Changing: first month at Olivet

Today marks one month since I moved into Olivet. I can't believe it has only been a month. I feel like it has been a lifetime.

Today is also the first official day of fall! (YAY)

From the fourth floor of the English building, I can see the very tops of the trees changing leaf by leaf.

I can see myself doing the same. 

Some changes are just little things: giving blood, participating in a color run, cheering on the football team, and exercising. Then there are bigger things: participating in shows, preparing to mentor a high risk high school student, becoming consistent in my prayer and devotional life, and knowing myself.

There have already been ups and downs in one month. I miss my family, but I have begun to call Olivet home. I love my floormates, but sometimes I just really need to be alone. Living with so many other people is a big change. Everything now is a big change. I love it, but it is a lot to take in. 

I don't have much to say today, but I'm very grateful for all of your prayers. These years will shape the rest of my life, and it means the world to me knowing that your prayers are behind me.

God bless and happy fall! (And banned book week)

Hello Fall!!

9/15/14
Today I took a moment from the busiest day probably in the whole history of busy days to read some letters and warm up with some chai. How blessed I feel!! I received three hand written letters today from some of the most loving people I know. It made this crazy day feel so much more bearable (bareable?). This week is. Fall revival here at Olivet and by golly, is it fall!! Today's high is 59 and the low is 45. I had missed sweater weather so much in Houston. However, I have been warned that winter is soon approaching, and it won't be so excited then. For now, I will embrace though and WEAR SCARVES!!!
I'm excited to see what God reveals this week at the revival. I feel that I have been waiting for a long time for a renewal and revival of passion in my soul. Maybe this week is that time. Maybe not. Maybe God is using this time for something else. Whatever the case, I'm excited.
I am also slightly scared out of mind. I am juggling two shows right now, 17 hours plus homework, working a small job, extra chapel services (no complaints though!), and a vibrant social life. Everyday feels like a week within itself. But that's the way I like it. :)
I feel like I am getting into a workable routine and adjusting to this new life. My stress has definitely calmed down. I miss my family especially on the weekends, and I dream of hugging my dogs every night. But I like this little world more and more each day.
Please pray:
That I can juggle everything during the next two weeks of Broadway Revue
That I'm brave enough to give blood this week (it's really important to me, but it is my first time and ahhhhhhhhhhhh)
For my stomach issues. I have been spending too much time nauseated lately.
That I don't get attacked by the creepy squirrels all over campus
For a spiritual revival all over the campus and within my heart.
I love and miss each of you and think of you often.
Seriously, I mean that. :)
P.S. I love letters and packages. So send me some :)
One University Ave.
P.O. Box 7837
Bourbonnais, IL 77084
Or email me! Hkmorris@olivet.edu
Just keep in touch :)

Whoa.

Whoa.

People use this word to describe something grand and fantastic and to demand that a horse slow down.

I mean it both ways.

College is...whoa. So much to take in. I have to force myself to stop for a moment and breathe because otherwise I never will. And when I do stop to breathe, it takes my breath away. I can't believe this is real life.

I can't believe I actually live here now. In Bourbonnais, IL at Olivet Nazarene University in a tiny, eclectic dorm room with a Frozen poster on the door. I can't believe I live and share three showers with about twenty other girls and eat the same cafeteria food everyday. Most of all, I can't believe my parents, brother, dogs, and best friends are seventeen hours away. Whoa.

I also can't believe I am in college. My mind can't wrap around the fact that in four years, I will be getting my teacher's certificate. In four years, all of my classroom idea Pinterest boards will become a reality. In four years, I'll have to figure out where to live, whether or not to continue school, and maybe I'll even be starting a family. WHOA.

My dad always says I was made for college. All the signs point to that being correct: I enjoy and succeed in my classes (though the homework is killing me), I'm staying very involved (just did a color run this morning whaaaaat!), and making lots of friends (The girls on my floor are amazing. It's a great mesh of personalities and too much fun. My roommate and I always keep the door open and music playing. It doesn't make for a great study room, but we are always meeting new people and having fun.) But sometimes I get to the end of the day and say, "I'm not so sure about this whole college thing." It is amazing, but really tiring. I have never depended so much on caffeine for survival before now!!

But I am growing more and more confident every day that this is where God wants me to be. He is blessing me so abundantly! I have auditioned for two shows since I arrived and was cast in both! In the fall play, I was given the female lead role. These past couple of years have been a struggle for me theatrically. I felt like God closed a lot of doors, and I lost a lot of confidence. But God has promised me renewal and success here. It amazes me that He is already fulfilling that promise. Whoa. :)

I ask that you pray for me these things:
Good time management and less stress
Ability to write good papers in a short amount of time
Comfort for my family and me in our time of separation
Better food and wifi
Peace and rest

God bless you. I think of everyone back home in Texas and Oklahoma all the time (probably you are somewhere on my photo wall here). I pray that God is working amazing things in your life like He is mine. Sometimes that masterpiece is in the struggle, but I promise the rewards are coming soon!

Hope

P.S. Please feel more than free to send me things in the mail because getting mail is my favorite thing ever.
My mailing address is:
One University Ave.
P.O. Box #7837
Bourbonnais, IL 60914
I like K-cups (no decaf please), m&m's, and heartfelt letters.