Hot mess

Today wasn't exactly my finest day. I got a call as I was going into my office at 8 a.m. that a new international student had arrived and was in front of the housing office with all her luggage and needed help. I turned around right away and walked across campus to Crumley Hall. As I was crossing the street, I saw the girl out in front of the building and smiled and waved. As I was stepping up on the curb, all of a sudden my heel caught in a crack in the cement. I staggered ... and staggered ... and ended up in a pile at her feet. The girl just looked at my with a shocked expression, not sure what to do. Something that is embarrassing in all countries: Falling flat on your face. I popped up, and laughing in embarrassment, said, "Hi! I'm Meghan. Welcome to UNT!"

I got my hair cut short on Saturday. This morning I spent lots of time styling it in preparation for the haircut "debut" at work today. Well somehow in the course of walking across campus to the housing office, walking back across campus to get my car to go drive the student to her dorm, moving her luggage up the stairs, and going into a dorm room that hadn't had the air turned on in months, I started sweating. And by sweating, I don't mean girly glistening. I was sweating hardcore. (Who doesn't love Texas in August?) My hair was soaking wet. And as it finally started to dry, it curled up, puffed up, and got weird kinks in it. Figures - I didn't have a brush or hair ties or a head band or bobby pins in my purse today. I had to walk around work all day with a giant birds nest on top of my head. What's worse is that everybody of course noticed that I got a haircut and was like "Oh, you got a haircut ..." I had to promise them to give my 'do another chance tomorrow. And of COURSE, a guy that I hadn't seen in forever stopped by my office today to see if I wanted to have lunch. So, I had to go to lunch, birdsnest and all, telling myself the whole time "it's what's on the inside that counts, it's what's one the inside that counts..."

Yes, my friends, today I was in fine form. And I think I sprained my ankle.

Thank you, God, for giving me the ability to laugh at myself. You definitely know how to make life more interesting, that's for sure.

New Title

Last spring, my pastor mentioned something that really stuck with me. It was just a passing comment, but it’s something I think I’ll always carry with me in the back of my mind. My relationship with God for the past year has been one mainly carried on in my head. I’ve struggled with developing the emotional side of the relationship. The side where I am crying out like David in Psalm 63, desperate for God and completely satisfied in his presence. At one of the classes I attended at The Village, Matt talked about how if we are trying to grow in our relationship with God, we need to fill our lives with things that stir our affections for Christ.

Bam. How simple is that?!

I feel like I’m starting a new chapter this year. Some of the things I’ve gone through this summer have caused me to rely on God in a way that I haven’t had to in a while. As God is dragging me out of the pit, I want to continue to build that relationship with him. I’m filling my life with things that stir my affections for him. When I think about my time each day, I realize that a lot of it is spent on the Internet. The things I view on the Internet can seriously affect my closeness with God. I read a lot of blogs. Many of those blogs have encouraged me or challenged me in my faith. They’ve helped stir my affections. I want my blog to be a place for others and myself to have that same experience. Hence, the new name.

Psalm 63
A psalm of David. When he was in the Desert of Judah.

O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you,
my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land
where there is no water.
I have seen you in the sanctuary
and beheld your power and your glory.
Because your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify you.
I will praise you as long as I live,
and in your name I will lift up my hands.
My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods;
with singing lips my mouth will praise you.
On my bed I remember you;
I think of you through the watches of the night.
Because you are my help,
I sing in the shadow of your wings.
My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me.

Times, they are a changing.

A lot has been happening in my life and my heart lately. I don't even know where to start.

• I moved out of my one-bedroom apartment at the end of June and moved into a house owned by a friend from church. And ... I'm moving again at the end of August. This time to Denton (more on that later). I certainly did not expect to change my address, forward my mail, and have to leave again less than two months later, but I'll be moving on to a much better situation, and I am surprisingly excited about moving to Denton.
• I received some shocking news last week and have been dealing with a lot of hurt, disappointment, sadness, and confusion because of the actions of a friend. Once again, I can't really give out any detail on the Internet, but I've never experienced a situation like the one I'm going through now, and it's been difficult. I've been relying on the promise of Romans 8:28 - "And we know that in all things God works for the good of thsoe who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."
• The unexpected circumstances I've faced in the last month have been a little tough, but the promises I've found in God and the support of the Christian community around me have been incredible blessings. I've grown closer to God and more passionate about sharing him with others. I feel like I've refound my joy and my desire to recklessly pursue a relationship with my creator. Therefore, count it all joy my brothers, when you are faced with trials of many kinds...
• I love my job. I've finally seen some fruition from the relationships I've been developing with my students. They've started inviting me over to their apartments for dinner, and I've had the opportunity to talk a little bit about God with some of them. And all those conversations took place because of their questions and interest. I've become involved in the international ministry run by the BSM on campus and have been able to make some great friends there. I really feel like God has me in my job right now for a reason, and that some big things are going to be happening this year. For these reasons, I'm excited to move to Denton and continue to build my relationships there. Plus, I met some awesome girls that I'm going to be living with in a month. I can't wait to get to know them and have fun living together!
• I went on vacation to Colorado with my parents a couple weeks ago. The mountains were beautiful! It felt so good to get away from Texas and see something new. I need to let myself be swept away by the majesty of creation more often. I always feel closer to God when I am in the mountains. It was also a good week spending time with my parents. We climbed Mt. Thomas together, which was quite the adventure. After that, we went to Aspen, then Twin Lakes, and then finished the week with an overnight white water rafting trip. I've got some good stories from that, but I'll have to save them for another time. This blog entry feels to serious and spiritual for the stories I have to tell.

I think I'll end there tonight. Don't give up on me yet, blog friends. I'll become a regular writer eventually.

Clearly, I suck at blogging.

Bringing IELI into the Blogosphere

I'm blogging for work now. Check out http://untieli.wordpress.com to find out about what is going on with international students at UNT.

I'm getting old

Don't you just love it when people tell you look tired and you know you got a good full 8 hours of sleep the night before? Yeah. That always feels great. Well, it had been happening to me a lot lately, and to be honest, I was getting tired of it. I felt fine, and couldn't figure out why people thought I looked tired. About this same time, however, I started noticing that my eyes were feeling strained. I had some days where I would have weird eye twitches and they were becoming really sensitive to the sun. So, I finally made use of my health insurance and went to the eye doctor. I found out two things:

1. My vision is a lot worse than I thought, and it's time for me to be a full-time glasses wearer.

2. The fluroscent lighting in my office is a killer. I don't have a window in my office, and therefore have no natural light. Between the lighting and staring at a computer all day, my eyes were strained and therefore looking "tired".

So, I am getting used to wearing glasses. I like them most days, but sometime they just don't "go" with things. Plus, it's hard to wear sunglasses and glasses at the same time (though I try when I'm driving). I think I am going to have to get over my "putting things in my eye" issues and get contacts. It's going to be hard to do contacts though. Remember that Friends episode where everybody had to hold Rachel down to put eye drops in? Yeah, that's me. Until then, I'll just be a proud member of the "glasses" club.

Best Quote of the Day

Hi. I'm Meghan. I like bad reality tv. Last night's Bachelorette was full of good quotes. The girls I was watching with were cracking up the whole time. One of my favorites:

"I'm just a basic guy from Dallas. I don't have any skills."

Tanner P. managed to eloquently sum up what is wrong with the male dating pool in Dallas in two short sentences. (I'm not bitter - only amused). He then made Dallas proud by talking about how he just wanted to suck Jillian's toes. Who says you can't find gold in reality tv?

If you too like the Bachelorette, go to this blog, http://www.ihategreenbeans.com/. It's greatness.