Mulch

My parents had a dump truck load of mulch delivered the day before I stopped in on my weekend travels; my landlord had some delivered about the same time. Both used the mulch to cover up all of the ugliness hiding under plants and to prevent weeds from growing there. But first, it took hours to pull the weeds and prepare for the mulch. Then they spent hours placing that mulch where it needed to go to get it out of the way. However, the hours spent are worth it when you see the beautiful yard and take in that fresh mulch smell.
Sometimes are lives are the same way. We have all of these hard times that we have to go through before something amazing comes. Once it comes, we then realize we have hours of work to be able to know how to use that new thing best in our life. But, in the end, it is worth all of the hard work when we know that our new gift is being used effectively. What new gift did you just receive, or are you still preparing for it?

Two Weeks Notice

Not the movie... two weeks notice that I will not be helping with the Kidz ministry at church as I will be at camp. It's hard to think that in just two weeks my life will switch gears for two months. Instead of being a substitute teacher and trying to keep track of all of the kids names at all the different schools, I'll be trying to learn all of the Varsity campers before they arrive. From running off of a teacher's plans to planning the activities for others to run both this year and in the future. Moving from my single apartment to sharing a small room with 1+ staffers. From being inside all of the time to being on a beach front with many hours spent outside a day. And from hopping in my car to drive around to using the golf cart or walking around camp. Ahhh, I can't wait for the change and to see how God works at this camp during the summer. It's so much bigger than anywhere I've worked or gone to camp before and I've never been with the same campers all summer. It'll be a great experience! Sadly I will miss my kids up here.

Banking Pains

I just finished running around from one bank to another, closing my account at the first and transferring that money to the new bank. The pain was I was 57 cents from having the money round to a clean hundred dollars. Instead I had to get $19.43 in cash. O well, the money is safely deposited in the new bank and I think pretty much all of my information has changed to the correct bank. Yeah! Finished with that process. Finally.

Memorial Day

The parade today was my first in a long time. The last time I think I saw part of one in person was in Australia for ANZAC Day. Since I went to that dawn service and have the ANZAC values on my kitchen cabinets I think I need to get more into supporting American Veterans. While the values of Endurance, Sacrifice, Courage, and Mateship are very similar to those in our Armed Forces, I should support ours a little more.
I enjoyed the service this morning as wreaths were placed on the memorials for all of the veteran's who died fighting wars. The parade was quite slow often with a few minutes in between floats/walkers. But as I look forward to being able to celebrate the 4th of July for the first time in a few years, my patriotism is increasing. Maybe I'll even buy a flag shirt.

Church

Today I walked into church super tired and not incredibly thrilled to be there as I really wanted a nap. But, I know the importance of attending church and fellowshipping with other believers. I also made a promise to myself freshman year that I could not skip church due to being tired if I stayed up of my own accord regardless of what time I went to bed. I could only miss if I was really sick or had to work really late (the year I was an RA, which was also the year my church had a Thursday night service). So this morning I trekked to church since I had chatted with friends and watched Netflix too late into the night.
I’m going through the process to be a church member (well transferring my membership up). This requires meeting with a deacon, then reading the articles of faith and remeeting with the deacon, then meeting with a few deacons, then getting voted on by all the deacons, and finally having a letter of transfer sent from my previous church to the new church. I had completed step one a few weeks ago and had not received the articles of faith to read. However, as I entered the sanctuary I was given them to read, which I managed to do as people moved around in the sanctuary. Afterwards we met individually, then gathered a few deacons together. So I’m all the way up to needing the vote (to happen Wednesday) and then hopefully becoming a member of the church on Sunday. I think some of the youth are part of the service then as well which will be wonderful. I love having a supportive church family and it was well worth getting out of bed for although I did take a nap after returning home.

Cleaning the House

From all of my lovely college friends I accumulated many things as they cleaned out and packed up. Some things I'm storing for someone else until next school year while others I'm keeping or passing on to whoever I feel like. A few things are handy to have over the summer like the extra chairs I've been using while writing my thesis.
However, they were taking up about half of my living room which was way too much. Now the entire section under my bed is filled with the boxes, but my living room is fully functioning just with an extra duffel bag in it. As I slowly work through cleaning all of my apartment to prepare to leave for the summer I decided to turn off my heat. This is easier said than done as the knob is really hard to turn. I tried and was unsuccessful. But as I was back there I noticed that a bird had gotten into the back part of my heater and fried. There are now bird skeleton pieces and feathers in the back of it. Gross... for those of you who don't know my heater is in the corner of my living room and takes up alot of space, but is not attached to the wall. I have no idea how this bird got in and find it very disgusting. I guess this is why we clean our apartments.
In the same manner sometimes it's important to do a thorough cleaning of our lives. We should check to make sure that something unclean hasn't snuck in and may start to spoil our witness. Just as it takes time and work to clean an apartment both regularly and on a larger scale a few times a year, we should do the same with our lives. Is your place clean?

Rocky Times

As I'm writing this week I've been working to be able to accomplish alot of my thesis before I go to camp in 19 days. I have so many sections to do and the time is running out. I don't doubt that I can do it with God's strength though. With Him all things are possible. The changes in my own life, pushing through things I did not want to do and making it to the other side is important.
When I was at camp this weekend I worked in the kitchen. It felt really weird as I stood there with my nametag and staff shirt just waiting to replenish the buffet bar. I felt like I was above the job. The problem I realized though was I am called to be a servant no matter where I am. Nothing is too low for me. Yes there are many things I dislike doing and I do have jobs where I am hired as an upper level staff member. Regardless of my job though, I need to be humble enough to do any job. Christ washed his disciples feet which was the job of the lowest servant. If he could willingly do that then I should be willing to do anything, even dishwashing. I think part of my summer job is setting up chairs when it rains which could be interesting but it'll be like work crew at Basileia. Doing all of the jobs to the best of our ability and serving God through our attitude while doing it.

Parades

I talked to a second grader at Kidz Klub yesterday who alerted me that his baseball team was walking in the parade on Monday. I then realized that I have not been to a parade in a very long time. I know I saw a little bit of an ANZAC day one in 2009, but I can't remember the last time I saw one in this country. In High School I was part of a St. Patrick's Day one with my mom's preschool.
I decided that it's unacceptable to miss this many parades. So I will be at the one on Monday, just after I finish gathering all of the details. It's time to support the area and remember the past.

Five Days off = 5 days of work to do

The schools I substitute in are closed until after Memorial Day on Monday. Therefore, I have nothing to do except my thesis, cleaning, and preparing for camp. I go to camp in 3 weeks and have a large list of things to do before then. It will all get done though (at least everything that 100% needs to get done). I have alot of writing to do for my thesis totally about 10 pages. That's top priority. Also on my list is using up all of the food I have that will go bad by next semester. I should probably get off here and do something that's needed.

Home Sick

I had to cancel my subbing day today cause I'm sick. Not really sick, just sick enough to be annoying. The kind of day when you want to sleep alot. Unfortunately, the neighborhood I live in has been very active outside today and I'm pretty sure my one neighbor has been outside for the last 6 hours. He talks loudly and the weird part is I have no idea what he could be doing since we have almost no yard. O well, it's about time for me to take another nap. I wish I could get alot more of the work I need to do done, but there's always tomorrow (and about 20 more days before I go to camp).

1000 miles completed!

I have finished my road trip and am safely back in my apartment. Only one large animal died and the many bugs which currently cover my windshield. I realized that while I was in the Pocono Mountains the only elevation sign I saw was 1940 ft. Ok... that's a fine mountain, BUT about 5 miles from my parents is a sign stating 2080 ft as the height of the road at that location. So my parents is higher than the mountains? Maybe that's why it just looked like I was driving the same thing all 1000 miles. Rolling hills vs. Mountains I couldn't see the difference.

Driving

I'm almost done with my 1000 mile road trip. From college/home to my parents to camp to a wedding to camp to my parents to college/home. One leg left. Last night I left at 10:30pm to start the 3.5 hour journey through the mountains. Sadly, the mountains look very similar to the rolling hills I live in here. O well.
As I drove back to camp, I saw three animals. Two deer stood on the side of the road in two different locations. They were smart and decided to walk away from the road. A possum stood in the middle of my lane and turned around as my lights shone on it. Since I was going full speed on an interstate with just my low beams on, it did not have a good fate as shown by the thud as I drove by. One more piece of road kill. But I made it safely to camp and back :)

Yesterday

I missed my blog yesterday, but I have a good reason. I spent 8 hours in the car driving between camp and a wedding. Camp has no internet (yet) and by the time I left the wedding it was about 10pm. Regardless, camp was quite interesting and I loved being in that atmosphere. The wedding was amazing as it was the first of my high school friends to get married. A great weekend so far.

1000 miles to go

I'm off to camp for the weekend... well minus 12 hours on Saturday that I have to drive to a wedding. I'm really excited to be able to see the camp for the first time, meet the other senior staff members, and learn more about the camp. I think it will be a great time.
Camp is in the Poconos which I've heard is a beautiful drive... I sure hope so since I'll be driving through them four times by Sunday. Prayers appreciated for this road trip and the start of camp! (Real camp starts mid June, this is upper level training day/ 1st time parents visiting day Sunday.)

Mother's-Father's Day

If you are still looking for a Mother's Day card because you forgot that it was four days ago or because you (like me) wanted to deliver it in person the following week, just give up. Both Walmart and Walgrens have completely replaced the entire section that was previously devoted to Mother's Day by Father's Day cards. No discounted cards to be found. Luckily for me, my Mom's birthday is on Saturday so I just got her a birthday card saying Happy Birthday on the front. Above I'll write Mother's Day and below, I'll be a little ahead of time with Anniversary. That'll cover all of this month's special days for my mom... not just to find the right present (which isn't sold at Walmart).

Clipped Wings

Ever hear of clipping bird's wings to prevent them from flying? One of the students today mentioned it after we watched a magic show with a dove in it. A.N.T. Farm also includes the phrase "Don't let anyone clip your wings" during their theme song. It made me think want to remember to never let anyone clip my wings. God has given us wings to fly with and by having our wings clipped, we are prevented from achieving his destiny. We can avoid this problem by staying away from things that could lead to addictions and burdens, including unhealthy relationships with others. We need to be able to work hard to achieve the goals that God has given us and His goals require flying in most cases. So hold your head high and be ready to fly.

29 pages later

It's sent... my application is done. I just need my references and transcripts to come in and it's all set. Prayers please! I'll keep you updated on here and if you want to know more about the job just ask. I'll post it if/when I get the job.

Application

My application is almost done and is only 29 pages long, plus another 5 pages in other documents! I'll finish it up today and email it in!

Trash and Food Challenge update

If you drive up the streets of this town you see many piles of garbage. As people moved out of their apartments, the garbage that had laid around in the apartment for the ear people decided to clean out. Other things were deemed unworthy to be transported and got trashed.
If you look around my apartment though you will see many new things. I have a Christmas tree, two chairs, two boxes, a duffel bag and some 'new' food. I got all of this from friends, with other friends claiming a significant amount of it, to store in my apartment for the summer. Or in terms of the food, for me to eat. I believe that trashing something that is still working and good is just a waste. We have enough garbage in this country to add more to it, so reduce, reuse, recycle.
I'm going to enjoy eating my friends food which will help me keep my food challenge of not buying any groceries except milk, fresh fruit, and fresh veggies until I leave in June. This started in March and I'm proud to say that I only bought one half gallon of milk since then (and some veggies for a group dinner). One month to go!

Baptism

Tomorrow I believe we are having more baptisms in church. It would be very cool to be baptized on Mother's Day, especially if your mom was watching. Last week we had four middle schoolers publicly show that they had become followers of Christ by immersing themselves in water. This act showed everyone in the church that they trusted God and were seeking Him. It reminded me of my baptism on my 11th birthday as I was about the same age as these students. While baptism is not required to go to heaven, it is an important public statement of our faith in Christ. In my church growing up it was commonly paired with becoming a member of the church. Tomorrow I will meet with the Deacons to work on transferring my membership from that church to the one that I now attend. I'm excited to become a member of this church, especially since I have been much more involved in the youth ministry this semester.

Goodbyes

As students leave tonight and tomorrow campus gets slowly emptier and emptier. It's the graduates, now with their family members around as well, who are still on campus and a limited number of other people. But, on the bright side I will get to see most of my friends again through visiting and even if not for a while... most of them (hopefully all) will be in Heaven when we die. It'll be party time then!

Mother's Day

As Sunday approaches we begin to reflect on the impact that our mom had on us growing up and still today. I've been blessed with a wonderful mom who has helped me grow to become the person I am today. She's supported me and continues to support me as I go through more life changes. I'm thankful that I can call her my mom and sad that I will not be home for Mother's Day. At least I'll briefly be home on her birthday which is next Saturday.
Also Mother's Day bring to mind the many times I've had people call me Mom. Today, my 'kids' had a mini temper tantrum in the car as I was driving due to the fact that my apartment has no hot sauce for the mac and cheese... or hotdog. Nothing like driving along with your kids who are either taller than you (I reach one guy's shoulder) or shorter (she's at my shoulder). [To clear the air if you haven't been following my blog in the past comments on kids... they're all college students and these particular ones were within 2-4 years of my age... I have no legal kids.] As my children complained in the car, I made them dinner, then they wrestled by gender, I realize what a wonderful family I belong to. The family of God is awesome. I am blessed to be the mom for a number of these students, but they are my brothers and sisters in Christ. They are there for me and each other when we need someone to listen to us. They're around if we need extra food or someone to ask a difficult question to. Whatever is happening, I know that I have members of God's family to depend on and they know that they can depend on me. God never leaves us nor forsakes us. While we are all departing for the summer and longer for some, we are still in each others' hearts and still part of the same family. God's family is larger than this campus, it's larger than this country, it's all around the world! If I was Catholic, I would say Happy Mother's Day to Mary, but since I'm not... Happy Mother's Day Mom and to all of the women who are moms to someone even if not in a physical sense. Your efforts are appreciated by your children.

End of Work

I am officially done with work for the semester/year. My office is clean, my timesheets are turned in, and I get to keep my keys. Plus I still get a few more paychecks :) It's a nice feeling especially since I got all but one thing done. Time to focus on subbing, relaxing, and writing my thesis.

The end is in sight

I just finished my presentation for my one class and turned in the paper for my other class on Sunday. Yesterday was crazy at work as I tried to finish everything up. And on Friday it did not look like everything was going to be done in time. But I had a super productive Sunday, enjoyed time with friends yesterday and today, and got work done. Now all I have to do is finish my thesis proposal (technically by the end of the summer), go to work tomorrow, do dishes, and finish my job application. The end truly is in sight and achievable. Good luck to all of my friends who are graduating or moving on from college at the end of the week. You'll do great in the future!

Black Holes

Do you have any friends that you spend hours talking to? Someone who you know that a short conversation is almost completely impossible to do and you might just be better skipping hanging out if you don't have enough time. If it's late at night, just give up on getting a good night's sleep. So anytime you enter their place or start a phone conversation with them you get a wonderful conversation as one topic flows seamlessly into the next. However, this makes leaving the place difficult as you always have more things to say. If you tried to write down what you talked about and the order it wouldn't make sense as you go back to topics cause you took tangents earlier. One time this even happened through chatting online as we had two conversations going to keep it up. We used [] for one set and would be typing the answers to the one thread while the other person typed the answer to the other. These types of conversations and the people you can have them with are limited, but wonderful. Take advantage of them when you can and just don't plan to be productive or sleep. And remember to avoid it if you really can't risk getting sucked into the conversation.

Productive!

I completed my thesis proposal powerpoint and my Focus on Behavior today! All that's left for me to do this week is to present my powerpoint, complete the work for my job, clean everything, and hang out with friends. Today was very productive although with just 4 hours of sleep last night I should go home and go to bed. (I'll do my thesis proposal itself another day.)

A Beach Life

Today consisted of a picnic at the beach from 1-6ish then a campfire at the beach from 9-11:30. I'm so blessed to have been able to spend such fun time fellowshipping with my friends in the warm weather with the lake behind us. I never touched the water today (it was cold outside), but I loved seeing it behind me. Especially having a campfire where we could share the best parts of our semester on a night that is possibly the last time I will see many of those people before they leave for the summer. Something about the water and campfires showcases God's love for us and reminds us to love each other as well. He created so many things that are so beautiful, just for us to enjoy. We also have to take care of them just like we have to take care of each other. If you get the chance, go take in the view at a beach and thank God for all He's done for you this semester/year/life.

Measuring Up

This is 100% copied from a bright pink reminder I received while a camper at Penn York camp during high school (at snow camp or regular camp). I think it's worth sharing as it has lived in my Bible since then and helped me make decisions. "How Does it Measure up?" Is it expressly forbidden or commanded? (that settles it immediately.) 1. Is it beneficial or is it harmful? 1 Cor. 6:12 Is it helpful? 2. Will it master or control me? 1 Cor. 6:12 Is it habit forming? Will I become addicted? Will it control me, rather than me controlling it? Does it rob my self-control? Does it take all of my energy? 3. Will it cause others to stumble? 1 Cor. 8:9 Will it make my testimony more or less effective? Will it lead others astray? Will it destroy my witness? 4. Does it glorify God? 1 Cor. 10:31 Does it make God look good? 5. Could I picture Jesus doing it? 1 Peter 2:21 Ask yourself these questions when making a decision (even a simple one) and see how it measures up.

Multitasking to the Max

At 5pm I dropped off my car at the garage to get a long overdue oil change. A minute later a coworker picked me up to take me to the restaurant where my class met. We had class from 5-6:30, ate dinner during this time, then he dropped me back off at my car. In 1.5 hours I managed to eat dinner, attend the last of class meeting for this class, and get my oil changed. I call that productive multitasking. Next goal... figure out a way to clean my house while doing something more fun and enjoyable or while getting paid.

New versions

Sorry about yesterday's post... it did not publish correctly due to the new version of Blogger. Lately it seems that everything is getting a new and improved version: Google mail, Facebook timelines, AESOP, and something else. Sometimes the changes are good, other times I just wish I could stick with the old version. It takes work to learn how to work with a new version of a computer program, but in the same sense it takes work to learn to work with a new person. Sometimes people will change who they are... hopefully for a good reason and in a good way. When people make lifestyle changes or adapt who they are in some way the relationships need to change as well. It becomes a new version of the same relationship... with some improved things and others that aren't really bad just take some adjusting. If someone in your life has changed recently, put in the time needed to see who they really are now. And as is always important, pray for them because change is hard.

Household running

I've realized lately that I really stink at running a household. My apartment is currently a mess with dishes piled up (cause I dislike doing dishes), clothes around because I haven't had time to hang them up or wash all of them, and no food in the fridge. That being said, I haven't cooked anything here since Thursday (I think) and I've been eating lunch and dinner out. So by using the meals in my freezer, eating cereal for breakfast, and going out to eat at a restaurant once more this week I'll see if I can go through without cooking anything. It also helps that I don't get home until late at night and really helps that alot of my friends are trying to use up their meal plans and hence willing to share with me. So if you're thinking about needing some company on campus... I'm free for dinner Wed and Fri and lunch on Sun. The rest of the meals I'm either in class (at the restaurant), at a picnic, or at work. It'll be a fun week... maybe ending with me actually cleaning my apartment like needs done.