If You Want to Join the Hardin Family....

Your going to have to have an amazingly weird sense of humor....or else you will just think we are beyond crazy and run out of the house on Christmas morning screaming!! Here are a few things about Christmas that you all should know if you want to be spending it with us...

1. No one can go anywhere near the stockings/santa presents until everyone is awake and can do it at one time. (This year Mattie held us up wrapping all her gifts at the last minute)

2. Bryce still wants to get up at 6 am to do presents (NOT happening Mary Price!)

3. When you get shoes as a gift, they go on your ears...not your feet!

4. Bryce is not exactly all that good at giving presents....
     Benjamin got fun erasers
     I got cat nip toys
     Mattie received a dog chew toy
     Mom was given a pet blanket
     And best of all Dad got a pink "peace and love" journal to write in. (we suggested he used it when                   meeting with his clients to take notes)

5. Mom will always forget what she got us, so she is usually just as surprised as we are with our gifts.

These are only a few little things that go on in our household on Christmas.  So if any of you are thinking about joining our family ever....you might want to make sure you have a great sense of humor!!!

One Semester Down, One More to Go

So I just finished the first semester of my Junior year.  And that means only a year and a half till I graduate....scary I know!  I am so happy that this semester is over and that I can move past some of the classes and professors I had.

This semester has been one of many blessings and many new beginnings. I don't know if you all remember or not, but going into this semester was super hard for me.  I was struggling with many relationships and I had no idea how this semester was going to go.  God truly blessed me though with an amazing semester.  Relationships were healed, and I was able to make many new relationships that I am so grateful for.  I must say this semester has been pretty awesome.

I am so looking forward to next semester, and there are many reasons why.  Becky and Kelly will be back at Milli!!!!  I get to continue working on new relationships!!  I get to keep working with my awesome kids at my church!! And I get to take Child Psychopathology (yes I know this is really nerdy of me to say, but I really am excited about this class!!!)

Needless to say while I am sad my time at Milli is going by so fast, I look forward to everything God has in store for me and my friends this next semester!!

Look what I found!

I found this on Pinterest (my fave site) the other day.  And as I read it all I could think was "this is how I want to live my life". It was written by a 95 year old woman and I was uber impressed by what she had to say.  Here are a couple of my fave things!

Strive for excellence not perfection.  For me this is not always the easiest thing to do, but I feel like she is right in this.  Perfection is not everything!

Never waste an opportunity to tell someone you love them.  Totes something I have learned is important.  No matter how mad you are at them or what they may have done to you, saying I love you can solve a couple problems.

Take responsibility for every area of your life.  You are the one who lived it so accept it and claim your life as your own!

I love all of these and so many more.  Hope this inspires all of you as much as it has me!

Reasons Why I Will Be Missing My Roommate

For the past year and a half I have been very blessed to have the best roommate ever!!! Seriously I do not know what I would do without her! Lindsey is not just my roommate but also a very good friend! While she is having an amazing time up at Mountain Christian Church next semester, I will be missing her like crazy!!! And here is why I will miss her:

1. She is just awesome.
2. She loves me.
3. She keeps her side of the room clean.
4. She is very generous in sharing all of the goodies her mom sends her.
5. She has a lot of scarves that I like to borrow.
6. She has an overflowing amount of quarters that she lets me use for my laundry.
7. She is very considerate of me when I am trying to sleep.
8. She never ever has a bad attitude.
9. She lets me decorate the room however I want (and she adds a lot to that)
10.  Most importantly she is one of the biggest examples of Christ that I have in my life.

I love you Lindsey....like a lot.  You have been awesome and amazing and I will miss you so much when you are at Mountain.  Know that there will always be a bed open for you when you want/need to come to Milli next semester!! Thank you so much for being such a great friend and roommate.  Though the chances of us rooming together again are slim, we both know we always have a backup plan :)))

Praise Jesus it is Over!!!

I am finally done with Curriculum and Methods!!! Seriously people this class was the biggest stress of my life for the past couple months, and I am so happy it is over with.  I turned in my last assignment on Tuesday and I am so grateful to not have anything else to do!!

To say that this class kicked my butt is an understatement.  It was also very eye opening for me.  I learned a lot about myself and about teaching while in this class.  I did learn some awesome new teaching strategies and how to write lesson plans, and I learned what grades I would rather not ever have to teach again. 5th graders are just not my forte!

Tomorrow is the last day of classes, and then we have some finals to take, and then I will be on my way home for a much needed break!!  So looking forward to this :)

Home with My family

So I just realized that I forgot to tell you all about the wonderful time I spent with my family.  It was the first time in almost 3 months that we all had been together.  So of course it was a good time.  Being at Milligan, puts me about 12 hours aways from home.  And while I love it so much here, I hate that I cannot go home whenever I would like. But that does make the time we have together more important and definitely more fun.  Here are some fun things from home!

 Mamerz and her baby Esau (he's only a little fat...)

 A boy and his dog...I am not sure who was excited more: Benjamin or Ella. They played together all week. Ella had missed her bubba.

 I am pretty sure the boys played more poker than anything all week.

 So many fun fires. Love that we now are able to do this.

 Oh little Brycey, How we love you so much...even when you do things that are not so cute!

I just loved being able to sit outside and read and look at this.  Not half bad is it?

Decorating the House!!!

For the past 2 years I have not been home to help my mom decorate the house for Christmas.  Now people this is one of my favorite things to do.  I love the way our home looks for Christmas, and Mamerz would probably say that all of the decorations I enjoy are the ones she hates to do.  But to me there are just certain decorations that must be put up in order for me to feel like it is Christmas time at the Hardin Household.  Here are a few of my favorite things:)

Here is all of the decorations ready to be taken out of their boxes...yes we have a lot.

 The Dining room table set for the holidays

 I just love the way this table looks :))

 This is by far my favorite decoration.  When you walk in the front door of our home we have three columns.  I love putting the garland and bows and decorations all around them.  Mamerz sometimes feels it is too time consuming to do, but she also knows it is my favorite thing.  It just screams Christmas when you walk in the door:)

 The stockings hung by the chimney with care...and this year there are three extra ones...for the pets.

 Sugar town is also another one of my favorites.  Again a little time consuming to put out, but looks so pretty when it is there.

 Close up view of all of the precious moments that are part of Sugar Town. (it snows there too which is pretty cool for being in florida)

And last, but certainly not least, our Christmas tree.  This is the first year in about 10 years that we have had a real Christmas tree.  We all went out as a family and picked it out.  And then me and Mamerz decorated it together!  For the first time in forever I strung the lights...and people that is no easy task to accomplish!!!

Needless to say I am really excited to get home for break and enjoy all of the wonderful decorations set all around our home :))

21st Birthday Present!

This year me and all of my besties are turning 21!!!! Yay us!!  So since it is that fabulous birthday year for us all, we have been working on some fun, and not so Milliganesque gifts! Here is what me and Jessi worked on for Kelly!

 We went and bought some shot glasses and red glitter spray paint!

 So the spray paint started off not liking us too much, but we made it work!

Finished most wonderful project:)

Dinner with Friends

So around 2:30 P.M. yesterday I got a text from Eliza asking me if I was hungry... of course I responded yes!  She told me she wanted to experiment and that I should come on over. So 20 minutes later (I was still in my pjs at that time so I decided to change) I was at her doorstep to see what we would be making.

We started off with some breakfast.  And let me tell you people, this was one of the best things I have ever eaten.  Now I don't even like eggs that much, but I LOVED this.  We made our version of breakfast croissants.  We mixed together scrambled eggs, bacon, onion, tomato, and cream cheese.  And then rolled all of that up in a croissant.  Baked it in the oven until golden brown and then we ate them.  Seriously amazing!

This is what it looked like in the end! 

After we finished eating, and Eliza added some recipes to her book, we started planning dinner.  Now I did not think we could do any better than what we made for "breakfast", but man we really out did ourselves with dinner!!!

We decided to make Lasagna Soup, Parmesan Pull Apart Bread, and Oreo Cheesecake cupcakes!! After going to the store we got started cooking and lets just say in the kitchen we make a pretty good team!! And then when you put Ashlee on desserts....that girl does a pretty awesome job!

 The Lasagna Soup in the Crock Pot

Lasagna Soup in a Bowl with the Cheese topping

 In the process of making dinner

 We also had a little snack of edema me 

 This is the pull apart bread in the oven

 And this is the bread done....it was the best ever!!!

 Our full meal!

The cheesecake in the oven

 The cheesecake done

It had a full oreo on the bottom!!!

Needless to say this was one of the best meals I have had in a long time!! 

This is Who I Am

I am a sensitive person.  I am sensitive person and I can't help that. I am a sensitive person and you can't say mean things to me and expect me not to react.  You just can't. I work hard at hiding my pain.  And when I can't do that, I get angry. I'm sorry I'm sensitive, but you can't be mean to me.  You can't. I won't let you.

Starbuck's Brings Me Inspriration

My amazing roommate brought me some Starbucks last night and this is what I found on my cup. "Let's rediscover why we're best friends."  I seriously think Starbucks is in my head or something.  For a couple people in my life we are having to rediscover a little bit why we're best friends.  And I have to say most of the time it is kinda fun :)))

Can Someone Tell Me When I Will Use This Again?

Statistics. When will I use this again? Someone please tell me! I just don't imagine that I will ever have to teach this to my elementary school kiddos.  I don't even understand it half the time, so I don't think they will either.  This is the one class I am taking right now that I really don't know why I am taking it.  But I sit there with Ash and drink my coffee and eat my cereal...and every now and the take some notes. We have a test this Friday and everything you see here plus more I have to learn... lets get to memorizing people!!

Frustrations of the College Student

This week has been filled with frustrations of all kinds.  This is the first semester that when I went to go plan my schedule for next semester I got super scared and super stressed.  You see I am a double major in Child Development and Psychology.  And I am also a Junior.  And this means that I only have 3 more semesters left of my undergraduate career!!!!  This is an OMG moment people!!!  I have reached the point of no return it seems. When I went to go pick my classes it seemed that I had either already taken all of the classes offered, or the ones I needed were not offered for this semester.  Seriously I was stressed.

I also have a slight problem with refusing to take less than 16 hours.  Oh and I hate elective courses unless they pertain to one of my two majors.  When I told my advisor this, he laughed (I think he finally caught on that I am a high achieving super nerd).  At the time I could only find 14 hours of classes to take, and could not for the life of me find another class to take that would not interfere with one I needed.  My advisor tried to tell me it was ok to take only 14 hours, but I refused and made him find me another class to take.  Fortunately for me, he will be teaching a Psych class that I had wanted to take but on Friday's I was going to have to show up late.  He said if I really wanted to take it I could and he would allow me to show up late.  THANK YOU JESUS!!!!  I felt like life was getting back to normal now.

So that was only the beginning of my frustrations this week.  Oh and by the way, it's only Tuesday.  But they continued.  Between having a professor rip apart my lesson plans time and time again, and then having to go and observe a 5th grade classroom that I really do not like at all,  I am so frustrated with teaching.  Loves it a lot, but it is seriously getting on my nerves majorly.  I am hoping this will soon pass, considering this is going to be my career.

Hopefully this week will only continue to get better.  I am waiting on the days until I can go home... and if my sister's count down is correct then it will only be 20 more days!!!

It's Becoming Scarf Weather...

And this makes me super happy!!! Scarfs are the perfect fall and winter accessory.  I love love love them, and I love to wear them.  Seriously though, scarves are amazing and I love that I can start wearing them again:)

Would so love to have an ivory scarf...it goes with pretty much everything :)

 Prints always add that lovely pop of color and fun!

At first I wasn't too sure about these infinity scarves, but I'm kinda falling in love with them:)

The Problem with Technology Is...

When I actually have to write something in class my hand hurts like crazy.

For the most part I use my computer for everything.  Taking notes in class, making to do lists, typing up my homework, research, and many other things.  And because of this, when I have to take a test and write for it my hand cramps up like super fast.  As in today when I was taking a Cross-Cultural exam.  I swear I had to stop and take a break like at least 10 times.  And now my hand really hurts.

All I can say is that these are the problems of a fist world kid!

Where I want to Be

Oh what I would give to be able to see this in person right now!

I Know It Took Me A While But.....

I FINALLY DID IT MATTIE LEE!! I finally hung up the picture of my name painted in China! And let me tell you I LOVE IT!!!! It's perfect, it's amazing, and it fits my room just right! You did the most perfect job in getting this for me!

Forgiveness Much?

This season of life for me has been one that is focusing so much on forgiveness.  Whether it is me having to ask for forgiveness, or having to forgive others, it has been one thing that constantly is coming up in life.  As posted early this semester I stated that this was going to be a hard semester that I was not looking forward to at all.  I was terrified to come back and that was not a joke.

It has taken me the past 2 and a half months for me to be able to say that I am glad I am here, and this is the place the God needs me.  I have had to face many people I did not want to see and I have learned that I can overcome them.  God has worked a lot on my heart and it has been awesome.

I have learned to forgive those who have wronged me, even though it was probably one of the hardest things for me to do.  And while it was so hard, it has been one of the best things I have done in a long time.  You never realize how much is on your shoulders until you finally let it all go. I am so thankful for the chance to do that and move on with my life.

While I cannot say that I am back to 100% Mosby, I am working on it and I am finding who I am.  I love me and I love being able to show my true self to those around me.

A Cross Cultural Experience

This weekend was to say the least a "Cross Cultural Experience".  Being in Cross Cultural Psychology, we have to experience the semester things that are "cross cultural" to us.  One of these experiences is going down to Atlanta, Georgia with the class and professor in order to work with a ministry who work with the homeless.  We also go and see the National Historic Site for Martin Luther King Jr.  Now I decided to go on this trip this past weekend, and to say the least it was major cultural experience for me.

We left Friday afternoon and drove the 5 hours to right outside of Atlanta.  We were told ahead of time that we would be staying at a cabin...and this was a cabin.  It was not too bad, but for this girl it was roughing it a bit.  We met with the ladies who run "Get Real Ministries". They gave us the low down on their ministry and what we would be doing the next day in down town Atlanta.

The next morning we woke up early and left for down town.  When we got there we parked near where many homeless people were.  We all got out of the vans and went to go talk to the people.  We had gloves, hats, t-shirts, food, and toiletries to hand out to them as well.  For those of you who know me well, you know that this is way out of my comfort zone.  But soon I got into things and started meeting some pretty interesting people.

One of the first men a friend and I walked up to was named Price.  Now Price was one very interesting man.  He has a heart for the Lord and knows what is going on.  He was so excited to share with us that he has a grandchild on the way and that he was working towards earning enough money to make it down to New Orleans to see his daughter and grandchild.  Now this man had one of the best personalities! For the rest of the time we were there, he would come up to me by yelling my name down the street and be like "Mosby! I have a joke for you.  What do you call a cow with no legs?" And these went on and on.  I can honestly say I'm glad I met Price and got to know his story, and was able to bless him with the things he needs to help turn his life around.

Now there were a couple people I met who broke my heart into pieces.  The first was Jasmine, a 2 year old little girl who was out on the street with her mother.  Seeing a child out there tore me to pieces.  It was all I could do to not cry.  All Jasmine wanted was to be played with, and for that short amount of time I was with her thats what we did.  She was a happy baby, and had the best smile in the world.  We hugged on her and loved on her just to make two hours of her day better.  I pray that that little girl will one day be able to overcome all of this and be the kind of person I know she can be.

Another woman I met also broke my heart.  Her name is Crystal.  When we saw her we knew we had to walk up to her.  You could tell immediately that Crystal has had a hard life, especially recently.  She had a huge black eye and looked extremely skinny.  We sat down to talk to her and she was very open with telling us her story.  She started with going back to 8 years ago when she had a baby.  She named her baby Audrey Grace.  Now she loved this child more than you could know, and that could be seen just through her eyes.  When Audrey Grace was 3 months old Crystal decided to leave her child with her mother because she did not want to impress her lifestyle onto Audrey Grace.  She didn't want her problems to become Audrey Grace's problems.  She has not seen her daughter since then.  She says she is trying to get her life back together, and God willing will one day see her daughter again.  You could tell this woman loved God, but some of her viewpoints were really messed up.  She told us she had been raped, beaten, had her throat slit, and many other things, but it was ok she was doing it for God.  She said she could take a beating from someone if need be because she knew there was a chance she could show them God.  Love her heart, but this is so not right.  God does not want us to go through all of that.  We tried to tell her this but she insisted it was ok.  Please be praying hard for Crystal and her daughter.  She has been on my heart everyday since I met her.  And I pray that one day this life of torture will be over or her, and she will get to be with her daughter again.

Many many other events occurred this weekend that were seriously amazing.  God works in awesome ways and I will one day share those with you all.  But for now that was my Cross Cultural experience.

Fall Favorites

Fall is one of my favorite times of the year! I love coming out of the sweltering hot weather of summer, and into a nice cool breeze of fall.  Fall brings cute clothes, yummy flavors, and fun activities to do! This fall is off to a great start! Here are some of my fall favorites so far!

I am so excited about this coffee! I am in LOVE with Pumpkin Spice Lattes, and now I can make them every morning this fall!!!

Every year I look forward to these little pumpkins! They are yummy and probs my favorite Halloween candy!

What I A Grateful For

Lately there have been several things I have been extremely grateful for. And they include:

Home cooked meals with new friends.
The release of unnecessary guilt.
The ability to start over fresh.
Shopping with the roommate and suite-mate.
Parents who love me no matter what.
The ability to see friends who are far away.
People who love me, even when they see my not so nice side.
Finally realizing that God really does have a much better plan for my life then I do.
Siblings who surprise me with nice messages that made me want to cry.

Weekend in Pictures

This weekend me and Jessi went up to Mountain Christian Church in Joppa, MD to visit our best friends who have an internship there.  We were so stoked to see Becky and Kelly.  Here is our weekend in pictures:)

Starbucks defined our weekend.  Coffee was all I needed to get through the day... and let me tell you I had a lot of coffee!

 Jessi wrote out our directions to get there :)

 We may have been a bit hyper driving there...

 Only because we were super excited!!!

 Good Morning Baltimore!!

 The scary tunnel I had to drive through twice!

 We made it!!

 love my friends!!

 getting ready together saturday morning!

 Being cute because we can!

 Love her!

 Painting pottery!!

 PUMPKIN SPICE LATTE!!!!!

 Our disguises for target!

 We made a lot of bread for dinner...

And yes we ate it all!!

We had so much fun this weekend and I am so glad we got to spend some wonderful time with our best friends :))