A trip to Walmart...

Friday evening was some of the best fun I've had since I've been here in Iowa. Dr. Van Dine teaches OT Survey, and he and his wife invite us over in bunches on Friday nights. This week my friend Esther and I went, along with about 9 other girls and two guys. We walked to their house (just down the road) and savored the evening there. Amanda came, too, and the two guys were John and Brendan. The five of us sat at a card table together, and kept making random comments like, "Ah, a ceiling fan" or "Look! You can look outside while you're eating!" or "Ooo, cushy carpet" or "This food is amazing, real food" or "pass the bread" (you know how long it's been since I asked anyone to pass anything at the table?). It was delightful.

After supper we all sat in the living room and Dr. Van Dine asked us random questions like, "What do you like most about Emmaus?" or "What's something special about where you live?" or "What's your favorite movie?" One fun thing we discovered was that 9 of us were homeschooled! We all had similar tastes in movies...particularly musicals. John, Brendan, Esther and I decided that we'd have to start movie nights, starting with Newsies this weekend. :)

Esther made the discovery that John had a car here, and we hinted (oh, so unobviously) that a trip to Wal-mart would be nice, and the guy took the hint (as any guy with 5 sisters would :P) So Amanda, Brendan, Esther and I crammed into John's car with him and took Wal-mart by storm. We played the alphabet game on the way there, discussed some cool spiritual things we've been discovering, and talked red lights into turning green before we hit them.

Amanda went her own way at Walmart, but Esther and I stayed together, and the guys followed us around, pushing the cart. I got a grand total of candy corn, pretzel sticks and a pint of milk. Esther stocked up, and the guys bought chocolate chip cookie dough and peanut butter. The guys and I kept reminding each other of our "poor college student" status to keep ourselves from buying anything we didn't really need, and managed to restrict ourselve to those few small purchases. I spent $3.97. Wow. I'm doing good. :P

We laughed a lot. I felt like I was back with my brothers and sisters and cousins.

We couldn't find Amanda, then, so we wandered around for a while, searching, then came across Mr. and Mrs. Lange from school. Mr. Lange told us to page her, so we went to the front and paged her AND him, and then left John at the counter to go off searching again. We finally found her outside on a bench. :)

When we got back to school, Esther and I were sitting in her room when John called up and asked us if we wanted to watch a movie, so we watched Night at the Museum in the student center and ate "pretzel cookies" made with globs of cookie dough and peanut butter in between pretzels. Yum. Esther insisted that everyone who came by had to have one.

It was a fun evening. I'm thankful for fun. Life would take a lot longer if we couldn't do things like this from time to time.

Pictures from Service Day

Dirty hands proving that we DID indeed work hard. :)

Group picture!

Back of the pickup...isn't the valley lovely?

Moving logs...



"Burn the logs" on three!

This is the fire I started... :D

of weekends and such

This blog entry is in honor of the internet connection which has just decided to start working again on my computer. I haven't been able to check my email on my computer since Thursday, and I've been quite deprived. :P

I enjoyed a visit from my mom and both my grandmas this weekend! We spent a lot of good time talking, walking around campus, etc. That was fun. My homesickness is subsiding, which is really wonderful. I feel like I'm finally adjusting to college life, and fitting into the student body, both which help make me feel less like an alien in Dubuque, IA. So, yeah.

Wanna know how to ensure a quick shower? Forget to wear appropriate footwear for the shower stalls. I nearly didn't make it last night without my flipflops. I think the Lord is teaching me to be tough when it comes to other people's germs - probably I'll look back from an African hut someday and laugh at my fastidiousness. Mostly, I'm just lazy - I could've just run back to my room and switched flipflops. :P Anyway, that was very random...

My first OT Survey exam is next week. I'm not really sure what to expect. There's a lot to memorize on the study sheets Dr. Van Dine gave us. It's next Wednesday. I'd really value prayers as I study for it, and help some of the younger girls who are hoping I can help them study. :)

One of these days you'll get to read a spiritual post - about some of the things I'm learning about discipleship. But right now I'd better get back to homework.

Ah... clean room, free evening

:delicious sigh of relief:

I just finished cleaning and organizing my room. I think this is the first time it's been absolutely, completely organized since I initially moved in. I finally have my folders/binders/papers straightened out, my miscellaneous papers all filed away, and my foodstuff organized in an appropriate manner in my rubbermaid containers beneath my bed. All my fall decorations are out, my rugs have been shaken out, my floor swept, my sink washed, my trash emptied.

It's 4:00 p.m. and the only thing besides supper that I have on my schedule this evening is a phone call to one or two of my best friends. Do you have any idea what that means? Tons of homework can be accomplished without any stress or pressure. I have completed my first book review (first of three for the class) for Biblical Discipleship, and I got my first essay quiz paper back from CLBS...with a big 100% and the words "Excellent job!" written on it. Whoop! Whoop! :happy bounce: I am very happy right now. :)


Did you ever think of obeying God in connection with enjoying Him? How is that possible? Isn't obedience a duty? My teacher Mr. Sanchez talked with us this morning about how when we obey we are making it possible for ourselves to enjoy God more, because disobedience hinders our enjoyment of Him. So while our motives for obedience are generally #1 - because God says we're supposed to and #2 - because it's just the right thing to do, we should also have a third motive - for the joy that it will bring us.

Hebrews says of Jesus, "who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross..." That joy was the glory that He would recieve from the Father when He returned to heaven. If Jesus obeyed for the joy, we should, too! I think that's so cool.

Have a wonderful week!

today's schedule:

12:15 a.m. Go to bed and sleep.

6:30 a.m. Wake up with the Lord and eat oatmeal in my room while gathering my sanity

8:55 a.m. Survey of Doctrine with Mr. Glock

10:20 a.m. Chapel, or floor devos today, probably in Lisa and Rachel's room, which is across the hall from mine and definitely has "Intercultural Studies Majors" written all over it :)

10:55 a.m. CLBS (Christian Life and Bible Study) with Mr. Sanchez. Sit next to Esther, my CLBS partner. Turn in paper on Pilgrim's Progress for extra credit

12:10 p.m. Eat lunch in a hurry, which means grabbing a seat by myself to breathe for ten seconds at least. Emily of Christina might join me.

12:40 p.m. Luke with Doc Fish. Who knows who I'll sit with in that class, as Victor is always stealing seats from people so they don't sit in the same place all the time :P These young freshmen guys crack me up. :P

2:00 p.m. SWAP - two hours of custodial work, sweeping three floor stairways, cleaning the auditorium and three classrooms with Janet, one of the janitors

4:00 p.m. Student Missionary Fellowship prayer meeting in Classroom B -the one with the awesome world map that covers the entire back wall. I love that map.

5:10 p.m. Go get supper. Eat what I feel like eating. Some cottage cheese maybe.

6:30 p.m. Biblical Discipleship with Dean Glock. The best class at Emmaus, I'm convinced. Be ready for a quiz.

8:30 p.m. Drag self back upstairs and check email, flop onto bed, pull stuff out of backpack and try to remember at least something from today's classes.

10:00 p.m. Floor volleyball game. If I'm still alive at that point.

? p.m. Go to bed. Again. Twice in one day...how lucky can you get? :grin:

Of baby princesses and valiant rescuers

Last Friday I gleefully packed up and left Emmaus to visit the Allen family in Oskaloosa. Heather and Naomi were visiting for the week and I got to spend the whole weekend there with them and Mr. and Mrs. Allen and Nathan. (for those reading this who don't know who I'm talking about - Heather is my uncle Danny's wife from Wichita, Naomi is their little girl, and the Allens are Heather's parents, Nathan is Heather's brother)Anyway, it was a great weekend relaxing, studying, talking, and just being involved in family life again. Can you believe I actually got a ton of studying done? That may have had something to do with the fact that Nathan was studying for a pharmacology test, so we sort of spent most of Saturday studying out on the deck - he on pharmaseudical drugs and me on Biblical discipleship and linguistics, while Heather studied her Bible and Nomi played.



Saturday evening we went on a picnic. Isn't Nomi adorable? I loved spending time with her. She's getting so much more cuddly and people-loving. We spent some time Saturday morning walking around outside, discussing flowers, tomatoes, leaves, and pine cones and their Maker. Being with the little girlie makes me want kids of my own. :)

Well, that's my baby princess. As for the rescuers, I left Oskaloosa at 3:00 Sunday afternoon, fully intending to be back by 6:00 in the evening. Well, exactly half-way between Oskaloosa and Dubuque, my battery decided to konk out on me. There I was, an hour and a half from anyone I knew, on the side of an extremely busy highway, an emotional wreck, with a dead car. After a long series of phone calls and discussion, Mr. Allen and Nathan came to my rescue, bringing me a battery. It was a long evening. But they were so kind to come help me. I made it to Emmaus right at curfew, midnight.

What a life. :) It was really hard yesterday, but the Lord gave me a song from the hymnal I always bring around in my glove compartment.

My God, my Father, while I stray
Far from my home, on life's rough way,
Oh teach me from my heart to say,
"Thy will be done!"

What tho' in lonely grief I sigh
For friends beloved, no longer nigh,
Submissive still, I would reply,
"Thy will be done!"

Renew my will from day to day:
Blend it with Thine; and take away
All now that makes it hard to say,
"Thy will be done!"
- Charlotte Elliott

He is faithful.

random things I learned today

#1. People tend to have problems.

#2. Immature guys and girls will be automatically drawn to each other.

#3. The Lord expects a lot from His followers, and rightfully so - He is God, after all. :)

#4. I have waaay too many books in my life.


(I am using all of these plus several still in my backpack and another bag and one or two on my computer desk here)

my new name spelling

This is how I get to write my name on my papers and tests for my Intro to Linguistics class:

[əlɪzəbɛɵ skaɪlz]

Cool, eh? :D

Reminder to self

It is God who girdeth me with strength and maketh my way perfect.

A new road lies ahead
Untouched and unexplored
New dreams beckon
New life waits
And You, Jesus, are in it all.

I do not know the way
Through the dusky night
Where doubts arise
Where fears creep in
But still You hold my hand.

Jesus, please just lead me on
You know the perfect way.
You understand.
You know me well.
And I can trust Your love.

Other guides are futile – vain
Though helpful they may seem.
It’s Your turn to lead,
It’s You and me
Walking on this new-found road.

Lord, I may want to wander –
Please keep me by Your side
Following, searching
Knowing, loving
And obeying everything You say.

Hold me, Jesus.
All I want
Is what You want for me.

- Elizabeth Skiles