The final installment of things that I loved about my year being 21!
Christmas
Break
I think that I was looking forward to this Christmas break more
than some of the others. Part of
the reason is that this would be the first time going home since August. I was looking forward to a glorious 3
weeks at home! To start the
adventure off, I had to fly home by myself. (Not being a frequent flier, this was a
new adventure for Rebekah Parker J) Because my break started earlier than
CBI’s, I was able to make a trip up to the school and visit my friends
there.
The time with my family was really
nice. I have realized how much I have
taken my family for granted, especially
when I lived so close. God knows our
days, I don’t. We should love and
cherish the family that God has given to us, for we don’t know the future!
January 21st, 2012 –
celebrating my ½ birthday!!!
I have very sweet friends! They love me very much. I am so blessed!!! For this outings occasion, we were
celebrating my ½ birthday. (It was
actually a week past my ½ birthday, which would have been on the 13th) For this celebration, Celeste, Alisha,
Valerie, Beth, and I went out for breakfast to Andre’s, a Swiss pastry
shop! We had a grand time, the food was
yummy, the location was quaint; it was a great way to celebrate!!!
Moving
to the new dorm!!!
Calvary
Bible College
had a momentous move across the street to a new property this past
January. At least the students got to
move into the new dorms! It was a great
day of packing, loading, hauling, shoving, and going up and down lots and lots
of stairs!
Skiing
in Missouri??? Feb.
4th, 2012
I’ve been skiing before in places
in Colorado and South
Dakota, but never in Missouri! That is until February! A group of friends from the school decided to
take a Saturday trip to go skiing. It
was a fun group of people that descended upon the slopes (steep hills). The day was really nice, and almost too
warm! And, no one broke any bones! J
Ladies
conference at MCC
The month of March got off to a
great start with my churches Ladies conference.
We watched several speakers from a previous “Desiring God”
conference. The topic was the “Supremacy
of Christ in a Post-modern World”. It
was a great weekend spent with other women, talking, praying, and listening to
God’s Word being preached.
Spring
Break at Home
What do you do when you have 10
days off of school??? Go home! My room-mate, Valerie, lives in the same area
that I do, so we decided to car-pool and go home for Spring Break. I got to see all of my family—which is
getting harder since we are all spreading out!
I sewed a bridesmaid dress for my friend’s wedding in June. I spent some much-needed time in the kitchen
(Philip and I even made our “traditional” egg-rolls). And then, Valerie and I traveled 12 hrs.
back! It was a great trip!
Easter
at Celeste’s (St. Matthew’s Passion and Handel’s Messiah)
Easter is Not about pretty pink
bunnies, or egg-hunts, or candy! It is a
time that is set aside by our calendar to remember the death, burial, and
resurrection of Jesus! Many times,
Easter celebrations consist of Good Friday and Sunrise
services. This year was not so
typical! My friend Celeste, invited me
to her house for the Easter weekend to spend time with her family. In addition to that, she got tickets to go to
the “St. Matthew’s Passion” by Bach, and “Handel’s Messiah”. What made the performance better was that I
had just sang the “Messiah” at Christmas.
The music was still fresh in my mind.
There were many times when I wanted to jump up and start singing with
the choral! (Don’t worry, I
didn’t!)
Banquet
Spring just wouldn’t be complete
without a Senior banquet. This year at Calvary,
the juniors planned a beautiful masquerade banquet, complete with masks! My date was the lovely Un Joo
Christopher! We had a good time! Thanks, Junior class!!!
Random
Outings with friends (dates with the Colonel and the Pacifist)
Beth, Alisha, and I started a
tradition of going on a date at least once per semester. It all started out when we would go out with
Beth’s car, lovingly named “the Colonel”.
We trooped off in December to IHOP, to enjoy a nice piping hot cup of
Caramel Hot Chocolate! Sometimes, we
just drove around for a while. Or drank
iced tea while star-gazing. By spring,
Beth had a new car, this one was not quite as intimidating, so we named him
“the Pacifist”.
And this doesn't include all of the trips to the Plaza, shopping trips, Starbucks runs, and many more adventures!
God’s
provision for the future
Now, you may be thinking why this
is one of my reasons for loving being 21.
You see though, it was about this time of the year—Feb/Mar/April—that I
was in limbo concerning the plans for the next months of my life. Basically, I knew what I would be doing till
June 1st, and then the calendar stopped!
“Silly Bekah, is that too hard for
God?!”
No, and this is why I loved this
time of life. It was hard. Very hard.
But the lessons that I learned from trusting in God and taking steps of
faith were needed! God is so good to
provide for His children! Need I say any
more?
Graduation
The long awaited day came with
baited breath! It was finally here. All the months of studying and studying were
over. We were graduating! All of those painful hours of figuring out
transfer credits and such were finally paying off.
I graduated with a Bachelors of
Science in Biblical Studies.
|
Trip to the zoo with my Family that came for Grad. |
Evidence
tour
The month of May was booked solid
with Evidence venues. Our group was
granted permission to live in the dorm till we were done in Kansas
City. It was
really nice not to have to move All of our stuff out of the dorms right after
graduation. We had a few days to chill,
and then hit the concerts hard! It was a
great time. We did a lot of concerts in
the KC area and also did a weekend in central Kansas
and a week in Nebraska. Aside from singing, the other great plus was
traveling with Gracia Burnham, the missionary from the Philippines
that was held hostage for over a year.
It was encouraging to hear the story of God’s mercy and grace in her
life as she was trudging through the jungle.
Rodeo
Bible Camp 2012
After the Evidence tour, I had
three days to get home and get ready for our churches Rodeo Bible Camp. (talk about switching mental gears FAST, from
singing to rodeo! Whew!) I was very excited to be able to be apart of
the whole week of camp (last year I was only able to be there for a couple of
days). I was excited to get to minister
to the kids. And I was helping lead the
music, which was a wonderful new experience for me! God really worked in the hearts of the kids
that week! Many were saved, and all were
challenged in their walk with God!
The music part went well too! God is gracious, even with my piano
playing!!! J
The Wedding Month
June shall now be dubbed “The
Wedding Month”. The first wedding was in
Northern California, which precipitated another plane
ride—actually, Becky’s dad picked me up from the airport in a small 4-seater
airplane because he was giving a flying lesson, so it was two plane rides! It was great to visit that area of the
country again. Wow, are those mountains
gorgeous!!! Becky had asked me to be one
of her bridesmaids, and I was honored to be there for her. We got to decorate and prep and do all of the
pre-wedding things! It was a beautiful
wedding!
Just two days after I returned from Cali, I jumped in my car to head two-and-a-half
hours west of us for another wedding.
This was the wedding of a dear, childhood friend, Jackie. She asked me to sing and be her personal
attendant. I was already in “wedding”
mode, so the prep and decorating was a snap!
I was also so honored to be my friend’s personal “slave” for the
day. It was some much fun! (but only for
a day!!!)