God's Plan vs. Mine

My mother mentioned to me a week or so ago....that I tend to plan out my life to a fault. Where I expect certain things to happen in a certain way, without leaving too much room for God's plan for my life. And she's right. Time and time again...I have automatically assumed that certain things would go a certain way...and then been highly discouraged when they don't work out! You'd think I would learn!!

All this to say...I missed passing my teacher certification test by 3 points. While I had been planning on beginning my first year of teaching next month...I was suddenly faced with the reality that that wouldn't be happening. And I hadn't even considered making a "Plan B". I was so embarassed and discouraged by the results...I avoided making this post till now! :) However...I might FINALLY be learning! :) God has a way of making things work out for the best...even when I don't see it! In the past week alone...3 events/opportunities have come up that I would not have been able to participate in if I had signed a teaching contract! I feel so blessed by that! I have decided to substitute teach...and continue waitressing this next year...while seeing what else God has in store for me. I am totally open to any new adventure he throws my way. If teaching wasn't in the plan for me this year (and yes...I will retake the test again in January, so I still have the option of teaching in the future)...then there must be something better!

Anyway...aside from that...life has been pretty uneventful and work-related! I DID get a new haircut today. This Fayetteville summer heat is just killing me! So I decided to go a bit shorter...but I kind of like it! It's new...and fun. And I'm all about change. So here's a photo for your viewing pleasure. :)

That's it for now. Oh yeah...except I wanted to tell all of my Oklahoma/Texas friends that I'll be making a visit in January. So make sure you're in town!

Ouch!

Yesterday morning I had prepared myself breakfast, and was taking it into the living room to join my mom and sister. However, I stopped mid-way, at the stair, to make faces across the room to my nephew, who was sitting on the floor and playing. Focusing more on making Eric laugh, than what I was doing myself....I completely missed the step and fell down. Hard. Thankfully, I saved my breakfast from falling on the floor. Haha! However, my body didn't appreciate me much for that. I was in a tremendous amount of pain. It felt as though I had twisted my left ankle, right knee, and bent all the toes on my right foot back!

A couple of hours and 2 Tylenol later, I realized that I had done more damage to my toes than anything else. Walking was not going so well. My sister looked at them, and concluded that I had broken at least one...if not two...of my toes. I wasn't really worried about the broken toes....as much as I was about the "oh no...I have to work tonight!". I've never called out of work before...I wasn't going to do it now! So Charity taped my toes together (saying she had done this many times before for her husband) and I kept my leg up. I put on my work shoes 3 hours before I was supposed to go into work, just to make sure I could wear them. It hurt. But I was sitll planning on going into work anyway. I could do it!

Haha...yeah right. God had other plans for me. 2 hours before I was supposed to go into work, I got a call from a co-worker needing hours, and wondering if he could take my shift for the night. How crazy is that?? I gladly gave him my shift...knowing I would never make it through the night if I went in....but happy I didn't have to call out! So I spent the rest of the night, with my foot propped up, watching movies. Rather boring...but probably necessary. Today they feel a bit better...I'm getting around okay, anyway!

And while I thought I would get my test results today....it seems the mailman forgot to put them in the mailbox. So hopefully they'll come tomorrow. I'll let you know as soon as I do!

Good Memories!

It's 4am, and I just got off the phone with Willemijn for the second time today. I felt inspired to write down some of my best/funniest memories from the past year in Eindhoven with some of my closest friends today.

*walking in the pouring rain with Willemijn one night...determined to get our pre-scheduled exercise in!

*requiring Willemijn's assistance in getting my beyonce jeans on for the first time ever!! :)

*teaching the "Hippopotamus" song at a girls' youth weekend, and falling down from laughing so hard at their enthusiastic participation

*teaching the church a song (251!) one Wednesday night, and regretting it every time they sang it after that (haha...Bozena knows what I'm talking about!)

*taking a 3 hour walk with Nadine in the mountains of Gemunden, capturing a picture at every turn in the road!

*Nita incorporating the hand signals from the "Mexican train" game into "Get Right Church"

*Paul stating one Sunday morning that he was going to pray in Dutch...then proceeding to pray in English

*stopping a random guy at a restaurant to tell him that he had beautiful eyes...embarassing Willemijn in the process

*constantly asking Willemijn/Nadine/Sheritha "Do you smell that...someone smells good!!?"

*spending hours thinking of/preparing my first vegetarian dinner for Willemijn...then retardly offering her chicken soup to start off the meal!

*receiving a phone call almost daily from Sheritha, asking me if I was watching a certain channel on the TV...and telling me which one I should turn to

*attempting to get to Willemijn's house for the first time, and taking the wrong bus, which put me out of the way for more than an hour

*Nadine attempting to help me out by saying "x-rated" when Hayo tried to kiss me one night!

*trying to decide between "cute-guy" Chinese place and "cheap" Chinese place on Wednesdays with Willemijn

*meeting Arnol...the guy in the wheelchair in the center...for the first time!

Okay....I think that's enough for now. These things just make me smile when I think about the past year. There are SOOOOOO many more.....it's unbelievable. Especially more with Bozena (who I hope is reading this, as well!) and random people (guy in the center who thought Willemijn and Nadine were Americans, while I was Dutch!). :)

If there's anything that is NOT on this list...that makes you smile when you think about it...let me know!