a pause for a moment

Well, the semester is drawing to a close, as is my career as a student at Tabor College. I won’t get a chance to look back upon it until February some time, but I can wait until then.
Other than the fact that I don’t know whether I will make it through all that I need to get done in the next few weeks, life is going well.
I spent some of this last weekend in Wichita with Chris’ family. It was good to feel at home with them. I watched Katie’s half time show, picked on Clinton, and tried yet again to make friends with the dog.
I am so ready for thanksgiving. I miss my sister a lot. We are planning some serious bonding time together. It will be terrible if we don’t get to do everything that we want to do. It is kind of funny, our favorite thing to do together it rent a movie that one or the other of us swears that we will hate and cram together on the couch to watch it. We normally devour about 8 to 12 chocolate cookies then moan for ten minutes before eating another dozen.
Shenandoah is going well. We start our last performance in a little over two hours from now. It is a good show, and one that I will definitely consider doing again some day. I will have to have the good voices that we have in the men’s section in order to do it though.
That’s all for now….
I know that it is scattered, but hey those are my thoughts….

Ache

Yesterday I got my first flue shot ever.
Last night my joints began to ache.
This morning my joints ache and my stomach is upset.
Is this a benefit of the flue shot?
All that I can say is, I better get exposed to the flue a lot this year,
And I had better not get it,
Because right now I am not so much a big fan of it at all.

The high school opens Shenandoah today for the junior high.
We are going to do the first act for them as a teaser.
Rehearsal went well last night.
There were only a few flubbed lines, and some weird costume issues.
Note to cast members:
One may not wear plaid flannel under a white dress shirt.

No sense

Which sounds more beneficial to all of you?

1. Working for an evening with a cast of high school students on their first dress rehearsal. Assisting an experienced director who I respect, and who trusts me to work with her talented students.

or

2. Sitting in a night class. While sitting in a night class, and sitting in a night class.

Now, I have an inclination of my answer…but that’s not important.

MAPS Rhymes with ...

MAKE A RECCORD! RING THE BELLS! I ATTENDED A USEFUL IN-SERVICE DAY!!!!!
Today I attended a technology in service day. I actually learned some things. I got to sit and actually work with the programs that they were teaching us to use. It was wonderful. It is so much better than the maps testing in service that we had to go to last month. (insert enormous snore)
I actually feel kind of bad about hating that maps in service anyway, because I am putting it on my resume because it looks good. Man, those principals and superintendents are going to look at that and be Highly Impressed. They will say, “My, what a fine student who knows what Maps testing is. She must be a huge supporter of high stakes testing.” Little do they know….
Yah, anyway. I am going to go run a HHS musical rehearsal.

Dang it, I am smart!

In class on Monday night we talked about how as teachers we want to give kids the tools to be all that they have the potential to be. Well what do you do when you ask a junior in high school what he wants to be when he grows up and he responds with “a fire truck.” Then what do you do with the elementary school who actually thinks that he is a fire truck. (true story there is a kid that thinks he is a fire truck, but only on the days that he does not think that he is a dentist, or a cat.)
Then I think about myself. What do I want to be when I grow up? Is it wrong that I still don’t know. I mean, I think that I want to be a teacher, but sitting here in this teacher’s office with a world of music students coming to me for help with EVERYTHING musical and most things not musical, I think, is it for me?
I have the potential to be anything. Seriously…. I feel that I could even make it in Law school or Med school. Dang it, I am SMART.
Teaching????????

Chicken Patty, my new nemesis

In case you ever wanted to know….
If you step on a 1.57 inch square of chicken patty with your left heel on a tile floor…
The result is somewhat similar to the consequence of a cartoon character stepping on a banana peel.
One can be sure that they will end up on the floor in the position of a hurdler soaring over the bar.

My Soapbox

Last night I was highly impressed with my junior choir singers.
For those of you who read, and don’t know, I am the Junior Choir director at Zion Mennonite Church in the Middle of Nowhere. We are working on the song “Glory Train” for two voices. It is a great song. Anyway… I have a 4th grader in choir who has the ability to follow a music score, read music, and carry a part by himself while others are singing something different. He is what I would consider a choral genius for someone his age in this day and age of forgotten choral music. I also have a 7th grade boy who is going into the beginnings of his voice change and has a 2 and ½ octave range that is clear and pure as a bell. There is also a 7th grade girl who has absolutely no breathiness in her tone. Seriously! Where do these kids come from? I am becoming more convinced that the music world of elementary schools does not expect enough of its young people. We could offer much more technical training to students. Instead we forget the capability of the students. It is understandable that not all students are going to have the characteristics of these few at Zion, but I believe that if we challenged students in choral singing, we would see talent that used to be seen in youth choirs all over the world just a few hundred years ago.

This town is too small for all of us

Well, I have my first cold of the season. What a kick. It isn’t even cold outside yet. The fall is only one week gone, and here I am snuffling up a storm. Perhaps the pressure in my head will go away so that the kid’s voices will stop sounding like they are coming from beyond the grave.
Today a fifth grader asked me, “I saw you walking with someone the other day. Who was he?” to which I responded, “He is my friend.” To which he responded, “I’ll bet he is your close friend.” To which I wanted to respond, “Kid, Hush your mouth yuh kid yuh.” Instead I said: “where were we…” and went back to my lesson.
Dumb kids. (they are cute though, and I love um)

now that i know this works

Here are some funny things that kids have said to me:

The 3rd grade class asks?
What’s your name? And what did you do with Mrs. Baltzer?

Interaction with a 3rd grade girl:
Question 1: Are you married?
Answer: No
Question 2: Do you have kids?
Answer: I like kids, but I don’t have kids.

Quotes by Jacob (5th):
My Name is Trogdoor.
Strongbad told me the answer.
Can we sing it like Strongbad?

The 4th grade class asks:
Question: Who is that man?
Answer: Mr. Loewen. He is my teacher.
Question: Who is his teacher?

Quotes by Tatum (3rd):
Miss. Shope?
Miss. Koop?
Mrs. Shope?
What is your name?

I will try to give you more stories when I have more time.

2nd atempt

This is my second atempt at posting, but bloger is being stupid, and won't let me post, so I am trying again.
I just wanted to update this blog. I haven’t forgotten about it; I have just been busy. I am in the middle of student teaching in the Hillsboro school district. I work with students ages first grade through twelfth. I love it. It is a lot of work and a lot of stress, but it is what I love to do.
I am also helping direct Tabor’s musical Into the Woods. It is going to be an amazing production. You should get tickets if you get the chance. We had our first act run through last night. It was rough, but promising.
Tonight I am going to College night in McPherson, and hopefully I will get to see my friend’s new baby. She was born just a few days ago.
Well, that’s a short and sweet update on me.

Here and Now

Yes, yes, I know. I haven’t posted in ages.
I am currently student teaching M W F at Hillsboro elementary and T H at Hillsboro Junior High and High School. I am enjoying my time here. I have been teaching third through fifth grades for a few weeks now, and I am going to begin teaching Second grade today. I had my first informal observation today. My college professor came to observe me today, and it went well. He had good responses.
The life that is not spent at school and doing homework for my night class is spent at rehearsal for Into the Woods. (The Tabor Homecoming Musical.) The talent of the cast is phenomenal. It will be an amazing show.
I did get to go to the state fair last weekend. It was so much fun. Christopher and I drove there and met Panda, Cara, and Jen K. We went in most of the barns, saw all the animals except the pigs, and bought bracelets to ride rides. The best rides were the log ride, the farris wheel, and this one ride that spun and swung (it might have been called chaos.) Anyway…we rode about 16 or more different rides. I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time.
Hopefully I will go to College night at Body and Soul on Friday this next weekend, and then to the Bethel/Tabor in Newton this next weekend.
So that is an update on my life.
May God Bless Yours.

A good fish story that has nothing to do with fish

So I know that I haven’t posted in forever and a day, but it has not been because didn’t want to. I have been pretty tired from work and friends. The summer is flying by. I have had two work experiences that stand out more than the others. I will share these with you in the most picturesque manner that I can afford on a Saturday afternoon.

We took the older kids camp to the state lake to go fishing. It was a beautiful day. It wasn’t too hot at all, and the kids were having a great time. I was teaching one of my 12 year old girl campers how to cast with an open reel fishing rod. It is more complicated with the button reel rod, and she was doing an excellent job. Suddenly about 3 yards to the right some kid yells SNAKE!! There was a small water snake (I don’t know what kind) in the rocks not far from us. The counselors told the kids not to provoke it, an order which was completely ignored, and they wound up scaring him into his hole. (An unknown location not far from us.) Not long after another kid at the next dock over yells something along the lines of ANOTHER SNAKE. They went to look at it and it was much LARGER than the first one. By this time I was just praying that I wouldn’t step on one that I didn’t see. Well eventually the snake business settled down. My camper asked me if I would like to cast and I said sure. About half way through my cast I realized that something was entirely wrong with how the cast was going. I wound up in the place that is past the point of no return. I threw the entire STINKING FISHINGPOLE INTO THE STATE LAKE!!! After doing this I saw no alternative than to swim out (in the snake infested waters) to get the pole. It was still floating and I didn’t want to try to get it with another pole just incase the movement would sink it. I took off my shoes, and fully dressed I waded out into the water. About 3 feet out I realized that there was a sharp drop off. Soon I found that my feet did not touch and I was literally gliding out into the water trying not to disturb our slithery friend from his restful slumber. I retrieved the fishing pole, climbed out of the lake, and tried to dry off. Later when we were having our recap of the day, my camper told me that it was her favorite part of the day.

Wow, that took a long time. Perhaps I will save the other story for another day. I will give you a teaser. “Once upon a time, I took three seven year old boys to the Zoo, and I will never look at the exhibits the same.”

3 Weeks O' Work

It has been three weeks since I started my job at PV this summer. I have enjoyed it. Training was so much less of a boar since I missed the first 2 days of it, and since only five of the people who are working haven’t been here before. It made things run easier. I enjoy the people who I am working with this year. It is a closer group because we are smaller in numbers. The first week of camp was relatively uneventful, but not last week. Last week there were four therapeutic holds. (These are restraints of the patients for less than 30 minutes.) I was involved in one on Wednesday. I had a nine year old boy take off. Two other staff and I chased him for a block and a half then took him down in a front yard. Someone had arms, the other had feet, and I held his head. The little guy got me with his fingernails on my arm. He was mad, but calmed down in less than five minutes. He had a great day for the rest of the day. I didn’t know how emotionally exhausted it would make me, but I was beet. The rest of camp went well for me, but Lindsey didn’t have such a good go of Thursday. One of her girls is a little too flirtatious and wound up making out in the pool. Grrrr. I do not want teenaged daughters EVER!
On a lighter note, I have the day off and am going to spend it running around town getting things done. I will probably stop in and see sister at her place of work.

If anyone reads this, which I have not yet established, think of my Grandmother. She is in the Hospital with diabetic complications. My mom may be going to Indiana to stay with her soon. We are not sure what is going on but pray for a fast full recovery.
Thanks.

Vacation, and first day O' work after senior year

My Summer vacation. I know, I know. It is much too early to have had a summer vacation already, but I successfully took a summer vacation one day after coming home from college and have now arrived back at home and had my first day at work. (40 word sentence! Talk about your run on’s.) I left Monday with Chris at 5:30am. And then drove for 29,823,985,758,392,834 hours, 834,982,354,834 of which were spent going through Illinois. Honestly it took about 13 hours, but it did take 834,982,354,834 hours to get through Illinois. I arrived at my Grandparents house in Indiana and then Chris went on to Goshen where he is working for the rest of the summer. My vacation included an enormous flee market in Middlebury IN, shopping at the Lighthouse Place Outlet Mall, going into Chicago for a day, Eating Rootbeer Ice Cream Cones with the Grand parents and Chris, hanging out with my other grandma, eating at fine restaurant establishments such as The Walnut Room, Hammers, and Holly Macaroni, and a couple of trips to Lake Michigan. (62 word sentence, getting better.) It was a wonderful time. I wish that I could write more or expound to give you a better idea of all that I got to do, but it would be as long as a book, and who has that kind of time. I would like to give huge big thanks to my grandparents, Chris, Aunt Pat, and Vi (even though I didn’t get to see you) for the wonderful time that I had.
I am glad to be home. I started training for PV today. We have to go through a lot of the same stuff that we did last year, but I don’t mind. It is a good review, and hey, I get paid for it. I only got to work till 2:00 today because there was a bad storm, and the streets flooded. It took me three different rout attempts to get home. I finally came charging up the street in my low to the ground car. Dad thought that I was going to kill it, but I made it. Timmy must be part fish. (the car is Timmy) Anyway….I am beginning to get my head into the summer pattern. I will have more to say later. Right now it is time to say
Bye

This morning I woke up, and I had a bad stomach ache. I thought about it for a while, and I came to a conclusion. I have the reverse of what I had before college. Before my freshmen year I had pre college anxiety, and now I am a victim of post college anxiety. Before college it was mostly an anxiety of what I would face when I got to college, but now it is more of an anxiety over what I may loose. I have made the most amazing friends that I have ever had here at Tabor. The people who I have known throughout my years of school who are graduating with me mean more to me than I can express. May this be a tribute to them.

Amy – No one will ever be as loyal or as close
Amanda – No one will ever be as quick witted, hilarious, or easy to scare
Becky – No one will ever keep me speechless as long as you can, or be as sparkling as you are
Rachel P – No one will ever keep me on my toes so much, or care so much
Roman – No man (except one) will ever be as protective, or brotherly
Cara – No one will ever surprise me with weird moods like you do
Doc O. – No one will ever make me think like you do
Jonathan – No one will ever be as unexpected as you are, or as brave
Jenna – No one will be as eloquent as you are, or have as creative of a mind as you have
Jill – No one will ever make up wonderful morning songs like you
Landon – No one will ever make me as puzzled as you do, or be as evident in striving for strength of faith
Kindra – No one will ever make me laugh as you do
Mike B. – No one will ever be as honest as you
Val – No one will ever be as friendly as you are
Lucas – No one will ever be as passionate as you are about the things that you love
Rachel used to be W but now is R – No one will ever share like you do, or give hugs like you
Amy used to be M but now is T – No one will ever have Guns as big as yours or be as perseverant as you are
Nick – No one will ever be as passionate in new forms of ministry as you are

Although there will be people that come along who excel in these areas, I will always remember you for these things. I love you all. God Bless

There is always joy

So, when you were little was there ever something that you knew that you wanted to do before Jesus came back? Well, I was a child of high aspirations so I didn’t have just one thing that I wanted to do, but I had a bunch of things. I could go into the list of old things, but a lot of those don’t matter any more. I am not saying that i do not long for the day that Jesus returns, but I guess that what I am trying to say is this: Even though life on this earth is hard and we experience pain, the joy and good that we are allowed to discover outweighs a million sorrows.
God gives incredible joy,
Tonight it is through people,
Tomorrow it may be something else,
But there is always joy…

A lot on my mind

I should be working on my projects (multiple) that are due within the next week, but instead I decided to remind myself of today. I want to remember it. It was cold this morning. Honestly and truly cold. The clock in the bathroom was wrong, and it threw my entire morning off. I went to class and shivered through Church Music and Worship. I wish I could have concentrated. There was a lot on my mind. I went to pray at the 24 hour prayer after that, and then went to eat lunch. We also had our choir pictures today. How many men does it take to come up with one pare of black dress socks? Answer: A lot. After choir I read Harold Best, tried to read Harold Best with a lot on my mind, and then tried to fall asleep, with a lot on my mind. I did homework. Chris came over and we talked about how exhausted we are because of his birthday and the late night at Old Chicago. We went to dinner, and then I came back here, looked at a Pottery Barn Book that Laura checked out, and came down to write this...I still have a lot on my mind.
p.s.
I should change my calendar to May.

life is like...

Long time no post,
It is the end of the year,
There is no time for nothing,
I am working on learning how to be a teacher,
I am teaching third grade music tomorrow,
Becky told me that they are talkers,
I am going to do the cheesy thing and keep their attention by clapping mimics,
I hope that they don’t bowl me over,
Life is like a long run on sentence,
You never know when it is going to end…..

Almost Good Friday

Well, here I am…getting ready to go home for Easter 2006. Hurrah! I haven’t slept at home in my bed at my house in Mac town since Christmas 2005. I realize that this is only a period of four months, but for living 26 miles from home, I would consider this fact a bit sad.
My Senior recital went off without a hitch last weekend. It was good to get it done, and feel the relief of knowing that I don’t have to do that again at least for a long time. My grandparents ALL came down to see it. I was so happy that they could come. They literally drove for 14 hours here and back just to see it. I am so blessed.
We also had junior senior banquet last week. It went so well. Chris and I followed Angie, Sharon, Matthew, Landon, Amy, John, Roman, Rachel, and Rachel in a terrible blustering wind. It was at Rolling Hills Country Club. We ate, and watched the quiz bowl game show and the senior slide show. Then we took pictures and went to Chris’ house to see his family before we went to Landon’s house where we watched Dennis the Menus. We got back early-ish because I needed to sleep in preparation for the recital. It was an excellent time.
Now I am beginning to do the ceremonial gathering of the things that I brought to school with me that I most likely did not need in order to move them back to home. I do this in shifts because one fell swoop just plain does not fit into my little car. I have failed to find my laundry bag, so I am trying to fit 349,213,321,125, 769,097 loads of laundry into 1 (small) laundry basket. It is not so much working well.
Well, I still do have a bit to get done before I go home. I will perhaps post from my home, but perhaps not. If I do not, then have a wonderful Easter weekend celebrating the salvation that we have in Christ Jesus our Lord!

still here

I just wanted to say that I am still here. I am in my last week before my Senior Voice Recital. I think that I am ready. We will see what happens. My grandparents are coming down for it, and I am excited to see them. I got to go home yesterday with Chris and we ate Chinese Take Out. Mmmm. It was pretty good. It was nice to sit around home for a while and play with the dogs. Sad thing was that we had to drive back to school in terrible thunderstorms. I went slow, and Chris prayed. Well that’s about all. This is me, signing out.

Intro to Senior Choir Tour

Well, I am off!
I am leaving for my last choir tour here at Tabor College. I just want to say that I have a sorrowful sad sigh in my soul. (How is that for alliteration?!) But I will not concentrate on the lasts of this trip. Instead I will concentrate on the firsts.
1. My first choir tour to Minnesota
2. My first choir tour to South Dakota
3. My first choir tour with Rachel in choir
4. My first choir tour as the Vice President to Jonathan
5. My first choir tour with Secretary Beccus as my honest to goodness secretary
6. My first choir tour with a boy friend
7. My first choir tour as a senior
But, Remembering is good to
1. My last choir tour with Becky sticking her finger in the coat hanger and getting it stuck.
2. My last trip with the seniors who have been in choir with me for four years. (some of my best friends in the world)
3. My last choir tour with Rex as my buss driver
4. My last choir tour to try to find a seat with a light that works
5. My last choir tour…
I have had an amazing time in Tabor Choir. This opportunity has lead to experiences that I will never forget.

I am a teacher

Today I felt like a music teacher for the first time in a long time. There have been times in my life when I have known that I chose the right major, but lately I have doubted my decision. Today was an affirmation that even though it may not be the only thing that I do, I love teaching. I got to direct the Tabor Choir (by direct, I mean I got to do the entire rehearsal), It was nerve racking, but I had so much fun. Then I went to the middle school and was the substitute teacher for sixth grade music. The kids were challenging because they are used to a loose classroom, but I had a great time with them as long as they were on task. They learn so quickly it amazes me.
Other than these thoughts, I have been pouring my time into our spring show, The Anatomy of Gray. It is a good show, and we are opening tomorrow. This full practice schedule has worn me out and surely kept me from posting. It has been a great time with great people. It has been so long since I have not been working on a show that I don’t remember what it is like. I know that as soon as it is done I will miss it though.
I am going to go do homework. Good Night!

Sanity is overrated

Wow, I just want to say that I am going bonkers cranking out lesson plans today. It was my sister’s birthday last Thursday so I am also going home to see her tonight. Huzzah for family! Thanks to Bradley Dean I have a crud load to do for Church Music and Worship. (and that is after a hand cramping test on Friday that took 1:20 min.) Anyway…Sanity is overrated.
I am slowly going crazy 1 2 3 4 5 6 switch, Crazy going slowly am I 6 5 4 3 2 1 switch…

Valentine Reflection

Wow, I haven’t written anything on word perfect since the beginning of the computer days for the Hope house. I am currently posting from my roommate’s lap top and she has it. I am using this program for old time sake, and for the goodness of all mankind. Ahem.

Yesterday was a great, amazing, fantastic, scrumdidilumptious day! Today I was in the prayer room and someone made the comment that Valentines day is all about Love, and God is Love. Therefore valentines day is all about God. It was a great reminder of the way that we experience God’s love through other people. When I think about how much I love my family and friends, I try to imagine how much God loves me in comparison, and I am amazed.

P.S. My Mommy and Daddy took pity on me and got me The Emperor’s New Groove. (I used to own it, but it was stolen from me last year and I have been in withdrawal since then.) I am Soooooo Happy To Have It Back!!!!!
And then there is Chris..... :-) Wonderful.

This is not a statement

You and I in a little toy shop
Buy a bag of balloons with the money we've got
Set them free at the break of dawn
'till one by one they were gone
Back at base, sparks in the software
Flash the message "something's out there"
Floating in the summer sky
Ninety nine red balloons go by

Ninety nine red balloons
Floating in the summer sky
Panic bells, it's red alert
There's something here from somewhere else
The war machine springs to life
Opens up one eager eye
And focusing it on the sky
The ninety nine red balloons go by

Ninety nine decisions treat
Ninety nine ministers meet
To worry, worry, super scurry
Call the troops out in a hurry
This is what we've waited for
This is it boys, this is war
The President is on the line
As Ninety nine red balloons go by

Ninety nine knights of the air
Ride super high-tech jet fighters
Everyone's a super hero
Everyone's a Captain Kirk
With orders to identify
To clarify and classify
Scramble in the summer sky
Ninety nine red balloons go by

As ninety nine red balloons go by

Ninety nine dreams I have had
In every one a red balloon
It's all over and I'm standing pretty
In this dust that was a city
If i could find a souvenir
Just to prove the world was here
And here is a red balloon
I think of you and let it go

So, I like this song…I don’t so much know why. But then again, who really determines why we like the music that we like? Do we even determine our own tastes, or are they inherent? Can I like this song and 80 bazillion other kinds of music? Yep! I sure can. Why? Because I want to. Ba ha ha ha! Maybe that’s it. We like the music that we like because we do, and there is nothing that anyone else can do about it. Hmmmm what a quandary…

SHOUT HUZZAH!!!

I have had a wonderful interterm. True, the class that I took was mostly busy work, but I did learn some good things. Honestly my friends made interterm awesome. I got to do a lot of fun things like….
Cooking with people
Going to Old Chicago
Celebrating Panda’s birthday
Watching American Idol five
Going to Sharon’s house
Rehearsing for the Shorts (comedy acts)
Going to P. F. Chang’s (amazing food, good waiter, wonderful company)
Getting flipped over furniture
Having girl’s night (We watched Sunday in New York. So funny!)
Working in the Snack Bar
Playing and finally winning Sorry
Having a root beer party with Rachel to celebrate her future decisions
And a myriad of other things.
I thank God for all of these fun times. I rejoice in the people He has placed in my life. I praise Him for friendship, laughter, and celebration.
So shout Huzzah for an awesome interterm!!!

Yesterday I...

Yesterday was a good day. I…

Went to class Too early in the morning
Came back from class and ate lunch
Talked with Doc who I missed all interterm
Took a glorious nap
Worked on homework
Ran lines with John
Did more homework
Talked with The Foot
Talked with Geen who I missed all interterm
Talked with my dad
Went to supper and made a shake. Mmmm Good
Went to rehearsal
Watched 24
Played skip bo (lost by one card, Grrr)
Climbed a tree
Heard all about Hot Death Uno
Went home
Ate the last of the cheese cake
Went to bed

A bunch O' blandness

I should post.
Wow, I don’t know what to say.
Um, yesterday I saw a big group of people from PV kids club walking to the park together. It made me smile and made me want to get back to work at camp. I need to call PV and talk with them about permanent job possibilities. (Ahhhh the real world approaches!!!)
So last night I was talking and realized that I miss my Virginia friends. Where is the love during interterm? Let me tell you where the love went…Gospel of John. Yep Everyone in that and in personal finance has NO life beyond class and rehearsal (if they have rehearsal). Hey John people…good luck on the formal by the way.
Well I am gonna split. My somewhat frustrating professor didn’t give me my next assignment, so I will have to work on it when I actually would rather do something else as opposed to right now when I have nothing to do. Grrrr
Beyond that, I love college.

A birthday in a full new year

I have been busy...
Interterm started this past Tuesday and I am currently procrastinating my listening. (when you are a music major listening is part of your homework quite often.)
So school has been happening…
Friends have also been happening...
In fact, yesterday four of us went out to celebrate the birthday of my dear roommate from my freshman year Amanda. It was pretty sweet; Chris got Amanda a 5ft inflatable monkey for her birthday. Here are some pictures of her reaction and then of her and the monkey. We went to Hutchinson and ate at Carlos O’Kelly’s. Yum. Then I had Brahms Ice Cream for dinner. (not so much a healthy food day, but it was good) We bummed around in hutch for a while and then went to Amanda’s puppy and then to my house to see my puppies. Then back to the burro.
Tonight I have rehearsal and then a cast meeting. I get to be in two Tabor plays coming up. I am in the Comedies on Feb 2 and 3 and then in May I am in “The Anatomy of Gray” Not to be confused with “Gray’s Anatomy” It’s completely different.
Well, I’ve honestly got to go. There is so much to do and so little time.
Love to all, and thanks for the comment Aunt Deb.

Skip-Bo

Well, Christmas was wonderful. The Christmas Eve service was beautiful. Kati, Lee, and I took Christmas pictures in front of the tree. They all turned out well. I will share them with you when I reach my dorm. I got my drum for Christmas, and I also got the Chronicles of Narnia as a complete volume. Those are my favorite things of this year. I can’t wait to get back to school and play with Becky. (Oh yah, I found out that my interterm class meets from 1:30-4:30 in McPherson. That stinks!)
I had a great time with friends so far this break. I hope you are all well. I am currently playing skip-bo with my family. My sister is currently picking on me, and repetitively calling me Loser. (Her favorite pet name for the people she loves.) She also has been criticizing my relationships, game-playing style, clothing style, life as a student, and taste in food. (She loves me, a lot.)
My dad has been talking for most of the evening with an oriental accent. It has been priceless.
I JUST WON!!!!
And with that, I will end
P.S. Pray for my sister's Boyfriend's dad. He is in the Hospital and is not doing well. They are considering transfering him to Wichita. Lee's parents have 7 kids from 1 to 22. The family is stressed and exhausted. Pray for his faith and strength for their family.

I am home

I am currently talking to MB or (Mike, Michel, Brenda, The Mule, Character Mike….and the list goes on) while waiting for Sabrah to call and tell me to come over so that we can bore each other to tears with the pictures of all that has happened to each other for the past 4 months. (Actually I love every minute of it, because I get caught up on every juicy detail of her life while trying to keep all of the names straight)
My mom just walked down the stairs with a music box playing O Christmas Tree, and it made me happy.
My dad is sitting watching TV. My sister was just over for a few hours. She played around on the Internet and we talked about stuff. (Including having competition on who was the better daughter, which happens to be her favorite games…ahem…) Anyways, she just left, and I just asked Mike what his favorite Christmas Tradition is, so I am going to go check out the answer. If you read this and feel like letting me know what your favorite Christmas tradition is, feel free. If you don’t have one, make one up. If you are beyond the creativity of making one up because your brain has been fried with finals, then go read a book that you liked in your childhood to recapture the wonder and romance of life.
Love all around, and MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

distracting myself

So, I want to take my mind off of the math test that I have to take in an hour and a half. I decided to do as the Jill does and take a quiz or two. Yah, I know they are sappy...but I think I am allowed a little mush to go along with all of this hard fast math stuff.

You are Milk Chocolate

A total dreamer, you spend most of your time with your head in the clouds. You often think of the future, and you are always working toward your ideal life. Also nostelgic, you rarely forget a meaningful moment... even those from long ago.

What Kind of Chocolate Are You?

You Are a Light Pink Rose

You represent sweetness and grace. Your vibe: Kind and gentle Falling in love with you: is like falling in love with a best friend

What Color Rose Are You?

I want to be a Nymph

Yesterday I went to see the Chronicles of Narnia with a group of about 20 people from Tabor. It was a great movie. There were some things from the book that I wish that they would have included more of, but on the whole I liked it a lot. The actress who played the white witch was absolutely amazing. She was so fierce and had so much talent: I am going to be watching for her in other films. One of my favorite parts of the movie (also one of my favorite parts of the book) was when Mr. Tumnus played the Narnian Lullaby. I loved the fire, the music, and Tumnus’ personality. And may I just say that the scene when the cloth first falls off of the wardrobe was amazing. I also think I liked it because it reminded me of how much I loved reading the books and of how much I love the characterization of Asland. He is not a tame lion, but he is good.

You and me and the monkey makes three, don't need nobody but the elephant. (Swak!)

Procrastinate early, procrastinate often.
The early bird gets the worm, but what does the early worm get?
It’s the tallest blade of grass that gets cut first.
Never do today what you can put off till tomorrow.
And after all that…I am going to work on a project.
Hee hee

Christmas Banquet

Over my years at Tabor College I have attended four Christmas Banquets. There is a special memory that I have attached to each of them.
My freshman year:
1 I went with a group of girls.
2. Hollie wrote Travis (now married to Hollie’s best friend) a song to say yes to his unique proposal to go to the Christmas banquet.
3. The dance was in the scout house in the park and it was so crowded that everyone danced because there was no room to stand around and watch.
Sophomore year:
1. I went with a group of girls that I didn’t know very well, and we had an awesome time.
2. The dance was somewhat ok, but they played a large amount of slow songs and I was a wall flower. (p.s. being a wall flower STINKS)
Junior year:
1. I went with a group of girls and Curra and Big Guns McDaniel were my dates. (Hot dates, let me tell you!)
2. We didn’t go to the dance. Instead we went to the movies, and I got pulled over for the first time. (65 in a 45 and I didn’t get a ticket) Moral of the story, wear flowers in your elegantly upswept hair in order to avoid legal repercussions.
Senior year: Hurray for going with a wonderful guy! I went with Chris, Justin and Elise, and Rachel and Lucas.
1. I had a great time at dinner. The food was impressive, and the cheese cake was good as well.
2. The dance was priceless. When Matt climbed up on the wall and started dancing, I knew I would remember the night forever. I also learned that there are some Mennonite Guys that can dance. (Although none of them admit to it)
All in all it was a wonderful night. (I even made it to Newton without getting pulled over!)

hi

Hi, I am going to math class. I am trying not to be the first one there. (no matter how late I go, I am always first. Grump
I love Jesus and I want to live for Him!
bye

My thumb healed

Here is a picture of the mutt that I spent Thanksgiving with.

Yah, my stress level has not gone down, but at least it is leaving my thumb alone. Instead of my thumb skin pealing my depth perception decided to go out of whack. Yesterday I hit myself in the face with our storm door twice upon entering the house. It is a good thing I was wearing my glasses because they served as protective eye wear.
I began directing the First Mennonite Church Choir. They haven’t had a church choir in about two years, and it was somewhat of a challenge for me to choose music when I didn’t know at all what they could do. It was fun though. The people were so sweet. I think that some of them were skeptical of what I expected them to do, but it turned out well. I wish we had more rehearsal time before performances.
Last night I got to talk to a long lost friend. It was good to just talk with someone without making myself try to accomplish something while I talked.
After I got off of the phone I was editing my paper. It was around 1:30 and I started to talk to my room mate, and all of the sudden I sounded exactly like Doc O. My sentence structure, my vocal intonation, my word timing it all sounded like him. It was only one sentence which I tried to reproduce right after it happened, and I couldn’t do it again. Wow, my friends are rubbing off on me in more ways than just some.

123456 switch

I am slowly going crazy. 123456 switch
Crazy going slowly am I. 654321 switch
I am slowly going crazy. 123456 switch
Crazy going slowly am I. 654321 switch
So this weekend I started loosing skin out from under my right hand thumb nail because of stress. Yah…Homework is not my favorite guy in the world. Hopefully it will heal soon, because I feel like a 4 year old with a band-aid on my thumb.
P.S. I hate my body’s natural responses. Why can’t something cool happen like the inability to sneeze, or the inability to eat, or the inability to see in color, or the inability to….

honestly

So this has been one of those weeks. The kind that sometimes I am having the time of my life, and other times I am beating my head against a wall. The kind of week that contains someone who says something perfectly wonderful to me and someone else who trounces all over my feelings of worth. The kind of week that when it is over and I face a weekend full of hoops to jump through, I simply want to go home and pop in a movie have my dog at my feet and lay around with my sister. I want her to tell me a story, a shockingly ridiculous hilarious one that makes me laugh so hard that she laughs harder, and then we shush each other for the next half hour.

Here is another thought. It is a thought that has been inspired by some of the most comforting times that I have had both recently and in the past. If the whole personal space thing bothers you I half-way apologize for what I am about to say…but not really… I have realized something, or maybe not realized it, but am sort of coming to a greater awareness of it. Sometimes it is comforting to hang out with a bunch of girls and jump into a pile of my friends in which my entire body; every imperfect inch, limb or stomach, breast or bum, becomes the support of one of my best friends. It is the kind of meaningful touch that says that “closeness is the way I am expressing my gratitude that you are my friend, and that I can keep you up till all hours of the night with my stupid idiosyncrasies, and that you like it when I do. And closeness is my way of saying that no matter what anyone else says or thinks that I think you are magnanimous and that you are stunningly beautiful to me and more importantly to God. And closeness is Our way of saying that we are blessed by God above with these friendships that we should never take for granted and that we will never forget.”

I need a brain massage

I am still alive! So here will be a random post of the things I have been doing.
1. Reading an Abigail Adams book for history. (good book)
2. Justifying things by the day of the week. Such as: I want to wear a skirt. Why? Because it is Thursday.
3. Being mad at my math professor for assigning us a stupid research paper. Grrrr.
4. Going to Nebraska for NATS and competing against some amazing sopranos.
5. Seeing Lisa Lowen who I love. And talking to her about her boyfriend Kevin whose real name is Jeff.
6. Buying an outrageously cute jacket.
7. Baking cookies for my friend Roman and dressing up like a Granny to take them to him. (longish short story)
8. Watching my Voice teacher in a new relationship, and listening to cute conversations about what the other one likes on top of pizza.
9. Set up a facebook for panda.
10. Learned how to make Zweiback from John
11. Started working on one of my 3 Bradley Dean projects. Grrrrr
12. Having “Honest Hour” with Elise
13. Talking with my Amy
14. Conducting the Halleluiah chorus (Ahem, or at least trying)
15. Reading some good Psalms, check out Psalm 6.
16. Realizing that it is Wednesday afternoon, and I am brain dead.
Konk! (The sound my head is about to make when it hits my desk)
Smoosh! (The sound my head will make after I pick it off of my desk and lay it on my pillow for a nap
Ahhhh! (The sound of the bliss of the next 45 min.)

Purple wall fixture

So…we had our pirate party last night. It was partly in celebration of my dear roommate’s birthday, but it wasn’t at the same time. (The previous statement is not relevant to much except for now I have more company of 22 year olds.) The party was great. We all looked pretty good. We had trivia and then watched pirates of the Caribbean. (Can I just say that normally Johnny Depp is not so good looking, but in that movie he sure is.) Here are some pictures!!!
Also, tomorrow I am leaving for NATS in Lincoln NE. I am somewhat excited about hanging out with my music major and vocal people, but some of me just wants to stay here and get stuff done. Also the whole competition thing doesn’t thrill me. I will make the best of it. I will report on the characters that attend these things. My freshmen year everyone in the auditorium had to stand and sing Ol’langsian (Should old acquaintance be forgot…) I have no idea how to spell that. But anyway, we had to sing that song and hold hands at the end of the evening. It was CHEEZE!!!!
Today my voice teacher made a stunning observation about my life. DRAT! DRAT! And DOUBLE DRAT! (No, you aren’t supposed to figure out what it means….don’t ask either.)
On the up side I am going to S P and D for the first time in a while, which means I should go.

Aaaarrrrrrrrggggggg!

Tonight we had a pirate party. I will tell you all about it when I get a chance. I will have some sweet pictures to accompany this telling.
I am in a whirlwind of projects and getting ready for NATS (vocal competition) so if I seem scattered and inattentive I apologize. I have a lot LOT on my mind lately. Sometime, when it is not bed time, I will expand.
In Christ,
Storm’s Eye Sarah (AKA: me)

I WANT TO POST

I WANT TO POST, BUT I DON'T HAVE TIME!!!!! GRRRRRR!!!!!
Take care, Lots of Love, RANDOM THOUGHTS INSERTED HERE_________!
Jen

So my Top Secret Trip was to VIRGINIABEACHVIRGINIA to see MIKEWOODS!!!!! It was amazing.
We left on Friday afternoon at 4:00 pm and didn’t get to Virginia till 5:30 pm the next day. The drive was fun though. The only fun part was when all of us were too tired to drive and we were a little grouchy. Other than that it was smooth sailing. Doc had some amazing comments, including “Hey Baby, I’m Bionic.”
Saturday we arrived at Beth’s house (see photo) and all stood outside on the lawn calling our families to let them know that we were safe. Then the guys went to Ben and Mikes while we all showered and got pretty to see Mike. The guys came back and we all sat around for a while. Rachel and I made a Roman sandwich and it was quite comfortable. We went to Regent and played around in the lobby. We took pictures on the fabulous staircase (see photo), waltzed, Aaron Modeled, and Rachel Swooned. Then we all went back stage and waited for Mike to come around the corner. I will never forget the look on his face and his reaction for the rest of my life. Mike gave us a tour of some of Regent (see photo) and then we went out to eat at the restaurant that Mike goes with his friends. After eating and talking we went back to Beth’s and sat and tried to talk till 3:00 am and then we all went to bed.
Sunday is a day that I will want to freeze and revisit it whenever I get the chance. We woke up at 8:30 and went to get the guys. We ate breakfast at Ben’s house while watching the guys play x-men. (see photo) After that we left for the beach. (see photo) It was a beautiful day (see photo). The wind was cold but the water was warmer than the wind. There were seven of us that swam. (John, Roman, Aaron, Sharon, Becca, Rachel, and Me) I didn’t see them, but someone said that there were dolphins swimming just a little farther out than we were swimming. After we got out and tried to get warm and dry, we had devotionals on the beach. Landon brought his guitar and we sang, read scripture, and prayed. It was wonderful. I am so blessed to have friends such as these. After Devos we ran around on the beach for a while longer and then went to IHOP for breakfast/lunch. Mike left early for call, and we all left later to get ready. We went as fast as we could and we were still almost late. I drove to the show and I sure did break some traffic laws. (I don’t ever do that either, but I am pretty sure that the 3 point turn I took in the middle of a 4 lane road with a green SUV coming was a law breaking experience. I wasn’t about to drive 25 hours to see a show and miss it by being late by 2 min.) The show was so powerful. The acting was incredible. After the show we went out to look at the fountain and wait for Mike to get done with stuff. Then we went out for Chinese take out. It was SOOOOO GOOOOOD!!! We watched Batman Begins and I fell asleep after the first 45 min or so. I woke up and we all talked till 2:00ish and then I went to bed.
Monday morning came too early. We all got to sleep in a bit. Then we cleaned up, and I packed up my stuff. We all sat around and watched a discovery nature show about Cuba and how everything on Cuba is small. The guys provided some great commentary while watching the species. Amy and I went for a walk in the hurricane and got about ½ a block when our umbrellas blew inside-out, and we decided to go back then it was time for us to leave. It took a while…first we all said good bye. Then we couldn’t leave because we plugged the toilet and someone had to go buy a plunger. Then we found a plunger and they had to come back to un-clog it. Then we all said good bye again, and we finally left. I almost cried watching Mike and Angie; I had to swallow a lot.
The ride home was eventful and hilarious. I want to write about it sometime, but this post is already the LONGESTEVER!!!. So I will leave you here. Perhaps I will finish my thoughts later because I have already worked on this one over the course of a week.
Sorry the pics are out of order. You can figure them out. The one of Angie, Brian, and I is a representation of Illinois. I am ill, Angie is annoyed and Brian is an Indian.

TOPSECRETLOCATION!!!!!!!!!

I am bound for a top secret location. I will not be around for a while. I will tell you all about it when I get back. FALLBREAKROCKSANDILOVENUMBLIMS!!!!!!!!!EVERYBODYDRIVESAFE!

For Ginger

Yesterday was a sad day for my family. My family’s dog Ginger died in her sleep. It is probably harder for my family to deal with the loss of a pet more than other families. You see, when we get a dog, it becomes a member of a family. It gets multiple nick names. It gets dressed in any manner of people clothing. It gets half of my mom’s peanut butter sandwich every morning, and it gets half of my dad’s popcorn at night.
So this post will be a tribute to Ginger the sweet little sausage that she was.
My mom, sister, and I went to the humane society when I was 11 years old to look at the puppies. We found Ginger. She was the smallest of the litter, and she was shaking. We took her home and when dad came home we made him close his eyes, sit down on the couch, and hold out his hands. We dropped her into his hands and looked at him with the biggest, sweetest, can we keep her eyes. He couldn’t say no. Ginger had a interesting start to life with us. She was a sickly little thing and wouldn’t eat anything but bread soaked in milk. We were excited when she moved onto rice and then puppy food.
Soon she gained some spunk and grew a little. The funniest thing about her was her tail. It moved like a cat’s tail. It didn’t wag, it wiggled. We thought that from her short hair that she would have a thin silky coat. Ha, were we surprised; soon she grew a huge thick sheltie coat. It was beautiful even though she shed like a fiend.
One of my favorite memories with her was at McPherson College Track. We were all walking or running as a family. I think I was training for Volleyball. She got loose on the track and proceeded to herd us like sheep. If one of us strayed from the group she would walk along the outside of us and slowly walk us back into the group.
She also liked music a lot. She used to lay under mom’s stereo and listen to the music. Mom insisted that she liked soothing music best. Ginger would also play hide and seek with a bone. I could give her a nyla-bone and she would take it hide it and come back to let me know that it was hidden. Then she would help me find it. That dog could seriously talk to you with her eyes. If you asked her a question she would snort a response. I believe that she knew in her head exactly what you had said.
I will miss her. She was a great friend and a good playmate.

Memories of Big River

There is no way that I can coherently write about all the fun that I had, and all that I learned through Big River. It was an experience that changed me. I think that all shows change actors, it just depends on the show and the situations surrounding it that determine how much it changes you. So I have decided to list some of the wonderful things that I will remember about this particular show and the awesome people I got to work with.

So here are my memories
1. The first rehearsal having to say if I prefer spaghetti with or without meat sauce. Within this, learning about the new people in the cast
2. Learning the music knowing full well that these songs would be stuck in my head for the next month or more.
3. Finding out that I, yet again, got the “mom” role in the show and that I, yet again, (for the second tabor play in a row) would make my first entrance yelling the name of a mischievous youth
4. Having Becky frequently ask me “when is practice?” and walking together like old times.
5. Getting to know my soul sisters Elise and Bri
6. Absolutely wanting to disappear during multiple moments of embarrassment in rehearsal
7. The terrible night of the lip licking mix up
8. Watching James eat grapes and mouth the lines off stage, and listening to him every time he said, “you ruined the show”
9. Talking with Elise, Bri, and Aaron back stage about everything. Seriously, I mean everything.
10. The first time I heard Jarrod sing the government song
11. Praying with many different people during hard times in their lives
12. Getting to be joyful with John and Elise when their families got to come from so far away
13. Doing Man makeup
14. Wearing and tripping over 20 yards of fabric each night
15. Cast bonding on our first Friday night performance.
16. Listening to Daniel progress as the Young Fool
17. Dancing back stage before Free at Last
18. When Aaron modeled for us right before intermission
19. Singing in chipmunk voices with Ashley
20. Working with the brilliant but unpredictable Alberto (the set guy)
21. Getting a rose from Chris and finding out that I am now the proud owner of a nasty cupcake in a baggie…until I find it Moooowwwahahahahaha
22. Having my sister come to my show!
23. Singing the Crossing on Saturday night when it was perfect and getting huge goose bumps
24. Singing Stand by Me with Landon, John, Jarrod, Rachel, Elise, and others after practice.
25. Going to Luke’s room after practice and singing with Rachel and Elise
26. Walking out on stage on Thursday night and realizing that this was it. It was time to go.
27. Walking out on stage on Sunday afternoon and knowing that it was time to bring us home.
28. Loving all of my friends in the cast, and recognizing all that John, Landon, Rachel, Becky, Roman, Brett, Jarrod, James, and I have gotten to do together over our past 3 years and how much of a great opportunity this show was.
29. Knowing that I would never get to do this show again and being satisfied that we had fought hard and that it was good.
30. Talking with Angie on Sunday night, processing all that we had learned and the fun that we had, and thanking God for the blessing that Big River gave us.

There are so many memories and wonderful things that I will never forget. (like Landon, Shane, and the Toe Fish) I was lucky to get to know new people and to also get to know people better. If you have a memory of your own, feel free to share.

To bed I said

I want to post, but I am so tired and I have a large head ache. The play was amazing. My sister and her boyfriend both came and I was so glad to have them there. I want to say more about it, but I don’t think I have the ability right now. I am still processing. I will fill you all in later. Perhaps tomorrow, perhaps a lot later considering that I have everything and a bag of potatoes to get done between now and fall break. Count it all joy. To Bed I Said, and Went to Bed.

TWO WORDS

OPENING NIGHT!!!!!!!!

attention span

I feel as the week moves on in a productionwardly direction my attention span for all other things in life wears thin. Thinner than Thin, The thinnest way to wear thin. Thin like the knees of your favorite pants. Thin like the sweet layer of chocolate on top of a Three Musketeers. Thin like the 100 year old costume that I get to wear as a slave. Thin like the featherweight hair I inherited from my mom. Thin like Christian Bale’s upper lip. Thin like my little sister. Thin like the number of zeros in my bank account. Thin like the sound of an obo in the upper register. Thin like....

To Whom it may concern,

It has been brought to my attention that the mishaps of my life, especially concerning my speech, could be considered “sketchy” or “questionable.” Be assured that although I may appear a mild mannered person on the outside I live my mental life with somewhat of a reckless abandon. This attitude has brought me to saying and miss-saying many things that perhaps might be better if kept to ones self, but alas I don’t think the filtering part of my frontal lobe works with the efficiency that it should. This lack of coordination between frontal lobe and my tongue causes me many an embarrassing moment. I pray that these moments, although terribly uncomfortable at the time, prove to be great memories and stories that I can pass on to my future generations, after they are old enough to hear that is.

Big River Practice

Here is a sneak peek at what we all have been working on for the past little while. It is comming together!

Social Blunder

Who sleeps on cupcakes? I know someone!

Lets get a cheer for cast bonding! Lets get a cheer for sleeping for an entire week on a cupcake in a baggie! Lets get a cheer for people who are hopelessly oblivious!
None of these statements are related to each other in any way shape or form. They are all part of my life right now, but none of them deal with each other.
So as of late my posts have been less than vague, but that is because my posts reflect the state and condition of my brain. Anyway….
Here is a random fact that I just discovered about my foot. (Not The Foot, but my foot) I have a place in the top of my foot that must be a nerve ending, because whenever my shoe rubs it I get a tingling feeling in the crevice between my large and second toes. Weird huh?
Is there anyone out there that can tell me the function of every F1, F2, F3….key on the keyboard? If so, I will give you some cake.

Poke!

I am pumped. Tomorrow is Friday, and we get to have cast bonding after rehearsal. I am a huge fan of bonding in general. I love people and the weird things that make them themselves. (Why am I telling you this? You already know that I love all things weird, just look at all my friends?!?!)
I am going to go sneak up on a panda bear. Talk to you all later.

Doot Da Doo!

Today in choir Brad talked about what toilet paper rolls are called. He called them Dert de Ders, but he was wrong. All my life my grandpa called them Doot Da Doos. They will forever be Doot Da Doos. Think about it, you will figure it out.
God has a crazy way of doing things. Last night I felt so close to Him, and today I feel like the Grand Canyon is separating us. Maybe it is not God, Maybe it is me. Do you ever feel like you do all the right stuff, but you just can’t get it together long enough to take a worth while breath of free and clear air?
Pray, Always Pray.

burnt out

My head is all fuzzy, and I havn't even had any cold medication. It is a bad sign for a Monday.

My Wholesome Day

Yesterday was a wholesome day. I got up and worked out. (Then I passed the entire football team on my way back from the crc, I looked well…kind of like death warmed over) I went directly to Panda’s room to braid her hair. It looked great as usual. I went back to my house, got cleaned up, and cleaned our house. The basement had sustained a couple of weeks without a good cleaning, so we straightened, vacuumed and took care of business. It is so nice to have a clean place. After cleaning I ate lunch, pulled a little prank, and went to the game. After ¾ of the game, we could guess the outcome and were getting cold and wet so we decided to come back and get some work done. I did math while watching an old Elvis movie and then we went to eat. After supper we came back and watched the end of the Nebraska game. I like to watch Lucas watch football. He gets so excited and it feeds off to other people. I finished my math, or at least attempted to. Then we hung out, watched a new show on TV called Surface. (weird) And then were bored for a while. I wanted to make Cookies so we made some and Doc Chris and Amanda watched. I stuck a hot pad to Doc and he left it there for 30 or 40 min. Amy and I took cookies to Priebe and when we came home we were ambushed with fun-noodles. Amanda scared the living daylights out of me when she jumped out of the bathroom. After chasing each other around the house for a while, we went to the park and spun on the equipment and swung till we all felt sick from cookies and spinning. I Love being able to act like a kid.

scattered, and exhausted, and generally good

So it is almost October, wow. This month has flown. I am trying to make the most of my senior year. That includes doing everything that I possibly can with my friends. Well, my homework is taking up some time as well. All this is to say that I haven’t been sleeping as much as I should, so my body made up for it in ALL of my classes today. I never sleep in class, and today I slept through half of each of my classes today. (The second half, which fits together with many popular teaching theories.) So I decided that for the rest of the day I will do nothing but homework and go to bed at 8 or 9, which is completely ridiculous, but I am going to try to do it. Not only for my sake, but also for the sake of my professors because I was not able to affirm them with the usual, “Yes I understand” nods that I usually give. (I think that is why they like me, at least I think they like me, oh well…)
In other news…The play is going well. I took a history test and I think I did ok. I get to sing a solo in concert choir for the first time! I have two new Soul Sisters. Our house mop has successfully made our main floor stink. I am finally getting used to the dishwasher. I miss my church friends. I still hate green peppers.

Good by

Why is Jiminy Cricket Green?

I would like to extinguish the lives of all bug type things! Last night I was shaken out of a beautiful sleep by none other than a HUGE GYNORMOUS SON OF A CRAISED HAMPSTER’S SISTER’S DOG’S CRICKET!!!! The cricket kept both Amy and I up for FOREVER. I stuffed a comforter in my ear, and pressed the other into my pillow so far that the memory foam will never by the same. But he ceased to continue his annoying chirping (screech SCREECH! Screech SCREECH!) 10 min before my alarm went off. How kind and courteous of him. (Thanks Jiminy for teaching your relatives good manners. By the way, Why are you green instead of black?)
Then this morning I was on my merry way to blow dry my hair and I went to plug in the blow dryer. I jumped back in complete disgust. There was a spider wedging itself into a faulty crack in our outlet by my desk. Three legs were showing and they were writhing in a distasteful manner. (I admit, I screeched! Which is all that I can do in the mornings because screaming is out of my morning amplitude level) Anyway, he escaped but not before I roasted him for a while with the hot end of my blow dryer.
And that is why this morning, I hate bug type things.

Questions quote

The quality and frequency of my bloging will be going down hill pretty soon, or possibly already has. It seems that my schedule is getting more demanding. So I will leave you with this thought as if it may be the last one for a while. I am currently reading Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell. Excellent book if you want a good one. (Well at least the first part is excellent. I am not very far yet.) anyway….I will leave you with one of his quotes that I thought was “O” so awesome!
“Questions, no matter how shocking or blasphemous or arrogant or ignorant or raw, are rooted in humility. A humility that understands that I am not God. And there is more to know.”

Grrrrr

Grrrrr. If I could only get my knee caps to stop shaking! Grrrrrr. Pretty sure I want Ben Stein to walk up to me and say, “There’s a Visine for that” Yah, pretty sure he wont. Grrrrrr

I will call this: “Very long post meant mostly to mentally exercise my power of recall.

The rest of last week went well. I did a lot, and I must have done a lot of nothing because I have too much to do right now. There is boy voice in our house right now, and I think it is Jeff. He is getting ready for their houses fundraiser for the Katrina storm victims. It is an awesome idea.
Anyway…Wednesday was awesome cause there was a great rain storm that I got to run in. Then I went to a campaign celebration for John who is the new rep at large. It was hilarious.
Thursday was slow and good. I got a lot done, but not during the morning. Thursday morning I was busy trying to dig up a 15 passenger van for a road trip that my friends and I want to take over fall break, but I can’t seem to find one. If anyone has any ideas I would appreciate it. Thursday night our house had Ellie and Charles (a couple who have adopted our house) over for dinner. Rachel P. made Indian food. It was so good, but I had an upset stomach from the spices the rest of the evening. I also had musical practice after dinner. First blocking practices are always uncomfortable and bad, but it went better than I had first expected.
Friday was the most beautiful day. It was the perfect day to sit outside which I did for a while. Friday afternoon I went running, then watched “hitch hiker’s guide to the galaxy.” I liked it. It was weird, but in a good way. The only thing I didn’t like was when the whale that I liked died. I grew attached for the few minutes it was on the screen, and then Poof it was gone! (grrrrrr) After that movie I went upstairs and played the recorder, listened to music, talked, and ________ with Rachel W. and Angie. It was great. Angie has this awesome pink stocking hat with fur and cat ears. I want one. We decided to go get a movie, and I road to quick flick standing out of the sunroof of Rachel’s car. It was fun. We watched “the others.” And then I think I went to bed. I am not sure. (this does not mean that I was drunk or anything, I just honestly can’t remember)
Saturday. I got up at 5:30. Went to breakfast in Galva as a surprise for Becca P. Then I went back to bed. I had a second morning in which I felt much more like a person, and we went to work at the craft fair. I hung out with my parents for a while, worked on homework, ate dinner with some boys and girls at my house, went for an awesome motorcycle ride (thanks Roman!), set up for a surprise party for Becca, had a surprise party for becca, watched cowboys with The Duke, fought with The Foot, then went and watched Hotel Rawanda with John and Roman. After watching that movie I didn’t want to sleep, I wanted to think about it. I kept thinking, “What am I doing just sitting over here in my comfortable little town?” It makes you think, it forces you to consider the rest of the world. I am glad I saw it even though I watched it just because I didn’t want to see it. (make sense out of that one if you can) 2:45 went to bed
Sunday: Got up, went to church, came back, ate with The Foot, did homework, took a nap (bad me), posted on my blog (bad me). Going to do homework, going to lead a study session, going to practice, going to run, going to bed (hopefully reasonably early to satisfy my body on Monday.)
Bye

Tuesday

My day was good. It was a nice Tuesday. No different from any other Tuesday. Sometimes it is nice to have a normal good day. To wake, to sit, to learn, to sing, to study, to run, to relax, to learn, to read, to post, to bed.
Sleep well, and dream sweet (or funny) dreams of good friends both from life and from the world of dreams.

Pensive

Do not judge, do not fear, do not assume, this does not make me any different from the person whom you have always known. Do you ever get in those moods the kind of mood in which you are pensive to a dangerous level, the kind of mood that makes you feel as if you do not express, you will explode? Therefore I sit and sing at the top of my lungs. My songs are not happy, they are not angry. They are pensive and beautiful in their bass emotive conflict, conflict that I do not enjoy and enjoy at the same enigmatic time. I do not limit myself to any boxed set of emotions. I rest in being blissful. I relish an occasional rant (I even throw my flip flops against the wall). I do not believe that this pensive mood is harmful or even sinful. I devote my entire being to feeling the depth and fullness of this emotion. The emotion that has me singing at the top of my lungs to express all of the raw emotion in my soul. Such fullness that can not come from the depths of a soul that has never loved, never lost, never hurt, never laughed until crying, never been confused, never been lost, and never been found. These are the facts that give me the freedom to do so. I WAS LOST! I AM FOUND! I HAVE LOST! I HAVE LOVED! I HAVE LIVED! I WILL LIVE! I WILL JOY! I WILL EXPERIENCE GRACE! I WILL BE GOD’S!

Who am I?

You scored as Marianne Dashwood. Most girls can relate with Marianne on a more personal level than some of Austen's other characters. She represents the emotional longings and struggles that seem to attack and bless us at the same time. Loyal to a fault, passionate for experience and life, and a bit over-emotional, Marianne matures and grows (making her so beloved). Marianne Dashwood 75% Jane Bennet 72% Elizabeth Bennet 69% Emma Woodhouse 63% Elinor Dashwood 59% Charlotte Lucas 31% Lady Catherine 22% Which Jane Austen Character are You? created with QuizFarm.com

I can say butterfly in four languages

My Pet Peeves
(In no particular order, numbered randomly by my random mind)

1. Men in general
3. People who don’t use their turn signals
5. People who stay in the store after closing
10. Extremely thin people who insist they are fat.
12. People touching the back of my arms
17. HAIR! Mostly in the shower
22. Picking a seat in Church
28. Pant legs under the tongue of my shoe
37. When people make gross noises with the back of their throats
46. Men who think they are “all that and a bag of Doritos.”


Disclaimer: The previous statement concerning men is not a statement that can be spread over the entire male species. There are many men that I know that do not come near the “pet peeve” category of my life.

Escape my love

I am sitting here and remember something that I must post. Although it happened a week ago, it must be given mention. My first day of class, exactly one week ago I was asked to help Jenna and Becky with a film project. I agreed on the sheer faith that I would not regret my decision. I chose correctly, for out of their film project came one of the best belated birthday presents ever. Before I tell you about what exactly it is I must give you some background.
Last year during something at Tabor, there was a karaoke night on campus. I am not the best karaoke singer because I tend to only do it when I know that it will be perfect and karaoke tends never to be perfect. Yet, on a whim, and because of my devotion to Jenna, I sang the song “Escape” by Enrique. (You know the one, You can run You can hide, but you can’t escape my Love.) Anyway, I sang it and dedicated it to Jenna because she is such a fan of the song.
Ok Background over….so the video that I was in was a music video for the song “Escape” it is amazing! The cinematography is pure genius. It contains random shots of me walking, running, and frantically trying to get away from Jenna my stocker. Jill F. then chases after Jenna. The entire thing is priceless. Thanks so much friends!

No Life Without Wife

My first week is done and I feel, um…fine. Yah, fine is a good word. The week went off with only a small advising hitch. I switched into a history class and got that all figured out. (Just as an in between thought. I care about my room mate’s brain cells). Sorry this is scattered. I am about to purchase a futon (I never knew that was spelled that way), and I am conversing with the girl whose truck I am going to use.
So last night we watched Tom and Huck. It was great! I was reminded of my earlier days and my shameless obsession with Jonathan Taylor Thomas. (it was sad folks, really sad, but admittance is the first step to cure). That movie is too intense to be a kids movie. It was pretty funny when one of my friends screamed in the middle of the cave scene.
After Tom and Huck we watched Bride and Prejudice. Jane Austin moans in her grave. I liked it, I don’t know why. The singing was good. The music was catchy (perhaps too catchy) The acting wasn’t bad. All in all it was a good interpretation for Bali wood. My favorite numbers were No Life Without Wife and Lead Us To Love. If you have never experienced a cheesy Indian film it is time to start now! It has inspired many of my friends to randomly break into song and bop around in a light hearted fool hardy manner. Good stuff.

first day of Sr. Year

My first day of class, and I did not die. In fact, I even had a little fun. This year may prove to be exciting and fun, but it will also be a mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual battle this I know for sure. Yet, I also know this for sure…God is good all of the time. Nothing happens without His knowing. He is in control. He is full of Grace. He understands my weaknesses and in them in made perfect. Praise Him!

Back at School

Well, here I am back at Tabor. It has taken me a while to post. Mostly because it took me a while to figure out that one of the internet cables was faulty, but now I am up and running.
So here is an update….I am a second semester senior this year majoring in music education. The most logical thing for me to do after college would be to teach music, but I don’t know if I am supposed to. I am still waiting on God to let me know. So for now if you ask what I am doing next year the answer will be, “probably something good.”
I moved into school early to work on freshmen orientation. It was so much fun. I love my group of freshmen a lot. They make me laugh and they assure me that Tabor will be in good hands when I graduate. (p.s. graduation is a frightening word)
I am beginning to get used to living in a house, but I still don’t know how it will really go until classes start. It will be difficult to get things done this year, simply because I have awesome friends who I want to hang out with ALL OF THE TIME!!!
Last night we went to Movie on the Lawn and watched National Treasury. It was a good movie, a little far fetched as Mike commented, but still entertaining. (It was a little too predictable and cheesy for me, but it was alright.) After movie on the lawn we went to the Prieb house to pray. It was good to come together to bless the year.
Thank you God for your mercies, your grace, and your everlasting love, that provide us with the ability to love each other.

Let the good times roll

Although I don’t have much to say, I’ve decided to post for nobody’s sake.
So this weekend I went to the lake with my friends from church. One of the guys in my small group has a thing with closeness; it is the opposite of what Mike W. thing with closeness is. Oh yes James likes closeness, squishing, and smashing his friends with the hopes that it will encourage group bonding. (I am sure the bonding is what causes Terry to play rock paper scissors with anyone to get out of riding three in the front seat of “the cruiser”) anyway….
After getting to the lake in one peace we played around for a while, went out on the boat. got thrown off a tube, threw a football around (I can throw but I can’t catch worth a darn), watched people roll down a hill in an inner-tube, and finally did what our group does best…ate. It was a great time. Afterward, we went to Danielle’s house to play ping-pong, foose ball, and basketball.
It is hard to come to the realization that this is the second to last day of summer. I love the months so much I would have them all year. Although I head back to school on Thursday, Let the good times with the small group keep on rolling!

Ode to a Frontloading Whirlpool Duet System

There is a new wonder in my house today
It came to live, and it came to stay.
It came to serve my mother deer,
And serve her well through many a year.
This grand pair stands like a sentry below,
Next door to the room where my dad keeps the hoe.
It shines neeth the glow of one bare light,
Promising to make clothing clean and bright.
With suds and water it washes my things.
The clothes come so clean it makes my mom sing.
But don’t watch to closely it spins quite a tizzy,
If you don’t heed my warning you’ll wind up quite dizzy.
So thanks to the Whirlpool from whence you came
Yes Whirlpool your brand sure lives up to its name.

Lucy, I'm Home!

I just got back from my family trip to Indiana, minus my sister. We made the trip there in good time, only 12.5 hours. Compairing to our normal 14 hr this drive went quite fast. We decided to take my sister’s dog Kyonna along. She proved a good car dog and made many friends at the rest areas.
I got to see a lot of relatives that I haven’t seen in many years. It was fun to get to know them better. The funniest thing that happened was at the Anniversary party (my G-parents 50th) one of my great aunts thought that I was my mom and that my mom was me. She kept telling people that I was married to my dad and that my mom was the Grand daughter of Morris and Joan. It took her a while to figure it out. She even told my mom that she had grown, (which is not true of my mom, and it is not true of me because I haven’t grown in about seven years myself. Why is it that when you are tall everyone must say, “My you’ve grown” even if they just saw you last year and you aren’t an inch taller than you were before? Seriously what’s the deal with phrases like… “My you’ve grown,” “My you’re tall,” “Such a pretty tall Girl.” “Why aren’t you Dating?” “When are we going to get to go to your wedding?”) Wow, that went on for a while. Perhaps I should make it its own paragraph, nah, I kind of like the disorganized madness.
Anyway the other fun thing that happened to me…drum roll please………..I got to drive a new Corvet. It was beautiful, so smooth and sleek, ahhhhhh the memories. I can’t wait to get the pictures.
Well, those are the interesting things that happened to me in Indiana.
Live Long and Prosper

Summer Highlights

Well, I don’t have much summer left. Sabrah comes home today for 3 days then I leave for Indiana on Friday and get back Wednesday. After that it is just a hop skip and jump till I get to move back in to school. I am kind of in a reflective mood at this point so I have decided to jot down my favorite parts of the summer, if only for my own enjoyment…so here they are in no particular order:

Going Roller Skating with the PV kids
Going to the lake with my small group
My birthday and hanging out with my family
Watching Charley and the Chocolate factory with mom and friends (and laughing really hard with my mom)
Learning to communicate with my deaf PV kid
Music Theater of W. (getting dressed up and getting to see such talented people, and getting to hang out there with Chris)
Going to W. with Emily and having Chris cook us dinner then seeing Princess and the Pea in formal dress
Doing a High Ropes Course at work training
Going to CCC softball games
Hanging out after the game and playing a variety of random games like Ha Ha, Hoowa, Spoons, and the Human knot, and afterward talking with a friend till 4am.
Shopping with my sister.
Playing my first “Feminine Fatal” roll in The Sound of Music
Going to Landon’s house and seeing all of my school friends while a tornado swept 21st
Organizing the storage room at PV (disgusting but fun laughing with friends)
Playing with my sister’s Puppy
The day that my small group had a fish fry, then swam, then had a Barbeque

Hopefully the list will go on after my time with Sabrah and my Indiana trip. I will add those later. I am sure there are others that I am forgetting, but that was a highlight reel, if you will, of my summer activities.

PV parent's night

I never knew how it felt to be on this side of a parent’s night. Last Thursday PV had the parents night program. All of the kids got up to sing the first song, which was Sunshine on my Shoulders by John Denver. The kids didn’t like the song very much because it was slow. They are more into the fast ones. Then the preschoolers got up and sang You Are My Sunshine with pop bottle shakers. My favorite part of the preschool production was when a little guy jumped up behind the pulpit, grabbed the microphone, and yelled Yo Yo Yo What’s Up. Everyone melted into hysterical laughter. It was the most hilarious thing I have ever seen.
I went to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory yesterday. It was great. Johnny Dep was the perfect combination of funny and creepy at the same time. The kids who acted were great to. The Oompa Loompas were priceless.

My dog gets high

I know, I have no way to scientific way to prove that my dog gets high, but there are mushrooms growing naturally in our back yard on a tree stump. This is the first summer that they have appeared. Dad gets rid of them every time he mows, but my dog is constantly going out and eating them before he can get to them. Not only is she snacking on them, but she is obsessed with eating them whenever she is in the back yard. I am convinced that she is under the influence of some sort of mushroom substance. I wonder if the police can do drug tests on dogs…

My roommate is rubbing off on me!!!

So here is the story of how I learned to procrastinate. This summer I am taking some classes on line and I have one day to finish my biology class. Sadly enough I have an enormous test that I haven’t studied for, and for some reason I feel no remorse. Thanks Amy. No seriously thank you for showing me this free feeling that I have in my soul! I love procrastination. See the thing is…I would have to seriously bomb this test like a zero in order to flunk this class. If I do alright, I will pass. And the beauty of transferring in this class is the GPA doesn’t count. So it won’t hurt me one bit! I love loopholes.
Other than that not much is going on. Oh yah, there is a kid that I pick up in the mornings. He is cute, but has some serious anger problems. Anyway he likes to call people block head, stupid head, cow head, bus head, pretty much anything he can get ahold of and then tack head onto the end and it becomes an insult. So today I was riding in the car and for some reason I said whoopsi-daisies (thanks Goertzen). I was promptly called a Whoopsi-daisy face head. If some body ever asks me what one of those looks like I guess I can just tell them, well you are looking at the first genuine Whoopsi-daisy face head.
I am not being sarcastic when I say I truly love my job!

Good times with my cell group

This summer I have had the awesome opportunity to get involved in my church’s college and career singles group. Last Sunday I spent all day with them. We began the day with a fish fry with fish caught by Darren and James. The fish was wonderfully cooked by Todd and Eric, and the lazy company in the living room was great too. Let me tell you, I ate lunch with 6 men and myself. It was a bit intimidating, but I rose to the challenge and had a good time. Another interesting fact about the meal…I didn’t cook anything, I didn’t set the table, and I didn’t do any dishes. The Men took care of all of it. It was an awesome thing, not just because they were all so cute fussing in the kitchen, but because it takes real men to do all that and that was awesome.
So after the fish fry we all went over to a friend’s house to swim, and I was joined by another girl in the group. (Thank God, I was ready for a testosterone break by then.) The guys had a football tipping competition. They all lined up on the diving board. Jacie threw them the football and they jumped off ant tipped the ball backwards to the next in line all in one swift movement. It took them probably 50 attempts, and after they made it through with all seven of them they swiftly changed activities.
At our Bible study we had more wonderful food, then studied then James found some little girls shorts and decided to sport them over his clothes for the rest of the evening. They were hot let me tell you. (in a disgusting sort of way)
Our group has been studying Song of Solomon. It has been enlightening studying that particular book of the Bible among mixed gender company when most to all of us are single as the day is long. The night that we talked about chapter 4 was particularly uncomfortable, but not so much that I was embarrassed.
All in all it was a wonderful day. Someday I will have to enlighten all of you of the many sub personalities that we have in our group. Perhaps after Jim Bo has had a second visit.

Oh the things you can think

Last night I had the awesome opportunity to go to Seussical the Dr Seuss musical (I don’t know if I am spelling this right, but oh well) it was amazing. I had not been that entertained in a long time. The voices were great and the ideas that the writers had were wonderful. There was an entire scene in black lights except one spotlight that was on the little boy in the show. There were people all dressed in black with white shoes and white gloves that tap danced and held up neon question marks and exclamation marks at different times so they looked like they were floating. It was awesome. If anyone ever gets the chance to see it, Do it!

Summer colds stink

So far my summer has gone off without a hitch, Until yesterday. I woke up with a tickle in my throat that turned into a sore throat, which was augmented by a headache, which was multiplied by a neck ache, which was supplemented by constant fuzziness and ringing in my ears. All of this would not have been so bad if my job was in a quiet office building licking stamps for some uppity up financial genius. Yet, alas instead I work with 10, 8-10 year old boys who have all been diagnosed seriously mentally and emotionally disturbed. I made it through the day without too many hitches and decided to CRASH when I got home.
Friday morning, I had off and planed to sleep as long as I could. 7am is not considered sleeping in in my book, but it is what my body had in mind. For some reason the not being able to breath through my nose hindered my sleeping process. Well since I was up, I decided to check out a garage sale with my dad, (ok here is the punch line for all of you homestar runner fans) It was more of a garbage (say it with a French accent) sale than a garage sale. I took home a glass cup for free, and that’s all. When we pulled into the driveway I commented that mom had left for work early because the van wasn’t in the driveway. I then realized that we, dad and I, were in the van that was pulling into the driveway. And then went back to bed. So…4 hr later I woke up and decided to post on my blog. That is the end of this story. From my fuzzy head to yours, and thank God for spell check,
Jen

An untitled response to life

I feel as if I am completely unfaithful to my sight, which I am. I even have these guilty feelings when I see the u r l on the scroll bar to the Internet. It begs for my attention, but I selfishly withhold all love. UNTILL NOW!
Wow. This has been such a good summer! It has had its ups and downs. One down is the 2 more weeks of General Biology that I need to finish through Hutch. It is easy but it is all so pointless….and boring…and annoying…and…science.
On to more fun things, today I cleaned out a bunch of 12 passenger vans at work. It was a joy getting down and dirty in those vans (that didn’t sound so good, but I am leaving it anyway) At least they might stay clean for a week or so. You never know what is going to happen on a trip that lasts longer than 5 min.
Last Sunday a missionary couple came to my church. They talked to me about going and teaching in Hungary, Romania, or Moldova after I graduate. It is intimidating, but I am actually thinking about it. I am ready for a change, and I am not sure what it is. Do you ever get that kind of restlessness feeling? Then again it could be senioritis setting in early.
In closing I am happy to say that I am enjoying my summer, but I am also getting antsy to get back to school. Yah, I am surprised to say so myself. I never want to do the work once I am there; I guess it is the people that I miss.
Well, as all great things come to an end… “I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” And “Frankly my deer, I don’t give a ahem.”

Hey Hey Bo Bo!

What can I say? I am tired. Last night I went to Western Kansas for a wedding. It was beautiful. The drive up was great. 4 hr drive home that began at about 10:30 was not. All that I can say is if I ever forget the name of that one Continent that Sidney is the capital of I will forever renounce my claim on being a smart person.
It was a fun weekend full of weddings and friends. I learned that I miss my friends from school a lot over the summer. Being with them is like a different level of being at home. Interjection: (My mom just walked through the room with the laundry basket and a dog on top of the dirty clothes. To cute)
I am only kind of excited for next week’s training for PV. We have to do a high ropes course training, and I haven’t done that before. It will be an experience.
I also get to start blocking and scene running for The Sound of Music. That should be good. I am trying to learn lines, and make guesses at what the director is going to ask me to do. I can venture to say that I am going to miss the direction of Judy, but she would tell me to just wait and see what this Mark guy is like. Hopefully he is not expecting memorization right away.
Well, I am going to take a long winter’s nap.
Just remember that Yogi Bear’s side kick’s name is Boo Boo, not Bo Bo.
Have a Hey Hey Bo Bo day!

picking up speed

The summer is definitely picking up speed. I started training for work last Wednesday. The mornings are early and training is ok, sometimes really fun and other times really boring. Last night I went to a friends wedding it was at the Botanical Gardens in W. Driving there was absolutely insane. Most of the streets in W that I went down were covered in water. (and I am talking about 10 inches or more in places.) My little car was faithful and Amy and I got there and back safely.
Today I am leaving for another friends wedding. It will be a long drive through barren wasteland. It is a good thing that I will be traveling with some truly fun people. In fact, I had better get ready to go.
I hope you are all well. God bless.