Who Knew?

   It's crazy to think that I would've been out on my mission for almost 4 months now if I had gone! My life sure took a turn. The Lord works in mysterious ways. I never would've thought that I would be one of those people to get their mission call and then decide to get married instead.

   I guess you're all wondering how Brooks proposed, so I'll tell you! It was so sweet, and very well thought out. It was on November 20th, which was the day that marked a year since we've been in a relationship. He told me he was planning on taking me out, and told me that he would pick me up at 6 that day. But to my surprise, it was actually my cousin Noelle who picked me up! She had a list of clues written by him that took me to certain places that held memories. Each place we got to had a note that Brooks left that talked briefly about that specific memory. Then at the last place, a park, Noelle left and Brooks met me there (poor guy was freezing waiting for me to come--it was in the teens that night!) and took me to a pavilion. He had decorated it with candles and made it look so beautiful! He handed me note saying:

Well here we are.
A place that doesn't hold too many memories but hopefully will.

After I read that, he gave me another note that said:

Roses are red, violets are blue

I'm on one knee and asking you...

   I of course was ecstatic when I turned to look at him and watched him get down on one knee! And that was when he asked me to be his forever--to marry him. And I said yes.

   I can't believe it's already been a year since we have been in a relationship! And I'm so excited for many more years to come. It's been a long journey of doing long-distance for 5 months (and currently am and will be doing 3-4 more until we're married), and struggling to figure out what my path was (going on a mission or getting married), but it's all worth it. I'm so excited to be marrying the love of my life (I know it sounds sappy, but it's true) and starting a new chapter!

   Let me share a brief summary of how it all came to be:

I wasn’t even planning on coming to BYU-Idaho. I wanted to go to Provo. But, to my great displeasure, I didn’t get accepted there. So, naturally, I chose the “second best” (which I now believe to actually be most definitely the best of the best) and came to BYU-I.

I lived in Barnes 260, with my cousin and two other awesome girls. We all immediately clicked, and became best friends. We went to church together, and found out we were in the 33^rd ward. Later, we found out our FHE groups, and I absolutely loved it. It actually felt like a family. And there was one person who caught my attention. Yeah, I liked him.

I spent time at this guy’s apartment quite a bit. And eventually we started a relationship. I found out that my first semester there was his first time being there off-track (he had winter-spring and I had fall-spring), and later I found out that he came here during that semester for certain reasons. Some of which didn't quite go as he had planned, which is okay, because he found me as his other plans fell through.

  

As I was going through this relationship, I was planning on serving a mission. However, hesitations arose. I went home in winter semester and made the decision to serve, started on my papers, and received my mission call in spring. But then, out of nowhere, at the end of that semester, I got very sick with mono and tonsillitis. I had surgery, in which the recovery for that plus mono would postpone my mission. Little did I know I would be doing more than just postponing.

  

Looking back on everything that got us to this point, one could say it was all just a coincidence. But I like to think that it was all meant to be. I came to BYU-I when I wasn’t even planning on it, he came for fall semester for the first time, some of his plans didn’t work out, which led us to our relationship, we were not only in the same ward, but in the same FHE group, and I got mono, which kept me from leaving on a mission when I was originally called to leave.

And look where I am now.

I’m getting married!!!

Back to School!

   Well, as all of you know, I'm back at BYU-I! And I'm so glad to be back! It's nearing the end of the second week of school and it's going great. I'm taking 5 classes, and one of them starts in the second half of the semester, so right now I only have two classes a day. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I'm done with class at 12:30, and on Tuesday and Thursday, I'm done at 11:15. Also, Brooks works night shifts which are usually from 11:30 p.m. to around 8 a.m., so he sleeps till 4 in the afternoon, so it gives me plenty of time to just sit down and finish my homework. Then when he wakes up I spend the rest of my day with him. It's a great schedule that I've got going on.
   Oh I got a new laptop!! It's my high school graduation present, and the reason I didn't have one before is because I was originally planning on serving a mission. But because plans have changed, and the school stopped doing laptop rentals, and it can be difficult doing things from the library, my parents ordered a laptop and had it shipped to me. And I am very much enjoying having my own laptop!
   Not much going on right now, but life is good. :)

Happy July

   Alright, let's get this started.
   At the beginning of this month, I woke up one day with puffy eyes. No biggie. But then it lasted for a whole week and I had no idea why. Was it an allergic reaction? Was it all of my lack of sleep suddenly catching up to me? What the heck was it? By the end of that week I had a fever, and then I got a sore throat. It was pretty bad, but I didn't think much of it--I thought it would be over in a few days as usual. Boy was I wrong. I went to the doctor and he told me it could be mono but didn't test me for it, because if it's tested for too early, it will usually come out negative. He prescribed me some steroids to help with the swelling for my throat and some antibiotics. That day and two days after, I took the medicine, but it didn't seem to be helping at all. In fact, the symptoms seemed to be getting worse. I think by then my fever was gone, but my throat got so swollen you could see it just from looking at my neck. I could barely eat, drink, or even talk. I had a hard time sleeping because it was hard to breathe while laying down. And I was almost completely sure I had mono, too, because I was showing every sign for it. So that week, I went to the doctor again because I was obviously not getting better. I was so dehydrated that they had to hook me up to an IV. The doctor tested me for mono, and sure enough, I have it. She prescribed me other medicine and told me that I was actually very close to needing to go to the hospital. Before she let me go, she asked me if I felt okay enough to go home, or if I thought I should go to the hospital. I decided to go home, tried to eat, but the only thing I could get down was liquid, and even that was almost impossible. That evening, I was debating whether I should have the doctor admit me to the hospital or not. I ended up going back to the doctor (thanks, Mom, for telling me to go) and they admitted me. So I went to the hospital, they put an IV in me, and had the doctor come check up on me.
   And guess what?
   Not only did I have pretty bad mono, but I had severe tonsillitis as well. Actually it was life-threatening. Usually when the tonsils swell, they get big and whatever, but mine were so big that they were pushing against each other and nearly blocking my airway. I didn't realize how bad things actually were! I had an emergency tonsillectomy that night, and man, recovering from that and dealing with mono is just flat-out stupid. Fun fact: the doctor said he hasn't seen tonsils as big as mine in years, and the anesthesiologist says he's never seen tonsils as bad or big as mine. Cool beans. Also, I had abscess behind my tonsils, which, I can't exactly remember what it is, but it's some sort of really bad infection that would not have gone away if they didn't take out my tonsils and get rid of it.
   The month is almost over, but my recovery from surgery is almost over, too! I can eat pretty much anything now (except I still can't eat things that are too hard or scratchy, like chips...or oreos...), I can almost talk normal again, and I'm finally able to sleep through the night without waking up.
   I'll be honest, this is definitely the hardest physical trial I've ever been through, but I couldn't be more grateful for it, and for the doctors that helped me get better, and for my family and friends who supported me through it. I'm alive and doing well, and am extra grateful for food (a few weeks with limitations on what you can eat does that to you).
   So, happy July!

Called to Serve

"Dear Sister Jacobson:
You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Arizona Gilbert Mission. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 18 months.
You should report to the Provo Missionary Training Center on Wednesday, September 2, 2015. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the English language."

   It's so crazy that I have my call and that this is where the Lord wants me to go. I'm so excited!
   As many of you know, I was set on going on a mission years ago, so it seems like this may have been an easy choice for me. But as the time grew closer to when I should start working on my mission papers, things became a lot more real for me, and I started hesitating. The decision to go on a mission was a much, much harder journey for me than I had anticipated.
   I first started debating with myself while I was in college during fall semester. When I came home for the winter semester, I knew I had a lot of thinking to do. I started thinking about the pros of going, and decided that a mission is the better thing for me to do in my life at this point. I started working on my mission papers and became very excited, because it was becoming so real. But even after telling myself I was going to go, I kept doubting for so long, even though I knew it would be a good choice. After more searching and praying, I decided again that I was going, but this time was wondering if I was even going for the right reasons. Was I going for myself or for the Lord? I started to wonder if my desires to go were only for my own benefits and growth. I pondered even more, fasted, and prayed. I met with my stake president for one of the final steps of completing my mission papers, and I talked to my mom as well. After council from them, I was beginning to feel a sense of peace in my decision. I kept searching for a more clear answer and came across an email that I printed off. It was an email that I wrote to Cody while he was on his mission in the summer of 2014. In that email, I talked about my excitement for my mission and why I wanted to go. And they are the reasons I want to go now. I want to go because I want to serve the Lord. I want to go because the gospel has brought me so much joy, and I can tell a difference in lives of people who have it and in those who don't, and I want to bring people that happiness.
   My decision to serve a mission was a long and hard process, full of ups and downs and re-making my decision at least 10 different times, but I know I'm doing the right thing, and I couldn't be more grateful for this call.
   Arizona here I come!!

There Can't Be Just One Title For This Much Stuff...

   Alright. So obviously I'm horrible at keeping up with my own life on here. So to save you from viewing a super long post, I'm only going to post stuff from since I've been home from college for winter semester. I've been going to BYU-I and am on the fall/spring track, so that means I've been home since January, and second semester classes start on April 20th. If you want to see my college life from fall semester, just Facebook stalk me.

   So anyway, since I've been home, a lot of stuff has happened, yet a lot of nothing has happened at the same time. I went back to work at Chick-fil-a, took an online class (never again will I take another online class), and had a lot of time to think about my decision to serve a mission. I'll save a post for later about my choice to go on a mission.
   It's been a lot of fun being home, but I've come to realize that it's not quite the same living at home after living at college. Just working at Chick-fil-a and having "homework", which was just my online class, was like going back to my "normal" life, or rather, my pre-college life. It's been fun being home again, but it's been a little hard as well, because living independently at college is a very new and exciting thing. I also miss my roommates, because they were the perfect roommates to start college with, and it's hard knowing that I'll be rooming with new people in spring. And also it's really hard being away from--dare I say it--my boyfriend (it still feels weird saying those two words). But, there has been a lot to look forward to while I've been home.
   In February, Jeffrey and Debbie stayed with us for almost a month. It was so much fun having a change in the house with all the kids being around, and it was great being able to spend time with Jeffrey and Debbie. Then they left about a week before March, and in that week, Mom and I went to San Antonio to take care of David and Sammy's kids while they went to Universal Studios (Harry Potter World!!!). What a week! What a month! A whole month of being around kids! It was tiring at times, but so fun.

This is what we do when the couples are out on Valentine's day.

San Antonio time!

   Then March came around, and it snowed. In Texas, in March, it snowed. But it was fun! Unfortunately it melted by the end of the day. Figures.

   A week before Easter, Jeffrey and Debbie came up and their kids had an Easter egg hunt. These pics are too adorable. (photo cred: Mom)

   Ah, the month of April. Which means April Fool's day. On this day, I had to work at 6 in the morning, meaning I had to get up before then to get ready. But, to my surprise, someone took out all the lightbulbs in the bathroom where I get ready. What an awesome joke at 5 in the morning. I commend you, Mom and Dad.

   Well, that concludes my post for now. I plan on [hopefully] posting maybe at least once a month while I'm at college in the Spring.
   Love life, be happy, choose the right, and other motivating life things! :)