Graced with Grace

    “What do you plan to do when you graduate?” As a senior in college, I get this question asked of me a lot. Honestly, I have gotten similar questions since my high school days. And guess what? I still don’t. At least that is what I say. I have come up with various responses because it gets tiring saying that I don’t know. And my answer changes from week to week depending on what is my most recent idea or dream. I have come up with all kinds of answers for this question, but honestly the answer is never really my true dream. It’s just a career because everyone has to have a dream career right? No! I am done with this myth that we have to have some career to pursue after graduation. Don’t get me wrong. I think it’s important to spend my life wisely and purposely. I don’t wish to sit around doing nothing, but I don’t think I have to have some passionate career that I plan to fall into after graduation. I believe God will show me the next step and show me h...

  The summer is quickly coming to an end. Surprisingly I am actually more excited than nervous or panicked. Often I find the close of a summer somewhat scary for me. I don’t usually look forward to starting up school again. It means moving again, meeting new freshmen and making new friends, and more papers to write before long and all these things tend to sometimes freak me out. Then winter comes and I’ve never been a fan of winter. But this year I am kind of excited. Not exactly sure why. Maybe it’s the fact that I have a friend getting married at the end of this school year and it gives me something to look forward to at the end. Or maybe it’s the fact I can call myself a senior this year. Or maybe it’s simply because I am starting off part-time instead of full time and so I am not scared to death that I will fail every single one of my classes and have no life at all. Maybe simply knowing that my homework load will be doable makes me eager or at least ready to start a...

I haven't written too much lately, but that doesn't mean that nothing is happening, although life does seem to be kind of slow right now. I am trying to find a job for the summer, but already more than half the summer seems to be gone. Summer has had it adventures and highlights and also lows, so I thought I would share a few of them with you and because everyone loves pictures, I will share some pictures that go along with some of my favorite moments of this summer so far. ;) The first highlight of my summer was going home for a month to visit my sisters and parents. The low about going home was getting my Wisdom-teeth pulled (of which you shall have no pleasure in seeing the pictures of my chipmunk face because I am not going to share that with you. Muwahahahaha!) But there were several highs to my visit. One sister graduated high school and another sister I got to watch at her violin recital. I was able to visit with several friends, read several good and ...

  Summer is close upon us. I only have one week left of classes and then finals week. After that I will be going home for a month to spend time with family. That part I am excited about, but not everything about this time of year do I get excited about. I have discovered that the end of another school year can also mean the end of special friendships, too. And it makes me just a little sad. It will be nice to have another year of school put behind me, but I also know that summer will be different. I won’t be seeing the same people each day. I will still be able to see some of these people, but some of them I may never see again. Being in college is an interest stage of life. Each year as the school year closes, there are some friends who graduate. Some friends move on to a different school, some friends move back to their home town, some friends just change.   Even the ones who do come back for the next year, are going to be busier or have other...

As snow blows gently down to the earth And blankets the ground and still higher, She dreams of the summer flower.   White and grey, the colors of the earth convey, But total bliss in the heart of the girl who dreams Of the blue skies, green fields, or dancing streams.   The deadness of winter, but hopes of spring, Make cold winter nights just a bit warmer. As the young girl dreams still more of summer.   Sipping on hot cocoa or tea in a cup Or cuddling under blankets with a journal in hand Makes the girl dream of the sunny southern land.   But while the snow lasts, the girl still laughs, Because she is never too old to have snowball fights,   Whilst dreaming of the summer starry nights.

Once upon a time in  a far away land, dreary and cold, there  lived a girl named Hannah. Now Hannah was not the average girl that one would meet on the street, but rather unique and a bit too odd, but then sometimes the oddest are the ones that the best of stories can be written of and so I shall tell of one of her many oddities. This oddity has to do with her passion for tea. When it comes to drinking tea, she is quite particular. Tea should, if possible, always be poured from a tea pot and into a darling little tea cup. Tea cups and tea pots, after all, were created for this purpose, so why not put it to good use. Not only this, but being the southern girl that she is, she must have sugar or honey to sweeten her tea. Nothing within her being can make her truly enjoy unsweetened tea, so sweet tea it must be or as I over heard a southerner once say if tea is unsweetened it is like drinking a cup of grass or dirt flavored hot water. But to go on with the o...

With panic in my heart I hurried through another chapter Another lesson, another book, Reading with numb heart and mind. I strove to get my homework done on time Too busy to hear life happening all around Too busy to hear the birds or feel the breeze, Another busy week ahead, I cannot get behind. I scrambled through another lesson, Checking it off my never ending list of to-dos. I closed my eyes to the lives around, Stopped my ears to laughter and life's chime. I marched on, trying to accomplish all my duties Before the break of dawn. If I stop all, I will crumble and fall, I'll cry my eyes dry from the daily grind. So I pull through another day. I will survive, I say. I can get my homework done If I just try. But alas, I was not fine. One day someone reminded me of laughter, And oh, how good it felt. Laughter? I have time for laughter? I had tried so hard to do it all, but I had forgotten all. In the business of life, I had forgotten To la...

And it seems that today's word is.......                                                             Dance And so I write. "Let them Praise his name with dancing..." Psalm 149:3   This is the picture that use to be on the wall of my parents home and it always made me smile. There is nothing to special about it, but it brings back memories, memories of joy and laughter and dance. And now it hangs on my own wall above my bed, so when I wake up I remember to praise his name with dancing.   I don't dance that much any more, but let me tell you a secret. As a little girl, I loved to dance.   I used to dance around and around in our family living room, the music ...

Five Minute Friday I really don't remember what was so funny, but apparently something was quite funny. A paper stands glooming in the forefront of my mind. I need to write an abstract for another paper assignment. I need to write a response to a church meeting from last Sunday. I have loads of reading to do. Not to mention Greek lessons and diagraming and Greek vocabulary. All of these things are due for Monday morning and I wonder how it is ever going to get done. I have plans for the weekend and I am struggling to come up with thoughts fro my paper, not to mention the hours of research that I have to do for it and I have only just begun, yet In all the hectic chaos of college life, I contemplate the word "Joy". Can there be joy in researching and writing papers? can there be joy in working on grueling Greek? Can there be joy in this crazy chaotic time of my life? Yes! Yes, there can be joy. There can be joy in all of the craziness, in all the pain, in all th...

The other day, I was working at my deli job and needed to take a couple bags of trash and some boxes out to the dumpster. Now these bags did not hold light garbage. I don't know what my deli is throwing away throughout the day, but one of those bags in particular was heavy, like really heavy (and I promise I am not a wimp) (you're also probably wondering why in the world Hannah is talking about trash and garbage. Haha! Keep wondering! ). So as I am carting this garbage to the dumpster, I am thinking "I sure hope I can actually lift this bag higher than my head and into the dumpster" (I am like short, so things always are more complicated than they should be) and secretly hoping that a fine young prince riding on a white horse will come along just in time to save the poor damsel from breaking her arms and back. Well, he wasn't riding a horse, but..... So I get to the dumpster and along comes this dude who was going to the dumpster as we...

-That moment when you realize you can probably see more clearly without your glasses on than with them on because they are so dirty. -That moment when you suddenly realize you have said "yes" to way too many things and also realize that you are still just as human as you were before and begin to wonder if it is humanly possible to do everything you had said "yes" to do. Yikes!!! -That moment in Greek class when your professor says something about the second person plural and singular being confusing because it is both translated as "you" and the southern girl thinks, "uh, no it ain't! 'You' is singular and 'ya'll' is plural." (Don't worry, I didn't say it out loud. ;) -That moment when you drive all over town trying to find a place to park, just so you can run into a friend's house to grab a book and leave again. -That moment when you burn your lip from a fork that you try to eat off of after just ho...

I don’t like to admit that I have a problem with fear because it shows just how human and weak I am, but I do and I think I am beginning to see my problem for what it really is. I have always tried to side-step it and rather than say that I feared this or that, I would say I just didn’t like it, but in truth, it was more than likely fear and not simply a dislike of something. I have had a lot of fears growing up. Some of which have been conquered and others which are still in the works and others which still must be faced and all of them are probably pretty stupid and ridiculous. To give you a hint of how real fear is a hindrance in my life, I used to fear automatically flushing toilets. Yes, I am completely serious and that was a fear everyone in my family was aware of. ;) I couldn’t side-step that one either because it was such a real fear. Yes, you go ahead and laugh at me, but seriously those things can be absolutely terrifying. Another fear, was the act of talking on a p...

Procrastination/College life I write a poem check my email Just to pass the time Read another blog post Play around Waste some time everything will be just fine because      tomorrow We've always got tomorrow Tomorrow comes But I've got tomorrow So I'll just wait a little longer I'll bake some cookies Write a letter Clean the house And smile because because      tomorrow There is always another tomorrow Tomorrows come and go And I have nothing to show I did a little here I did a little there I read a little Slept a little But still no paper I fear because      tomorrow I said there was another tomorrow There is no more tomorrows My paper is due today I panic I cry I say I'm gonna die I wasted all my tomorrows And I still don't have a paper because      tomorrow came and went now it is today.