Home...

I will be home in a week and nobody knows....well....very few people. I've always wanted to be able to come home for a surprise visit, but I've never been away from home to do that. I'm so excited to see my family and friends. Even to see the area that I live. I think that upstate New York is one of the most beautiful places on earth! I guess you don't really appreciate what you have until it's taken away.

This is what my night looks like.....

HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYONE!!

SARAH...

(original photo by Hannah Hatch)


Dearest Sister, this is to remind you that God has a "street" for you!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!
I love you!

Blessed

Today, at this moment, I am so overwhelmed with how blessed I am!

It's truly amazing to walk in the blessings of the Lord. Today, as part of my class readings for Experiencing the Christian Faith, I read John 20:24-31. It's the account of how Thomas had missed when Jesus had come and visited the disciples the first time. They were all trying to tell Thomas that Jesus had come back from being dead and Thomas wouldn't believe them.

"Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side (ewww), I will not believe."

When Jesus shows up to see Thomas, He says, "Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have no seen and yet believe."

It struck me how much time I spend seeking God's blessings in different areas, when I'm already blessed!! He blessed me! Before I was even born. And to walk a single moment of my day not believing that, is a flat out lie. I just love the fact that I'm already blessed, just because I believe in Jesus! It's like one of God's first presents that He hands us at the moment of our salvation. A blessing that covers our entire, day-in and day-out, lives. For me, I know that I definitely need to remember that! I'm so glad that it was revealed to me today!

So, I wanted to end this post with some flowers,
because they always remind me that I am blessed.

picture source: http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ll9a3iyQDE1qzpcqmo1_500.jpg

First Week

I think I've been here for over a week....I think. It all seems to blend together. Late nights, friends, cafeteria food (albeit good cafeteria food) and already stressing out about homework. I must admit that I miss home cooked meals, my church, family, and my bed.....but God has me here for a reason. I must admit though, I'm starting to wonder what that reason is? I have no doubt that He directed me here, but I'm starting to think that it's for a different reason than I originally planned. To be quite honest, the longer I'm here the more confused I become!! I think one of the place that I miss the most is my front porch. This summer I developed the habit of sitting on my front porch for hours with just my bible. Me and God....and it was so precious. I wish I still had those hours to devote to being still. I'm definitely struggling with that at the moment. I know how to be still when I don't have much to do, but being still when I'm constantly in motion is something entirely different. I long to have those moments where I had no time restraints and could sit for hours and wait to hear from God.

I'm looking for a "new" porch....I hope I find it soon. I think that's one of the things that is uncomfortably different for me, never being alone. Not to say that I don't love people, I DO!! But, I also feel very drained sometimes by them and need that time alone to recharge. And I don't mean alone, like, by myself, but being alone in the presence of God! Being able to dance and sing at the top of my lungs and pray boisterously out loud. Alone with GOD!! But, I think I have almost set that up as an idol in my life. I think God is wanting to teach me how to be in a community of believers. How to be a people.

I keep having this prayer laid on my heart, a prayer that we would be "One people who worship YOU." I long to see a people who worship God wholeheartedly, who throw inhibitions aside, who dance before the throne!! I read the part in 2 Samuel where David danced, you know why He danced? Because he was in the presence of God and he new that to do otherwise would be disrespectful, because he was in awe of his God, because he was joyous in the presence of his King! The church has dumbed down God so much....we've lost the passion that He wants us to have. I stood in church and chapel this week, among many believers, and almost cried at the lack of commitment I saw during worship. It almost made me cry to think that at a school of 2,000 believing students, not one of us had the passion to dance before the throne of God. And I'm the worst of them all. I hear God calling for passion, I desperately want to follow but I'm not sure I have the strength, the boldness.

I want to KNOW Christ.....I think that's where the church has lost it. We follow Christ but we don't KNOW Christ. Jesus was a person, who lived and breathed, and is still hear today. I'm so grateful that He still speaks. I don't know anything that is quite so soothing. Today in speech class we talked about noise....how sometimes we can have internal noise when people are talking. Like, we're hungry, or a headache, or our own thoughts. It made me realize how much "noise" I have in my head when I'm talking with God! I want to be still but somehow it doesn't work. But there is hope for me! That's the part that I love most about God....no matter how low I am I know that there is always hope. To me the pursuit of God is the catalyst of hope!

Wow, this has been a bunch of rantings.....I think I just needed to spill some of my guts. I think one of the reasons God has brought me here is to struggle, to wrestle with the issues that I have not wanted to face. To wrestle with my own hypocrisy....to wrestle with my identity in Christ and find out what that really means. God, teach me your ways, cause me to walk in understanding!!

First Few Days

So, what does the first few days at Bethel college look like?

Day 1:

Bump into your adorable, strawberry blonde, smiling room mate on your way to check in!

Hugs all around!

Visit with financial aid

Room key

Gasp over your horrible ID picture

Get over horrible ID picture

Be greeted by 20 smiling, friendly RA's and block Mentors with wooded dollies all ready to move you in.

Arrange

RE-arrange

Say goodbye to parents

Cry

Meet new people

Play awkward games

Smile

Sleep

Day 2

Hang out with people

Write skit for block 12 (woot woot)

Eat

Hang out

Beach volleyball!!!

Despicable me!

Sleep

Day 3

Wake up early :/

Stumble to breakfast

Gulp down food

Get on bus

Weed and chop down trees

Attempt to eat wild grapes

Weed some more

Laugh

Bus home

Food

Skit practice!! (Yay for Minions!)

And now here I am......

How's your week going? :D

Why Indiana?

"Why Indiana?" If I could have a nickel for every time I've been asked this, I would have some good chump change. It's been a common question in my life since I applied for Bethel College back in the early days of spring. "I'm going back to college!" I would tell people, and amongst all the obvious and appropriate questions you are suppose to ask an outbound college student, inevitably the question, "Where?" would surface. I became quite accustomed to the look of slight shock that would arise with my answer. "Indiana? Why Indiana?"

And, so, the opening to my saga is presented. I love to tell the story of, "Why Indiana?" because it has opened the doors of witnessing for me a time or two.



Early in the year I began to pray and ask the Lord, "Ok, I know I'm suppose to go back to college, but where?"

He asked me, "Well, what do you want in a college?"

"I want to go to a college, one that is not just Christian but encourages a relationship with you, I want to continue in nursing but also pursue sign language, I want the opportunity to play volleyball."

He answered, "Look for that, because I have prepared a place for you and you will know it when you find it."

And.....off I went to find "My" college. Man, I did not realize what I was asking for. For days and days I searched, pouring over websites, college databases, and religious reviews. "Here's one," I thought, "Surely, this is 'My' college." Nope, no nursing program. How bout this one? Nope, no ASL program. This one? No volleyball........and so the search continued, with nothing meeting my criteria. "Ok, Lord," I thought, "I'll settle, here's a Christian college with everything except volleyball, that will be ok."

But in that moment, I knew that God was telling me not to settle, that He was not ok with that. He spoke to me and said, "Hannah, tell me your dreams and believe that I will fulfill them."

I surrendered whole heartedly to His instructions and opened up my dreams to His will. It was scary, because I've always guarded my dreams closely, figuring that if anybody touched them that my dreams would die. I realized that I had even guarded them from God, believing that He wouldn't care about my desires. The process was painful, letting Him into every little part of my dream corner, telling Him about my desires and plans. In the end I could feel Him smiling at me and reassuring me that He had designed me as a dreamer and that He desired to see my dreams come true in His timing. His reassurance of His love and delight in me was overwhelming. It's a lesson I won't forget.

How did I end up at Bethel, in Indiana? My only answer is God's direction. In an act of desperation I typed, Christian college, RN-BSN, ASL program, Woman's volleyball team, into my google search bar, knowing that my search phrase was too long to yield any pertinent results. But, among the sea of non related results, Bethel College surfaced as the first, and only, relevant result. When I opened the link, I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that this was the place God had prepared for me. His peace and grace was so complete and has continued beyond applying to the college, including providing for me financially.

So, “Why Indiana?” Because God has prepared a place for me. Because God is fulfilling my dreams. Because God LOVES me!

Eric and Miranda Engagement Photos

My cousin is getting married!! I can't believe that we aren't children anymore. Just yesterday we were paddling through our imaginations as sewer rats on a raft, or Roman soldiers battling with our enemies, or (the always favorite) oppressed orphans trying to escape from our cruel headmistress. It's hard to believe that we are all old enough to get married.

But enough about the past, here's to the future! Especially the future

Mr. & Mrs. Schnackenberg

This is my first couples photo shoot and although we hit a few glitches (dead battery, rain, sleep deprived photographer) I think we were able to capture some cute shots. I love these two as individuals and as a unit! They are so in love and are a joy to be around.

These are a few of my favorite shots.

Congrats Eric and Miranda!!

San Franscisco

I thought that it was about time that I shared a few pictures of my trip to San Franscisco. One of the things that we did was visit Fisherman's Wharf. Definitely a tourist trap, but fun none the less. We visited a bakery that made some of the best sour dough bread that I have ever had. Besides tasting completely amazing, they also formed them into little animals.

And some big animals too!

Some one's a little crabby.

Then we had an impromptu "photo shoot". These are my two favorites.

We decided this looks like a shoe add.

We ended in Ghirardelli square with coffee and chocolate!
All-in-all it was a great day.

California Flowers

I took a ton of pictures of flowers while I was in California.
These are just a couple of my favorite pictures.