On Single-Dom

Okay, so I started to write this post last December and got a little sidetracked in life....regardless, it still has a great article :)

After reading Singled Out: How Churches Can Embrace Unmarried Adults, I thought back to a lot of the interactions and experiences I'd had over the years.  Regardless of the frustrations I've felt, my faith itself has never wavered due to something directly related to this topic, it's just kind of something that is perpetually irksome.

 It's extremely easy to feel very lost, left out, and irrelevant as a single person in church.  I don't intend to point fingers at a particular one as I have frequented many in my adult (scary word) life.  Involving singles is something they can all work on.  I don't by ANY way shape or form mean that they should be offering matchmaking or dating services (not even close!), but it's pretty easy to feel overlooked or incomplete in a church setting.  Conversations frequently start with children, how many, and ages which inevitably leads to "my" children which I must have???  Nope.  Husband? Nope.  Boy---- Nope....at this point people are sometimes left standing awkwardly wondering what to say next.

Secondly, many people mistakenly assume that all Christian singles at church are "shopping" for eligible singles.  Not so.  Honestly, I'd love the opportunity to just fellowship with other people who share the similarity of singleness.  Single life is very different than married life.  While I greatly appreciate the opportunity to fellowship with the women in my ladies bible study across different stages in life and with families in my church, there is a something totally different about fellowshipping, encouraging, and enjoying the company of other single believers.

We want to be involved.  We want to feel needed.  These are human wants in any community.  Shouldn't they be met in a place where people are modeling their lives after the only perfect man's teachings?

The Persevering Stage

A wise and gracious friend of mine encouraged me today.  As I lamented and vented about my job/living situation she kindly reminded me this is a "Persevering Stage" of my faith.  I am to continue trusting that God has a map/plan and it may not match my mapped out plan but it is where I need to be.  Another part of this is to embrace moving into the "question mark" section of the plan even when I don't know where I'm going, what I'm doing or where I'm living.  Sounds like so much fun.  Not.  Actually, my response to her was this was not the persevering stage, this was the curl up in a ball and cry stage.  She laughed.  I was serious.  However, I was not correct.  This IS the stage where I just have to continue trusting that God can work miracles in future employers, he does have a plan for my job, my life, my everything.  If I'm continuously allowing myself to see the situation as hopeless, I'm making my God insufficient.  I'm squeezing Him into a box of incapability and weakness which in turn leaves me incapable and weak because all that I am comes from Him.  A vicious cycle. 

Also shared by another friend tonight:

Colossians 4:2, 5&6

Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving.  Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward nonbelievers making the most of every opportunity.  Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person. 

I never cease to be amazed by His timing. 

Always Wondering...

...Am I doing it right?  Interceding and lifting those up who are around me is a constant, but it is so easy to fall back and say, "This is such a difficult time for them, I'll just pray it away."  It is easy to forget the prunings, the firings, the testings of life are what God uses to mold us into who he'd have us be or to draw us unto himself.   This devo on May 3rd kind of drove that home for me and has been running through the back of my mind ever since.  Am I interceding because I truly want them have connection with God or is it because my sympathies and emotions are aroused and I want everything to smooth out and go easier for them?  These are tough questions for me.

Vital Intercession - Oswald Chambers 

“…praying always with prayer and supplication in the Spirit…”  Ephesians 6:18

As we continue on in our intercession for others, we may find that our obedience to God in interceding is going to cost those for whom we intercede more than we ever thought.  The danger in this is that we begin to intercede in sympathy with those whom God was gradually lifting up to a totally different level in close identification with God’s interest and concern for others and step into having emotional sympathy with them, the vital connection with God is gone.  We have then put our sympathy and concern for them in the way.  And this is a deliberate rebuke to God.

It is impossible for us to have living and vital intercession unless we are perfectly and completely sure of God.  And the greatest destroyer of that confident relationship to God, so necessary for intercession, is our own personal sympathy and preconceived bias.  Identification with God is the key to intercession and whenever we stop being identified with Him it is not likely that sin will interfere with our intercessory relationship with Goy, but sympathy will.  It is sympathy with ourselves or with others that makes us say, “I will not allow that thing to happen.”  And instantly we are out of that vital connection with God.

Vital intercession leaves you with neither the time nor the inclination to pray for your own “sad and pitiful self.” You do not have to struggle to keep thoughts of yourself out, because they are not even there to be kept out of your thinking.  You are completely and entirely identified with God’s interests and concerns in others lives.  God gives us discernment in the lives of others to call us to intercession for them, never so that we may find fault with them.  

Defiled

"O' conscience let me be....to the pure, all things are pure.

To those who defiled unbelieving: nothing is pure. Their minds, their conscience defiled."

-Jennifer Knapp "Trinity"

How true this is.  My heart wrestles with this on a daily basis as I try to remember what lenses those around me are looking through.  Seeing things purely is not always a blessing....it would be so much easier to just see the surface and skim past in my day to day.  The defiled do not see the truth, a seeming blessing, but instead they see a skewed world, one with gaping holes where only God can fill in the missing scenes.

Brains....

So many days I just want to turn off my brain, to shut off the constant rolling over of scenarios, conversations, potential ideas and past mistakes.  I wish my brain wasn't so analytical and set on looking at every aspect of my life and those around me from every possible point of view.  It is exhausting.  I'm told that it shouldn't matter, I shouldn't care so much, that I go above and beyond.  Does anyone realize it isn't even so much of a choice of what I want to do, rather it is something I have to do to be able to live with myself?

Living with ADD has been described as living with hundreds of TVs all turned on to different channels in your head at once.  I don't have ADD, but there are days when I think I can understand what it feels like, when I have not only my own struggles to deal with and how I will accomplish MY to-do list, but then someone else's life derails and I'm sent into recovery mode.  Pick up their pieces, dust them off, pass them tissues, let them melt down and then begin the reassembly process.  My to do list tends to fall by the wayside, my apartment usually looks like a bomb went off because it's always the bottom of the priority list.

Yes, I suppose there are upsides, of being so in tune with people.  It makes it easier to read them and figure out if I'm on the right track, but it would be nice to have the option of when it happens or not.  There are just some days when I'm too tired (or think I am) to deal with anyone but myself, but the brain doesn't take days off.  I can't even send it on vacation!

I guess I'll just continue on, leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms.

Rammin' the Roads

A conversation with my little cousin, Noah, at the Fryeburg Fair at the beginning of the month went a little like this: "Elizabeth, how come...you never come visit me at MY house?  How come I always come visit you at YOUR house?"  Oops.  Truth from the mouth of a 4 year old....LOL  I knew I was long overdue for a visit down to my cousins and I had a weekend off coming up so I decided to combine a bunch of appointments and visits into one week-long road trip around Maine and Massachusetts. 

The 966 miles looked a little like this: :)

First off, the visit at the Civiello's was lovely :)  I had a great time with the Noah, James and little Ben (who really isn't so little for only being 2 months old!!) We got to play hide and seek, duck-duck-goose, dinosaurs, puzzles, and read lots of books......not to mention lots of piggy back rides!  Jen, you're amazing....I have no clue how you can do it....I know I definitely didn't have enough arms to take care of 3 little boys by myself!!  O, and it was nice to get to visit with Jen and Gabe, too ;)  And to find someone else to watch the Big Bang Theory with and laugh with :):)  BAZINGA!

Next stop was Boston for an appointment to figure out WHY I was feeling so yucky over the past few months.  Turns out I had a decent case of Mono sometime between last April and now.  My immune system is still recovering and I still have a lot of antibodies left in my system.  YAY for figuring out was wrong!  RIDICULOUS I had to go clear to Boston and have ~15 vials of blood drawn over the past few weeks just to figure it out.....sigh.  PATHETIC that I was so sick at whatever point and didn't even realize it because I'm so used to my body being "off".  O well!

On my way back home to my family I stopped in Skowhegan to visit my friend Matt at his business The Bankery.  GAH!  Pastries to die for!  While I would love to be able to see Matt and enjoy his stuff more often...I'm afraid I'd weigh 500 lbs!  I only ever hear fantastic things about his shop from my students who hail from the Skowhegan area and I will testify myself, if you are headed through there OR don't mind a minor detour on your way south down I-95.....STOP!!!   Your taste buds will love you :)

I got to catch up with so many more friends on this trip too....and got to play Heroscape with my brother a couple times :)  However, as much fun as it was, I was really excited to climb into my own bed on Tuesday night!

ICanHasCheezBurger?

Recently, I have realized there is an abundance of people in my life who have NO CLUE of the wonders of ICanHasCheezBurger and the smiles and happiness it can bring to every day :)   Yes, it has a weird name, and yes, it is a slightly odd website, however, one should not be deterred because of this.  Before beginning an exploration of ICanHasCheezBurger, you should be forewarned: all basic grammar goes out the window on this site and almost everything is misspelled.  If this is going to drive you up a wall, you should probably avoid it at all costs.  Below is just a little sampling of what you may find here----proceed with caution if you are particularly susceptible to cuteness!

Tiramisu and a Couple Friends, Too!

Tonight was a much needed evening of laughing and off-campus-ness. :)  It has seemed recently that I've spent a lot of days/hours cooped up here on campus working on the nitty-gritty and tonight was a welcome change.  Dinner with an old friend and I got to meet a couple new ones, too!  There was lotttttttts of good food, laughing, teasing, under the table kicking (only because the cross table punching was too far to reach), and overall just a wicked evening. :)  O yeah, and there was tiramisu =P

Walking the Quasimodo Walk, Talking the, uh, something something Talk

Well, That was QUITE a weekend.  I'm so tired and sore, yet it was completely worth it. 

**Disclaimer** I am still wicked tired, I've been having a hard time typing all day, so please be forgiving on any typos :)

Friday came and we were all on the road by 3:30PM headed for Twin Pines at the New England Outdoor Center.  WOOHOO for leaving on time, I was SOOO pumped for this!!   The van ran like a champ and we didn't break down (possibly my MOST exciting part of the trip).  The students who attended were able to hang out, get to know each other better, enjoy a weekend at a beautiful lakeside cabin, hike Mt. Katahdin in some of the wort possible weather and really just have a blast!

I guess a quick recap would be:
* Slept about 7 hours total all weekend
* Drove over 6 hours
* Went to bed at 4AM after doing laundry for 6 hours.....but had to investigate why our room was about 100 degrees......someone had turned the radiant heat up to 85.....plus our room had had a dryer running for the past 7 hours.....yeah.
* A bunch of the students jumped into Millinocket Lake at 10 PM on Sept. 30
* I got to see a couple of my friends from high school :)
* Hiked into Chimney Pond with 2 other girls while the rest went all the way to the top.....we hiked in clouds all day
* Auntie made us cookies for the ride back :):):):):):)   <--------BIG HIGHLIGHT!!!
* Tons of laughing and smiles and fun all around


This was one of the only views of the mountain we had all day....it was kind of eerie to hike in the mist all day

This was our whole group at the Roaring Brook ranger station :) 

This was at the Chimney Pond ranger station and made us laugh :)   "RANGER OUTPOST NOT Gift Shop/Snack Bar"

All in all it was a good trip and even though 7 people who hiked to the top had to hike the last 3-4 miles in the dark and with flashlights (and in the pouring rain) they all said it was awesome and they want to do it again :)

I just want to sleep.

FABULOUS deals of the week!

It's Thursday once again and that means: YARD SALE DAY!  

This morning started a little shaky as mom's alarm didn't go off and as we were about 15 minutes late leaving.  Since this is homecoming week we expected GREAT deals and my aunt even drove down to go with us and our friend Annie.  We all piled into the Prius (best vehicle for all those starts and stops :)  ) and we were off!  The first couple yard sales only yielded a couple "finds" but the third one was a HIT!   Very cool stuff and very cheap prices......mom, Annie and I had the back of the Prius full and spent the next hour driving around with a kayak paddle in the back seat.   After a quick stop for some breakfast sandwiches from High St. Market we were quickly on our way to the next one; embarrassingly, I still had my mouth full and was chewing as we ran up the driveway to check for some more bargains. LOL

Overall it was a great day, but the heat and humidity definitely could both be better and I returned home exhausted and ready for a nap.

Today was one of those yardsale days I was glad I had grabbed a little extra money on my way running out the door.   My "Treasure" list this week consisted of:

• 3 Pictures (for the apartment)
• 1 Really cool tea canister
• 1 Set measuring cups
• 1 Like new tupperware container (in the shape I like)
• 1 Handmade napkin/muffin basket
• 18 Books
• 2 High quality pottery mugs
• 3 Joan Baez LPs
• 1 Grease Soundtrack LP
• 1 Mary Poppins Soundtrack LP
• 1 Bert and I LP
• 1 Yellow sundress
• 2 Vintage "Lady and the Tramp" figurines (wicked cool!)

All for a grand total of $30.......but spending 4 hours crammed in a car with 3 of my favorite ladies was priceless LOL

HAHA, LOL, and ROFL

O dear.  God has quite a sense of humor, and thankfully my friends do, too!

I packed up my stuff on Friday and headed north to my apartment for the weekend.  I had a wedding to attend on Saturday afternoon and a couple of movie dates with friends to catch.  Yes, one of them was the new Harry Potter :)  (But, I will certainly admit, while the movies are pretty good in their own right, the books are FAR better.)

I had a very long, hot ride up with no air conditioning and was VERY much looking forward to a nice, cool shower to clean up.  I had my arms full of stuff to lug into my apartment and when I opened my back door to drop it off I was dumbfounded.  My apartment was a DISASTER.  Ceiling tiles out, disposable drop cloths covering everything and all my cupboards, the floors had protective stuff on them, too.  AHHH!! I was entirely confused.

I had been told at the beginning of the summer there would be no work done in my apartment this summer (a welcome change from last summer when I had to move 5 times around campus as they were remodeling.....) so to find my apartment in this kind of shape when I'd been planning on staying for 3 days was a bit frustrating.  No one had even called to say they were going to be working on it!

Thankfully, I have a fabulous friend who, even though we had just been planning a movie night, let me sleep in her extra bed all weekend.....even though we ended up with a seven-girl girls night last night and it was a little cramped in the 2 bedroom apartment!

We had a blast, watched the last HP, ate ice cream (Jess and I reminisced about how we ate half of a 3 gallon tub of black raspberry ice cream all by ourselves in the cafeteria last spring....over 2 days :)  (She's not supposed to eat sugar and I'm lactose intolerant LOL)

Overall, it was a great break and mini vacation......now it is back to cleaning and weeding the garden.  Woohoo summer!

e.

Yard Sales! :)

A bargain hunter's dream! :)  This summer the yard sales in have been pretty "blah" overall but I've managed to scoop up some spectacular finds this week! For example, I spent $11 today and brought home:

• 2 shirts 
• 4 DVDs 
• DVD player
• Necklace
• Votive holder    

What a steal!  Yesterday's deals included:

• 5 CD's
• SWEET homemade potholder
• DVD
• Blueberry cookbook
• Dress 

All for a $7.50 total.  Seriously, I can't go wrong here! LOL

A man in the community recently started a pretty nifty website called "Exploring Lincoln" where he highlights business, people, and things to do.  One of the newest features of the site is a "Yard Sale" section where you can see all the local yardsales, post your own and even map out your route!   Yard-Saling is meeting technological advances here! =D

PASSION 2011

Hey all!!! I just got back this afternoon from Passion 2011 in Atlanta, GA!!!!!   It was a LONG drive back (about 31 hours total) and I'm still unpacking and getting repacked to go back to school but I'll have details and news of it all and PHOTOS to share :)

Ready to Explode!!!

O, the JOY in my veins.....I can taste it!!!   It has been a roller-coaster two weeks and it seems incomprehensible that so much could happen in such a short time.

Now let's see.....to recap:
I spent all of LAST week (literally 4th to the 11th) sick with a miserable gastric bug.  I've never had anything like that in my LIFE!!  I lost 10+lbs that week alone and could eat literally nothing.  :(   I couldn't miss class because I have a fantastic teacher who decided to have 4 finals in his class instead of one.  WooHoo!!  The whole ordeal left me weak enough that I couldn't walk and talk at the same time because it winded me. :(  Thankfully that is now behind me and I feel great! :)  Thank you to allllll my great friends who took care of me and were patient with me in that time frame!

Our small group fellowship has had some increased interest and we are growing!  YAY!!  Slowly, yes, but growth none the less!  I've been so blessed!  It makes me wicked excited to see what is to come in the following semester!  God is just showing up and filling my life!  Honestly, there are no words to describe it!

I don't know if I had mentioned in an earlier post or not but I had really been hoping to be able to attend PASSION 2010 this January (1st through 4th) but my finances have taken a beating the past 6 months and there was no physical way I could afford the $600 it would take for travel, lodging, ticket and food.  I finally came to peace with that and just decided to try again next year.   On the 4th one of the students came running into my apartment (it is usually like Grand Central Station in here!  haha)  with news that one of the colleges I'm attending was offering the whole thing to students for $150 because their Student Senate was covering a big chunk of the cost!  I my word!!!!!!   I almost cried!  How incredible is that!?!?!?!?!?!?    I am now registered and will be attending PASSION 2011!!!!!   AHHHHHHHHHHHH!  

I cannot explain to you what it is like to know that I'm going!!   Honestly it is just mind blowing!!   God is just incredible!   I don't know how I can possibly forget that so easily, but I do.  Last year's conference was such an incredible blessing and helped my spiritual growth by leaps and bounds.  I've been riding that wave of excitement now for about 3 days since I found out I really was going.   I wish I could take every 18-25 year old I know but most of them, like me, are broke and can't afford to go.

One of my best friends arrives tonight!   I haven't seen him since June and hadn't expected to see him for up to 5 years, but he was able to get a quick leave and came to visit some friends and family before he is gone for a while!  I'm sooo excited!

I am so blessed, it blows my mind.

Why me?

I don't know.

And it makes me want to-- SHOUT!

Throw my hands up and--SHOUT!

Yeah.  

Things that make me want to scream:

In Frustration:

* Uncooperative Christmas Lights

* People who pull RIGHT out in front of you and drive 5 MPH on bare roads OR 11MPH in a 35 on bare roads.....

* Problems on tests that I made stupid mistakes on......all because my brain was fried from 3 Exams and 2 projects in 36 hours. 

* Stepping in puddles that make my socks wet.

* Not being able to figure out why my car (loaner) is stalling randomly while idling.

* Not being able to find a car to buy in my budget.

In Ecstasy:

* Laughing with Friends

* Good music

* Driving on empty roads (vroomvroom =P)

* Family (usually)

* When Stats finally click

* When I actually paint a half decent watercolor 

Never Have I Ever....Just Kidding

Do you ever feel like if you were put into a line up with 100+ other people and a random person was plucked off the street and asked to decide in the line up "Which of these is not like the others" that there is a GINORMOUS neon arrow pointing right at you?

Um................................ yeah.

New Year, New Semester, New Snow

I'm not a big believer in "new year's resolutions", but i decided to make a few "goals" for myself this year. They are in no particular order:

1. Cut all dairy from my diet (I'm allergic and it is making me sick--don't worry I'm taking Calcium!)
2. Blog more frequently.....boy that one is going well!
3. Complete at least 75% of my nursing reading by the day before the class
4. Learn how to play racquetball....but I need a racquet :)
5. Keep my room mostly picked up and clean ALL the time
6. Refresh my Spanish

Not too long or overly exciting but something a little different not the less.

This semester is in full swing. Last week was miserably stressful, I had return demos for injections, clinical site orientation, I almost got in a car accident (gotta love 180s), and I had a Nursing Exam. UGH. Everything turned out okay and I actually did pretty well on my exam :)

I came back this semester expecting to have no hall-mates as my last one moved out at the end of last semester. I was pleasantly surprised to find 3 new women in Heather's place! I like them all and we get along well! Estela is from Portland, it took me quite a while to figure out the reason I couldn't understand her was because she has only lived here for 5 years and before that lived in Egypt and Sudan. She's a hoot and went home with me this weekend. Ashlei is from Jonesport. She's a nursing student, too, and has a thick downeast accent :) Candi is my mom's age and is from Oklahoma. She's pretty overwhelmed with all the studying but is determined! I have to help her every now and then with her computer and DVD player....it is just like being at home! haha

God's been pretty cool thus far. I was really not wanting to live on campus this semester but God didn't give me any peace about moving off. I stayed and God has given me so many opportunities! Last weekend I decided to do an impromptu game night with a few friends, i think there were 5 of us total. We had a blast and a couple of them have approached me about doing it again soon, maybe this weekend! :):):) Sooooo excited! :)

Well, I still have a lot of reading to do. I get to dissect a sheep eye this afternoon in anatomy, woohoo! My lab partner is grossed out and is bringing a mask. heehee

hugs, e.

Always

So ever since I stumbled upon this song a couple weeks ago it has been running through my mind almost continuously. Such a powerful reminder of who God is and that he truly is for ALWAYS.

Always - Building 429
I was standing in the pouring rain one dark November night
Fighting off the bitter cold when she caught my eye
Her face was taught and her eyes were filled, and to my surprise
She pulled out a photograph and my heart just stopped inside
She said, “He would’ve been three today I miss his smile, I miss his face”
What was I supposed to say,

but I believe always, always
Our Savior never fails
Even when all hope is gone God knows our pain
and his promise remains
He will be with you always

He was living in a broken world, dreaming of a home
His heart was barely keeping pace when I found him all alone
Remembering the way he felt when his daddy said goodbye
Fighting just to keep the tears and the anger locked inside
He’s barely holding onto faith
But deliverance is on its way, cause I believe always, always Our Savior never fails
Even when all hope is gone God knows our pain
and his promise remains
I believe always, always
Our Savior never fails
Even when all hope is gone God knows our pain
and his promise remains
He will be with you always

Friend, I don’t know where you are
and I don’t know where you’ve been
Maybe you’re fighting for your life or just about to throw the towel in
But if you’re crying out for mercy, if there’s no hope left at all
If you’ve given everything you’ve got and you’re still about to fall
Well hold on, hold on, hold on
Cause I believe always, always Our Savior never fails
Even when all faith is gone
God knows our pain
and his promise remains
Always, always,
He will be with you always

Frosty Grass and Crunchy Leaves

BRRRRRR! It's getting COLD up here :) heehee. 23 outside this morning at 8...it dipped down to 19 last night :) Snow predicted for Wednesday! Ahhh, I love it! :)



I made it through my rough two weeks alive, and only slightly worse for wear. This week I have wicked exciting things to look forward to! Grover friends coming to my beloved Maine! :):):) I can hardly wait! I've been shaking with anticipation and marking off calendar days for a month! lol :):)

Classes are going well for the most part. I had a hard time prepping for my last exam and I have a hard time understanding my clinical instructor...or rather getting the information I need from her. But after a long talk with my advisor and the head of the nursing department I have a plan. :)

OH! Happy news! I have honestly been praying for some Christian fellowship outside of church service. I was getting discouraged. Then--WOOHOO! :) Soooo, Saturday afternoon I was standing on my head in the trunk of my car to change my brake light (my trunk is really deep so I have to bend over and all you can see is my legs and butt...lol) when my RD walked up beside me and said he'd seen me at the Wesleyan church.....and I was dumbfounded. lol! Anyways! We talked for a long time and he's a strong Christian! He invited me to go out with them after the service that night (The Wesleyan church has a Saturday night service....that is the one I like best and usually go to) I was SOOOOOOOO excited! So I went! And I met so many awesome people.....we stayed at church from 6-8....visiting and fellowshipping and it was GREAT! After that we went to the Governor's and just had a blast getting talk some more. So cool. AND then, at 10pm...lol we went to Tim Horton's and talked some more! Adam (my RD) said in the 6 or 7 years since he's been an RD here there has been only ONE other Christian each year....and he was excited because he is pretty sure there are 4 or 5 of us this year! :):):) We talked and decided to try and start a bible study one night a week for an hour and a half each time! I'm wicked excited!!!!!! SO COOL! So....by the time that I got back to my dorm room from all of this it was midnight....lol

I got to go to an art show opening last night with Uncle Jme.....wicked cool! I love going to those kind of things....just a whole different atmosphere! I love taking in other people's feelings and interpretations of life around them. Just really nice to be around art heads for a bit :) that is one thing that i miss being here at NM, there isn't an art studio or anything like that here on campus...at least at GCC I could go poke my head in the art studio and refresh myself by looking at other people's stuff. :)

Well, time to get back to my studies! hugs, e.

A Delicate Balance of Abnormality

So I'm still a bad blogger. Nothing new there. At least I can accept that....isn't that the first step in fixing a problem? Acknowledging that I actually have one?

Anyways, in an attempt to better my blogging abilities, here is my life. In all its abnormality.

I am loving my Nursing classes and I like all my classes in general and realize this is what i do want to do. God blessed me with a great hall-mate who is kind of my roommate but not really. (we live on a 5 room wing. all the rooms are doubles, but we both have "singles" --double rooms with only one occupant--and the other 3 rooms are empty. so we basically have our own space but we see each other all the time) anyways, it is really neat because we've been able to kind of church hunt together and have regular life conversations, etc. i started my clinical stuff last week. I'm doing mine at the maine veterans home in Presque Isle.....and that is basically all i can tell you because of patient confidentiality :) Grade-wise/stress-wise this year is going very well and is a welcome relief from Grove City in that regard.

However, I miss my Grover friends miserably and that part has been extremely difficult. I know this is where I'm supposed to be and the whole friend thing has been a major growing point. The social scene is extremely lacking up here and I haven't met many new people...very few.

I am enjoying being in "the County" though, it is so beautiful and the people are so nice. :) I have found a church that I like up here, too!

This weekend I went home and got to spend time with my family....we had some adventures :) I got to be the camerawoman for Hillary and Jacob's latest production (an English project) and was dying laughing the whole time....they are so numb!!! lol They left for Fryeburg Fair this afternoon....so sad I didn't get to go! :( Oh, haha, on Saturday morning I awoke to the sound of the washmachine (it is right next to my bedroom) and Dragonforce's Through the Fire and the Flames blasting on about 50 just outside my bedroom door....when I opened my door and came out Hillary was like, "wow, are you seriously just waking up?" I said, "ummmm, yeah?" Hillary: "whoa, how did you sleep through that? we've been up for like an hour or so!" Apparently I am a very heavy sleeper......either that or Dragonforce is a lullaby :).

So now I am back up north. Work in the morning. Good night! e.

PS I have come to the conclusion that I cannot imagine life without music. I am so thankful that God gave us that! My life could be a musical....every morning I wake up with a song in my head... even before I open my eyes. I don't think that is normal. Friday it was Audio Adrenaline's "Original Species", yesterday it was Brandi Carlile's "The Story" and today it was Fleetwood Mac's "Never Going Back Again"....hm, maybe that was an omen....that I was going back to school.....hrm.