Old Endings and New Beginnings

Wow! A lot has happened since I last blogged! Lets see, where to even begin? I suppose with the biggest change :D I am now moved out of my mom's house in an apartment with two of my friends, Ashley and Zach. So far the change has been a good one. I do miss seeing mom every night, and my puppies and such but I really believe that this will help me to continue to grow. We live in an apartment complex near the University so that is a plus! They are extremely nice!! It seems like everything has fallen into place too! Everyone has been so gracious to us, supplying us with furniture and the like. I will keep you updated on how things are going!
Spring is upon us! It's about time too! I always find it weird that the SPRING semester ends, just when spring is fully here. I am currently on the tail end of my finals and am relieved that the semester is over. So far I feel like my tests have gone really well, and I have one remaining. Unfortunately this is the most difficult of my tests but I still think it should go over smoothly. It is my Medieval Art Final Experience/quiz as my prof puts it. He doesn't like the words exam, final, or test. He thinks students do better if he calls it a quiz or an experience. Either way, it is a series of 34 pictures in which we have to identify the title of the work, the author, the patron, and the style. Then we have to answer some questions about some of the vocabulary. The pictures are the heaviest weighted though and I know the vocab well.
I received my roommate assignment for General Assembly this last week. Her name is Hannah (or is it Heather?) Morrison. I have no idea where she is from :) all I have is a name, but because I got that, I am now super excited! I should be getting my committee assignment soon too!
Lets see... what else? Hm... I guess its time for breakfast now, if I think of anything else then I will add it later lol but for now toodaloo! (Is that how you spell that?)

“The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.”-Flora Whittemore

Utah, Egg dye, and more!

I know... I said I would blog every Sunday during lent... But hey! I've been so dedicated to this no technology thing that I haven't even logged on to do that (and a little bit of the busy/laziness factor don't help). But now look! I am blogging!! Essentially I want to take the time to fill you in quickly on what I have been up to.
Week one of the no technology bit was difficult. I had more time on my hands then I knew what to do with. I pulled out old instruments that I hadn't picked up in years, I did a lot of walking (0r more like bored pacing) around the house, I cleaned and did laundry, I packed stuff... I basically found any form of entertainment that I could.
The later weeks became more and more simple. In the beginning I would reach for the knob to turn on the radio in my car by habit but as weeks continued, I no longer felt the need for the radio. My mom and I even drove all the way to Colorado Springs without the radio, using only our own silliness to entertain ourselves. I have now found that I don't need technology to keep me going, life is passing me by quickly and all I can do to enjoy it is to live every moment. I'm not saying I will never go back to technology but to go back to as heavily as I was using it would be a mistake. I will say that I like having it back though, just for those few times that I've got nothing to do.
Anyway, this is the portion of this post that I have been looking forward to... My mission trip to Provo, Utah! I was an adult helper on the LUVLife (Let Us Vibrate Life, high school youth group of First Presbyterian Church Pueblo) mission trip to Provo/Orem. Overall there were ten students ranging from the 8th grade to seniors in high school. Four of them were females (Emily, Sarah, Rebecca, and Janie) and the other six were male(Ben, Drew, Bryce, Rudy, Daniel, and Brian). We had three adult helpers including myself, Bob Yarberry (Janie's Father) and Rene Morrissey (The youth pastor). Rene oversaw everyone at a broad level and made sure everything went smoothly on the trip, while I monitored the girls a bit more closely and Bob handled the boys. My group of the girls had a separate project from the boys group.
While the boys worked on landscaping a habitat for humanity group, we volunteered in a daycare for special needs and low income families known as Kids on the Move. It was amazing watching the girls work with the kids, and working with them myself was a rewarding but also an emotionally demanding experience. I absolutely adored the kids and felt myself becoming extremely attached to them. (This is why I could not work with that age level, my need to nurture is too strong).
One little boy in particular captured my heart. His name is Eric and he is the sweetest little boy I have ever had the privilege of meeting. Each day he brought a smile to my face and has even given me the desire to one day have a son of my own. Granted it may not be for a while but one day :D.
Each of the kids were absolutely adorable and unique. Some were more difficult emotionally then the others due to different special needs, but they were all lovable in their own ways. This experience was rewarding and wonderful.
The only bad thing is that little kids like to share, and not the fun stuff like toys, but rather a bad cold. I unfortunately brought the cold home to my mom so now she is ill too. Its definitely not a fun cold!
With Easter around the corner, mom and I are going to dye eggs for the first time in years! It was a spur of the moment decision but I can't wait! It will be fun to have an activity to do with mom and will bring back memories!
A quick update on church things, I was officially elected as a deacon and am ordained May 9. We had an amazing Good Friday event at the church yesterday that really allowed me time to reflect and relax. It was ran like an open house type of thing with several stations including a labyrinth, a cross in which you could nail a prayer, music, and much more. It has to be one of my favorite things the church has done.
Hope you all are well and have a wonderful easter!!

Let every man and woman count himself immortal. Let him catch the revelation of Jesus in his resurrection. Let him say not merely, "Christ is risen," but "I shall rise." ~Phillips Brooks

Just a quick update!

For those who did not see via facebook twitter or some other way... "Goodbye technology community. Today is my last day for a while. I'm going silent for 46 days during the time of lent (not really for lent just for my own growth which I happened to decide to do during lent). I'm ridding my life of all the noise of technology to spend more time working on my faith with God. Being that the Olympics are on currently I will allow some tv time for that and email for work and school as well as typing out blogs I will prewrite on Sundays. If you need to get a hold of me please email call or text. Wish me luck"

So what does this mean for blogs? Well thats simple really, throughout the week I will write down things that I find important or that I deem blog worthy and on Sundays I will type them out on here. SO don't worry, there will still be blogs (quite possibly more regularly this way anyway).

Being that its not Sunday and almost midnight on the day that I go silent, this update will be short. Today was a good day, I had work which was nice because I got to help out with appositives, and then homework and finally a Mardi Gras party. That party was super fun! Instead of the traditional way of getting beads we made a game out of it. We each started with 8 beads, and while we played Settlers (Which I finally learned Ben and Jord so watch out!) we made a rule that we could not say any words that started with the letters G or M for mardi gras and if you did then whomever caught you got one of your beads. If you caught yourself before anyone else noticed then you didn't have to give up beads. It turned out to be extremely difficult and between the rules of settlers and focusing on the words said, we had to think a lot. It was a total blast though and I enjoyed every minute of it. I was so glad to spend time with my friends and just have laughs and an overall good time!

In honor of the short blog, I have chosen two quotes for the day:


At the height of laughter, the universe is flung into a kaleidoscope of new possibilities.
--Jean Houston


A little faith will bring your soul to heaven, but a lot of faith will bring heaven to your soul.
--Dwight L. Moody

We Are The World Foundation

Teaching

Ah the wonderful world of my chosen profession: teaching. First off let me start by saying that I couldn't be happier then where I stand in life today. Every day I wake up knowing that I am doing the right thing because no matter how tired I am I make sure to try and start each day with a smile. Some days are harder then others but I try to make sure to start each day off right by remembering how difficult the task would be had I not made the decision to change my major. I even set my alarm clock text to "Time for a wonderful day!" The mere fact that I am able to tackle waking up with a smile even on the early mornings lets me know I am in the right place.
Today I woke up before my alarm and got my day started with a bagel and cream cheese. I took a shower and got ready for the day and then headed out the door to County High. Ms. Fodor's class (the fifth hour that I observe is Judith Fodor's honors 9 English class) had presentations today. They read the novel "Night" which is a concentration camp story and had to do a multi-genre project and then present their work to the class. Some of the kids are brilliant. I enjoyed every single presentation! There were poems, comic books of chapters of the story, Recipes to make an SS officer, an auschwitz cafe menu, lullaby's for Jewish kids, birth certificates, Hitler's report card, board games, journal entries, letters, obituaries, an obituary of Hitler's sanity, and many many more creative pieces and we haven't even gotten to the presentations that had a technology piece in them yet! It was the coolest thing seeing the kids present a project they worked hard on! I will definitely teach my classes the multi-genre project even if I end up teaching middle school. *As a side note on that, I will not be one of those teachers who limits what I teach in fear of the students not grasping it. Rather then teaching down to their level I plan on teaching them up to the standard that I will decide on.* Anyway, I absolutely love projects like this one because in a school system that doesn't have art classes at their level, the kids need a creative outlet and a way to express themselves. Hopefully I will get examples of their work to take and keep so I can share it with you. Jamie's 6th hour read today, not too much excitement there, and finally her 7th hour started. That class always brightens my day. We talked about The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Little Shop of Horrors and Ashton Kutcher's Saturday Night Live grape skit (I swear they got work done too lol) and overall just had a nice relaxed class. They are working on the multi-genre project that Fodor's class did and are already starting to put together promising projects. They are the most open to my being there and love sharing their work and stories with me. That class brings me laughs and joys and I can't wait to have a class of my own that is half as awesome as they are.
After class I went to drop off my Dean's List letter at my insurance place so that my mom will get the good student discount but when I got there we realized it didn't actually say my gpa on it so it wouldn't work. We ended up requesting an official transcript be sent. While I was there I solved two rubik's cubes and joked around with the people in the office. I want to start solving the cube more often again, I've gotten kinda slow at it compared to where I was. It used to help me to de-stress and I would like to get to that point again.
I am trying to learn to play the guitar but it is proving to not be easy. I can not for the life of me play a C chord, or any barre chords. Its a bummer!! But practice will help that I hope. I just have to stay on it and not quit like I have in the past. I might take lessons soon but I would rather do voice lessons. I LOVE theater and I have always felt like my number one limitation is the inability (or maybe the lack of confidence) to do musicals. Hopefully voice lessons will fix that. I can teach myself guitar rather then using the lessons for something that I can't learn on my own. My wonderful Mom gave me a certificate for lessons of my choice at the art center and the decision is now between guitar and voice. I will keep my blog updated with my choice.
I made the decision to accept the nomination to be a Deacon at my church today. I am happy with my decision and can't wait to see where being a deacon takes me in my church and faith.
I had a wonderful day and look forward to the end of my week tomorrow so I can have a relaxing and equally as wonderful weekend.

A good teacher has been defined as one who makes himself progressively unnecessary.
-- Thomas J.

Smoothie!!

So I wasn't going to start blogging officially until tomorrow but I had to write about this wonderful smoothie I just made. Mom bought this chocolate silk (silk is like the non dairy soy milk) and at first I wasn't too crazy about it but it kinda grew on me. But anyway she was drinking it the other night and said "Wouldn't this be good to make a smoothie out of?" And so today I decided I would try it and boy am I glad I did! I put about a cup of crushed ice into my smoothie maker with a banana, about 3/4 cup of the silk, and somewhere around 2 tablespoons of peanut butter. It is truly wonderful! If you like chocolate, bananas, peanut butter and smoothies I suggest you try it!!
While I am here I suppose I can make a quick little blurb about my day as well. It was so nice to have the day off. I didn't realize how tired I was, but now that I have had the day to rest and recover I feel like I have real energy again! It was an amazing feeling to just be able to relax and not have to worry about this or that needing to be done. I must admit I did miss being in the classroom with all the kids today but they will still be there Thursday. Speaking of which I am extremely excited for Thursday because the kids in my 5th hour are finishing their presentations so I get to watch a few of them! For those of you who don't know, I spend three hours every Tuesday and Thursday observing two different teachers at Pueblo County High School. I love every minute of it and know in my heart that I have finally found the path that God wants me to be on.
Also speaking of God, I am extremely happy about something! Many of you probably already know this but I am going to be the Young Adult Advisory Delegate (Y.A.A.D) for Presbyterian General Assembly (G.A) in July. I am extremely happy about this but kind of nervous too. I know its going to be an amazing experience but a LOT of work too. I am asking for prayers as the time approaches that we will be successful in our time of meeting and make decisions for the Presbyterian churches of America.
Never take the days of relaxation for granted, or for that matter any day. Each day we are given is a blessing. Each day from today forward, I want to finish my blogs with a quote that matches what I have to say. Today I will have two because both seemed fitting:

Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars.
-- Henry Van Dyke

And of course one for my delicious smoothie, a classic quote:
Life is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're going to get.
--Forrest Gump

Blogging

So I have wanted to start doing this for a long time now. The title blog diaries has been floating around in my head for somewhere around six months. My brother Ben just started his blog and I figured why not start one with him.
Ben had a good point, it seems that life changes rapidly over the years and it is my desire to remember those years. I want to be able to look back at something years from now and read about what was important to me at differing times in my life. I also want to be able to share the important highlights of my life with the family I can't see every day.
I think it will be neat to read up on how my brother is doing every now and then and be able to update my blog with what I am doing to give him something to read too. This way if he goes far away for residency we will still be able to know whats going on in each others lives. My brother and I have always been extremely close so being away from him hasn't been easy but it has helped me to be extremely grateful for the times we do get to spend together. Jordan has been such an amazing person for him and I am so glad that she has been able to help him through being away and the stresses of medical school.
My dad is the other one that I know will appreciate my blogs, he has been away for a long time now but we still try to talk as much as possible. Hopefully this way he will be able to keep up on the happenings in his kids lives and won't feel like he is so far away.
To everyone else reading my blogs, thank you and I love you all and hope that you enjoy them!