Skip to main content

A Happy Happy Blog Post!

I don't really know why exactly, but I am just SO happy today! Well, I went to church which always makes me happy. Then I came home and Skyped with my mom and Amy, with a brief appearance from my dad before he had to leave to go home teaching. I then broke my fast with some leftover Cafe Rio, I mean what could be better right?! I then lay down to take a nap for the first time in ages. I had been asleep for about an hour when I was awakened by my phone ringing. It was a call from my lovely sister Jenn who had been asleep while I had been Skyping the rest of the family. So, I lay in bed and talked to Jenn for another hour. She was cracking me up by explaining to me how she was becoming a "Directioner" which is apparently the cool clique on Twitter for One Direction fans, and explained to me that Amy was copying everything about her love of One Direction. Not 20 minutes later, my dad called to tell me about an AWESOME job he had found that I should apply for and we talked for awhile! So I guess, long conversations with my family, minus my poor sister Abby who is sick, put me in a really good mood. Then during visiting hours (I swear my dorm's not a prison) the birthday boy Matthew came over! Julie had given me some money to get some cupcakes for his birthday and I gave him the BYU t-shirt I'd gotten him from my family and we talked for awhile! Then I went to ward prayer. After ward prayer, a few of my friends and I went to the vending machines to put an end to our starvation. The stairwells in our dorm have these huge ledges that are perfect for sitting on, so we sat in the stairwell and just talked for an hour and a half! So yes, it was a good Sunday.

This week is going to be such a good one as well! My grandparents are coming to visit! I am SO excited to see them!! On Tuesday night we are going to dinner at a Brazilian restaurant called Tucano's for Matthew's birthday. I'm hoping we'll get to see them other times throughout the week as well, and then we are spending Saturday with them in Joseph where Grandpa grew up, and then going to the Sunday morning session of General Conference! I am SO excited! Matthew and I have never been before! I'm sure it will be an amazing experience!

Today I realized that I am going home in just 25 days. I'm completely torn about this. I miss and love my family SO MUCH and I can't wait to spend the next few months in Virginia with them. At the same time, BYU has become a second home. I have made the most amazing friends in the world! We have so much fun together! I have learned so much from them and gained so much strength from their support, their testimonies, and their examples! I have learned so much from my first year here at BYU. I feel that I have developed a close personal relationship with my Heavenly Father. The experiences that I have had here have brought me to the realization that he has a plan for me. I am the kind of person that likes to know exactly what is ahead of me. I have come to learn that everything will fall into place, but in the Lord's time and not mine. As much as I want to understand everything, it's just not the way he works. It's so comforting to me to know that I have a Heavenly Father who sees the big picture. He sees me for who I've been, who I am now, and who I will become. I have been wondering lately what it would be like to see myself the way that he sees me. For now though, I am content with the sure knowledge I have that I am a daughter of God and that he loves me more than I could possibly know. So, I guess that is why I am so happy right now. I am looking forward to this week, and looking forward to continuing on my journey to discovering my Heavenly Father's plan for me. I have already hit some bumps along the way, but I know with the guidance of my Heavenly Father, I can get through whatever trials come my way.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

My Journey to Self-Confidence

This is a picture of me almost exactly three years ago: And this is a picture of me now: Now, you might be thinking this is one of those stories that you see in Weight Watchers ads on T.V. endorsing a diet. I promise it's not. This journey was about so much more than a number on a scale. It was about working towards being able to recognize my divine nature as a daughter of God. I'll start at the beginning. When I started my freshman year at BYU, my self-confidence was at an all time low. I would try on about five outfits every morning, look in the mirror, and then immediately change. My low self-esteem was reflected in the way I talked to people, the way I dressed, and just the overall way that I carried myself. I compared myself to everyone else around me and was constantly tearing myself down. My lack of self-esteem seemed so obvious, yet it seemed like no one truly understood how I felt. I knew I needed to make some changes, but I just didn't know how. Af...

Shipps on a Ship Part 3: Thanksgiving on the Water

       After a gorgeous day at Castaway Cay, we got back on the ship to start sailing back towards America. We discovered when we got to dinner and were the only family not dressed in elaborate pirate costumes (I'm not exaggerating we really were the only ones), that Wednesday night on the ship was Pirate-themed. After dinner we popped into the movie theater to see Guardians of the Galaxy (a fantastic movie, highly recommend it if you're into the whole Marvel thing), and then headed up to Deck 11 for a pirate-themed show and fireworks. After the fireworks ended, a DJ started playing music and the Shipp cousins immediately became the life of the party! We laughed and danced and laughed at how ridiculous we looked dancing. It was one of those spontaneous moments where I wished I could slow down time and make it last a little longer! After the dance party, we headed over to the Cabanas where they were serving the strangest combination of food: tacos, crepes, cookies, an...

20 Days Until Provo!

                   I apologize in advance for the nostalgia of this blog post. In 20 days, I'll be leaving Virginia. IT is going to be SO weird, because I've lived here since I was 3 years old. Two different houses, but they are within 4 miles of each other. I've been so blessed to have so much family close by. My mom's sister and her family have lived down the street from us since I was about 8 years old. My grandparents live about 20 minutes away, and my Aunt Becky lives close by in Arlington. Our family has become really close as a whole for that reason, and I love that so much! In addition, as cliche as it sounds, I think NOVA is SO pretty! Provo has a lot to live up to, I really hope those mountains pull through! My friends and I like to joke about how I'm going to forget what a tree looks like! I'll Google them every day just in case. You never know, I may get to busy to stop and th...