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My name is Steph, and I am a junior at Penn State University. I turned 21 on March 19. I am originally from Johnstown, PA, which is about an hour and a half away from State College. The majority of my family is still back in Johnstown... it is really good to go back and spend time with them over my breaks from school, but they are my only real ties to Johnstown anymore.

The most important and driving force of my life is my relationship with Jesus Christ, who I fell in love with only less than 2 years ago.

I could really write a novel about my testimony and all of the things that Jesus has done in my life, but I will say that my life for the past two years has been one amazing adventure, one that has involved God revealing to me the most wonderful life-changing truths, leading me to so many INCREDIBLE people, and opening my eyes to the fallen world that we live in.

If you want to know more, here is a link to a bit about my personal testimony.

A few of my life verses are:

"But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)

"You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world." (1 John 4:4)

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." (John 10:10)

"Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." (Lamentations 3:21-23)

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." (Joshua 1:9)

Here's a link to a GREAT song that I listened to a lot when I was first discovering what it meant to follow Christ. :-)

I am very involved with the Navigators ministry at Penn State... Friday night Nav nights (and hanging out with people afterward) are the highlight of every week. :-) I am part of 'OAKS' (our name for our Bible leadership team) this year, and I lead a freshman Bible study. God's done a lot of stretching in me this year in showing me how to become more of a leader for Him, as opposed to just a passive learner. I spent the past summer in Colorado Springs at a summer training program called NCP, which was without question, the best experience of my life. I've started to really consider the possibility of God leading me to do Edge Corp (a two-year internship, where you are basically trained as a Nav staff member) when I graduate from college, but who knows, in a few years?

I am a huge people person, and I TREASURE the people in my life. I still haven't decided if I'm really an extrovert or an introvert, haha, but I am definitely energized by people. I absolutely love hanging out with my friends at Penn State... SO many good times and memories. :-)

As a college student, I am double majoring in early childhood education and elementary education because I just adore kids and have found a passion for teaching, but I honestly don't know what exactly it is that I want to do with the rest of my life.

Children are just amazing. :-) My cousin has a two-year-old son, Cody, who I am just in love with. It has been amazing to watch him grow and learn over the past two years and to see how much he has changed every time I go home for a break from school. I have some pictures of him up on my site. :)

I worked in a day care center the summer after my freshman year of college, I coached gymnastics in high school, and I've done some babysitting. I've gotten a bit of experience within my major, but not too much yet. I am thinking of student teaching in England, the fall after my senior year.

Another passion of mine is music. I've never played an instrument and am not extremely comfortable with singing in front of people, but for as long as I can remember, I have always had a love for music. In my gymnastics days, I loved choreographing routines to music, which is probably the way that I've been able to use that love the most. And I always tell my friends to not let me go into the music section at Wal-Mart because I will inevitably buy something (I've gotten much better with this though :P).

There is nothing like music; it can take you back to past times, it can make you want to dance, it can make you feel better when you're feeling down, it can inspire you in so many ways, it transcends language, it just plain makes you feel good. A good quote that I found once is "The beauty of music is that everyone hears it their own way." Have you ever heard a song and it just strikes something in you that you can't explain? Or have you ever heard a song that you haven't heard in years, and it just brings back a flood of emotion? That's something that only music can do to you. One of the ways that I've learned to let God speak to me the most is through music.

I'll listen to a lot of different kinds of music, but I am in love with guitars and great voices. :-)

Since becoming a Christian, I have fallen in love with bands like Third Day, Jars of Clay, and Caedmon's Call... I listen to these bands a lot. I've been listening to John Mayer and Matchbox 20 a lot this past semester. I've also developed a fondness for country music (not all of it, but some of it)... I can thank my good friend Karissa for this. :) I really like some older stuff, like from the Beatles and Paul McCartney, Fleetwood Mac, and James Taylor. I am also a really big fan of "movie music," like the instrumental scores that are composed just for movies. I just recently really got into Lord of the Rings, and I LOVE the music in this movie... I highly recommend the soundtrack. James Horner is also a favorite - he composed the music for movies such as Legends of the Fall, Titanic, and Braveheart.

Just some other things that I love :-) :

-being with friends, being outside, going for long walks, gymnastics, dancing, deep conversations, laughing, traveling, staying up late and sleeping in, writing, reading, cats, pictures, scrapbooking, driving to nowhere, good movies...