Back on Track

This weekend I had the honor and privilege of going back home!

What a blessing it is to be in the most comfortable environment you know.

It had been a solid 10 weeks since I'd gotten to sleep in my own bed, and gaze upon the beautiful city of Omaha. It's so funny, so many students in high school are SO ready to "get out of Omaha" when they graduate, only to find that they didn't realize how incredibly blessed they were at home.

It's been a few weeks since I last posted, so I'll try and catch y'all up quickly!

1. I was so honored to have my family come here to visit me about 3 weeks ago for Belmont's Christian Showcase! Jay came too, which was also fun!

• -We had a blast despite them literally being here for less than 48 hours total, with a 13 hour drive here and back starting around 10am Friday and leaving Sunday after church! 
• -I'm so thankful and grateful that my family and boyfriend love me that much to sacrifice a weekend, and a whole DAY in the car for me! 
• -I really needed it, it was kinda during that "mid-semester slump" time where you just want to cry and talk to your mom all day. (Ok, that's a bit dramatic, but you can get the picture!)

2. 2 weeks later, Jay came for a solo visit, YAY!!!!! :) 

• - I cannot even describe how much fun we had, and how much I missed him! 
• - I won't be too sappy I promise, but seeing my family and him for a mere 24 hours, you see them but you don't really "see them" if that makes sense. It's a bit of a tease, so needless to say I was pumped.
• He arrived Thursday night and left Sunday after church and lunch and we did so many different things!
• Of course, me being the planner, had a bunch of fun things for us to do planned out like the day he booked his flight.
• We ended up going to a bunch of East-Nashville restaurants, including Silly Goose, and Jeni's Ice Cream, and some West Nashville favorites too, like Amerigo's. And of course, I took Jay to Pancake Pantry, a Nashville STAPLE. He loved all of them, and we had so much fun going all around the city! (One tank of gas later by the end of the weekend.)
• It was also a blessing having someone to go for walks with, as we did one of the days.  Haha, we ended up counting Land Rovers... as I described to him how Nashville is a "big city" with lots of people with money but looks like home.  We counted literally 20 in about 5 minutes.
• Jay also got to see Session perform, the singing group I'm in at school, which was an interesting experience! :)

3. Fall Break

• Now we arrive at pretty near the present. Last weekend was fall break, which was a 4 day weekend that was the first time I got to go HOME!!!!!!!!!!!
• Despite being only 5 days after Jay left Nashville, it was the longest 5 days of my life. AHHHHHHH teachers felt the need to have a million homework assignments, and midterms. YAY. Not.
• Fall break was wonderful, getting to see the lovely Newstrom's for the first time in 10 weeks!!!! I'm so blessed to be as close to them as anyone. They're as loud and weird as my family. Wow, that could be a whole blog post.
• I was also blessed to get to lead worship again!! wooooo! It's hard here where your gift seems to lie dormant just BUILDING UP inside of you ready to be let out!!! So worship was AWESOME Sunday at FFC! God is REALLY moving and working in our midst! SO EXCITED for what's to come!
• I also got to lead worship with momma Swan at the A.M. Women's Bible Study Monday, and lead for the P.M. Ladies as well! Both were incredible, as always. I cannot even describe how much I'm blessed by these Godly women. It's like having 25 mothers! How incredible!!! :)
• Sadly, I had a TON of homework over break, (THANK YOU MUSIC HISTORY AHHHH :( ) so I didn't really FULLY get to relax, at all. But, I slept kind of more than usual... for maybe a day or two so I'm thankful for that! 
• Lastly, seeing and spending time with my family is the greatest blessing I could ever, ever, did I say EVER ask for.  I would not trade them for ANYTHING or ANYONE in the world. 
• Whether it was running with my dad, reading my sisters mind (and visa versa), chatting with Mom, or telling Ian to stop cracking his ear, I love all the isms each of us have and how we all, despite our strong Swanson Type-A personalities, still love each other and get along so well. We are all growing and learning in our times apart, and it's so cool to see the power of "The Swanson 5" together each time we get to be one unit. LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!

Finally.

Since being back from break, I am feeling more empowered than ever.

I realized that during the past 10 weeks I haven't spent AS much time with God as I should have, and I've neglected my spirit being fed in place of things like... MUSIC HISTORY HOMEWORK CONSTANTLY. But anyways, I've been really placing the MOST emphasis on God first, trusting that He'll amplify and lengthen my time when I'm bombarded with tests, projects, and homework, and it's been working!

I've heard all that before, but it's really clicking now, and I'm happier than ever.

It's not worth it to be stressed, lonely, or sad. So I'm choosing to be empowered by His grace to walk Holy (and wholly), before Him!!!!

THANK YOU JESUS!!!

Megan :)

10/18/12

p.s. I got my sorority Lil. SO EXCITED SHES PRECIOUS AND BEAUTIFUL AND YAY!