I don't think I've ever had such an eventful week...

A little over a week ago, I suffered from a slightly bulged disc in my lower back. I woke up and had not been in so much pain since I initially hurt it in high school, 4 years ago. I wish I could put into words the pain I was feeling, but I can't. Needless to say, IT HURT! I called my mom and asked her to ask my chiropractor back at home for a recommendation of another doctor in my area. His college roommate in chiropractic school ends up having a practice 20 minutes down the road! Is God not awesome?! My roommates rushed home after clinicals and drove me to the chiropractor. As I was meeting with him, he looked at my x-rays and explained that I had a slight bulge in one of the discs in my lower back. He said that I would need treatments three times a week for the next month and I was banned from any physical activity (which is kinda inconvenient, considering I'm a fitness major and all...). After explaining all of this mess to my professors (who gladly cooperated with the doctor), I went into treatments believing that the Lord was going to give me a miracle. After 2 visits, the doctor was surprised with how quickly I was recovering. He said that he had never seen anyone bounce back so quickly. I found that extremely encouraging!
I had a meeting I needed to attend for my campus ministry on the power of the Holy Spirit 4 days after my injury. After the meeting was over, my friend Kalyne prayed over me and was believing in complete healing of my back. I went back for another set of week long treatments. Friday rolled around (which was a week and 2 days after my injury) and my doctor completely cleared me from all treatments and I was completely cleared to work out. The doctor told me that it was going to take a month to get back into the swing of things, but God had something much better in mind! I am going back to the gym tomorrow and am looking forward to being with my friends and being active again! I'm also looking forward to being able to participate in labs during class again! God is good! I encourage you to have faith and believe God really can do anything, even if other people think you are crazy!


I think it is safe to say that this weekend was filled with enough excitement to last me through the rest of my college career. First off, it was family weekend! This means my wonderful parents were able to come down and spend the weekend with me! Which means... they feed me, payed to park at football games AND took me grocery shopping... needless to say, I enjoyed being spoiled (maybe a little too much)! :) My roommate, Brittany, joined us at the football game and we had a lot of fun! It was The Pirates first conference game and our first win of the season! We started the season against two tough teams and played well during the first half, then fell a part during the second half. Needless to say, we really needed a win. We kicked off our conference play against UAB and played sloppy, but pulled off a win! Here are some pictures from this weekend:

These two girls are my best friends! 

My parents are my best friends and role models. I would not be the person I am today without them! 

My friend, Tyler, who is wearing the black jacket has been my study partner since sophomore year of college. I remember almost 3 years ago when he started volunteering with Pirate strength and conditioning and finally, after many hours of hard work, he made it onto the field with the strength staff! I'm so happy for him!

A view of half of The Boneyard at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. One of the craziest environments to be in!

Brittany and I braving the rain at the game!

It's crazy thinking that this weekend was my last family weekend as a college student. This time next year I will be living in a new place, working a real job and building a new life. I am excited to see where the Lord will lead me. I know that He has the perfect job in the perfect place picked out for me already! As I continue to pray for guidance on where I should go, I try to remember to thank Him for the job He already has for me. 

One of the things I am trying to stay focused on is the importance of this last year in school. I believe there is a lot that God wants me to accomplish and there are many girls that He wants me to reach out too and share His love with. My heart is that ladies would come to truly know their value and find their entire identity in Christ! 

I've typed a lot, but I've saved the most interesting and eventful story for last. Take a breather and keep reading.... alright, here we go! 

This morning at about 3:30 AM, my roommates dog woke up and started barking. Brittany woke up and heard something beating against our door. She looked through the peep hole and saw a guy coming at our door, trying to kick it in. She came into my room and woke me up and said, "uhh, I think someone is trying to kick our door in." I turned over and got out of bed to go see what was going on. Then I heard a "BANG," up against the door. Surprisingly, my roommate and I were extremely calm. I looked out the peep hole and saw this guy, who was obviously intoxicated, kicking our door and then turning around and doing the same thing to our neighbor's. Then he starts banging on our neighbor's door with his fist screaming, "It's not the same guy, it's someone different...you can open the door now!" Then I begin to start laughing because I have never experienced anything like this before and was having trouble believing it was actually happening. My roommate turns to be and asks if she should open the door and tell him to stop, I looked at her and said "no! He's insane!" He walks back upstairs and so what do I do? I do the exact thing I tell my roommate not to do and open the door. The guy comes running back down the stairs and looks at me, I told him, "dude, please stop." He said "I'm sorry." So I shut the door and he continues to kick our door. 

I attempt to go back to bed because I was fed up with all of this stupidity, but then I hear my neighbors come out of their apartment.

I couldn't believe what happened next...

A guy comes down the stairs with blood running down his face. He got punched in the eye by the out of control dude at a party going on upstairs. Ends up, the guy who was punched was the cousin of one of my neighbors. Two of our neighbors were sitting on the stairs, taking a smoke break and the guy runs down the stairs and proceeds to sucker-punch them both in the face. One guy broke his nose and had blood gushing down his face and the other one suffered a few scratches and bruises on his cheek. Minutes later, 4 police cars and 6 officers show up to handle the situation. I step outside, tell them who to look for and they bust the party upstairs, check on our neighbors and finally get things calmed down. I open our door back up to check on our neighbors, they were shaken up, but seemed okay. One of them had not been drinking and took their cousin (the guy who was punched in the eye) to the hospital. (I just saw him in the breezeway this afternoon, he seems to be alright). We stand their talking to them, getting the facts straight and making sure they are okay.

One of the police officers came down and talked to us... I'm pretty sure it is safe to say that she did not suspect anything out of me and my roommates because we had no make-up on, our hair was a mess and we were in our pajamas :) 

I talked to one of our neighbors this afternoon and he seems to be much better. Nothing like this has ever happened here before, according to my neighbors who have lived here for three years. I really do live in a safe area!

Some people don't party folks... and I can assure you, after witnessing this event, I don't plan on starting to party.

So, yes, this was quite an eventful week! I'm grateful for God healing my back, letting me spend time with my family AND for protecting me and my home!