Who Am I?

I have been looking for the answer to this question for the past 21 years, and I think that I am starting to see the answer. I am not at all who I thought I was. I have to be careful though, because I could jump ahead of myself. You see this is all a very slow delicate process, but a beautiful one at that.  I am not supposed to know all of me yet.  I know that sounds strange but it is because I am not quite who I was created to be yet. I am however at this moment the closest I have ever come to that person. You are probably wondering why the philosophical musings?   Well a lot has happened in the past few weeks. I realize that I have not written about any of it, but the truth is, I don't plan too. What I am going to write is what I have learned from all of this.

 I started this blog more for me then for anyone else. To keep track of my travels and have a place where all of my adventures were written down in one spot. I will not lie, a part of me also wanted a place where I could brag about my travels. But that is not what is really important. Is it an amazing blessing these travels? Yes. But the travels are not what is important (as I perviously thought). What is  important is what one learns from them. How they become apart of who you are. How everywhere you go, all the people you meet, everything you do, all come together to create the person that you are.  It's the little moments you think don't matter, but in the end truly do.

There is only one adventure that is at all worth writing about, and that adventure is life. Life is a grand quest...one worth truly fighting for. In fighting for life, you are fighting for love, for the LORD, and for yourself. It is a beautiful gift that is not to be wasted.

I thought about deleting the past posts that I wrote, but what would be the point in that. You can't erase the past, but you can move on to the future. I am resolved to write more here (once a week I hope!) But I am going to write about what really matters. Not about the places I go and the people I meet, but about life! My apologies for future rambling that don't make much sense, but then again life at its best does not make much sense except in HE who strengthens us.

So there you have it.
Goodnight, Sweet Dreams, And May GOD Send His Blessings Upon You.
Elizabeth

Taking the High Road

So I was planning on writing this on Monday, then on Tuesday, and well this week has really gotten away from me. Last weekend was full of a lot of new adventures, starting with racquetball! I went into this sport expecting the worst and hoping for the best. Well it was bad. Really bad. I learned that I am really, really great and flailing.  I this this is going to be something that I work at on my own...but it did help me see how much I want to be athletic. That sounds crazy I know...but I really do want to! So I have decided that I am first going to work on being in shape. Then I will work on the athletics.

On Saturday I went to Highland Kanas for my brother's track meet. I got to see him pull vault 10 feet, which is super legit! I needed gas and I beat my brother and his friends so I stopped at a local gas station. I got gas and paid and thats when I realized it...I locked my keys in my car. This is the first time this has ever happened to me and I did not know what to do. I went into the gas station and got the number of the police to see if they could unlock my car. Apparently they don't do that.  So they gave me the number of a lock smith. While all this was happening My brother, his girlfriend, and one of their friends drove by, so they stopped and picked me up. I called the lock smith and then walked back to the gas station to wait. The lock smith unlocked my car after I waited for a while, but he did not have a way for me to pay him with my debit card. So I ended up buying him gas. This people is why I so want to end up in a small town.

Well I have to meet with a possible student now, so I have to bounce. Stay classy internet world, stay classy!

Winter Wonderland!

This weekend I continued with my nomadic tendencies and went to Omaha. When I drove down Thursday night it was still a beautiful 60 degrees. I was planning on going back to Missouri Saturday night so I could teach religious education on Sunday night. Everything was good. Friday was raining but not bad. I got to study with my cousin in the UNO library, and then went to my little brothers play that night!

The Play was great! My brother had the lead and did an amazing job! I am so proud!

He played a fairy tale detective! 

My little sister and I got really bored while waiting for the play to start and took a bunch of random and fun pictures! 

She is such a cutie...

...even if she is crazy. :) 

Then Saturday Morning came. 

When I woke up I thought there was going to be a light dusting of snow, a little wind, and that it was not going to be as bad as EVERYONE said it was going too...

Well it was EXACTLY what everyone said it would be. 

Yup. 

Needless to say I did not get back to Missouri Saturday night. It was super nice being snowed in though. I got 9 hours of sleep...two nights in a row! I also got to play with my little sisters, see my little brother's basketball game (they won!) and got to eat my dad's apple spice banana pancakes! 

It was a pretty great weekend! 

Now I am "watching" the superbowl with the Newman crew and I will probably go hang out in the dark room later tonight.  I know I promised more about California, but that is going to have to wait. I will leave you with this. 

Where Am I?

      I am pretty positive that someone has scooped up Maryville and moved her to Sunny California. It  is a beautiful 59 degrees, the sun is shinning, the sky is blue, and life is great! I am currently sitting on my front porch as I am writing this. The windows in my house are open, there is a nice but slightly chilly breeze, and I am pretty sure I am not in Missouri anymore.
    I called my Mother just to make sure...but it turns out it's not just Maryville...it is just as beautiful back in Nebraska. After I got over the slight sadness the occurred when I realized I was not transplanted to  California, I have really decided to live it up today! My best friend and I are going on a bike ride around town and I can not wait! I got a beautiful new bike for Christmas and it is nice to get a chance to use it! We are also planning on baking my new favorite food! The most amazing Ginger Cupcakes with the best Cream Cheese frosting I have ever had! (And I don't like frosting)

So Yummy! 

(Side note if you want the recipe's check out my Pinterest!)

     Goodness with weather like this, I can handle winters in the midwest! But, oh how I miss Cali! I realized that I have not written at all about my resent venture to California. I know lame. It was an amazing trip! I went with my parents and my baby sister Lucia!  The weather was like that of today...only everyday!
     We stayed in La Jolla, a downtown area of San Diego.  We could see the ocean from our room, and were just a short walk away from a beach where a bunch of sea lions lived!

They were practically in our front yard! 

It was absolutely amazing! Well it's time for me to get ready for my bike ride! More on Cali later! Remember to stop and smell the flowers! 

Back In The Ville

Here I am back in Missouri and goodness what it took to get back here! On the trip back to Peoria we had an interesting adventure when we stopped in the quaint town of Friendsville...yes I am serious that was the name of the town.
It looked like a beautiful little with about one house a barn and a gas station. We went into the gas station and to our surprise found quite a large range of biker apparel. There were leather jackets, inappropriate t-shirts, and a lot of skulls and flames...defiantly not what we expected in a town named Friendsville. We went to go use the bathrooms but there was no soap so one of the girls went to the front counter to let them know the women's bathroom was out. She was informed that they never keep soap in the women's bathroom because it got STOLLEN on all the time.
Moral of the story- don't judge a town by it's name. You never know it could be full of soap stealing biker chicks.
I spent the night in Peoria before making the six hour drive to Missouri. It was fun to have a little bit of time to hang out just me and my cousin, that does not happen a lot! The trip back took a bit longer then expected because I kept stopping to take pictures of the sun set!
Life is as crazy as ever in the ville, but I am staying in town a whole week and a half, which will give me the small amount of time I need to get organised and cought up on all my work!
Well I think it's time for bed... I will leave you with this...
"I am your God. I made you and will care for you; I will give you help and rescue you!" - Isaiah 46:4 (thanks to my girl Jos for sending this verse to me!)

On The Road Again

I have spent way more time traveling in cars then any normal person. We are back on the road and headed away from the east coast. We will get to Peoria around 2 o'clock tomorrow morning.
This morning was good. Adoration and mass were amazing! I realised last night that I think I like going to things like this on my own. Why you may ask? Because when I was in California I learned about this wonderful thing called...SLEEP! Yes it is true I like to sleep. Since I was by myself and bounce from group to group people just thinking that I am hanging out with so everyone else but I was sleeping! It was wonderful!
Well it's raining outside so I might fall sleep. Yay! Remember to take the time to stop and smell the flowers!

It Just Started...Now We Are Almost Done :(

Well this adventure is almost over. At the beginning of the week I honestly felt out of place here, but at this the last day I don't want to leave. I am actually bonding with my roommates (a bunch of freshman girls from Ave Maria University) I have made friends, ran into old ones and grown so much! Most of the other schools will be going to the March For Life in Washington D.C. I wish Bradley was going because 1) I have never been and have always really wanted to and 2) I don't want this adventure to be over!
Today was full of great talks, great food and even better conversation! Everyone was dressed up because we had Sunday mass! It was so fun to see everyone all fancied up!

This is me, Angie, and Amy all dressed up for mass! 

I went to the Hard Rock Cafe for the first time and hung out with my peeps at UNL (yes I did just say peeps). It was quite the experience because the BIG football game was on when we went. If something exciting happened in the game, waiters would run away from tables and toward TVs, and everyone cheered very loud!  
Well I will be getting up for a six am adoration hour (woop woop) so I am going to get some sleep. Remember to take the time to stop and smell the flowers!