July 14-19: CBM Family Conference, Birthday, and Wedding
From July 14-18 I attended the CBM (Continental Baptist Missions) Family Conference. Every year missionaries from CBM meet at Faith Baptist Bible College. The parents attend workshops, while us MKs (Missionary Kids) split up into groups and have someone come in to teach us about God's Word; we also have an activity we get to do. For my group, we made rockets and on Wednesday we launched them.
It's kinda hard to tell, but I painted it to look like musical notes
For sleeping arrangements, the missionaries that do not bring children sleep in the girl's dorm and the missionaries who have kids, sleep in the guys dorm. Every dorm room has two beds and shares a bathroom with another room. My parents had one room and I shared my room with my two brothers. My brothers got to sleep in the beds, while I got to sleep in the closet on an air mattress. I personally loved this arrangement, because it felt like I had my own room.
My closet bedroom
We usually leave after the conference was over on the 18th, but my Brother-In-Law's sister was getting married the next day. We worked it out with the Bible College that we could stay in the same rooms an extra day, plus it was way cheaper than getting a hotel plus we had a kitchen. Since my birthday was also on the 19th, I was able to pick the activity, visiting one of my favorite stores. I love Trader Joe's, their GF corn shells and GF ginger snaps are really yummy! When we went to the checkout my dad asked if they have a certain item in the back, while they were checking, the checkout lady asked what we were doing for the day. I told her that we were celebrating my 21st birthday. The lady then went to the floral section and gave me a dozen tulips! Since it was my birthday, I chose the meal. For dinner, we had walking tacos and for my dessert, we had Butterfingers Muddy Buddies. My Brother-in Law's sister's wedding was very beautiful.
Butterfingers Muddy Buddies
July 29: Cascade Falls
Something else I wanted to do for my birthday was go to a water park, Cascade Falls. But after the CBM Conference, we were all too tired. Since my brother had eye surgery scheduled the end of July, we celebrated the day before his surgery.
My Brother and I riding the lazy river
August 25: Online College
I have been wanting to go to Faith Baptist Bible College for a couple of years, but my health has been a hindrance. In the fall of 2014, FBBC announced that they were providing one course per semester online. The course they provided was Introduction to Bible Study. I also wanted to take some business classes, so I decided to take Business Communication and Business Computer Application through NIACC (North Iowa Community College).
August 31: Aryanna
Several posts ago, I posted about my friend Aryanna. Thank you to all who prayed for her. Although I am very happy to say that she is in no longer in pain and is in Heaven, I do miss her a lot. My parents and I decided to go up and see her before she went Heaven and I am so glad I went, because I would probably be sadder than I already was. As I mentioned she and I shared a close bond with each other as we both had a lot in common.
November 27: Thanksgiving
For Thanksgiving, my sister and her husband invited his family and our family over to their apartment. I was very excited, because they recently got two kittens; their names are Rowan and Rue. Rue is very shy, so I did get to see much or her, but Rowan loves attention and he loves to be held.
I LOVE my cat nephew, Rowan
November 28 - Christmas: Virus
The next day, I unfortunately got a virus from somewhere, which triggered my CVS (Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome). What I do when I have an episode is that I fight it at home by taking drugs prescribed by my Doctor and try drinking as much water as I can to stay hydrated. If my episode does not end by the next day, that is when I go to the ER to be admitted into the hospital, which that is what ended up happening. On the plus side, the nurse practitioner on call at ER was the one, who referred me to Mayo Clinic when I was really sick in 2013! After I thanked him for referring me to Mayo, I was very encouraged when he told me that I looked really good compared to the other times he has seen me and that he could tell I was fighting. The next day my IV blew, so the doctor decided to send me home. Well, unfortunately, my episode was not done and I was still vomiting. We tried contacting St. Mary's hospital in Rochester to see if they could direct admit me, but I would have to wait in the ER. I have tried that once and I literally waited eight hours in the lobby until I was able to go back into the ER. We had not choice, but to go back to the county hospital. Before we went, my dad gave a stern talking to the doctor on call through the phone to not release me until the episode has completely ended. So I stayed in the hospital from December 2nd through December 6th. Even after I was released from the hospital, I still felt like crud through most of December and some of January. I am very thankful that my instructors gave me an extension so I could recuperate. Thankfully, I was well enough to go to my grandparent's house for Christmas and not feel like crud.
On January 31st 1999, I realized I needed to accept Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior. It was during a snowstorm on a Sunday night and church was canceled. My dad decided that we would have church at home. We sang some hymns and my dad gave the plan of salvation and it became very clear to me that I indeed needed to ask Jesus to forgive my sins. I have been a Christian for fifteen years now.
January 8th: New Medication
After I completed my college courses, my parents set up an appointment to meet with my gastroenterologist at Mayo Clinic to talk about a possible medication to help prevent my CVS episodes. Turns out blood pressure medication has been proven to prevent CVS and can lessen the severity of an episode. So I'm trying a new medication and so far so good!
January 19th: Online Course
For the spring semester, FBBC provided an online course called New Testament Survey. I did not take any more classes through NIACC, mainly because I did not see any courses that could transfer to FBBC. I am glad I did not take any courses through NIACC, because New Testament Survey had a lot more assignments compared to the other courses I took last semester, which I was not necessarily a bad thing. I am rather glad there were more assignments, because it helped me realize that some instructors will expect more assignments from me than others.
January 31st: My Spiritual Birthday
February 4th: NIACC Presidents List
A friend told me that my name was in the paper under Student News. Turns out that since I did so well in my two business classes through NIACC, I made the Fall 2014 Presidents List. To get on this list, I had to have six credit hours and have a GPA of a 3.5 to a 4.0.
April 23rd: Acceptance to FBBC
I received an acceptance letter from Faith Baptist Bible College in the mail. This will be a big step for me as I have never dealt with my CVS away from home before. I am excited and a bit nervous, but I feel that this is God's will for me to go to FBBC.
May 11th: Completed Online Course
I finished New Testament Survey strong and I am very happy to say that I stayed healthy throughout the whole spring semester. I am so glad I decided to take these online college courses. Looking back on the online college year, I learned so much by taking these courses. I learned: that I prefer a classroom setting, that I have to work harder than others to get good grades, if I work hard and not get distracted I will succeed, to never be afraid to ask someone for help, and that some instructors will expect more from me than others.
