New Title

For a while now, the title of this blog has bothered me because I wanted it to be something clever and something that expresses who I am.  A friend of mine last year who bore the same last name as me told me that Ferguson means sweeter after difficulties.  I thought that was so fitting of my life so far.  It's really what I strive to be every day, sweeter, not despite of, but because of everything that I have gone through both good and bad in my life.  I figured it was a pretty fitting title for this blog. 
Merry Christmas everyone!

On Saturday, we woke up really early (6:30) to have breakfast together with all of our roomates because Kristine works graveyard on teh weekends and comes home around 6:30. After we ate breakfast, we went to get a Christmas tree around 9:00. May had to go to work and Kristine went to bed, so it was just Mindy, Heidi, Ellissa and me. We found a Christmas tree lot on Lancaster that had really nice trees. Later in the morning, Laura and Kristen came down and we had a lot of fun hanging out.

These are the snow flakes May, Ellissa and me made. We hung them in the doorway.

These are my roommates at the Christmas lot. I told them to "act happy" and this is what they did. lol. They are so cute.

This is us at the tree lot. It was at a church. All the trees were 15 dollars! It was really great cuz we didn't have to settle for a small tree.

All of us in the car, you can see the tree in the background. It was pretty tight, the back latch almost didn't close! Heidi had to climb in and hold the tree up while I closed the door, then she climbed out the back window! lol.

Here we are with our tree before we put it in the house.

All of us with the tree. Ellissa Mindy, me and Heidi at the bottom.

Teresa: "pretend to be putting an ornament on."

These are all my housemate finally together for a picture! From left to right starting on the top row, there is Mindy, May, and me, then the bottom row from left to right is Ellissa, Kristine, and Heidi!

The tree all decorated. We got the decorations at the dollar tree :) they were really nice looking

Our Christmas tree all lit up!

This is what my roommates and I do for fun on a Tuesday night. :) If you can't tell the guys have their hands behind their backs, and the girls are sticking their hands through the guy's arms. Before you turn it on, from left to right is May and her boyfriend Kyle, and Eric (Elissa's boyfriend), and Elissa. Lots of fun!

He Never Lets Go

This is one of my favorite worship songs at Foothills, the church I go to down here.

You Never Let Go
By Matt Redman


Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
Your perfect love is casting out fear
And even when I'm caught in the middle of the storms of this life
I won't turn back
I know you are near

And I will fear no evil
For my God is with me
And if my God is with me
Whom then shall I fear?
Whom then shall I fear?

(Chorus:)
Oh no, You never let go
Through the calm and through the storm
Oh no, You never let go
In every high and every low
Oh no, You never let go
Lord, You never let go of me

And I can see a light that is coming for the heart that holds on
A glorious light beyond all compare
And there will be an end to these troubles
But until that day comes
We'll live to know You here on the earth

(Chorus)

Yes, I can see a light that is coming for the heart that holds on
And there will be an end to these troubles
But until that day comes
Still I will praise You, still I will praise You




God's been reinforcing this in my life over and over. Despite my perfect planning and dreams for how I think things should go, my life tends to go a different direction. However, though it all, God always provides a way for me, usually better than I could have dreamed. This has been especially evident in my time at Corban. God showed me that His plan is supreme, over who is in my life and He blessed me second semester with Heidi as a roommate. As I went through the process of applying to be an RA, my plans for where I was to live and my job were shot down. But through this, in the very last day of school, He provided a place for me to live with great roommates and great friends. He also knew that with my internship and hectic senior schedule, I would have been spread too thin. This semester, I was worried that I wouldn't get an internship in time to finish my hours before the end of the semester. God comes through again with an internship the last possible week I could get one and it's paid on top of that!
In everything I face, in every worry and fret, God takes my situation and turns it around for the better. No matter how I feel or my outlook on the future, God never lets go of me and always provides a way for me. God is so great! I am so blessed.

Goodbye, Chauntel

On Wednesday, Chauntel called me and said that she had unexpectedly moved up her departure date for her move to Arizona to Friday. I of course was shocked, and made immediate arrangements to come up to Longview Thursday, the following day. I drove up after my 10:30 class and arrived around 2:00 in the afternoon. I hung out with Chuantel as she did her last minute errands and said her last goodbyes. We played games in the evening and talked about our plans. She was excited about leaving, but we were both sad to say goodbye. She was supposed to leave on the 6:00 AM flight this morning, but when she got there it she was told that her dog carrier wasn't the right kind, so she had to go back to the front desk and purchase a different one, which made her miss her flight. She ended up leaving at around 12:00ish. Note to self: never fly southwestern with a pet! They don't let you check them underneath so you either have to carry the carrier on your lap or purchase another seat for them! Crazy. So she eventually made it to Arizona, and she messaged me on Facebook to say that she got there safely. I really hope we can find a time to visit eachother either over spring break or in the Summer.

So this week, my best friend of 9 years moved 1,305 miles away from me. How's your week been?

This is Mindy and May sandpapering the fridge in preparation for the Dry Erase Board Paint!




















Me being artistic with the pile of magnets.....















We have gotten a lot of free furniture and we had an extra tv and DVD player, so we turned our garage into another Living room! It is actually kinda nicer than the inside living room other than the no heat/ air condishioner part....heheh. We even got some free carpet so it's not hard cold concrete! We have two love seats, a couch, and two chairs out there, and a full size couch and a love seat and a recliner inside! Anyway, I should probably go study for Life of Christ now, so Bye.

Corban Happenings

Hello all! Today was my first day of classes. It was really stressful. I had a million books that I lugged to campus, but luckily I have a locker so I didn't have to take them to every class. The day started out fine with Social Psych. It's taught by Rich Meyers, who I'm sure you will remember is not my favorite teacher, but it looks like I will only have him for one class so I might retain my sanity this quarter. However getting to Social Psych was quite a task in and of itself. Me being the punctual person, I typed up my schedule earlier this summer so that I knew what classes were where at what time so that I wouldn't have to get confused by looking at the schedule and accidentally miss a class. Apparently I was a tad premature in my planning ahead, because the class room locations had changed drastically. only 1 of the 4 classes I took that day were in the original classrooms. Of course I didn't find this out until it was 10 minutes to my class, at which time I rush to the computer lab to find the right classroom. Of course, I didn't even think to check all my other classes to make sure they were in the same classrooms, so after my leisurely lunch and my Life of Christ class, I soon realize that Psych of Addiction is not in the same room either. Thus I repeat the run to the computer lab and check all my class times to make sure they are correct. I was a little late to Psych of Addiction, but the teacher is really nice and she didn't mind. Next was Theology 1 with Kersey who I really enjoy so I think that class will be great. The syllabi were rather overwhelming, but after writing down all the semester's assignments in a planner, it looks like it will be an ok semester.

Heidi got us a free washing machine, but when she did her first load of clothes, it turned out that the whole washer was VERY dirty. So much so that a couple rinse cycles didn't clean it out much. So Heidi and a couple of the guys who hang around our house (Such as May's boyfriend Kyle) took the whole thing apart and cleaned it all out. Quite a task. We just did a small load of non-essentials to test it out, and it looks like that deep clean did the trick! So, $8 on a new hot water hose, and 4 hours of manual labor later and we got a washer and a dryer! YAY.

We had our first house meeting, and with everyone's busy schedules it was the first time all 6 of us girls had been in the house at the same time other than sleeping since we all moved in! We decided to do a weekly bible study/bonding time/house meeting on Tuesday afternoons. We also divided up chores, and instead of having a wheel of chores that rotates, we are each having one chore that we do the whole semester/year. At first I was skeptical that this would be fair and work out to everyone's benefit, but one of the housemates really loves cleaning the bathroom, so that took care of that. lol. I am now the official shopper for the house. I will be buying all the essentials that everyone in the house needs and will chip in for together so that we don't all buy flour and eggs and milk and so forth. Fine with me. I don't mind that and that means I get to pick up all the dirt cheep stuff and don't have to chip in for brand name stuff! yay. The girls were all for that, and it also helps that I have Heidi's other costco card when it comes time to buy toilet paper and such.

Anyway, I think that's about it. I am gong to go triple check my schedule for tomorrow to make 105% sure that I have the right time and room number written down. As if I wasn't OCD enough already when it came to punctuality....

Here are some pics of my room :).














This is my beautiful Bed! with the canopy on it. I love it!















This is my book shelf, corner desk, and dresser area. my room's kinda tiny so it's a miracle everything fit!














Here is my full length closet which I love! It's my first ever full length closet all to myself. :)

Back at Corban

I would like to announce the return of my blog after it's Summer leave of absence. :)
I don't know why, but I never get around to blogging when I am at home. But here I am, not 12 hours in my new house, and I'm blogging again. The trip down was fairly uneventful, other than the minor detour we took to re-secure the tarp on the truck. Aunt Linda and Tom beat us down and unloaded the PT before we even arrived. We unloaded, ate lunch, and Dad and Tom put together my bed while Mom and I arranged my kitchen cupboard. :) then Aunt Linda and Tom had to get going to be back in town by 7 for Rosie's BBQ. Mom and Dad helped me continue to unpack, and Dad worked on my printer, which doesn't work :(. sad day. Sooner or later I realized that my toiletry caddy was missing, and I remembered that it must still be hiding on the floor of the back seat of the PT! A quick call confirmed this, so now I am without a few important items for a while. It's ok though cuz most of them were replaceable with a quick trip to Walmart, which I did as soon as I said goodbye to Mom and Dad around 5ish. I came back, and I had the house all to myself until around 7:30. Kinda a big house when you are all alone in it. Tonight we are going to watch a movie and then I am going to go to bed in my canopy bed!! yay! Tomorrow, I will go to church, and then we are thinking of a game of Frisbee, then maybe we will get around to a house meeting. :)

PS: Some of the girls have named the house the Sad Wow as in the All Singing All Dancing Wonder of the World. I know that it kinda sounds melancholy in black and white, but you just have to say it kinda in a chipper voice. (like the guy in the Sham Wow commercials, only WAY less annoying) :) lol. anyway I might call the house that from now on just to be quirky, and it looks like it's too late to change it cuz the name is kinda catching on. lol.

22 days until I am 20, and until Freedom!

Hey everyone! Last weekend was packed full of fun and events. On Friday night, I helped set up and sell tickets for a benefit concert for the mission team going to Africa this summer. Several of the girls going are in my hall/dorm, and I have been part of a prayer group for the Africa team. The team raised about $1,200 that night which was a huge blessing. I spent Saturday preparing for a presentation in Marriage and Family with one of my friends, Emily.
Saturday night was Roomies! I set up Heidi with one of our mutual friends, and she set me up with a Freshman named Peter Ellis. He is pretty popular and is a music major. The theme for Roomies was decades, and Peter and I dressed up in 70s attire. I didn't know he was my date until he came and knocked on my window. Apparently, Heidi set us up together through his roommate, but his roommate didn't keep it a secret from Peter, so he had known for a while, but I didn't know until about 15 minutes before we left. I sent Heidi on a little scavenger hunt just in our hall. Each clue had a letter to the guy's name in it, and at the end, she had to unscramble the letters to find out who her date was. She did this about 5:45 the night of the event. We were both pleased with our date, and we carpooled in the same car. When we got there, they tied our ankles together, and we spent the rest of the night that way. It as kind of a carnival theme, and each room was a different decade. There was Mario Cart, Price is Right, and a weird dodge ball type tournament thing. There was also this booth where you could eat gold fish (for the great depression, supposedly) and I didn't do it, but Peter did. It was kinda cool. Anyway, there was lots of stuff, and we had a good time. He is a pretty fun guy to hang out with. I signed up for classes on Monday, and I found out I don't have to take any summer classes, and I only have 16 credits a semester, as apposed to my normal 17 credit load. The classes all seem interesting. I am so looking forward to coming home this weekend, and I am looking forward to Summer, which, for me, is 22 days away! YAY for summer starting on my Birthday!

April Fools and other happenings

Hey everyone! So, if you have been trying to contact me, and have wondered why on earth I have suddenly started to ignore EVERYONE, well, the answer is simple: my phone was "dusty" and decided it was time for it's own spring break. lol. yeah, for some reason it could not receive texts or calls or sent them, but my roommate took out the battery and blew on it and tada! my phone is fixed! What would I do without Heidi? However, I thought it kinda funny that I didn't realize that anything was wrong with my phone for about 2 days! haha...apparently, I don't call or test/ receive calls and texts very often...heheh. What does that say about me? I'm not sure.

In other news, It's April Fools Day! and with trepidation, I awoke knowing that this day would be filled with.....happenings. Yesterday, my roommate spent half the night plotting what little things she could do to everyone in our hall! I knew that even though I held the high position of roommate, I would not be allowed to escape the plots, and therefore was alert of all the goings on around me. First, she put sticky stars all over Erin's room. Erin took it very well, she loves pranking, and she still has the toilet paper draped over her ceiling from the last person to prank her about 3 weeks ago! She was very excited about her stars, and the addition they made to her room.

Next she rearranged the drawers of our neighbors to the right of us. This was taken less kindly, but ended in a hug and a smile, and as they say, All's well that ends well.

Our neighbors on our left have one of those plastic drawer sets, and Heidi took all the stuff out of the bottom drawer, and filled it with water and put fish in it! I must say, this was my favorite one of her pranks, and It was also taken pretty well. It was so clever of her.

For Bonnie, she did a classic Office prank. She put her piggy bank in Jell-O! She plugged the hole on top first. Bonnie's reaction is still to-be-announced, she has mysteriously not said anything about it, even when the subject of the other hall pranks has been broached! I know she saw it though, because I saw the said piggy bank on her desk completely clean and back in it's original spot. :). Odd.....

Two of our other hall mates were pretty tricky, they lock their door if they aren't in there (for some inexplicable reason! What, do they think someone is going to sneak in and do something to their stuff? Oh, ....well, I guess that's realistic....) So, Heidi just taped pictures of monsters to their window, not too exciting.

Anyway. With all this pranking, She has not gotten around to pranking me yet....and It's making me nervous, because she said that something is coming, and she said that it wasn't necessarily going to be today, but she said I wouldn't hate her for it....so....we'll see....I'm still nervous! I kinda think it's unfair to postpone an April Fool's prank until after April Fool's Day, but that's just me. More on this when something happens!

Teresa

PS: For those of you who are worried, I was not personally involved in the planning or implementing of any of the above pranks.

Back by popular demand, I will be blogging a shocking second time this week! Might this acutally turn into a daily occurence? Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves there. Mother requested that I post pics of the cake I made for David's first birthday, and well, while I'm at it, you should post other pictures of this weekend as well. :) Sure, cuz I have nothing better to do than to blog. lol. But seriously, I really don't, and I couldn't tell her I was working on homework, cuz....I'm not. So without further ado, here is the cake, and some other adorable pictures. Thank my mom.

The four birthday people + one caregiver :). This time last year, there were only two birthdays to be celabrated at this time! Yay for new family members!

Farris Wheel Cake!

I'd like to note that I could have posted the picture of David in the bath tub, and the picture of Jonathan sleeping, but I decided that I would rather have my family talking to me.

my eccentric roommate!

So, I thought I would write a little something about my roommate, Heidi. I love how eccentric she is! For example, I came back this weekend, and she had bought a didgeridoo. At random times throughout the day, I hear this loud, weird, horn-like humming coming from her corner, and we both break out in laughter! Also, she is making sourdough, which requires this flour stuff to sit out for like days, and it makes me laugh at how unique she is! I love the random ideas she comes up with. She always has some eccentric idea or plan, or dream that she is working on. She is currently "training" to climb Mt. Shasta this summer. She has a resounding love for horses, and all living creatures, whether it is her pet tarantula (who, lucky for me, isn't and, in fact, can't be living here w/ us), or the nutria across the street that she wants to catch, she loves animals. Anyway, I just wanted to post some random pics of her and her didgeridoo, and her flour gunk. lol. :)
Heidi and her didgeridoo
Heidi and her sour bread gunk. :)

The Goings On

Hey guys. I know I seem to blog most when I am close to or just visited, but I can't help it. Kinda a lot has happened, and at the same time, not so much. I have joined a small group of young adults through my church on Monday nights. There are about 6 couples and a few singles who attend. The couples have several kids, one couple doesn't have any, and three of the couples are expecting kids all due within like 3 weeks of each other! lol. Kinda funny. It's led by the children's pastor of the church I attend in Stayton, called Foothills. I am really enjoying services there and am so thankful for a way to connect with others who are young adults. I went last week and tonight and i really enjoy it. It is really going to help to know people on Sunday when I go to church! I didn't really know anybody before this, and it's kinda a relief to meet new people, even if it is out of my comfort zone to go to stranger's houses. lol.
Last week the house was in a brand new development, so I couldn't get decent directions online, plus they are doing construction on the part of highway 22 so the detour threw me off, and I still don't know how I found their house, but I kinda just stumbled upon it, and that was pretty lucky, because I had no clue where I was. lol. This time I found the place alright, although it was kinda creepy because it was down this one way gravel driveway that was a tunnel of trees and I kept wondering where I would go if a car came up the drive, but it didn't. After the bible study, I came out and realized that I had locked my keys in the car because I had paused to make a phone call before going in, and left my keys hanging in the ignition and then locked the doors!! I luckily had my purse, cell phone, and a spare key handy, but I had to kneel in the wet muddy gravel because it had been pouring all day long. Oh well. At least I had an adventure.
Today in Chapel, our college kicked off a new club called the Sparrow Club, which is a National organization that partners with schools, colleges, and businesses to help support children and their families with medical needs. Each club sponsors one child and in return for any kind of community service done, the local business donates $10 per hour to the family to be used for medical needs. At chapel today, the child our school will be sponsoring was introduced to us. It was so great to see this club being put into action at Corban, and helping kids with chronic medical needs is one of my passions, so I am really looking forward to getting more involved with the club and seeing how this child is helped.
Formal is in 2 weeks, on the 7th of March. I am going to go with a group of friends from school, Emily, and Chelsea. My roommate was asked on a date, so she will be going separately. I am really looking forward to it. I went home last weekend to try on my dress from high school (among other things) and I think it is going to work just fine. :) I am looking forward to getting all dressed up! I am also looking forward to seeing David for his 1st birthday party!!! YAY! It will be fun seeing all of the family and such.
Classes are going well, and I am enjoying them for the most part. :) There is always one or two classes that you wish you could fix, but whatever. This week is semi-busy, I have a paper due on Wednesday and Friday. It will be fine though.
I look forward to seeing everyone in a few days! Have a great week!
Bye

Hey everybody. I figured it was time for another post. Life is good down here, it's been snowing off and on this morning, but nothing is sticking. I don't know if I am glad or sad about that. lol. I applied to be a Resident Assistant for next year, and I got through to the next round. I signed up for an interview slot at 10:30 on Tuesday, Feb. 1o. It will be good. I am really excited about it. I am excited about my new roommate, Heidi, and everything is going great! She was out of town last weekend, so it was pretty slow. I taught my friend Emily how to crochet, which was an adventure, becuase she is right handed, and I don't exactly crochet normally. lol. But she seems to be doing well and she has the basic stitch down, so we are going to move on to the double stitch tonight! yay. Classes are going well. I am really enjoying my Social Agency Counseling class. It is all about Social work, and it makes me excited about the future. I also really enjoy my Teaching the Bible class, which surprised me because it is the last class of five on MWF. However, it is taught by a really funny guy and we do fun stuff and act out skits and bring in props and stuff, so it's good to not have to sit through another lecture after a long day. So on MWF I start out and end my day with my two favorite classes.
I have been sick since the middle of last week with a runny nose, but thankfully it hasn't progressed into a cough yet. I have hope that it will just go away and not turn into anything. I hope it is gone by the end of the week, bucuase I am coming up for the quilting day at our church that we are leading. I have been very dilligent to do my reading early so that I don't have any homework over the weekend. I am excited to be home and see everyone. I miss you guys.
Love ya.
Teresa

Happy New Year everyone! I have been at Corban now for 4 days. I arrived on Monday afternoon around 3 because I thought that was when my roommates were moving in/out. My old roommate, Megan, arrived around 4ish and began to move upstairs. Heidi didn't arrive until Tuesday night around 9ish. She told me to rearrange the room however I wanted, and we both decided that we would like to bunk our beds. So I went to the task of bunking our beds on Tuesday afternoon. However, it wasn't just a simple task of stacking them, because when we tried, it wouldn't shift the right way, and we thought we had mixed matched beds. That meant I had to go around and try to find a bed that would work with my pegs and be the right length. After a thorough search, I came up empty handed. So we decided to try to stack the same beds again, but take off the bottom board so that it would be lighter and easier to shift back and forth. It worked! YAY! I have the top bunk and Heidi has the bottom bunk. Once Heidi arrived, we rearranged a little more. We moved one of the wardrobes over next to the bunk bed so that I can use the top of it for a night stand of sorts for my alarm clock and lamp. I still need to move over my dresser so that it is closer to my desk, but everything is shaping up nicely. I am so glad that I am rooming with Heidi! We get along and laugh and talk. She is very good for me and the basement because she brings us up to the top levels for interaction with other people. lol. She's kinda our ambassador to the 1st floor. I actually spent about 4 hours in the lobby on Wednesday night because Heidi made tea and then we played fooz ball with some other people.
My classes are going well so far. On Wednesday, I had five classes in a row. It was less stressful than I thought it was going to be, mainly because the majority of the teachers let us out early because there was little to do but go over the syllabus. I signed up today for sack lunches and so that will be good. I will be able to pick those up in between classes and eat them then. Today was pretty simple. I had a class at 9, then I just hung out until about noon when I went to lunch. I worked from 1-3 in the dish room. It's my first time working in the dish room on a permanent basis, and it is my first day shift. It is a very different dynamic. There are fewer students working. It is better than janitor shift, but I don't like getting wet, and I don't like how hot the dishes are when they come out of the dishwasher. However, I am very greatful that I am no longer doing the Janitor shift!
That is about all for now. I will try to blog on a regular basis.