planet janelle
love generously
praise loudly
live fully
- elias porter

For some reason, so many people have been talking about these Myers-Briggs Typology tests. I’ve heard it brought up several times in the past weeks among several different groups of people. I remember taking the test senior year of high school in AP Psych, but I had forgotten what I was so I decided to take it again. I got ENFP, but I forgot to answer two questions because it was late and I was too tired. So, today, being a free and relaxing day, I decided to re-take the test and I got ESFJ.

“Guardian™ Portrait of the Provider (ESFJ)

Providers take it upon themselves to insure the health and welfare of those in their care, but they are also the most sociable of all the Guardians, and thus are the great nurturers of social institutions such as schools, churches, social clubs, and civic groups. Providers are very likely more than ten percent of the population, and this is fortunate for the rest of us, because friendly social service is a key to their nature. Wherever they go, Providers happily give their time and energy to make sure that the needs of others are met, and that social functions are a success.

Highly cooperative themselves, Providers are skilled in maintaining teamwork among their helpers, and are also tireless in their attention to the details of furnishing goods and services. They make excellent chairpersons in charge of dances, banquets, class reunions, charity fund-raisers, and the like. They are without peer as masters of ceremonies, able to speak publicly with ease and confidence. And they are outstanding hosts or hostesses, knowing everyone by name, and seemingly aware of what everyone’s been doing. Providers love to entertain, and are always concerned about the needs of their guests, wanting to make sure that all are involved and provided for.

Friendly, outgoing, neighborly - in a word, Providers are gregarious, so much so that they can become restless when isolated from people. They love to talk with others, and will often strike up a conversation with strangers and chat pleasantly about any topic that comes to mind. Friendships matter a great deal to Providers, and their conversations with friends often touch on good times from years past. Family traditions are also sacred to them, and they carefully observe birthdays and anniversaries. In addition, Providers show a delightful fascination with news of their friends and neighbors. If we wish to know what’s been going on in the local community, school, or church, they’re happy to fill us in on all the details.

Providers are extremely sensitive to the feelings of others, which makes them perhaps the most sympathetic of all the types, but which also leaves them somewhat self-conscious, that is, highly sensitive to what others think of them. Loving and affectionate themselves, they need to be loved in return. In fact, Providers can be crushed by personal criticism, and are happiest when given ample appreciation both for themselves personally and for the tireless service they give to others.” - Keirsey.com

I guess some of this describes me pretty well. Some parts of the ENFP one did too. Interesting!

Your grace has overwhelmed my brokenness.

So much changes in such little time…

Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.

1 Peter 5:7

Yesterday, annoyed at the fact that I had to go to work, I hopped into my car 10 minutes late because I procrastinated my drive there. My dad always has the car’s radio station tuned to 91.5 which is this Christian talk radio station where they basically play sermons/talks most of the time. I usually like listening to music while I drive, so I usually change it once I get in the car. However, yesterday, I entered the car right when the speaker announced that he was going to be speaking about “renewing the mind”. For some reason, this interested me and I kept listening the whole way to work. The speaker was talking about how even after he became a Christian, he didn’t care to change his lifestyle and still struggled with many of the sins he struggled with before coming to Christ. He didn’t even want to change/ work on changing.

The speaker said that one of the ways to “renew your mind” is to hide God’s Word in your heart. He said that one day, his roommate announced that he was going to the the Navigator’s Topical Memory System- basically where you memorize 60 verses in 60 days. The speaker, out of sheer competitiveness, decided he wanted to do it, too, just to beat his roommate. When his roommate wasn’t home one day, he copied all the verses onto notecards and started memorizing one per day. He didn’t realize until the 21st day how much the verses had changed him.

I thought that was really cool, so I’ve decided to do the 60 verses challenge-thing. We’ll see how it goes. I’m hoping to do it with someone, for accountability and stuff. Maybe with my mom :) Funny and so cool how God made me late just so I could hear that speaker :)

Back in MO now :) It’s good to be home. I’ve really missed our family dinner discussing Obama and other current events. My sister and brothers crack me up. I’ve also really missed Buddie.

Left for Plano on Monday. Matt so kind and let me help him spend his leftover dine-in dollars. It was fun trying to find things to buy at Jester. Plano was great. I got to spend time at Vickie’s which I’ve never done before. It was good to hang out with her and see her fam. The five minutes of fresh air was also good. Before I left, I celebrated my 21st with the girls. I am un-photogenic. These are the one pictures that turned out okay.

roomies :)

errbody :)

I am so blessed with eight best friends! Thank you for the gift and dinner! It’s been such a blessing to seek God with them and see them grow year after year, watching them become beautiful women after God’s heart. Thank you guys for all the laughs, tears, videos, and most importantly always challenging and encouraging me in my walk with Christ :)

After dinner, we hit up Java and Cha and opened presents, took pictures, and played speed scrabble. During the picture taking, we realized Tina’s outfit resembled that of a Knight so we made her do some jousting poses that we could use in photo shop later.

To no one’s surprise, Vickie was especially good at the poses.

Then, off to April’s for this:

^ those are 3D glasses, not goggles!

This blogging thing is turning out better than I expected! Third day in a row! Woohoo!

Today, I started the day with Austin Stoney. The message centered on the reason for the season (Christmas). It was nice to hear it again because it CAN be very easy to get caught up with the holidays and everything it comes with. The pastor shared a verse that I remembered from small group last year:

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14

After service, we went to the Trade as One thing downstairs. Trade as One basically tries to break poverty in the developing world by taking goods made there and selling them here. You can check them out at: http://tradeasone.com/

I bought this cute, little coin purse that I will probably give somebody for Christmas. Then, it was off to Kinsolving for lunch on the underclassmen. Woohoo! It was nice going there. Reminded me of freshman and sophomore year when we went there every Sunday after church and sat in huge groups and caused a rucus. It was fun while it lasted but I’m a little glad things are different now.

Which brings me to next point. I hope I’ve matured some since freshman year. I think I have. I wonder if people agree with me. Spiritually, emotionally, how I act, etc. I know I tend to act like a child a lot. It’s actually very hard for me to fight off those tendencies. But I hope inside I’ve changed. I hope those closest to me can see that.

Tomorrow I leave for Plano where I will celebrate my 21st with the girls who know me best! I’ll be there for about 3 days then it’s off to farmland MO. I’m very excited to go home and see my family and Buddie :) I hope things don’t get too crazy. I miss ‘em!

Highlight of the day was definitely seeing unexpected fireworks at The Domain. My restless friend, April, took me on some adventures since she hadn’t left the apt all day. The adventure consisted of going to the Chinese grocery store, First Chinese BBQ, and shopping at the exact same places that we did the day before. Ah, life is so exciting!

I had some really good conversations with people today as well. Conversations that made me think. And evaluate myself and a lot of other things. I’m trying to work on a lot of things. I’ve been praying for God’s help and I hope I’ll follow through with what I’ve set out to do. Anyways, I’m excited about what God has planned for the future.

Keep my mom in your prayers, please! :)

Hello! And welcome to my first blog in a very long time.

I’ve finally decided to start a new blog. Maybe it’s because I find great joy in reading other people’s blogs. And maybe it’s because I’m done with finals and have nothing to do for the next few days. Not to mention, a lot of exciting things are happening this break! I’ve always journaled alot, but no one gets to read that (except for the few people who have done so against my will). With this, people can see some of my thoughts!

So, I’ve decided to start this blog. Because although some people may disagree, I think my life is pretty interesting. For example:

Last night, April, Shannon, Ailie, and I stayed up until 2am watching and re-creating music videos from So You Think You Can Dance and Youtube. Sad to say, this is not the first time we’ve done this. Or the second. I want to say it’s like the 4th, not counting the birthday videos we’ve made.

And then, this morning, April and Ailie and I woke up at 7am to stand in front of the Co-op to sell our books and get some $50 cash bonus. It actually only took 1.5 hours so I think it was well worth it. We then went get McGriddles at McDonalds and on the way there, deposited our monay in da bank.

Ah It is now 10:45am and I feel pretty accomplished :)

more later!