Costume Dance

This weekend was another joyous weekend. Grandma and Aunt Mary came out for a visit. They arrived Friday night and we went out for supper at the Chinese Buffet here in town. It was delicious and so good to catch up with them! We went back to the hotel after and looked through Grandma's pictures from Europe. I am so jealous! It looked like they had so much fun! They saw so many different places and historical icons. A trip to Europe has definitely gone onto my bucket list. Friday night was also the Dordt costume dance. Me and Merissa went as Hogwarts students, Brittany went as a Spice Girl with some nursing friends, and Danae and Kaitlin went as boys. We weren't very creative, but we had a lot of fun :)

. Danae . Merissa . Brittany . Me . Kaitlin .

Saturday was my soccer game against Hastings, the 15th ranked team in the NATION. Last year they got second in the national tournament. We weren't expecting to win, but we were pretty sure that if we played our absolute best we might be able to hold them to only a goal or two. Well, we scored first leaving the score at half time 1-0 with us in the lead :)! It was awesome. Then they scored in the second half and tied it up 1-1. Nobody scored in the first overtime... but in the second overtime... they scored again :( off a hand ball into the goal. It should have been a tie game, but that ended it. We were pretty happy overall that we had stayed with them the whole game. We played so well and coach was very pleased. That was our last conference game. We begin the conference tournament on Thursday playing a team we are capable of beating but we will have to play well again. We placed 6th in the conference. We would have liked to have been higher, but we lost some games we could have won. Overall, we have a pretty good chance at playing at least a couple more games. Now we play until we lose, and then we are done. The boys also lost to Hastings 3-0 and Van Wylen's were here again this weekend too so I sat by them and Grandma and Aunt Mary during the boys game. Then we all went out for dinner together. And Grandma and Aunt Mary took me to Walmart to get just a few things despite the fact that Aunt Mary wanted me to get more :)

This morning I got up and ate breakfast with Grandma and Aunt Mary at the hotel and saw them off. Goodbyes never get easier...

Church was good and the pastor's wife had invited us over for dinner today. We had chicken fajitas, and good conversation with two of their pastor friends from Grand Rapids! They were quite funny. Then I got a short nap this afternoon and made a decent dent in my homework and skyped with my family for a while. It was a great weekend full of joy and God's blessings.

I also began my Thanksgiving break countdown: 23 more days until I come home! :)

Love you! Aubs

Goal!

Yesterday was our game against Morningside that would determine if we were higher than the last place to make it to the conference tournament. If we lost we would get 8th place and have to travel away for our first tournament match. I was sure hoping we would win so I would have a joy to write about for yesterday. What I wasn't counting on was scoring the goal that would win us the game!! It was a corner kick, and the last corner kick we got I didn't do much, so this time I was determined not to let the ball past me. I got right up inside the 18 and curved my run toward the back post. Kelly Smies got on the end of it and put it in the upper left hand corner, but not high enough because their defender who was set on the inside of the post headed it out of the goal. It was headed right for me, I jumped over their defender and got my head on it and sent it back toward the other side of their goal. It rainbowed over the keeper, she got a finger on it, and tipped it into the side netting!! There was 1:23 left in the game. I haven't scored a goal since my sophomore year of high school so it felt pretty good :)

Today, I made some Halloween brownies with Halloween sprinkles for my room :)

Yay brownies! They're delicious :)

Today my joy was baking brownies, and eating them of course

Coming Back to Joy

In my determination to get back to this blog deal everyday I found a new quote about joy...



I got it off Pinterest :) I think it is so fitting for where I am in my life. Junior year in highschool is the year where college interests begin and you are busier than ever because you don't have the stresses of senior year with college choices and trying to do everything that you can only do while you are still in highschool, but you are anticipating the changes that will occur in less than 2 short years. Junior year of college is similar. I am having a great year! Soccer has been going great this year for me. Despite my knees, I have been getting all the playing time I want, stepping up to a leadership position on the team, and enjoying not worrying about it being my last year playing yet. I'm also looking forward to student teaching next year but not actually worried about the stresses about actually beginning my student teaching. The drama this year has been few and I'm finally figuring out where I belong at Dordt College. And in all things, I find joy in the knowledge that God is in control of my past, my present, and my future, and that He has better things in store for me than I could ever imagine. And because of that, everything will be okay if I can put my trust in Him and not try to take matters into my own hands, and be able to praise Him in everything and anything He might give me or put me through.  And that my friends, is joy.

Apple

Since I haven't posted in a while I thought I could post two in one day :) Today my joy is also in this apple I ate for lunch. Honeycrip from MICHIGAN!

It's so humongous it's all I ate for lunch :)

It's finally starting to feel like fall and fall food is always a treat. What I REALLY want now is Mom's apple crisp. Yummmm.

Pumpkins, Kitty!, and the Little Things

I haven't been doing a very good job at updating this blog lately. But, I am going to get back to it. I need to stay focused on the good parts of my day instead of letting the bad stuff get me down. "In this world you will have trouble, but take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33.

Last weekend we have the pumpkin carving competition. Me and Merissa did one together. I love carving pumpkins! Coming up with an idea, digging out the slimy guts, and making your creation come to life. We also decided to try to cook our seeds back in our appartment. We found directions online that told us to cook them for 25 minutes at 400 stirring every 10 miutes. Well, they were wrong. We stirred them after 10 minutes and after about 15 minutes they were all burnt to a crisp! It smelled horrible and smoke came out of our oven when I checked them. They were all black as can be! We laughed so hard!

Brittany's family was here last weekend, her brother, sisters, parents, and her cousin.The girls got up and went for a run Saturday morning and came back with a little kitty! They found her stuck in a tree and rescued her. So we had a little friend in our appartment all day Saturday. She was so cute. I played with her all morning before my soccer game.

 We named her Slippers because of her white paws.

We kept her in the bathtub when we all left so she wouldn't get into trouble in our appartment. They brought her back to the barn near the tree Saturday night. We were all so sad to see her go.

This week was a pretty chill week. We won our soccer game on Tuesday, had a pool session for practice on Wednesday, I didn't have any classes on Thursday, and Today is the first day of parents weekend which although is sad for me because my family isn't coming because they scheduled us an away game this weekend about 4 hours away also makes me happy to see everyone else with their families AND there are cookies in the campus center that I've been helping myself to :) Mmmmm I LOVE cookies.

So far, I don't have any big plans for the weekend, but it sounds like a hot tub may have to be occupied later tonight :)

LOVE
Aubs

Cleats

Yesterday my joy was my soccer cleats :) I broke out my old babies for a couple days this week because they are just SO COMFORTABLE. Even though they were slowly falling apart. Yesterday they completely fell apart. The sole is peeling away from the shoe and everytime I moved I thought my foot was going to pop right out of the shoe. lol So I had to tape them up so I could wear them just one.more.time...

This may sound like an odd joy. But what made me get out my old Puma cleats was the fact that we got an email from Coach this week telling us we get our shoe allowance this year.. $50 toward a new pair of cleats :) So I've been looking at Puma cleats all week and I took my old Puma's out to try them on for the size. When I tried them on I remembered why I loved them so much! They are so comfy! So I wore them a few more times before they completely bit the dust. But now, I am going to order a NEW pair of cleats :) I can't wait to show them to you :)

xo aubs

Soaking up God's Love

Last night my joy was in Scott making me dinner after my night class. He made some steak in the crockpot, corn, and mashed potatoes and gravy. It was so good! I never knew he was such a good cook! He had it almost all ready by the time I got done with class so we just added the finishing touches. I forgot my camera so I didn't get a picture but we ate a nice dinner while watching the Tigers beat the Texas Rangers. It was very sweet.♥

My joy today was during chapel. Pastor Bart talked about being more intimate with God and letting God's love wash over you.Sometimes I feel like I am stuck in a rut and am not growing any closer to God. Pastor Bart said in these situations it is sometimes more effective to just sit and be and soak up God's love and be revived rather than praying for a miracle or forcing a huge transformation that isn't there. So today I am going to soak up God's love for me and let it wash over me. I am going to let him revive that intimate relationship I long for with Him and teach me how to respond.

Another family weekend

Wow!! I can't believe it's Monday already! I had such a great break from school. Wednesday was my last day of classes last week so I did a lot of catching up on rest and hanging with my man. Thursday me and Scott chilled all day, did some homework, watched tv, and then went out with Merissa and Ryan to Culver's for supper and watched a movie with them at night. It was a very successful lazy day filled with nothing but relaxing and rest.

Friday, me and Scott drove to Sioux Falls, SD to meet his parents there and spend some time at the mall :) It was SO GOOD to be in a mall again! :) I did not find anything I couldn't live without and came back empty handed but it was fun to get out of Sioux Center for an afternoon. Grandpa and Grandma arrived Friday evening and we went to Pizza Ranch for supper. It was delicious! And it never fails that when I go to a buffet I eat WAY too much more than I need and we rolled out of there with full stomachs. We came back to my appartment and chatted for a while before parting for the night.

I met them for breakfast on Saturday. We went to Casey's Bakery for breakfast :) And then, me and grandma went to the fabric store to pick out my fabric for the quilt she is going to make me! It was so fun. I picked out fabrics in different shades of blues, browns, and creams. I can't wait to see it all finished! It is going to be a big project for Gram! Then I had my soccer game which we won 2-1 and Scott's game which he won, and scored the only goal of the game :) Then we cleaned up and went back to Pizza Ranch with VanWylen's for supper and overate again. lol But I just couldn't stop! Then we ran and got some milk, that was really all I needed with all the food both my parents and grandma and grandpa brought :) and then came the goodbye's ...

Sunday was also relaxing. I made up one of Grandma's caseroles for those of us who were left behind this weekend. I think there was 9 of us in Scott's apartment. Everyone chipped in something and we had a delicious Sunday dinner together. Me and Scott watched some football, took a nap, and did some homework. This weekend was so full of joy!

Mommy and Daddy

This past weekend mom and dad came out for a visit!! It was so fun. We went out for a nice dinner Friday night and of course a Walmart stop where I stocked up on enough food to last me all winter! lol I think I have more food in our appartment than all three of my roommates combined :) Saturday we went to Casey's Bakery for breakfast, shopped around the "mall" and went to the fabric store to look at colors and prints for the quilt Gram is going to make for me (I think I FINALLY found which ones I want), and made it back just in time to get ready for my game. After spending some time in the ER with my roomie and her fiance, my parents picked me up and we went out with Scott and his parents and Merissa. Then we came back and just talked. It was the perfect weekend! It was so relaxing and good to be with my parents again. And of course it went all too fast and before we knew it they were taking the long trip home again.

(explanation on the ER trip: Brittany's fiance Alex plays soccer and got knocked out cold and had to be taken to the ER for tests. He came back clear just a severe concussion, a head ache, and some dizziness and tiredness)

This coming week is a short week for me! We have Heartland break so we have Thursday and Friday off but of course I can't come home because we have soccer, but Grams and Gramps K are coming out this weekend! I also realized that I technically only have class today because tomorrow we have an away game and I will miss my classes and Wednesday I am going on a short field trip in my class :) So on this sunny and warm Monday I am saying hello to MY ONLY DAY OF CLASSES!!