brief pause in the action

a) i wish i had the money to subscribe to a bunch of scholarly journals, including this one. yup, i am super nerdy.

b) a week from now, i will be living in the wigger house. yowza.

c) although last week was a full week for me, this one is technically our first 'real' week. but i am claiming next week as my first real one. so take that.

d) ouch, colts. ouch. at least yovani and the brewers stopped the bleeding for a moment. and the badgers rarely disappoint.

e) my super cool boss, sara scheunemann, sent me home an hour early today and commanded me to spend time outside. i like her.

f) in my snail-paced packing, i have again affirmed that i might own too many books, movies, and shoes. in that order. and most of my books aren't even in marion...

g) i am making a speedy trip to madison this weekend to run a race i haven't trained for...even a little. should be great fun.

new student experience...2000

eleven years ago, when i was a wee freshman girl at the university of indianapolis (go greyhounds!), we were required to take sort of an orientation class based on our majors. i guess the point was to begin forming cohorts early or something.

but for those of us hapless undeclared students, we got stuck in a special section: new student experience. so there we were, a bunch of eighteen year-olds without any direction in our lives.

each of these classes was led by a faculty or staff member. and there was also a peer leader. the purpose of the class was generally to be a resource for students--"[presenting] academic and developmental information....to meet the needs of students and help them develop skills and relationships that will serve them well as they pursue their degree and career goals." yup. i am nerdy enough that i went to the uindy website to look that up. no shame.

my staff member was christy stone, and my peer leader was tiffany rife.

now, i don't know if they did this with other students or if i was just a special project to them, but these two women dramatically shaped my future at u of i...and my life in general.

i felt lost and completely without purpose when i got to school. i didn't know what i wanted to do or who i wanted to be. christy and tiffany basically took me by the hand and 'encouraged' me to get involved on campus. they made me help out at events. they forced me to become an orientation assistant. they bullied me into applying for a position on the campus program board. they coaxed me into being a peer leader.

i was undeclared for a year and a half, and even after that, i ended up changing my major halfway through my junior year. but it didn't matter. i was hooked on my school. i bought into the community. i was passionate about involving others.

i stayed in school because people on campus were committed to me.

****

the things i am doing with my life right now have everything to do with members of a campus community investing in me. very few things bring me greater joy than connecting with students.

it's pretty sweet.

so...thanks, christy and tiffany. your lives are still impacting students today.

wednesday nors

nights of reflection are back!

every wednesday night this semester, from about 5-9, you can find me plopped in a chair at the marion starbucks.

i have a hectic schedule. it basically jumps from one job to coffee date to class to job to...well, you get the point. i don't know the last time i deliberately crammed so many things in my life. i'm fairly certain i was never this busy during my undergrad days.

but here are two things i carved out in my schedule: night of reflection on wednesdays and sabbath on sundays. if my life is going to be busy and full of people, i need to be diligent about stopping and resting in my father's arms. otherwise, i will shrivel up and die.

it's going to be a good year, friends. i live and move in his grace.

words

last year, my focus in marion was on building authentic community.

last night, i experienced the fruit of that labor in a really excellent way.

there are some super awesome people in my life that have become very dear friends in just a year...and what a cool blessing...to love and encourage one another in what projects to be a very busy and stressful time of life for us.

in a couple of weeks, i will be moving into the wigger house. i'll tell you more about that later. it's a story of sweet community, and i am very excited.

last night, the wigger house girls hosted a time of fellowship. we built a fire, roasted random food, and shared our hearts. we talked about the upcoming months, challenges we are facing, our fears and dreams, etc. and then we prayed together.

what a comfort these women are to my life! what a joy! i honestly didn't need more affirmation to know that i was in the right place and that leaving wisconsin was the correct decision for my life last year. but God, in his loving grace, keeps pouring that affirmation out anyway. this is right where i am supposed to be.

i get to work with students, learn, laugh, love, and grow. i have friends who will challenge and encourage and love me well...all within arm's reach.

my God gives good gifts.

quick thoughts from the back of the room

i start my fall semester (officially) next week. but i have been back in marion, settling into life, for a couple of weeks now. i'll post my set-in-stone schedule later, but here are the major things i will be doing:

2 classes (research and appraisal)

an internship (working with the honors college freshmen)

leading my breakout group (i have transfer students again)

grad assistant position with the office of student engagement and retention (this is new)

grad assistant position with the honors college (i did this last year)

so this week, we are doing training for the peer facilitators (each breakout group has a faculty member (me) and a student peer facilitator). part of my ga position with student engagement means working with these students...the ones who are connecting with other students.

and i am really enjoying it. i have not been super involved in the training...i am mostly observing...but it is getting me so excited. i was already excited for the semester, but this is really good.

we have been talking about a culture shift on our campus (if you knew how students feel about this class, you would understand why), and there is a general sense that revival is coming to iwu. i talked about that in july, and it is pretty cool to hear other people are feeling it, too. this idea of culture shift is something i am going to dig into and develop more thoughts on throughout the semester/year.

so i'm curious...how are you feeling about the next few months? leave me a comment and tell me what you're excited about...and what might scare you. i'll start...

30 by 30 update: let the crazy commence

once again, i have been a negligent blogger. i won't make excuses, but i will apologize. some of you missed my shenanigans. then again, some of you were part of my shenanigans. so whatever.

i am pleased to say i crossed a few things off my list since my birthday...

11) considering the amount of running around i did in the past month, it is kind of crazy i actually made a meal. but here it is.

18) i went rock climbing with my friend matt in colorado! woot! ok, i guess what we technically did was bouldering, but i wore the climbing shoes, and it made my arms ache for days, so i am counting it. i wish i had a picture of the cool stuff we were doing, but all i have to prove i went is this picture (and i am sad to say you can't even really tell how scary red my fingers were):

24) i went skinny dipping. i do not currently have the proof (no, there are NOT naked pictures to prove this) because miranda took the picture. but i have jennifer's whole bridal party to testify that i went skinny dipping at okoboji.

29) i finished three more books (snow crash, forgotten God, and scouting the divine) to bring my total up to 27. this one is actually proving more challenging than expected, just because i have had to do so much reading for school.

the monthly cooking segment: even better than fish sticks!

so here's a tasty little meal i whipped up for myself: potato-crusted cod fillet on a bed of spinach with fresh mushrooms, sliced pears, fresh bread, and brie.

it was all kinds of delicious.