A Week in the Life.

...of your average college kid.

Friday:

Borrow an extremely kind friend's car for the afternoon and go shopping, job hunting, and Frozen Yogurt eating.

Afterward, go back to my dorm and bake for hours like the little Martha Stewart wannabe I really am. I made banana cookies, those oreo cupcakes I was telling you about, and peanutbutter cookies for Matt (they're his favorite.)

What did I learn from my baking experiences? I have a lot of work to do to become a Martha Stewart.

Saturday:

Set my alarm for 7 am so I can get a good chunk of studying in before the tailgating party. Turn my alarm off and sleep till ten. Wake up and kind of study, but mostly just raid Pinterest.

Go to the tailgate party! Have a blast and eat too much. Lose every game of Bocci Ball I play, meet Jerry Falwell, and co-win the dessert competition.

Go to the Liberty vs JMU football game--front row!

After Matt and I went to dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse!

Sunday:

Slept in until 11! Studied all day. Stressed about a needing a car.

Overreacted over the stress and had a good cry.

Monday:

Went to classes and studied.

Oh and went to the gym.

That's all.

Tuesday:

Woke up sick... AGAIN.

Had two finals before noon.

ROCKED THEM.. kinda.

Slept for an hour.

Studied more.

Went to Hall Meeting at 10.

Studied more.

Slept.

Wednesday:

Woke up still sick.

Anatomy Lab Practical at 8 am (THAT'S JUST WRONG)

Convocation at 10. At Convo, we had Gracia Burnham speak. She was so inspirational and it really made you take a step back and reexamine what is important to your life!

Took my last final in GNED and relaxed for the rest of the day! Thankful to be done with exams.

I got a care package from Matt's mom!

Chruch that night, Clayton King continued on in his relationship series and it was so good!

Afterward Matt and I went to talk to him about how much we appreciate his sermon series and Matt wanted to invite him to ride quads soon!

Thursday:

Sick as a dog still.

In my first class, my least favorite teacher on campus subbed in for my teacher--great start to a day.

Finished through the school day--took a nap.

Read some wedding magazines, since I got 5 in the mail this week! Thanks to Wendy and Cindi!

I wrote some reply letters to the seven people who wrote me this week!

I watched Water for Elephants and part of Soul Surfer.

Then I went to the gym to end the night.

Friday:

Went to Ministry Chapel in the pouring down rain.

Went to GNED in the pouring down rain.

Went to Evan in the pouring down rain.

Went to Health class in the pouring down rain.

Came back to my dorm and changed into the warmest clothes I have!

So needless to say, I've had better weeks.

I'm so ready to not be sick anymore! I feel horrible.

But it was a learning week.

Like I learned that my roomates like to make fun of me for singing in the shower... not cool. ;]

And I learned that I really really really like mail.

And I learned that I think I am going to buy a wedding dress back home.

And I learned about missions and martyrdom since this week is "Mission's Week" at Liberty.

And I am continually learning about myself at my worst, and why I need God's help.

I learned how well Matt handles things when I am in a bad mood.

I learned how much working out makes things better!

Life at Liberty is going well, guys.

I miss home but it is worth it.

Thank you for the letters and the care packages, I love them so much!

Keep praying I could get a job!

Exciting news:

1. Amy Ihde is having her baby today, maybe even has already had him. His name is Isaiah. And I cannot wait to meet him.
2. Free Anberlin concert tonight!

Miss you all!

Chao,


xo/Austin

God's Chisel.

They showed this video in my Evan class today. I have seen it before. But every time I see it it gets me!

How true is this? Don't we all have baggage God has to take care of for us?

I know I do. I think I get to a point where the baggage is all gone, and God opens my eyes to something else I have to give up to him.

I love that every time Tommy tries to tell God something, God already knows.

That is the truth. We forget that sometimes I think. We think that we need to hide something from God.
Because we are supposed to be all put together. Or because we have to live up to what other people tell us we have to live up to.

The truth for me and I think for all of us, is that we can't live up to perfection. God calls us to be perfect, but only to show us that it is impossible for us to be perfect on our own.

We may think we can take care of our baggage on our own, but it just starts to weigh us down. It takes over our lives and tells us that we are too messed up for love and for redemption.

In the video Tommy kept trying to control the situation.
Is that something you do? I know for sure it is something I do.
Every day I need to remind myself that I need to give up control of my life to God, who is the only one who can actually control effectively.

My favorite part of the entire video is whe God tells him "You can't let me down. You were never holding me up. I hold YOU up in this relationship."
So simple.
So true.

Thank God. Because if it is up to me to hold any kind of relationship together, I will fail every time.
I am broken, you are broken. We are from a broken world.

So thank God that he is the one who holds us up.

Thats all,
xo/Austin

Wedding Update.

We officially know where and what day or wedding will be!

When: Friday August 3rd, 2012.

Where?: Pickering Barn in Issaquah, WA.

The Funny little note about the Pickering Barn--that's actually where we went to prom for Matt's junior year. When he went with Mimi. HA!

Also, he took me to the town of Issaquah for dinner the night he proposed.

Also, The Pickering Barn was our very first thought when we were thinking about places, but we didn't want to fork out the dough for it. Turns out God settled everything on the financial side of it and that will be where us love birds get hitched.

Besides that, not a whole lot of planning going on.

We know our color scheme.

Gray.

Pale Yellow.

Peach/Coral.

With a hint of Navy Blue.

It sounds crazy, but don't worry. We have a vision.

Also we are looking for any vintage chandeliers, mason jars, old bird cages, funky empty picture frames I can paint,

I love the rustic vintage look, and Matt loves me, so he loves it too.

If you have any questions or suggestions, let us know!

And if you'd like to help with something feel free to jump in.

&Love,

xo/Austin

Mental Health Day.

School has been CRAZY.

I am 98% sure every teacher on campus decided that they were all going to plan their first tests to be in the same week so that I and every other student is stressed out of their minds!

Next week I have 5 tests and 2 quizzes!

Kill me now.

Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays my classes after 11 are easy and relaxed. So today I took it upon myself to take  mental health day. Basically I went back to my dorm and slept for 4 hours.

I don't regret it nor feel bad about it because i needed it! Lack of sleep does not do me any good.

Besides that, we have a football game this Saturday!! I am pumped to go and tailgate before! My dorm is having a bake-off and I plan on making these little guys... (Thanks to Pinterest for finding me that)

And I plan on destroying the competition.

Who doesn't like cupcakes? And who doesn't like oreos? No way to go wrong.

Matt and I got off campus this weekend and went to his family friend's house. It was just nice to get out of our dorms for a night and get away. After too long, college starts to seem kinda like a summer camp. I just don't feel like anyone is supposed to be in such a small place for so long! Even an awesome place like Liberty.

Which is why we are prayin' hard about our car situation. Or lack there of. To bring Tyrone (my car), get a new one, or sell Tyrone so we can buy a nicer car for here? We will see.

On the brighter side, my loved ones have been keeping their promises and keeping up on sending me snail mail! I so love receiving letters and care packages! Keep them comin' people! And I will gladly send responses.

This week started Matt and my official workout routine! Gettin' nice and in shape for a wedding next summer! I'll let you know how long this lasts and just how effective it is.

Tonight our campus pastor Clayton King started the semester series on relationships! Tonight was a great start and I am excited and ready to get into the tough details of marraige! Let's do it!

I'm still missing home, but every day is a little better!

Keep me in your prayers, school is kickin' my butt right now! I will be sure to update more frequently once I get a better routine going!

Question of the Day: What are your recipes that you pull out for every special event to wow people?
loves.

xo/Austin

When God Writes Your Love Story.

Matt's best friend in the whole world came out to visit us this past weekend. Because of this I have been thinking a lot about Matt and my story. Why? You'll understand in a second.

This is Matt and Austin's love story... As told by me... Matt's story might look different

It all started with a good-looking red-head.

[that's where Scott comes in]

Our Junior year of High School my fastpitch coach came up to Mimi (my best friend) and I after practice one day. He knew that we were both Christian, and so he asked us "Would you guys like to go to a Christian School Prom with one of my Basketball players--he's a worship leader, 3 sport starring athlete, and student body Vice President--and his buddy?" (Matt was planning on bringing Scott as his date until Mike intervened.) Without hesitation we said yes.

A week or so later his basketball player came to one of our games to meet us and watch us play. We were playing the weakest team in the league that day, and I was sitting the bench. (Thanks a lot coach.)

While I was in the dug out, Eckhart pointed at Matt and said, "that's your date, good enough?" Then so kindly, he told me that since I was riding the bench and Mimi wasn't, I got first dibs. How kind.

After the game we went out to meet him. Well we tried, but on the way the entire softball team was also trying to work their way in to "meet him." When we finally introduced and such, we all exchanged numbers and went our seperate ways.

Matt left up the decision of who goes with who to Mimi and I. We couldn't decide, so we finally just decided to draw names out of a hat. So at 1 am, in my bedroom I got out of bed, wrote an M on one paper and a S on the other. We crumpled them up, put them in a random hat and drew names. Mimi got the M and I the S, so those were our dates.

Prom was a blast (well, after my dress and hair fiasco.) I had so much fun with Scott, and Mimi and Matt really hit it off.

For awhile after, Mimi and Matt kept talking. After a few weeks though, things died down and they decided they were better off as friends.

And that was the end-- or so I thought.

In the middle of that summer, Matt asked me to go to dinner with him. I said I was busy. So he asked if I wanted to float the river with him. I said I had to work. So he asked me to hangout at his house. I don't even remember that excuse, but there was one. After 4 or 5 times blowing him off, I decided to just go ahead and hang out with him.

We went to Panda Express. Afterwards, we went back to the house I was house sitting at the time and watched a movie in their home movie theater. We had a blast! But I was still feeling something was just not quite right.

The next morning I had to go to the Eckhart's house to babysit Gabe. Matt was also meeting there in the morning because he was working with them for the day on the house they were performing construction on.

On my way to their house, my mom called and told me that our house was burning down. Apparently I was in shock, because I just told her that I had to go cause I was in line at Starbucks. I continued on my way to the Eckharts and acted like nothing was wrong.

After they left I called Mimi and asked her to come to the house so if my mom wanted me to come home Gabe would have someone to babysit him. She came, but my mom told me there was no home to come back to, so I stayed. About half way through the day I sent out a mass text and asked for prayer for my family in our time of confusion and need.

About 5 minutes after, Mike called and asked if everything was ok. I explained what happened but told them there was no need to come back, and that I was just gonna hang out there.

That day I told Matt that I didn't think things were going to work out between us. I still wasn't over my ex and I was just confused. I didn't realize this at the time, but he was devastated.

For the next few months, my life got shaken up.

I lived in the house I was house sitting for the next 6 months while our house was being rebuilt. I got back with my ex, but shortly after we realized why we broke it off in the first place, and we ended it for good. I even went kind of crazy for a month or two and did my fair share of drinking and partying.

But then it was like God grabbed me by the shoulders, shook me, and woke me up from my bad dream.

At that point I really began to lean into God and understand who I am in His eyes. He explained to me that I am not defined by who people think I am, what I've done, or the relationships I make. He told me that I am solely defined by Him.

Around this time I had started job-shaddowing Mike as a Basketball coach for my Senior Project. Not long after Matt and I started hanging out.

For the first month, I prayed to God "Change my heart from liking him." It sounds so dumb and so cliche, but I knew that if we started dating, that I would marry him. It wasn't that I didn't want to marry him, but there were some factors that I saw could play a hard role on our relationship.

1. He was going to school in Virginia and I didn't want to go through the long distance relationship.
2. Mimi and he had sort of had a thing before and I didn't want to be that girl who went after my best friends ex.
3. I just really didn't think I was good enough for him.

God kind of just laughed at my prayers. I can just imgine Him up there thinking "Are you sure you don't want this? Do you realize what you will be missing if I change your heart from Matt. Just trust me, ok?"

So I gave in and I trusted Him. And not only did he not change my heart, but I fell for Matt hard and fast. Within two months I was madly in love with Him. And by the time he left for school, I  had day-dreams about marrying him.

I could go on for days about our story. About how God was constantly working the timing for us and about how he was working in our lives seperately so we could have a life together. I could tell you everything that happened before, during, and after this all happened.

But if I were to tell you our entire love story, it would never end.

Because we are in the middle of God's love story for us.

He's still writing every day, and I am just enjoying the ride.

love,

xo/Austin