Good afternoon friends,
I finally have a break to sit and write a little bit about my experience in the first two days here.
The trip down went without a hitch! We made it 11 hours to Reno, Nevada and spent a very comfortable night in a hotel before heading out to Lake Tahoe around noon yesterday.
We got to Tahoe and got registered, and from the get-go was swarmed by all these new people to meet. I'm so thankful everyone had name tags on, because the verbal introductions seemed to go in one ear and out the other in the chaos of it all. The afternoon yesterday was spent meeting all the kids from around the country that came to be on project with us. All of the staff seemed to already know me due to the fact that my lovely boyfriend, who is on staff here, may have mentioned me once or twice :) so that made introductions easy! We met our "life groups" that we will be spending time with doing bible studies and sharing life with every day over the next nine weeks. My group is very unique, we have me from Washington state, a girl from the state of Michigan, a girl from the state of Colorado, and a girl who came all the way from Sweden! I'm so excited to gain new perspective from all our different lives and grow closer in the word together with our life group leader who is from Montana.
After a night in the…. rustic and cozy (cramped and bare) cabins, we had a very informative orientation before heading out to job hunt around town. I already got hired by K-Mart before coming. So I and all the other 8 kids that got employed there had it easy this afternoon. Just had to go take a quick drug test.
We are soaking up the sun for the afternoon, kids are filling out job applications, and awaiting a spaghetti feast for dinner! God is so good and I can't help but be optimistic about the days to come!
Friday, June 13, 2014
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Lake Tahoe Summer Project
Hi Friends,
I know I usually use this blog to post about my random thoughts and happenings in my life, but as of today I will be on a nine week long summer project mission trip with this club called CRU (Campus Crusade for Christ) which I attend and play a role in at WSU. I will be living in a cabin facility in Southern Lake Tahoe with somewhere around 60 other college kids from around the country. We will get summer jobs down there at various places in the city, learning to work and share our faith in all aspects of our life, as well as grow in our walk with God in an incredible setting such as Lake Tahoe. I was fortunate enough to get hired by Kmart down there! I'm so excited by this opportunity to experience what it's like to hold a customer service job such as this one, I have never held a job like this before.
Over the course of the next nine weeks I will be posting to this site as often as possible! I hope to reflect on my travel experience, my work experience, and my personal growth I experience with my faith. I'm excited and equally nervous to stretch out of my comfort zone this summer and see what the Lord has planned. I will also share the awesome beach fun experiences as well.
Today, me and my friend I've previously posted about, who's name I changed for security purposes, Maria, will driving with a guy, we'll call him Tim, 11 hours down to Reno and staying the night. Then making the rest of the journey on Thursday… Hoping everything will fit in the car and the bikes stay securely hooked-up to the bike rack that I just envision bouncing shakily up-and-down as we hurdle down I-5!
I've had to put an insane amount of faith into this trip, and will need to continue doing so every day that I am gone. Praying for all aspects of my summer project and everyone involved! More posts to come!
I know I usually use this blog to post about my random thoughts and happenings in my life, but as of today I will be on a nine week long summer project mission trip with this club called CRU (Campus Crusade for Christ) which I attend and play a role in at WSU. I will be living in a cabin facility in Southern Lake Tahoe with somewhere around 60 other college kids from around the country. We will get summer jobs down there at various places in the city, learning to work and share our faith in all aspects of our life, as well as grow in our walk with God in an incredible setting such as Lake Tahoe. I was fortunate enough to get hired by Kmart down there! I'm so excited by this opportunity to experience what it's like to hold a customer service job such as this one, I have never held a job like this before.
Over the course of the next nine weeks I will be posting to this site as often as possible! I hope to reflect on my travel experience, my work experience, and my personal growth I experience with my faith. I'm excited and equally nervous to stretch out of my comfort zone this summer and see what the Lord has planned. I will also share the awesome beach fun experiences as well.
Today, me and my friend I've previously posted about, who's name I changed for security purposes, Maria, will driving with a guy, we'll call him Tim, 11 hours down to Reno and staying the night. Then making the rest of the journey on Thursday… Hoping everything will fit in the car and the bikes stay securely hooked-up to the bike rack that I just envision bouncing shakily up-and-down as we hurdle down I-5!
I've had to put an insane amount of faith into this trip, and will need to continue doing so every day that I am gone. Praying for all aspects of my summer project and everyone involved! More posts to come!
Thursday, April 10, 2014
WSU Decision
Hi friends,
I just wanted to follow up on a really old post of mine, back when I was deciding between two schools and really struggled with which one to go to. My choice was between Western Washington University and Washington State University. Both schools had great pros and cons, and both probably would have worked out. But more doors seemed to be open for me at WSU, and though it seemed like more of a risk and was definitely outside of my comfort zone, I took the leap of faith and moved to the small town of Pullman, WA and started school here at WSU.
Having now spent almost two semesters here I am happy to report I couldn't have made a better decision. There are a million little things I could write about that have been a blessing since moving here, but I'll just highlight a few things that have really been crucial to my experience here. Showing you all that making a choice, as hard and daunting as it is, will more often than not yield such huge blessings in the end.
First off there is such a sense of community here and in the greater area surrounding Pullman. Everyone is proud to be a coug, and even though it is a relatively large campus, it feels small once you are here and experience it. There is a a huge christian presence on campus, which I was pleasantly suppressed to find, and lots of opportunities to be in community with them on campus. The school does a really good job of having things to do on campus. I was worried being in the middle of nowhere would be boring, but when you can find time between your studies to do something fun there is always bound to be something to do. The greek life is alive and well here if you are into that sort of thing, but if your not the options are out there, you just have to be a little more proactive about finding them. Also, you get in really good shape walking around this campus, you either are going up a hill or down one and there is not really an in-between. Cougar calves are a thing! There is also a lot of great food places in the greater Pullman area, it's super tempting to eat out a lot… if only we weren't all broke college students :)
I've made life long friendships here, and couldn't be happier in my major program. Of course there is room for this school to improve in some areas, I'm not suggesting this place is perfect by any stretch. And I know not everyone has this experience here. But if you were wondering how that choice panned out, it has changed my life for the better!
GO COUGS!
I just wanted to follow up on a really old post of mine, back when I was deciding between two schools and really struggled with which one to go to. My choice was between Western Washington University and Washington State University. Both schools had great pros and cons, and both probably would have worked out. But more doors seemed to be open for me at WSU, and though it seemed like more of a risk and was definitely outside of my comfort zone, I took the leap of faith and moved to the small town of Pullman, WA and started school here at WSU.
Having now spent almost two semesters here I am happy to report I couldn't have made a better decision. There are a million little things I could write about that have been a blessing since moving here, but I'll just highlight a few things that have really been crucial to my experience here. Showing you all that making a choice, as hard and daunting as it is, will more often than not yield such huge blessings in the end.
First off there is such a sense of community here and in the greater area surrounding Pullman. Everyone is proud to be a coug, and even though it is a relatively large campus, it feels small once you are here and experience it. There is a a huge christian presence on campus, which I was pleasantly suppressed to find, and lots of opportunities to be in community with them on campus. The school does a really good job of having things to do on campus. I was worried being in the middle of nowhere would be boring, but when you can find time between your studies to do something fun there is always bound to be something to do. The greek life is alive and well here if you are into that sort of thing, but if your not the options are out there, you just have to be a little more proactive about finding them. Also, you get in really good shape walking around this campus, you either are going up a hill or down one and there is not really an in-between. Cougar calves are a thing! There is also a lot of great food places in the greater Pullman area, it's super tempting to eat out a lot… if only we weren't all broke college students :)
I've made life long friendships here, and couldn't be happier in my major program. Of course there is room for this school to improve in some areas, I'm not suggesting this place is perfect by any stretch. And I know not everyone has this experience here. But if you were wondering how that choice panned out, it has changed my life for the better!
GO COUGS!
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Self Conscious Stupidity
As a girl, for some stupid reason I am pre-programmed to have embedded body image issues. Every girl seems to. Something in our brains tells us our skin is too pale, or our butts are too big, or that our stomach is too flabby, that our nose is the wrong shape, that our ankles are too fat, that stretch marks are ugly and shameful, or that our thighs are too big. I personally struggle with that last one. It is an aspect of myself I tend to try to hide, that I think everyone notices, and not in a good way... My thighs take up more mental thought than any body part should in a normal humans brain. They are the first aspect I worry about when I put an outfit on in the morning. It's hard for me to find any pants I like to see my thighs in. I can't seem to not be self conscious of them. Even though I know they are normal sized, and frankly look fine in jeans to anyone else with a pulse on this planet! And the crazy part is I know I'm crazy! Deep down I know the other people at the gym, the other people at church and in class don't care. I am aware how stupid it is to hate my thighs even after my sweet boyfriend says he likes them as he grazes his hand over them when we sit next to each other. I want to embrace my thighs the way he does, but can't seem to. Shouldn't his assurance be the ultimate affirmation that there's no reason to be self conscious about them!?
Why can I know a thought I'm having be stupid, yet proceed to think that hurtful self image sort of thought on a daily basis. Why can I not see myself the way my boyfriend can? Why do I allow the crazy to overtake the logic?
I KNOW I'm not the only girl who struggles with this. I would venture to say every girl has their own "thigh" issue. It just may not be their thighs per say.
It's annoying being a girl sometimes... I hate that I hate parts of my body...
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
I dropped my pen...
Today in history class I dropped my pen, entering into a battle I am not unfamiliar with as this sort of thing is a regular and usually uneventful occurrence. So here is a detailed description and over dramatization of my thought process and act of getting my pen back in the middle of class.
I sit here staring at the pen, I can still hear the echo of the pen crashing to the ground, as if it took up the room and now everyone's attention is now diverted to me and my disobedient writing utensil. I survey the peers around me and none seem to even notice this momentary cataclysmic event that just took place… phew… The pen sits there, looming nothing short of 12 inches away from my foot in front of me. Just laying there beneath the obviously hung over frat guy seated in the seat in front of me. My initial reaction is to extend my left foot out to violently retract the pen back to my vicinity so I can scoop it back up into my hand. Forcefully drag it along the ground as if to punish it and make it regret its costly misstep. But as hard as I try my leg can't stretch that far… I curse all those nights I spent complaining about growing pains as a kid, I obviously didn't have enough of those nights! There is this stupid desk protruding my abdomen and stoping the mass portion of my body from leaning far enough forward to even get my foot in the pen's region. With each failing attempt it's as if the space dividing the pen and I grows, the air between us becomes thicker. Time passes and at this point I've stopped observing whatever the teacher is lecturing on… The slides on the board whiz by and all my mental energy is held captive by this piece of ink incapsulating plastic that fell prey to gravity's unforgiving ways. I take a moment to regroup my frantic left lower limb and take a minute to examine my right hand, questioning its usually dependable grasp on objects I so trustingly place in it. Mentally blaming it for all this trouble I am now dealing with…
I am forced to remove the notebook and empty coffee cup from atop my desk, and awkwardly juggle those items while I lift the desk portion of the chair out of my way, leaving it to balance upright in the tight space between me and this blonde kid next to me. I then proceed to bend my torso down and lean forward enough to get my hands on the pen. Initial contact is made with the rouge possession. This is one small step for hand, but one large step for hand kind. (I couldn't help myself there, it was an achievement to say the least) With the pen barely balancing between my middle finger and index finer I resurface victorious. Mission complete.
Yes, I was that bored in class today that I wrote this after I got my pen back :)
I sit here staring at the pen, I can still hear the echo of the pen crashing to the ground, as if it took up the room and now everyone's attention is now diverted to me and my disobedient writing utensil. I survey the peers around me and none seem to even notice this momentary cataclysmic event that just took place… phew… The pen sits there, looming nothing short of 12 inches away from my foot in front of me. Just laying there beneath the obviously hung over frat guy seated in the seat in front of me. My initial reaction is to extend my left foot out to violently retract the pen back to my vicinity so I can scoop it back up into my hand. Forcefully drag it along the ground as if to punish it and make it regret its costly misstep. But as hard as I try my leg can't stretch that far… I curse all those nights I spent complaining about growing pains as a kid, I obviously didn't have enough of those nights! There is this stupid desk protruding my abdomen and stoping the mass portion of my body from leaning far enough forward to even get my foot in the pen's region. With each failing attempt it's as if the space dividing the pen and I grows, the air between us becomes thicker. Time passes and at this point I've stopped observing whatever the teacher is lecturing on… The slides on the board whiz by and all my mental energy is held captive by this piece of ink incapsulating plastic that fell prey to gravity's unforgiving ways. I take a moment to regroup my frantic left lower limb and take a minute to examine my right hand, questioning its usually dependable grasp on objects I so trustingly place in it. Mentally blaming it for all this trouble I am now dealing with…
I am forced to remove the notebook and empty coffee cup from atop my desk, and awkwardly juggle those items while I lift the desk portion of the chair out of my way, leaving it to balance upright in the tight space between me and this blonde kid next to me. I then proceed to bend my torso down and lean forward enough to get my hands on the pen. Initial contact is made with the rouge possession. This is one small step for hand, but one large step for hand kind. (I couldn't help myself there, it was an achievement to say the least) With the pen barely balancing between my middle finger and index finer I resurface victorious. Mission complete.
Yes, I was that bored in class today that I wrote this after I got my pen back :)
Saturday, March 1, 2014
Cadaver Lab Adventures
So I touched a dead body yesterday… I touched it's skin, pealed that back and touched its muscle, pealed that back and touched the bone and the attachment sites of the muscles. I touched the tendons, and the once critical-to-life arteries.
It was terrifying, gross, humbling, nauseating, and sadly required… As a kinesiology student in Anatomy we have to participate in cadaver labs as part of the class. This was our first lab out of four over the course of the semester that we will do. We looked at all the posterior muscle of the body.
It was the most stereotypical cadaver lab you can think of… We walk into the sketchy basement of the medical building, walk into a room full of body bags on tables, crowd around the designated one in the middle, unzip it, and have the instructor dig right into the lab, casually unwrapping the muscles and having us examine them. My instructor was way to excited to do this lab… Nobody should be that excited to open up a cadaver… The smell was probably the hardest part of it all, I get sick just writing about it, so I'm jut going to leave it at that.
Thankfully it was only an hour of my day. I was able to book it out of there and go take a thorough shower! I do not enjoy those labs… I never will. But it is something I just have to get over and do in order to get through this class. School is more and more becoming full of things I have to do just to get through than things I want to do. Cadaver lab just puts a face to that fact, literally…. :/
It was terrifying, gross, humbling, nauseating, and sadly required… As a kinesiology student in Anatomy we have to participate in cadaver labs as part of the class. This was our first lab out of four over the course of the semester that we will do. We looked at all the posterior muscle of the body.
It was the most stereotypical cadaver lab you can think of… We walk into the sketchy basement of the medical building, walk into a room full of body bags on tables, crowd around the designated one in the middle, unzip it, and have the instructor dig right into the lab, casually unwrapping the muscles and having us examine them. My instructor was way to excited to do this lab… Nobody should be that excited to open up a cadaver… The smell was probably the hardest part of it all, I get sick just writing about it, so I'm jut going to leave it at that.
Thankfully it was only an hour of my day. I was able to book it out of there and go take a thorough shower! I do not enjoy those labs… I never will. But it is something I just have to get over and do in order to get through this class. School is more and more becoming full of things I have to do just to get through than things I want to do. Cadaver lab just puts a face to that fact, literally…. :/
Monday, February 24, 2014
A piece of Love
First off, let me address my rather abrupt, and unannounced absence from the blog. Life got going at a pace of over 100 MPH it feels like. School pace really started to pick up, my social life is expanding at a rapid pace pulling my attention in every direction possible. All good things to be busy with, but took a lot out of me. And if I'm being completely honest I got uninspired… Noting I started writing about I felt was goo enough to post. I have about ten posts started just sitting in my draft box that are less than inspiring in my opinion. I got into this funk where I believed what I wrote on here was kind of a waste of energy on my part…. I can't really explain why…
But today I decided to snap out of it. I write these blogs for nobodies approval, not because anybody told me to, but because I want to get what is in my head out somewhere, somewhere where I can remember it and look back at it. Plus some of my good friends like to read my random thoughts… So here I am again to write about anything and everything on my mind… Today's post is about one condition of love.
I think to love someone is to put yourself in the most vulnerable state any human being can be in. The definition of vulnerable is "susceptible to physical or emotional attack or harm". To love someone is to unconditionally care about them and invest yourself in their life. That doesn't sound so bad - doable from any physical standpoint- except the only way to do that to a person is to get your heart, your soul, and your emotions involved. You have to be willing to get so close to them knowing that you could get hurt, that something could go cataclysmicly wrong and your heart could be shattered into a million pieces, and then still proceed to get that close… You have to be willing to be vulnerable. That is the ultimate form of vulnerability between any two people. To love someone, to have that unconditional trust between two people in this unexplainable non-physical form. This does not just apply to a couple who is dating or married. This goes for true friendships, sibling bonds, and parents and their children. We are creatures created to love. We crave love… We crave vulnerability. To me, that is the scariest piece of love, the craving we have for it. In no other scenario in life do we crave to be "susceptible to emotional attack or harm."
Does that piece of love stop me from loving my friends and family? Absolutely not… It is the greatest connection we have to one another, and when you do love someone, the satisfaction of the craving is so much greater than trying to avoid the slight chance of hurt the vulnerability may bring you.
But today I decided to snap out of it. I write these blogs for nobodies approval, not because anybody told me to, but because I want to get what is in my head out somewhere, somewhere where I can remember it and look back at it. Plus some of my good friends like to read my random thoughts… So here I am again to write about anything and everything on my mind… Today's post is about one condition of love.
I think to love someone is to put yourself in the most vulnerable state any human being can be in. The definition of vulnerable is "susceptible to physical or emotional attack or harm". To love someone is to unconditionally care about them and invest yourself in their life. That doesn't sound so bad - doable from any physical standpoint- except the only way to do that to a person is to get your heart, your soul, and your emotions involved. You have to be willing to get so close to them knowing that you could get hurt, that something could go cataclysmicly wrong and your heart could be shattered into a million pieces, and then still proceed to get that close… You have to be willing to be vulnerable. That is the ultimate form of vulnerability between any two people. To love someone, to have that unconditional trust between two people in this unexplainable non-physical form. This does not just apply to a couple who is dating or married. This goes for true friendships, sibling bonds, and parents and their children. We are creatures created to love. We crave love… We crave vulnerability. To me, that is the scariest piece of love, the craving we have for it. In no other scenario in life do we crave to be "susceptible to emotional attack or harm."
Does that piece of love stop me from loving my friends and family? Absolutely not… It is the greatest connection we have to one another, and when you do love someone, the satisfaction of the craving is so much greater than trying to avoid the slight chance of hurt the vulnerability may bring you.
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