College at last!

Well Folks,

I finally made it to Virginia Tech. I have already been here for more than a month. It feels like it has gone so fast but so much has happened since I've been here. I have made some amazing friends here and I am so thankful for them! There is always something going on around campus and there's always something I can get into.

Here are a few of us about to go downtown standing outside of the dorm.

I am loving most of my classes and surprisingly (yeah right) the classes I don't like as much involve math. Eg. Math and Finance. I have also officially made it through my first round of tests and they all went pretty well.

As far as a favorite class, I am not sure yet because I like them all very much. I am taking Child Development, Personal/Family Finance, Math, English Composition, and a Leadership class for my theme housing.

For those of you who do not know, I am in the SERVE theme housing here at VT. SERVE stands for Students Engaging and Responding through Volunteer Experiences. It is a lengthy title but it really sums up what were all about. It is Tech's newest theme housing program so there aren't very many of us but it is an amazing program. It has given me the opportunity to see areas of the New River Valley in my first month here that I may not have ever seen in all of my time here. Also, because there are only a few of us in the program, we all are very close and look after one another.

This is a small portion of the view from Wind Rock.

I have also been enjoying trying out different clubs and organizations on campus. I have yet to decide which ones are my favorites but when I find that out I'll be sure to let you know.

There was a pep rally last Friday for the ECU football game and I was about one yard away from Frank Beamer and the rest of the VT football team! It was a very exciting day.

This is the football team and Coach Frank Beamer!

Some of my friends and I with the Hokie Bird.

Me and the Hokie Bird!!!

I do have some sad news: my mailbox has been empty for over a week. Hint hint. So, if you would like to send me anything call/text/message me and I'll give you my address. :)

Ut Prosim!

-Mackenzie

Senior Week

Hey yall!

As you may know, this past week was something commonly know as Senior Week. It's a time when graduated high school seniors head to the beach to wash away their stress.

I went to Rehoboth Beach with 15 of my friends and we had a blast. Senior Week is typically full of partying and rowdy behavior and I will admit that there were people who were wary about me going. However, I am proud to say that we had an amazing time while staying safe and honoring God. One of the highlights of the week was sitting on the beach late at night singing worship songs with the accompaniment of a guitar. A typical day on the beach included playing volleyball and other games. It was great being able to relax with my friends and simply enjoy each other's company.

Summer has officially begun for me and I am excited to see what I have ahead of me. I plan to keep you posted on the interesting and amusing events of my life.

Hasta Luego!

Adulthood At Last

This past Friday was my 18th birthday! I never thought the day would come as soon as it did but isn't that how everything in life is?

In the beginning of the day Mom and I decorated cupcakes. We baked all the cake part Thursday night so that on Friday we could concentrate on icing/decorating all of them.

This one is a cherry poke cupcake with vanilla icing.

Strawberry cake with vanilla icing

Lemon cake with vanilla icing. The butterfly wings are ginger snaps and the head is a Spree

Strawberry cake with Vanilla icing. Flower petals are sliced marshmallows and the center is a candy corn

Last but most certainly not least my personal favorite, chocolate cake with a double stuff Oreo baked inside :) Even though I'm not much of a chocolate person this one was delicious!

Once we finished decorating the cupcakes, we were off to linner (a combination of lunch and dinner) at Don Pablo's! It was Mom, Dad, Nana, Pop, Gran, Gramps, and myself. Pretty much the only reason I wanted to go there was because they have spectacular corn cakes! All of the food was delicious though.

At 7pm my girlfriends began to trickle in for a night of fun and memories. Mom had made a delicious array of appetizers and desserts. We chitchatted and played several games, including Cranium and Forks (Same game as spoons but as you might guess, played with forks instead).

One of the best parts of the party was when we got out a plain white pillow case for each of us and several handfuls of Sharpies. We all sat in the basement and decorated each others pillowcases with words of encouragement, doodles, and inside jokes. It was a great thing to do at this stage of life because we will all be traveling in different directions soon. It will be nice to be reminded that our high school friends are thinking of us and praying for us no matter where we are.

Finally, we settled into our make-shift beds and watched a movie.

The story's not over yet!!! Saturday night we had a family party and almost all of the in-town family was here! It was lots of fun and I'm really glad everyone was able to come.

This year I really did feel older. Turning 18 is different than any other birthday. The day you turn 18 you become an adult. With this comes freedom but you are also legally responsible for your actions. It is also time to start paying close attention to what is going on with global politics so that you can be an educated voter. Its also time to start thinking about what design and what tattoo shop your going to go to.

All in all I had an amazing birthday and wouldn't have changed a thing.

Day 30

Well, its finally here; the end of hats.

You may have noticed that I am writing this 31 days after I started and not 30. This is because Yesterday was quite hectic and I wanted to give this blog its justice being that it's the last one.

I had decided way in advance what my last hat was going to be. It was really quite easy because yesterday was Valentines Day and last winter I had made a red beret and I thought it was perfect for the occasion. I was wearing it for the first time and I received several compliments on it.

I went to church and then mi familia and I made a guest appearance at the SMBC, Deleware Chapter. We had a lovely time there as always and immediately after that I went to a Rapha House meeting.

The Rapha team and I are presenting our workshop to the students at fuel this coming week and then 4 times the next weekend at PCTC! Its really really exciting to see it all come together and I am praying (and maybe you will too) that our workshop will have an impact on the people who see it.

A question I was asked several times yesterday was, "What have you learned from the past 30 days?"

That really made me think. I've learned several things through this process and the first was to be confident. I realized that whatever goofy thing I stuck on my head it was most important that I was confident in it. Even if I didn't feel like it at first I would "fake it until you make it." If you act confident then you will appear confident; people will treat you that way and you will begin to feel confident.

The second is thing was one of my goals from the start was to be in constant prayer. I read this passage towards the beginning of my 30 day adventure.

1 Corinthians 11:3-16 says:

³Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. ⁴Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. ⁵And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head—it is just as though her head were shaved. ⁶If a woman does not cover her head, she should have her hair cut off; and if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut or shaved off, she should cover her head. ⁷A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man. ⁸For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; ⁹neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. ¹⁰For this reason, and because of the angels, the woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head.
¹¹In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. ¹²For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God. ¹³Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? ¹⁴Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, ¹⁵but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For long hair is given to her as a covering. ¹⁶If anyone wants to be contentious about this, we have no other practice—nor do the churches of God.
That passage has a bit of meat in it but I knew exactly what I should take away from it. I needed to be in constant prayer every time there was a hat on my head. Now, I'm going to be honest; this sort of worked for a couple days and then after that I forgot about it and went on with my normal life.
Also, 30 days is a long time and a lot can happen. The snow put a damper on my plans for over a week and even then, looking back, Day 1 seems like so long ago and so many things have happened since then.
Something I am curious about is if this formed any habits. It is said to take 26-28 days to make a habit and I am wondering what habits I have formed. I am planning on letting you know when I find out. If you were wondering I am NOT wearing a hat today but I am blogging. Here is a picture of my hat free scalp:

30 Days of Hats has been an enjoyable experience and I would definitely recommend it to you! If you do decide to do it let me know; I might have some hats I could lend you. ;)
If you haven't looked up any of my other sign-offs please look up this one:
Obesa cantavit!
-Mackenzie