This is my 70th blog...its finally done!!! hahah like i have said previously i have enjoyed this semester of college greatly and have had a wonderful time. I have enjoyed this english class and this whole blogging experience very much. This blogging experience has been fun because i have had the liberty to say whatever and express whatever i want to however i want to do it.

I am so tired of people saying stuff about Cam Newton. Most people hav eno idea what they are talking about and need to keep his mouth shut. I dont care what he did...that doesnt change his athletic ability and he does deserve the championship(SEC and National). His moral standards have been questioned but there is no evidence that he ever wanted money or recieved any. Cam Newton is awesome. End of story.

I took a math test today and during the test my phone dropped out of my lap and fell on the floor. well the whole front screen got scratched...yeah im not too happy..and i dont think that they make a protective cover fo rmyt phone...greaaaaaaaaat..dad is gonna be like "I told you so" ...haha awesomeee

So every year my family goes to this christmas tree farm and gets a 14ft tree to put in our living room. this year my boyfriend came with us and so did another family and it was really fun. i loved having all of them here to decorate the trees and eat dinner with us. it was one of those times that i will never forget

so my dog has horrible gas. i have an english bull dog named charlie and oh my goodness he has HORRIBLE gas. So this is a WARNING!! IF YOU GET AN ENGLISH BULL DOG...THINK FIRST IF YOU WANT TO DEAL WITH THE HORRIFIC ODOR THAT COMES OUT OF THEIR BACK END AFTER THEY EAT. im just saying this to warn all of you...and to get 70 blog posts. :)

it really bothers me when people dont come to church or dont dont do things that they have committed to do because they have school...i feel like complaining for just a second...like its ridiculous that people break commitments because they have a test or paper...usually the person knows abt the paper waaay in advance at least a few days in advance and they couldve done it earlier...idk im annoyed right now..haha

my mom just made sugar cookies...ahhhh i dont need them but they smell soooo good...this is just sinful...why do things like cookies have to be fattening..but then nasty stuff like celery have to be good for you....this will be a question i ask when i get to heaven...

i really hate when like you think you only have this one thing to do and THEN you realize that you have a thousand other things you HAVE to do that day or ELSE...yeah this has been one of those days. i completely forgot today was the 7th and realized that i needed my blogs done, my paper done, and my math lab done...anddddd i gotta study for finallsss..yayyyy...well its my fault...i just felt like complaining

i have very much enjoyed this semester of college. i love college very very much and dont miss highschool at all. the ONLY thing i miss is basketball...sort of..hahah but i have very much enjoyed myself this semester and am excited to see how the rest of my college career goes. i cant waiiiitttt

5 alternate alternate blog names

1. Ashleys Thoughts
2. On the Road Again
3. Thinking With Ashley
4. Ashanator
5. Miracle on Ashley Street

ill admit it..im a shopaholic. I buy so many things and its ridiculous. It really is. i am waaay to frivilous with my money and its bad. i need to save my money and spend it on maybe someone else...or do somehting actually productive with it instead of buying something for myself

so i dont know what i think about parents being on facebook. i mean i dont have anything to hide from them on facebook but i dont know...it just seems weird that the "older" people are playing farmville and doing all the facebook quizzes and such. Idk i think facebook started off for younger people but now has turned into a highschool reunion for the class of 1980

Without technology i dont really know what i would do...which is sad. I have begun to rely so much on technology that i have thought about taking a fast from it and see what life would be like without technology every single day. It may be weird and i may get stressed but i think it would be good to see how much i have relied on technology and see where i need to rethink my priorities.

So i was looking on the internet to find blog topics to write about and one of the writing prompts was to write about looking for writing prompts..haha pretty funny...but i have found it difficult to find topics to write about this semester...i dont know, i thought that it would be pretty difficult but it has been challenging...but i like a good challenge

Mission Trip Letter

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits,

who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases,

who redeems your life from the pit,

who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,

who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

Psalm 103:2-5

Ashley Hostetter

12510 County Road 45

Tuskegee, AL 36083

During my first semester of college I have enjoyed being able to get involved with the Baptist College Ministry at AUM.  I have had the awesome opportunity to help lead worship on Monday nights at what we call Resonate and now I have the opportunity to go on a mission trip with this ministry. We will be going to Alaska on March 11^th through March 19^th, 2011. We will be feeding the homeless, shoveling snow, helping on a Habitat for Humanity home, serving children at a Boys and Girls club, and will be able to minister to the people there.  

            The Pew Research Center recently released a finding that Alaska is the LEAST religious state in the United States. In addition to the cities and towns, there are about 200 villages in Alaska. Most of these can only be reached by airplane and sometimes by boat. Very few of these villages have healthy gatherings of believers. Our goal on this trip is to help the people of Alaska physically but also help them spiritually.

I am writing this to ask you to pray about two things:

1.      I ask you to please pray for me and the team as we prepare and go to Alaska. Please pray that the Lord will prepare our hearts and minds for what He wants us to do and that He will lead the way. Pray that we will humble ourselves and put these people before our own comforts and needs. Pray that our actions will show the love of Jesus and that the people will see Jesus, not us.  I thank you in advance for your prayers.

2.      I also ask you to pray about making a financial contribution. The total cost of the trip is $1000 and I do need help raising this money. Any contributions given will go towards my travel expenses and lodging in Alaska. If you feel God leading you to make a donation you can send the check to me but please make it out to Baptist College Ministry. All donations will be tax deductible as well.  Any amount of money that is given will be a huge blessing and greatly appreciated.

Thank you for praying about these matters and I can’t wait to share with you how the Lord moves. I am excited to see how He will use me and the team to minister to the people of Alaska. 

so this song posted previously is a song i am singing on sunday night for this drama we are doing at church. it is a good reminder what christmas is really all about and why we are actually celebrating. its not because of the gifts and santa but because Jesus Christ came down to earth and saved us from our sins by dieing on the cross.

As little children we'd dream of Christmas morn
And all the gifts and toys we knew we’d find
But we never realized a baby born one blessed night
Gave us the greatest gift of our lives

We are the reason that He gave His life
We were the reason that He suffered and died
To a world that was lost He gave all He could give
To show us the reason to live

As the years went by we learned more of our gifts
The giving of ourselves and what that means
On a dark and cloudy day a man hung crying in the rain
Because of love
Because of love

*Chorus

I finally found the reason for living
It’s in giving every part of my heart to Him (every part to Him)
And all that I do every word that I say (you know I’ll be saying)
I will give all my life just for Him, just for Him (every thing for Him)

We are the reason that He gave His life
We are the reason that He suffered and died
To a world that was lost He gave all He could give (all that he could give all)
To show us the reason to live

Today i studied for biology and then i went to biology..and then i went to sociology and he let us out 50 minutes earlyyy!! and tonight for dinner i am having camp stew and watching Miracle on 34th street:) its gonna be a good night

So this whole thinking of things to blog about so that i can have 70 blog entries isssss not fun. yes i shouldve done this earlier...dang..haha but anywayss...hopefully tonight i will go eat at buffalo wild wings and then go home and study for biology somemore..then wednesday i gotta go to work and then once i get off work i will study even mroe for biology ..but now im going to math..see you later

Anxiety

“Do not be anxious about anything. Instead, in every situation, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, tell your requests to God” (Philippians 4:6). Anxiety is one of the most common emotions in people. This emotion causes the body to change and react to circumstances in different ways. This is what our group decided to test; the anxiety levels of people. We thought it would be interesting to see how subconsciously anxious people would get when different people would come into the room and sit beside them.

For our group’s project we chose to test people’s anxiety levels. People get anxious about almost anything and we decided to look at how anxious a person got when the same gender, opposite gender, and an authority figure came into the room and sat beside the person we tested. We thought that it would be interesting to see when a person got the most anxious. Our idea was that a person would get the most anxious when the opposite gender walked in and/or the authority figure walked in.

To distract the people we were testing, we made them take a personality test on a computer. We used a Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) meter to measure their anxiety levels while the person took the test. Before taking the test, we put the GSR receptors on the index and middle finger of the test taker. These receptors pick up the skin conductivity and send it to the box they are connected to, to be translated into numbers. When a person’s anxiety goes up the numbers on the GSR fluctuate showing that the person has become more anxious. While they were taking the test, we sent in people in to sit beside them, acting like they were also working on the computer. We sent in the same gender, the opposite gender, and an authority figure each at different times. Every time one of those people would come in, we wrote down each number, and every time it changed. Also, we recorded the starting level and the ending level of the person we were testing. When the test was over we told the person what was actually going on and what the test was for.

The results of our test showed us what we were expecting to see. We expected higher anxiety responses when the subject was put in close contact with a person of the opposite gender or an authority figure while taking the personality test. Generally, we saw the subject becoming most anxious after a person of opposite gender sat down next to them and started working on a computer. An authority figure sitting next to the testing subject showed the next highest anxiety levels, and often a person of the same gender sitting next to them produced only slight anxiety levels. We detected anxiety in a person not only when the numbers spiked but most often when they fluctuated very quickly. With most of our test subject’s high anxiety was shown by extreme fluctuation, especially when the opposite gender and authority figure came in. The fluctuating numbers may have been lower than the original starting number however this does not mena a lack of anxiety but rather a lot of anxiety due to the fluctuation. Occasionally, other factors caused the testing subject to become anxious, such as waiting for the test results, or noticing that we were writing down readings from the GSR.

            The test resulted in this way because, as we predicted, teenagers become anxious around people of the opposite gender and around authority figures. They were more anxious around these groups than their own gender because teenagers tend to feel more comfortable around this group of people. They were still a little anxious around anyone no matter what because they were taking a test, which would make them a little more on edge. But naturally, not all of the test subjects fell into this pattern. Some subjects’ anxiety levels went down around authority figures and the opposite gender, or did not change drastically. This could be because they were either too absorbed in the test to notice, or they were comfortable anyway around these groups of people.

            These test results prove our original idea more than change it. We saw in the results what we had predicted to see when we designed the test. Though we did expect to see greater increases than we did in anxiety levels when authority figures and the opposite gender came in the room, the increase was still usually there, in some cases very pronounced. If we did the test again, we might have the people interact with the subject in different ways rather than just sitting still to see if more anxiety is produced. Overall, though, the test went very well.

I believe we got the results we did for several reasons. First of all, the people we tested were all adolescents. Adolescents are extremely susceptible to the opinion and presence of others, especially those of the opposite sex. At the ages of thirteen to eighteen (which was the age range within which we tested) teenagers are perceived as often times very nervous around their peers of the opposite sex and we proved this to be true. Teens are almost crippled by self awareness at this age, especially around the opposite sex which they are subtly trying to attract or please at this age. So, this showed up very prominently in our experiment because we proved that teens are more nervous around peers of the opposite sex.

Additionally we suspected that teens would be quite anxious around an authority figure who was in a close proximity to them. This was another true aspect of our experiment because during high school teachers are often seen as mean or intimidating and both of these views produce and anxious reaction. I think that the teens were most nervous around the authority figure because they expected to be told they were doing something wrong or to be judged by them. Not to mention they were doing an online quiz and so they had no idea if the teacher would correct them or tell them to get off the computer because that was a non school related quiz. These were all thoughts that we believe were going on in the students head consciously or subconsciously which made them anxious

A new aspect to our experiment that we discovered was that when the kids got confused, their anxiety levels went up. Sometimes we did not know why they were spiking but one girl provided an interesting theory. All of the sudden she said “Oh I’m so confused!” and her anxiety spiked. This led us to believe that student’s anxiety may have gone up when they were confused. This is just a theory however, and we did not officially test for it.

Through this project we saw that people’s anxiety levels go up when someone of authority came and sat beside them and a person of the opposite gender. Before we even did the test, our theory was that this would happen. This test showed us how people react to other people subconsciously, without even thinking that they are anxious. It was very interesting to see how the body reacts to different situations. This project showed the greatness of God in how our bodies react to situations without us even knowing it. God designed our bodies so perfectly, to do everything we needed them to, to survive, and his glory is revealed through something so small as this project.

Today i have a math test and its the last test of the semester. I think its going to be pretty easy...well i hope so...haha i wish i had done more of these blogs earlier...haha well lesson learned. After class i have to go and study for this ridiculous biology final that i have on thursday which is going to be sooo much fun..haha not...but supposedly he is going ot give us a study guide so that will be helpful...after biology i have sociology with Dr. Mulllins and today is his last day of teaching...hes retireing...and my class is his last class. pretty epic if you ask me..

So this morning i got up and had this craving for some warm starbucks coffee...well i had a little bit of money left on my aum card so i came up to the cafeteria and bought a caramel mocchiato. well it was disgusting..and you know that feeling that you get when youve wanted something so bad and when you get it its not what you had hoped for AT ALL...it kinda lets you down. well this kinda made me think about how much worth i put on worldly things..like coffee...that like its really sad when a cup of bad coffee ruins my morning...it just reminded me what is important in my life...and it shouldnt be a cup of coffee...

10 reasons i love christmas

1. its a time where family gets together
2. FOOD :)
3. Christmas songs
4. Decorations
5. The christmas tree
6. the cold weather that USAUALLY comes with it
7. The smell of christmas
8. giving gifts
9.not having schoool:)
10. my moms christmas villiage she sets up every year