Well since my friend mentioned to me that he is attempting to follow my blog, I remembered I had one. And then I was like wow, maybe I should update that thing. So here I am updating.

top ten moments of summer... which arent in any real order....LOL

1) playing in the rain with Liddie, Dra, Melon, Dana and Cassie. Soaking wet, lauging and being silly. I loved it, it was perfect.

2) An afternoon in a coffee shop with one of my favourites. Editing pictures and laughing until our stomachs hurt. And we didnt buy a thing. :) Balls n weiners all the way.

3) riding around with my cousin and Chez. sharing stories, being bad, jamming out to music

4) a night under the stars with my Bethany people and the IWU team. loving on Jesus, worshipping and just being together. so many beautiful voices blended together. gorgeous, simple and perfect.

5) Chicago. can we say Ed Debevics 2x in like 3 days? riding around on the subway and playing peek a boo with littlies. American Idol! Meeting so many crazy talented and awesome people and meeting that Scotty guy from Tila Tequila. Haha and Melissa. gotta love that chick. Chicago was just great.

6) The first weekend of summer. how could i forget!? Spending time with two of the best people ever; my roommate and Brandon. God, I love them. The ride up north was fantastic in itself; animal playground, good convos and laughing soo super hard. But yes, sleepovers and just being with some amazing people. loved it!!

7) Late night chats with Amanda and just being awesome together. We never run out of things to talk about, how is that possible!?

8) wealthy st. with my katie fox. gosh we almost got raped! but it was so fun hanging out that night and talking. miss that girl so much!

9) bike rides and sleepovers with my littlie brother. love that little kid so much. he's a cutie and almost as tall as me!! i love talking to him and laughing and being silly. gotta cherish those moments!

10) playing in the fountains downtown. Me and Dra! :) dodging the water but still gettin squirted right up the butt! haha. oh gosh

life is full of laughter and love. I love summer its so good to me. God is so good to bless me with awesome times!!!

WHOAHHHHHH update :D

Blogging is few and far in between. 

Let's see last time I updated it was about getting sherpa :)

I've officially had my first sherpa meeting since then, and I worked for my first 2 times as a sherpa. The other sherpas are really cool and Im looking forward to working with them! Its going to be a great time I'm quite sure. About a week ago we had our initiation and legacy ceremony and therfore I am officially Coffey Erica Sherpa!

The first week of March was Spring break, which was super fun; hanging out with my roommate, best friend and some others. Then I had a restful week at home and headed down to Indiana to see my bestest girl friend Ky Jo! :) That was fun, and it was great to hang out because we hadn't in way too long. 

A couple nights ago was our LJ banquet! We got all dressed up and ate desserts. The Sherpas from 08/09 did a dance, and some other things. It was pretty fun! Afterwards was really fun too eating mac n cheese and hot dogs with the girls and then having a photoshoot! [[check out pics on facebook!]]

But beyond that I've just been busy. I have had several projects due and a couple more to go -and only 3ish weeks left of my semester! Can you believe it? One year almost done already. I remember being so freaked out about college, now it's just a way of life! This summer, although its going to be great it going to be wierd because I'll be away from everyone who has become my family here.

Speaking of summer I've been thinking about how different this one will be...

+I will be working [[hopefully]] 

+ I'll be living most of the time with my dad; huge adjustment right there

+no camp for me, except for visiting, becuase of work

+no counseling at kids camp :(

+ the last couple of summers I've spent a lot of time with my best friend & we will both be super busy this summer and he is 2 hours away

+no youth group! which is super sad to me, and I will miss it immensely.

So yes, a summer of change, but it promises to be good nonetheless :D I already have a couple plans and it will be nice to be free of my school work!

Alright class time...I am ouuutt. :D

Joy.

I got sherpa! :) but I think everyone knows that by now. I am extremely excited about this position and am looking forward to starting! It will be a great end to summer. 

I have been spending a lot more time pondering what God is doing in my life. Spring break was great for that. It's great to be coming closer and closer to God and his will for my life.

Simple joys of today: 

+ its gorgeous outside and I am enjoying being perfectly comfortable in my sweatshirt and jeans outside.

+ my roommate and I rearranged our room providing more space and a more open environment

+ breakfast with two great people.

+ Sunshine

+ having my mind opened to the problems in our healthcare system with the documentary Sicko ( okay soo its sort of a wierd joy, but i enjoy being enlightened, i like learning :))

+ Bigby's coffee in my first class compliments of my Prof

+ a midterm that took me 15 minutes to complete! 

+ new jeans

+ laughter (at my roommate who was perplexed at the fact that her soup can didnt have a tab for opening it)

+ complimenting others

+ starting to read a GREAT book by Joe Stowell

Yes. Today is a good day. Spring break was wonderful. The first weekend was spent in Mancelona with my roomie and college friends, the week was super relaxing and the last weekend was spent at IWU with one of my besties and some old friends. Good times. 

Well I'm out of here. My computer is low on juice (always), I've got a meeting in an hour and then I'm going for a walk with my roommate! 

Loveeeeee.

Well here I am!!

Well hello there. :] It's been a great while since I've updated, but here I am again; back into the groove of things and ready to update you all on ME!

Well obviously Im back from Canada. :] It's really very bittersweet being back. I loved many of the people there, the worship and the continual spiritual support, but there were many things that tore me down and I could not deal with as well as missing many people back home. Despite all of those things, bittersweet or not; I am glad to be home. It has been nice to reconnect with old friends, go home on the weekends and spend some much needed time with my family. I'm enjoying every second!

So, I'm back at Cornerstone, and back for good I'm thinking. I have really settled in here and like most of my classes and the people that I have met here. Although the Christian atmosphere is not as strong as that of Bethany, I have found a fantastic group of people to hang out with. In addition I have a fabulous section, and the girls who live there are awesome! A couple of us actually just went out to Denny's for FREE BREAKFAST this morning! It was wonderful!

I am also filling out an application to be a sherpa! Sherpas are the student leaders for the course I took this summer called Leadership Journey (LJ). This would be such a fantastic opportunity, and I am excited at the possibilites! My application is due tomorrow and then the interview process begins in a week or so. Pray that everything goes well! I hope that I am considered for the position and eventually get to be a sherpa. It would be a fantastic learning experience as well as so much fun! The only thing Im working on is finding a staff person to reference me!

Another thing that has been a lot of fun since I've been here is HOCKEY! My roommate's boyfriend plays and we go to a couple of games a week. It's a good time :] I like the sport in general, but it also offers a lot of opportunities for me to take pictures, and I always love opportunites like that!

I will update more later, but currently I need to go get ready to go! I love living so close to one of my best friends, he goes to Grand Valley which is 15ish minutes away, and getting to hang out with him so much more than I used to!

I love you all!

Walkin in a winter wonderland!

Lot's of snow here! We probably have about a foot or so. The pic was taken the on Saturday night after it had been snowing for probably 12 or more hours! There have been kids on Prez's hill (the hill that goes down from President Medder's house) everyday since this big snow fall. Some of the girls and I also enjoyed the hill with some industrial size garbage bags! :) Make your own fun I guess, we are definitely good at it!!

Thursday is American Thanksgiving! :( The American girls that I hang out with and I were talking all about Thanksgiving; the big paper, waking up in the morning to the smell of turkey, watching the parade, and Black Friday. We are all so sad that we are going to miss it! We are having our own celebration consisting of spending the whole day in the lounge watching the parade, making breakfast, ordering pizza and hanging out. In the evening the school does a Thanksgiving like dinner, which won't be the same of course, but it will be nice! It will be a good day, but different I am sure, my thoughts will definitely be 1000 miles away.

Please pray for me. The last couple of weeks have been extremely rough and I nearly reached my limit this weekend. In such a small school girl drama runs wild and is hard to escape, I am not one that enjoys that scene and it really takes a large toll on me. I am trying to find joy in everyday and I have been reminding myself that everyday is a gift from God, and nothing can bring me down unless I choose for it to. It just gets rough when things are weighing on you heavily for an extended period of time. Break will definitely be a great reliever of that stress.

18 days until I come home! I am so excited! There is so much to look forward to when I am home! My roommate and I have a countdown in our room and are both eagerly anticipating when we get to go home. It will be a good time :)

Well, I am out. Have a lovely evening/day/ect.

Love you all.

SNOW!!

I woke up this morning to a very chilly room because Vanessa and I had left our window propped open last night! When I went to close it all the way, I looked out the window so I could see what the last few mornings has been heavy frost, and there was SNOW!! I was so excited, and had to remind myself to be quiet because  Vanessa was sleeping. It's not a lot, probably not even an inch, but there is a light covering on the rooftops, some places on the sidewalks and grass, and around the trees....I don't care how much or how little it is, I am just excited to see some of that white stuff! We are supposed to have 5 centimeters by the end of this week; I'm not super sure of what that means but I think around 4ish inches. :) 

Last night Alyssa and I got very Christmas-y and bought lots of Christmas stuff at Wal*Mart. I got a little baby tree and Alyssa bought a wreath, a big bow, construction paper and lights. We had a fun time after we wrote papers [:P] decorating my little tree and making red and green paper chains. My room now looks like Christmas threw up in it! I love it though, and it makes our room all the more cheery!

Today I only have classes until 12, and then I am done! Monday, Wednesday and Fridays are lovely free days, which I will enjoy to the fullest because next semester I will be busy everyday. Tonight after dinner we have d-groups, our small groups, from 7-8ish. I enjoy d-group very much and the girls who are in my group.

Well, I just wanted to update on our first snow! Can't wait for more! 24 days!!!!!

love you all. 

I WANT SNOW!!!!

It's snowing like crazy at home and I want snow here!! It's super cold, but we haven't had the slightest hint of snow, and weather reports say its not coming for awhile. BUMMER. I would really love some of that white stuff ((it'll make me feel a bit more at home! )). As an inspiration for the snow to come I decorated our room tonight; a green curtain over the window, snowflake 'garland' ((from my grams! )), candy canes and of course our christmas lights. It looks really cute! Plus, we've been dowloading Christmas music all night and it's been playing loudly since after dinner!! I said I wouldn't break any of the Christmas stuff out until after Thanksgiving, but I REALLY want snow and I am feeling very festive!

On Sunday Alyssa and I, along with 2 other Michigan girls got invited over for Dinner. It was WONDERFUL. All of the food was prepared from scratch and we got to help in the kitchen! We enjoyed yummy chicken, ham, squash, mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls, salad, and peas. For dessert we had cake that Alyssa and I prepared; chocolate cake with hand whipped cream, ice cream, homemade fudge sauce, and cherries. We were SO spoiled!! It all tasted so good, and I am not sure that the family knew how much they blessed us. I am so thankful for those simple gestures.

Today I only had class from 8-10, 11-12. I had the whole afternoon off and enjoyed some extra sleep; it was lovely. Tonight Alyssa and I walked down to Dairy Queen and enjoyed non-campus food. We talked some and enjoyed time away, campus is nice, but sometimes you need a breather! Non-campus food is always nice too!!

Tonight I am headed to bed early, 2 hour Psychology classes at 8am on Tuesdays kill  me! It will be nice to be in bed before 1am.

picture of  me :) My hair has gotten really long since I've been here! This weekend I am getting my bangs cut, which will be nice because they are very long. 

well I am headed out. Love you all. 25 more days....