Long Overdue...My Bad!

Let's see...oh my, so much to update since I haven't posted one in nearly a year.

I guess I will start with the highlights of my life since last May.

In the month of June, I travelled to Greece with a group of students from Cornerstone. It was an interesting experience to say the least. I definitely want to go back someday, especially to Crete, but I would rather go with my future husband or a group of close friends. Never again with that particular professor for many reasons that would take several hours to list. :-)

Upon return from Greece, I started work at SpringHill Camps, in Evart, MI. SpringHill is a Christian camp that has pretty much everything a kid could want. I worked as a wrangler in the horse barn, teaching riding lessons and leading trail rides. As part of a team that cared for 90 horses, my days would start between 5:30 and 6:00 am with rounding up horses in the pasture. Once in the barn, we would catch each horse individually and put them in their spot. We would groom and tack all the horses, have our morning meeting, and go to breakfast to be back by 8:30 in time for the first classes and trail rides. I have never been so physically exhausted for such a long period of time! My days would end around 11 pm, and I would wake up the next day and do it all over again. Whew!

The day after I finished work at camp, my mom and I flew down to Bogota, Colombia, to visit my Grandpa Bob and his wife Maria and her family. It was so wonderful to see them, as I haven't seen them since I was 12 or 13. It was also great to meet Maria's family and get an "insider's glimpse" into the culture, which I haven't been able to do a lot in the many places I've travelled. Grandpa Bob and Maria tooks us to some small, quaint, and beautiful towns up in the mountains. I can't explain how wonderful that week was and how badly I want to go back again!

As if I hadn't been going nonstop already for several months (literally: school to Greece to camp to Colombia), my mom and I flew in from South America to the GR airport, landing around midnight, and driving straight from the airport to my apartment at Cornerstone. I had one day to gather my wits, attempt to unpack, and get ready for classes, and then I started bright and early on Monday morning. Crazy!

Last semester was a rough one. I was still working at SpringHill on the weekends, and my classes had quite heavy workloads. In addition, I had one class that is one of those nightmarish, stereotypical college classes where the professor stands in front of the class and reads his notes aloud in monotone. It was so hard to pay attention, and that combined with my hectic schedule and lack of motivation to learn the subject matter added up to my first grade below an A- ever. Shocking! hahaha....If it had happened to me in high school I likely would have been very depressed and really hard on myself. College has given me a lot more perspective, thankfully. :-) I also joined an AMAZING Bible study last semester called SOS, short for Song of Solomon. It was an in-depth look at the way God desires us to live out our relationships. The study was so powerful that I am looking forward to the next time I can do it. Which sadly won't be for awhile since the next opportunity will be while I am studying in Spain next semester.

Christmas break was a nice respite from my semester schedule. I quit my job at SpringHill, which I miss, but I don't miss the way I felt at school when I worked there. So it came down to a matter of healthiness, and I made the right choice.

The new semester is going SO well. I am planning my last semester as president of Cornerstone's Young Educators' Society (YES). I LOVE my classes and my schedule. I'm still working in the Learning Center as a Spanish tutor, which brings such joy to my life. I want my "real job" when I graduate to be this awesome! My friend Abby, who is such a blessing to me, is teaching a Zumba class and doing a study for her senior project. So I'm taking Zumba classes on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday afternoons. It's so much fun, and a really good workout! I'm also training to walk 60 miles this summer to fight Breast Cancer. The walking is not so much a challenge as is the fundraising! In order to participate this summer I need to raise $23oo! That's a lot of money! So prayers for being able to meet this amount would be greatly appreciated. Also, because I have committed to doing this, it is complicating what I am able to do this summer job-wise.
My plans for the fall are coming together nicely, and I'm in the process of applying for my classes for Spain! Hooray!

So there it is...the past 9 months in a nutshell! Hopefully, I'll do a better job of updating more often. :-)