Sophomore Year Catch Up...

Adora, Me, & Kyrie - "a night out on the town"

We wish and we hope and we pray to grow up so fast, and suddenly when we have reached that point of expected exaltation, it's not everything that we previously had imagined. Sometimes, I wish I could crawl back into my little cave of dependency, but it is not to be. I am becoming an independent adult...and it is a long and difficult road. I think the destination will be worth it though, without a doubt.

This semester, this whole year, has flown by me and I have barely felt the tell-tell signs of its passing. I can hardly believe that I only have Little over a month and I will be back home in Idaho again for the summer. In all actuality, this may very well be my last summer that I am at home. I'll summarize the highlights of this semester....
When I came back after Christmas break, I jumped right into softball being my primary focus of physical and emotional commitment. I ran myself down into the ground so much so that my immune system was unable to remain strong. I came down with a very bad cold (which I fought for 1 & 1/2 weeks before I finally went to the doctor and received a z-pack for bronchitis) which lasted for two weeks.
I had a week of recovery before my team headed down to Clairmont, Florida for our week long spring break tournament. It was a good week of softball experiences with the team on and off the field. We ended 3:5 - not as well as we should've, but we learned a lot of things about what we needed to change and improve and keep doing in order to have a strong and successful season when we got back into our conference.

"11 of my softball teammates @ a Tigers' spring training game"

Jeni (who I affectionately refer to as Tigerlily) and I (who she affectionately refers to as Petunia) have become increasingly closer this year, as friends. We choose to spend time with each other rather than having to live with one another as compared to last year. She has pushed me and initiated grown within me and I can only hope that I have done the same for her. For softball we are weight lifting and conditioning partners - we have a membership at Planet Fitness - and we go twice a week. She helps me get through conditioning which I don't enjoy and I help her get through weightlifting which she doesn't much enjoy.
Anyhow, Jeni wanted to give up something for the 40 days of Lent and she asked me if I would join her, which I wholeheartedly agreed to. After consideration, we decided to give up makeup for 40 days. Neither of us felt great about it, but we knew that giving up our comfort of creating our face the way we would like each day, would be a great sacrifice. (This meant, no cover up, no foundation, no mascara, no eyeshadow...the only beauty products we are allowed to use are moisturizer and chapstick/lipgloss) The first two weeks were really difficult. Every morning I walked out of my dorm not feeling quite put together and complete for the day. I wanted to cover my break outs as soon as they happened. But now, we only have one week left of our 40 days, and I don't even give make up a second thought. When I am able to wear make up, I probably will, but not as much and not as often. It's been a good experience, I've grown comfortable with how I look just rolling out of bed. I am who I am and I look just how God created me, no changes necessary.
..... Hmmm, I'm coming home over Easter to be with my family (instead of my parents flying out to MI as we originally planned) which I'm very excited about. I need to come home and be surrounded by the people who mean the most to me in life. I miss my family.
P.S. Sorry this blog was long overdue, not very exciting, and pieced together...but most everything as happened quite a while ago...so I felt redundant writing this blog. More to come soon, updated very recently.