Hello faithful readers : )
I have some sad awful news to share. 2 of our students died 2 days ago in a car accident. One of our to-be-senior girls and her boyfriend, both involved in Navs, were driving together the other night in her hometown. She must've for some reason crossed over a median on a highway, and their car hit a semi head-on and went underneath it, killing them both at the scene. The semi-driver who was around 32 was unharmed. Both her and her boyfriend were believers - thank God - but their friends and families are shocked, aching and hurting. We found out the news last night. I just saw her the other day at our summer Bible study on Tuesday nights. Its so odd to know that I have seen her each week at Bible study (even sat next to her almost every Tuesday night this summer) and now they are both gone, forever. People are in shock here as it happened so suddenly. A week ago, I was sitting with this girl at the architecture studio as she helped me print out the Nav fundraising letter I'm mailing out for our campus. You may remember I blogged about it last - that was her who helped me get into the studio and we used her architecture account to purchase the printing. Its so weird knowing I was with her, sitting, a week ago, and she gave of her time to help us print these letters, and now, she no longer is on earth. Its so eerie. I'm thankful we have a God who timed her life to the minute and her purpose in life was completed.
Please keep her friends, her sister and brother, her parents in your prayers. Also her boyfriend's family and friends. They both were involved with Navs and went on our trips, etc, so this will leave quite a huge impact and affect many students we all know closely here. It really puts into perspective what is important in life and makes me so grateful that I was given another unexpected day today when I woke up. Knowing I was still alive to do normal things like put mascara on - and she will never do that again. It is so sobering.
I love all of you and am thankful for your lives.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
Tired Eyes
I am now pushing into my 2nd hour of sitting in the Penn State Architecture Studio printing off a campus-wide fundraising letter. I've been working on this since 10 am and it is now 10 pm... my eyes are tired! It does feel good though to have the letter designed and now see it being printed. All 560 copies of it! phhhew.
This past weekend Nate and I moved into our new apartment in Frederick, MD! It has 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, living room, kitchen, dining room (basically the living room) and a walk-out balcony. We are on the 3rd floor. I drove down a ton of my stuff and we moved all his stuff from his current place into our new place. He'll live there the next 2 months and then I'll join him once we're married. It was crazy standing in OUR place. So weird! Its going to be a lot of fun being married, I'm sure, but I can't get over that I'll be living WITH a man. hahaha. Oh my. The discussions from my current living situation to the ones that I'll enter will probably vary drastically. Currently me and my roommates can be found discussing face products, hair styles, jewelry, who will win the Bachelorette, practicing dances, etc....I have a feeling Nathan and I won't be discussing those same topics in quite the same ways. But I am ready for this next chapter of life!
I am super excited because one of my best friends BRIANNEEEEE is going to come visit me on Wednesday! She flies into Baltimore on Wednesday afternoon and I can't wait to pick her up. We also are so fortunate to be able to see 4th of July in DC!!! I am really super excited to see her and to show her where I've been the past 2 years.
Oh! ! ! Printing has ceased!
Sorry so short but I am outta here and off to sleep! Yayyy
This past weekend Nate and I moved into our new apartment in Frederick, MD! It has 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, living room, kitchen, dining room (basically the living room) and a walk-out balcony. We are on the 3rd floor. I drove down a ton of my stuff and we moved all his stuff from his current place into our new place. He'll live there the next 2 months and then I'll join him once we're married. It was crazy standing in OUR place. So weird! Its going to be a lot of fun being married, I'm sure, but I can't get over that I'll be living WITH a man. hahaha. Oh my. The discussions from my current living situation to the ones that I'll enter will probably vary drastically. Currently me and my roommates can be found discussing face products, hair styles, jewelry, who will win the Bachelorette, practicing dances, etc....I have a feeling Nathan and I won't be discussing those same topics in quite the same ways. But I am ready for this next chapter of life!
I am super excited because one of my best friends BRIANNEEEEE is going to come visit me on Wednesday! She flies into Baltimore on Wednesday afternoon and I can't wait to pick her up. We also are so fortunate to be able to see 4th of July in DC!!! I am really super excited to see her and to show her where I've been the past 2 years.
Oh! ! ! Printing has ceased!
Sorry so short but I am outta here and off to sleep! Yayyy
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
One of Those Days
Today was one of those days where I realize I live in the east. I spent the weekend in Lancaster, PA with Nate - registering for wedding gifts, taking engagement photos, opening a bank account... - and then on Sunday night drove to DC to spend some time with Meghan and Megan (2 girls on staff at Penn State). Megan is spending the summer in DC at a summer program with the Navs called "Inside Washington". So Meghan and I decided to visit her. I got to see all the main attractions of DC!!! I took tons of photos, and as I have said of all other major events in my life, I'll post them eventually : ) I'm starting to realize I might have to post them and give you a "back-glance" of my life after I get married. Its just been so busy that I haven't had time to spend hours loading photos - so bare with me and come September when everything slows down, I'm sure I'll be a much better blogger!
So anyway. Today, after spending all yesterday being a tourist and being in awe of the White House and taking photos of tons of other HUGE important things, I drove with Meghan. It dawned on me today, and it is just one of those days, that I live in the east. WEEEIIIIRRRDDD. I think it dawned on me when I was driving away from DC and saw a sign that said I was headed in the direction of Baltimore and New York. What a day. To have seen DC and then drive away from it and pass by Baltimore as I head north to New York (well, Lancaster to get my car and then back to State College)...it was just wild to think that this is where I live.
But even more wild to realize this hasn't just been the temporary 2 year "jaunt" I envisioned. I'm actually staying put in the east. That is the weirdest part of all for me. Especially now that I'm moving to live with Nate soon (woop! woop!) in Frederick, MD, I'll literally be 1 hour from DC and 1 hour from Baltimore. Who would have EVER thought I'd live in this area??
I remember being like, "oh yeah, Denver is so close and 'common day'...its like an hour away"...and now the "common day" will be DC. Wowowowowowow.
Anyway, thought I'd reflect on that with you all! : )
Theknot.com tells me I have 83 days left as a single woman and 83 days left till I become a married woman. Time is flying by!
I'm going to rest a little before I have Bible study tonight....its been a busy past 5 days. I leave again for Frederick on Friday. It seems I have just enough time these days to get home after the weekend, unload my suitcase quick, do a load of laundry, and pack it back up for the next weekend.
Highlight of the weekend: Engagement photos with the most amazing husband/wife photographer duo! They're MNT Photography and they live in Lancaster and Nate and I got to have them take photos of us for about 2 hours!!!! We laughed a lot and it was really fun. Nate is far more a natural than I am - I thought I would get into it, but I ended up being quite nervous the whole time...haha. They post all our photos on a website, so keep your eyes peeled and I'll post it on my blog when I get it from them! : )
So anyway. Today, after spending all yesterday being a tourist and being in awe of the White House and taking photos of tons of other HUGE important things, I drove with Meghan. It dawned on me today, and it is just one of those days, that I live in the east. WEEEIIIIRRRDDD. I think it dawned on me when I was driving away from DC and saw a sign that said I was headed in the direction of Baltimore and New York. What a day. To have seen DC and then drive away from it and pass by Baltimore as I head north to New York (well, Lancaster to get my car and then back to State College)...it was just wild to think that this is where I live.
But even more wild to realize this hasn't just been the temporary 2 year "jaunt" I envisioned. I'm actually staying put in the east. That is the weirdest part of all for me. Especially now that I'm moving to live with Nate soon (woop! woop!) in Frederick, MD, I'll literally be 1 hour from DC and 1 hour from Baltimore. Who would have EVER thought I'd live in this area??
I remember being like, "oh yeah, Denver is so close and 'common day'...its like an hour away"...and now the "common day" will be DC. Wowowowowowow.
Anyway, thought I'd reflect on that with you all! : )
Theknot.com tells me I have 83 days left as a single woman and 83 days left till I become a married woman. Time is flying by!
I'm going to rest a little before I have Bible study tonight....its been a busy past 5 days. I leave again for Frederick on Friday. It seems I have just enough time these days to get home after the weekend, unload my suitcase quick, do a load of laundry, and pack it back up for the next weekend.
Highlight of the weekend: Engagement photos with the most amazing husband/wife photographer duo! They're MNT Photography and they live in Lancaster and Nate and I got to have them take photos of us for about 2 hours!!!! We laughed a lot and it was really fun. Nate is far more a natural than I am - I thought I would get into it, but I ended up being quite nervous the whole time...haha. They post all our photos on a website, so keep your eyes peeled and I'll post it on my blog when I get it from them! : )
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Going, Going, GONE!
A very quick update, through photos, of my time since Spring Break...
Nate came to visit one weekend!
I've been to a few showers (baby and weddings)...Here are some photos from Amy's baby shower!
We had the annual Semi-Formal Nav Dance:
Me and some of the Bible study girls!
For one of our Oaks Leadership meetings, Meghan (who I co-lead with) and I dressed like twins but in reverse without knowing it...so I definitely had to take a photo!
And another weekend visit with Nate but in Frederick, MD!
I also have had a BUSY few weeks...as you can tell from my lack of blogging. I gave a 5 minute testimony of some things God has done in my heart lately at Nav Night last Friday night - that made me so nervous but I think it went ok!
I've gotten the chance to meet with a lot of girls these past weeks and some really exciting things have happened - one of the girls is going to start reading the Bible with 3 other girls that are in her choir! She initiated toward these girls and they said that they did want to read the Bible! Please pray that they would understand who Jesus is through their time reading together. Also, another girl that I have been meeting with came to know Christ this week! It was super exciting and totally unexpected. I'm thankful for our new sister in Christ! : )
In the coming weeks, we will have a Women's Weekend (on the Saturday after Easter). We also have Nav TV (a night where we let students show their talent...its really fun. Like the Grammy awards...) and then we will have the "End of the Year Picnic"...Things are going so fast and the students have 3 weeks till finals week!
Nate came to visit one weekend!
I've been to a few showers (baby and weddings)...Here are some photos from Amy's baby shower!
We had the annual Semi-Formal Nav Dance:
Me and some of the Bible study girls!
For one of our Oaks Leadership meetings, Meghan (who I co-lead with) and I dressed like twins but in reverse without knowing it...so I definitely had to take a photo!
And another weekend visit with Nate but in Frederick, MD!
I also have had a BUSY few weeks...as you can tell from my lack of blogging. I gave a 5 minute testimony of some things God has done in my heart lately at Nav Night last Friday night - that made me so nervous but I think it went ok!
I've gotten the chance to meet with a lot of girls these past weeks and some really exciting things have happened - one of the girls is going to start reading the Bible with 3 other girls that are in her choir! She initiated toward these girls and they said that they did want to read the Bible! Please pray that they would understand who Jesus is through their time reading together. Also, another girl that I have been meeting with came to know Christ this week! It was super exciting and totally unexpected. I'm thankful for our new sister in Christ! : )
In the coming weeks, we will have a Women's Weekend (on the Saturday after Easter). We also have Nav TV (a night where we let students show their talent...its really fun. Like the Grammy awards...) and then we will have the "End of the Year Picnic"...Things are going so fast and the students have 3 weeks till finals week!
Nawlins, Crawfish and the Elderly
Its almost been a whole month now since I left for New Orleans and returned a week later. I wanted to still update my blog about our trip though because I LOVED it and wanted you all to experience it with me, to the degree that you can by seeing photos and reading stories.
Our schedule looked like this: We drove for 2 days to get to New Orleans, had 5 days in New Orleans, and drove 2 days back. Of the 5 days that we were there, we all had work projects we went to on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Wednesday was our free day where we all could go explore New Orleans during the day time.
There were around 120 of us, and there were around 5 (or 6) work projects. Some were construction projects, light-bulb replacement projects, homeless shelter help, and the elderly daycare. Myself and Jamie (another woman on staff here at PSU) led the elderly daycare project.
Meet Jamie! I love her : ) and really enjoyed getting to know her better this week.
We went to a place called the Kingsley House. The Kingsley House has many different "departments" of their organization, one of which is the elderly daycare. There are around 50-60 elderly that arrive at 9am and get picked up by their caretakers around 2pm, every Monday-Friday.
Check them out at: http://www.kingsleyhouse.org/
Jamie and I were under the impression that it was an elderly home and that we would be able to have the 20 students that were on this project go and visit them in their rooms, look through their photos, talk with them one-on-one, etc. It definitely threw us for a loop when we found out it was a daycare and that all 50-60 of the elderly sit at 4 long tables in ONE large room, ALL DAY, ALL TOGETHER. We hadn't planned activities with enough materials that all 50 or so of them could participate in at the same time. We brought coloring books, paints, nail polish to do manicures, and other small activities to do with the elderly in their rooms if they wanted it, but definitely not enough to do a "mass" craft! Jamie and I just spent most of the first day laughing because we were so underprepared!!
Here's a photo of the whole room with the 4 tables. We put balloons on the chairs because we celebrated 4 birthdays on Thursday!
We ended up playing a LOT of BINGO. They loved BINGO. Although the students were way bored with it, they knew they were serving the elderly by participating in playing and acting interested. Ha! They are intense about their BINGO - just check out this electronic board they have!
We also played Nutrition BINGO one day!
We would give out prizes to whoever won BINGO - they LOVED their prizes! Some got necklaces, candy, peanuts, jewelry, medallions...If they won, they would make SURE we knew they deserved a prize! Ha! Here's some prize winners...
Virginia won bunny ears! She told us to call her "big mouth" because she's "always starting trouble"...haha. She was very boisterous and fun.
We also gave out leis!
After day one, thankfully, Jamie and I were able to run to the dollar store that was near where we were staying and purchase a bag full of crafts and fun things to do with them as a large group. Throughout the week, we ended up doing live music (some girls sang and played piano), we put on a talent show for them, had a couple dance parties (they REALLY LOVE DANCING and were very good considering their age!!), did crafts, gave the women manicures and hand massages, did exercises with them, shared some of the student's testimonies with them, played BINGO, and had a movie showing with popcorn.
Here are some photos from our dance parties:
Here are some other photos just from our time there doing crafts and manicures:
Some highlights of the week at the Kingsley House:
Each day we nominated a king and queen and "knighted" them to court. Before we would go to the house, the students would talk about and nominate a king and queen based on something they saw the day prior. One queen was picked because she was a great dancer, another king was picked because he dominated at a chess game, etc. We would give them the king's sword or the queen's tiara and scepter to hold on to all day! One day, the king actually SWIPED the sword and took it home with him (deliberately!), so Jamie and I had to make another run to the dollar store to replace it with another sword. Don't be fooled, these elderly are very VERY cunning and on top of their conniving game!
Meet some of the Kings and Queens!
Another highlight was watching the students love on the elderly all week and listen to their stories, even if they repeated THE SAME story 18 times in a row (literally, that happened). The students would hold their hands, ask questions, share stories, listen to them and joke with them, dance with them, etc. I think it really touched our hearts far more than it touched theirs. We had so many great laughs throughout the week and fun stories to share with the rest of our group in the evenings. I LOVED IT!!! I definitely left a piece of my heart in New Orleans with them.
Rita! One highlight of my week was Rita. Although she couldn't talk and couldn't feed herself and could only occasionally open one eye, she really left an impression on me. I'm not sure if it was her gold earrings that she wore each day or the fact that she graciously would open her mouth every time I would put food near it...I just really enjoyed sitting with her, and would make sure that I got to be the one to feed her her snack each day : )
Meet Rita : )
Jimmy. No one, NO ONE, who went to the Kingsley House could forget our dear friend JIMMY!!! Jimmy is 72 (72!!!), barely reaches to my shoulder in height, and would constantly dance - and when I say constantly I mean it! He danced and danced all day. Even when it was silent in the room and someone would be sharing a testimony, Jimmy would get up from his table and dance in the corner alone. I loved it! He was so alive and vibrant for his age - and a lot of our students tried to mimic his dance moves, which we labeled, "The Jimmy". When we had our dance party, Jimmy was the one teaching the guys how to do some dance moves! I miss him already!
Meet Jimmy!
Jimmy liked the ladies and frequently called them "girlfriends"...
Here he is teaching some of our guys how to dance!
Each morning the elderly would do devotions! Different women and men would get up and read out loud a chapter of scripture from the Bible or would sing a hymn that everyone would sing along with. It was incredible to see that most of the elderly had a relationship with God and loved praising Him, even after all these years and the devastation of a hurricane.
As for other things during the week, I got to have a lot of great conversations with some of the girls on the trip. I met a few new girls that I hadn't known before, and got to have some great talks with some of the girls in my Bible study that came on the trip. One of my favorite nights was when the students were working on a Bible study and then breaking into groups to discuss it, and we had our usual staff meeting during that Bible study - but this one night we relocated our staff meeting to a cafe and had a delicious dessert called "binyays"...I have no idea how to spell it but that is how you say it. And they are basically like funnel cakes with powdered sugar and you dip them in COFFEE! It was really good and was fun to go down to the French Quarter as a staff team and leave the students behind (haha)...all the students were like, "What?? Where are they going??" And we just told them to keep working on their studies : ) When we returned, the students were still in their groups discussing the studies - our students are so responsible!
Here is the cafe:
Here's some photos of me with my Bible study girls!
Some other photos of the harbor and my time on our free day:
I must make a little section dedicated to the food. Dad, I'm sure you're wondering what I ate : ) I took a photo of one of the night's meals - it was a Red Fish...really delicious!
The other nights they would cater in food for our dinners that were reflective of New Orleans' tastes. Red beans and rice, cajun chicken, meat pies, green beans, pasta... it was really good.
In regards to the destruction and devastation of the city, I got to go and see the 9th Ward, which was totally destroyed. However, it was so cleaned up, that you could barely tell there were houses there at one point! Apparently Brad Pitt is behind a project to build new houses there (I think 12?) and he is donating them to families in need through an application process - solar roofs, energy saving features, high off the ground...it seemed pretty cool and they look really modern. You could tell that the people had definitely been affected by the hurricane though and that many families are still dealing with the trauma of the event and having to completely start their lives over again. It made me thankful for the physical items I have in my life - I can't imagine having to replace EVERY thing you have owned. Just even thinking about how much it would cost if ever I were to lose my suitcase and have to replace that small amount of clothes and toiletries...That is NOTHING compared to what these people had to replace with ALL their clothes, appliances, HOMES! It was an eye-opening experience to say the least.
Let's see. What else. OH yes. I hurt my toe! On the night that the staff team walked down the French Quarter for the desserts at the cafe, I somehow missed this massive "no pedestrian" sign and walked right into these metal (painful) teeth that are put in place to pop tires in the event that a car tries to leave the parking lot without paying...Well, let me tell you, that if your toe hits one of these (and for those of you who know, it is THE toe that had the infection from my pedicure...ugh) it will gush blood. I was bleeding so much that two of the guys on our staff team had to run to get paper towels and the other guy ran to a CVS that was on the corner (thank God!) and bought neosporin and bandaids. It has healed up nicely, but it was quite the ordeal and I had to laugh and take photos because I apparently didn't see the caution : )
Yikes!
I hope this update gives you a small glimpse into what we experienced. I am so thankful for the opportunity to get to go to New Orleans and experience a different culture and some incredible people.
Our schedule looked like this: We drove for 2 days to get to New Orleans, had 5 days in New Orleans, and drove 2 days back. Of the 5 days that we were there, we all had work projects we went to on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Wednesday was our free day where we all could go explore New Orleans during the day time.
There were around 120 of us, and there were around 5 (or 6) work projects. Some were construction projects, light-bulb replacement projects, homeless shelter help, and the elderly daycare. Myself and Jamie (another woman on staff here at PSU) led the elderly daycare project.
Meet Jamie! I love her : ) and really enjoyed getting to know her better this week.
We went to a place called the Kingsley House. The Kingsley House has many different "departments" of their organization, one of which is the elderly daycare. There are around 50-60 elderly that arrive at 9am and get picked up by their caretakers around 2pm, every Monday-Friday.
Check them out at: http://www.kingsleyhouse.org/
Jamie and I were under the impression that it was an elderly home and that we would be able to have the 20 students that were on this project go and visit them in their rooms, look through their photos, talk with them one-on-one, etc. It definitely threw us for a loop when we found out it was a daycare and that all 50-60 of the elderly sit at 4 long tables in ONE large room, ALL DAY, ALL TOGETHER. We hadn't planned activities with enough materials that all 50 or so of them could participate in at the same time. We brought coloring books, paints, nail polish to do manicures, and other small activities to do with the elderly in their rooms if they wanted it, but definitely not enough to do a "mass" craft! Jamie and I just spent most of the first day laughing because we were so underprepared!!
Here's a photo of the whole room with the 4 tables. We put balloons on the chairs because we celebrated 4 birthdays on Thursday!
We ended up playing a LOT of BINGO. They loved BINGO. Although the students were way bored with it, they knew they were serving the elderly by participating in playing and acting interested. Ha! They are intense about their BINGO - just check out this electronic board they have!
We also played Nutrition BINGO one day!
We would give out prizes to whoever won BINGO - they LOVED their prizes! Some got necklaces, candy, peanuts, jewelry, medallions...If they won, they would make SURE we knew they deserved a prize! Ha! Here's some prize winners...
Virginia won bunny ears! She told us to call her "big mouth" because she's "always starting trouble"...haha. She was very boisterous and fun.
We also gave out leis!
After day one, thankfully, Jamie and I were able to run to the dollar store that was near where we were staying and purchase a bag full of crafts and fun things to do with them as a large group. Throughout the week, we ended up doing live music (some girls sang and played piano), we put on a talent show for them, had a couple dance parties (they REALLY LOVE DANCING and were very good considering their age!!), did crafts, gave the women manicures and hand massages, did exercises with them, shared some of the student's testimonies with them, played BINGO, and had a movie showing with popcorn.
Here are some photos from our dance parties:
Here are some other photos just from our time there doing crafts and manicures:
Some highlights of the week at the Kingsley House:
Each day we nominated a king and queen and "knighted" them to court. Before we would go to the house, the students would talk about and nominate a king and queen based on something they saw the day prior. One queen was picked because she was a great dancer, another king was picked because he dominated at a chess game, etc. We would give them the king's sword or the queen's tiara and scepter to hold on to all day! One day, the king actually SWIPED the sword and took it home with him (deliberately!), so Jamie and I had to make another run to the dollar store to replace it with another sword. Don't be fooled, these elderly are very VERY cunning and on top of their conniving game!
Meet some of the Kings and Queens!
Another highlight was watching the students love on the elderly all week and listen to their stories, even if they repeated THE SAME story 18 times in a row (literally, that happened). The students would hold their hands, ask questions, share stories, listen to them and joke with them, dance with them, etc. I think it really touched our hearts far more than it touched theirs. We had so many great laughs throughout the week and fun stories to share with the rest of our group in the evenings. I LOVED IT!!! I definitely left a piece of my heart in New Orleans with them.
Rita! One highlight of my week was Rita. Although she couldn't talk and couldn't feed herself and could only occasionally open one eye, she really left an impression on me. I'm not sure if it was her gold earrings that she wore each day or the fact that she graciously would open her mouth every time I would put food near it...I just really enjoyed sitting with her, and would make sure that I got to be the one to feed her her snack each day : )
Meet Rita : )
Jimmy. No one, NO ONE, who went to the Kingsley House could forget our dear friend JIMMY!!! Jimmy is 72 (72!!!), barely reaches to my shoulder in height, and would constantly dance - and when I say constantly I mean it! He danced and danced all day. Even when it was silent in the room and someone would be sharing a testimony, Jimmy would get up from his table and dance in the corner alone. I loved it! He was so alive and vibrant for his age - and a lot of our students tried to mimic his dance moves, which we labeled, "The Jimmy". When we had our dance party, Jimmy was the one teaching the guys how to do some dance moves! I miss him already!
Meet Jimmy!
Jimmy liked the ladies and frequently called them "girlfriends"...
Here he is teaching some of our guys how to dance!
Each morning the elderly would do devotions! Different women and men would get up and read out loud a chapter of scripture from the Bible or would sing a hymn that everyone would sing along with. It was incredible to see that most of the elderly had a relationship with God and loved praising Him, even after all these years and the devastation of a hurricane.
As for other things during the week, I got to have a lot of great conversations with some of the girls on the trip. I met a few new girls that I hadn't known before, and got to have some great talks with some of the girls in my Bible study that came on the trip. One of my favorite nights was when the students were working on a Bible study and then breaking into groups to discuss it, and we had our usual staff meeting during that Bible study - but this one night we relocated our staff meeting to a cafe and had a delicious dessert called "binyays"...I have no idea how to spell it but that is how you say it. And they are basically like funnel cakes with powdered sugar and you dip them in COFFEE! It was really good and was fun to go down to the French Quarter as a staff team and leave the students behind (haha)...all the students were like, "What?? Where are they going??" And we just told them to keep working on their studies : ) When we returned, the students were still in their groups discussing the studies - our students are so responsible!
Here is the cafe:
Here's some photos of me with my Bible study girls!
Some other photos of the harbor and my time on our free day:
I must make a little section dedicated to the food. Dad, I'm sure you're wondering what I ate : ) I took a photo of one of the night's meals - it was a Red Fish...really delicious!
The other nights they would cater in food for our dinners that were reflective of New Orleans' tastes. Red beans and rice, cajun chicken, meat pies, green beans, pasta... it was really good.
In regards to the destruction and devastation of the city, I got to go and see the 9th Ward, which was totally destroyed. However, it was so cleaned up, that you could barely tell there were houses there at one point! Apparently Brad Pitt is behind a project to build new houses there (I think 12?) and he is donating them to families in need through an application process - solar roofs, energy saving features, high off the ground...it seemed pretty cool and they look really modern. You could tell that the people had definitely been affected by the hurricane though and that many families are still dealing with the trauma of the event and having to completely start their lives over again. It made me thankful for the physical items I have in my life - I can't imagine having to replace EVERY thing you have owned. Just even thinking about how much it would cost if ever I were to lose my suitcase and have to replace that small amount of clothes and toiletries...That is NOTHING compared to what these people had to replace with ALL their clothes, appliances, HOMES! It was an eye-opening experience to say the least.
Let's see. What else. OH yes. I hurt my toe! On the night that the staff team walked down the French Quarter for the desserts at the cafe, I somehow missed this massive "no pedestrian" sign and walked right into these metal (painful) teeth that are put in place to pop tires in the event that a car tries to leave the parking lot without paying...Well, let me tell you, that if your toe hits one of these (and for those of you who know, it is THE toe that had the infection from my pedicure...ugh) it will gush blood. I was bleeding so much that two of the guys on our staff team had to run to get paper towels and the other guy ran to a CVS that was on the corner (thank God!) and bought neosporin and bandaids. It has healed up nicely, but it was quite the ordeal and I had to laugh and take photos because I apparently didn't see the caution : )
Yikes!
I hope this update gives you a small glimpse into what we experienced. I am so thankful for the opportunity to get to go to New Orleans and experience a different culture and some incredible people.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Identity
Hello again : )
Some of you have asked about what I meant in my other post about how I have been learning a lot about my identity in Christ...
I thought I would include a blurb about it that I wrote to try and explain what I meant by that in further detail. I'm not sure if this will make sense or even begin to do justice what I have been learning, but its worth a shot. : ) Let me know if this doesn't make sense or if you have other questions or comments! The book I said I was really enjoying - The Gospel for Real Life by Jerry Bridges - kind of began this whole snowball affect of me learning about this...I think knowing and understanding the gospel in a way I have NEVER known it from church or any of my Bible studies has REALLY impacted my thoughts about God and who I am... I highly suggest you read it, even if you have heard the "gospel" in church a million times, because in this book he explains some details of the gospel I never knew existed...God is CRAZZZY and I was shocked to find out exactly some of the details of what went down 2000 years ago.
"The identity stuff I have been learning about is kind of what it means to be "in Christ". I have never really understood that phrase, and in fact, when Paul wrote it many times in the new testament, I just kind of overlooked it as Christian jargon I guess. But to understand and learn that I am hidden in Christ and my value is found because of Him and that He has set my identity FOREVER - that because of my faith in Him and our union together that I am never forgotten by God, always remembered, never abandoned, always loved, always cherished and adored, always provided for, etc...I think realizing that not only does God treat me those ways, but because God has decided to be that way towards me that it actually defines who I am, is huge. That I am an unforgettable person. I am unabandonable. Because only God speaks to my identity, no one else. I don't think I realized that before. I always thought that God loved me, which was great, and that He wouldn't leave me, which also was great, but what about all the humans who have left me? What about all the humans who have hurt me? Doesn't that make me a forgettable person, an abandonable person in the eyes of humans? Almost like God's thoughts of me were great, BUT I also wanted to know humans felt the same way. I felt like God defined part of my identity and that the ways humans related to me also spoke about who I am. And realizing that my identity, and everyone who has ever existed, soley depends on how God thinks of them, has really shook my thoughts up. To realize everyone has one of two possible identities. They are either solidified in Christ, or they will be forgotten by God forever. It was crazy to think that because of Christ I have been set in eternity as a person fully loved, whether or not sinful humans treat me that way. That I am who God says I am, and who He says I am is basically how He relates towards me. I am not sure I am able to define it quite like it has hit my heart, because I feel like how I am writing it seems so elementary, and I think it might be elementary, but they are concepts I have NEVER grasped before this past month. It has been affecting all my thoughts towards everything . . ."
Some of you have asked about what I meant in my other post about how I have been learning a lot about my identity in Christ...
I thought I would include a blurb about it that I wrote to try and explain what I meant by that in further detail. I'm not sure if this will make sense or even begin to do justice what I have been learning, but its worth a shot. : ) Let me know if this doesn't make sense or if you have other questions or comments! The book I said I was really enjoying - The Gospel for Real Life by Jerry Bridges - kind of began this whole snowball affect of me learning about this...I think knowing and understanding the gospel in a way I have NEVER known it from church or any of my Bible studies has REALLY impacted my thoughts about God and who I am... I highly suggest you read it, even if you have heard the "gospel" in church a million times, because in this book he explains some details of the gospel I never knew existed...God is CRAZZZY and I was shocked to find out exactly some of the details of what went down 2000 years ago.
"The identity stuff I have been learning about is kind of what it means to be "in Christ". I have never really understood that phrase, and in fact, when Paul wrote it many times in the new testament, I just kind of overlooked it as Christian jargon I guess. But to understand and learn that I am hidden in Christ and my value is found because of Him and that He has set my identity FOREVER - that because of my faith in Him and our union together that I am never forgotten by God, always remembered, never abandoned, always loved, always cherished and adored, always provided for, etc...I think realizing that not only does God treat me those ways, but because God has decided to be that way towards me that it actually defines who I am, is huge. That I am an unforgettable person. I am unabandonable. Because only God speaks to my identity, no one else. I don't think I realized that before. I always thought that God loved me, which was great, and that He wouldn't leave me, which also was great, but what about all the humans who have left me? What about all the humans who have hurt me? Doesn't that make me a forgettable person, an abandonable person in the eyes of humans? Almost like God's thoughts of me were great, BUT I also wanted to know humans felt the same way. I felt like God defined part of my identity and that the ways humans related to me also spoke about who I am. And realizing that my identity, and everyone who has ever existed, soley depends on how God thinks of them, has really shook my thoughts up. To realize everyone has one of two possible identities. They are either solidified in Christ, or they will be forgotten by God forever. It was crazy to think that because of Christ I have been set in eternity as a person fully loved, whether or not sinful humans treat me that way. That I am who God says I am, and who He says I am is basically how He relates towards me. I am not sure I am able to define it quite like it has hit my heart, because I feel like how I am writing it seems so elementary, and I think it might be elementary, but they are concepts I have NEVER grasped before this past month. It has been affecting all my thoughts towards everything . . ."
MACC Attack!
What a wonderful weekend in Maryland we just had! I thought I'd put up some pictures. We had about 50 or so Penn State students that went on this retreat. I really enjoy the MACC because I get to go and kind of be a participant - it was another school's role to run the retreat this year, so we mainly got to attend the meals and talks and just listen and hangout with people. It was a nice weekend - it seemed to go by so quick! One of the girls in my study, Dana, got to go. It was nice to have lunch with her on Saturday. The speaker spoke on apologetics as well as the affects that modernism vs. post-modernism has on Christianity...seemed appropriate since I learned a lot about that this summer. Here's a photo of one of the meetings.
Here's a photo of some of the Penn State staff sitting during a talk.
It was sooo nice because Nate got to go this weekend also. He was on kitchen staff the whole time so I didn't see him too much, but the times I got to I really enjoyed. = )
Also just to keep you all updated on Nate and Maryn trivia, we celebrated our one year anniversary of dating on January 18th : ) This was our 2nd MACC conference as a dating couple. It was fun to know we have been together for a whole year - time has flown!
It was also a fun weekend because our whole EDGE team was reunited.
Janeen, Sam, Meghan, myself, and Nate.
It was good to have everyone back together again for a weekend! Sam and Nate came from their jobs in Maryland and the rest of us traveled from Penn State.
On Saturday night there was a beautiful sunset over the bay.
All in all it was a lovely weekend. Currently we are anticipating a big snow storm to hit State College - accuweather predicted 18-20 inches of snow... I have a feeling that won't happen...ha.
Till next time!
Here's a photo of some of the Penn State staff sitting during a talk.
It was sooo nice because Nate got to go this weekend also. He was on kitchen staff the whole time so I didn't see him too much, but the times I got to I really enjoyed. = )
Also just to keep you all updated on Nate and Maryn trivia, we celebrated our one year anniversary of dating on January 18th : ) This was our 2nd MACC conference as a dating couple. It was fun to know we have been together for a whole year - time has flown!
It was also a fun weekend because our whole EDGE team was reunited.
Janeen, Sam, Meghan, myself, and Nate.
It was good to have everyone back together again for a weekend! Sam and Nate came from their jobs in Maryland and the rest of us traveled from Penn State.
On Saturday night there was a beautiful sunset over the bay.
All in all it was a lovely weekend. Currently we are anticipating a big snow storm to hit State College - accuweather predicted 18-20 inches of snow... I have a feeling that won't happen...ha.
Till next time!
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