"To Be Surprised" - Sondre Lerche

I have been sensing a theme in some things I've been hearing lately. Most of it is about giving up our own plans and allowing God's will to be done.
As most of my friends and family can attest, I am a planner. I have always liked knowing what is coming, when it is coming, how it is coming, and how I can control the manner of all of this. While this is sometimes a good thing (I've become pretty good at time management), it also means I have a hard time leaving things up to God.
As Lucy van Pelt would tell me, the fact that I know I have a problem implies that I am not too far gone. I've enlisted the help of a notecard and a song to remind me that I need to chill.
On my door is a card with the word "flexibility" on it and this quote: When you change the dance, you create possibility... -Barry Oshry. I see this every day when I leave my room. I also see it when I lock my door for the night, and it reminds me to add the letting go of things to my prayers.
I also recently heard a song from the "Dan in Real Life" soundtrack. The chorus tells the listener to "be prepared to be surprised." I've taken to singing this to myself in my head and applying it to my need to let God surprise me.
I am far from achieving my goal of being completely at peace with giving up control, but I hope I am getting closer.
~Proverbs 16:9, 20

Happy 2009!

Well, I'm back in my dorm on campus. I had to move rooms because of a mold problem, but I'm making it work.
I had a fabulous trip to see my wonderful boyfriend, and here is some photographic sampling of my time in Buffalo, NY. This was the ornament Paul's parents gave us for Christmas. I thought it was really cute, and very sweet of them.

This is my love and me at a New Year's Eve party. Of all the pictures of the two of us from that trip, this is my favorite.

I got to try real chicken wings from Buffalo. Apparently, if you call them "Buffalo wings," they're not the real thing. If you go to Buffalo and order Buffalo wings, they will laugh at you.