Holiday.

My family is a jumbled up mixture of traditions that my parents grew up with and that they've made as traditions just for our family. We have a few Scandinavian foods and customs that we never go with out, and lefse is one of them.

Lefse (lef-suh) may be one of my favorite foods. It's basically just a potato tortilla, with butter and, for me, brown sugar spread all over the inside. Other people like cinnamon sugar or regular white sugar, but I'm a sucker for the brown sugar - and I cake it on. The crunch inside the smooth tortilla is so delicious, making it a  perfect thing to eat at any time of the day.

This delicious treat comes from the Norwegian side of me, but we also love our Danish and Swedish treats too. Tomorrow, I'm waking up to make aebleskivers with my mom - Danish little pancakes filled with deliciousness. My dad always enjoys his pickled herring and Lutefisk, which are also somehow Scandinavian, but I don't delight myself in those tasty treats - ever.

I'm excited for Christmas Eve tomorrow. This is our day of family-filled traditions, waking up to bake or get dinner ready, going to church, followed by driving through the Christmas lights on Douglas Drive. Then it's off to the house to get cozy and gorge ourselves with food and open presents.


My goal for this Christmas is to keep focused on the reason that we celebrate. Our neighbors came over the other day to bring us "Happy Birthday, Jesus cupcakes" and it was wonderful - and delicious. Traditions, food, and gifts are all fantastic, but may we remember that Christ is the one from whom all blessings flow, and he really is the source of our Joy during the holidays.

Merry Christmas,

Chels.

You Did It!

I finished my fifth semester of college today. That means that I only have 3 to go, and I'm a teacher. Holy Moly. I'm excited to start that chapter of my life, and see what God has planned for me; but, right now I'm going to live up this last year and a half I have to be a college student - to stay up late, eat whatever and whenever I want, spend money that I don't have, not shower for 2 or 3 days and get by, and to live with my best friends.
Tomorrow (or I guess today, since it's 1 AM), two of my roommates are graduating. I know that God planned our meeting and for events to unfold as they did. I have no doubt in my mind that the four of us who lived in 5001, #2 were supposed to be together. We have had the most laughs I think any apartment on campus could have between just the 4 roommates being together.

We chose - on many nights - to stay in on the weekends to be together rather than go out and see other people. My favorite place was sitting in our cozy living room or around the kitchen table just talking about life and laughing together. We truly had a perfect living situation.
As they graduate, I have bittersweet feelings. I know that they are such amazing nurses and so capable of going out into the real world and really affecting the lives of the people they help, but I don't want them to leave. One off to Cali (because she's "so Cali") and the other to the mountains of Washington (but she'll be back soon enough).
They're 2 of the best friends I've ever had, and I love them so much. So, B & E - this one's for you! Congratulations on graduating!  I love you and I hope for the very best in your future. Thanks for a semester that I'll never forget.
 

love,
chels.

Oh, and J - I love you, too, but you get to stick it out with me for these next 3 semesters. Good thing I'm the funny one. ;)

I'm Ready.

Accepted? Check.
Meet the team? Check.
Attend all day retreat? Check.
Go to Wednesday night meetings? Check.
Get passport? Check.
Tyler buys tickets? Check.
Visa gets denied and send it back? Check.
Visa and passport return in the mail? Check.
Raise $3,125? Check.
15 days until I go to Africa? Check.


The trip is coming up SO close. I can hardly believe that I'll be in Zambia in just a couple weeks. In case you didn't get that, I WILL BE IN AFRICA IN 15 DAYS. (oh. my. gosh!!!!!) Thank you all so much for your support and prayers. I'm feeling so blessed and the encouragement from all of you is amazing. Please continue to pray for our safety, and for those on the team still raising money.

love love.
Chels.

Christmas Lights.

Coldplay is by far my favorite band, and this year they decided to say "Merry Christmas, fans. We love you so much, so we wrote our very first Christmas song for you." Listen to it here. http://coldplay.com/
I've seen them twice in concert - both times my world was turned upside down. I don't think any concert of performance will ever top it. So, have a Coldplay kind of day today. And love them, because they are amazing.

Update.

For those of you who are interested, I have a financial update on my fund raising for Zambia!
As of today, I have $2010 in my account, which means I am in need of $1165. If you'd like to donate, you can here: http://www.npumin.com/donate :)
I'm feeling blessed as money has been coming in, and I get more and more excited everyday. Please continue to pray for our team as we prepare during this final month before departing! I can't wait to see these beautiful little cuties.

love love.
Chels.

TG.

This year, I had one of the most bizarre Thanksgivings of my life. There was no turkey dinner. The whole family was not together. No lefse was in sight. And I wore jeans instead of a dress.

Although it was strange, it was one of the best I can remember (minus the whole family not being together). My mom, sister, and I drove up to Grand Forks, ND on Thanksgiving morning to spend some time with my Grandma for a few days. My Aunt and Uncle were there as well, and we decided we'd go have dinner at Perkins. Leave it to us to get to Perkins too late and end up driving around searching for any open restaurant in the area; we ended up at The Golden Corral, and what an experience it was. This place is like a giant school cafeteria that you pay way too much to eat at. The food was comparable to a school cafeteria, as well.

After we left, I was thinking about how great the hour or so spent at The Golden Corral was. No, I didn't have a traditional Thanksgiving meal, but I was so thankful for the time I got to spend with the people I was with. We laughed, and hugged, and caught up, and it was wonderful. I am so blessed with such an incredible immediate and extended family and that's what should be appreciated during the holiday. I think my Grandma was relieved when the 3 of us left each night - we might have been a little too loud and crazy - but my guess is that those few days went by a little faster than normal and that she secretly appreciated the chaos and the forced walking laps around the wing.

We even got the whole immediate family together on Sunday for lunch and the afternoon. That never happens, but we were all there. These 2 cuties even got to come, too.

Appreciate your family today. No matter how crazy they are.
love,
Chels.

Brown Hair, Brown Hair.

Yup, I'm a brunette.

Surrender.

The LORD God is a sun and a shield. The LORD gives grace and glory, no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.

-Psalm 84:11

I've been reading a book by Chip Ingram that is really impacting and changing me. It's causing me to realize that God truly just desires us - all of us and all we have. It's not about following rules, but about obeying out of love. If we surrender, he then can channel to us his best and biggest blessings. God wants what's best for us, and His perfect plan for our lives is carried out best when we're allowing Him to take control.

I encourage you, just as I was encouraged, to get your hands on this book. It will change you - and I'm only five chapters in.

love,

Chels.

Oh, Rainy Day.

As Chris Martin of Coldplay says, "Oh, rainy day, come 'round. Sometimes I just want it to slow down." And what a perfect day for a relaxing day. I do wish that it was snow falling from the sky, rain will do, because I'll see snow tomorrow in home, sweet Minnesota.

I head out to Zambia in just over a month. I can't believe it's coming so close, but I can't wait to get there. I'll be giving an update on how funds are going when I get home. Thank you to everyone who has been able to support me, and thank you also for the all your prayers for our team. It really has been mind-blowing seeing how blessed and wonderful our team is. After spending a lot of the weekend together, I can see that God is absolutely present in our group; we get along so well and just love loving each other.

I also had the chance to catch up with friends this weekend - so needed and so fun. It's been such a busy semester and I haven't been able to really hang out with a lot of people, but this weekend I pushed homework aside and decided to be present with them again. I'm paying for that today, but it was definitely worth it. Homework is always better when paired with Christmas music, though. 

Happy Monday,
Chels.

Number One.

Well, welcome!
I'm completely new to this whole blogging thing but, as I prepare for one of the biggest adventures of my life, I decided it would be great to let you follow me and learn with me - and enjoy the ride with me, as well! What's this big adventure, you ask? Well. I'll be heading to Zambia with a group of students and faculty from school at the end of December. I'll talk about it a lot, so details will come. Detail #1, we call ourselves the Z Team. And this is our sign:

On another note, Christmas is hitting Chicago this weekend. It's one of my favorite weekends of the year. And tomorrow, I have a goal. I will ride the Holiday train and see Santa and his elves.
And along with Christmas hitting Chicago, so is one of my best friends. Flying in from Colorado in about 12 minutes. Not only is she coming to visit, but she's staying at my apartment for a couple of nights, and I couldn't be more excited.


This will be a fantastic weekend.
love love,
Chels.