I will praise you, LORD, with all my heart; 

I will tell of all the marvelous things you have done.

I will be filled joy because of you.

I will sing praises to your name, O Most High.

My enemies retreated; 

they staggered and died when you appeared.

For you have judged in my favor;

from your throne you have judged with fairness.

Psalm 9:1-4 NLT

You know what I love? That God continually leads me to see things from different perspectives. Just when I feel passionate about one side, He leads me to see the other side and understand where the passionate people on that side are coming from. I love that. It tends to take away some of my passion, but that's ok because my passion comes from my limited, human mindset and I'll gladly trade it in for compassion, understanding, and love for others. I want more than anything to be passionate about loving the LORD and loving people. 

Take the recent presidential election, for instance. In the past I was very much on the conservative, Republican side. This time I was on Obama's side. I love it that I feel like I can understand both sides now. I don't have to completely agree or disagree with either side. I'm not saying I completely understand this, because there's no way that I could, but when I try to imagine what Obama's election means to black Americans, it fills me with joy. Life can be hard and I'm pretty sure God's wants us to all be in it together. We do need each other. 

In other news...my parents & brother came this past weekend to celebrate my birthday (since I was out of state the actual weekend). Of course we hung out in Dallas all day on Saturday. I got to open my birthday presents outside of The Corner Bakery, after eating a Sprinkles cupcake (heaven!). I got an i-pod touch! Eventually I want an i-phone, but until that distant day (I don't want to pay the phone bill), I got an i-pod touch. I'm obsessed! Email at my fingertips at all times! Haha. It was a very fun weekend. 

What else? Oh, I stayed up until 7 AM Monday night...or was that Tuesday morning? Yeah. I hadn't stayed up the whole night in a really long time and I hope I don't ever again. It was awful. But I did write a 15 page paper on schizophrenia. Not my best work...but probably the last research paper I'll ever write. I've been in school since I was 4. That's roughly 22 years. I graduate in 37 days. I have 12 more assignments standing between me and freedom from my education. I can feel it :)