Thoughts of the Day

     If male animals mark their territory by urinating on it then female humans mark it by cleaning it.  "Sorry for stepping on YOUR nice clean floor Anni."
     I really want to work on having deeper conversations with my friends and family.  I want to talk about God with people but for some reason I have been holding back.  I want to ask my friends at ICC how they have been doing spiritually because I really want to know.  I want to know what to pray for when I pray for them or I want to hear their stories of how God has shown them love.  Lord, help me step out of my comfort zone.  At the Peoria YG Christmas party Tim Funk talked about how we are supposed to "share Christ."  He might have meant to people who don't know Christ but I think we need to work on sharing Christ amoung ourselves as well.

The Davidovics Christmas/Thanksgiving

      So last weekend my family (Rebekah and Brian included) made a six hour drive to Indiana where we stayed from late (really late) Friday night to Sunday around 10:45.  We were in a cabin that was on the river that boarders Indiana and Kentucky.  This may sound very quaint and lovely but let me tell you the real story:
     The sleeping arrangements were as follows:

Downstairs Bedroom #1:

•   Sandor, Rachel, and Zsofi on a bed
•   Irma and Evi (bed)
•   Aunette and Zoli (bed)

Downstairs Bedroom #2:

•   Mom and Dad (bed)
•   Rebekah and Brian (bed)
•   Ryan and Steven (bed)

Upstairs Master Bedroom:

•   Jozsef, Tina, and Coby (bed)

Living Room:

•   Csilla (futon)
•   Kinga (air mattress)
•   Me (futon)

     The only people who didn't either have a really loud snorer or a crying baby in their room was Downstairs Bedroom #1.  God really blessed me when he made me a deep sleeper.  It was a fun weekend though.  Saturday I woke up around 7 or 8.  The guys made breakfast then we went on a walk on the road.
     After that I started to climb up the hill in the woods with my Bible to have a devotion.  I made it pretty far when Dad called up to me and asked if I wanted someone to climb with.  By the time he reached me I had made it to the base of a small cliff.  So we climbed it together.  The slat-like rocks would break off and fall if you weren't careful.  It was a challenge and tons of fun!
     Monday a rash showed up on my hands.  I am assuming its poison Ivy.  It has been affecting my sleep so it just crossed a major line.  But I think it's on the mend so I can forgive it.
     After we got home Mom and I went for a walk.  I was so tired and feeling down that I cried.  Lord bless her, she listened to me and I felt so much better.  I think I was just feeling supper anti-social.  I haven't seen some of my friends in months.  And Rebekah and Brian were very couple-y which is great for them.  I'm glad they are happy but I felt out of the loop and awkward.  It also felt like my single state was being rubbed in my face and that made me discontent.  It didn't help at all that the Reinhards phones have been down.  It's been weeks!  I am now in the habit of trying to call them every time I pick up my phone.  Seriously I have been trying at least three times every day!
     Anyway it really was a fun trip and I only have two days of school left!  I can't wait to have enought time to clean my room, cook, clean the house, decorate, get a tree, and PLAN THE COLORADO TRIP!!!
     Well I am finished.  God bless you all!

Thanksgiving 2012

 

 

 

 

Ryan reading

 

 

Cooking

 

 

What a Chef!!!

 

 

Laptops...

 

 

Laptops...

 

 

And more laptops.

 

 

 

 

Ryan reading

 

 

Took this from our condo.  Ryan's camera has good zoom!

 

 

 

 

 

We did play a little keep away with the frisbee but this is where all our sport stuff stayed most the week.  I am supper excited to go in December wih Brian, Rebekah, Karin, Jessica, and Rhoda.  I really hope we play more sports!

 

 

MORE laptops!

 

 

 

 

 

The mighty fisherman spent a whole 40 minitues pulling this fish in.  It was the only keepable fish he caught al week. 

 

 

And here it is!  A 43 lb and 36 in long black drum!

 

 

 

 

Honestly he is making this look easy.  That fish was heavy!

 

 

The Turkey!

 

 

 

 

Pooring the champain (Sparkeling Grape Juice)

 

 

 

Carvin the turkey

 

 

 

Salad made by your's truely.

 

 

 

 

 

Sneaking a bite.

 

 

 

I made the stuffing too =)

 

 

 

 

Found this in the owner's closet.  Nice hat Grandma!

 

Confidence

     Recently in my life there have been some people who have been excellent Christian examples. What struck me about them is how confident they could be and how outwardly focused they are. Whenever I go up to talk to them they ask sincerely, "how are you." And you can tell they really want to know and are genuinely interested and concerned. (by outwardly focused I mean concerned about other's and not themselves) It amazed me that they could be so selfless while I was always too concerned about myself to worry about others. And it was consistent. I think it's that they are confident enough in God that they can be secure enough with themselves to reach out. Whenever I start drift and be confident in myself, that I am good enough/nice enough/pretty enough, my own faults will soon become apparent in my eyes. And I will sink into despair and frustration until I finally turn back to God and allow Him to pick me back up again. It's a continuing circle and I praise God that He is patient with me. And all the while there are people I run into that could use a word of encouragement, but I am too busy thinking about myself to worry about them. I know I cannot serve God and myself at the same time. I need to remember that I am God's child and that I don't need to worry about how I act or look in other people's eyes. I need to remember that by putting myself down, I am putting down one of God's own creations. Not that I am good enough but that God is good enough.

Downtown

     So I am at ICC's downtown campus.  Our class got out at 2:50 and I have a meeting here at 3:30.  So I called Rebekah to kill time.  It's a gorgeous day outside so I walked around while I was talking.  There was a rough looking group of people standing kind of where I was headed so I turned around and walked the other way.  I go across the street from ICC and walk down the block.  Rebekah made it home so she hung up and I started walking back.  The group of people from before were standing between me and ICC.  So I called the Reinhards so that I could be on the phone with someone as I walked by but they didn't answer.  So I try faking a conversation.  They were standing and talking with eachother.  As I walked by on the farthest side of the sidewalk I could manage one of them turns around and looks at me and says, "There is a pretty girl. You are very pretty. Thank you for being so pretty so that I can look at your face."  I just kept walking until I made it acrossed the street and into ICC.  I am a little creeped out.

Cheating

     These last two weekends I have been gone at different events.  Two weekends ago was the Tough Mudder and last weekend we went to fun city for Jessica's birthday.  Looking back I realized that I had been picking and chosing when I was going to be a Christian.  Not that I did anything bad, but I haven't been choosing to be a Christian on the weekends.  I feel awful about the way I treated God through this.  It's like I was an unfaithful wife.  But He still waits for me with open arms.  I hope I won't make this mistake again, but I am sure I will.  Lord, help me.

Tough Mudder!!!

     The Tough Mudder was sooooooo much fun!  Definitely worth it.  It was really cool how all the guys hung back to make sure the girls did ok even though they probably would have had a ton more fun if they would have just left us.
     Our team colors were pink and black.  This was my first race ever so I had to buy all new clothes for it anyway so I was all pink and black.  Adam Adrian went all out.  Landon's outfit was hilarious!  He had on a 'Minni Mouse' T-shirt that was a little too small and long pink socks.  All the girls had on pink and black.  Some of the other guys had on pink head bands or pink cloth tied around their arms.
     This is an excellent example of how well our team did with helping each other:  There were four 12 foot walls we had to scale.  First, two guys from our group would climb to the top and straddle the wall facing each other.  While they did this a few guys climbed up and over the wall.  Allen Huber stood with his back against the wall and would hold his hands out for the girls to step in.  Another guy would be standing next to him for us to step on his shoulder.  Then the guys on top would grab our hands and hoist us up.  We would then turn around to get our feet on the other side of the wall and lower ourselves down to where we are hanging by our hands on the other side of the wall.  The guys who were on that side of the wall would then grab us and gently lower us to the ground.  They made it too easy but it was so much fun!
     The dumpsters full of ice water were one of the ones that made a lot of us nervous.  I chose not to think about it too much.  I jumped right in and I was surprised:  I didn't feel too cold at all!  I swim to the center where there is a board that you have to go under water to get under.  I go under and run into some larger ice chunks and I remember my thoughts at this point.  I was thinking, well that's ok, I don't need to come up for air for a while anyway.  Then I was like, what am I thinking?  So I swim up and wade to the other side and hesitate before climbing out.  Daniel Stoller had already made it across and started to help me out.  I wasn't in any hurry but he insisted so I let him pull me out.  It wasn't until the warm air hit me that I really felt weird.  My skin was all tight and felt strange.  I think I was a lot colder than I thought. 
     Ok, last story.  So there are these monkey bars.  Yeah the same basic idea of what you see at play grounds, except they are slanted slightly upward until about half way across where they start to slant back downward.  Anyway, I didn't even make it half way before I slipped.  If you slip you just fall into some water and have to swim across.  There are about five boards coming out of the water on the other side, lined up at a 45 degree angle to make a ladder to climb out on.  So I go to climb out but start to fall backwards and Landon reaches down and pulls me out.  There were a lot more times when we had to help each other out but I think I have written enough.
     After crossing the finish line we were completely covered in mud.  They had 'showers' set up: a bunch of dangling hoses over a concrete slab.  The line was long so they were trying to get people to wash quickly so most of us were still pretty muddy afterwards.  Some of us found a puddle of water so muddy you couldn't see your hand if you held it a few inches under the surface and washed off in that.  Believe it or not that made us cleaner than before.  Hey, you do what you have to.  We then went back to the cars and changed behind towels into clean dry clothes.  That was fun.  Blehhh!  Talk about out of my comfort zone...  Imagine stripping down to nothing in front of a bunch of boys.  Yeah you might be covered with a towel but it's like they are in the same room as you while you are changing!
     Anyway, in that state of hygiene, we went to Lambert's (the place where they throw the roles) to eat.  Then our car departed for home while the rest of them left to go to Taylor for showers and sleep.  I went with the group who left from Roanoke which consisted of Tim Schwind, Daniel Stoller, and Landon Isaia.  We had about a six hour drive home.  It was fun.  We listened to comedians and slept.  When we got to 'The Lodge' (the house that Tim, Landon, Steven Sauder, and Brett Hodel live in) it was somewhere around 10:40... I think.  I woke up as we pulled in.  I was so disoriented that I think I was stumbling around like I was drunk while I was moving my stuff into my car.  I pulled out on their rather long drive way and found it difficult to keep the car in a straight line.  Finally I woke up enough for the 1 hour drive home but it was a struggle.  When I was working on moving my stuff from Tim's car to my car, Tim offered to let me shower at the Lodge.  I thought it was kind of odd since I had only an hour of driving left but looking back I wonder if he was just worried about letting this girl, who couldn't even walk straight, drive.  Lol!  Tim was recently engaged to my good friend Brittany Martin.  He has impressed me with his character more than once.  I cannot help but smile every time I think about this couple.  God definitely brought these two people together. 

Hunting!

     Yesterday Jozef, Dad, Ryan, Steven, and I all went hunting!  My first time with a bow.  (I have gone twice before as a kid just to sit with Dad and watch.)  We probably were all settled in the stands by around 4:30.  Dad had us spread out so that either him or Jozef were in hearing range. 
     Sometime around 6 a buck wandered right by me.  It was definitely within shooting range but it was an awkward angle.  Plus Dad said never to move when the deer's head is up, only when it is down and grazing.  It never put it's head down that long.
     Shortly after I spotted it, I glanced away.  The deer froze to listen.  It completely disappeared!  This was when it was only like 15-20 yards in front of me and I could not see it no matter how hard I looked!  Finally it moved again and I kept my eyes glued to it.  It slowly walked away.  After it was around 40 yards away (that's a total guess by the way) it froze again.  In the hope that it would decide to come back this way I stayed still.  Wow.  If God made us all as patient as that deer we would get so much more accomplished.  The stand I was in was on a branch that was at about a 20 degree angle to the tree.  The stand was strapped around it so that you are leaning up against the branch with the tree in front of you.  Have you ever tried leaning against a tree for an extended amount of time without moving?  My back was already sore from the first hour and a half (lots of time to think and pray!) of minimal movement but now I couldn't move at all.
     But it was so worth it.  Something I didn't expect was the adrenaline rush when I saw the buck.  Man, my heart was pounding! 

Tough Mudder!

THREE MORE DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!! In three days we will be hitting the road for misery, uhhh I mean Missouri. ;)  Either way a lot of fun!  Good friends, lot's to do, and someplace to kick back at.  What more can I ask for?  Lord help our attitudes to glorigy you, even in this.  "For bodily excercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." 1 Timothy 4:8

Early Morning

     I woke up at 1:29 this morning and started getting ready for the day.  Whoops!  But I didn't feel tired and the temptation of having all that FREE TIME, something I only hear about in legends and fairytales, was too much to over come.  So here I am.  At 3:34 in the morning.  Eating bran flakes like potato chips and doing homework.

School

 

 Yesterday each student was suppose to teach the class how to do a craft.  We only got through 7 crafts out of 15 so more to come tomorrow!

 

Paper bag scare crow and paper plate ghost.

 

 

Coffee filter flower, news paper flowers on sticks, and a tissue paper flower on a pen.

 

 



 

 

Pine cone turkey and a toilet paper squid.

 

Forlorn

     I have been starting to get excited about our annual Thanksgiving trip to Gulf Shores.  This morning it hit me that Rebekah wont be there.  I actually started to cry.  Having a married sister is going to take some getting used to.  I love her too much.

     Lord why do I struggle so much with my attitude!  Some times I want to cry out in frustration at myself.  Why can't I be more like Jesus.  I struggle with not getting angry at my brother.  My first reaction toward him is to be selfish and un-sharing and unkind.  I struggle with loving people when it's not convenient.
     We have had some Romanians over since Friday.  They are staying for two weeks.  It's the pastor of the church we went to in Romania and his wife.  I feel uncomfortable spending time with them because of the language barrier, but he speaks excellent English!  We had them over on Sunday for supper along with my Aunt, my Grandma, my Dad, my Mom, Ryan and Steven, and me.  Mom, Ryan, Steven, and I were the only ones who didn't speak Hungarian there.  Everyone else spoke it as their first language.  So the majority of the conversation would be in Hungarian and I only know a few words.  There was volley ball at 5:30 that day.  Supper was supposed to start at 4:30 but they all came 30 minutes late.  This is typical for my Dad's side of the family but unheard of on my Mom's.  So by the time we had all sat down and finished the prayer it was time to leave for volley ball.  So I left right after the prayer without eating.  I hope I did not offend anyone.
     Lord why doesn't it come naturally to love them like it does with others?  How can you use me when I am so selfish?  I am so undeserving of your love but please don't give up on me. 

Sunday Service

     I know it is already Thursday but I wanted to post about second service on Sunday.  Wow!  I thought it was really good.  He talked about forgiveness and suffering and perspective.  He talked about the suffering in other countries and how, although it might be hard to understand why it's happening, we need to remember why sin first came into the world.  He talked about how we should keep a Godly perspective and remember that God has a purpose.  It made me think:  what if we were all suddenly put into the situation of living in a third world country with no idea where our next meal would come from.  What if we all had to build our own houses out of mud and make spears to protect ourselves?  Strange as it seems my first reaction to this was peace and joy.  I realized that I wouldn't have to worry about school or social obligations or committee stuff.  How wonderful that would be! 
     It really helped put things in perspective for me.  I realized how, in the long run, those things really are not important.  Thank you Lord!  Please help me to always put you first!

Insane or Not?

So there's this really cool race coming up on October 14. It's called the Tough Mudder and is the most insane/intense race ever. It's 10-12 miles long which I know I'm not up to running but this race is more about the obstacles. Its got 25 obstacles which include scaling a 12 foot wall (with the help of your teammates) running through dangling wires that shock you, jumping into a pool of water filled with ice, and so on.

It sounds insanely fun. Two problems though: (1) it's $150 plus gas, hotel, and food and (2) I would probably be the most out of shape person in our group and I don't want to ruin the trip for everyone else. I have been running inconsistently all summer but I really need to pick it up and it's less than a month away. I will have to do push ups so I can climb up this rope (one of the obstacles) and I will have to be able to run a lot farther than the 2 miles I have been doing every day. Plus it will be through mud so there will be the added weight caked on my shoes. So the last few days I have been running my 2 miles with 2.5 pound weights strapped to each ankle. The place I run is fairly hilly so that's good. I have been trying to do 25 push ups instead of 15 and I have added sit up to my routine. So I've been pretty sore but just trying to push through it. No pain no gain, right?

But I still really want to do it.

 

A Child's Prayer

     When I was little I used to pray to God that I would lose a limb or two in some kind of accident.   Not that I wanted to be handicapped but there are so many life changing stories about people who have lost limbs and glorified God through it.  I dreaded the pain and the loss of the ability to do fun things like snowboarding, football, and volley ball, but I wanted to serve God with everything I had.
     Now that I'm older I don't think that, that is God's plan for me any more.  Now I thank God daily that He gave me a healthy body capable of doing work.  God kept me whole so that He could use me.  I pray I can remember that I do not own myself but that I am God's.  I pray I can be a hard and willing worker for Him so that I can glorify Him.

ICC/Church/Plans

     Yesterday I had class until 3ish but had to take an online quiz, for which I still had quite a bit of studying to do.  All said and done I finished at around 6:15.  It was Wednesday so there was church... sort of... The AC church in Roanoke had some construction being done to it so they asked my Dad to give his testimony in their fellowship hall.  Roanoke is an hour drive from my house and ICCs downtown campus is around 20 min.  So if I would have driven home from ICC then left right away to go to Roanoke I would not have made it to church (which started at 7:15) on time.  So I left straight from ICC and had my parents bring me a skirt.
    No matter how many times I hear Dad's story I will never get tire of it.  As a kid it was an adventure story and something to brag about:  MY Dad lived in Romania!  MY Dad road under a train to cross a boarder without getting caught!  As I get older though I have learned to appreciate God's involvement in his life. 
     Afterwards I stood around and talked with different people.  I got to see Abby Moser again.  She is the sweetest, most down to earth, coolest girl ever.  She is 16 and goes to Roanoke.  With like 7 or so brothers and no sister she grew up a tom-boy.  She likes to shoot guns for fun.  She is going to take the hunter's safety course so she can get her hunting license and hunt this season.  I still need to do that before I can go hunting.  Oh yeah, did I mention that I got a bow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  So we decided that we both need to shoot our first deer this year.
     Anyway she is the other girl who I am planning a three day hiking trip in Colorado with.  I am going to take a group of girls to Colorado to hike the mountains with nothing but a bunch of backpacks.  We will sleep two nights on the mountain.  I CAN'T WAITE!!!!!!!!!  I have never been backpacking before.  Sad as it is this is probably the most independent thing I've ever done.  I've gotten mixed reactions about the idea of me taking a group of mostly younger girls all the way out to Colorado.  I have been told that I need to find an adult to come.  I am absolutely apposed to the idea of giving the reins of this trip over to someone else!  But my parents, strangely enough, are completely confident in me.  I am confident in me too so I am going for it. 

School

First day of school! I'm actually pretty excited. I've had a wonderfully blessed morning. I feel prepared. Plus I only have one class today and this is the title for the book we are using: Crafts and Creative Media in Therapy. Sounds fun right!

Sunday

     What a good day! I was really blessed by the sermons.  I was pretty convicted by the verse in 1 Timoty 4 that goes:  "For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come."  This is verse 8.  I've been trying to run daily.  I'm gunna try and commit it to memory so I can remember to always make God my #1 priority.  Just after church I went to play frisbee. =)  But what a good group!  I feel so blessed to be in such a good group of young people who truly want to serve God.  They have been a wonderful example to me even while playing frisbee.  I have grown so much in God because of it.  I don't know if I'll ever get to thank them for it but I pray that I can always be there for them if they need me and that I can help someone else the same way they are helping me.
     After that me and Dad went to Presleys to get me my first bow!  They were closed. =(  Oh well. We might go later this evening.

Needles

     I just got back from getting the last in a long series of shots I needed to be in the OTA program.  All said and done I have had one shot in each shoulder, one shot in each forearm, and blood drawn once. 
     In the midst of all this my dermatologist drew blood... again... for no apparent reason but charged me $70 dollars for it.  They left me with a bruised up arm too.  Shortly after that I donated blood.  I had the satisfaction of getting a sympathetic gasp from the person prepping me when she saw the bruises.  Then, when she had me all ready to donate, she goes to put the needle in my arm and completely misses the vein.  She dug around until she found it.  That one hurt way worse that the one I got the bruises from and I didn't even get a bruise from it.  The woman who had put the needle in was arguing with her coworkers the whole time and ended up scolding me for not calling in about the fact I had been to Mexico, thus wasting her time since she had to check and see if I could still donate.  I thought it was unprofessional especially seeing that they had called me to ask if I could donate.  I thought I was doing them a favor!  Oh well.  Anyway thank goodness I'm not afraid of needles.

Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall

     The spring of 2012 I took my first semester of college at ICC.  I started classes just in time to be able to go on the ICC/BU young group's mission trip to Texas over spring break.  The trip was amazing.  It was wonderful to wake up early every day and have my only goal be to serve God wholeheartedly.  Being one of the youngest ones there I was able to learn a lot from everyone else on the trip.  I really got to know everyone very well and made some lasting friendships.
     When I got home I had "mission trip withdraw."  I sat in Rebekah's room and cried for half an hour while she was sweet enough to listen and comfort me, telling me it was completely normal on your first mission trip. 
     Even though the theme of the trip had nothing to do with this, the way the focus was so completely on God the whole time compelled me to take the mirror out of my room.  I continued to grow spiritually.  Then on July 1, 2012 my sister was married and I moved into her old room.  She had a mirror in it and I didn't take it out.  I began to sink.  I was more and more focused on myself and how I could improve myself.  I slacked in my devotions until I pretty much stopped altogether.  When I prayed I felt fake.  I did not feel God listening.  I was alone and depressed, reaching for a perfect outward appearance rather than a heart that is beautiful in God's eyes.
     One day I went for a walk and it occurred to me that God was telling me that the mirror had to go and until it did He was planning on withholding His perfect peace from me.  I turned right around and took the mirror out.  I immediately felt at peace.  The first thing I did after that was grab my Bible and continue my walk but this time in order to find a good place to have a devotion.
     I don't know how to thank God enough for taking the time to know me.  He knows that I cannot handle having a mirror in my room and He loves me enough to tell me to take it out.

Singing

God didn't blees me with a beautiful voice, but He knows that.  I pray that I can give every bit of it whole heartedly back to him.  Every sour note that escapes my lips I pray will glorify Him.  And I pray that I can remain greatful that I can utter a note at all.

Decisions

Back when my friends and I first started noticing guys it was our main conversation.  In fact every time there was a pause in a conversation we would say, "Sooo... Who does every body like...?”  I don't remember exactly who started this quote but it stuck for a long time and was repeated constantly.  I never admitted to liking anyone and can say with almost complete confidence that it was because I stayed emotionally objective for the most part.  In order to have a clear conscious, though, I must admit that as a freshman in high school I did like one guy from Illini Bluffs, but I blame this on being young and stupid.  But he never noticed me, thank goodness, so that died pretty quickly.

 The reason I was able to keep myself from falling in love was the voice I had in the back of my head that always reminded me that I wasn’t good enough; that I wasn’t pretty enough.  With the expectations of the church and my family being that I grow up, get married, have kids, then eventually die, this was an issue.  After a while I realized that I actually do have the option of not getting married and, although this life didn’t seem very appealing, it was manageable.  But that still didn’t keep me from thinking about marriage whenever I was around my friends or whenever I saw a handsome guy with good character.  Then I would remind myself that he deserves someone better and try to be content with my self-inflicted solitary future.  But the emotional stress of the self-pity was tiring.  So one night, when I had had enough, the thought popped into my head that this wasn’t my decision at all and that my plans for my future could be in conflict with God’s and, in fact, inhibiting his ability to work through me.  So I decided to give that decision over to him and, even though I was still young and didn’t necessarily understand all that that decision meant, I was immediately filled with a spectacular peace.  It was like I could hear God saying, “Yes Anni!  Thank you so much.  I will take care of you! Thank you!”  And although I sometimes forget this decision, it still gives me peace and encouragement to remember that God’s watching over me.

Psalms 27: 1-3

"The Lord is my light and my salvation,
    Who shall I fear?
The Lord is the strength of my life,
    Of whom shall I be afraid?
When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh they stumbled  and fell.
Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear.
Though war shall rise against me, in this will I be confident."