So summer is coming to a close. I am humbled to say I have learned a wealth of lessons this summer that have grown me and shaped me, and I almost don't want to leave my hometown, but I am ready to get back to my UMHB family. I've talked to a bunch of people from school and they are all excited to go back!! If you're an incoming freshman, I am so excited that you will be joining our family! I hope to meet a bunch of you at CruCOM (Welcome Week)!! I am going to be an RA in Beall this fall so I am really excited about taking up this awesome leadership position.

Fall is super fun. There are a lot of activities -- football games, Miss MHB, Missions Emphasis Week, etc. I am looking forward to another semester! In the spring, I will be taking a semester off to do mission work in Africa. I am extremely excited, but I am coming back to UMHB in the fall! It'll be a little difficult to leave for that long, but I have been so blessed by the encouragement and love of my friends and the adults on campus.

For those of you still just looking at UMHB, I would really encourage you to come to Crusader Preview Weekend this fall. It's a time when you can actually spend the night in a dorm with actual students, eat a few meals at Hardy, go to chapel, experience classes... and if you can't make it to Preview Weekend, atleast come and visit our campus. You'll get a look inside of our family and see if it's maybe where God wants you. :) Check out the rest of the website for more information, or call the Admissions & Recruiting office.

 Have a great rest of the summer, and do all as if you were working for the Lord, not for men. :)

 Rachel. <3

Let's just be honest: this past month has been extremely hard for me. My heart has been broken in a completely new way, and I am still healing. I want you to know that this is real life. Pain still happens at college, and at UMHB. But I can tell you this... the people here care. And I'm not just saying that to make UMHB sound all amazing because this is a "UMHB blog"; I really mean it. My friends have been amazing, but so have the faculty and staff. One of my teachers noticed my sadness and asked about it, an admissions counselor that I work with constantly checked up on me, someone slipped an encouraging note under my doorway, multiple people have listened and hugged me, the BSM director truly asked how I was, the chapel speaker had people stand up who were hurting and everyone else gathered around to pray... and those are only a few examples. I guess what I'm trying to say is that people here DO care. And that I know we all go through difficult times -- it is BOUND to happen. There will always be people who don't notice or don't care, but God has provided me with a beautiful network of friends and adults that DO. I can rely on those people... not only in my hometown or in other places, but right where I am, at my home in Belton. And that is one thing that I am so so thankful for.

And my roommate just decided to "make" peanut M&Ms by mixing regular ones with peanuts. She is oh so innovative. :)

It's the final week of classes this week, and next week is finals. That means in a week and a half, I will be a college sophomore. Geez wow. I really don't want to leave; I will miss everyone so much... I wish that we could just end classes and stay here, haha. A lot of people have said that! It's going to be a hard summer with four months apart, but it makes looking forward to August even better!

Have a great rest of the semester! And if y'all are coming here next year, make sure you plan to come to Welcome Week! It's going to be AWESOME.

So today was Play Day... a glorious day in which classes are canceled and many fun activities await us in the quad. My roommate and I slept fairly well last night... from about 11:30pm until 9:30am... and even though it was interrupted by a few things such as a tornado warning at 4am, it was so nice to not have to get up at 7! :) We got up, got ready, went to Shipley's for breakfast... then I proceeded to work on a paper that was due today. I worked on it until about 2:30 (I put a pretty good dent in it), then I went to work from 3-5. Then I actually got to participate in Play Day. :) I had a yummy dinner, rode the Ferris Wheel, slid down a huge inflatable slide thingy, climbed a tree with Julia, laid in the grass and talked... it was amazing! :) Then, at around 6:30, I trudged back into my dorm to finish my paper... I finished around 9.

Spring semester is almost over! Only about three more weeks! :) I'm going home this weekend; it's been a rough three weeks to say the least. I am really looking forward to just spending time with my dad and being at home. It's such a nice feeling. I love UMHB but there's just something about home... of course, it will be tainted with studying hardcore for Chemistry and A&P (Anatomy & Physiology), but it's all good!

Hope y'all's semesters are finishing up nicely too! Ciao!

The forecast was right! It snowed last night! :)

So I woke up to my alarm around seven this morning. I was just snoozing, not wanting to get up, and my roommate says, "I think there's snow outside." I sat straight up in bed and stared out the window. There were big patches of white stuff all over the quad, on rooftops... I was so excited! She and I went outside to check it out, and she assured me that it was snow (she grew up in the north). I took all kinds of pictures that hopefully I will post up here later (the camera cord is at home). All the cars had a bunch of snow on them and everything was so sparkly and pretty. It wasn't a lot of snow; just sitting on top of the grass but it was enough to make the area look white. SO EXCITING, guys. For us Texans who hardly ever or have never seen snow, this is pretty much fantastic.

So there ya go. Just an update since I mentioned the maybe yesterday. :_

Wow, so sorry it's been so long. Somehow, 12 hours this semester is so much harder than 14 hours last semester!

It's raining like no other today! And the temperature is steadily going down... I ran from Chemistry to work and I got really wet and cold! It was really fun actually. I was way too happy about my Chemistry test grade to worry. :) Apparently it might snow tonight. Wouldn't that be cool? And maybe there won't be school tomorrow... hmm...

I started my Conditioning PE class this week. Last Thursday was actually our first day, but we only went over the syllabus. Tuesday, we ran/jogged/walked/huffed and puffed for 25 minutes, worked in the weight room, and did some stretches. Nevertheless, I was able to shoot into the shower and get to Chemistry class before 1 o'clock! Today we did a warm-up on the cardio machines, and then moved back into the rec gym to do different work-out stations. There was this weird one where we had to balanced on a squishy half-ball thing (I know, that made NO sense) and do squats. Of course there were lunges, the most sore-muscle-forming exercise of all time, I'm sure. Haha. My favorite was probably jump-roping. I haven't done that in ages. My partner and I were just cracking up at how bad we were at so many things, and our teacher had to come and talk to us to tell us to stop fixing our pony-tails... but they kept falling down... I'm excited about this class. I'm not really a huge fan of exercising, but I am so out of shape and am hoping this will help a little bit.

This week was also the housing process. Stressful, yet finally finished. I'm living in Beall next semester! My best friend who is supposed to be my roommate might not get in, however, since she is on the waiting list... so we'll see how THAT goes. :/ I will miss Burt but I am excited living somewhere new too!

Easter Pageant is coming up NEXT WEDNESDAY (March 12th)! We've been practicing all semester and I'm so excited. I'm servant hand maid #2; I get to pass out bread to Jesus and the disciples. This is the 69th annual Easter Pageant at UMHB! Can you believe that? It's at Luther Memorial -- that's OUTSIDE -- and it hasn't rained a single year. God sure likes to show off sometimes. :) If you guys want to come, we have three performances: 12:30, 3:00, and 5:30.

It's almost Spring Break, and I'm pretty sure everyone on campus has been ready for it for a few weeks now. :)

Well catch y'all later!