Review and Update...

I'm so happy and content right now. Things have been good over break. I've been working like crazy and relaxing the rest of the time. Last night I went caroling with some friends. It was the first time I've done anything like that, it was a lot of fun.

I'm finally excited about this next semester of classes. I'm excited 'cause I'll get to try everything that I think I might like to major in. I'm doing a play, taking a class on broadcasting, teaching English to High Schoolers in Slovenia, and I'm probably going to start getting voice lessons. I'm excited because I finally feel like I'm getting a chance to figure out what I want to do. I kinda feel like I wasted this past semester. I sat around twiddling my thumbs because God's plan wasn't going the way I wanted it to, therefore I decided to sit and wait for things to happen the way I planned. I also think that God was doing a lot of breaking and teaching me many things. For the first time I was having to find my identity away from my family. I was having to learn who Raychel was, not who Raychel was through her family. It was exciting at first, then it was uncomfortable, then I began to loath it. I wanted things to go back to normal, but they couldn't. I also began to see things clearer with my family. Because I was away from home, it was almost as if I got a chance to know the inner workings of my family but see it from an outside perspective. It was a good and scary thing. I saw things that I would have loved to change, or I saw the way things could've been handled differently but I couldn't do anyting. I had to sit and watch and let my family figure it out. That was hard. At the same time I saw so many amazing qualities from my family. Things that I really admired and things that encouraged and challenged me to be better. It made me love my family all the more.

I look forward to the rest of this break and going back to school! God Bless and have a wonderful Christmas!
~Raychel~

home!

I am home!! I'm so happy! Finals went really well, and I actually wasn't really stressed. I am so excited because I'm surprising my sisters and taking them to a Jump 5 concert. They have no idea!

I will try and write more later. I just wanted to say hi, and I am so happy at home. (Although Inversion wasn't the same without the Belmont students)

I will miss you all!

Love you!
~Raychel~

Finals

Ok. So I'm getting really bad at this blogging thing... But things are really crazy right now. I'm trying to get ready for finals, deal with roommates and my own drama... and whatever else my come my way.
Right now I laughing cause my roommmates and I are having a fun time making fun of each other. We are having a good laugh over each others problems. The thing is, by having the girls laughing at my problems, it helps to see the problems in a true light and realize that they're really not that major. I love the fact that my roommates are comfortable enough to laugh at each other and know that things will still be ok.

Right now I don't care about anything. I've given up on caring about my tests, but I still need to study.

I have to go. I'll let you know if I survive my first finals week.

God Bless,
~Raychel~

Sadness...

Yeah. I lost my voice. I've been feeling it for about 2 weeks, but over Thanksgiving hanging with my family made me lose my voice. Sunday was so much fun. I had good talks, then a couple of us got around the piano and starting making up songs. It was so much fun! I think I really lost my voice from that, cause we were starting to yell we were having so much fun.

Hey, but I got to go to a Belmont Basketball game. That was a lot of fun. I tried to talk, but the only way people can hear me is if I sound like a guy. hahaha.

Anyways. I'm trying to figure out a plan on how to get to Branson, MO right after my last final. I really want to go to Silver Dollar City and see the Haygoods, but at this point it doesn't look like its going to happen... Sadness...

Well. I'm going to run. TTFN!

Post-Thanksgiving Musings

Here I am. The day after Thanksgiving. It has been an awesome holiday. I LOVE Thanksgiving. It is my favorite holiday, even over my birthday.
But it always seems to be the hardest part of my life. I always seem to be going through a hard time during Thanksgiving.
Yesterday we all went around and said things we were thankful for. I said that I'm learning to be thankful for the breaking process, and to see that out of it comes hope. I am being broken daily by God. He is teaching me to rely on Him and not on myself or my family or my circumstances. It is a very hard lesson to learn and a lot of times I feel like I'm taking 1 step forward and 2 steps back. But out of my situations I'm learning to see and find hope. God is my hope. Jesus is the reason that, even though it may be a hard day, I have hope.
It may seem that I am down, but today I've felt really good. I found out that I'm addicted to Guitar Hero. I LOVE THAT GAME!!!! And I NEVER play video games. My brothers don't know what to do with me.

Anyways, back to what I was saying earlier... There are so many things that I am thankful for. My family, My friends, Even Belmont. But I am thankful for God and the gift that he gave me. There is one senior picture that I loved cause it encompassed my life and my feelings at the time. The picture is so joyful and full of hope to me. That I look at it now and pray and look forward to the day when I can fully feel like my picture again. But you know what.... I can. Right now. Thanks to Jesus.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. And to you Belmont people... COME BACK!!! I miss y'all...lol

This is Rediculous...

I HATE staying up late unless its for a party. And even then, come around 12:30-1:00 am, I'm ready to go to bed. The Belmont Students can attribute to that. But here I am at 3:30am, still working on that stupid Pocahontas paper that I want to be extrodinary. At 11:30 I brewed 4 cups of coffee and put chocolate ice cream in it. I finished it in about 30 minutes, then I ate about 5 Jolly Ranchers. Man, I feel sick now... I'm buzzing a little bit, but the buzz is wearing off. I've now got a cherry coke, but I don't think its going to help much. It takes a lot of caffine to affect me. (ex. 4 cups of coffee in 30 min. gave me 3 hours of buzz, now its wearing off and I feel the after effects)
Also, my spelling sucks, but at this point I really don't care. Like is it affect or effect? I think both times it should be affect... but I'm not sure.
Oh yeah, I got the part of Lady Catherine De Bourgh in our school play Pride & Prejudice. I'm really excited!
Well, I should head off. I need to finish my paper, then try and get some sleep before I get up at 7 to be at class by 8:30. Then I get to go home for THANKSGIVING!!!!
I'm so excited! I just can't hide it! I'm about to lose control and I think I like it!

Peace!
~Raye~

Me... at this moment

This is me. At this moment thinking. Sitting at my desk at 12:40am. I am very tired. I've been researching for a paper on Pocahontas. I want this paper to be good. I feel like everything else I do school wise is not very good, but this paper I want to be extrodinary. I also want my computer to get fixed. I'm tired of having to go to the computer lab all the time to check email, write a paper, or do research. Today my boss let me take the lap top from work.
I am very tired.
I'm also very excited about this week. I don't have classes on Wednesday or Friday, and I get to sing on Thursday. Also, I made the call back list for our school play. I'll let you know how it goes. We're doing the play Pride and Predujuce. I'm hoping to get the part of the sister Lydia, but I'll take any part, even an extra.
Well, I'm off to bed. I'm getting up early tomorrow morning.

#1

This is my very first blog on my blogger website. I have been harrassed to get one for a while now. I hope that you (probably all 3 of you) will get to know me better and what I'm thinking... Hopefully I can be honest, have fun, and bring glory to God.

Here's the first nugget of truth and honesty I will tell you... I am singing for the Inversion Open Mike night on November 15. I AM SCARED TO DEATH!!!!! I love singing and I wish I was more confident in my singing cause I would love to do it for a career. I figured that as long as I do the Inversion thing for fun, it'll be fine. Plus, I am singing an amazing song from the musical Wicked, "For Good" with the amazing Emily Kent. She will help. If I screw up, I know she'll make the song amazing regardless.
Also, I say all this and don't know for sure if I'm doing it. I just filled out the forms. They might only want christian songs. No broadway musical junk. I hope you all have a wonderful week. And I'll see you around.

~Raye~