epic coincidence

Last night was just full of exciting (and terrifying) surprises. I spent the entire afternoon working on my paper/presentation for my night class because I knew I would be going to dinner with Mary at 5:00. I finally got everything together and made my conference schedule for next week, emailed that to my cooperating professor, and ran over to the BTS office. Upon my arrival, I realized that I had left my laptop at home--kind of necessary for my presentation. So I RAN back to my apartment, got my laptop, and returned to the BTS office.

I was walking up the stairs to get my bag and pick up Mary when I ran into Joel, who said, "So, you're coming to dinner with us, eh?" Somewhat confused, I replied, "Uh...us? Uh...yeah, I guess so." When I got upstairs I gave Mary a quizzical look and she explained that she had gotten us a ride since it didn't make sense for us to go to Dawali and not sit with Joel and Brad. It sounded like a great idea to me, and that is how I ended up having dinner with three BTS professors last night.

The actual dinner was pretty sweet. It was as if my best friends had morphed into professors and we were just continuing our lives as usual. The guys were pretty theologically-focused as usual, with Mary and I commenting now and then, and all the while I was doing my best to redirect conversation a little bit (I have this irrational fear that someone will eventually discover that I never knew what I was talking about this whole time and will thus find me to be unintelligent). We discussed a lot of different things and shared great food together, and it was really fun to watch the three of them interact. There were some silences that I found to be awkward, but that doesn't mean they were awkward for them...I just hope I wasn't inhibiting conversation too much!

So, we all hopped back into Brad's car and made our way to campus. We all went in, including Mary who was not teaching a class, and I was slightly confused about that, but she did a stellar job of distracting me with pictures of her cute little cats. As we were walking up the stairs, Joel left us at the second floor and Brad and Mary and I walked into the classroom. I brilliantly said, "Are you coming to class today, Mary?" to which she replied, "Well, I heard there was going to be this really great presentation tonight" and then something about my reputation preceding me. I was terrified, but it went pretty well and everyone seemed to like it...

All in all, a very interesting evening, full of surprises. I'm interested to see what the backstory is since I didn't get a chance to ask yesterday...but I'll see Mary tomorrow! Haha!

sunshine in friggin' january

Hello world! You know, life is full of paradoxes (and pseudo-cliches, apparently). A few days ago, I felt awful. My world was crashing down all around me, ruining my relationships, my sanity, my family, and my motivation. Which way is up? How do I solve this? What does it mean to trust God?

It is good to ask these questions if for no other reason than that it gives me a chance to remember what I learned last semester. Which was is up? God. How do I solve this? Obedience. What does it mean to trust God? Stop trusting myself--hello, the Creator of the universe has to know more than me. I could go on, delving into the realm of philosophical ponderings...but I really ought to be writing my interaction paper for my Jewish Backgrounds to the New Testament class.

Bottom line--I still have issues. In fact, I have more issues today than I did before (namely my recent discovery that my esophagus is fighting with my stomach), but the difference lies in how I've dealt with them. It is so easy to get discouraged and to be bogged down in the complications of life, but I need to remember that God really does have the whole world in his hands.

God shows up for me in the little things in life--a ladybug on a blade of grass, a quiet moment in a field during a thunderstorm, a smile between good friends passing one another in the hallway, and quotes on the quote wall(s). This morning my girlfriends and I (well, mostly Alethea) whipped up a fantastic breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes with peanut butter and shared this high-calorie joy over hot tea and cider. After a few failed attempts at getting Becky's attention, we yelled for her, "Hey, Becky! Are you going to eat?!" to which she responded in true Becky fashion, "OOOOOh! Look! My slippers match my shirt!" My friends are beautiful. Following this blessed repast, Alethea and I rushed to work to find absolutely no potential tutees and thus decided to fill our time with the crafting of three-dimensional snowflakes, pictured here:

Essentially, Alethea and I are awesome. I made one large snowflake and one medium snowflake, and Alethea made two large and one medium! Carol was so happy. She came up while we were making them a took a bunch of pictures so that we would have photo-directions to use to teach people how to make them when they come to our Writing Center conference (for peer tutors and Writing Center directors, not like peer conferences). It was great. Our hands were beautiful. In fact, I would put a picture of Alethea's face up, but it occurred to me that she may not appreciate being so displayed on the internet, so I will forego that particular embarassment. But she's very beautiful, inside and out, and I will hopefully have her permission soon to put up georgous pictures of her. =)

That was a very long sidetrack--the point is, when I find myself buried in the cares of the world, I am always reminded of God's sovereignty and of the beauty he created in everything. My friends, nature, work, play, suffering, life, death, sorrow, pain, joy, new birth...all of these are part of our lives, and God sanctifies and blesses each and every one.

"For we know that God works all things together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose...If God is for us, who can be against us?" Romans 8:28, 31

midnight adventures

Nothing really exciting has been happening over break, and I've been sorta bummed. Admittedly, I didn't really expect much to happen here in Plainfield with my family that doesn't go out or invite people over. However, it seems that fun little adventures (or misadventures) always seem to find me no matter where I am.

I decided Friday that I would go to vespers at All Saints' this past evening. I called a friend for a ride, but she wasn't going, so I took myself and my black currant (deep purple) car, Elliot (it's a girl Elliot), all the way up to Chicago. With a moderate amount of traffic, it takes about an hour and fifteen minutes to drive to church from Plainfield. I was able to get there faster today which was a wonderful blessing.

Vespers was a glorious hour or so spent in God's presence and if another parishioner hadn't been chatting with Father Pat, I would have stuck around to pray alone in the sanctuary if he'd let me. But, on my way back up the stairs I ran into Olivia, a fabulous young woman from choir who has always been very nice to me and whom I rather like. She asked if we could go to dinner. Of course! So we had great food and very beautiful conversation. I love when you can just talk to someone very openly, like you were meant to be friends.

After two and a half hours of joyous fellowship with my sister in Christ, I began the long and tired journey home. Things went smoothly--I was able to cruise again (twice in one week!) and I cranked Viva la Vida and was snug as a bug in a rug. Finally, I made it to good ol' P-ville and got stuck behind a POLICE OFFICER going about fifteen miles under the speed limit...grrr.

Cop left, I continued to drive, and was three miles away from my home when the event occurred. Now, I was on Rt.126. I've been driving down this particular strip of 126 since I've had my liscence. So here I am, cruisin' along, when all of a sudden---BOOM!

I heard a noise like an explosion. Immediately I assessed all sensory information I was receiving from Elliot--noises, balance, changes in equilibrium, straining, etc. I was sure that with a noise like that and its accompanying jolt I couldn't possibly get away without a flat tire.

I was right.

Sure enough, about a block later as I was turning right, I noticed that I was having a difficult time with both steering and accelerating. Once I'd made the turn, I was positive. I had a flat tire. The right front end of my car was leaning down quite noticeably, and my poor steering wheel kept trying her darnedest to drift off to the side of the road. At this point I said a few inappropriate words and had a little fight with the evil pothole demons, while at the same time searching for an appropriate place to pull over. By the way, after I had turned on my hazards and began pulling into a parking lot, the truck behind me finally decided to flash his brights. "Hey, little car! You've got a flat! Thought I'd let you know!" Elliot replied, "Thanks a lot, genius. Ya think I hadn't already figured that out?!"

Called Dad. Assessed damage. Attempted tire change--spare was flat. Went home.

My poor car is still in that parking lot, looking all sad and lonely next to TWO--count 'em, TWO--other cars with flat right front tires. Hmmm...

Also, I must say that I was driving home from the Christmas Eve service at All Saints' just this Wednesday and there was no pothole. Now, there is a gigantically deep pothole capable of serious damage, a pothole that also happens to be invisible in the dark. Oh, well. At least figuring out how we're going to fix it will keep Dad and I occupied for a day.

And the moral of the story is: don't drive down familiar streets at night because there might be a brand-spankin'-new pothole waiting for you, complete with evil pothole demons.

Peace

can you say 'pfs'?

I cannot believe how whiney I've been since Thanksgiving. Seriously, I've been whining about everything. It was a discussion of our changed behaviors around finals that brought about the following conversation between Cindy, Josh, and me:

Me: "Arrgh! I'm just so whiney! I can't seem to stop!"
Cindy: "I know, right? I'm so cranky and I have weird cravings..."
Josh: "Haha, yeah. I think finals just does that to you."
Me: "You know, I think the week before finals is like PMS--"
Cindy: "YES!"
Me: "--because you're all cranky and tired and sore and you eat horribly and snap at everyone around you...it's like PreFinals Syndrome!"
Cindy and Josh: "Yeah, PFS!"

I will stop there, because at that point the conversation took a turn into Inappropriateville...guess it's just PFS.

The great thing about this is that we've had an enemy besides our poor professors to blame our trouble on. Can't focus? PFS. You're overcome with an isatiable urge to bake and/or clean? PFS. Can't sleep? PFS. It's amazing. It is also a testimony to our obvious need for a scapegoat because we refuse to blame our problems on ourselves (umm, procrastination, laziness, willful ignorance...)

Anyway, tomorrow I will no longer be suffering from PFS but merely FS because it's the beginning of finals! I'm actually mildly excited to take finals because it signals the beginning of the end. Once they get going, it will be all downhill. I had my very last class today, and it was more freeing than I expected to be finished with it. I still have my final on Thursday, but I turned in the last of my assignments and so it's OVER.

Well, thus ends my disjointed musings on finals. Until next time...

i think i can, i think i can

We're in the home stretch, folks! Ten days left of the semester and counting! Despite the incredibly huge amount of work I'm supposed to be doing, I am still excited to be finished with Theory and Aural Skills soon. I mean, four semesters of the same class over and over and over again begin to wear on one's psyche. Theory and Aural Skills are like Chinese water torture--little drips of information in the same place at regularly-spaced intervals until it drives you mad!

So, please pray for my soul. And my mouth--I tend to get a little fiesty in these last days and say some things that nice Christian women should simply never say.

crochet (that's pronounced "crow-shay")

Being out of yarn when one is used to crocheting in one's boring classes is awfully distressing. Just yesterday, I finished my second scarf in three weeks and now I'm out of yarn. I keep stealing Alethea's yarn, which I intend to replace as soon as I can get to the store, and I don't want to keep stealing it. This means that today I was forced to sit through my Romantic Music History class with nothing to do.

You would think that being in class would automatically give me something to fully occupy my time, but that is not the case, generally speaking. I slept through class today in five-minute increments, waking every time I thought Lee was addressing me. He never did, but nevertheless, if you've ever tried to sleep (or have fallen asleep against your will) in a situation in which there is a known potential for great folly, like missing your El stop or a question from your instructor, then you'd know that it is a highly unpleasant experience. You awake in a tizzy every couple of minutes wondering if you've missed that thing that you couldn't afford to miss.

Anyway, I didn't pay much attention today, but I know that it was a pointless class. How do I know? Because we were analyzing Tristan und Isolde, and most of us had already done so in Theory IV earlier this semester. That's basically all we did. And if I'd had my crocheting, I would have survived. As it is, I know have two lovely little oily spots on the back of my notebook from where my nose and forehead were using it as a pillow.

Good times.

All Saints' Day!

Blessed feast of All Saints to you all!! I'm so excited. My friends and I are celebrating All Saints' Day with a brunch (for which I should prepare soon...) and by sharing stories of saints that inspire us. This truly makes me very happy--the saints are cool, alright?

Peace

exploring community

I'm so excited because my friends and I are leaving this afternoon to go to Plow Creek, a farm associated with the Mennonite community near us called Reba Place. Laurel, Holly, Alethea, Kasey and I will drive down and spend the night tonight, and in the morning we'll either bake or weed the strawberry fields. After lunch we'll spend the afternoon talking about Christian community and specifically the Plow Creek community. In the evening we will participate in their Friday night community meal, after which we'll drive home and arrive back on campus very late. This is going to be a great twenty-four hours!!

midterms

Ugh. Midterms are next week. Here's the deal--there is a rule among professors that you cannot have midterms the same week as quad finals. Somehow all of the music professors missed that rule. Here's what I have to do...

For tomorrow:
*study for a listening quiz (I failed the last one)
*read 30 pages
*prepare for a meeting

For Friday:
*listen repeatedly to a Debussy piece and analyze it a little bit
*practice a ton of music
*read 40 pages

For next week:
*3-4pg Mahler paper for Theory
*Aural Skills performed midterm
*Aural Skills written midterm
*music of the classic period final, listening and written
*two letters for tutoring writing
*...I'm sure I'm forgetting something.

And did I mention that my sister is coming to visit this weekend? I'm super excited about it, but it will mean that I have no time to do anything. At all. Which is probably really good for me. =)

I'll let y'all know if I make it!

Peace

testing it out

I just discovered this new feature on Facebook where I can import my blog. This post is merely an experiment to see how it works. For those who are interested, here is the comment I made in response to Scot McKnight's post on students "converting" to Eastern Orthodoxy or Roman Catholocism:

There are many reasons why students explore EO and RCC, and I think that those given above are valid. I would add to that list a desire for a more structured and unified church body–this stems from the obvious lack of cohesion in the Protestant church (in fact, it is difficult for me to refer to Protestantism as a “church” as I see it more as a melting pot of beliefs without structure). EO and RCC have visible leaders and hierarchy, and while that hierarchy is not friendly to women, I still see the benefit of making at least some attempt to communicate with the rest of the church. This structure also provides authority that I feel the Protestant church does not have, with pastors frequently interpreting the Bible in their own way, sometimes even with cynicism toward the Church and the pastor’s own personal history. The Protestant church also lacks unity in that many churches are on their own and not at all attached to any communion of churches.

Above all, in my experience with EO over the past six months, I feel there is a greater reverence and a sense of mystery there that I have simply not found anywhere else. I don’t know that I’ll “convert,” but if I did, it would be for the reasons above in combination with those Scot gave.
One of my greatest hopes for the Church is that one day, we would all be in communion with each other, sharing the Eucharist as one body instead of keeping it to our own sectors. At the very least, we can begin to talk with each other about how we can even get along–what is the Church supposed to be to the world? Whatever the answer is, our response to it will be much more powerful if we work together.

Just my thoughts. =)

Let's see how this works!

what an eventful day

Today was the "big day" of Threshold, our new student orientation at NPU. It was a very eventful day.



My roommate and I woke up this morning a little after 6:00am, which, after a summer of eight-to-nine o'clock mornings was a bit early for me, and went to our little meeting and ate bagels (spelled "bagles" in our schedule). Then we moved people in at our assigned residence halls and I got to leave early to do computer orientation sessions, a total of three for the day, which brings me up to the grand total of fourteen computer orientation sessions. WAAAY to many for anyone. I'm a pro.



Lunch was absolutely grand, as usual. We have this massive picnic where a bunch of profs come and sit in these little tents and new students can come and meet them. By some strange coincidence, the department of Christian Life & Thought and the School of Music always end up in the same tent, which I find absolutely hilarious because I have one foot in each discipline. So funny!



I had a meeting in the afternoon for "all" of the PAAs (there were about six of us...woot) and the new Dialogue adjuncts, and then my adjunct and I met the parents of our class. I'm honestly a bit nervous about the two of us working together because I have this complex...well, we'll see how it goes.



After this meeting was the CREW Kick-Off, my baby. This was my personal project this summer/yesterday (I ran a meeting where we decided together how to organize it), and I was very nervous about how it would go over, especially when the woman I still thought was in charge handed over the reigns. I've just been so spacey all week and I wasn't really prepared to direct people, but it worked out. In fact, Seth was an absolutely fantastic emcee and he really pulled it all together. The students were so excited, and I didn't see a single one not participating, which is a small miracle. So, even though there were some staff coordination issues that were totally my fault, there were no noticeable glitches in the actual event.

Convocation...ah, convocation. I believe I must be the biggest nerd of all time, but I simply love convocation (and commencement, for that matter--anything with robes). Once again, I ended up sitting toward the front and was able to smile at nearly everyone I knew. I was grinning the entire time. Convocation is much too short...oh, well.

The rest of the evening was absolutely insane. I met a young man by the name of Joshua and we ate together in ARA, we had Viking Kick-Off which is one of my favorite events of Threshold because we all run around in crazy clothes behaving the idiots we truly are inside. =) Then, Comedy Sportz did their bit and everything wrapped up at about 10:30...whew.

moving day = really really sore

I feel compelled to recount my moving-day experience from Wednesday. I brought a lot of things to school with me and helped my roommates move in, and it was a blast--and very, very eventful! To set the stage, the plan was for me to come up and start moving people into our third-floor apartment at 4pm, with one of my roommates out of town and the other working at 7pm. The moving "time" was 4-10pm, and I have no idea how anyone thought that four (or five) girls could move into an apartment in six hours...

My family and I packed up the truck Tuesday night in a way that prevented me from being able to use the rearview mirror at ALL, which was a source of anxiety as I drove up. I was able to follow a relatively slow truck that was hauling some sort of liquid, so that was good. I arrived on campus at about 3:20 and took the next ten minutes to get situated in a parking spot with a Beverly Hillbilly truckload of furniture with the bed extended and a bike strapped to the end of that, after which I climbed on top of my dresser and read for about a half hour. Kat went to get checked in at 4pm but it took her nearly a half hour to do that, so we didn't get to move anything in until about 4:45.

Christina came by and helped at this point, but the going was slow. We finally did get all of my junk out of the truck, up the three flights of stairs, and into the apartment. We drove over to the girls' summer place and I went upstairs--I won't share my exact words when I walked in and saw all of the stuff that had to go, but it was something like, "Crap!...OH MY GOSH! CRAP!" Good times. We started reloading the truck but then Christina had to go to work at her other job (one of three, currently) so then it was just me and Kat and Matthew (praise God for Matthew). After we dumped this load in the apartment, Matthew did rounds and Kat and I put some things away to make room for the rest of the stuff, and then we all went to McDonald's for dinner.

At about 8:30 I finally called Jaron to say that we were ready to get Mel's loft out of his storage space, and I went over to the Taj to get it. When I got there, Jaron asked how I was and I had a pounding headache at the time, so we went inside to get some drugs (great apartment, by the way). Well, as goes my relationship with Jaron, we ended up talking for an hour before I asked what time it was, and we could have talked for much longer. So sad that we had to move. =( So we took the loft over and brought it all the way up, at which point I lost my keys.

Jaron checked his pockets, I checked the truck, we all checked the apartment--no keys. We were searching for at least thirty minutes, but likely closer to forty-five, and to no avail. I called my dad at 11:20ish to ask if he could meet us at a halfway point and he grudgingly agreed. We went out to the car to push it into a more appropriate parking space, and Jaron decided to paw through his pockets once more. I was talking to Kat when he said, "Heather, call your dad," and pulled out my keys! I was so happy that I just laughed and hugged him and called my dad, and we all had a good laugh.

By then it was 11:30 and I had already kept Jaron much longer than I should have, and we were supposed to have checked out of the old apartment at 10:00, and there was still a lot more stuff to be moved. Matthew called me and I asked him if everything really needed to be out before we slept, and he said it did. Grr! So, Jaron stuck around (Lord, bless him) and we got the last bits of it with some help from Matthew and Josh, and we were finally finished. It was all over at about 1:15. Christina and Katrina went to sleep and I stayed up and put things away as much as I could, and Christina got up for work around 3:45. I left the apartment at 4:27, arrived home at 5:22, and went to sleep around 5:45am. Two days later I'm sore as can be, and my right leg is very stiff and practically useless. I have muscles hurting that I can't stretch, so I'm off to take a hot bath.

Many thanks to Jaron, Matthew, and Josh for all of their help. We couldn't have done it without you!...I'm never moving again unless all roommates are present. =)

Peace

packing, packing, packing galore

Packing like ya neva neva seen bafore!

Okay, so I'm a little tired. I just spend the last two hours packing up my Mom's truck (yes, my MOM's truck) with furniture and anything else that I own that would fit. *sigh* It was truly exhausting, but quite possibly the most intellectually challenging activity in which I've recently participated. Something about all of that organization of three-dimensional objects...it's like Tetris for super-nerds! I was having a blast, and so was my dad, whose help was invaluable.

It's a rather small truck, as far as pick-up trucks go; it's a little Nissan Frontier with a full cab which means, unfortunately, that the bed is a bit smaller. Like, I can barely lie down in it. BUT, inside that teeny little bed we were able to fit my dresser (drawers and funny cabinet thing full of stuff), desk (also full of stuff), dining room table and chairs (table's in pieces), and nearly everything else that I own that's not furniture. Plus a bunch of stuff in the cab.

What we have left to take to Chicago, hopefully on Saturday:
*the big red sectional
*my chair
*the tv stand/entertainment center thingy
*the leaves for the table (unless I can miraculously fit them in the overflowing truck tomorrow morning)
*TV
*what little remains of my clothing
I think we might actually be able to do it in the truck, but if not, we'll just take my car up as well. And both of my parents so that the vehicles can be returned to their house. It's so much stuff, but when I think about it, it's basically all the common furniture for the apartment, plus all of my personal furniture and clothing and dishes and books and office supplies and...

This is so fun. Tomorrow is going to ROCK!

Peace

okay, what happened??

I know I say this all the time, but I simply canNOT believe how fast time flies!! Seriously! Okay, my last post was Tuesday and I said something to the effect of, "Okay, guys, I'm moving back to school in eleven days"...guess what--it's FRIDAY. Late Friday. And Monday and Tuesday I'll be in Michigan, and then Wednesday I'll be up at school helping the girls move in (two of whom will not be present for the entire move, leaving me and one other roommate to "finish up"), which basically leaves me four days to get all of my crap together. Here's what's left:

*finish a solid draft of the plagiarism workshop so that I can have a 'usable' draft by the 10th
*prepare a timeline for the CREW kickoff rally thing in five-minute increments
*finish the last seven books of Augustine's Confessions
*pack everything I own
*decide what's coming to the city with me on Wednesday and what can stay until Saturday
*find out how much money I need from the Threshold budget to buy poster-making supplies
*create some sort of schedule for Compass week so that I can work both jobs...

Don't get me wrong, folks--I'm totally not complaining!! I'm actually very excited to have made it to August alive and not completely bored (in fact, rather enthused about life in general), and also with all of my sanity still intact. God has definitely preserved me and my joi de vivre this summer, and he just continues to surprise me (see Tuesday's post on what I learned at Carol's). I'm just sayin' that time just whizzed by me much faster than I had anticipated, and now I'm paying for it!! Here's to time management!

Peace

three weeks

Somehow the whole summer has finally boiled down to three weeks.  Exactly three weeks from today, I will have returned to campus to stay (though likely a bit sooner, but it's a secret!).  Time just passes so quickly when you're trying not to think about it!!  I know I recently counted the actual days until my return, but I didn't keep track after that, and now I must keep track because I have deadlines approaching, as well as events, various work-related tasks, and logistical planning.

This weekend will be very busy.  I have to set up for Vikings In Progress (aka "VIP"--early orientation) on Thursday, attend and play significant roles in VIP on Friday and Saturday (7-3), babysit Saturday night (6-9), go to church and move out of Carol's place on Sunday, and then my roommates and I are having a dinner party Monday night for twelve people.  So, yeah.  The schedule will definitely pick up then.  

Then, I return to my parents house.  Surprisingly, this will likely turn into the most hectic time of all since I have to pack all of my stuff and figure out how I'm getting all of it from home to school, and when, and which vehicles/parents to take with me, exactly what day to move up, etc.  

Sometime during all of this mess I have to finish various smaller projects for Threshold, read ahead for the class for which I'm the PAA (Peer Academic Advisor), buy textbooks, practice studio repertoire, practice my fast-approaching-concert repertoire, and finish the workshop I'm writing.  

That's more like it!

Peace

whirlwind week

Whew! The last week was a doozy! It began Thursday, July 3rd. I had two appointments that morning and I spent the rest of the day packing for my trips. We left early Friday morning for my maternal grandmother's house and I put together ceiling fans and collected yarn all day, and totally forgot it was the fourth of July and paid no attention to the fireworks. Saturday morning we drove even farther south to drop my sister off with my paternal grandparents so she could go with them to church camp. My parents and I came home, then my mom drove me to the train station and I went to the city. Once there, I met my roomates and Mel's sister at The Soup Box, went to concert, went to school, and visited Matthew at work.

Sunday= All Saints', book club, beach (so AWESOME!), dinner at the Huddle House, park
Monday= Threshold meeting, coffee w/Joel, dinner w/Jaron, sitting around w/Christina and Matthew
Tuesday= Meeting w/writing supervisor, Cafeneo w/girls, was supposed to have coffee w/Boaz, dinner w/Matthew, rounds, ice cream, movie, sleep
Wednesday= house-sitting orientation, visiting Josh, visiting Joel w/Josh, visiting Matthew, home

So, yeah. I was completely booked for one week. It was GREAT. And now I get to go back Monday and stay for two whole weeks! I'm house-sitting for my supervisor while she and her husband disappear to somewhere, and that puts me about six blocks from campus, which is great since up till now I've been forty-five miles from campus. I am looking forward to this so much!

The best part about this is that it wouldn't have been possible if I had not lost my job. This is a great opportunity for me to learn to keep a house by myself and also hang out with all of the people I love on a more regular basis. I would have spent this two and half weeks just waiting for my next visit (July 24th-27th) and working. Granted, the money would have been nice, but this is so much better than that! Praise God!!

Peace

where there are books, there's reading!

I cannot BELIEVE how much reading I've been doing this summer. My goodness! And as I think back on what I have read so far, I realise that C.S. Lewis dominates the list. Our fabulous book club is reading his Space Trilogy, and I've just finished the second of those, and I'm re-reading the Chronicles of Narnia since I now have a much better understanding of Lewis since the last time I read them (oh, about eight years ago). I have two books left in the Chronicles, and I'm expecting to read The Great Divorce along with The Last Battle (a method recommended to me by my friend Josh). Oh, and I read Till We Have Faces. So altogether I've read six beautiful stories by C.S. Lewis out of twelve (thirteen?) books that I've read just since school let out in May. I love summer reading.

I have also read so far: Three Views on Eastern Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism (ed. Gundry, including a chapter by our very own Brad Nassif), 40 Days Living the Jesus Creed (our very own S. McKnight), Becoming Orthodox (Gillquist), Lilith (MacDonald), Praying With Icons (Forest), Adam (Dekker), and The Orthodox Veneration of Mary the Birthgiver of God (St. John Maximovitch). I am currently reading Augustine's Confessions, Jesus of Nazareth (Ratzinger), Theology of the Body (Pope John Paul II), and A Bird's-Eye View of Paul (Michael Bird).

Yummy. I hope this keeps me busy for the rest of the summer...

Peace

my sweet mother

My mom is so cute. I mean, she's generally adorable and says silly things all the time that make us all laugh, but she's been especially cute lately. Since my store went out of business and I became unemployed, she's been telling the story to everyone she knows. Yesterday it was my aunt, and this morning I heard her telling someone from work. It's an abbreviated version, but they get the gist. I can tell that the people she's talking to feel like I was wronged, which is a nice little extra bit of sympathy. She's just so incredibly cute.

Peace

interview offer...denied

Funny thing happened this morning. I got a mysterious phone call--I answered it, and it was a woman from Jewel. I had just applied at Jewel yesterday, so I was slightly excited. She told me that they're holding interviews tomorrow for a grocery clerk position (the one position of twenty that I decided to apply for), and proceeded to ask, "Are you going to away to school in the fall?"

Oh, cruel fate! Of course, I said, "Yes, I am." She replied, "So you won't be around much longer?" "No, I'm not, unfortunately." "Oh, okay," she said, sounding moderately embarassed, "We're really looking for someone who's going to be around..." I cut her off and said, "I completely understand. I was just giving it a shot. No worries." She then said goodbye and we hung up.

Mom and I decided today that it would be a waste of gas and energy to apply anywhere else (I've applied to three other places) since I am going back to school so soon. I mean, I'm basically available for only four and a half weeks of work at this point, now that I've thought about it, and no one in their right mind would hire me because it would take that long to train me. The only place I could concieveably work is a Quizno's. There's one in Naperville, but it's too far to drive and it's a very sketchy place (plus, my store and theirs have been fueding for years). However, the one in Oswego is owned by the woman who used to own my store, so I've given her a call to see if she'll take me back, even if it's just for a few hours a week. I'm supposed to hear from her today...

Peace

waiting

I'm trying not to count the days until I go back to school, but it's so very hard. I prefer to just count the days until my next visit, or until I have lunch with a friend, or until a meeting. I have exactly six days until I leave for my next visit to Chicago (3 and 1/2 days), and sixteen days after that I'll be in Chicago for VIP days (3 days), after which I have ten days until I help my roommates move in, and four until I move in. So...I'm still not tallying it up. It would be too painful. Okay, I lied, I just figured out that it's roughly forty-two days until I move back. However, I am more than halfway there, and if I just keep my eye on those little checkpoints along the way, I'll totally be fine. Unless I remain jobless, in which case only a very time-consuming volunteer position will serve to maintain my sanity. We shall see!

Peace