Today is The Day

(Psalm 118:24) "Today is the day the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it." [no matter where I am at; no matter what circumstances I am in; no matter who I'm with; no matter what I think; no matter what I understand; no matter what I feel like; no matter who is under me or who is over me; no matter what my authority says; no matter who is leading me; no matter what the weather is; no matter what I have; no matter what I want; no matter where I'm at in life; no matter what, "Today is the day the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it."]

A quick Glance @ The Next 2 Weeks

Well my 8am class today was an out of class work day (& my last class was canceled so I only had one class today)!  I had planned to use it to study, but I ended up using it to sleep in, haha.  I didn't even hear my first few alarms go off, but that is probably because I didn't fall asleep until after 2:30 am.  I stayed up really late last night, 1) because I wasn't that tired, but also 2) because I was pricing a lot more garage sale items.  I am really excited for this garage sale next weekend.  Except I'm realizing that the next 2 weeks are going to be really busy.   within the next few weeks I have
--> a 5-7 page paper to write, which I haven't started nor have I started the research for (with the exceptions that I found the articles/videos for it, I just haven't read/watched them yet).
--> a speech that I have to finish citing and finishing up (I have to give this 5-7 minute speech on this Tuesday).
--> A number of assignments, including observing a child between the age of birth and 3, and writing a paper and analysis on my observations.
--> A lot of articles to read, chapters to read and hours of videos to watch, analyze and take notes on.
--> And a lot of online homework!

But I suppose the challenge can help push me forward so, I'll go with it!  

Biology Can Be Fun???

I don't remember how much I've talked about my Biology professor at college, but I like him.  He is quite unique.    He is Super knowledgeable and smart, but I sometimes question if he knows how to teach well - something that will likely come with lots of experience.  Anyways our class set up was (with 2 classes per week for 16 weeks) 1 lab a week, 1 quiz a week and 2 lectures a week plus speeches/presentations scattered throughout the semester that each one of us had to do - mine was set to be a week ago.   He insisted that the quizzes were super easy and he even gave us 20 minutes to do them.  We even convinced him to let us have open notes and open books on the first one.   Yet after the second quiz he emailed us saying that he was dropping the first two quizzes (we all knew that we didn't do well on them - even though we studied).  In addition he said that he is dropping all quizzes and just doing 5 tests throughout the semester each on 2 chapters.  Plus he said that the final was now optional, and all our presentations/speeches were being pushed back to the last two days of class in December.  He also told us that our new schedule would be 1 lab and 1 lecture a day.   And to help us with our note taking (to help time go quicker too during lectures) he started putting the notes up online ahead of time AND required us to bring in a copy with us each day for each lecture.  

Now, our test was said to be on Wednesday (today) and he told us that he would even go over the study guide with us before the test.  So we expected that he would go over it on Monday (classes are Monday and Wednesday evenings).  Except on Monday he told us that he would go over the study guide with us on Wednesday, the test then will be posted Online instead of in class and it's due by midnight Thursday.  In addition to it being online, meaning open notes and open books, there is no time limit for taking the test (except the due time) and he will give us up to 2 tries at the test!!!!    I like this guy!    

iPhone Wiped

This past week I've been regularly fasting one meal a day, and Monday when I woke up (one of my first thoughts was how hungry I was and I was going to go eat a big breakfast) and God asked me to do a one-day fast.   So I did, it was really hard at times, but I had some Awesome times with God throughout the day.    Coming out of that, today, I have had a pretty great day.  I got out of school early as my last class was canceled (oh and God had directed me to drive separate Tuesday morning instead of carpooling with Bethany and Jesse like I normally do).   As I was leaving Heartland, school, I knew I needed to do several things, two of them bing go to the bank and stop at the Sprint Store to get my phone checked out - it's been having some problems.  I found that the Sprint Store was on the way, yet God still directed me to go to the bank first.  On my way back from the bank I stopped at Sprint to get my phone checked out.   I waited in line for probably over half an hour and eventually I got to talk with someone.  They didn't know for sure, but they figured it was software or something that was a problem.  They told me they would give it to one of their technicians who would run diagnostics on it and look into it.  First they had me back up my phone to iCloud.  Except I didn't have enough room do do so, so I purchased one month of an extra 50GB on the iCloud.   Then it started to back up.  The guy I was talking to took it back to the technicians and then came back out to me.  He told me the phone said it needed 30 minutes to finish backing up, and then it would take an hour for them to run everything on it and then reset the phone.   The told me to come back by 6pm.   

I drove around town as God directed me and walked around the mall window shopping and just walking.  When I got back to Sprint they brought out my phone and had me sign in and told me that it would take about 40 minutes to restore everything from the iCloud.  So I waited.  Except it never started to restore.  When it asked me what back up I wanted to restore it to, the most recent one was in July.   I took it to the guy and he helped me out. We worked at it for a long time, trying everything we could.   We checked with iTunes on my Mac (which I had happened to bring in) and it's most recent back up was in June.   We tried for nearly an hour this and that.  It got several people involved including one to the technicians.  But it wasn't seeing it.  

God then revealed to me while I was sitting there that this was a representation of what I had been asking.  I have been worried about wiping all my files on my mac and Hard drive, and asking for clarity, so God wipes my iPhone.   It's hard to explain over text, but that was the gist of what He revealed (this is just part of whole other story that He's taking me through).   So I continued it by asking God that if this was Him to not allow it (Sprint) to go through and get my phone working.  He did just that - and overkill (in a good amusing way). 

Then it locked us out when we tried entering the access code to get to iCloud saying that we have had too many access codes sent to us - which was true, but most of the texts never came in and the calls with the codes hung up within speaking one digit of the code to us.   So the guy told me to restore it with the old June back up on my mac and reset it again tomorrow and it should work.  Except (I like to think this is a big "BUT GOD" moment) the back up wouldn't go though because it needed the access code that it wouldn't send us.  Hahaha, it made me laugh so hard on the inside.   I walked out of there so happy, though I had a bit of frown inside me, I was full of peace, joy and laughter.   I loved it!  It was a great, exciting way to answer my prayer I believe.   

---

So this morning (Wednesday) I reset my phone around noon, and sure enough I was still unable to find my back up from the previous day.   (They guy I had worked with at Sprint was so kind and understanding on Tuesday.  He told me to try it in the morning and then contact him if I had any problems.  He told me that he was off on Wednesday but he gave me his personal cell number so I could contact him if I had a problem while I was away.)  So I texted him and he suggested I take it back into the Sprint store and have the technicians look at it again to see if they can figure it out.  Except when I went in I never made it to a technician.   The guy I talked to kept using words like "its your word that it was backed up" - as if it sounded like he didn't believe me.  I told him about the guy I talked to and what all happened and he told me flatly that he cannot guarantee me anything and that all my stuff is lost.  He told me the best he can do is restore to the last back up from Mid July.   

So I walked out of there with my phone still in July.   

Birth Story

Hello everyone!   

For my Early Childhood Growth and Development class I will have to do various journals about myself regarding to my own "Early Childhood Growth and Development".    To be able to gather this information I will be sending an email whenever I have another Journal to do to various family members.   Below is my second Journal, really like a first, as it begins at birth.   

My Birth story:

Well while I was still inside my mom, a lot happened that may of may not of affected me.   Neither of my parents recall any medicine, drugs, or such things like that, that my mom had during her pregnancy with me.  However there were a few other things.   To start it off, I am the 3^rd of 4 children that my mom had.  Not only that, but I’m the third of 3 children that were born very close to each other. Within 3 years, my mom gave birth to 3 children.  And to add to it all, all 3 of them were boys.    My mom during most of her pregnancy with me was very stressed and overwhelmed.   My dad was gone during the days at work, and my two older brothers, both under 3, were very hyper, energetic and rowdy boys. As the pregnancy advanced, it became more and more of a chore for my mom to keep up with my brothers.  

My mom did have a number of health issues during my pregnancy as well.   At one point my mom and dad thought she had cancer, but the doctor’s wouldn’t do any x-rays or MRI or anything because she was pregnant.   Due to all of these things going on, my family moved during this time so they could be closer to family to get help.  

The stress of life for my mom didn’t get any easier.  When my mom was 4 months pregnant with me, she was in a car accident.   Had my mom been sitting where my grandma was sitting at the time of the accident in the car, she likely would of lost the pregnancy.  Even though my mom wasn’t hurt in this accident, she was taken to the hospital.  The doctors didn’t find anything wrong though, thankfully.  

To make mattes worse, the day of my due date was a heavy snow storm and my parents lived 30 minutes away from the hospital.   For fear of being stuck in the storm, at home or on the road, during labor, my mom asked the doctor to induce her.  About 5 hours later I was born.    There were no complications with the pregnancy or birth and I came out a healthy baby.  

Adventures With God

Last night (Thursday) after school I was planning to hang out with God and then head to the ISU Apostolic Christian Young Group that I've been going to (and I really enjoy).  However God had a different plan for me.  While I was hanging out with Him, He took me on a drive, which isn't unusual.  But He kept taking me further and further away from Bloomington Normal.   Well I ended up in Tremont for a few hours, while He was continuing to take me on several different journeys that He has been taking me on.    I was thankful and had a great time.    Though I was sad a bit to miss the young group and the singing afterwards.    After several hours in Tremont I then headed to Princeville to spend the night with my Grandma Baurer.    I hadn't pre-arranged this (except right before I left Tremont I texted her and asked her if I could come for the night, and she replied with a yes), but God knew what was going on and going to happen.     I really enjoyed my time with Him and with Grandma!

Oh, also one my way to Grandma's I stopped in Peoria at my History Teacher's recommendation to see Nina and Pinta, replicas of Columbus' ships when he sailed to America.  Just as my History teacher said, it was quite surprising how small they were.  

To see the comparison of size, if you look on the dock on the far left of the picture below, you can see a faint outline of a person.  Looking at the size of the ships to that person, and knowing that each ship had at least a crew of 18 men when they sailed from Europe to America back in 1492, it is just amazing.  

Outside, Overnight, Then Up & Early

So Tuesday night I had a great night with God.   I felt it heavy on my Spirit to start praying and then to just walk the basement reading His word aloud.  He directed to Psalms 13 and I read through Psalms 23 ( I think).    It was powerful, and fun.    Not too long afterwards I went outside to talk to God and just spend time with Him out there.   I was just AMAZED and in AWE of His Glory out there!    The night sky was just gorgeous!  It was so clear and so full and so pure.   WOW, it was Awesome!!!    I went out and asked God some thing and just sat there listening, praying and talking to God.   It was so beautiful.  The weather was great too, it was cool and crisp.     Before too long, I got pretty cold, but I didn't want to just leave and end this awesome experience.  So I went inside and got one of my quilts and a pillow from my car and put on 3 layers of clothes.  Then I came back out to the grassy area by the road and just laid out on the grass.  Wow it was so amazing!   I look back in Awe too.  God is soo Good.   He showed me a handful of Meteors (shooting starts) flying through the skies that night.   I fell asleep in His presence out there and slept great.  Around 4:40am I woke up feeling too cold to go back to sleep, so I packed up and headed inside.    I set my alarm and slept for about an hour.

Then I got up and left the Schlipfs.  I headed to Tremont to visit some teachers from High School.  I also had the Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper that one of my special education teacher's loves and you can only get it down south (thankfully for her, the city Waco, which is about 20 minutes from my mom down in Texas is The Home of Dr. Pepper).   I arrived about 20 minutes before school started at 8am.   I got to talk to and catch up with a handful of great friends (teachers & staff of Tremont High School) that I got to know while in High School.    It was a great day, I really enjoyed it!

Stress + Disturbing Content... to... God Blesses Me

I was a bit overwhelmed today leaving school.  In both my Child Development and History class things have come up where I am becoming very lost.  I feel like I should know these things, but I am completely blanked out.  Now I have a number of writing assignments and a test coming up that I am quite lost on.    None the less, I will go forward.  

Also, in my Early Childhood Growth & Development class today, we hit the topic (theme of the class today) of "conception".  We didn't gracefully overview it and move on, but we settled there for most of the class.   We went into great details, graphics and content, that I felt were too much for me.   I am still trying to get some of the images out of my head.    I was concerned about our next class on Thursday, which the topic was "Child Birth".   The professor (a very good, likable, energetic, enthusiastic, and encouraging and understanding professor) reminded us to bring crackers if we think we might need it, as several kids in the past have passed out watching the video she's going to show.  The video is of a lady giving birth, and a video of an actual C-section in action.    I was quite grossed out and had heard/seen more than I wanted to be floating in my mind.    I was planning to just skip that class and take it as one of the 3 "unexcused" class days I get before being dropped by midterm.     However, God is so Good, I felt God suggest to me to send her (my professor) an email explaining my current position.  So I did.  I kindly emailed her and told her honestly what I thought of the day and the content that was shared.  I told her also that I am a strong Evangelical Christian and I take it very seriously when the Bible says to keep purity and a pure heart and mind.  I told her that with my concern for the content on Thursday, I am considering skipping class, and if I do would there be anything I could do instead.  

I was so blessed by her response.  Have I mentioned how understanding she is, she replies back with a huge 'THANK YOU for your thoughts and response'.  She said she understands my point of view and if I do not feel comfortable watching the videos on Thursday, it will not be counted against me if I skip the class.  She suggested that I read through her powerpoint instead.  

I am/was honoured by her reply and am very grateful for how God has blessed me.

God is so Good to me, He is just so Good!   Thank you God!  

Hiccup, X-Rays & Worry-Free

My car had a hiccup this week.   I have known for the last month or so that sometime soon my breaks needed to be replaced, but the time to replace them came sooner than I had hoped.   Friday when I was in the parking lot of the Chiropractor, I found that I couldn't back up - I forced the car as I needed to back up to get out  - but it felt like I was backing over an animal.  The rear right end kept raising higher than normal and then would cluck.   The breaks also sounded like metal against metal.   I called the shop in Gridley (the town I live in) and they said they could look at it in a few hours - I was surprised that they could look at it so soon.  God is soo good how He works stuff out like that.  So I took the car in to the shop.  Bethany (my cousin) was so kind to let me use her car for the afternoon.  She worked at on in town and I walked over from the shop to her work, the library, to get her car - she got a ride home from here dad on his way home from work.    I then headed into Bloomington (the closes city to where I live - about 20-30 minutes away).  I had two different appointments (at different places) for X-Rays, one for my hips and the other for my neck - both recommended by my chiropractor.   Comes out that my neck is normal-ish for my age, I am only on phase one of three in arthritis in my neck.   As for my hips, I haven't found out yet.  The results are suppose to arrive at my Chiropractor's office either today or tomorrow.    If the X-Ray shows, one of my Chrio's thoughts, that my joint is abnormally shaped then he will work with that - which would explain all the noise of popping and pain I've had in it for the past 8 or so months.  However if the X-Ray doesn't come back with anything helpful then he will likely send me for an MRI to see if there's other things that X-Ray doesn't show that will help figure out the reason behind the pain.  

Anyways I my car was finished being repaired Saturday morning!  Wow God, you worked fast on that, thank you.    The repair cost was $740.84.   I did get a loan to cover that as I have almost no money whatsoever.   With that beings said, I am not worried about the money for that, even though I don't have it nor do I have a job.  I'm nor worried for several reasons, but for one I take very literally Philippians 4:6-7.

"Don't worry about anything; instead pray about everything.  Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.  Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.  His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus."  - Philippians 4:6-7

Not that I am the best at this, as I still do worry a lot at times, but I'm working on not worrying as much and praying and believing and trusting a lot more.  Secondly, God has told me that He will provide for me.  That's a promise He gave me a while ago, and I am holding on to it.  Especially over the last year, and even 6 months, I have seen proof of that over and over and over again.   It amazes me how I can still doubt, yet I do at times.   But I'm not worried about this $741-ish, for I know that God is with me and God will provide.  Whether He has someone just walk up to me and give me all of it or He sends a lot of people over time with pieces of it or in some other way, maybe He want's the money to come via the Garage sale coming up that were doing in the first weekend of October.  I don't know, but I do know that God's got it and I don't have to worry.  Yes, I will be saving money to start paying it back, but it's not likely that will happen anytime soon as I don't have a job.  

Home Sick

My plans for this weekend have not gone as I expected them.  I was planning to go to Renewal at The  Moria Foundation on Saturday morning, howeverFriday night I started to feel like I was at the edge of a cold.   I had had a sore throat for a day or two and it had gotten worse, though I hadn't thought much of it then.  So Saturday I stayed home and spent most of the day in bed resting.  Thankfully I have my textbooks on audiobook so I can listen to them being read, not that I can understand them all, but at least I can listen to them while resting.   And in fact I spend most of the day Sunday and Monday in bed as well.   Tonight, Monday night, my sore throat is 70% better, though I seem to have developed a continual runny nose Sunday afternoon and that hasn't improved much.  I also don't feel the greatest, I am low on energy - even though I eat big meals as usual - and I have been having more frequent chest pains.  I canceled my Chiropractor appointment this morning and didn't reschedule another one until I get better.  I am also very grateful for the email my Biology professor sent out today saying that our 6-8:20pm class tonight was canceled due to something beyond his control that is preventing him from being able to make it in + my history professor changed the online due date for over a dozen things from tonight to Friday night.  Thank you God for the extra rest and less stress while I'm a bit under the weather.  In addition my Communication's professor had scheduled our 8am class tomorrow morning  to be an out-of class workday, so I don't have to come in for any classes tomorrow until 11am.   God is so good to me.  I am still praying that I can get better soon.

God Is Not Limited To the Human Body

Last Wednesday, I was wanting to check the oil in my car, so I decided to pop the hood after coming out of my last class at school.   I pulled the little lever in my car to pop the hood, then I popped the trunk.  Since my car doesn’t have a bar to hold the hood up, I have a board that I keep in my trunk that does it.   I grabbed the board and went around to my hood.   I lifted the hood up a couple inches, then the little lever popped out from the from of the hood.  Now normally, I just pull that lever and the hood lifts right up, not this time.  I pulled the lever and nothing happened.  Meaning I was unable to lift the hood.  I played around with it for a bit, but with no luck.  Now my hood was stuck open about 1.5-2 inches and it was also stuck so it couldn’t close.   So drove away.  I was suppose to pick up my cousins Bethany and Jesse from Illinois State University, about 5 minutes away, in about 45 minutes.  So I drove around a bit.  I stopped in an open parking lot and tried to do some homework with no success as my mind was still reeling with stress and an overwhelmingness from the Music Appreciation class that morning – a class which I dropped that night.   Then I called my dad, and he expressed concern that if the hood was just stuck, it come loose and fly off while I was driving on the freeway.  So, at his suggestion, when I picked up the Schlipf’s from ISU, I asked Jesse his thoughts.  We played around with it a bit, but still had no success.  Another ISU student was coming to his car, right next to mine, as we were doing this and he offered to spray the lever with WD40, just in case it was stuck.  So he did, and he also gave me the can just in case I needed more.   As he left he said to give it a couple of hours and then try to open it, it may not work, but it’s no harm in trying.  So I did.  Well, as I was driving home I drove a lot slower than usual, as I noticed the hood slightly bouncing in the wind.   After a few hours I tried the hood.  Nothing.   Again later I tried it several times.  Still nothing.   

That evening I had an evening Biology class.   My trips home from this class almost always consist of a powerful and great time with God.  I was coming home this Wednesday night, and was in a great time of worship with God and He brought the hood to mind.   He said, “Pray over it.”  I replied, “Okay.  When I get home, I will get out and lay my hands on the hood and pray over it.”  But God said, “No, pull over now and pray over it.”  So I pulled over on the side of this road at 9pm in the dark, got out and walked around to the front of my car.   I laid my hands both flat on the hood of my car and started praying over it.  After a bit, God then told me, “Put your hand on the lever and pray.” So I put one hand on the lever that was sticking out of the hood and kept one hand on the hood, and I prayed over them.  Shortly, I heard God say, “Now try it.”  So I pulled the lever and ‘pop’, the hood pops right open!  When I got home I tried it several more times and it works great! God is Good, He is so Good to me! God is not limited to the works in a human’s body.  God works everywhere.  

Even When It Doesn’t Make Sense

After watching the animated movie SING, as I got up to change into my PJ’s I heard God say, “Dream Big!”  Followed by, “Dream Big!”    Then He said to me, “what do you want to do (with your life)?”   I said, “I want to be a pastor. . .  I, I want to bless peoples socks off!”   He replied with something like, “then go for it.”  Again, followed by, “it won’t always be easy…” He then reminded me of what He told me back on September 23, 2016 at Encounter,

…You may feel like you are being pulled backwards but you will go forward.” … “and you may feel that your hands are tied, trapped and caught, but you will continue building my church… “You may fall but you will get back up.”  …, “Things will pull you down but I will hold you up.”  … “Life will have lots of pain but keep going, for I am with you and will protect you.”  …“You may feel you cannot move but you will move, you will go forward.”  “You may feel alone but I am with you.” “You will never be alone.”  … “Don’t.  Let go.  I will hold you up.  Trust me.”  “My love is sufficient.”

I asked Him how and He said, “Give.”   I asked Him how much, and He said, “Give it all.”  I asked Him how much all was and He replied, “How much do you have, that is all.”  Freely Give and Freely receive.   I said, “but what about my car, it needs repairs?”   God retold me in my heart, “have I not said I will provide, Trust me.”   He then told me, “But remember to spend time with me, that is the key.”  

Financial + Car Updates

I was able to sell a lot of my coins via eBay and get about $400 from them after shipping and Fee charges – shipping ended up costing well over $100 for all 30 or so different packages.  Now the $400 is not profit, by it I am losing about $350 or so, but that was expected.  God told me that I would lose money on them, as I was not suppose to buy them, but I did.   This is an expensively painful, yet valuable lesson that I have learned.   With paying off my Credit card bills, fuel and all that, and after some giving God encouraged me to do, my bank account is once again dropping below $100.   I will post more later on some of the why behind the giving.   I still will need at least $300-400 for my car breaks.   Which leads me into my car update.   My breaks in the past few days have gotten a lot worse.   They make lots of noise when I apply them.    I haven’t noticed much of a difference in how much/well they stop my car, but that is likely only a matter of time.   Also, I’ve been told that I will need new tires before winter hits, which are expected to cost between $700-800.   Now that is $1,000-$1,200 that I do not have.  However I am believing God to cover that.  He told me that He would provide, and I’ve seen Him provide in so many ways before, I know that He is not limited by the price of my “needs” here on earth.   God’s resources are unlimited.  

Back/Neck Pain Update

So as many of you know, I’ve been having lots of back/neck (primarily neck) pain constantly for the past year.  I started going to a new Chiropractor here in Bloomington IL, and I love him.  He has been very helpful and he also gives me exercises to do that help loosen muscles.  Apparently I am not able to move my legs, neck and body near as much as the average person can – which would explain a lot of the pain.  What I haven’t talked about as much is the pain I have in my hips, primarily my right hip.   I’ve had lots of pain there as well, second in most painful area of my body, following the neck.  Today the Chiropractor told me that, though I have improved a lot, he was hoping and expecting that I would be a lot better by now than I actually am.  He did a few tests and said that more has to be done.  So Friday late afternoon (4:45pm CST) I will go in to another office for a neck X-Ray.   Also, whenever I can fit it into my schedule, likely on Friday as well, I will go to yet another office to get hip X-Rays on both my hips.  Friday morning I will also go into the original office and someone else will start working on my hips, I think he said they were going to start doing some muscle stripping on my hips.   However, if the X-Rays don’t come back with anything helpful then I will have 2 options: 1) get something injected into my hip regions to take pain away temporarily, though it will lead to arthritis further down the road, or 2) get and MRI on my hips to find out what’s causing the pain and work from there.   In the case I would need an MRI, I would first go to a Medical Doctor to get him to look at it and see if he would prescribe the same thing.