I have so, so much to update on. This day has been a whirl-wind of emotions but over all a good day. I got through my one class of the day, of which my teacher talked about the magical ways of females and how just our presence causes certain male body parts to levitate. Way too funny. This kind of teacher makes college/learning worth it and fun.

Then I had lots of free time and I finally get my LJ looking semi-decent (thanks to Denise! Thank you so much for your help!). The chocolate seems fitting for Valentines coming up, plus I love chocolate. Jessica came over after her classes and we looked through alot of flyers and stuff she picked up at the Housing Fair. I was really nervous about getting an apartment and stressing about it because I have to decide within a few weeks or else I can't get into a dorm. I don't like feeling rushed into decisions, especially major ones! I told her my worries and we worked to get the ones we liked narrowed down. I felt like I would keep stressing about it until I had a place for sure to live next semester and tada! With God' amazing grace we got one picked out! Jessica knows a friend that lives in these apartments and we happened to run into him when we were picking her car up to go look at some apartments and he said we could just look at his. We loved it obviously. I think it's small and cute;white paneled walls, 2 bed rooms, one bath, kitchen and living room. There is a bar to sit out WITH bar stools, so no need to buy a table (YAY!). And, it's FURNISHED! No need to buy furniture! AND it's all new furniture, new appliances, getting new lamps and stuff. Wasn't loud, lots of parking, etc. It's perfect. And best of all...the price. You get lots of good stuff for the money and it's well within our budget I think including utilities. I am so freggin' excited. I absolutely love Jessica and really can't imagine myself rooming with anyone else, I think we're going to have an awesome time next year. Mark says when she comes around to Campus Crusade and stuff I light up and smile, it's nice to have friends that I can be girly with and laugh. We've known each other since we were 5, that amazes me. I just feel like God has His hand all in this and it's all going to be ok. There's a reason why after all these years I found her again and we still 'click' like we did in Kindergarden. And she's going to be my room mate! AND I get my own room! YAY!

The only thing I'm worried about is getting to class and having to ride the bus, argh. But Jessica does that now and it works out fine. I just got to get used to it. I think over all it will be worth it (my sanity especially) and it will be a good learning experience. Mark and Jessica's boyfriend Caleb are already planning to play video games over at our place. Oh, it's going to be great.

On sad news, a good friend from Camp died this morning. He was 18 years old and 2 weeks away from going to the Army. He was a Leader-In-Training (LIT) with me 2 and a half years ago at Camp. So we all spent 3 weeks together bonding and then on the 3rd week we went on the Appalachian Trail for the week. Will was like my big brother. If I stumbled on a rock he was right behind me making sure I was ok. When there was a huge hail/thunder storm on top of the mountian with NO shelter, NO raincoat (it was freezing and I seriously wanted to give up and die but they kept me going), Will stayed by me all night making sure I was warm. Will had an amazing, extremely white smile, you couldn't see him smile and not smile yourself. He had a good heart and touched so many lives. He worked at camp as a counselor last summer while I was a CIT (Counselor-In-Training) and he was always so good with kids.

Knowing that Will is gone and I will never see him again is hard. We weren't REALLY close, we only talked during summers at camp, but I consider him very close to my heart reguardless. Knowing he's gone just leaves me...dumbfounded. The world goes on and this sweet boy is gone. I won't ever see that smile again or get a big hug. It makes me realize how short life is. Who knows when it's our last day with someone. It makes me cherish life and those around me even more. It scares me. It leaves me with so many questions of death in general and where he is now, was he saved? I keep thinking "I didn't get to say goodbye." But, seriously, when do we ever KNOW something like that will happen and get to say goodbye. I feel blessed that I got to spend another 3 weeks with him at Camp this past summer. That was my goodbye. God had a plan, He knew and I was able to get my last hug from Will.

RIP Will. I love you dearly and will miss you terribly. This world isn't the same without you.

On another note, tonight was After Dark which was a concert by Tait (the black guy from DC Talk) and a speaker named Joe White. Absolutely powerful and amazing. Concerts are always great and fun but the speaker, holy cow. His message was basically the power of the Cross, what it symbolizes and all that Jesus truly did for us on that Cross and how much He loves us and wants to be our Dad, to be there the whole way through the end. I was in tears. Of course we all make our mistakes and have our faults but it really hit me last night ALL that Jesus did for me. Lately I've struggled with keeping God center of my life and I feel like something is holding me back, I still do. But last night, I just can't explain how powerful of a message it was. I also think I cried so much because I hadn't really cried about Will yet, this message with the grief of losing him just topped it all off and I had to let it out (Thanks for the tissue and holding me Mark!). Joe gave us chains to remember of our commitment and how we want to strive to be chain bonded to Jesus and His heart and ways, not our own or just pretending to be Christian. Really live and be on fire for Christ, that's what I want to be. He built a Cross out of wood on stage and all of us wrote down our sins and a message to God and it was nailed to the cross. I kept looking up seeing those pieces of paper with so much pain and guilt written on them and I could almost see Jesus stretched out and suffering up there (which made me cry harder), He really did alot for us. Wow.