tfm: total Freshman Move

*(Thanks to Elizabeth for inspiring me to write again!)*

Y'all, I feel like such a baby! I'm officially a college student-woot woot-and in the throws of my first college finals. I'm just counting the days until I can be home and sleep!

(R to L: Madi, Bliss, Elizabeth, and Me)

I knew a little of what I was getting into after seeing all the girls go through their first year of college; I honestly think I was more prepared than most freshmen. I have definitely tripped up the stairs, dropped my books, and gotten lost in true freshmen style, but I have been surprised by how normal it all feels. Also, it has been so great to have Elizabeth here with me! Love my sissy!

The Lord has blessed me greatly. I cannot say that enough. Some of my best friends live on my hall in the dorm and are always there to strengthen and encourage me. I just keep hearing this phrase over and over in my head: "Ponder anew what the Almighty can do." His strength is apparent every single day. I'm so thankful that He reminds me how precious life is when I so easily get distracted. 

(Friends at a football game!)

(WARNING: Soap box ahead...) 

I've just been thinking lately of how fast time goes. Every day is incredible. Every day is so very human that it hurts sometimes. Life is predictably spontaneous; it's irrationally logical. It's a paradox. Life is full of "ifs" and "maybes" and "hopes." I've learned that life is full of longings. I long for the future--my hopes of what might come. I long for the past--the warmth and security of home. I long for people, I long for places, I long for life. I live it every day yet some kind of vivacity always seems just around the corner or just passed by. The position that we are in right at this exact moment in time will never occur again. You will never get this second back. You are never the same person, never in the same state, never the same at all. Yet we spend these precious seconds as we are right now longing. How sad! Every moment we breathe is a paradox of mourning and rejoicing. It's a breath of heaven and hell- of life and death-all at once. And what we choose to do, and say, and think, and be in this very millisecond can change the course of history. There is power in every moment; there is life in every breath if we so choose. 

I feel like this time in my life is critical to who I'm going to be. As I enter into this determining time, which was always my future, I'm excited to breathe life in every moment. I can't wait to experience what's ahead of me! This first semester has already flown by. Here's to what's next!

Next is a rather lengthy look at what my first semester has looked like! 

Sorry I went a little picture crazy...Enjoy!

(Mary Catherine, my roommate, with power tools in the dorm...)

 (One of my best friends who's in high school visited!)

(Freshman Formal with Grantham)

(Some of my blessings!)

(Game day bows from Madi's mom!)

 (Dressed to impress with my friend Luke)

 (The wonderful fans for my intramural flag football team. They were half the fun!)

(Road tripping...)

Can't wait to be on the road to home in less than a week! I am thankful for every moment of my college experience and am excited for Christmas! 

Merry Christmas!

~Mary Claire

Psalm 103:2

"With all my heart I praise the Lord! I will never forget how kind he has been."

Traditionnn...Tradition!

   Welcome to 2012, everyone!  Even though Christmas is over, I thought it would be nice to share a few of our Christmas traditions.   Two of our favorites are decorating the tree and making pretzels for our neighbors.
   First of all, we get a REAL tree.  This is very important to us... we pick it out together and it always makes the house instantly turn Christmasy when we haul it into the house and the pine-needle smell fills the living room.  We use a homemade felt tree skirt and our collection of ornaments.  Atop the tree is perched an angel that Mama and Daddy bought in Maine before any of us were born!  We put on Christmas music and decorate the tree.
   Every girl goes into her own decorating zone.  Sarah puts her favorites and the prettiest ones on the tree, and gets done pretty quickly.  Anna wants to get as many ornaments hung as possible and be done with it as quickly as possible.  I take my time and am in my own little world of remembering.  I put mine all over the tree, making sure each part is decorated.  Mary Claire is systematic and puts on her favorites but doesn't waste time.  She knows when to stop and is usually finished first, or second to Anna.  Mama and Daddy love to watch and give suggestions or join in on the reminiscing.  What I love about our tree is that every ornament has a story.

Dancing with Tucker!

Never too old to dance on Daddy's feet.

Daddy playing the Hershey kisses bells.

Already finished and relaxing, of course. 

Anna and my first Christmas!  And Sarah's is the Precious Moments one to the left.

    Now that the tree's all decorated, on to our next tradition...white-chocolate-pretzel-making!  Every year we make white-chocolate-covered pretzels for our neighbors and deliver them to everyone on our street.  We have been told that our neighbors enjoy them and we enjoy the time spent making them!  By now we are a well-oiled pretzel-making machine.

Every girl takes a corner of the wax paper and we work until there is no room or pretzels left!

Mama supervises and Daddy eats.

The finished product!  These go into bags that we hand-decorate.

   Usually Mama drives us down the street and we all ride in the trunk and hop out at each house.  This year Anna manned the wheel and we brought Tucker to escort us.  We persevered through the cold (it was Christmas Eve) and left surprises on our nieghbors' porches.  A few days later we ran into one of our neighbors.  She thanked us for the pretzels and said that her husband had been afraid that we had outgrown the tradition.  We answered, "Of course not!"  It takes effort and planning to get these traditions done (especially now that 3/4 of the sisters are at college), but they are important and we enjoy them year after year!  Here's to another year of old and new traditions!

'Tis the Season

'Tis the season, right? Yes. I love Christmas. It is absolutely the best. But before I get into that, I will give a small update on the past few months.

As you all know, we went to New York for Thanksgiving, which at first I will admit, I was not very enthusiastic about. Just because I wanted to sleep at home. Who knew people were actually telling the truth when they said you don't sleep in college? I know now. Anyway, so we went there and saw the Macy's Day Parade, which was great, did some shopping, and saw a few shows. The highlight would definitely seeing Daniel Radcliffe in "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying". Super good and just really cool seeing him in person! It was a great Thanksgiving and so much fun being in NYC, but it is always good to get back to the pup on the stoop!

Here are some pics from that little vacation:

The seesters in NYC!

Mary J. Blige for ya!

There he is!! The back of Daniel's head.

*due to his shorter stature and the position in the crowd I was in, no facial picture was taken! but oh well!

Us with Daniel!

Anyway, so that was the trip! Onto Christmas! I love it. and the lights. So pretty. And yes, i am that person who makes a Christmas Pandora station the day after Thanksgiving! This Christmas was a bit different than ones in the past and I am not one for change. haha :) It really put Christmas into perspective. Not focusing on the presents and the gifts, of course those are great, but really paying attention to the whole reason we have in the first place. "The reason for the season", if you will.

I'm slowly but surely learning to focus on my blessings and not my wants. Which is a challenge, but I've accepted it whole-heartedly. Not to get all sappy and what not, but really just putting it into the truth as I see it, and what Jesus means to me and that He is the reason for everything. Our candlelight service at church focused on the question:

how did we get here?

that's all I have to say. Hope everyones' days were filled with blessings and joy from Jesus.

Merry Christmas!- akh

Christmas Cardigans

It's that time of year!  There were many opportunities to take the family Christmas card picture in N.Y.C., but how could we take a picture without our fifth sister, Tucker?  So we waited until Christmas break when all of us girls had returned home.  We decided to set up the tripod at the church, bring Tucker, and see how the pictures turned out.  THEY WERE AWESOME!  Maybe I'm biased, but I think these are just the sweetest pictures ever.  We put two on our card, but I thought some of the other ones were worth sharing.  I love the candid ones, and they show our family dynamic really well.  So here you go!

First attempts!

Tucker spotted the maintenance man...

"Give her a treat!"

"We can't see Tucker's dress!"

This is what happens most of the time at home.

Merry Christmas from the Hills!

Love, E.