Gleeful Beauty

Last night I was watching one of my favorite shows, Glee (which is awesome, if you aren't watching it, you should be!), and it was a really great episode about beauty. In addition to the wonderful music throughout the show, it really sent a message about accepting yourself for you are and not conforming to the pressures of those around you. It really struck a chord with me, because like everyone in the world, I struggle with my self image from time to time.

As I was thinking about it, I was reminded of my friend Jessica, who would always say this verse from Zephaniah when we were in college "The King is enthralled by your beauty!" She loved the word entralled and loved to speak that over us. It was an encouragement - the maker of the universe, the King of kings is entralled with my beauty! If that isn't an ego booster, I don't know what is, haha.

I even went to a luncheon today and the speaker was talking about inward beauty and how that is so much more important than outward beauty. And I believe that's true! Your character and who you really are deep inside means so much more than the clothes you wear, your haircut and make-up and even, gasp, your weight!

God loves me for who I am and thinks I'm beautiful - I guess I needed to be reminded of that today. And guess what - He loves YOU too and thinks YOU are beautiful! Be encouraged! The King is entralled by your beauty! ;)

The Legend of the Bluebonnet

One of my favorite books when I was little was called "The Legend of the Bluebonnet." It explained how Texas got its state flower through an old Comanche folklore tale. I love bluebonnets! Today I had the day off - which was amazing - and so I drove around and found some of them. They are so pretty! God is so good to color His world and I'm thankful we get to enjoy the beauty!

The rest of my day was spent enjoying Steve's with one of my favorite friends, Brittany, reading in the park and taking a nap - all wonderful things! Tonight I'm planning on going to turbo-kick, an art show for my student worker and bible study in the park. What a wonderful day!

Sweet Reality

The construction on Mims Auditorium and the Phelps Bible Building is complete! We held dedication ceremonies for both buildings last week and I wanted to show you some pictures of the sweet reality -

Mims looks the same on the outside... but check out the new seats!

pictures don't do it justice

The new Paul and Jane Meyer Faith and Life Leadership Center (part of Phelps)

Grace Chapel - my favorite place! It's so beautitful!


the stained glass is AWESOME! Inside the FLLC - the Wilson lobby

the new Abraham and Isaac statue Richard and Wanda Jackson Conference Room

As you can see, all of the renovations are beautiful! I am so excited to have both of these buildings back in use and look forward to many great memories to come!

April Showers

April showers bring May flowers- that's how the saying goes, right? Well it has been showering around here lately. Figuratively and literally. The last week has been one of the busiest I've had in a long, long time. But, it's been really good! Let me give you a run down on what's been happening.

Last Saturday was HPU Fest - one of my favorite days every year! This year we had great performers like Ben Rector (my new fav! I love The Ben!), Katie Curry (HPU student who is just awesome!) and Jimmy Needham. The day was so much fun as I met up with old HPU friends like Katie Ellwood, Heather Gadsby, Jen and Brandon Johnson, Shannon Kelly and Rick Mayberry PLUS hung out with new HPU friends like Brittany, Jonathan, Beka, Cristal, Mike and Candice.

Then came Sunday when I got terribly sick and had to stay home all day long and prompted a rush to the doctor's office on Monday morning for lots of pills and a shot. Thankfully the shot worked and I was doing much better by Monday night - which was awesome because I was in charge of the HPU Family Picnic that night. It was so much fun! All the faculty and staff brought food and we just sat around and had dinner as a family. One of my favorite things about HPU is the family atmosphere and this night really encapsulated that!

The rest of the week at HPU was known as "Celebration Week" and it included faculty presentations, the Currie-Strickland Distinguished Lectures in Christian Ethics, Dedications of Mims Auditorium and the Paul and Jane Meyer Faith and Life Leadership Center, along with the Inauguration of Dr. Ellis. Whew. It was quite a week.

One of the new parts of my job is to help put together special events for campus and this week was put on by my office, so I was running around like a crazy person, but it was so worth it! I am especially thankful for my awesome student workers who went above and beyond the call of duty - working lots of extra hours to help us get everything taken care of! They are awesome and I was so proud of them!

My Dad got to come in on Thursday night and take part in the festivities. He was the speaker during the Community Worship Service on Friday morning and he did an awesome job! The words he shared were so beautiful and I was, once again, so proud of him! Everyone who was there came up to me afterwards to tell me how touching it was and I agree! God has truly gifted him as a speaker and I am blessed everytime I hear him! I love my daddy!

I have some pictures of the new buildings at my office that I will post tomorrow. If you are an HPU alum, you will not believe the transformation in Mims and the chapel in Phelps. Both buildings are just breath-taking! I'm so glad to have them back in use again! These two buildings house a lot of my favorite memories from my time as a student and it has been sad to have them closed for so long. But they are back and better than ever!

Easter Tales

Happy Easter everyone! I hope you were blessed this weekend remembering the sacrifice that Jesus made for each of us! During Dad's sermon yesterday he reminded us that Easter isn't just about the Resurrection - which is amazing - but it is also about the death that Jesus endured for us. His love is so much greater than I can comprehend and I know that I take it for granted too often.

I just got home from a great weekend with my family in Canyon! I had Friday AND Monday off, so it made for an extra special 4 day trip at home. On Friday, I got to go over to my friends Cliff and Jess Cary's house to meet their precious new baby boy Camden Scott. He is so adorable and I loved getting to meet him! Jess is one of my best friends from college and I am so thankful for her in my life! I can't believe she's a mommy now! Little Camden is blessed with some awesome parents!!!

I also had some great sister bonding time with Jamie and Madie. Lorin and Phil couldn't make it up for Easter, and we missed them a lot! It is hard growing up and realizing that our whole family togetherness time is going to be fewer and farther between. But, we did get to skype with them, so that was fun! I have such a precious family and I am so thankful for them!

While at home I did the usual good stuff - saw a movie, went shopping, hung out with my parents at Barnes & Noble. I also got to spend some time with my friend Cristal (aka Lorin's best friend), which was great!

On Sunday we had our annual Easter lunch with my mom's students. There were 15 internationals that joined us for a feast and it was a lot of fun! I got to talk with one of Mom's students about Taiwan because that's where he is from and that was really great! He was impressed with all that I did while I was there! It is always neat to have Mom's students join us for special holidays. I know it's going to be a crazy week, so I'm really glad I had this nice restful weekend to get re-energized!