Time!

I've never really known the luxury of time. I know most mothers have probably experienced this when their baby is down for a nap and you suddenly have this freedom of "What to do!?!" And although I am not a new mother, I do have a little baby named "College" around who is soaking up all my precious time! And tonight my "baby" is at the sitters! Yes, that's right, a class got cancelled. And not just any class, but a 3 hour class. And although this would be my crunch time to do as much as possible in my only 3 hour window of the week, I now find myself with SEVEN hours of time. So instead of running around like the rabbit in Alice and Wonderland, I can enjoy extra time.

This, my friends, is luxury!

Off to be productive with all my free TIME!

I know you're jealous. ;)

With love from my apartment,

Paigey

P.S. Jeremy and I are leaving on FRIDAY for home! Looking forward to the quality time driving there and with the fam! :)

I love my family!

Hi Everyone!

I'm a week away from going home. It feels like 6 months since I've seen them last and it's been what, 5 weeks? All to say: TOO LONG! I am so so sooo excited to see the kids! Evie's vocabulary has taken off and she is becoming such a big girl. Brooke keeps telling me things she is doing on her own at the park and I can't even imagine it!! She has balance? :) And Chet is cooing SO loudly! Every time we are on the phone he is just "talking" away! All to say: I can't wait to see those chubby little kids with the cutest dimple each! :)

School has been going surprisingly well! I say "surprisingly" since I really didn't know if I could accomplish what I have taken on: madness. But I am enjoying classes, learning a ton in my Communications major. It gets a bad rap for being an easy major, which in comparison it is, but I am learning so much it makes it well worth the money. I am having to do a TON of presentations, formal and informal, and wherever I go I know that skill will be great.

Work is going well also. The Registrar just slowed down as people can no longer add/drop their classes. Now we are doing projects and have a month to prepare for the craziness of adding classes! Babysitting is great and I'm really enjoying the kids. :) Luckily I'm not too busy and still can get some quality time with Jeremy!

That's pretty much it! I haven't really had time for super fun things that cause me to take pictures so none to share in that department! Life is good. God is GOOD! Providing jobs for Dad and the many other praises that we owe to Him.

I miss you, Family! Can't wait until I see you ALL next! Some next Friday, some after that :)

With love from the coffee shop at APU,

Paige

Sacramento bound! (Soon!)

HELLO!

In two weeks I will be coming home for my birthday in Sacramento! (Oct 2-4) Excited to be with wonderful family and enjoy seeing everyone! Especially the kids as they have gotten so much bigger and are developing so much!!

On Friday I went out to celebrate Holly's (my old roommate and good friend's) birthday! Here are some of us at the sushi restaurant: (Left to right: Joe, Daisie, Myself, Birthday girl Holly!)

Saturday night I went to the Mrs. Aaron's parents house to celebrate their September birthdays, which included Jeremy's!!! We had a great time and as usual, delicious food!! Here are the birthday boys and girls: (Left to right: Grandpa Curt, Jeremy, Hannah (Jeremy's cousin), Erin (Jeremy's aunt)) Happy birthday to you all!!

I'm excited to be home soon! Love school, love it down here, but home is such a great place to be too!!!

With love from APU,

Paige

Address & Pics :)

Hello! I forgot in my last post to share my mailbox address. Now, no worries, this has no correlation to the address of my apartment so no one could stalk me! It's an off site location I check regularly and it is the same one I have had since I got to APU:

Paige Jennings

Azusa Pacific University

901 E. Alosta Ave Unit #8164

Azusa, CA 91702

In addition, here are some of the pictures missing from my last post. The internet in my apartment is FIXED!!! So anyone who wants to make a Skype date let me know!!! Skype name (PaigieJennings) *note the "ie" in Paigie!* And now I'll be able to email and update things more often. :)

Jeremy and I at the first football game! Barb's old neighbors, the Oliero family, had their son Blake playing on the opposing team!

South Africa reunion!!! So great to see our director Reg and all of us in one group again!

Price is Right! The only picture of the day :( (couldn't take our cameras)

Kalie came to visit!!!!!! Oh what a great, great time. Seriously was the best thing ever to see her!!!

Last years roommates. Love all of these girls so much!

With love from APU,

Paige

Starting Fresh

Hello!!!!

It feels like so much has happened since I have blogged last!!! Actually, so much HAS happened!!!

I am onto my 2/14 weeks of classes. It's amazing I'm already into the semester that much! Spring seems to be so much longer it is crazy that Fall is so short!

Living with Corinne couldn't be going better. Not only do I enjoy her as a person, but I really look up to her and respect her. I came to APU because of her. With her positive experience with Communications I switched my major. Cut my hair like hers ;) Basically I love her and wouldn't mind being her shadow :) I have the greatest conversations with her and really feel sharpened and uplifted spiritually by knowing her more. What wonderful qualities! Plus, she's fun :)

Classes are great! My first day I had my two easier classes so I was a little worried about not learning a ton, but since then those have picked up their pace and my other classes definitely will take up pleanty of my time! Here are the classes I'm taking:

-Spanish 102 at our neighbor community college (time consuming but not hard & very enjoyable. Love my professor!)

-Intro to Mass Communication (The easiest of the bunch)

-Intro to Communication Studies (Have a professor that demands perfection! Will spend more time on her work & studying her reading)

-Presentational Speaking (the only class I haven't had yet. Tuesday nights. Should be GREAT!)

-Interpersonal Communication Processes (My professor was excited about bumping this up to a 400 level class- just for kicks. Ha! So who knows how hard this will be! Seems intersting)

-Small Group Communication (easier)

-Church History (Will LOVE THIS CLASS!!! Sounds boring- I know. But I couldn't have a better professor for a history class!!!!)

And here are my odd jobs:

-2 days working in the Registrars office doing secretarial work

-3 mornings I am an alternate for working chapel

-2 days I babysit kids after school

-leading a discipleship group one night a week

So my load isn't too hard, it is just VERY time consuming!!! Luckily I switched some classes around so even though I wake up much earlier I get to have meal breaks before work. A much needed rest!

The reason I say this is I will need patience from all you lovely people this semester. I really try to be someone who pursues relationships and keeps tabs on people. But phone calls and long emails is really hard when I have such random times off. Weekends are my time to do homework so I am not always going to be super free. BUT I say this because I still want to keep my relationships just as close! I will just need some grace as I won't always be able to talk. Texting is always the easiest way to keep in touch in between calls. :)

Some things I would appreciate prayer for:

-Leading my "D Group" and really being intentional in how I lead, speak, and present myself as a woman of the Lord! Being a great and caring leader.

-Getting back into the WORD! Whether that is meditation on passages or reading chapters. I really need to be filling up since I feel like I'm pouring out.

-I'm starting to plan next summer's events. I'm trying to coordinate an overseas missions trip (location unknown) with Jeremy and possibly others, as well as figure out internship opportunities. I need to be actively seeking and actively listening to the Lord's promptings!!

Which leads me to the next one:

I really am not sure what I'd like to do post-college. But since I graduate next December those questions are on my mind more and more! Since South Africa I have realized a few things:

1) Although I would love being a wedding planner I probably wouldn't want to do that full time. Maybe as a hobby or a summer job when I'm not...

2) Teaching. Elementary school. Since teaching in the South African schools I have wanted to continue doing that. Now I don't know if that means I will actually become an elementary school teacher, but I have been encouraged in the past to do so and now I am wondering if those were all little seeds which is leading me to a possible job? Like I said, I'm prayerfully considering pursing that!

I don't mind being asked the tough questions. "Are you reading your Bible and spending intentional time with God? OTHER than when you walk from class to class?" is probably the one thing I'm trying to change the most right now.

So that's my life in a nutshell! I got to spend some great, quality time with my GREAT friend Kalie who is currently home in Arizona. She visited for a weekend with her awesome boyfriend Ryan and it was such a breath of fresh air. You know how good friends can do that... be that person that you miss but you don't realize until you see them again how much you actually DID miss them!

Jeremy and I are doing great. So so great!!! Next month we have our official year together. A little inaccurate considering we have been quite close for some time now, but that's the date we celebrate :) He really is the greatest guy. Family who haven't met him, I will make that happen soon! I could be mushy and go on and on but I'll spare you ;)

(Just saw a guy trip on carpet. Always an embarrassing thing- tripping alone! You just keep walking and pretend that was totally normal)

Oh! One more thing! Being back at APU has been great in another aspect: seeing friends from South Africa! It has been SO great reuniting, laughing over hilarious memories, and continuing our friendships. I can't help but smile in thinking of how many great people I have around here who are genuine, loving, amazing people.

I miss you family in Sacramento! I miss Evie and Chet SO Much! I honestly can not believe how quickly they have grown. Now I understand why older people always commented on how much "older I look! Like a young woman!" Because I DID change! To me it was nothing- to them it was amazing!

With love from the library at APU,

Paigey

Back at APU!!

Hello Friends & Family!

It has officially been a week since Mom, Dad and I rolled into LA. Here's some pics of the end of summer at home!

Chet's first haircut! By Auntie Paige! He looks SO happy ;)

Freshly cleaned boy :)

O to have two under two! Cuties in diapers!

And here was Mom on most of our drive:

We met the Aaron family for a delicious dinner that night and everyone got to officially meet for the first time! It was a great time :) The next day I moved into my apartment at APU! Corinne, my roommate, had already moved in on Friday and had set the place up GREAT! It looked done already! Mom and Dad headed out after a few shopping stops and I started setting up my stuff!!

The week was filled with unpacking, Jeremy drilling in shelves, curtain rods, etc., random trips to WalMart, Ross & Target, and much more! Today I am officially DONE moving in! I have a few pictures on order from WalMart to put in frames- but other than that I'm done! Such a great feeling!!! Especially since I have friends moving into apartments and they are feeling those same "I just want this done!" feeling.

Here's a few pics of Jeremy and I on our date to a mexican place! They made the guacamole right in front of us which I loved! Hadn't seen anyone do that before.

I am working at the Office of the Undergraduate Registrar again this year. Work has been going very well and it's nice to get back into a routine... and get paid! :)

Here are pictures of me and Corinne & our new place!!!

Our bathroom:

My kitchen:

Corinne's side of the room:

My side of the room:

Dining room:

Me and Corinne in our place!!!

Our wonderful red curtains :) (Thanks, Jeremy!)

:D

Typical work day in our house. Corinne on the couch. Jeremy hanging shelves. Me wandering around... taking pictures.

And that's my blog for this week! I'll try to post regularly this semester :)

I start my spanish class at the community college next door tomorrow!

School starts in a week and a half! September 9th.

If you wanted to mail anything, here's my postal address (not my home address)

Paige Jennings

901 E. Alosta Ave Unit #8164

Azusa, CA 91702

Also, keep my Grandma Dean in your prayers as she went to the hospital with pneumonia today.

With love from APU!

Paige

Blessed!

Hello :)

Just wanted to share a little. No big stories or pictures to go along, but I really am so encouraged lately and blessed I can't just keep it to myself!

This summer has been great. Although it's no fun being away from Jeremy, we've gotten tons of opportunities to see each other, get to know each other's families and make great memories! I feel like I have been away from APU and my life down there for forever... and really it's been since December that I've lived there. So with my moving down there in 5 days I'm really starting to reflect and wonder as to how this fall will be. It also is a time of me saying goodbyes and leaving my home, which is always so hard to do.

My family is wonderful. Really, my family IS wonderful! Living at home with a full house has reminded me of what love is and the kind of person I want to me. My sister, Brooke, is the best mother in the world to those beautiful babies. Evie's vocabulary and size are both growing in proportional speed and it is so great to see the little person that she is becoming. No matter how my day is going or what life's situations are, holding Chet centers me and reminds me what really matters. He has started laughing recently and it is the most precious thing! Josh loves those kids and Brooke so much and would do, and does do, anything for them. Mom continues to pour herself into every area of her life and lives selflessly. Dad is working so hard to provide for our family and investing so much of his time into helping others succeed, including us. Barbie is such a real person to be around and always offers a listening ear and wise advice.

My friend Megan from South Africa has this phrase that is the song in her life: GOD is so faithful. And as I anticipate the future and plan out living arrangements with the wonderful Corinne and try to picture balancing school and life, all my worries and wonders are washed away with that phrase. God IS so faithful. I am so bummed my great friend Kalie isn't able to make it back here this Fall, and although she isn't replaced God has placed wonderful friends in my life filling that void. God is SO faithful. I could go on and on, but that's what I'd keep repeating. God is so FAITHFUL!

That's what I have to share. I thank God for the millions of blessings I have and am trying to wrap my head around the amazing truth that he is so faithful.

With love from Sacramento,

Paige