Who knows where the time goes...

Since it has been an embarrassing amount of time that has passed since I last posted, I'll begin with this "game" that Sarah tagged me with.  (Thanks so much )

THE RULES: Each player of this game starts with the 6 weird things about you. People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state the rules clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave a comment that says you are tagged in their comments and tell them to read your blog.  I'm choosing not to tag anyone, since I'm not sure there are even six people who read my blog!

Six Weird Things About Me:

1.  I am newly in love... in love with all 6 of the Rocky movies.  If you take the time to get into the movies, the overall story is actually really touching and quite powerful.  I am always looking for people who share my love for Rocky Balboa.

2.  I have a split uvula.  It does not effect the way I swallow or speak... it just is the way it is.  This trademark of mine will always make me an individual.  It's always fun to surprise my dentists with my "two-in-one" uvula.  One time my dentist called in his young intern to check out my crazy uvula.  Oh the joys of being a freak   (I am also always looking for people who share this phenomenon with me as well)

3.  I hate surprises.  I don't know why, but I have never really enjoyed them... or gifts either.  I have a hard time at Christmas and my birthday because I just don't receive gifts well.

4.  My cousin and I looked almost identical when we were babies and toddlers.  There are photographs of us when we were young that unless labeled, we would have difficulty telling if it was me or cousin.  Her father is my grandmother's brother... go figure.

5.  I love prunes.

6.  I despise scraping my car in the winter time.  I would pay someone to scrape the ice off my car everytime I went anywhere if it meant I did not have to do it myself.  If I ever end up living in Alaska, I would demand a garage and automatic car starter!

There you go, 6 weird things about ME!  If you choose to do this yourself, don't steal any of my weird things.  Have fun with it!

Why, Hello friends!  I has been too long... maybe I should just expect to post once a month for the rest of the year!  This semester has been quite interesting, there has constantly been twists and turns throughout the weeks!

In the next four weeks of the semester, I have about 15 papers to write. Why are the hardest ones always saved for the end of the semester???  Wait, why am I in college?  Today I got an overview of the junior field placement details.  This Spring I'll be spending 40 hours in an agency of some sort shadowing a supervisor.  It's kind of scary, and there is a lot that goes into getting to that point.  I registered for the cross cultural trip to China in the Spring.  I have no idea if I am going, I am still waiting to go to the "informational meeting," that has yet to happen.  Prior to being accepted to go, there are a bunch of hurdles to get over, and I am unsure of what they are.

God has been so faithful to me lately.  He has been placing numerous people in my path over the last few weeks just reminding me that He is my Father and has made me.  Somehow it is so easy to lose track of that and get sucked into the world's mindset.  

I think this entry will be fairly abridged.  I have a feeling that I'm boring some of you already.  Have a great weekend. :)  I'll see some of you at Thanksgiving!

Renee    

I actually have some time to breathe this afternoon, which is rare :)  How is everyone doing?  I'm doing alright. I had an awesome weekend at home, the main highlight was going to the Third Day concert :) Mac Powell waved to me, I know he did.  Did I mention that my named was pulled for the drawing?  Yeah, I won three Third Day cd's and a live in concert DVD.  My name was the only one pulled!  I was sooo excited :)  I knew I would see people from highschool there, but never expected to see SO many people!  I saw a lot of friends whom I had not seen in over a year.  It was nice.  I also saw a lot of my friends, "special friends"... which once again reminded of what I don't have, but also what I do and that is the freedom associated with being single.  I still wonder though, why they are able to be in relationships when I am not.  I suppose my Amish UPS man is still on his mission of delivering packages and is saving money for my ring :)  Actually today at lunch a girl from one of my classes asked me if I had a boyfriend.  My answer to her actually surprised me, well the attitute behind the answer is what surprised me!  I replied in the most respectful, non-resentful way ever!  I said, "no", and left it there. In that moment I added nothing about my theory on the men still being in their underground factory, or the fact that all the good ones were taken... I waited until the second moment of that response to think and verbalize some of my theories :)  It's all about baby steps, I'm getting there, don't you think? 

I'm only here at school three more days, and then I'm going home again on a fall break.  I'm excited about the break from classes.  For some reason the breaks aren't as exciting as they used to be, probably because I know they end and are always shorter than you want them to be.  Plus the week after this break I have another Western Civ "quiz."  They aren't quizes, but my prof seems to want to label them as such.   

Fall is quickly coming and going I am afraid.  There has been too much rain here, and I'm sure it is knocking the leaves off the trees.  The dry, burnt smell of fall always reminds me of the beginning of You've Got Mail.  Maybe if I go to a bookstore I'll meet the man of my dreams.  I might have to watch that movie tonight... in fact, I'm GOING to find that movie on campus and get my fleece blanket and curl up with that movie.

My sister is currently in Mexico, for a conference and to bird.  I haven't talked with her, but my parents have and I guess she got there alright.  Maybe she'll come back with a new species of birds called the Erinkeet or something.

This past week I've been discovering how OCD I really am, and wondering if it's genetic and how they medicate for it.  Oh how I thrive on order, and routine... 

Most of you know I'm in the orchestra here at school.  Well I go to my rehearsals feeling like the only person who is completely lost, hoping that no one notices that I'm air bowing the piece with 6 sharps.  I see all the sharps, and go into panic mode wondering where the first exit is!  Since the tempos are always insanely fast, I end up looking for the open strings on the down beats and then realizing four bars later that the open string should have been sharped.  One of these days I'll work on the music, and hopefully be able to play it on my own.  I don't have much faith that I will actually be able to play it with the orchestra up to tempo but maybe in heaven I will be able to.  Also, I've been wondering a lot about my voice... and the lack of it that I have.  Why is it that I can play the violin, but I can't seem to read music when I sing?  I think I have a frog voice that is only let out when I'm ready to jump into a pond.  Let me just tell you that I find myself at the pond at the most awkward situations.  Just when I think it'll sound good, out comes the most random note.  Welcome to my unpredictable voice.  The real questons is, can I really play the violin?  Oh boy...  

It's time for me to call my friend Colleen, it's her birthday today and I don't want her to think I've forgotten about it!

If I come up with anything super brilliant to share, I'll let y'all know, but in the mean time keep me update on your lives :)

-Renee

I actually have some time to breathe this afternoon, which is rare :)  How is everyone doing?  I'm doing alright. I had an awesome weekend at home, the main highlight was going to the Third Day concert :) Mac Powell waved to me, I know he did.  Did I mention that my named was pulled for the drawing?  Yeah, I won three Third Day cd's and a live in concert DVD.  My name was the only one pulled!  I was sooo excited :)  I knew I would see people from highschool there, but never expected to see SO many people!  I saw a lot of friends whom I had not seen in over a year.  It was nice.  I also saw a lot of my friends, "special friends"... which once again reminded of what I don't have, but also what I do and that is the freedom associated with being single.  I still wonder though, why they are able to be in relationships when I am not.  I suppose my Amish UPS man is still on his mission of delivering packages and is saving money for my ring :)  Actually today at lunch a girl from one of my classes asked me if I had a boyfriend.  My answer to her actually surprised me, well the attitute behind the answer is what surprised me!  I replied in the most respectful, non-resentful way ever!  I said, "no", and left it there. In that moment I added nothing about my theory on the men still being in their underground factory, or the fact that all the good ones were taken... I waited until the second moment of that response to think and verbalize some of my theories :)  It's all about baby steps, I'm getting there, don't you think? 

I'm only here at school three more days, and then I'm going home again on a fall break.  I'm excited about the break from classes.  For some reason the breaks aren't as exciting as they used to be, probably because I know they end and are always shorter than you want them to be.  Plus the week after this break I have another Western Civ "quiz."  They aren't quizes, but my prof seems to want to label them as such.   

Fall is quickly coming and going I am afraid.  There has been too much rain here, and I'm sure it is knocking the leaves off the trees.  The dry, burnt smell of fall always reminds me of the beginning of You've Got Mail.  Maybe if I go to a bookstore I'll meet the man of my dreams.  I might have to watch that movie tonight... in fact, I'm GOING to find that movie on campus and get my fleece blanket and curl up with that movie.

My sister is currently in Mexico, for a conference and to bird.  I haven't talked with her, but my parents have and I guess she got there alright.  Maybe she'll come back with a new species of birds called the Erinkeet or something.

This past week I've been discovering how OCD I really am, and wondering if it's genetic and how they medicate for it.  Oh how I thrive on order, and routine... 

Most of you know I'm in the orchestra here at school.  Well I go to my rehearsals feeling like the only person who is completely lost, hoping that no one notices that I'm air bowing the piece with 6 sharps.  I see all the sharps, and go into panic mode wondering where the first exit is!  Since the tempos are always insanely fast, I end up looking for the open strings on the down beats and then realizing four bars later that the open string should have been sharped.  One of these days I'll work on the music, and hopefully be able to play it on my own.  I don't have much faith that I will actually be able to play it with the orchestra up to tempo but maybe in heaven I will be able to.  Also, I've been wondering a lot about my voice... and the lack of it that I have.  Why is it that I can play the violin, but I can't seem to read music when I sing?  I think I have a frog voice that is only let out when I'm ready to jump into a pond.  Let me just tell you that I find myself at the pond at the most awkward situations.  Just when I think it'll sound good, out comes the most random note.  Welcome to my unpredictable voice.  The real questons is, can I really play the violin?  Oh boy...  

It's time for me to call my friend Colleen, it's her birthday today and I don't want her to think I've forgotten about it!

If I come up with anything super brilliant to share, I'll let y'all know, but in the mean time keep me update on your lives :)

-Renee

So here is my update... the last few times I have tried to update my xanga it hasn't worked.  For some reason my xanga is acting weird.  Hopefully this won't be deleted!

First of all, I hope everyone is doing well.  I have been checking for updates, none of us are keeping up with our Xangas like we should, shame on us! 

My dorm room is still not organized how I would like it.  For some reason it is taking me a long time to get everything just right.  I am still decorating it, it's all about babysteps, you know?

I survived last week full of exams, back to back.  This is catch up week on everything I let slack over the weekend.  Somehow I feel like I'll be playing catch up for quite a while!  Thanks to my nalgene full of water and an occasional visitor, studying seems to be going alright. My courses are going alright.  Some are a lot more challenging than I had anticipated, others are so easy I'm disappointed and wish I wasn't spending so much money on tuition here. 

Socially my life here has been great!  I'm just meeting a ton of new people and really enjoying myself.  I've discovered that I can be studious and laugh all at the same time.  Yet, there is still that small voice in the back of my mind telling me that I need to study more.  Balancing everything is just another aspect of going to college.

About two weeks ago a family friend of mine committed suicide.  He was 21, which has been a really hard thing for me to deal with.  A lot of questions and concerns have been on my heart, his family mostly.  Since his death, I have heard from my friends here at school of probably 5 others who have committed suicide in the last few weeks.  I do not understand it, and wonder how someone could come to the place of no hope.

This weekend I'm going home to a Third Day and David Crowder Band concert, which I am so excited about :)  YAY!  I'll get to see a lot of friends and my family, so I'm looking forward to it.  Then the weekend after this weekend, I have a fall break, double YAY!  I can't believe how quickly it came. 

My family is doing well.  My mom had knee surgery last week, but she is doing great.  Erin leaves for Mexico this Friday, so keep her in prayer.  I'm not sure about the details, and hopefully I'll get a chance to talk to her before she leaves.  She'll be birding there, so I'm sure she'll have a blast!

There is an opportunity for me to go on a Cross-Cultural trip to an orphanage in China this coming spring.  The course would be considered as an elective, and would be through the organization Visiting Orphans.  It seems really cool, and I'm really praying about it.  I'm concerned about the finances, but am trying not to worry about them too much.  Please be praying for me, I feel led to go, and can't think of any reasons not to.  The first step I have to take is apply through Visiting Orphans before I register for the course.  So I really should apply sometime this week.   

This past Wednesday my campus began this game called "Elimination," those who signed up which there were 90 students, received a water gun and a "mission," a person they had to shoot.  Once they eliminated that person, the received their mission.  This happens until there is only one person left.  I signed up for the game, just trying to do something outside my comfort zone.  My thoughts were, "if I get shot, I get shot... I'm just doing it for fun."  Well little did I know what I was getting myself into!  I survived for 6 days of this game, and was just eliminated yesterday.  I made the top ten to survive!  Out of 90 people, I was the 80th to be eliminated!  Which is so exciting to me.  As far as I know the game is still on, there are alliances and crazy insane people who are determined to win the game.  The person who ended up eliminating me was a crazy man and I had to hide from him for the three days that he had me.  If you confused yet want to hear all the details, give me a call :)  Lets just say he came after me on my floor, yet I was fast enough to dive into a dorm room and lock the door.  He hid in a closet for an hour, until giving up on me.  He pestered me with phone call threats, and finally got me after a class yesterday.  The game got so intense that I stopped going to chapel and the cafeteria for fear that this guy would get me!  People skipped classes, and have done other crazy things in order to stay in the game.  Oh did I mention the winner gets $50?  Yeah, all of this for $50.  It was fun for the six days I was in it, but boy was I glad to get shot and be able to walk free on my campus without fearing being eliminated! 

I might have found a church here.  It's an A/G church, and seems to be cool so far.  It's small and I'm still not used to that!  The Social Work Bible study was a flop this semester, I'm not sure if it was a bad night for people, or if people just didn't want to come.  So I think I'll cancel it for this semester, and maybe try it other time.  Also, I went to a young adult Bible study off campus two Fridays ago, and it was really cool.  There are students from all over the area, and the leaders seem so cool.  They open their home up to us each Friday night for a time of Bible study fellowship and food.  I won't be able to go in the next few weeks, but I can't wait to go back.  It's so cool to meet people who are focused off campus.  I really think it's a good thing for me.  I have no idea what God has for me this year, but I know He has been revealing a lot to me, so I'm super excited.  Yay!  God's cool, and He has blessed with so much, I am constantly realizing this!

Alright, that's about all I have for now.  It's the last month of my life in a nutshell.  I really hope this works and isn't deleted when I push "submit!"

Leave me messages, oh how I love them so! ;)