A Year in Review 2015

    2015 was a year of immense growth, especially in my faith.  Although I faced difficult things, I learned a lot.  Even though the first half of the year and second half of the year look vastly different I'm going to include all the important memories.  They all made up 2015. 

January
- Brought in the year in worship with a bunch of other young adults in Minneapolis at a Christian conference. 
- I also got to babysit some cute children (Addison and Dayton)



- Right before the end of Winter Break my brother performed in "Midsummer Night's Dream" at Carthage.

February
- I had a double-dorm room to myself. 

- The first weekend back on campus we had a Cru planning day on campus. After a long day of planning, we went bowling.  After bowling we got dinner together at the Brickstone, sat a really long time then went up to Jeremy's dorm to watch a movie.  The movie sucked. 





- I met the lovely Courtney Dunn through Laurette, and because of this "The Squadgons" were formed. (Courtney, Laurette, Jeremy and I.)  "The Squadgons" played pool together, and discussed certain things such as: How does a lightbulb work? and why aren't squares called quadgons?

- I also met Liza during February!!!

My birthday took place on a Thursday.  Which was perfect because it was a bible study night.  We did bible study and then everyone hung out in Jeremy's dorm.  Robert had so much energy he ran into Jeremy's closet and damaged it.  He would then fall asleep on Jeremy's floor.  My mom bought me a cheesecake which I put unlit candles in (fire safety) and pretended to blow them out.  This would also be the infamous day of the black and blue dress.  There were only two of us that saw it as black and blue, and I was one of them. 







March
- Laurette and I as well as my family saw a play at Carthage. ("Up the Hill")
- The Squadgons met up again minus Laurette. 
- Cru put on Maze.  Our biggest event of the year, and ever.  Maze was a illusions/hypnotist show.  For the first half of the show the Christian magician would do his magic tricks and the second part of the show he would share his testimony.  If you felt lead to accept God you could do that.  The magician's testimony was all about how he had barely survived cancer.  It was probably the biggest audience Parkside has ever had in the cinema.  So it was a great turn out for the amount of time we put into advertisement, and promotion etc. 

April

- During Spring Break I got to meet up with Christian! We went to places such as Kohl's, Starbucks, and Goodwill. 

-During Spring Break Easter was also celebrated.  My family celebrated Easter at our house.  Unfortunately on the day of Easter I also had to go back to college since I had classes the next day.  Took an Easter nap with the animals before heading back. (I miss having Fluffer curl up and sleep next to me).

- The weekend after Spring Break Cru held their Spring Retreat at Kenosha Bible Church.  It was basically a massive slumber party with a big group of friends hanging out with some Christian lessons.  An obstacle course game was played as well as Taboo.  Deep spiritual talks were had, as well as baseball games at 3 in the morning.  Jeremy and I ended up pulling an all-nighter, and had a hard time ordering at McDonalds the next day at breakfast time.  ("It's so hard to order at 1 a.m..... I man 1 hour of sleep")







-  Went to a worship night at Epikos Church with Courtney and Jeremy. 

The Parkside Leadership Banquet took place, where Aly, Ashley. Robert and I represented Cru.

Parkside Cru also took a trip to the Miller Park Stadium for a game.  

May

- My mom and I visited the Living Light School of Worship for the open house.  I might be going there next year.  (Stay Tuned.) 

- That seem weekend I went back to the school to watch the students do a Songwriting Showcase.

- After school was over for the year, people from Cru went to Westby Wisconsin for a Christian Conference called Trek.  Here in Westby I met Lizzy and Anna, two girls who live very close to Slinger, and actually go to UWWC. Had to travel all the way across Wisconsin to meet them. :) The weekend night before we headed off to Trek the "Snoopwhales" were born, and the inside joke of "flipping ships." 

-My brother graduated college

June 

- Spent the day in Milwaukee with friends.  First went to Bayshore to share the love of God, then went to a beach.

-The next day I went to Six Flags for the 1st time in my life.  (I posted about the trip on this blog, so you can read that for details :)) 

- I went to Slinger High School to see Angela Pereira and Christian Hall graduate.  

- Laurette and Jeremy visited Slinger, and we went with Lizzy, Anna, and Jordan to love on the people at a nursing home in West Bend.  Later that night Laurette, Jeremy, and I saw Jurassic World together, after watching the original one at college together.  

- The day after that Courtney and her boyfriend at the time came up to Slinger so we could do a summer bible study.  

- The day after that Amber came to visit from Slinger from Green Bay with her boyfriend.  Jeremy and I visited her in Allenton.  That night was Angela's graduation which we both went to.  Jeremy went home.  

- Tried on my bridesmaid dress for my brother's wedding in October.

-I started working with disabled kids at the Threshold Incorporated for their summer program. 

- My family had a gathering at Miller Park, and saw a Brewer's Game together.

July 

-Went to Summerfest with Liza, and saw Ed Sheeran. :D 

-Jeremy came to Slinger for a day, and we explored West Bend.

-Saw Shrek the Musical at the Schaurer Arts Center

- Went to Pennsylvania with Jeremy and his family for a Christian Conference.  (I posted about all the days earlier in my blog).

August

- August started out hard because Fluffer died unexpectedly. :(  We thought he just had a cold.  

-  Took a family vacation to Hayward with my parents.  My brother was in Mexico during that time.  

- We had a planning meeting for Cru at a giant house.  

-  Went to two bridal showers, one for my brother's fiancee, and one for my cousin, Erika. 

- Hung out in Milwaukee with Lizzy, Anna, Hannah, and Jordan for an end of the summer get together.  

September  (This is when the big changes, and growth started happening) :) 

- Started my second year at Parkside

- Started getting more involved with Living Light, and met a lovely girl named Milly who would run the Evangelism Training Class I was apart of.  

- Saw the "War Room" with my friends.  Afterwards went to Culbers and had to stay there for awhile due to a Flash Flood Warning.  

- Amber moved to Slinger after moving to Green Bay with her family earlier that year.  We went to a pumpkin farm, and painted them. We also went to Dairy Queen for Blizzards. (twenty-one-pilots themed.) 

-Took a trip to Milwaukee with Tyler and Jeremy to meet up with Anna, Lizzy, and their friends.  I posted about this weekend earlier in my blog.  

The next day Kelsey, Courtney, Mike, Alex, Jen, and Josh visited Living Light!  Afterwards we went with Trae to Applebees, then a Corn Maze.  Then hung out at Courtneys.  

October 

- Went to my brother's fiancee's bachelorette party.  We rented out a hotel room in Fort Atkinson, and saw "West Side Story"

- Laurette took the semester off but decided to visit Parkside!

- I got baptized in the Holy Spirit at Evangelism Training as we were in our time of prayer.

- My cousin Erika got married.  

-Living Light had 4? weeks straight of joined meetings.  This is very out of the ordinary.  

- My brother got married! :) 

- Saw twenty-one-pilots at the Rave with Amber and her sister.  It was so incredible :D  It was my first time at the Rave.

-Spent Halloween with at Lizzy's grandma's house for a movie night with her and her friends.  I dressed up like Tyler Joseph.  

November

- Took a trip to Wisconsin Lutheran College near Milwaukee to see Ethan perform a show with Trae, Aaron, and their friend Hailey.  (This experience was written about earlier on my blog as well.) 

- Went down to Chicago for Anna's 21st birthday.  (This was also written about) 

-Went to Cru in UW- Milwaukee

-Experienced the first snow with Kelsey and Courtney, after seeing Ethan perform again, this time at Divino Gelato.  

- I had my water baptism (Mom and Linda also went to Living Light for the first time!) 

-Thanksgiving was Celebrated

-Resigned from my Leadership position in Cru.

December

- Laurette visited Parkside the week before Finals.  We hung out at the SAC then went to see a play in Oak Creek with Kelsey and Courtney.  It was the story of Jesus's birth in a Christmas Carol style.  It was very confusing at first, because I didn't know it was based on the Christmas Carol at first, so a lot of things were different then what really happened :P.  We went to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner afterward.  It was a much needed girl's night.  

- Christmas Break started 

-  Went to a Christmas Party where we went to Enchantment in the Park.  (I posted about this weekend as well.)

- Went down to Racine to visit Trae, Laurette, and Mike.  

- Met up with Christian to catch up over coffee

- Celebrated Christmas Eve

- Celebrated Christmas 

- Celebrated New Year's Eve! I went bowling with my family.  

-2015 with a difficult but a happy year.  I grew immensely throughout the year after joining Living Light, and especially once I began my sophomore year at Parkside.  This is when I figured out that I can actually do things through the Holy Spirit.  (A lot of people don't realize spiritual gifts are actually very real, even to this day.  A lot of Christians also pass through "baptism in the Holy Spirit without knowing it exists.)  I've seen prophetic words come to life, and miraculous healings happen, which have grown me in my walk with God.  I also have found great mentors in God to talk to through the church if I ever have any questions, because some of these concepts were new to me.  I am ruined for God now, now that I see how Christians can have such a big impact.  This year God has spoken to me (not audibly), and the things he spoke didn't seem right at first, but made all the difference in the end.  He had actually protected me from being hurt.  (Obviously you have to distinguish if these things are actually from God first so you don't actually hurt yourself).  

I will end this post with honoring people who had a positive impact on my 2015.  Thank you to: Laurette Hargrove, Courtney Dunn, Kelsey Welter, Liza Moore, Jeremy and Andrea Nitz, Anna and Lizzy Cantrall, Trae Beem, Jordan Brinkman, Ethan Corrigan, Aaron Shanahan, Amber Hofer, Milly Garvin, Rachel and Jim Garnett, Rick Bingen, Kaila Bingen, Mom, Dad, Felicia Kreye, Mike Reno, Tyler Schneider, Aly Krizan, and Nicole Naden.





Things I Used To Believe That Weren't True

1) I thought the word condom was a shortened version of the word condominium, so whenever people said the word condom growing up, I just assumed they were talking about houses.

2) I used to think that brown cows produced chocolate milk.

3) I thought that pizza came from deer, after my parents were cutting open a deer and we had pizza for dinner that night.

4) I thought that if the power went off in the house, we all would die.  I remember it was the middle of a storm when I had this thought, and I was reading a bedtime story with my dad and started crying.

5) I thought your heart was made of wood.  The gym teacher asked what the heart was made out of, and I said wood, because I had saw a picture of Jesus, and his heart looked to be made out of wood.

6)  I thought God gave your mom a baby when he thought she was ready to have one.

7) I knew mostly what sex was, but thought that urinating on each other was apart of the process. :P

8)  I thought I could talk to birds

9) I was convinced I would be a famous singer one day at the age of 5

10)  I didn't know Alaska was connected to Canada, so I assumed it was an island, because it's always shown separate from all the other states like Hawaii.

A Lovely Weekend December 19th-21st

Saturday December 21st:  I wrapped presents with my mom, and we got most of them done.  That night I went to a Christmas party at Lizzy and Anna's friend Alyssa's house in West Bend.  Once everyone arrived at the party we went to Regner Park where there was a Christmas light show going on. (Enchantment in the Park).  There were around 17 of us so some of us walked through the park, and the others drove.  I thought it would be more fun to walk through.  I had never been to a Christmas light show before.  Even though it was very cold that night, and I had thighsicles by the end, I loved it.  I was really excited at the beginning. Lizzy, her friend Stephanie and I took a lot of pictures. Including:

We took some more pictures, but these were the ones that turned out the best.  Once we got properly frozen we decided to go back to Alyssa's house for some apple cider and punch.  We then played Christmas Charades and Catch Phrase.   I usually somehow ended up on the team that won :D Except for one game.  Before playing Catch Phrase there was a crazy sock contest.  I thought I would win because I had hamburger socks that Hazuki had given me, but sadly it wasn't enough to win. :P The night was finished off by the movie "Elf"  I was actually wearing my "Elf" shirt that day ironically. 

Sunday December 20th:  I woke up early to drive down to Racine to go to church and visit Mike, Laurette, and Trae.  Mike would be in town as well.  The church message was about Christmas, but the speaker, Dustan put a funny twist on it.  It was probably the most interesting talk I have heard on Christmas.  I also liked how he had slides of what Christians think happened during the Christmas story, but how we can't actually be sure of it.  Like in "The Bible" it says there were three gifts that were given to Jesus, but never if there were three wise men.  There could of been more or less wise men.  He also talked about what the manger could of looked like, and how Mary got to Bethlehem.  None of these things are really described in the story of Christmas.  During the break Jeremy's sister visited.  Her church gets out when Living Light is having a break between worship and the message.  She talked about how her brother had performed in a play at her church as a shepherd in a musical version of the Christmas story.  (So cute!).  Trae also discovered Mike and I, we were trying kind of to surprise him.  He noticed us before we could sneak up behind him.;D It was nice to catch up with him.  I also got to meet the lovely Arwin (a little girl that goes to our church, that apparently made the best fort with Trae :P).  

    After church Mike and I picked up Laurette and we all went to lunch at Main Moon restaurant, which is a Chinese place in Racine, and caught up with each other.  Then Mike had to leave, so Laurette and I went to a coffee/tea shop.  It was really fancy actually.  They had coffees from all around the world.  They also had tea diffuser things, where they put the flavoring and leaves in then they give you a timer so you know when to push down the leaves.  (Some of you probably have seen those before and probably think its funny that I was so intrigued by it).  I had a herbal chamomile lemon tea.  I have so much to learn about teas yet.  Still trying to decide if I'm a tea person.  After the coffee/tea shop it was time for Laurette to go to work.  I looked around her place of work for a bit (CVS Pharmacy) then headed home.

    Before I went home I went to my brother's new house which is actually about a mile down the road from us for a Packer Party.  It was the third quarter when I got there.  It was the first time I sat down and relaxed at that house.  It used to be my dad's mom's house.

Monday December 21st:  Met up with Christian at Starbucks this afternoon for coffee and sandwiches, while we had a great hour and a half talk, catching up on things.  Christian is doing so many things it's crazy.  He is so genuinely happy though.  I'm so happy about that.  He says that he can't wait to be grown up, and is excited to see what exciting things happen for all of his friends. (I don't know how often, if ever I've heard a college kid say they're excited to grow up/adult) :P  It seems like college is going really well for him.  I love seeing him so positive about things.  High school really stops you from being who you really are.  I'm glad college has let the real side of Christian and I come out.  :) I'm glad that he's in my life still, even though our colleges are so far apart from each other.  Some people you just lose contact with after high school.