APU Blogs - Brittany http://www.apu.edu/blogs/brittany/blog_undergrad Azusa Pacific University Blogs en-us Mon, 14 May 2007 14:57:00 PDT Mon, 14 May 2007 14:57:00 PDT goodbye. http://www.apu.edu/blogs/brittany/10443/ hey all!

i officially graduated!! i just wanted to say that it goes by fast so enjoy every moment of it! thanks to all my friends and family who supported me through the past four years. i love you all and will miss you greatly! i know that graduation is definitely not the end, but a true beginning. 

check out all of my graduation pics!

i am officially now a grad school student at Colorado State University. i will be getting my masters in student affairs in higher education. i am excited to see where God takes me! thanks for caring and reading my blog throughout the year! it has been fun sharing my life with you. go to APU, and i guarantee you will have the time of your life! i know i did!

may the peace of God be with you,

love always,

beej.

]]> Mon, 14 May 2007 14:57:00 PDT there's a light at the end of the tunnel. http://www.apu.edu/blogs/brittany/10339/ "do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength." Nehemiah 8:10

spring break was amazing! i went down to mexico with mexico outreach on team barnabas. it was a fun time serving the community of cuernavaca and hanging out with high schoolers from all over the nation. team barnabas is the encouragement team. we visit the different sites to see what the high schoolers are doing and encourage them in their ministries. it was sad to realize that this was the last year that i would get to go down to mexico with apu.  i really enjoyed the barnabas team this year. we really connected with one another and had such a good time!

so now what is going on in my life? graduation announcements, final papers, hanging out with friends, presentations, grad school stuff, LAC, work, late nights, class, coffee, coffee, starbucks, and did i mention coffee?

this has been the final stretch for me. i have had a stressful time in these past two weeks. i have had this overwhelming feeling of wanting to be at home with my family. but then i keep thinking that in two weeks i will be wearing a cap and gown, shaking jon wallace's hand and receiving my diploma. i just need to finish strong because i don't have much time left here on campus.  

then i think of all the people that have been involved in my growth and development to get me here, and i am truely thankful. i see how God has been faithful to always provide me with a light at the end of the tunnel and the support to get there. looking back over the past four years, it has been such a growth process.

so in this crazy time, i stay joyful in knowing that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and God is in control. i am joyful in knowing that as i come to a closure on my experiences here at apu, God is preparing me for the challenges to come. as i say goodbye to friends and move to Colorado, i am not grieving loss, but rejoicing in the opportunities of growth that will come for all of us.

may the peace of God be with you,

beej.

 

]]> Thu, 19 Apr 2007 18:37:00 PDT where have i been? http://www.apu.edu/blogs/brittany/10271/ i know..i know..i have been gone for quite sometime. this semester has been packed! one thing i can guarantee about being an apu student is that you will never be bored! first things first, i guess taking risks pays off! i got accepted to the Student Affairs in Higher Education program at Colorado State University!! i will be attending their two year program in the fall. what a huge relief for me now that i know what my next step will be. they have also offered me an assistantship position in residence life. i will be an assistant resident director in one of the many dorms at CSU. overwhelmed with grace and blessing, i take on this new venture with the peace of knowing that i am where i need to be at this moment. God is so good!

as much as this has been an exciting and happy time for me, it is also a sad time as well. i am moving to colorado in a few months to start a new job and go to school, but i am leaving behind all that i have built here at apu for the past four years. i will miss everyone and everything that makes this place so unique and dear to me.

so since i have been MIA for the past month, i thought that i would give you a cliffnote version (sidenote, cliffnotes saved me in high school..hint, hint prospective students) of what has been going on in my life in the form of pictures.

at the beginning of the semester i went on a roadtrip to my house with a few friends. it was good to experience the comforts of home with some good friends. it was so much fun!

here is a picture of myself and a couple RAs just hanging out at one of the many awesome events that RezLife puts on.

this picture happens to be one of my favorites. this picture was actually taken on a camera phone during a church history class debate. yeah, we rocked that debate...it was like we were predestined to...

see if you can find me in the crowd with my friends...(hint bottom right corner) this was taken at the APU vs. BIOLA basketball game. yeah, we won as always....

this is a good one too! this is my Resident Director or boss if you will. it was RD appreciation week, so our staff gave him a poster of himself at his finest! we love troy!

this is the most important picture. this picture is of a few of us students who went down with Team Solomon to do construction projects in Hildalgo, Mexico. Team Solomon is a group of students who go down once a month to minister to a community in Mexico. what an incredible opportunity to show them God's love. this is a picture of us with the family and their house that we worked on. if you want to know more about Team Solomon and how you can get involved check out this video on youtube: http://youtube.com/watch?v=QjnTGIP-WFU

i am as happy as the sun right now.

may the peace of God be with you,

beej.

]]> Tue, 27 Mar 2007 18:30:00 PDT trust. http://www.apu.edu/blogs/brittany/10130/ All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

i am learning quickly and progressively to trust in God. now i'm not talking about the flippant trust in God that involves just throwing up my hands to justify my inaction as an excuse that God will act on my behalf. i am discovering that i need to step out of my comfort zone to walk closer to God, and in that i trust He will guide, affirm, or correct the path that i am journeying on.

as i am trying to discover who i am, my destination, my mission, it is a necessity to trust in God's eyes. He sees what i cannot. this intuition, this reliance on a higher power is alive in my current decisions and actions.

the best advice i can give you is stay active. how can you learn to rely on God when you are stagnant? there is nothing to trust when you aren't testing the unknown. don't expect to do nothing and receive everything. this will only be met with disappoint and lost expectations.

i spoke in chapel two weeks ago. trust. yeah, getting up in front of the entire school to share my passions and what God has been teaching me throughout my college career. lots of trust. God met me there on that stage. words can't describe the peace of God that came over me. overwhelming.

my prayer was that the campus would get a hold of the message of true community. trust. God met me there too. the conversations and the responses have been overwhelming. it's been amazing to hear what people have to say and think. i'm finding that trust and risk combined creates a recipe for the Holy Spirit to move.

Romans 15:13

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

may the peace of God be with you,

beej.

]]> Sun, 25 Feb 2007 22:53:00 PST time flies when you're having fun! http://www.apu.edu/blogs/brittany/10032/ where does the time go? so i feel as though a lot has happened, too much in fact. getting back into the swing of things has proved eventful and stressful. it took me awhile to figure out my class schedule so that i could graduate on time! that was scary, simply because i needed to get all my classes so that i could graduate and things weren't coming together as i planned. my perceptions of senior year was that it was going to be my easiest year! hardly! this has proved to be the hardest! but you know, God is good. He has worked everything out. MOM, BUY THE INVITES, I AM GRADUATING IN MAY!!!!

so the grad school applications went in, and i got responses! it is such a good feeling. i fly out to colorado in a week and a half to interview for the program and for jobs. i am actually not nervous. i see it as an adventure and hey, i get to go play in the snow for a few days! :)

everyone here has been such a wonderful support to me. i really am blessed to be surrounded by friends, supervisors, professors, and co-workers that really care about me.

it is amazing to see where God's plans takes us and how He got us there. the Lord definitely works behind the scenes. God knows. it's just a matter of if i am willing enough to trust in His plan.

may the peace of God be with you,

beej.

]]> Sun, 04 Feb 2007 23:55:00 PST venture. http://www.apu.edu/blogs/brittany/9906/ “Vision is not enough; it must be combined with venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps; we must step up the steps.” –Vaclav Havel

 

as i stepped back on campus to start my last semester, i was overcome with the feelings that for the first time i felt as though this wasn't my campus anymore. looking at the dorms i sensed it was time that the baton was handed over, and these freshmen are now the new owners and cultivators of this campus community. i am just an appreciator of the inner workings of what occurs on campus.

 

all of this comes with the next step in my newest venture. these feelings stem from having dropped my grad school applications off at the post office. who knows where i will be in a few months. all i know is that in order for me to get to where i need to be, i need to let go and move on.

 

i thank apu for this new found independence. if it wasn't for the solid foundation that i received in and out of the classroom here at apu i wouldn't have felt the confidence to take on my newest venture. God has given me the vision and apu has helped cultivate that confidence to go out into the world and make a difference.

 

i may be leaving this campus in a few months, but what i have learned will never leave me. the relationships, life lessons, and the knowledge gained will be the tools used to help me take on this so called real world.

 

i could say that i was blessed, but i feel as though i would say that from a privileged stand point. i am blessed, but i am blessed in the sense that God is working in my life and someone in my life didn't stop getting on their knees to pray for me.

 

who am i that i received such a blessing in the form of higher education? i know i will be called into account for what i do with this education. i understand the neccessity to use the education that i have recieved and honor the position i have recieved to be able to follow after the calling placed on my life. 

 

all of this is a humble realization that i am not recieving this for myself, but to be a representative for those who didn't get the privileges that i have recieved. i am a voice, an advocate, someone to stand in the gap for those who can't help themselves. the only reason that i am here is because someone did that for me.

 

so let me ask you, what have you done with what God has given you? with great influence comes great responsiblity.  

 

may the peace of God be with you,

beej.

]]> Sun, 07 Jan 2007 12:48:00 PST FINALS WEEK STRESS RELIEF! http://www.apu.edu/blogs/brittany/9864/ hey all!

so it's been awhile. this is the time of year when people tend to disappear...whether in the library studying, meeting for group projects, or writing huge papers aka senior seminar!  finals week is next week! it's not as bad as you think. usually everything is due before the week before finals week like all of the presentations and group projects.

i'm not stressed at all right now! in fact today was my day off! i've just been hanging out at the plantation. the plantation is what we call the house that all my best friends live in. this is definitely my second home and my escape. it is filled with good memories and lots o' love!!!

thanksgiving was great. it was so good to be home and getting to eat my mom's cooking! my brother and his wife surprised us with the news that they are expecting. so i will be getting a new baby niece or nephew! currently, i am a proud aunt of two nieces and nephew. they are pretty much the loves of my life!

i can't believe this semester is coming to an end! i am excited for christmas!!! recently there was a deck the halls contest in trinity hall. the girls on my floor pulled an all nighter to deck the halls. their hard work and dedication paid off because they won!!! it was a fun time had by all!

finals week stress relief caught on camera:

may the peace of God be with you,

beej.

]]> Sat, 09 Dec 2006 18:06:00 PST times like these... http://www.apu.edu/blogs/brittany/9766/ hey all!

there has been a lot going on...man! i thought that senior year was going to be the easiest! boy was i wrong! last week was one of the hardest weeks. i was going non-stop from class to work to meetings and so on. it was hard. i had to call home and enlist some prayer from my mom. i think the thing that bugs me the most is that i want to give 100% of myself to all that i am involved in, but when things happen like last week where i don't have enough time in the day to do anything, i get frustrated. i don't want to be known as a flake for not being able to give all myself to either my staff, work or to my friends. i want to be consistent with who i am as a person and what i do, ya know. i feel like God is continually working in me and preparing me for life out of college.

so i leave you with what helps me in times like these....

Proverbs 3:5-6

 Trust in the LORD with all your heart
       and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways acknowledge him,
       and he will make your paths straight.

may the peace of God be with you,

beej.

ps. i will blog soon. i have a lot more to update. i went to mexico this past weekend with team solomon to do construction work. holler!

]]> Tue, 14 Nov 2006 11:09:00 PST Homecoming Weekend! http://www.apu.edu/blogs/brittany/9702/ What a Homecoming!!!

]]> Thu, 02 Nov 2006 00:29:00 PST 3 day weekend! http://www.apu.edu/blogs/brittany/9639/  

i slept for about 11 hours last night, which was glorious! i got to see my nieces and my brother this afternoon. i miss them so much. it’s hard to be away from them for so long, especially when they are growing up so fast. Olivia is 6 years old, and Hannah is 4. i also went to lunch with parents, then to coffee with my mom. i will eventually touch my homework, but notice the word eventually….

 

it feels good to be home…getting to see my parents, eating home-cooked meals, sleeping in, free laundry…

 

it’s weird though, being ‘home’ but yet still living out of a suitcase. what constitutes as ‘home’ nowadays? is it the house where my parents live? or is it my dorm room at APU? i have been moving back and forth form arizona and california so much that it’s hard to keep track. i’ve come to realize that home is not a physical place, but home is where you are. the character, andrew, from the movie garden state said it best:

 

“You know that point in your life when you realize that the house that you grew up in isn't really your home anymore? All of the sudden even though you have some place where you can put your stuff that idea of home is gone. You'll see when you move out it just sort of happens one day one day and it's just gone. And you can never get it back. It's like you get homesick for a place that doesn't exist. I mean it's like this rite of passage, you know. You won't have this feeling again until you create a new idea of home for yourself, you know, for you kids, for the family you start, it's like a cycle or something. I miss the idea of it. Maybe that's all family really is. A group of people who miss the same imaginary place.”

 

but for now, it’s so good to be at home with my parents.

 

may the peace of God be with you,

-beej.

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