Goodbyes Can Be So Hard, But Welcome-backs Are Always Easy

Fellow Readers,

This past weekend-and also Monday and today-was totally awesome.  It was packed all the way through.  I got back home with my sis Thursday night and went to my grandma's house with my brother and sisters to just hang out.  Yeah, that's right, we like to go hang out at our grandma's house for fun.  I can't think of a thing I would rather like to do instead of that.  So, that was my Thursday night; Friday night, was spent with my sis, Brittnee.  We went gallivanting about Hendersonville-the Streets were closed so what I mean "about Hendersonville," I mean Glennbrook and Walmart.  Of course we had to make a Target run, what better place to just go and mess around at?  We then delighted in an oh-so-nutritious dinner from Sonic.  Afterward, we made our way to Wally World to grab some dessert.  We ended up getting little dollar-somethin containers of ice cream and a bag of movie theater popcorn to eat while watching a Redbox.  We rented Arthur and were off back home to watch it.  We enjoyed the movie and our delicious popcorn and ice creams, respectively, and it turns out that Arthur is actually a really good movie.  Saturday, my brother and sisters and I-and two other friends-went to the Strides Against Breast Cancer five mile walk.  It was a lot of fun and there were a TON of people there! It was good to see so much support out there.  After the walk, we made our ways to San Antonio Taco Company(SATCO) downtown.  We devoured a pretty solid lunch and then my bro and I headed over to my cousins house to just chill with a few stogies.  While we were smoking, we decided to start a fire in the little fire pit we were sitting around.  Well, every time the wind would blow, it would blow right in Brian's face.  No matter where he moved, the smoke would just follow him, it was so funny.  We got to kick it there for a while and really have some solid bonding time-it was great.  Sunday, my sister and I went to a Civil War reenactment of the Battle of Franklin.  Before the "battle" started, Ashlee and I perused around the whole place and I tried on some clothes and hats and then we made our way to where we were going to sit.  The battle started really slow, and boring.  For 45 minutes of constant, close-range shooting, maybe one guy died.  Everyone around us, and ourselves included, all were sayin the same thing:  1500 shots and only one dead??  Then, it finally picked up and people started dying all over the place.  Everyone started to enjoy it by then.  After it ended, we made it back to my car.  The journey begins...  It took us an hour and a half to get out of the parking lot!  And that was with people conducting it!  It was so frustrating and annoying and it made us late to our party.  That was our next activity, the family's murder mystery party as a going away party for our cousin Adam, who left for the Air Force today-please keep him in your prayers.  The party was put on by our cousin Alysia(sister of Adam) and her husband Lee.  It was a "Murder Among the Mateys" pirate-themed murder mystery party.  They had there house decorated so well and everyone's costumes were amazing-we all made our own.  It was SO much fun and just a really awesome time to spend with family.  You're wondering who the murderer was?  Well, it happened to be this guy right here.  I played it off pretty well though, because only 2 people picked that it was me out of 16.  After that we all said our "goodbyes" to our cousin and wished him well.  Later that night, I went bowling and to steak and shake with a couple of friends-always a good time at the new Strike and Spare in Hendersonville.  Monday was spent lounging around the house.  Not a really packed day, but it did take up most of the day.  Finally, today was spent lounging for a while and then watching the Deathly Hallows Part 1 with my bro and sis.  That took a big chunk out of the day in its own, and was-and will always be-totally worth it.  Can't wait to share that whole series with my kids someday.  Then, we made our way back to school, only to come back for the weekend again.  So that was my weekend/fall break summed up in a few words and lots of advertising for many companies.

Message:
Today's message is not necessarily one from the Word, but just one I want to share.  Coming from a semi-large family of six, family is very important to me, as it should be to all.  I could not do anything for the rest of my life, but spend time with my family and be perfectly happy.  My brother and sis, Brittnee, both go to Tech with me, and Ashlee will be joining us next fall.  So naturally, we spend a lot of time together on campus and have mostly the same friends.  Well, when we are hanging out with them or tell them we were hanging out with each other, I always get, "Ya'll are so close.  I wish my brother/sister and I were as close as you guys."  My response to that is simply, puzzled.  I don't know how not to be close with them.  They are my brother and sister, I've only lived with them my whole life.  And it hits me, that a lot of people really aren't as close with their siblings and families as we are with ours.  This is not good people!  There should be no reason why you shouldn't spend a ton of time with your family if you still live in the same state as them, let alone the same house as them.  I am truly blessed to have a family I absolutely love to hang out with and have fun spending time with them.  Anyways, I just feel like if you are not close with  your siblings, try to spend a little more time with them.  I am so thankful for my family and am so proud of my cousin and wish him the best.  Thanks for reading.
Signing off.

Hello There, My Friends.

Fellow Readers,

It has been TOO long.  How have you all been?  I hope everyone is doing good.  I have been doing good, thank you for asking.  So, you all are wondering:  What have you been up to Andrew?  I am so glad you all are so interested in my personal life.  The truth is, I have been really busy as of late.  School finally picked up.  I had a test in all my classes in a span of a week and a half.  How did you do Andrew?  Well, I did pretty well on half of them.  The other half...not so much.  (Here comes some insight from the college student's perspective.)  I have never been the one to study for, well pretty much anything ever.  I know, ya'll are thinkin:  how has he made it so far without ever studying and achieved such success in his schooling career?  Good question, I guess you could say that I am what they call a "gifted" student.  School has never been hard for me.  It's okay, I'm allowed to brag, ITS MY BLOG!  Anywho, test time comes around for these other half's and I take the usual course of action-not caring.  I start to take my Differential Equations test(Diff EQ-upper level math class) and realize, "Dang, I have not a CLUE what is going on."  The same thing ran through my mind while taking my Educational Psychology test.  I understand the irony in that, being a potential educator, I should know that stuff.  Well, it was a lot of material to cover and me being me, I did not study it.  Anyways, I'm not here to ramble, I'm here for insight!  So, test scores come back:  47/100 on the Diff EQ test...and a 34/50 on ED-PSY test(after 7 point curve...).  Here's the insight: an equation I did learn from Diff EQ- Tough classes + no studying + not caring = college just got real.  To those reading who will potentially have more tests, take it from someone who never studies;  STUDY!  The good that did come out of this, though, is that I will now study for those classes.  Also, by the grace of God, my Diff EQ teacher decided to offer a, one-time only, re-test and I studied HARDCORE for that one and am awaiting my improved grade.  Don't bank on this happening that often.  Get a good grade the first time.  So, what else has happened since our last convening...well, we got to celebrate another year of the world's GREATEST mom, and a person I am so proud to call madre.  I will not mention the age of which this birthday was being celebrated for she would be very upset if I did-mainly because I always exaggerate it and say she's older to get on her nerves.  It was a fantastic evening, and a delicious one at that!  Love, love, LOVE  our grandmother's pot-roast!  Oh so delicious!  On top of that, we had some of the world famous Birthday Frosting.  No, we did not have that on top of the roast, I used that phrase meaning "in addition to."  You have not lived until you have tried this Birthday Frosting-it's a secret recipe.  Thanks to @ashlee_robinson for that by the way, she made the cake and frosting.  Shout out, woot woot! It was an awesome night and am so blessed to have Gena in my life.  Love ya ma! Other than that, nothing too major has gone on, just hangin out with friends and stayin busy.  Oh, and "Psych" started back up tonight, so I am super stoked for that!  So many great quotes already and so funny, and it's only been one episode!
The message:
Sin is all around us, plain and simple.  Tough concept, I know, but seriously; we all know it's there.  The problem, then, comes from us just accepting this.  We accept that it is there, thus not trying to fight it.  We don't fight temptation.  We don't avoid lusting as an attractive man/woman walks by.  We use provocative and cursive language without hesitation.  We do all these things without hesitation.  We have to avoid accepting it.  We have to break the cycle.  If this means we have to completely overhaul our lifestyles-who we hang out with, what we watch, what we listen to, etc- we have to do so.  Jesus uses the parable of the sower:  He says that when the seed was scattered, some of the seed fell into thorns and grew up and was choked out, and some seed fell in good soil and grew up to yield a crop a hundred times more than sown.  Now the Bible then gives the meaning of this parable, but that's not all I take it as.  Check this out: think of the seed as your being and you the sower.  If you plant yourself in a group of sinners(e.g. thorns) after a while you will be choked out and die.  However, if you plant yourself around people who are right with God and live their lives for Him, you will be yielded a hundred times more as when you planted yourself in that group.  Make sense? Why make it harder on yourself by hanging out with people who do bad things and things you are trying not to do?  I know it's not so easy to just drop your friends, but the Bible says, "If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off..." a bit drastic, but if you have to, drop your friends.  I will probably be talking about sin on here a lot.  It's just so relevant to, well, everyone.  We all struggle with it, I struggle with it.  College is a place filled with it.  That is why we must stay in the word, and continue to pray throughout the day, keeping an open conversation going with the big guy upstairs.  If we constantly are having our eyes fixed on God, we are closing the holes that sin can sneak in on.  Thanks for reading.

Signing off.