Parents, New York, and the LAST Week

Hard to believe it’s been nearly a month since I last posted on here! Lots has happened J

The first weekend this month Dad and Mom came up to see me! They “kidnapped” me for the weekend, and we went camping outside of Asheville, NC. We did a lot of hiking that weekend, mostly to see waterfalls along the Blue Ridge Parkway. There are definitely some gorgeous ones!!!

It was really good to get to spend some time with my parents, and fun to get out and see some of the beauty of western North Carolina! On Friday before we headed out of Boone, I also got to introduce them to some of my co-workers and show them around the department a bit, so that was good too.

I’m not nearly doing that weekend justice….you can look at my Facebook photo album to see my pictures from it, and they have more description of what we did.

The next week (Aug. 5-10) was another adventure. The first two days I was at work, like normal. That Monday night the church small group that my hosts are part of went out together to do miniature golf. It was definitely the craziest putt putt course I’ve ever seen, up a steep hill! I somehow managed to win in our group of four.

On Wednesday, I headed out for my reporting trip to New York. Driving down to Charlotte I experienced thick fog for at least 30 minutes, which made for some tense driving. Then when I got to New York, I picked up my rental car and headed out to find my hotel. Which was also a driving adventure, because my directions were wrong, since the hotel was in an odd place. And it was NY driving, so that made it interesting in and of itself!

A few things I noticed: They evidently don’t believe in turn lanes or having an arrow in the light signal. People definitely use their horns a lot more. And there are just way too many people and cars. But I survived three days of driving there, so I consider that a success!

On Thursday morning I had breakfast with the SP staff and volunteers at their church headquarters. It was fun because the site managers were the same people who had been in Joplin, and the same videographer came out to cover the dedication.

I spent the day interviewing a few volunteers and watching them work on the two houses that were in process there. That evening, the owners of the house that would be dedicated the next day came to the church to be interviewed. It was really neat to get to hear their story, and so good to get to know them.

The next morning, they took the videographer and me out to show us around their little town. They had lots of stories to tell, since the house that Hurricane Sandy destroyed had been owned by their family all their lives.

That afternoon, around 100 people flooded their large yard to celebrate with them the dedication of the first house rebuilt by Samaritan’s Purse since the storm nine months ago. To read more about that, you can check out the article I wrote posted on the SP website!

As in Joplin, I was so blessed by everyone I interacted with. Since it is still early in the rebuild process in New York, I didn’t talk to as many homeowners. But the staff and volunteers again provided wonderful testimony to the work God is doing in and through them.

That Friday evening, after I had fellowshipped with the people at the church for a while, I went down to the beach to go wading in the ocean a bit. I had quite an adventure, as you can read in my previous blog post! God certainly provided J

The next day I guess I felt like I hadn’t had enough adventures, so I decided to drive up into Manhattan a bit to see more of NYC before I left, since I had been away from the main part of the city for most of my trip. Traffic was worse than I expected on a Saturday morning, and before long I was ready to leave the big city behind for a while. Barely made it to the airport in time, but again everything worked out.

Thankfully I had a day and a half to “recover” from my trip before heading back to work again. I was pretty apprehensive about how that Monday would go, because the Monday after my Joplin trip was tough and because the two days before my trip had been rough too. But on Sunday, God did some needed work on my heart, and He really turned my attitude around. You can read more about it on my spiritual blog, starting here.

So thanks to that, instead of being hard Monday was one of the best days. For the first time, I felt completely at peace with where I was. It was a huge blessing and an answer to many people’s prayers!

The next day came a conversation I had been expecting for a while. My supervisors informed me that they had an open position in the communications department, and asked if I would be interested in applying. Long story short, God continued working in my heart that week and the next to give me an increasing sense of peace with pursuing staying on at SP.

The job opening was posted on Friday, and I submitted my application on my last Monday. On my last day (Aug. 23), I had an “interview” with my supervisors. They let me know that they’ve got a couple other candidates they’re looking at, and I let them know that I would definitely love to join the team, if that’s what they think would be a good fit.

Since nothing was finalized yet, I said all my farewells and packed up all my stuff to fly back home the next day. And now I’m kind of just playing the waiting game….waiting to see whether God will open that door, or whether He has something else in store for me. While I’m not excited to just be waiting again, I’m glad to have some time at home. And I know God will continue faithfully leading J

(To read what I wrote for SP about the Joplin trip last month, check out the article here and my blog post for them here.)

Random thoughts, little update

I know, I do a bad job of keeping this updated...........This is partly because I more frequently use Facebook as a place to keep track of what's going on with my life. When I do have time to just write what I want to, I more frequently write about spiritual (more important) matters, and those posts go on my spiritual blog. I recently (well, in late November) did a seven-part series on there about what God taught me throughout 2011 - best year of my life in many ways :)

But, here's a not-so-spiritually-focused reflection on how my life is going...so it's on this blog ;-) (I know, I'm way too organized for my own good sometimes..........)

Random Thoughts (in no particular order)

1. My boys are still funny~~~I worked over Christmas break nannying. It's interesting to see how the boys are changing some as they grow up more.

• Brian is super good at Legos! He's determined and patient (most of the time) to complete his sets. Legos are nearly the only thing that would keep his attention for longer than about 15 minutes...... The other thing that does a decent job of keeping his interest is playing football in the front yard. We had fun doing that every day of the last week. The first day he saw me with my new hair cut (my hair's now a little shorter than shoulder-length) he said, "Is it just me, or did you get a hair cut??" Such a funny way of asking it :D
• Christopher is still cute :) The first day I was doing the "this little piggy" on his toes as I had done other times, and he remarked "Esther, you do funny things to me." Another day we were playing outside, and he picked up a stick. "This stick's going to watch us," he announced, and proceeded to place it carefully where we wouldn't step on it. Some other time during lunch he proceeded to make up a little song (some background is that they got cookie cutters in the shape of Star Wars "Tie fighters" to cut sandwich shapes): "Tie fighter, Tie fighter.....I eat my samwich {he still mispronounces it...} in a tree house because it has a table"...No idea where the last part came from :D He's also decided that playing restaurant is great fun. We did it for a couple hours each day the last week :)
• Both of them were sad I had to come back to college. I was telling Brian when I'd have to go back to school, and he asked when I'd be back. I told him I'd probably come see him during Spring Break, which is in March. "But that's a long time from now!" he moaned. Yes, I know bud. I'll miss you too.

2. Family is special~~~Not only was I able to spend time with my immediate family (Dad, Mom, Nathan), but we also made a trip up to NE for cousin Brad's wedding and saw most of Mom's immediate family. But we came home one short, since Nathan flew back to USAFA from Oklahoma City. And he most likely won't be coming back to Dallas until Thanksgiving. Which is sad :(

3. I love my friends~~~even if Nathan says it's silly that I say that to my girl friends.

• Mrs. S is my everything lady - she was my co-op teacher in high school, she's let me work for her for a super long time, we can sit and talk , I get to make cards with her - Teacher, Boss, Friend. I'm super grateful for her :)
• Courtney - even though I only get to see her when I'm in Dallas on breaks, it's always a joy to spend a couple of hours just talking together (usually at Starbucks :D). I'm also glad that we chat online once in a while.
• Sarah - she's an absolutely amazing friend :D This semester she's studying abroad, so I miss her A LOT. But the other day I got a sweet letter from her that made my week :) So thankful for her :)
• Jessica - my sweet roommate who willing puts up with me day-in and day-out :) We can laugh with each other, making fun of ourselves and what happens to us - or we can talk about serious things. I'm going to miss her when she graduates!
• Lynnette - she's one of those people who I know I can talk to about anything (as are most of my friends on this list....). We've had several adventures together - like walking all the way around the Dogwood Trail in a foot and a half of snow or going on a horseback ride out at New Life Ranch.
• Hannah and Laura - who formed the most terrific Honors Orientation mentor group ever! I'm thankful for and love both of them individually, but when you get the three of us together, you had better watch out! It was so a God-thing that they were "my" girls - I soon recognized that we would be good friends beyond the class :)
• Sojourn girls! - I love my hall!!!!! I've been in the same dorm room for three years now, and even though the hall does change some from semester to semester, it's a great place to live :D

4. Time is a weird thing~~~This is something I've really noticed in college. It works something like this: the days go fast, the weeks go slow (it takes forever to get to the weekend), the months run away, and the years simply fly. I'm 21 now. And yes, that's a rather scary thought. To celebrate that milestone, I {ok, you can quit holding your breath! I didn't do anything crazy!} wrote my first Christmas letter :)

5. God's got me~~~Over break I really wrestled with the question of whether or not to enroll in the IPJ program after I was accepted (If you don't know what this program is, ask and I'll be happy to explain - I just don't feel like typing it out right now). Part of me feels as though it's almost selfish to go and do something like that when there are other people who will be using their summers to serve overseas. But I have come to peace that this is what God wants me to do at this time - and yes, I am excited :D As Lynnette said, often times when we come to a cross-roads a lot of the growth process is choosing which path to go down - and the choice prepares us for travelling down the path. I still have a lot to learn, but I feel as though I'm listening a lot better now than I have in my life before. And I have faith and believe that God will continue working in and through me :)

6. New Year, new me~~~right? So also in honor of my first year as a 21-year-old, I made my first New Year's resolutions:

• Workout six days/week, for at least 30 minutes. So far so good on this one. Having swimming class twice a week and being expected to swim two hours outside of that certainly helps! (And no, I can't swim. That's why I'm in the class!) After last semester of barely working out at all, I can't run nearly as far/fast as I would like. But it's amazing how much variety I've had so far - I could do core, PT, bike, run, play intramural basketball (yes, I'm horrible), swim, etc. etc.
• Read for 30 minutes five days/week (outside of homework). Last year I was completely addicted to a TV show. I've had at least eight books sitting on my shelf for that same year that I've been wanting to read. I go to my church library and there are so many books I'd love to read! So I've quit my TV show cold turkey (no, it wasn't a fun decision) and made a point of reading. Some of the great books I've read so far?
  --Crazy Love
  --Discerning the Voice of God
  --Kisses from Katie
  All great books I highly recommend! :D I can tell this one's going to be a little tough as the semester gets busier. But I hope to keep it up!
• Write for 30 minutes five days/week (outside of school papers etc.). Even though I've done pretty well on this one, there are still more times than I can keep up with when something will get me thinking and reflecting. I feel as though I learn more from what happens to me when I write about it. Blogging, journaling, they both count - and I like them both :D

7. Yes, I'm busy~~~I'm taking 18 hours of classes (two of which require major chunks of time outside of class), writing and working as a page editor for the campus newspaper, serving as the CEF GNC ministry leader, working 10 hours/week as a TA for workstudy, and trying to keep my New Year's resolutions AND my sanity. Yep, I think I over-committed myself. As I've done before. Yep, you'd think I'd learn....but noooooo :P It's hard for me to admit this as a perfectionistic over-achiever who likes {or maybe did like} to be a perfect student.....but I'm beginning to realize that maybe busywork assignments aren't the very most important thing in the equation of my life. No, don't worry. I have plenty of the busybee honors student in me still to not fail my classes (I think). And I am still struggling some with how to balance doing well at my occupation right now (I am primarily a student after all!) AND investing in people which has so much more eternal significance. It's not easy, especially since I often tend to over-think things....

So...that's all I can think of right now....and I need to head for bed soon. So thanks for reading, and if you think of me I'd appreciate your prayers that I would 1. Keep my perspective on God, 2. Focus on listening for His call, and 3. Learn how to properly balance how I spend my time.

My Labor Day Weekend!

[If you want to hear about what I actually did for most of the weekend, go to this post on Nathan's blog. If you want to hear about the long process of how I got to Colorado Springs, this is the place to be!]

At JBU we don't have classes on Labor Day off. Last year I had stayed on campus, and there was basically no one around. But, it's so close to the beginning of school that it seems silly to go home. Anyhow, this year I had a much more interesting weekend! Labor Day weekend is Parents Weekend at USAFA (U.S. Air Force Academy - where Nathan is going to school!), so Dad and Mom drove up on Wednesday to spend the weekend with him. Nathan knew they were planning to come, of course. What he didn't know is that we'd been planning a surprise for him, even since before he left Dallas in June! The surprise? That I would fly to Colo. Sprgs. so I could join them for the weekend! :D

Anyway, one of my friends here at JBU lives in Colorado Springs, so when Dad and Mom and I came up with the idea I messaged her to see if maybe we could fly together! Her name is Cassie, and we were able to fly together - it was nice to not be by myself :) And, it made the surprise part much easier, because her parents could pick us up from the airport. We were able to find some reasonably priced tickets (flying into Denver instead of Colo. Sprgs.), but the flight that we had to pick wasn't the most convenient :/

On Friday (the 3rd) we both had class until 4:00, so we had to take the last flight package of the day from Tulsa to Denver. That made us go from Tulsa to Phoenix and then from Phoenix to Denver. Talk about the long way around! So we found a ride to Tulsa, since neither of us have a car. [Important note - we left JBU at 4:00 p.m. CentralST - remember that!] On Thursday I got really worried because I had seen that it took an hour and a half to get from JBU to Tulsa, and I didn't know what traffic or airport lines would be like, and our flight left at 6:20! But, that all worked out perfectly fine. I think we were sitting at our gate by 5:30, because it only took one hour to get to the airport. We eventually boarded our flight, which left on time, and that is when our adventures began! (Cassie and I had hoped to sit together, but there weren't any seats together when we boarded)

Our itinerary said that we would land at Phoenix at 6:50, and then we would have an hour lay-over until our flight to Denver left. I hadn't looked at a map recently to see just how far it was from Arkansas to Arizona. So I glibly thought our flight would be 30 minutes. 3o minutes into the flight, the pilot had just announced that we had reached cruising altitude, and the attendants were just starting to pass out drinks and such. I hadn't thought about the time change. Phoenix must be in MountainST. So it would be an hour and a half. No big deal. I changed my watch and settled back into my seat to get some reading done for school.

7:30 MST came around, and we had just started our descent. I started getting worried about then. Was our flight that much behind schedule???? Cassie and I had to catch a flight at 7:50! I even checked a map in the plane magazine to see if Arizona was in PacificST. It wasn't. We landed right at 7:50, and I was so sure we were going to miss our flight. We were in the back of the plane, and I knew there was no way we were going to get off that plane, find our gate, and get onto the next plane in time. Cassie tapped me on the shoulder and said "we are going to have to book it!" I checked my phone, and it said the time was 6:50. I did a double take, checked my MST-set watch, and then a light dawned. I told Cassie to check her phone. She did, and it said 6:50. Then I realized what had happened. Silly little AZ doesn't do Daylight Savings Time. So for half of the year, it is in MST. For the other half of the year, it is in PST. We weren't going to miss our flight. We had landed right on time and had an hour to relax.

So we got off the plane, got some food, and then lay across some seats talking. We also talked to this really cute little boy (about 6 or 7 years old I think) who wanted to tell us all about the kids show on the TV :) At 7:30 or so we headed over to our gate for our next flight. Our plane was a little late coming in from LAX. The people who had been on the plane got off, and then the boarding process started.....and then suddenly stopped. We had no idea what was going on, the line just wasn't moving at all.

After a few minutes, two girls (well, they were probably a couple years older than me) came off the plane and were standing against the wall complaining about someone being rude. A couple more people boarded the plane, and then the line stopped again while the guy doing the boarding went to the airplane and got someone for the girls to talk to. They were apparently complaining that a flight attendant had been rude to them (I still think they were taking advantage of the two situations with flight attendants that have happened recently), while the attendant was saying that the girls hadn't done what she asked them to do, or something like that. Anyway, those two girls did not get back on the plane. I think they were basically kicked off the flight. So because of all that, our flight was at least half an hour late when be finally pulled away from the gate at about 8:30 PST.

It had been announced that it would be a full flight, so Cassie and I knew we didn't have a chance of sitting together. When we saw that both front rows had an empty seat we immediately took them. So we were in the first row - which made it nice for getting off the plane! We finally landed in Denver at about 11:00 p.m. MST. Cassie's parents met us at the baggage claim area. We waited a while at the carousel that had our flight's info, and then it was announced that our flight's baggage was at a different one. So we finally got our stuff, and then we started driving to Colo. Sprgs.

Since I was trying to surprise Nathan by just showing up at the hotel where he was staying with Dad and Mom, I couldn't call to let them know the flight was late. They had all gone to bed at about 10 (I think) anyway. Mom called me at about 12:30 a.m. MST, and I told her then. A little before 1 a.m. MST, I finally got dropped off at the hotel. Mom had told me on Thursday what room number they would be in, so I went up and Mom let me in. Nathan was sound asleep, so I shook him awake. He looked at me and was like "hi" with his sleepy smile. Then his facial expression showed his mental realization of "wait a minute, what are you doing here???? You're supposed to be in AR!" It was funny :) So then we all got settled back down and went to sleep.

So it was 1 a.m. MST by the time I arrived at the hotel - 2 a.m. CST. TEN HOURS after we had left JBU. I was definitely tired, but it was SO worth it!

The trip back to JBU on Monday the 6th was much less eventful. There was a male flight attendant who used the safety briefing as an opportunity to show off his beatboxing skills - so that was funny :) We were able to take a direct flight from Denver to Tulsa, which was nice. Another girl who goes to JBU and has a boyfriend at USAFA flew back on the same flight as us (she had been able to get an earlier flight on Friday), so one of her friends tooks us from Tulsa back to JBU.

And that's the end of my long story :)

The last couple weeks of summer....

After our quick trip to Colorado for Nathan's Acceptance (into USAFA) Day parade (see these two posts on his blog to read about that) on August 2nd-4th, I nannied Christopher for one day and then they went on a family vacation. During the week they were gone (Aug. 9th-13), I was able to spend time with friends and put in 2-3 full days of work for Mrs. Stewart (my high school teacher - I'm her assistant when I'm in town), so that was really nice. I was also supposed to work on packing during that week. I think I did a bit, but not much. Oh, and before our Colorado trip I had taken Christopher back to the pool for a birthday party. That time I had my swimming suit on, so I was more willing to get wet - and so he did better than the first time I took him!

Anyway, the last week before coming back to JBU (Aug. 16-20) I nannied in the mornings, and one afternoon I think. I finally had both boys again, which made me happy :) I hadn't seen much of Brian for about five weeks, and I was missing him! (Mom kind of made fun of me for that - but I really do love those little guys!) During that week, we went back to the Museum of Nature and Science, and we also went to the Zoo again. On the other days, we would often go to the park and to Barnes & Noble. If I remember right, Brian asked me one time why I had to go back to college and why I couldn't keep coming over to spend time with him...but I promised him I would come see him when I'm in town :) Hopefully Christopher will remember who I am - I'm relatively sure he will.

On Saturday, August 21st, Dad and Mom and I packed up the van with all my *stuff* for college and headed out for a couple days of camping. We stayed at Devils Den State Park. The first night it was *really* hot and muggy, but the next morning we were able to get out early and do some hiking. We went on several *long* hikes, and in the afternoon we enjoyed some air conditioning at a place that had a beautiful over look and *lots* of hummingbird feeders! What's more, the owner of the gift shop had recently gotten a beautiful cockatoo, and I got to hold him! :D

Then on Monday the 23rd we came over to JBU and Dad and Mom helped me get moved into my room - the same room I had last year! My wonderful room mate Jessica arrived a little later in the afternoon, and we spent the next couple days arranging/unpacking.

And thus ended my wonderful summer at home - It's so odd living two different lives in a sense. I slip so easily from one to another now! I really haven't been homesick a bit...although I do miss Dad and Mom and Nathan and Bluebonnet. But at the same time I'm so glad to be back at JBU - it really is a second home.

Time Machine!!

Hope you all are ready for a marathon, because that’s what I’m going to try to do – to get you all caught up on the last month and a half! So hang on to your seats…here we go! [The brackets are comments made from outside the time machine, knowing what I know now :D]

Thursday, September 17
Worked on revising my essay for English Comp. which was due the next day. Also made a “map” of the block I had described for the assignment. Stayed up a little past midnight.

Friday, September 18
Turned in the “Map of a Block” essay…did our first day of in class reporting for News Writing, had a “library day” for OTS, and left for Breakaway at about 6.
This is Sarah – she and I are in a couple classes together and we sat together on the bus ride.
Breakaway is the yearly student retreat. We went to Camp War Eagle, about two hours away I think…east and north of here. We had a main speaker (one of the Student Ministries workers I think…not a student anymore) who talked about osmosis – being filled with Christ and then going and spreading Christ’s love to our culture. We also had smaller groups that we met in to discuss what we were hearing. My group was mostly girls who are now in my Passion group (the small campus Bible study groups). I had a runny nose all evening/night…not exactly fun (the second half of my cold had definitely caught up with me).

Saturday, September 19
Spent the whole day at Breakaway. Sadly, it was kind of cold and rainy. L Another girl and I were going on a walk in the morning and we saw these two deer!!! They weren’t very scared of us at all and we just got to watch them for several minutes before they left – it was fun!
We had another big session in the morning and also met with our “breakout groups,” a group of two or three small groups led by a faculty member from JBU. Then all afternoon was free time. Camp War Eagle is amazing…it has a rock climbing wall, miniature golf, shooting ranges, archery, a skate park, etc. etc. etc. etc….. It wasn’t all open while we were there, but I was definitely impressed! Like I said, it was rainy all day. If it hadn’t been raining and if I hadn’t been feeling lousy, I would have gone on the Blob.
That’s the Blob. :D
Instead, I took a nap, did a little homework, played some sand volleyball, and also played some a couple card games.
We had more sessions after dinner, then left Camp War Eagle at about 10:00 pm and I got to bed about midnight. I was definitely very tired.
Here’s a picture of my small group. All but one girl is in my Passion group.

Sunday, September 20
I spent the morning babysitting at a church. If I hadn’t been gone all day Saturday I would definitely have contacted the lady and told her I couldn’t go…I still had somewhat of a runny nose and a horrible headache. Another girl and I were taking care of seven 4 and 5 year olds if I remember correctly. They were pretty good and a couple of them were down right sweet. It was nice to be around little kids again, but it would have been even better if I had been feeling 100%!
I think I took a nap after I got back to my room. Don’t remember what happened the rest of the day. Oh wait…I had to work my four hour shift in the caf because I had been gone on Saturday.

Monday, September 21
Nothing special comes to mind…and my journal entry doesn’t help any.

Tuesday, September 22
I think this was the day when the chapel speaker was a former professor from JBU. He was basically telling his life story. He and his college sweet heart got married, but then she got Multiple Sclerosis. For a while, he, as he put it, “deserted” her at an emotional level. God worked in his heart though, and he is now very devoted to her. His wife is now confined to a reclined wheel chair, and he still takes care of her every day. I think she’s had MS for almost 30 years. It was really neat to hear his story.
Spent two hours reading newspapers in preparation for a news quiz we might have had the next day. Also spent two hours watching Battle Over Citizen Kane which I had to do for Mass Media…so I didn’t get as much other homework done as I would have liked. In English Comp. class that day we were talking about evil…it was quite an interesting discussion…all about predestination vs. free will etc.

Wednesday, September 23
Went running that morning – two miles in 20:43. I sent in an application for an outside scholarship [which I didn’t end up getting…], but didn’t get a whole lot of homework done. Worked that evening and had my first Passion meeting. The first couple weeks we took turns telling our testimonies so we could get to know each other better.

Thursday, September 24
Ran again that morning…and got a much better time! Two miles in 19:53, then another mile on the treadmill in 9:40. Got back my essay from Comp. class, and I got an A :D

Friday, September 25
MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!
Went running again that morning – I forget how far or what time. I had gotten several cards in the mail, so I decided to put them all on my door. I really should have gotten a picture, but I didn’t. L Oh well. Had my first college test – for Mass Media [I ended up with an A+ thanks to a few bonus points]. Dad and Mom and Nathan got here about half an hour before I had to go work in the caf…so we went out to grab a bite to eat at Arby’s, then they took me back to campus and went to set up camp while I worked. After work they came back to get me and they all got to see my room (since it was open dorm hours!). I don’t think we had a campfire that night…but I can’t remember for sure.
We camped at Natural Falls State Park in OK, the same park where we honors students had our cook out Labor Day weekend.

Saturday, September 26
A TERRIFIC RELAXING day!!!!!!!! Went for a walk with Dad after I got up, then went for a run with Nathan…4th day in a row of running…I hadn’t done that in a long time! We definitely had a cross-country style run…ran down a really steep hill and then Nathan expected me to run back up it!!!!!!! NO WAY. I walked up. At the end we tried to cross a creek across the trail and I got one shoe full of water……it was still fun and definitely worth it. We went about a mile and a half or so.
After breakfast I took my family down to see the water falls…they admitted later that when they got there Friday night and set up camp they were wondering why in the world I had wanted to go to that state park….and they’re right. There isn’t much at all to the park that’s easily visible. It’s once you hike down the trail a little bit and see the falls that you recognize the park’s beauty.

(by the way, that’s one of Nathan’s pictures…he got lots of really good ones!!!)

We went on several long walks that day in the park. I think we hiked every trail they have :D After lunch I opened my presents. Here’s what Nathan gave me:
That’s a picture of my budgie Bluebonnet. It’s already been kissed several several times :D
In the afternoon we went back to campus. Mom took a nap, Dad used my laptop, and Nathan tried to fix my bike…..the pedal had broken and we were trying to get it off in order to replace it. We couldn’t get it to budge though. [a couple weeks later one of the guys here was able to get the old pedal off easily using a better kind of tool, so I finally got my bike back].
We went to Braum’s and got some really yummy ice cream. That night we had a camp fire, cooked hot dogs and smores and enjoyed the stars and being out camping. It was GREAT!

Sunday, September 27
We all went to a church here in town together. For my Honors Orientation class, I had a group project coming up where we were supposed to learn about an assigned neighborhood. The church was in my neighborhood. Sarah (in the picture above from the bus ride) is in my small group for Honors Orientation, so she went with us. After church we went out for lunch at a restaurant in town. I had to work at 4, so I said farewell to my family. I was SO glad they had come :D (a picture of us all at the falls)
Work was pretty fun. For the first time I did a 4 hour shift without having to vacuum the whole place! I scanned people’s cards as they came in during dinner. After The Gathering (Sunday night student-led chapel) we had a little surprise birthday party for Brooke (the Resident Director of my dorm). A couple of the guy RA’s blindfolded her and made her get in a box which they then carried up the stairs….so here’s Brooke explaining it all to one of my hall mates and her sister.
And here’s me with my RA Steffi.

Monday, September 28
Didn’t get a whole lot done….was feeling a little overwhelmed with stuff that I needed to do.

Tuesday, September 29
Had a much better day – “Did pretty well on homework today and feel pretty happy about what I did” (quote from journal). Got to watch Up on the Quad that night – it was really really fun to see that!!!!!!!!

Wednesday, September 30
Got some laundry done that morning, ran about 1.75 miles (around the cemetery a couple times) and read some of Jack’s Life (a biography of C.S. Lewis) for Gateway while I waited. I love it when I “have” to read easy fun books for classes!!!! :D I was able to get quite a bit of homework done that day, so that was nice.

Thursday, October 1
Had a pretty busy day and didn’t get as much homework done as I probably would have liked. After chapel I was able to borrow a friend’s car so I could go to the local animal shelter. Our mid-term assignment for News Writing (due 10/26) was to write a feature story about a certain place, and my place was the animal shelter. So I spent about an hour there trying to get an idea for a story. I came up with two or three really good ideas that I was looking forward to writing about. [The people I needed to talk to for those ideas ended up being unwilling to talk to me…]
Took a nap before English Comp, and afterwards my group for Honors Orientation went to our neighborhood to walk around, talk to people, and learn about the area. We had three people in our group, Sarah, Taylor, and me. It went ok. I would have liked to talk to more people, but we talked to everyone we saw (only two people). It felt awkward enough to walk up to people and start asking questions…it would have been worse to knock on someone’s door. We ate dinner at a little Mexican fast food restaurant in the area.
That night I worked for quite a while on my essay that was due the next Monday in Mass Media. That’s also when I got my bike fixed.

Friday, October 2
That was a VERY long day…..I had classes from 10:00 am–5:00 pm with only one hour of break. That was because we had a special homecoming chapel, then I had a “Friday session” to go to for Gateway, then my four regular classes. I went running before all that and finally got back up to 3 miles (in 30:45!). I hadn’t been able to get myself to go three miles since I had gotten sick a couple weeks before.
That night I worked and then I packed for our English Comp. weekend field trip.

Saturday, October 3
I had to get up at 7 in order to get ready to leave for our field trip at 8. My teacher was half an hour late…but so was one of the students. The rest of us were waiting in the cold for half an hour, so we weren’t overly thrilled about that and the early hour. Once Dr. Himes got there all seven of us plus our luggage piled into the mini-van. That class only has seven students in it, but one of the girls couldn’t come.
After a three-four hour drive (during which we all slept quite a bit and I got some studying done) we got to Morrilton, AR, the first stop on our trip. We looked around at the train station turned museum there, as well as got a little tour of the town, visited a really really old cemetery and looked at the local library. The library had a pet hamster who rolls around in his ball all day – I found that hilarious! Then we went to Hattieville, where Dr. Hime’s mother was born and raised. His cousin now lives in his grandma’s old house. Here is a picture of Dr. Himes:
And here’s a picture of the class and Dr. Himes and Mrs. Beeson. She was the school teacher when Dr. Hime’s mom was in school.
We visited the local gas station/store, saw a little demonstration of how to grind corn, then went to the old (three room) school house. We ate dinner there around a campfire with most of the local folks, then Dr. Hime’s uncle and some other men played some bluegrass for us – it was lots of fun!
After everyone else left we sat around the campfire for a while. Then Dr. Hime’s cousin showed up to take us to a “haunted bridge.” It wasn’t really all that scary… We slept at the school house that night.

Sunday, October 4
We went to the local church that morning for Sunday school, then headed back to Siloam Springs. I slept part of the way but was also able to get some more studying done. Got back to campus at about 2:30. English Comp. is definitely my smallest class, and it was fun to have a weekend to get to know the other students better. One of the girls, Emily (wearing the turquoise shirt and standing on the left in the picture) live on the same floor I do and we often work together at the caf. She’s one of my best friends here :D Finished my Mass Media paper for the next day, then did my four hour shift at the caf.

Monday, October 5
Went running that morning – was able to go three miles again and had a really fast finish. I might have lost track and gone 3.1 miles…my time would seem to indicate that (I think it was about 31:30 or something). I went another .5 on the treadmill just to prove to myself that I could. Didn’t get much homework don until after I finished my classes for the day. I went to Emily’s room to do some homework because I couldn’t seem to concentrate in my room. It seems kind of crazy, but I often get more done when I’m in someone else’s room or even outside.

Tuesday, October 6
Wasn’t such a good homework day because four hours of my time (other than class) had to go toward other stuff…a two hour documentary that I had to watch outside of class for Mass Media, my first CEF Good News Club, and a meeting with my HO group about our presentation. It was all good stuff and mostly fun. I was so happy to spend an hour with some preschoolers during the GNC :D And the HO group meeting was a great time of exchanging ideas. I think my group had terrific dynamics.

Wednesday, October 7
Another girl (Aubrey) and I went running that morning. We were planning to run the course for the 5k that was on the 10th, but the girl who knew the route wasn’t feeling well. So Aubrey and I just went for a run around town. We ended up going 3.7 miles in about 42 minutes, definitely my longest run ever, in distance or time!
That afternoon I had my mid-term for Gateway. [Didn’t end up doing so well at that (as in I got a B on the test…). It was kind of a hard test though…it was multiple choice with “choose the best answer” which is really annoying.]

Thursday, October 8
My HO group went back to our neighborhood again that day. We were hoping to volunteer at a ministry called “Hunger and Thirst” that feeds homeless people, but they didn’t end up needing any help that day. After we got back to campus, Sarah and I spent an hour or so working on the powerpoint for our presentation the next day.

Friday, October 9
I had my Old Testament Survey test that day. [I got an A on it.] My HO group also did our presentation. I think it went well. We were the first group to go, so we didn’t really know what we were doing for sure…but I like how it turned out. Talked with a friend from back home for almost an hour that night…until nearly midnight. It was a lot of fun :D

Saturday, October 10
I RAN MY FIRST 5K THAT DAY!!!!!!!!! It was a fundraiser for the “Titus Task,” a local ministry to financially help people adopting children.
I went with three other JBU girls (Aubrey, Cassie, and Emily). We ran it “together,” but we weren’t always with each other…actually the only one I saw during the race was Aubrey. She caught up with me at about the 1.75 mile mark and was past me half a mile later. We got a picture of the four of us together, but it wasn’t on my camera and Facebook is being weird so I don’t know if I’ll be able to put it on here or not… It was pretty cold that morning – about 40 degrees or so and all cloudy. So we were happy when we finally started running (they had a bunch of kids/walkers do a one mile fun run first).
I ended up getting a flat 31 minutes, which I was pretty happy with. I had been hoping to get it under 30 minutes, but after having a couple down weeks I was content with 31. From about 2.25-2.75 miles was definitely the hardest part. Right at the end though there were a couple of spectators from JBU who knew who I was so they were hollering at me “come on Esther, you can do it!” which was great :D
Afterwards we four girls went to a rummage sale that was supporting the same cause. When we got there they were doing “everything you can fit in a bag for $5” so I bought several shirts and some other things too. We ate lunch together, I took a shower and a nap I think, then I had to work at the caf. The sun came out beautifully that afternoon and it was much warmer.
That night my knee swelled up pretty bad and was like a bad bruise…Thankfully it’s better now. I’m still not convinced it was because of the running, even though there’s a pretty high likelihood of that.

Sunday, October 11
Went to Fellowship Bible Church that morning with Aubrey and Cassie. I think I have decided that’s where I’m going to attend. The preacher is definitely more topical than I’m used to (all the churches I’ve visited here are like that…), but there’s a Sunday school class afterwards that’s really solid and that I really like.
Had to write a paper on The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe that was due for Gateway the next day. I had been hoping to write it on Saturday, but I was too tired.

Monday, October 12
Had a not so good day homework wise……….partly because I “lost” three hours in addition to my regular classes…two to watch another two hour documentary for Mass Media (it was our fifth one of the semester…all outside of class and all requiring a one page reaction paper) and one for “Women of Walker,” the monthly girl’s meeting for our dorm. That night Mrs. Smalley from the Center for Relationship Enrichment here on campus talked about relationships between girls. It was really good, but I wished I could be two places at once! (doing homework AND listening to her)

Tuesday, October 13
Did a little better with homework that day… I was definitely looking forward to Fall Break by then! Other than that I don’t know.

Wednesday, October 14
Didn’t get much done…after class Emily and I were studying together for our English Comp. mid-term the next day. One of the other students in the class would walk by and see us and join us uninvited…I wouldn’t have minded, but it caused a distraction that we (or at least I) could have done without. Ate dinner, worked in the caf, etc.

Thursday, October 15
The English Comp. mid-term went kind of okay. My teacher started off by telling us that we had as much time as he needed…so I was taking my time! We had to fix all the problems we could find in 10 sentences, do some matching of definitions and examples, then write a couple short essays. So I’m done with all the grammar stuff and about half done with the first essay, and he tries to tell us that we have 10 minutes left…….well, that really got me going faster. Thankfully he gave us a little more time than that since he had told us we could take as long as we needed. But my second essay definitely suffered from that, because he was still breathing down my neck ‘I need to go, come on Esther, I’m sorry, I’ve got to go, finish up’…. [I got an A on the test, so I really really don’t have anything to complain about…it’s just that my perfectionism qualities were very very rankled].
That evening I interviewed one of my News Writing classmates for her make-believe obituary that we had to do for class. She survived being hit by a car when she was 15, so she just used that as her cause for death. It was really neat getting to know her better…by interviewing her for her obit… That night I had to write an essay for the next morning for OT Survey about Saul, David, and Solomon and the cultural changes during their reigns…it was interesting, but kind of difficult.

Friday, October 16
I don’t remember when I packed…it was probably that morning though. Anyways, all day I was looking forward to heading home after classes!!!!!!!!! I had found another girl going to Dallas from JBU, so I rode with her. We got a later start than we had intended, about 4:30. Met up with Dad and Mom in Allen because the girl I was riding with was headed to The Colony.
We got home about 9:30 and I so could not wait to see Bluebonnet again! Nathan went in to try to wake him up before I came in, but it wasn’t working too well and I couldn’t wait any longer. My little budgie definitely perked up in a hurry when I came in the room though! It had been eight weeks since I had seen him, and he was SO thrilled. So was I.

Saturday, October 17
We spent most of the morning looking at pictures from some of Nathan’s summer activities that we had never been able to see and mine from JBU. Got my mid-term grades for my class and were happy to see that they were all A’s except for one B (the Gateway because of that test). I was happy to be home, being with my family and my bird all day. I even got to go to Ministry Group that night!

Sunday, October 18
I was so happy to go back to my home church and see everyone there…and to work in the library again! It was funny…when I went in Mr. Maness had his back towards the door, so when he turned around I said good morning and he said good morning and then he realized who I was …it was funny. :D
We looked at more pictures after lunch, then Nathan and I went running together! It was my first run since the 5k, because I had wanted to let my knee settle back down. We went two miles in a not very fast time…I think it may have been 19:30 or something along those lines.

Monday, October 19
That day was my ‘see all my friends that I can!’ day. I started off by having breakfast with Mrs. S – I really miss being in her classes and being her TA L Mom and I did some shopping and I was able to get a couple new tops that I really like! I dropped Nathan off for classes, then went to see a friend who had recently gotten her own horse. Then I went to see one of my best friends, Mollie. Her birthday had been on Thursday, but she didn’t know I was coming home – I wanted to surprise her!! And I did :D We had a lot of fun talking. Stopped by another friend’s house for a couple minutes, then had to go get Nathan from classes. That evening after supper I walked over to see a family I babysat for pretty consistently for the past year. One of the boys is 2 and the other one just started school. They were both really excited to see me and I was happy to see them too!
Dad and Mom and I watched a couple I Love Lucy episodes and an episode of Emergency! for another Mass Media assignment. That was one of the more fun ones though! I was going to work on my paper that was due on Friday for English Comp. that night, but the Word document didn’t ever open up…and then my computer wouldn’t go into hibernation….little did I know what was coming next…….

Tuesday, October 20
I was bound and determined to get some homework done that day. So I started up my computer soon after Nathan left for his Richland class. But it wouldn’t boot up. It just got stuck on one of the start up screens. I was on pins and needles trying to do other homework stuff until Nathan got back….only to find out that he couldn’t figure out what was wrong with it!
[To make a long long story very short, my computer had a virus. Don’t know how, but it did. Before we found that out, we thought I’d have to completely reinstall Windows, so Nathan kept my hard drive in Dallas to back up all my files first. That’s when he found the virus. After he deleted it, he mailed the hard drive to me. I had taken the rest of my laptop back JBU, so once I got the hard drive on Thursday the 29th I was able to just plug in the hard drive and it worked perfectly!!! No reinstall needed!!!!!!]
The other girl from JBU and I left the Dallas area at about 5 pm and got back to campus at 10:30 or so.

Wednesday, October 21
So I found myself entirely without a computer and needing to have a rough draft of a 4-5 page paper to take to class the next day…understandably I wasn’t too happy about that. Thankfully they have plenty of computer labs here! There’s one in my dorm on my floor, one in the Walker Student Center (which my dorm is actually connected to!), and one in the library. I basically lived in one of those three whenever I wasn’t in class that day. I stayed up until 12:45 trying to write the paper and still didn’t have it done. I was VERY down in the dumps.
Thursday, October 22
That morning before chapel I spent another couple hours on my paper and finally finished the rough draft. I sent that one off to Mom to see what she thought of it because I felt half asleep when I wrote most of it and didn’t trust myself on it very much…
Sometime Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday I also had to write the obit for News Writing. Don’t remember when I did that.

Friday, October 23
Don’t really know what all happened that day…other than the fact that I was only in my room for tiny bits of time in between things because I was living in the computer labs. Spent a good chunk of time revising my paper. Dr. Himes expects us to do lots and lots of revision, so I was really glad I had emailed my paper to Mom…because the girl in the Writing Center Thursday night didn’t give me much help at all with anything that needed revision. Thanks to Mom and Nathan, every single page of the rough draft was pretty heavily marked up :D (and Dr. Himes has us turn in a copy of our marked up rough draft so he can see it!) [I will hopefully get this one back on Tuesday!]

Saturday, October 24
Since no one that I wanted to interview from the animal shelter would talk to me, I ended up spending a couple hours at the shelter just hearing about interesting stories from the last couple years that I would somehow have to turn into a feature story….
Talked with Nathan for a long time that evening…poor guy…my phone battery died on us while we were talking for the second time in two days. At least both times I was able to give him a little bit of warning!

Sunday, October 25
Went back to Fellowship that morning…ended up having to walk there and was 10 minutes late. I had a list that said a shuttle would come to campus, but it never showed up as far as I know. So I had to walk the mile or so to get there instead. But it was worth it!
Spent the evening writing a paper on The Horse and His Boy for Gateway, in a computer lab of course! The worst thing was that the computer lab in my dorm is FREEZING (it’s 10 degrees colder in there than in my room!) and I don’t think the regular computer labs were open… So I gave up for the night because I was too tired.
Oh yeah…I also had to spend two and a half hours in the cold lab before dinner writing my feature story about the animal shelter for News Writing. I was decently pleased with how it came out…I don’t know yet what Prof. Warner will think of it though! [I will get it back tomorrow!!!!]

Monday, October 26
Finished up the paper for Gateway that morning, turned it in at Gateway and turned my feature story in. Spent quite a bit of time in the library doing some reading for a couple of my classes.
I found out that I haven’t been working enough work study hours. I was on the schedule for eight hours a week, but we usually finish 15-30 minutes before I get all my time. So in order to get all the hours I can this semester, I will have to actually work 10 hours a week. So I picked up a shift Monday night to add to my Wednesday and Friday nights and Saturday afternoons. That day was my first time to work Monday night, and I was in the dish room for almost three hours. Definitely not what anyone would call fun. Got some more homework done after that, then headed to bed at the early hour of 10!

Tuesday, October 27
Spent nine hours in bed, but got up tired and was tired all day long. Part of the problem is that my back was really really bothering (I think partly from working in the dish room) me and so I didn’t sleep very soundly. I took my laundry all the way over to the Honors Center (about half a mile from my dorm – but it’s free there!!), only to discover that the washer was out of order. I ran anyways…went about a mile. Ended up getting most of my homework done for the day!

Wednesday, October 28
Spent another nine hours in bed, with the exact same result. My back was still complaining. So I was tired, my back hurt, I was fighting a headache all day, it was a bad day in at least one other way, and to top it all off Mom had lost her phone so I couldn’t call her…..suffice it to say there was a whole bunch of “stuff” going on and I felt the most homesick I have felt since being here. Thankfully the sun was shining though and there was no rain in the sky!!!!!! I sat outside and just enjoyed it for an hour or so. I had taken studies with me, but I felt more like I just needed some quiet time. It did me good.

Thursday, October 29
Only got seven hours of sleep that night, but woke up feeling so much more refreshed!!!!!!!!! I had seen the day before that the washer at the Honors Center was working again, so I took all my stuff back over there and got it going. Went for a run while it was going – about a mile and a half in 16 or 17 something. And I found a $20 bill in a rain puddle!!!!! Running pays! :D
Had a much much better day than the day before, even though it was overcast and a little rainy – at least it was warmer than it had been recently!! And then to make a good day even better, my hard drive arrived in the mail and my computer worked perfectly!!!!!!

Friday, October 30
Didn’t get much homework done that day…I had my second test in Mass Media. After my classes I went to the “Medieval Faire” that one of Dr. Hime’s other classes was putting on because I could get some extra credit for English Comp! I worked that night, then did some pleasure reading before heading to bed.

Saturday, October 31
I “slept in” until 8:30 (all my college peers think I am absolutely nuts to think that being up until 1 is staying up really late and that staying in bed until 8:30 is sleeping in…….) I went running that morning…ended up with two 1.5 mile runs, one on the little track (a 15:23) and one on a treadmill (a 15:45). It felt pretty good! Breakfast, showered, did some homework, and ate lunch.
Then Kaley (my roommate), Grace (her friend who lives in the next suite) and I went bowling. We had tickets for a free game that expired that day, so we figured we’d better go use them! I didn’t do very well…but I hadn’t been bowling for ten years or so, and only two or three times before that! After we got back I did some homework out on the Quad because the weather was gorgeous. Worked in the caf that evening…and got an “extra” hour of sleep because of the time change.

Sunday November 1
Today I went to Fellowship with Kaley and Grace. That’s where they’ve decided to go too, but they don’t stay for Sunday school…at least not right now. So I think I will ride with them to church and then walk back after Sunday school…that’s what I did today. The weather is still beautiful. We’ve had so much rain here this fall, but now the last few days have been clear blue skies without a single cloud and nice warm temperatures. After I got back from church I made myself a picnic lunch out of some leftovers I had brought back from working in the caf, then headed outside to enjoy the sunshine!!!! I was out there for four hours doing homework, and I concentrated a whole lot better than I usually do in my room! Ate dinner, then started working on this long awaited for update. Went to The Gathering (the speaker was ok…but he had a couple annoying habits and I didn’t agree with everything he said…and I caught myself not paying attention a couple times), then came back and am just now finishing this up! So I had a good day today :D

the other half of last week...

Thursday, September 3

Chapel that morning was very good. We had communion (they do it once a month at chapel on campus), so there wasn't really a speaker. The chaplain, Mr. Reed (who is actually a childhood friend of one of my mom's cousins!) did talk a little bit about why we have chapel in the middle of the day rather than first thing in the morning...to remind us that Jesus is to be ther center of all that we do. I definitely agree with him...it's hard sometimes because chapel makes me really feel closely connected to Christ or something, but then when I leave and go eat lunch and go about my day, I almost lose that feeling. It's kind of weird...and I definitely wish it didn't happen. Always remembering that Christ is to be at the center of my life....meditating on His Word throughout the day....praying without ceasing...I know these are the things I should be doing to have a deeper relationship with Him, to keep that chapel feeling of worship all the time, but it's difficult..... So please be praying for me!

English Composition that afternoon was a very interesting class.....we were discussing the Genesis Creation story, somewhat in comparison to the Koran's mentions of creation and the Native American creation stories. But we were mainly talking about Genesis. I don't remember if I already said this on here...but our textbook has lots of different articles/selections from western thinkers on various important topics. The editors wrote an introductory essay for each section, and that is what got our discussion going to start with. Gaps in the Genesis geneologies, where did Cain get his wife, the beginning of Genesis is poetry, God may have added His image to some common ancestor between us and a monkey (basically theistic evolution), we don't know how long the days in Genesis are, etc. etc. all came up, which I honestly found VERY annoying....... What about the crazy idea of accepting God's Word as authoritative and true from the very first verse????? I definitely added my two cents worth, several times! I always tried to hear the other people out first though, and I tried to be nice about giving the explanations upholding the Bible. So on Tuesday we will be adding Paley's argument for design and some of Darwin's writing to the mix, and the discussion should be just as interesting, if not even more so. If you don't mind praying that I would behave myself decently towards these, my brothers and sisters in Christ, that would probably be a really good idea.........

I'm not sure what I did between class and dinner...after dinner I went to the cathedral for a short meeting with the teacher and other members of the Worship Ministries Ensemble. We just went over what the expectations and schedule are for the semester. I was glad it was short that night, because I wanted to get to Walker's Float or Dye!

The Float or Dye was a dorm activity that we had out on the Quad. It consisted of enjoying rootbeer floats and tie-dying shirts! I kind of like how mine turned out. The design part was great, but I should have left it in the dye a lot longer, because the colors aren't very dark :/

I did the tie-dye on the back of one of my free JBU athletics T-shirts...here's the front:

Afterwards I went with my suite mates and a bunch of other folks to play wallyball (again!). We played for about three hours I think....until 11 pm...I probably shouldn't have stayed up that late, but it sure was fun! And I did have all my homework done! :D

Friday, September 4

I got up early....at 6am! (You'll see why in a bit....) Went running at the inside track, 2.8 miles in 27:42. I stayed under my 10 minute mile pace the whole time!!!!!!!!! So it was GREAT! :D Took a quick shower and ate breakfast, then met up with Shannon (my O-group leader) at 8:30 so that she could take me to run some errands. I finally opened up a bank account here in town (I've been needing to do that ever since I got here!), then we went looking for a thrift store so that I could get some black pants to wear to work (I am doing workstudy in the cafeteria this year...more on that later...). The first two we found didn't open until 10, and she had to be at her workstudy job by then...we went into the Dollar General and I bought a pair of black exercise pants just in case I couldn't find anything else. We asked about a thrift store, and the lady told us about the Manna Store. It's a really nice thrift store that had evidently just moved to a new location. So we went there and I found two pair of terrific black slacks that fit me really well! They were marked at $3 each, but one pair was half price!!! So that was really nice! :D

On my way to classes I stopped by the cafeteria to pick up my sack lunch since it was Friday and I was going to spend my hour break down at the honor's center. As I was going into the building where my first class was, I saw something weird on the wall...it almost looked like a little turtle! On closer examination it turned out not to be a turtle, but rather.......

a small bat!!!!!!!!!! He was hanging there, sound asleep, right at my eye level! He looks bigger in this picture than he really was...he was only about two inches long. I actually went to see if he was still there this morning, and he was...so it's pretty weird. He had moved a little bit though.
Anyways, my classes went pretty well. MMC was fun because we watched a video about the history of print media. With OTS we started talking about Genesis...interesting timing in light of my English class discussion... One of the guys who is in the same OTS and the same English class as I am asked the OTS professor about Genesis 1 at the end of class, and the professor said we would talk about it next time....so I will be very very interested to see what he says. Ate lunch and called Dad during my break since I didn't have any homework I needed to do for Monday. We had a pretty good discussion in Honors' Orientation about learning and how to encourage deeper learning rather than just surface learning to spit back out on a test for a grade. News Writing was my last class before the long weekend...we had a spelling "test" of sorts...thankfully it won't actually affect our class grade. The professor had put 50 words on the sheet of paper, some of which were spelled right and some of which were wrong......mostly it was confusing words...the difference between an s and a c, or between having a double l/f/m/s/etc or a single one. We were supposed to change the ones that were wrong to the correct spelling and leave the ones alone that were ok. I got 32 of the 50 correct....and a lot of the ones that I messed up on I had an inkling about, but I ran out of time. No one in the class got over 40 right...the professor said he would actually give a cash prize if anyone did.
Once I finished with classes I went to my room and got ready for the freshman honors picnic!!! We were supposed to go camping for the night, but rain was forecasted and so we just went for the evening. We left JBU about 5:00 and drove the 8 miles or so to Natural Falls State Park. It was very very VERY pretty!
After supper a BUNCH of us played the "signs" game...we all sat in a circle and each person came up with a sign for themselves, then showed everyone else (mine was a "butterfly"). One person had to stand in the middle, close their eyes, and count for 10 seconds. While they had their eyes closed, the "sign" was being passed by one person doing their own sign, then someone else's. That person then did their own sign to except it, then another person's to pass it again. Once the person in the middle opened their eyes, they tried to guess who had the sign...so the big trick was to try to pass the sign to someone behind the back of the person in the middle...and to keep track of where the sign was without giving away its location! An interesting game....kind of challenging too, but it was fun.
We also sang some praise and worship songs at the picnic pavilion before heading back to campus. I wish we had done it around the campfire, but it was a very very small campfire and we probably had about 50 people there, so that wouldn't have been practical. We were back at JBU by 8:30. Then I went with my room and suite mates to watch a movie ("The Emperor's New Groove") here on campus...it's definitely a comedy and a cartoon...the funniest part is that even though it is supposedly set way back in time, they keep making references to modern times.
Once we got back, I finished hanging up pictures on my closet door!!!! Then we were all on our laptops in our room doing Facebook...I put up some new pictures and stuff and stayed up too late (midnight!)



Saturday, September 5
So I slept in until 8:30 the next morning, then went to the honors' center on my bike to do laundry. It's nearly half a mile from my dorm to the center, but it's worth it because it is FREE! Once I finished, I ate lunch, then got online for a while. I went to work at the Cafeteria for the first time at 3:00. I thought I was doing a four hour shift, but since it was late in their work week and my first time, I did a five hour shift instead. I vaccuumed the whole dining room (which I estimate might be about the same square footage as my house!!!!), which took about two and a half hours....then I helped at the salad bar during the dinner hour, then all the workers ate, and then we spent the next hour or so cleaning up. I was really really tired by the time I finished. Talked to Dad and Mom awhile, then chatted with a couple friends on facebook, then to bed!

Sunday, September 6
This morning I got up in plenty of time, ate breakfast, then went to Sunday School at Siloam Springs Bible Church. The teacher is actually a professor here at JBU (of math!). He was just filling in for a couple weeks, so he's doing a two part series on Jude. Today he mostly focused on the Old Testament allusions in Jude...it's amazing how many there are in such a little book!
I liked the sermon a little better today. His emphasis seemed a little more on the Scripture and not so much on the topic, so that was good. Afterwards, the man who drives the shuttle van for JBU students and his wife took the four of us who rode with them out to lunch. We went to a Chinese buffet that was really good!
Once I got back and changed clothes, I called Nathan to hear all about his weekend. He had been at the national CAP conference where he officially received his promotion to full colonel! He also served as an aide to the CAP national commander! While I was talking with him I went on a walk....we talked and I walked for an hour and a half :D I walked about 3.75 miles in that time...it was fun. While I was doing so I saw a robin all spread out on a little hill of hay sunning himself, AND what I think was a badger or woodchuck or something along those lines.....life is never boring here!
Since then I have been on my computer and had dinner! We don't have The Gathering tonight because it's a holiday weekend. I have some reading I should probably do for Tuesday...I meant to do it Friday, but I ran errands instead; I meant to do it Saturday, but I worked on my computer instead...so I think I'd better do it today!

I am at JBU!

Well, as you can tell by the lack of postings, the last week was very busy! On Sunday afternoon we had my farewell party - I was very happy to see quite a few of my friends before I headed off. The librarians from church (Mr. and Mrs. Maness) gave me a send off charge, and then I tested everyone on how well they knew me with a Facebook style "How well do you know me?" quiz. It was fun :D And Mrs. Maness won!!!! She got all 15 questions right!


Monday through Wednesday I really had to get down to the business of packing. It went pretty quick once I actually put my mind to it. Thursday was all doing laundry and packing my clothes....then yesterday my family and I left Dallas at about 8:30. I can hardly believe that was really just yesterday!!!!!!!!


We got in to Siloam Springs at about 2 or so, gave Nathan a tour of the campus (because he had never been here before even though it was my 5th time to come!), then went to Wal-Mart to buy my new bike (which Nathan VERY kindly rode the 2.8 miles back to JBU!!!). We went out to a Chinese buffett for dinner, and by then it was 5:30 (when arrival time started). The folks here at JBU unloaded ALL my stuff for us - they did that for ALL the new students...they're the best!


All the stuff I brought actually ended up fitting in the closet! I could hardly believe it!

I decided that I wanted my bed lofted, so with some umph (especially from Dad and Nathan!) we moved my desk and dresser to one side of the bed and then put my bed on top! It is a little bit of a climb to get up there, but it DEFINITELY makes our room seem a lot roomier!!!!!!! Which is a TERRIFIC thing. We got Kaley's furniture arranged too, then Dad and Mom and Nathan headed out....I actually didn't cry. I thought I would, but I didn't. I cried when we left the house that morning though.
I got my clothing put away, then headed to the Walker Student Center for game night - I played Apples to Apples with a varying group of other folks. Came back up to my room and did some more unpacking....Kaley and I headed to bed about 11:30.
This morning I woke up at 6:15.....I stayed in bed for a while, but didn't go back to sleep....... After breakfast I came back to my room and worked on preparing to write the essay on The Chosen (the freshman summer reading book) for the essay contest....it's due on Wednesday and I still haven't actually started writing it. I basically know what I want to say though.
Check-in to orientation was at 11, then after lunch was the welcome in the chapel by President Pollard. He reminded us that even though we may be confused right now (because of all the various changes happening), we are a beloved child of the living God :D
We then connected with our "O groups" (Orientation groups) and played a few get to know each other games...I have 12 people in my O group. After that I came back up to my room and got a LOT of unpacking and settling in done - it felt REALLY GOOD!!!! At 4:45 they had a Prayer and Farewell time in the chapel...I kind of wish my family had stayed for that, but I'm kind of glad they didn't...if they had, I know I would have cried :( Next we had dinner, then I came back here and FINISHED UNPACKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am officially ALL settled in!!!! All my suitcases, packing containers, etc are all up and away in the closet! So I am very very happy :D
Now we are going to the "BIG Gathering," and then we get to play the "BIG games," then at ELEVEN we are going to do the "BIG Coffeehouse"....we'll see if I can stay awake that long!
I'd better run....please comment if you read this and like it!!!!!!!! :D
P.S. on my way back from supper I was THRILLED to see a beautiful, adorable GOLDFINCH!!!! He was really cute :D
Also, I've met lots of neat people so far - now hopefully I can remember at least half their names!!!!

Busy, Busy, BUSY day!

So - today started for me at 4:00 :D I set my alarm so that I could hopefully watch part of the meteorite shower. Dad and I went over to Richland's campus for 20 minutes or so...I did see one meteorite, but was otherwise disappointed. We also saw Venus and Jupiter though! Once I got home, I went back to bed for a couple hours.
Got up, then went running! I decided to take it easy today - just go for a slow jog for 20 minutes and not really try to go any certain distance or certain pace. My time actually ended up being 21:55, my distance was 2 miles, and I was doing approximately 2:40 quarters. Came home, ate breakfast, showered, then left ASAP.
I went to clean for some friends of mine. Spent almost two hours there and was able to accomplish a good bit! I've been cleaning for them for two years...and now I only have one time left before I leave for college! :( After I finished there, I ran to Kohl's for a minute to see if they had any hand towels that match the bath towels I received as a graduation gift...thankfully, they did, AND I had a gift card for Kohl's - YAY!
Next I had one more violin lesson before going off to college. We replaced the strings on my violin, and my teacher helped me to know how to do the last couple kinds of shifting slides...it sounds like it would be really complicated, but thankfully it wasn't too bad. Now I can potentially play thinks like part of the Water Music, Pachelbell's Canon, etc! It's very exciting :D
I had to run to the bank after my lesson to deposit some checks...then came home for about 20 minutes to eat lunch before leaving for Bible Study! This was the last one for the summer, so we had a picnic for the participants plus their families in the evening. It was a lot of fun!!!
Since I got home (about 9) I've been online...mostly catching up on the news about the Voyage of the Dawn Treader movie. They have started filming, and the movie will hit theaters on December 10, 2010...over a year from now!
Now I need to go to bed....tomorrow my parents are going to go get Nathan from Houston, and I am going to stay home and hopefully get a lot of cleaning etc. done!

CRAZY day - (Wednesday)

Well, Nathan has been home the last couple days! But he leaves again tomorrow :( (That's why I haven't posted much - trying to spend as much time with him as I can before he takes off....)
So - now about the crazy day! Wednesday morning I went running at Richland's path...it is a .75 mile loop. I put in my greatest distance so far - 2.5 miles! I didn't do it all at once though...I did 1.5 miles in 15:06, walked some, got a drink and stretched, then one mile in 10:12 or something like that. I came home, ate breakfast, took a shower, etc...then I went to babysit!
The way I came in contact with the family I babysat for was funny....the wife of the "pastor" (we don't call him that at our church) at my church suggested me to her daughter (last summer I think...), then her daughter suggested me to her church in March or so (and I've done quite a bit of babysitting for them). A couple weeks ago, one of the coordinators at the church asked if I would come to her house to babysit for a birthday party, so I did. One of the families there was the pastor and his wife from that church....so Tuesday night, my dad called me to say that someone he didn't know was asking me to babysit...and it took me a few minutes to figure out who it was :D
Anyways, they have five children....(girl - 8, girl - 6, boy - 5, boy - 2, girl - 10 months)...so I was pretty busy for the three hours I was there. It was very fun though. They are sweet kids for the most part. The boys loved it when I gave them horsey back rides...kind of wore me out! I really enjoy babysitting, for many reasons! :D I love being with the kids, it gives me a small taste of motherhood, and I earn money doing it!
Once I got home, I took a short nap then worked on random things, watched news, and ate dinner. (There was some thunderstorm activity - that will figure in later!) We (Dad, Mom, and I) then headed out to go to our U.S. representative's town hall meeting. It started at 7, and we got there a few minutes afterwards...as we got closer, we realized that people were having to park a ways away and walk in...Dad was nice enough to drop us off by the door so we wouldn't have to take the chance of getting rained on. As Mom and I were walking in the door, two police officers were walking out...I heard them tell all the people still coming that they wouldn't be allowed inside the building - there were too many people! So I called Dad and told him that we got in but he wouldn't be able to....he decided to go home and just come pick us up later. Well, we made our way to the room where the meeting was, only to find that it was so full of people that people were crowded outside the doors! We couldn't see and could barely hear. The representative was told to ask everyone to move quietly away from the doors because of the possible fire exit hazard, etc. We were thinking we would just leave, but as we were headed out we heard that there was a speaker in the hall, so we sat in the hall and listened. It was still really hard to hear because (ahem) some people (ahem, like the mayor!!!!!!!) were just standing in the hall chit chatting..... We left before he actually finished because we didn't want to get stuck in a big traffic jam.
That was about 8:30. Nathan's flight from Washington, D.C. was supposed to land at 9:20, so we headed for the airport. The sky was very interesting....there was a big dark cloud over about 90% of the sky. As we got closer to the airport, I noticed these very bright lights...too bright to be stars or warning lights on towers. Eventually, we figured out they were airplanes, lined up and just waiting to land at DFW...there were at least 11 planes that we could see flying around under the big cloud. Remember those thunderstorms??? DFW had to stop landing planes for a little while because of that, so they had gotten backed up....soon after that we got an automated call saying that Nathan's plane would land at 10. We headed to a mall to kill some time. While we were there, we got a phone call saying he would land at 10:30, and then another call to say his flight had to divert to Austin (getting to low on fuel) and that he would land in DFW at 11:30. The mall closed officially at 9:30 (we were still inside after that), then we just stayed out in the car a little while (I tried to sleep...) We arrived at the airport at about 11, then sat at the baggage claim area. THEN NATHAN CAME!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!! Two and a half weeks and an overseas trip - it was GOOD to see him again!!! Poor guy was exhausted though - it was 5:30 am Thursday (London time), and he had gotten up Wednesday morning in London and not really slept since then. Then, to top it all off, his luggage didn't come up the belt....we had to stand in line to talk to the baggage guy, he told us to wait 10 minutes, then we had to stand in line AGAIN, then we had to fill out all this information for a claim etc. etc.... It was nearly 12:30 by the time we left the airport...and I didn't get to bed until 1:30 a.m....it's really no wonder I slept in until 10 the next morning (usually, I can NOT sleep past 8 or so)......
So that was all about our crazy day! Nathan's luggage was found and delievered to our door the next evening.

Games and Babysitting....

Well, we played Quiddler and then two games of Yahtzee....Quiddler is a fun game in which letters with cards on them are used to make words (with additional rules, of course...) I got a few good words, but lost :( Our first game of Yahtzee, Mom got a Yahtzee on her very first turn...I went right after her and also got a Yahtzee!!! Then later, we each got a second Yahtzee :D. I won that game because I got my upper bonus...the second game wasn't nearly as exciting.......
Babysitting tonight was pretty fun. I and another lady I have worked with before were at a house babysitting during a birthday party (the adults went out to dinner). So we had seven kids under the age of seven...one of them was only 10 months old, then there was a couple two year olds, a four year old...and I'm not sure of the ages of the other three....... I let them have lots of fun with me :D That's one of the things I like about babysitting...it's a chance to let one's youngness out to enjoy itself ;-) The kiddos think it's great to be chased, tickled, etc. I do also expect them to behave though....had to put one little guy in time out a couple times....... But it went pretty well. I don't think I'm going to have a sandbox for my children when I have a family. Too messy...sand gets EVERYWHERE, especially all over the kids. It makes me want to take a hose and spray them down before I let them go back in the house :D

travel update........

We are still in Nebraska. Since Thursday we have been in Crawford where my grandparents lived. The services for my grandma went really well. Everyone has taken it very well.....it will probably hit my grandpa more when we all go home.
It's been fun spending time with my cousins...today we climbed up the buttes near their house and it was tons of fun! We hiked up through some scrubby stuff, climbed up a pretty steep hill, did some rock climbing, then sat up on top enjoying God's nature!
We'll be headed home on Monday or Tuesday...it will be nice being home again.

HOME AGAIN!

We did get home this evening around 5. The trip up was kind of stressful and was definitely as fast as we could go...we spent a day there, then my dad, mom, brother, and I (plus my uncle to help drive the RV) came back down. It was a nice trip back down because we could take our time! We stopped at a couple aviation/space museums for Nathan, and at a couple nature centers for me. So it was a nice relaxing time coming back.
My grandma has been moved to long term care in the city where my aunt lives (and works at the long term care facility). She spent her first few days in NE in the hospital to get her re-stabilized from the trip. Please continue to pray for her. Thankfully, she is cognizant, recognizes people, etc. (for the first couple days in NE she wasn't really all there because of all the medications she had to make the trip easier).

headed out

Sorry for the lack of posts recently...my grandma has been in the hospital and all the complications for that etc. etc.......
We are all (my family + grandparents + aunt/uncle/cousins) headed up to NE as soon as we can get out of here, taking my grandma to a nursing home where my aunt works. My family and I are then going to come back down and make a little vacation of it since we have a REALLY nice RV rented anyways! We will probably be back Sunday evening/Monday morning.
Please pray for us, for safety in travelling and for wisdom on how to make Grandma most comfortable on the way up. Thank you!