Fall Retreat & Altoona!

Hello!

My have I got a lot to catch you all up on. We had the Fall Retreat 2 weekends ago and it was a lot of fun. We had BEAUTIFUL weather. Which apparently last year for their Fall Retreat it was snowing and incredibly windy - so yet again, I was praising God for the sun and the warmth.



The retreat was 2 days and 2 nights. I drove up to the retreat with 3 girls from my Bible study and my roommate Meghan, and we had a great drive. 2 other girls in my study were in the car in front of us - so 5 girls from my study came. It was a good weekend for them to connect a little better, and I feel like I was able to become more comfortable around them. I talked with a couple of them individually during that weekend, and it really seems like the familiar "cry" I heard from all of them was that they were longing to be connected with other students and to make friends and to feel like they belonged. They are homesick, and feel socially awkward at times. I assured them that this is completely normal, as I experienced the same thing freshmen year....haha....oh I'm glad to not be there anymore!

I slept in a cabin with the other women on staff...that's so fun. I remember being a student at these types of retreats and bunking with other students and the staff women would escape to a cabin with "adults"...and here I am, now a "staff" woman and escaping at night to a calm peaceful haven with other "adults"....I'm getting old! I think I'm still able to look like a student though...the first week I was here lots of the sophomore students would come up to me and be like, "Hi! I'm _______. Are you a freshman?" They would say this in hopes of making me, a new student, feel welcome....I let them know not only was I not a freshman, I was on staff and had already graduated. Then I would get the "Ooooh...." and they would walk away uncomfortable, looking for more freshmen to welcome. haha

Here's a picture of me and Meghan and Danielle (a student) before we drove up to the retreat. I include this photo so you can see my dark BROWN hair.



Here's another photo of me that one of my girl's Dana took...we went and took pictures together for 10 minutes around the retreat area. Again, notice the brown hair - almost reddish in tint. In honor of fall of course. Don't be fooled though, this is not a stunt-double...this is really me.



Here's a photo of me and my Bible study girls. Paige is also in this photo - she is the Junior student that I'm co-leading the Bible study with. She's so sweet and shared her "story" in front of all the Navs that weekend - she did such a good job and had everyone laughing / crying....powerful. (Paige has the bandana on and is standing to my right)



As for other events beyond the Fall Retreat, I have been meeting up with some more girls. I took one of my girls, Dana, to WalMart and Barnes and Noble. We had a lot of fun because they aren't allowed to have cars as freshmen, so I have a good opportunity to get time with them by asking them to come with me to run errands - they get out and can also get some shopping done ... she bought a hair brush that she lost that morning. I also have had a couple other coffee dates with students and just today got back from seeing a choir where one other girl, Jessica, sang in. It was a gospel type choir and they were INCREDIBLE. It was fun to see her.

I am in the process of writing a newsletter to mail to each of you all, but its taking a while. And for those who read this blog, you probably get WAY more information than I can cram into that letter....so if you read repeated information that you have already learned from this site, that's ok. = )

I leave for St. Louis in 2 weeks!!! I have my 2nd Navigator training. My first one was from May 21-31, and this one will be from Oct. 29 - Nov. 5 I believe. But it will be fun! And I get to fly with my EDGE teammates, Janeen, Meghan, Sam and Nate. I'm excited about this.

Yesterday I went to Altoona which is 45 minutes away from here, State College. I went shopping at a mall they had there. I went alone. It is so nice to drive and just get some time alone in the car. I showed up, shopped, then took off. Ha! I was planning on going to Philly this weekend to visit my sister, Stacia, but that didn't work out. I'll plan to go next weekend.

One last thing. We had a "hang out" night instead of Bible study 2 weeks ago. My girls went to dinner at Chili's so they could get out and away from dorm food. Meghan (my roommate) and her girls came to our place and did pedicures and manicures and had sundaes. I arrived at our house after getting done with having dinner with my girls, and saw a house full of sophomore girls that had toenails that needed to be painted! So I got to hang out with those girls and do their nails...it was a lot of fun. Here's a picture of me working away.



Back to my drive to Altoona. It occurred to me that I'm getting used to this place. I was actually really liking the drive - a lot. Now that I've gotten used to not searching the horizon for the Rocky Mountains, I've grown to appreciate the trees they have, the windy narrow back roads, the streets filled with dried leaves and the blue sky that has white clouds looming. The sun was shining and I finally believe what Sting meant when he sang "Fields of Gold". The corn was beautiful, and literally looked like shining gold - I kept looking multiple times because it stunned me - that's how shiny it was. Grain silos were everywhere and barns needing to be restored. . . Pennsylvania beauty.