Oodles.

That's the only word I can think of to describe what I've been thinking and pondering and reading lately.

This coming month is going to be very busy. These past years I have discredited seniors who claimed they were busy with "senior stuff" around this time of year, but as my impending graduation draws nigh, it is now my turn to claim I am too busy with "senior stuff." There are so many things to bring closure to.

So if I have told any of you, my dear friends, that I am too busy, with "senior stuff," it is in all honesty. Come July, I will have nothing to do with myself and will catch up with each and every one of you after graduation, family reunions, the Crossover, and various other trips and activities. :)

One such event that is quickly approaching is the wedding of my friend, Sara! I am very excited for her, as she embarks on this adventure. And an adventure it certainly will be!
I got to spend some time with her last Friday, and hearing about all her wedding plans was positively giddy-fying. It's going to be lovelyyyyy. I'm so honored to be a part of it! Thanks for making time to hang out with me before your man claims you for good, Sara;)

One thing I have managed to make time for is revisiting some of my favorite books and diving head-long into some new ones. Some are for mere entertainment, while others are changing the way I think. One happens to be one of my all-time favorite fairy tales, I, Coriander (by Sally Gardner). It's so well-written, and gripping (at least it was when I first read it;). One of my favorite things about it is that there is romance in it, but it is not the focal point of the entire book. It's more of a background happening that doesn't get introduced until the last half.
So refreshing...

Another book I'm revisiting is The Three Faces of Eve by Corbett H. Thigpen, M.D. and Hervey M. Cleckley, M.D. It is non-fiction report by two psychiatrists in the 1950's about a women who suffered from multiple personalities. While it may sound disturbing, it is really really interesting! I recommend it, if you have a weakness for tales of abnormal psychology like I do;) This one I had the good fortune of making a school assignment as well. (Thank you, Mrs. Blake, for making us write a four-page report on an abnormal condition of our choice. I relish the excuse to read this book again;)

The third book is a world changer that I'm sure nearly every conservative Christian household has heard of, or lost in their extensive libraries of curriculums: Passion and Purity by Elizabeth Elliot. Gahhhhhh, so good!! I have been reading a chapter or two every day as my devotional book. It is Elliot's personal journey through her relationship with her first husband, Jim Elliot. It's a difficult journey, but it hits home. I cannot relate to much about her actual situation, but I can relate to the agony she felt in the waiting.
Being in a relationship is the most wonderful thing in the world, yet a whole new realm of temptations I had not encountered before have now become an inescapable reality. Her encouragement and depth of insight is so helpful.
Here are a few tidbits:

"There was nothing that I was experiencing that He had not been through in some form. The love that is everlasting had entered this world, my world, my very heart, known its struggles, shared its weakness and perplexity. None of those things then would separate me from His love. They would, in fact, give me the opportunity to experience it, to learn to cry, "Abba, Father!""

"My heart was saying, "Lord, take away this longing, or give me that for which I long." The Lord was answering, "I must teach you to long for something better.""

"If the yearnings went away, what would we have to offer up to the Lord? Aren't they given to us to offer? It is the control of passion, not its eradication, that is needed. How would we learn to submit to the authority of Christ if we had nothing to submit?"

"We are not meant to live merely by what is natural. We need to learn to live by the supernatural."

So, there, a peek into what my brain has looked like this past week:)

And this week? Ug. I have a lot to do...

I will hopefully find time to write... I typically do;)

Until then, 

                 Case