Water Water Everywhere: Please Pray!

Okay, so here is a quick overview of what's happened the last few days . . .

Thursday night: Came home after an extremely long day, starting at 8 AM at the post office, having half my hand numbed at the dermatologists, and generally running around like crazy trying to get everything done. I heard a funny noise in my bedroom and discovered that it was water--lots of water--pouring in off of my light fixture. After freaking out and having a few not-so-fun tornado flashbacks, I managed to call people I know and find a friend (thanks, Alyce!) who helped me move my bed out of the way. Josh came over later to help move my mattress and dresser out of the room. Once I had emptied the room of everything I could, I went out for pie with Tiffany and came back to the apartment to crash for a few hours of sleep.

Friday: My so-very-amazing dad left at 5 AM to come and help me through the situation. The day was pretty much filled with insurance and property owner calls, plus class and work in the afternoon. That night, we packed up and left for a hotel. No dripping water!!!

Saturday: There was so much water between my bedroom and the hallway outside my apartment, that things were starting to smell really mildew-y, and we decided I needed to move out as soon as possible before a) any other leaks developed and b) the mold started infecting my stuff. Within eight hours, twelve friends came and helped me pack up my entire apartment and move my stuff out. I truly have some amazing friends! Went out to dinner and crashed at the hotel.

Sunday: (Slightly) less crazy day. Stopped off at the apartment for a few things and to pick up my car, went to church, and then spent the afternoon figuring out apartment possibilities and driving around Iowa City and North Liberty to check them out from the outside. Came back just in time for a very disappointing Viking's defeat.

To do today: Find an apartment and make it through two hours of teaching and three hours of classes!


Prayer requests:
a) My health. Most of you know my health situation, and as you can imagine, something like this is anything but helpful. Pray that I will survive the stress both emotionally and physically without getting horribly sick. Also pray for my dad. He's been amazing through all this, but I know that this has been very tiring for him.

b) Finding an apartment today. We haven't talked to the owner since Friday, so pray that he is willing to help us find an apartment in one of the company's other many properties. Also pray that we can find something nice and within my budget!

c) Help moving into my apartment. (Yes, this is both a prayer request and a request :-P) Pray that I can find people who are willing to help me move into my apartment once I find one! (Hopefully sometime this week!!) If you are interested in being part of the answer to this prayer request, let me know, and I'll let you know as soon as I know when I can move in!

d) Understanding professors. This is one of the times that you really realize that you don't live in an ivory tower, and that the outside world and "real life" sometimes does interfere with the whole "my life is academia" thing. Pray that my professors are kind and understanding!

New Year Thoughts

God is good. No matter where I am in my life, he has always, always, always done what's best for me-always worked everything for my good. So often, I tend to think about how God is good and faithful during the hard times and really rely on him then, but during the less-hard times, I sometimes forget to think about the hard times God took me through to lead me to the peaceful places. And I don't always realize that it was because he took me through those times that I am capable of enjoying the blessings he has given me.

I feel like I've grown a lot, but there are still so many times that I feel like my affections are so shallow. When I hurt, I hurt deeply, but when I'm joyful, praising, loving?? I want more. I want to seek God just as earnestly in the good times as the hard. I want to learn how to love him more passionately. And I want to love people so much more . . . more unconditionally, more selflessly, more sacrificially, and more patiently.