1 week.
7 days.
168 hours.
10,080 minutes.
604,800 seconds.

Until we leave for Sweden!!! Can you tell I'm excited?

The other night Blake and I sorted out this big box of change that he had and rolled them to see how much he had. There was about $55 worth of change, so we're going to find something that we really like over there and buy a cool souvenir :)

I think we're going to get to see the new church that North Point has partnered with in Sweden, Filadelfiakyrkan. I just e-mail Gustav, one of the leaders, and hopefully we can meet up with them.

Is this really happening??

I love my life.

Sweden it is!

And we're leaving in... ummm... 10 days! Ha.

This is the time to do this kind of stuff. Pretty soon I will graduate, and then I'll get a job, and later down the road a family. College is a great time to just hop on a plane and go to some foreign country. You've got to take advantage of these opportunities. You can't rewind time to make more memories, so make them now.

Last Friday, my day began at the airport with a hot cup of earl grey tea (with just a hint of honey.) I sat down to journal, waiting for my flight to Chicago to begin boarding, and as I wrote the date it occurred to me that exactly a year ago I had also flown into the O’Hare Chicago airport—only I was coming from another country versus another state :-)

This past weekend was incredible. My roommate, Eprise, graduated from Taylor, so I flew up there to celebrate. Jessie, our other roommate lives in Chicago, so I flew there first to spend a day with her, as well as Jade. Jessie’s mom took us out to my favorite restaurant in DeKalb, Baker’s Square, which sells homemade pies and sweets. I split an omelet with Jessie’s mom, and to continue tradition we had to get a slice of pie also. Omelets and pie? It worked! Jessie, Jade, and I drove over to Taylor later that night. It had been over a year since just us girls had been together, and I cherished the time so much. On the way back to Chicago we passed through the Indiana Dunes, so we took some time to stop and enjoy the lakeside. Barely taking the time to think, Jessie and I ran straight into Lake Michigan, fully clothes… Jessie and I really haven’t changed too much ;-)

Aside from the weekend, God has been doing some amazing things in my life lately. Thursday, before I left for Chicago, I got a letter informing me that I had received a scholarship for $3,228! Later that night, I looked online to find out more about the scholarship and come to find out I wasn’t even eligible for it. The required GPA… is far from what I have. Somehow, God knocked down that barrier. I don’t know how to express my complete awe in the way God has provided for me so faithfully throughout college. I have always known that college, if I chose to pursue, was something I would have to pay for out of my own pocket. And somehow—even after attending a $30,000 per year school for two years—I haven’t had to take out any loans yet. Mathematically, it doesn’t make sense. But that’s the point. God has been providing.

It gets better.

The VERY next day Blake received an e-mail. This time, he was informed that he was considered for a $5,000 scholarship through LPA—the highest amount given. In addition, the board is anxious to meet Blake and has offered to fly him up to this year’s convention in Detroit. Still more. They want to include him in a future episode of TLC’s television series Little People Big World. They’ll interview him, talk about his life and future goals, and then show him going on stage to receive his award! He said to me, “that means you’ll be on there too, Juli, because I can’t talk about my life without talking about you.” J

What’s so awesome to me is that we are both able to experience the joy of God’s provision together. I’ve experienced it time and time again, and each time follows praise. And now, I have someone else to join with in praise. Together we received $8,228 within just 48 hours. I can’t stop praising Him!

in case you wanted to see more wedding photos, my aunt did a better job at capturing it all:

http://www.bjharvey.blogspot.com/

I need your help in deciding where to travel this summer.

Blake's aunt works for Continental airline, and she put him on her list for service just for the year. In other words, Blake is practically the status of her "spouse" and so he can fly anywhere for a VERY affordable price (taxes are the main cost.) In addition, he gets to bring one travel partner along-- ME! So we've been talking and thinking. People tell us we're crazy if we don't go somewhere this summer and take advantage of cheap travel. That's something that doesn't come everyday.

So here are some options:

1. Sweden (we could stay with Peter and Gunilla and meet their new baby)
2. Greece
   
3. Switzerland (spend some time at the Swiss L'Abri, where they house students and enjoy fellowship)
4. Japan (something completely different? I found this hostel there that reminded me of the Seinfield episode where Cramer puts his Asian visitors in drawers to sleep. I miss hostels... you can meet some really awesome people there.)
   

Any other ideas? Which country do you think we should visit?

I just wanted to say farewell to all my friends and family because for the nest 3 weeks I'm not going to have a life. Here was my day today...

9am-12pm: economics class, where we covered 3 chapters and were assigned to read 3 more before tomorrow.

12pm-1pm: lunch break (eat, buy my books, steal a conversation with Blake)

1pm-4pm: fine and applied arts class, where again I'm assigned tons of reading

4pm-5pm: meeting with the nursing department

5pm-8pm: work

and the rest of the night will consist of reading, reading, more reading, and maybe some sleeping...

Monday through Friday. Cramming 2 entire classes into 3 weeks, on top of having a job.... what was I thinking??

Jared and Eryn are finally married!!! It was a beautiful wedding-- here are just a few pictures. Oh.... and I caught the bouquet ;-)

2 down, 1 to gooooooo!!!!!!

I'm pushing through... 3 more exams, then the semester is OVER!

At least, until maymester...