"Move." I couldn't agree more. There's a lot to be said for trying new things, meeting new people (maybe making new friends), eating new foods, listening to/learning new languages, learning new skills, picking up new hobbies, and seeing new sights.
Until I went to college, I'd never been around a group of diverse people who had strong--and usually well-founded--opinions of their own, who were aspiring to dreams and passions of their own, and yet looked at the world so differently than I did. There, I about learned the wonderful world of Spore, WoW, Guitar Hero, and Halo mixed in with getting calculus homework help and attending a class on entrepreneurship & creative design process along with 60+ of my fellow dorm residents. Some of my favorite memories are of the lively 2am discussions in the hallway about the ethics of genetic research, global climate change, how ESPN's player stats are run through the wrong statistical model, and why the students alternate rows to "saw 'em off" during the A&M fight song in order to maintain the structural integrity of the student section of Kyle Field.
When I got to graduate school, my classmates were more streamlined and I had less time to spend with outside friends. Although the 35 of us were on a similar path, we were still quite diverse with unique reasons for pursuing physical therapy and different dream jobs post-graduation. I found a group of people who challenged me to study hard, strengthen my clinical reasoning, maintain my patient empathy, and work as a team more than an individual. Several classes were integrated with students from the other allied health programs as well as with the 1st year medical students; in those class discussions we worked through case scenarios from each of our disciplines' perspectives and formed a cohesive multidisciplinary hypothetical treatment plan.
Currently, I work and live in an culture that values sameness, tradition, tried-and-true methods, and personal relationships. I often find myself caught between these two worlds... and it's not easy. This restless girl with the travel bug occasionally feels trapped. This passionate forward thinker occasionally butts heads with "how we've always done it." Yet I continue to move as often and as far as I can. I try to bring others with me and expand their horizons. And I tell them my stories to inspire them to step into another's shoes or open their heart to new possibilities.
If we sat down and talked, I'd tell you about the time I made friends with a young girl in Germany who spoke less than 20 English words. I'd tell you about the time I played soccer in East Malaysia with a ball made of plastic bags and twine. I'd tell you about the 4 hour church service in West Africa where the only word I could sing along was "Hallelujah amen!" I'd tell you about the kind fellow passenger who helped me up when I fell on a hike in Antarctica. And I'd tell you about the autobiographical books I'm reading now that make my heart ache, laugh, and cry alternately with each page.
Just an FYI, the US spends more of it's GDP per capita on healthcare than any other industrialized nation, yet we rank number 37th out of 191 in quality of care. Um, what....?
We had two guest lecturers in our Personal and Professional Development I class this morning. They explained a little of what Obama's healthcare reform bill would actually look like and how hospital systems evaluate the profitableness of providing care to consumers covered by certain insurance providers. Quite fascinating... not!
And this little video they showed made us all laugh:
Sorry for the long absence, people. Physical therapy school started on May 23rd and this week is test week. OK, I should probably be reviewing for anatomy lab tomorrow. But idc anymore.
I've always been good at procrastinating. Senior year especially. Between watching all 7 seasons of Gilmore girls in less than a semester, scrolling through thousands of posts on the over 90 blogs I follow, and hanging out with my close circle of friends I somehow still made good grades.
Procrastination has taken a different form these last four weeks. It looks like making dinner/lunch the next day, doing laundry on Wednesday nights (when you bring scrubs home that smell like a dead person, you HAVE to do laundry THAT day!), late-night phone calls from friends, driving all over creation to get to Walmart ("You can get anything you want here//Except a Wal-Mart store//But I ain't in Checotah anymore"), and printing off stuff to study.
I love Starbucks. I mean, I doubt I've ever told anyone that before. (OK, maybe only every other day or so!) And I'm kind of picky about my Starbuckses. Thankfully, a college friend is working at one across from the SMU campus about 10 minutes away from my apartment, and that Starbucks has a massive table in the back that's almost always empty. Once schools starts up in the Fall, I think I'm gonna have to find a new home. :P
So I've been at said Starbucks 4 times in the past week. A physiology test, an anatomy test, a lab practical, and a clinical correlates test will do that to you! Saturday, I occupied said massive table for 6 hours. Sunday I "hermited" myself at said table for 5 hours. When my friend got off work he came over and asked if I had dinner plans. I went over to his grandparents' house for steak (I love crashing other people's Father's Day celebrations), and then we went to go see "Green Lantern".
You know you've spent too much time studying the muscles of the neck, back, and upper extremity when you see the epic superhero suit designed to resemble said superhero's bulging musculature and all you can think is "they got the deltoid right, but the triceps actually has three heads not one!"
You know you've hung out with your 25 favorite dead people too much when this no longer creeps you out:
You know you've been memorizing too many muscle AOIIs (Actions, Origins, Insertions, and Innervations) when you start dreaming of them! (And as some of you may know, I DO NOT dream. Like maybe once ever six months.)
But I have to say that this past week that I have a greater appreciation for "The Celestial Design Committee," as one of my anatomy professors calls Him.
Have you ever read Psalm 139? Like REALLY read it? I mean, seriously how can you not think that we are fearfully and wonderfully made when you see this:
That, dear reader, is your brachial plexus. The wonderful branching and re-branching of arteries, veins, and nerves responsible for movements in your fingers, thumbs, wrists, elbows, forearms, upper arms, shoulders, and some scapular movements... Every cadaver has a slightly different network of these structures (I hate the term "anatomical variation"), but we've all got 'em!
The Psalmist said it this way:
"6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it....
13For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.
14I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.
15My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them."
So in Wednesday's RA training I went to a workshop on time management. The Hall Director leading the session gave each of us a handout and a cup of rice. Below each little box on the handout we had to write different activities that take up our time. Eat, sleep, class, study, and RA duties were easy ones... then came FB, watching movies, volunteering at Hope, chilling with my close group of friends, and late-night "me time."
We then had to allocate the rice in our cup into the boxes on the paper based on how much time we spend doing those activities in a single day. And I discovered some interesting things about where my time goes:
Per Dad's request, my family's been reading "Put Your Dream to the Test" by John Maxwell. He and Mom have been leading a small group through the book and it's been interesting to hear what the group's been learning.
Go buy this book. Like seriously.
For those of you familiar with the Life Purpose Planning booklet, John Maxwell's book takes it a step farther. LPP focuses on finding the "golden thread" of God's hand in your life as you write down people that have influenced you, verses that have stood out to you, books you've read, experiences you've enjoyed, the meaning of your names, your spiritual gifting... it's actually a rather exciting little booklet and it was a good tool to kind of figure out that God's been preparing me for a life of investing into younger girls and has called me to something in the medical field and that all the traveling I've done is in preparation for overseas missions.
But "Put Your Dream to the Test" comes at it from a little more of a secular side. Mr. Maxwell says, "go dream... what's the biggest thing you can imagine... now, let's make sure it's something that is actually feasible and what needs to happen to get you there?"
I'm only on the 3rd chapter, but I wanted to share what I've come up with for the answers to the 1st chapter's questions. Maxwell encourages the reader to write down their dream and share it with others. If I can succinctly communicate my dream to those I care about and show my passion in a coherent manner that's a big first step--and a necessary skill for raising the money, personnel, and resources I'll need to carry out my dream.
I realize that this is not the normal type of post you'd expect out on a blog for the world to see (not that this blog is followed/RSS subscribed to by more than a few dozen people), but I want your comments.
Is this something you could see me doing? Will ya'll remind me of this when I post how much I hate PT school and anatomy lab?
And expect to see more installments as I delve into more of "Put Your Dream to the Test."
My Dream (December 31, 2010)
I desire to be a wife and mom, first and foremost.
I will, Lord willing, spend my life in sub-Saharan Africa, using physical therapy full time until I have a family (after which PT will become a part time position). I foresee myself working at a missions hospital compound, not in a small remote village.
I want to use PT with the amputee and VVF outcasts of Africa as a follow-up to surgeries performed.
After I have spent several years in Africa, have made connections, gained their trust, and built my “dream team,” I want to build a village for my patients where they can live for as long as they need PT or if they cannot return home. New patients will come to the center of the “village” to the “PT hut” for therapy, longer term patients will assist new patients, and permanent residents will help teach patients to read/sew/make crafts to bring in money.
Questions from John Maxwell’s “Put Your Dream to the Test” book:
Chapter 1
1.The Ownership Question: Is my dream really my dream?
A.What would I do if I had no limitations?
·Go train with the PTs at “The Hospital by the River” in Ethiopia
·See answers to C
B.What would I do if I had only five years to live?
·Graduate from A&M
·Go to Nigeria this summer and learn alongside the nationals how to make prosthetics, and then be a lay PT there in Africa.
·Get married
C.What would I do if I had unlimited resources?
·Donate money to NGOs like Mercy Ships and International Fistula Foundation to provide VVF surgeries and housing/training for chronically incontinent women
·Build a “village” for VVF women and amputees where they share a little “hut” and there’s a PT clinic in the middle to provide long-term care.
·Create a “dream team” of international healthcare professionals to fully staff the “village” and set it up as a clinical/training site for both international and local healthcare professionals to come train.
D.What would I do if I knew I couldn’t fail?
·Complete PT school
·Get specialized in women’s health PT and prosthetic gait training
So now I've been accepted into 5 of the 6 programs (the last one offered me an interview in January... after I will have already told the other schools yes or no). And it's a lovely feeling. But on the other hand, I was hoping the choice would be made easier by some of the schools not offering me a position in their class. I was ECSTATIC when Hardin Simmons offered me a spot. I've turned in my acceptance form already and the $1000 deposit needs to be in by mid-January. And then these other top-notch programs accepted me as well... completely complicating my decision. The last two weeks of the semester my friends knew that whenever I answered the phone with, " Hello, this is Katie Farr" I was talking to a PT school, and they could count on something to the effect of "just great..." once I hung up. :) I have to make a decision by December 30th. 7 days from now. Each program has a great reputation, great clinical opportunities, outstanding faculty, and good national exam pass rates... so how do I decide? And then I came across this passage as I was reading this morning in II Corinthians 2:
"12 Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ
and found that the Lord had opened a door for me,
13 I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus
there. So I said good-by to them and went on to Macedonia.
14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal
procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere
This past weekend has been one of the best weekends of my life... not sure exactly how high it ranks, but it's way up there!
There are TONS of traditions here at A&M, many of them over a hundred years old. And a good number of them seem to fall towards the end of the fall semester.
November 18, 1999 is a special day here in Aggieland. At 2:42am twelve students lost their lives when a giant bonfire collapsed. This bonfire takes several months and hundreds of students' work to cut and stack, and is usually lit the week before the rival football game with t.u. (also known as the University of Texas). The last couple of weeks before burn students work 24/7 to finish building it--and sometimes tragedies happen.
(the morning after it collapsed)
Bonfire is no longer a university-sanctioned event and is now held off-campus, but dozens of organization and dorms join hundreds of current students and Corps of Cadets members to pull of this amazing event. But in the amazingness of Bonfire, we never forget those 12. There's a beautiful memorial built on the on-campus site, and every year at 2:42 thousands of current and former students gather to remember our fellow Aggies.
(aerial view of the memorial with the rest of campus in the background)
So, after my Bible study got out and all my girls got back to their studying, I went back to my dorm and made tons of coffee and worked on a presentation for my class tomorrow morning. Then my friend Abigail and I got all bundled up and walked over to the memorial. We got there about 1:50am and stood with the hundred or so others that were already there. She and I were about 15 feet from the center where the 12 students' families and friends were. We all stood in absolute silence as we waited for the thousands of others to come. At 2:42 one of the parents read the poem "The Last Corps Trip," read off the names of the twelve and we sang "Amazing Grace" followed by the "Spirit of Aggieland" and the Aggie War Hymn. Then we all silently left. Doesn't sound like much and it was literally 40* out there and Abigail and I stood silently out there at 2am for like an hour and a half... but that's what you do when you're an Aggie.
(walking up to the Bonfire Memorial ~1:45am)
(leaving the memorial ~3:05am)
Got back to the dorm about 3:30am, set the coffee pot on autobrew for 7:15am, and got a few hours of sleep before meeting three classmates for a field trip to a maximum security juvenile detention facility about an hour away. It was a rather interesting trip.
Came back, slept, did homework, had dinner with the Navigator staff girl who's discipling me, and then went out country western dancing with Brian and a friend of his. I'm taking a PE credit Country Western Dance class this semester and our jitterbug skills test is this Tuesday... I'm in woeful need of more practice! Off to bed at midnight.
Friday--skipped both morning classes (gotta love recalling favors from classmates earlier in the semester) and did homework/laundry all day. Then some friends came over for a movie night ("Return of the King"), and I headed off to meet another friend for Midnight Yell.
See, Midnight Yell is another crazy late-night/early morning tradition we Ags hold the night before a home football game. It has been called a "pep rally" by some teasips in Austin and most recently "cheer practice" by the Nebraska Cornhuskers' head coach. Basically, thousands of students meet in Kyle field to practice the yells, hear our Yell Leaders poke fun at the opponents, and--in some cases--find a date for the next day's game.
The friend I went with is a Junior in the Corps of Cadets and while all the other students and cadets are in the stands, the Corps Juniors and their "dates" get to stand out on the field. I randomly ran into a friend of mine that I met a year ago over human bones and a dead cat in Anatomy & Physiology I. :)
Then, off to get food and get to bed. 4am this time.
Late Saturday games are wonderful. Slept til 10am, went to Starbucks to study for a few hours, then to a tailgate with Brian and his old Corps of Cadets outfit.
Then off to march-in a few hours later. All the outfits march down the center of campus and around the track in Kyle Field just before the game.
There were SO many people yesterday!!! We were trying for a national record in student attendance (31,005) and also happened to get a record A&M attendance (90,079)! The stadium was so insanely loud; a friend of mine who was watching the game on ESPN told me the announcer said it was the loudest game they'd ever recorded at!
It was both a Maroon Out game (every student was supposed to wear a maroon T-shirt) and a 12th Man Towel Out game (every student was supposed to wave their white 12th Man towel)... let's just say it was a ridiculous game! And a wonderful way to finish out my undergraduate Aggie football experience!
(my usual seat is somewhere up there on 3rd deck...)
(The Fightin' Texas Aggie Band!)
(this very well could have been the closest either team got to the goal line!)
(let's just say that we were a *little* excited!)
We won 9-6 versus the Nebraska Cornhuskers. We were #1 in the Big 12 for offense and they were #1 in defense... and the game was entirely composed of field goals. I don't think either team was closer than 5yds from the goal line!
Since the game started at 7pm it didn't finish til like 10:30pm. My friend and I had 3rd row seats the the North 5yd line with the rest of the Corps... and as soon as the game clock hit 0:00, we all charged the field . Mind you, this is the first time in several years that we've done that! It was SO cool to sing the Aggie War Hymn out on the field!
(from the field looking out on the student section of Kyle Field)
"No student body enjoys its football team quite like Texas A&M... There's nothin' like it--the Aggie War Hymn" - ESPN announcer
Then off to get pizza and sleep... not necessarily one right after the other. Thank goodness for "the day of rest" today!
Tomorrow, I register for my last semester of classes, give a presentation about a hypothetical research project I designed, learn about the skeletal muscle pump for the cardiovascular system (Exercise Physiology), mood disorders (Abnormal Psychology), and get a good workout (Step Aerobics PE class). Then off to an induction ceremony for the new members of Phi Epsilon Kappa, the research-based Kinesiology honors society I'm involved in, and then end out my day with our weekly RA meeting.
And while the semester winds down and I start the avalanche of "last times I'll ever..." I have to say that I love A&M and I love being a part of a school that remembers the past by honoring traditions and embraces the future by training leaders and conducting ground-breaking research!
Pardon the awful resolution on my phone... but the sunset this past Saturday (halfway through the 2nd quarter) was amazing...
The famous "T" by the Aggie Band... this is the first time all season that they've done it facing the student section!
One of the traditions at football games is the Senior Boot Line; all the seniors form two lines out on the field at the end of halftime and the football players run between them to start the second half... been waiting for this football season for quite a while!
This semester in my Majors-only Writing Intensive Yoga class (yes, I know that it sounds really weird!) we're learning to write funding proposals. The semester's assignment was to write a proposal for a program that we wanted to implement after we finished college/grad school.
Others chose to write about afterschool sports programs, mobile therapy clinics, or playgrounds for pediatric hospitals, and I chose to write about something that I really am passionate about. I hope that as you read this, you'll catch a glimpse of what I want to do with my life and where I feel God leading me!
Hope for Nigerian Amputees: Manually-Powered Prosthetic Fitment
Katherine E. Farr – Final Paper - Wednesday, April 7
Introduction
The African civil wars and conflicts of recent decades have left thousands of people injured; rural land mines that continue to explode injure people and often leave them with lower limb amputations (Arya and Klenerman, 2008). Although a prosthetic was created in 1975 to suit the unique lifestyles of third-world patients, and several organizations now provide them at no cost (Tuli, 1981), many of these amputees will never receive one because they cannot afford to take the time to travel and be fitted.
Some of these non-governmental organizations also face the problems of overwhelming need, insufficient funds, inadequate facilities, and unreliable electricity. New techniques have been developed to resolve some of the issues, but all of the techniques still rely on electricity. Current donors to the Evangel Missions Hospital in Jos, Nigeria, will receive a copy of this proposal along with the quarterly newsletter, and they will be asked to consider sending an additional donation or to earmark their next regular donation to a fund to purchase a manually-powered fitment device.
Target Population
There are approximately 7,000 physically handicapped people in Nigeria’s capital city of Jos (Ardill, 2006), and many of them support themselves by begging. Evangel Hospital's prosthetic facility has been able to provide lower limb prosthetics to many amputees who live in Jos, but many patients who live in remote areas of Nigeria cannot afford the time or money to travel to Jos even to receive prosthetics free of charge. There is a great need to increase process efficiency and mobility so as to serve the maximum number of people.
Project Description/Rationale
The current fitment procedure is very inefficient. First, the entire casting, fabricating, and fitting process takes 2-3 days—an amount of time that most low-income families and subsistence farmers cannot spare. Secondly, the process requires a large amount of plaster of Paris (approximately 8 lbs (3 kg) per fitment), which means that all plaster must be transported with the machine for field services in more undeveloped areas of Nigeria (Garcia, 2008).
A vacuum-casting procedure has been newly developed to increase efficiency by reducing the entire fitting and fabrication time to an hour and a half and eliminating the need for plaster. However, the vacuum machine is expensive and relies on electricity to provide the negative sand mold of the patient’s stump. Philip Garcia, an undergraduate student at MIT, worked with a team of 20 interdisciplinary students to explore the idea of a manually-powered vacuum machine to be used with the sand-casting technique (Chandler, 2008). The vacuum-casting procedure coupled with the MIT team’s design would provide an effective solution for Evangel Hospital.
The team’s design utilizes four bicycle pumps and 10 other readily available parts. Some of the parts could be replaced with more native materials to further reduce the cost from USD147 to approximately USD50 per machine. The device is lightweight, requires very little setup, and can easily sit on a tabletop; these features allow for extreme portability. Technicians using the machine would not need intensive training, as many of them would be familiar with hand-crank machines common to local water wells. Since the devices are simple, local tradesmen or mechanics could make any necessary repairs.
Expected Outcome
The entire procedure has several huge possible positive outcomes. First, the vacuum-casting procedure has the potential to increase Evangel’s patient load fivefold (Garcia, 2008). Secondly, eliminating the need for plaster will reduce the cost per prosthetic limb. Thirdly, the manually-powered machine will allow the Evangel workshop to operate at all hours, independent of the hospital’s generator and its erratic running time. Fourthly, since the machines do not require electricity, the workshop technicians would be able to organize mobile prosthetic teams to travel into rural Nigeria and serve those amputees who cannot travel to Jos. As a result, many Nigerians would hear about Evangel Hospital, and word would spread about their free or low-cost medical and treatment programs and facilities. Lastly, donors from around the world will have the unique opportunity to make a difference in the lives of many Nigerians by restoring their dignity and livelihood providing them a lower-limb prosthetics.
Conclusion
The number of amputees can seem overwhelming, the recent economic situation that reduced Evangel’s donations can be disheartening, and the challenges of serving in a third-world country can be daunting, but the new fitment technique and device offers incredible prospects. With rural prosthetic fitment and fabrication teams many more amputees can learn to walk again, work again, and be a part of society again. Truly, advancements in medicine, engineering, and science—coupled with faithful financial partners—can offer hope for Nigerian amputees.
Works Cited
Arya, A. P., and Klenerman, L. (2008). The jaipur foot. Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery, British Volume, 90B(11), 1414-1416.
Tuli, J. (1981). The jaipur limb. World Health, 2-5.
Garcia, P. (2008). Optimization of vacuum pump device for use in rapid fitment of prosthetic limbs. Retrieved 2/22/2010, from http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/45794
Today I finished a journal and realized that I started it exactly 4 months ago today. I've NEVER journaled that much and I've never come across so many quotes, lyrics, emails, and IM conversations that just had to be tucked away in that little notebook. I've never had so much going on that I feel like my head will explode if I don't find some way for it to all make sense. I've never felt so deeply that I knew my heart would burst unless I could find words to get it out of my heart and into written words. A cup of coffee, a plethora of pillows, my favorite pen, comfy pajamas, and page after page of emptiness waiting to be filled... a perfect combination!
As I was glancing through old entries I came across a few common themes: faith in God, lack of sleep, trust in my parents, crazy late night studying, love at not-quite-first sight, extreme confusion, amazing friends, struggles with the past, needy friends, anger at God that again turns into disappointment with myself, excitement about the future, and the incredible security of knowing I am loved and cared for.
I've realized that the times when I am the most confused and least talkative are the times when I need to journal. When I need to find words to explain what I'm going through and the emotions swirling within. And it almost drives to to a panic; I have to explain, I have to find words, I have to make someone understand that it's not all in my head. I have to convince my heart that this is not a novel feeling and though Webster's 1828 may not be able to find the word it does exist--and I have to find it. Which sometimes takes 13 pages to do!
There's been a few prayers turned self-lectures. A few "God, I want You to..." turned "help me to..." A few "I feel so therefore it's true..." turned "God/the Bible/my parents say so therefore I must..." The end of the entry sometimes turns out to be 180 degrees from the beginning!
I have seen God's incredible patience as He leads me to find the answer and how He gently waits for me to return and sit in His lap again and learn from Him. He lets me run from Him and then finds me and picks me up and returns me home... how He pulls out incredible emotional band-aids, opens up His nail-scarred hands and says, "Let Me take that burden for You. Rest here and let me hold your heart."
Ah, journaling is wonderful but how I fit it into my schedule, I have no idea...
1:39am -- collapse into bed after studying until 1am, calculating how much sleep I'll get before the alarm rings
9:45am -- wake up to the annoying alarm clock, I think it's coffee time
10:06am -- scarf down a bowl of cereal, try to find a leotard that's clean
10:08am -- rush out the door to my dance class, gonna be late again
10:55am -- halfway through class my brain seems to shut down, start messing up dance combinations
11:15am -- head to the campus post office, get the first support check for my trip to Africa!
11:45am -- shower and find something cute to wear, realize I have to dress up since I won't have a chance to change before the show tonight
12:13pm -- head to the Underground food court for lunch, eat pasta by myself at a table for four
1:30pm -- walk to the library for my writing-intensive class, sit in the hall and study before class
1:50pm -- learn how to find research articles online, gonna be so much easier than previous research papers
2:55pm -- rush over to anatomy&physiology lab, studying for the weekly quiz on the way over
3:10pm -- studying brain waves and EEG traces, I'm appointed the group leader
4:50pm -- lab done early, call Sarah to see if she wants to eat with me
4:58pm -- deciding on what I want for dinner, hot turkey/provolone on ciabatta sounds good
5:25pm -- Sarah leaves for Bible study, ask the girls at the next table over if I can join them studying for the anatomy&physiology test tonight
6:13pm -- realize that I might actually know more than I thought I did, breathe a sigh of semi-relief
6:59pm -- walk into the lecture hall, start frantically filling out the scantron bubble
7:27pm -- done with the test, second in a class of 250+
7:31pm -- run over to Rudder Theater, slide into my seat right as the show starts
8:30pm -- Royal Winnepeg Ballet's "Cinderella Story" halfway done, so glad I bought the ticket back in July!
10:02pm -- show's over, my three friends from dance company my freshman year and I decide to grab dessert
10:17pm -- Emily's house, incredible ice cream sandwich/peanut butter frozen dessert
11:28pm -- the four of us having too much fun, finally decide to head home
11:47pm -- Brittany drops me off at the dorm, head up to check FB
12:11am -- thinking about grabbing my journal and a cup of tea, life doesn't stop at midnight...
Yeah, that's been my day... and pretty typical. I've been in my room for less than 30 minutes since I woke up this morning; my roommate's probably wondering if I actually live here! :-) But I like busy... it keeps my mind from retracing stuff and wondering if things would have turned out differently if only...
Been spending a lot of time by myself recently; well, when you're the first one to have any tests friend aren't very inclined to come study with you. :-) I think I'm becoming more of an introvert. I recharge with a cup of coffee in hand, earbuds cranked up to random iTunes songs, and a comfy chair--by myself. Maybe that's because I feel like I am constantly giving out and like everyone needs something from me. It's few and far between where I have friends that give as much as they take. And then I wonder: am I giving back to the same people that I take from? I have a few girls I "dump" on and then quite a large group of people that I give back to. But what about those close girlfriends? They deserve me investing in them and listening to them... If she's a coffee-lover then I'm all for pulling up a second chair... or should I learn to drink tea? Does that mean coming into her world and working out next to her, helping her make flashcards, doing Bible study with her, or sitting next to her and watching a sappy chick flick...
Well, I thought it was about time to introduce the people that I spend most of my time with! :-) So, here are a few of my random friends from college!
Sarah (left) and Melody (right) are two of the girls that I spend the most time with! They're roommates whom I met in Bible study our first semester here at A&M. Over the last year we've developed a circle of mutual friends and we spend a lot of late-nights in the library together. Sarah and I laugh over the craziest things and at times "fight" over the stupidest stuff! Our late-night guy talks and monologues on life are a total God-send and I can't imagine life without her! :-)
This is the group from my "second church." I am only able to attend the Sunday night college group hangouts, but they totally welcome me! We get together at the Sunday School leaders' home for a homemade dinner, Uno, movies, and random talks standing in the kitchen. These people are so much fun to hang out with!
Cameron and Sonia lead the Navigators ministry here at A&M. My parents have been involved with the Navs for several years, as was my oldest brother, Peter. Last year I didn't get to hang out with the Navs much, but this year I have come to love both of them and totally appreciate their way of connecting with us while still keeping up a high standard for us leaders. Last semester a few of us girls invited Sonia to watch "Twilight" with us and now she is a fellow junkie! She was almost more excited than I was to get tickets to see "New Moon" at the midnight showing! :-)
This is the entire Servant-Leader team for this year. All of these Navigators are so awesome and I love seeing their passion for life and their love for the Lord! Before school started we all got to spend some time planning for this school year and it was great to get to know them all better! Sadly, this picture was taken after I had to head back to campus early from the retreat.
Hannah (middle) is like my big sister. She led the Navigators Bible study that I was in last semester and she has been discipling me as well. She and I have a lot of laughs together, share stories from the week, encourage each other to keep going, pray for each other, and are there for each other to cry or vent or get advice about school, life, or guys. I think this picture was snapped at the Navs end of the year slip-n-slide party where I decided that she needed to get muddy before changing to go down the slide... I think it turned into a tickle fight, though!
Elana led my Bible Study with Hannah last semester, and is my co-leader this semester. She has a fresh look at the Scriptures and brings a joy to life that is super-refreshing! She makes me laugh and keeps me on my toes spiritually... two awesome things in a friend!
This is the entire Sophomore Advisor team for my freshman Honors dorm. The 13 sophomores and 1 junior are the best people to work with, stress with, and laugh with! We've been through a lot ever since February when we found out we made this year's team, but I am so glad they are there to keep me sane and allow me to vent after a crazy Honors event or difficult week of studying!
This is my awesome roommate Shelby! She's also one of the Sophomore Advisors and together we rule the South end of 3rd floor with an iron fist, the always-on coffee pot, lots of laughs, and an open-door policy! She complains to me in the mornings entirely in Spanish... and we usually joke about doing dishes for several days before we actually do them! She's been an awesome roommate!
So that's a glimpse of my life here at school. I have a few different circles of friends (which means I can usually find someone to talk to, study with, work out with, or eat a meal with at any time of day--or night!), but it's good to have a break from different aspects of my life. I laugh a lot, cry a lot, and am completely random for great lengths of time, but they all put up with me... or may even love me for it! I can't imagine going through my years here without them all! Thank God for friends!
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