disney Channel. I got to be the mom. :) Over lunch, Miranda asked me, "Do you know what I call Wednesday's?" I replied with an anxious ''What?" and she told me that she calls Wednesday's Aubrey day because I come to visit her on Wednesday's. So I told her that I would call Wednesday's Miranda day because I get to come play with her on Wednesday's. She is such a gem. She laughs more than any other child I know and is very talkative. I've only got to hang out with her twice now but she gets so excited when I arrive. And, today I had to tell her that I won't see her for the next two weeks for Thanksgiving break and she was so sad! I felt so bad. But I told her that we will have even more to talk about when I get back, so she said she would remember everything that happens and fill me in when I come back to see her again.

Weekend Recap

Here is a list of most of my joys from the weekend

(I'm sure I can't remember them all)

1. Friends helping me close up the library Friday night so I didn't have to be alone in a big dark library :/

2. IHOP with friends for Jana's birthday and eating banana bread french toast?! Despite how it sounds it was delicious!!

3. Singing in the car packed with 7 people all the way to Sioux Falls and back

4. Sleeping in Saturday morning until 10:00 and waking up to snow covered ground. Oh Christmas can't come soon enough...

5. Working out, doing some homework, and spending a long, lazy evening with my boy.

6. Church Sunday morning with Thanksgiving dinner to follow in the college coffeehouse.

7. Another lazy Sunday afternoon spent mostly on homework and folding laundry.

8. Skyping with my family. Oh I can't wait to be home!

[9 days]

Suprise

Today was not a very exciting day. I had a campus visitor last night and this morning so I had to entertain her. And, today I just had class. Before my last class of the day, philosophy ughhh, I am tired and ready to be done. I am waiting for the other class to exit the room I need to get into and I hear a whisper behind me, "Hello, beautiful." Scott suprised me and was standing there with his childish grin that I love so much. He brightened up my whole day with one little phrase and he probably doesn't even know it.

I found my bike!

1. On monday I had the tragedy of having someone steal my bike while I was innocently eating dinner at the commons. I come out and NO BIKE!! I've been looking high and low, literally sometimes there are bikes up in the trees. Now, today I was driving to Kinsey Elementary School right down the road from Dordt and I pass one of the Dordt's parking lots on the outskirts of campus and look to my left... and hey! a bike?! HEY THAT'S MY BIKE!! lol I called Scott and had him go get it for me. It was parked behind a car like someone was waiting to load it up and take it home. But, ha! I got it back now and I will not forget to lock it up EVER again!

2. Another joy today was that I began listening to Christmas music :) I don't care if you think it's too early, I am way too excited for Christmas to wait any longer! Although snow can wait until I am home so the drive goes quicker.

3. I also got to have dinner with my family tonight!! Thank you skype! They put me by my usual place at the table and we just chatted casually for almost an hour. This was my biggest joy all week.

love you all and miss you like crazy!!
forever yours,
aubs

Teacher

Today I got to go to a school in Hawarden that has a high level of diversity and observe a couple classrooms for my diversity in education class. It brings me joy to be in a classroom and be around kids. I got to help groups of students with reading in the second class I was in. I just love reading stories. Then later in the day, my bookorder books came! The education department gives out bookorders so we can get books really cheap and begin to build our classroom library :) I got three books, 2 by Nick Bruel from his "Bad Kitty" collection, and "The Christmas Baby". They are so cute and I can't wait to bring them home to show you :) Isn't it sad that I probably get more excited about picture books and reading stories now than I did when I was younger? Well that's my life as a teacher.

One last time...

Today, my joy was getting together with both the men's and women's soccer teams for a coed schrimmage just for fun one last time now that both of our season's are over. It was way too beautiful to not get out and play today so a bunch of us got together to schrimmage. And, I even scored today! :) It was a great time. I learned so much this season. I went from being on the bench and rarely seeing the field to playing every minute of every game. I am sad that we are done, but I am excited to see what we can do in our off season and come prepared next season to come out and kick some butt!!

Crazy Life

My life has been a little crazy lately and it doesn't look like it will be slowing down anytime soon. But, here are some updates of joy from this past week.

Halloween!!

The Soccer Team

Scott ♥

Roomies

Gail Dirksen a.k.a. Mr Potato Head

Jana Merissa Mary Me

On Tuesday we also won our first conference round game against Doane 3-0. Now we advance to conference semi-finals on Saturday vs. Hastings the number one team in the conference. So I'm pretty excited. We tied them earlier this season so we will have to be on top of our game to beat them this time.

Last night I enjoyed a girls night through Chocolate Hour hosted by the Women of Promise club here at Dordt. This hour consisted of indulging in several chocolatey goodies followed by talking with a panel of men from Dordt's campus and asking them all sorts of questions. It was such a blessing to be in community with all those women talking with God-fearing men.

Another joy I encountered last night was a clear starry night reminding me that God calls me his beautiful daughter and that he finds me captivating enough to walk me back to my dorm with the stars.

And, my joy today is that there is NO WIND!! It is beautiful. It has been miserably windy and cold for soccer practice, but today is looking better :) Also, I am particpating in the Big Brother/Big Sister program and I got to meet my little today. Her name is Miranda and she is hilarious. I get to spend my lunch hour with her every Wednesday.

I love and miss you all like crazy,

Aubs

Snuggled by God

My joy today was watching soccer in crazy high winds and chilly temperatures being snuggled up tight under a hoodie and fleece blanket. First I played my game in this crazy weather and we won 4-1. It was a fun game. And then, the boys played and Scott got their only goal to win the game 1-0. Watching him play today I was so thankful for life. I don't like being cold, but I love being snuggled under layers of sweats and blankets enjoying God's creation and the company of those around me. And when it was time to leave the cold and enter into the warm haven of Rindy's mom's car (a girl on my soccer team), I fell peacefully asleep. I think this is what it will be like to enter heaven. We have been enduring the coldness of earth snuggled by the ones He sent to take care of us and love us, and entering into the warmth and peace of God's presence. It's kind of a weird analogy, but it worked pretty well with my thoughts today :)

Special

This weekend was FULL of joy!

Friday night I got to go out with the girls for our friend Brittany's birthday. We went to Red Robin in Sioux City. It was so good to have a night out with the girls!





And when we got back, Dordt was hosting the Fall Fest which consists of decorating cookies, a pumpkin carving contest, pie eating contest, and warm beverages :)














Saturday, many things brought me joy once again but mostly what brought me joy was volunteering for the special olympics in the morning. We went bowling today. They just love it and they are actually really good! Many of them do better than I do usually :) One of the ladies that was on my lane in the first group was so soft spoken and sweet. I got talking with her and she reminded me of this important aspect of life. This is what she said, "I like to smile all the time because they told me that if I smile I will have a better day. So, I smile all the time." What a blessing! This was such a good reminder to me of what a difference something as simple as a smile can make. And she definately brought a smile to my face on a dreary Saturday morning.

The joy of Saturday night was getting to go out to eat with Scott's family. They came out to suprise him last night, so they took us out to eat :) After supper we went to the volleyball game and then said our goodbyes.
So now it is pouring rain, and I mean DOWNPOURING rain! with thunder and lightning (and we haven't had rain in about a month here!) So, me and Scott ran back to his room in the rain and were completely soaked. Then, we raided our friends room in search of "The Last Song" which I had yet to see. And, we met Ryan and Merissa for a movie date :) It is such a sweet movie, but be sure to have your tissues handy because it is a tear jerker. This movie reminded me to not take any day for granted and to make sure that the people we love KNOW that we love them.

So, to all of you reading this...I love you so much and I wish I could be closer to you to be telling you this in person rather than over the internet...

love always,
your Aubs