Nikos Fall Retreat and Learning Humility

If you asked me what sin I struggle with the most, I would tell you that pride is my greatest struggle. Humility does not come naturally to me. This weekend, God decided to give me a lesson in humility. Although it hurt, I am so thankful He did, because "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." (James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5)

For those of you who don't know, I have been involved with a ministry in Austin called Mission:Possible! since I was twelve years old. One of the ministries they have is a camping ministry, where they take inner-city kids out camping for a week or weekend. They do four camps a year-a weekend spring retreat, a week-long summer camp, a five-day summer road trip, and a weekend fall retreat. I have been a counselor at these camps since I was thirteen years old. I absolutely love this ministry with my whole heart and love being able to serve God by loving these kids. Through this ministry I have learned so much about myself, others, and God. This past weekend was the fall retreat, and I was going for my sixteenth time as a counselor.

When I got there, I was already dead tired thanks to staying up until almost two the night before talking with Jonathan, Grant, and Stephen at Common Grounds, but I made sure to get a really good night's sleep on Friday to be prepared for the kids coming on Saturday. I was the most experienced counselor there, and I was excited to get to love on these kids again...or so I thought. Looking back now, I realize that I let the fact that I had done this so many times before get to my head, and I started relying on my experience and my own strength instead of depending on God to work through me. God set it up perfectly: Friday night, Tres talked about how oftentimes we expect to have so much energy because "God will give us energy" when in reality God often give us barely enough energy to make it through the day, just so we know that it was Him working and not us in our own strength.

So Saturday comes, I wake up feeling great and excited about the kids coming. We do some last minute preparation, and the kids arrive around 10:30. My fellow counselors and I got our girls and we plunged right into the activities. During the afternoon, I actually lifeguarded for four hours straight instead of going to all the different activities with my girls, but it was okay because we actually ended up with four counselors to three girls (which NEVER happens at a Nikos retreat!) so we had a one-to-one camper/counselor ratio (which is ideal, but we also thought would never, ever happen in a million years. God is good!) I make it through the afternoon...boring but still okay. Dinner comes, and I start getting a headache. After dinner was going to be a flour bomb fight, but I KNEW there was absolutely no way I was going to be able to make it through. So I told my fellow counselors that I was going to go sleep my headache off...half an hour later I wake up and my head is KILLING me. I swear, my brain turned to lead. It felt so heavy, and it was THROBBING. As much pain as I was in, I forced myself out of the tent and went and found Mrs. Pinson, who promptly sent me to the house to get painkillers. I took the painkillers, but found myself feeling nauseous, and ever time there was a light change it felt like an explosion in my head. I thought I had a migraine, but Mrs. Pinson said it was a sinus headache (she was right). The thought of spending the night in a tent in the woods was absolutely torturous. I knew there was no way I could make it, so I called my mom to come and pick me up.

So I got home, and was thinking about how sad it was that I was missing the rest of the retreat. I didn't get a chance to know my girls, I didn't get to see God work in their lives, I didn't get to see God working in ANYONE's lives. As I was thinking about this I started consoling myself by thinking "God's purposes for the weekend are still going to be accomplished for the weekend. Even without me there. In fact, if God's purposes would have been better accomplished with me there, He would have kept me there. Like Tres said, God gives us enough energy to make it through the day. He didn't give me that energy, so His plans must be better accomplished without me there...wait a minute."

God's plan was better accomplished with me out of the way.

OUCH!

And in that moment, I realized just how much of a prideful attitude I had about the whole retreat. I had been relying on my years of experience instead of relying on God. The hilarious part was, that morning I had prayed that God would give me humility: "Lord, let me see that it is not me working, but that it is You working through me." Well, apparently God decided that the best way to teach me humility was to NOT work through me, and to work through others instead. It was as if God was saying "I do not need your experience to accomplish my purposes. I want a heart that is dependent upon Me."

Ouch, ouch, ouch!

But you know what? It's okay. I am content with what happened, because I know God has a bigger and better plan. I also know that I am not even close to finished with learning humility. It is going to be a lifelong struggle, but I know that God loves me enough to keep patiently teaching me. I hope that it doesn't take me too long to learn, because I want to be someone that God can work through. I don't want my pride getting in the way.

So, how was the retreat? "Disappointing but good". Why? Because God is good. His plans are best, and He loves me enough to work in my life, even when it's not the way I would choose. After all, those whom the Lord loves, He chastises. I swallowed a big helping of chastisement this weekend, but I know that means that God loves me and is working on my character.

Life part 2

...there was a period of time for about 24 hours when I was really super worried about her. Reason being that I have a horrible tendency to assume worst-case scenarios. In this case, worst case scenario would be a brain tumor. I had several people tell me "It's probably nothing," but that didn't keep me from worrying one bit. This is probably because the possibility of a brain tumor hits waaaaaaay too close to home-my best friend died from a brain tumor when we were thirteen. Thank the Lord Shannon is completely okay, but that thought process got me thinking about death and life.

Growing up, I experienced the death of someone very close to me twice. The two experiences couldn't have been more polar opposites. As I already said, when I was thirteen, my best friend died from a brain tumor. This was very sudden (she died less than a week after she was diagnosed), and totally unexpected. Even when I heard the diagnosis, I was positive that if anyone could overcome something like that, Adrienne could. She was so full of life. When she did pass away, I was devastated. I had never cried so hard in my life, and I'm not sure I've ever cried as hard since. I was ANGRY at God. It took weeks of searching and seeking before I finally came to the conclusion that I still believed in God, and that I believed that He is good. Although the experience made my faith so much stronger, it also started me down a path that could have easily caused me to walk away from my faith.

In complete contrast, when I was seventeen, my great-grandmother died at age 104. Unlike Adrienne's death, Nana's death was completely expected, and the "dying process" had taken place over several months. I was not upset when she passed away. In fact, I thanked God that she was in a better place, no longer in pain. I didn't even cry until over a month after she passed away.

I was thinking about these two ladies of faith and the vastly different experiences I had when the Lord called them home. But then I realized that there was one thing both of them had in common.

Both of them had honored God with their lives and fulfilled His purpose for them.

And I started thinking-if I were to die tomorrow, would I be ready? Could people say that I had honored God with my life and fulfilled His purpose for me?

I want to live life ready to die. But what does that look like? I started thinking about all the different things I wanted to do with my life. God has given me a dream to adopt a large family. I'm currently studying to be a nurse. When will God's purpose for my life be complete? After the last child has grown and left the house? After I serve God as a nurse for so many years?

But then I stopped, and I thought...what if I died tomorrow? Could I give up my dreams if God would be glorified more in my death? If God were to be more glorified in my death, then how would I measure the life I have lived so far? How do I know if I am ready to die?

Then the answer came to me...all I need is Jesus. And I realized that as long as I am learning to love Jesus more and more each day, I am ready to die. When I think about Adrienne, the first thing that comes to my mind wasn't the times we would look in magazines and point out which guys were cute and which guys were ugly. The first thing that comes to my mind isn't even doing dance ministry together. The first thing that comes to my mind is...she loved Jesus. Adrienne was ready to die because she loved Jesus, and served Him as a result of that love.

I don't know when God is going to call me home. Although Nana died peacefully in her sleep, there was a moment several months before that when I was visiting her in the rehabilitation home when she started to suffocate from fluid buildup in her lungs. I remember standing there helplessly waiting for EMS to arrive, thinking "I am going to watch my own flesh and blood die right here in front of me!" God didn't call Nana home at that moment-but He could have. He can call me home at any time.

I want to be ready. I want to live ready to die. I want love Jesus.

In the end, that's all that matters.

Life part 1

Tonight I decided I wanted to write about two things. One, I just wanted to write about what's going on in my life. Two, I wanted to write down some serious thoughts I've been having. I'm going to separate that into two posts, just for the sake of my sanity. :)

My nails are now short. Yes, I know that seems really random, but it's actually a big deal for me. Reason being that I FINALLY kicked the nail-biting habit PERMANENTLY about a month or so ago. Since I finally kicked the habit I've only cut my nails twice, and it is a really scary experience!! Thanks to probably around fourteen years of nail-biting, I don't know how to use the nail clippers! Last time I trimmed my nails I was scared of cutting too much off and barely cut anything off-just enough that they were no longer getting in the way of typing. On Tuesday I was thinking that my nails had gotten too long again, and considered cutting them, but didn't do it. That night at swing dance I was dancing with Stephen, and we were doing some move where my hand was sliding down his, only I wasn't actually supposed to let go, but thanks to sweaty hands I was about to lose my grip...so I increased the pressure of my hand on his hand, and all of a sudden he called out, "Ow, ow, nails!" I hadn't even thought about that. I'm not used to having long nails! I felt bad about it-then later I felt REALLY bad when I saw what I actually did to him. I didn't just scratch him like I thought. I cut him. Definitely time for the nails to be cut. This time I cut off more than I wanted. But that's okay, because the nikos fall retreat is this weekend, and short nails are better for camping.

Awana tonight!!! I LOVE MY SPARKIES!!! For some reason only two of my five sparkies showed up tonight, one brought a guest. The boys were HYPER tonight, but for some reason I didn't feel like my patience was being tried. I guess I just love them too much to get upset with them. :) This will sound weird, but I feel like since coming to Highland I've been both promoted and demoted. I've been promoted because I'm no longer a leader-in-training, I am a full blown leader. But I also feel demoted (I wish there was another term I could use that wasn't so negative-sounding) because I'm the new person. Back at home, my family was the first to arrive and the last to leave. If someone had a question, I was probably the first person they would ask. That's no longer the case here. Things are definitely run WAY differently at Highland than they are at Grace. But I'm okay with that. I love my sparkies, and I love serving God. :D

On Monday, I talked to my sister Shannon, and she told me she had been having dizzy spells. This made me REALLY worried. Turns out she just had hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), but...

(continuation of my thoughts in part two)

This makes me laugh!

I think this is hilarious.

As we all know, girls require time and money.

Girls=Time x money

And, of course, "Time is money"

Time=Money

So therefore

Girls=Money x money= money^2

As we've all been told, "Money is the root of all evil"

Money=(Evil)^1/2

Substitute that into the equation:

Girls=(evil^1/2)^2

Bringing us to the conclusion that

Girls=Evil

Ballroom Dancing

"Dancing, dancing, dancing...Shaney, do you ever study?"

Well, believe it or not, I somehow ended up with all easy classes this semester. No joke, my workload is actually easier now than it was in high school. So the answer is, yes, I do study...but I also literally spend more time dancing than I do studying. No joke.

Last night there was a ballroom dance in Hewitt, which is about fifteen minutes from Baylor. Will picked me up at about 7:05 and we got there early, around 7:20-ish. We were the first ones from Baylor there. At about 7:40 they started the lesson, which was a few east coast swing moves. They were very fun and easy to learn. It helped that I got paired with Alex, who is a really good dancer. The lady teaching the lesson kept staring at me the whole time. At first I thought it was just me, but then Alex mentioned "She keeps staring at you." It made me a little nervous-was I doing something wrong? Or was it Alex? I thought he was leading me perfectly. But she never came over to correct us. Later that night, she came up to me and Shane after we had finished dancing one of the dances and commented that we were both really good. According to Shane, it's rare to get compliments like that. So that made me happy. :)

Shane and I dancing the tango.

After the lesson was the dancing. And then I realized that the majority of the guys we brought from Baylor were swing guys and knew none of the other dances. Some of the guys knew how to waltz, a few knew how to rhumba, a couple knew salsa...but that was pretty much it. Only two guys knew all of the dances-Shane and Matthew. I tried to avoid hogging Shane so that other girls could have a chance to dance with a guy who knew the dances, but I still believe I ended up dancing with him more than anyone else. Matthew was there with his partner, Alaena, and they are GOOD. Normally I'm not intimidated by guys who are better dancers than me, but for some reason I felt a little nervous about asking Matthew to dance, so I waited all the way until the last Rhumba. Looking back, I regret that a little bit. Matthew does more than just basic stuff, but I'm almost always able to follow him. I wish I had gotten in a salsa as well. Oh well.

Shane attempts to teach me a salsa move...it didn't quite work.

This dance was a little different from dancing in Ft. Worth because it seemed all of the older people had their partners that they danced with the entire night. I only got asked by two guys who weren't from Baylor to dance-the instructor asked me to dance a waltz, and another man asked me to dance a swing. So out of 34 dances, 32 of them were danced with Baylor people. Some of them I would just ask a random guy to dance and teach him the basic step for the dance. A couple of them I had no clue what the basic step was, so I just grabbed a guy named Austin and told him "I don't care what you make up, just do something." And he definitely didn't disappoint. Those dances were fun.

Afterwards we went to Dairy Queen and got food. Then Kevin, Will, and myself went with Katie to her apartment and played a game of apples to apples before heading home for the night.

I went home happy :)

An Evening Full of Dancing

Thursday evening was an evening filled with dancing. If you know me, you know I LOVE dancing, and having an evening full of it made me very, very happy!

First was ballroom dancing at 6. We continued learning the rhumba and added on a couple moves. Jonathan Pinto came a little late, around 6:30-ish, after they had already finished teaching. So Shane gave him a one-on-one lesson, and had me come over and help him teach. So most of the class for me was spent between Jonathan and Shane. But it's alright, I still got to dance with a variety of guys. At the end of class, Shane decided he wanted to try the girl part, so I did the guy part. It was definitely weird, and I don't lead very well. Nevertheless, it was fun and entertaining. I can't wait to continue learning new dances.

Ballroom dancing ended at 7:45, swing was at 9. Several of the girls at ballroom had been wearing skirts and dresses, and I decided that I like the way their skirts flowed while they danced, so I went back to my dorm and changed into a dress. Swing dance was SO much fun. The teaching time hardly took any time at all, so there was a lot more time for dancing. I got to dance with a much wider variety of guys than usual. One guy commented that he really enjoyed when girls wore skirts while dancing and was happy that I had decided to wear one. It really is so much more fun to dance in a skirt. I think I'm going to make it a habit to wear a skirt or dress to swing dance.

After swing dancing myself, Johnny, Ashley, Richard, Andrew, Tracey and Grant went to Wild West for Grant's 22nd birthday. For those of you not living in Waco, Wild West is a country dancing club/bar. Grant and I got there first. Grant went up to the door, showed his ID to the bouncer, got his 21+ wristband, and walked inside. I got out my ID and showed it to the bouncer, then stuck out my hand, expecting him to take his permanent marker and mark a big X on my hand to show I'm under 21. Instead, the bouncer puts a 21+ wristband on me. I was way too surprised and dumbfounded to say anything. Before you ask: NO, I was not dressed like a slut. In all seriousness, I would be proud to meet the Lord Jesus Christ Himself in what I was wearing that night. NO, I did not flirt with bouncer in any way, shape or form. I don't even remember smiling. All I did was hand him my ID-which, by the way, has "Under 21" printed at the top and is lengthwise instead of widthwise. I honestly have no earthly clue why the bouncer decided to give me a wristband instead of an X. I'm not gonna lie, it was tempting to take advantage of the wristband and try a drink, but I decided against it. One, it would still be illegal, but two, the more pressing reason, I decided that I didn't want to try any alcoholic drink for the first time the night before an 8am class. I feel bad that that's the reason I decided against it, not because it would be wrong...oh well. Point is, I didn't try anything.

Anyways, Wild West was a lot of fun, although I've heard it's better if you go earlier. Apparently if you go before midnight, they will play all country songs, meaning you can actually do real dancing (two step, texas two step, and maybe swing) the whole time. After midnight they start playing rap and hip hop along with the country, which means that some songs you can't really dance-it's just a bunch of people grinding up on each other. Note to self: Next time you go to wild west, go earlier. The country dances were a lot of fun, especially with Grant. Grant and Richard also decided to try swinging to some of the hip hop songs, which was fun. I learned a new line dance. Johnny took Ashley and myself home at one.

I woke up this morning EXHAUSTED. I still managed to make it to my 8am class on time and not fall asleep, although I didn't get to eat breakfast beforehand. Luckily, my class got out REALLY early so I got to eat breakfast at Memorial before my 9:05 class. It was at breakfast when I realized just how tired I was when Shane came up beside me and said something to me, and I DIDN'T HEAR HIM. Nevertheless, I had an AMAZING time last night and wouldn't have chosen to do anything differently. I just need a nap...

Tuesday and Wednesday

Tuesday-Acting class at 9:30. We're working on improv. Our professor had some guys from the improv comedy troupe at Baylor come and show us some stuff and play some games with us. It's a lot of fun, but I'm learning just how bad at improv I really am.

Christian Scriptures class was at 3:30. We got our scores for the first test back. Apparently, I really am an Awana nerd. In all honesty, except for the map locations, I didn't really study that much for this test. I mostly went off of my own knowledge, plus what I remembered from class lectures and readings. I reviewed my notes from class lectures, but besides that I didn't do much in the way of studying. Despite that, I got a 96 on the test. Class average was 78. When asked what the highest score was, the professor replied "96 or 98". Wow. So I had either the highest or second highest score in the class. I almost feel guilty. But in all honesty, I am just really happy that I grew up on this stuff.

Tuesday evening-swing dancing!!! We learned the a couple charleston variations. I realized that I still have a bad habit of leading instead of following-something I'm definitely working on. I also realized that I don't provide much resistance, so I'm making it harder for the guy to send signals because my arms are kind of limp. Definitely something I'm working on. Several of us went to Common Grounds afterwards. Will offered to buy me something, but I didn't really know what I wanted, and I wanted to try something new, so I said "Surprise me." He got me a smoothie called a strawberry bomb and it was very delicious. Tracey told us about upcoming swing events, and we talked about how cool it would be to put on a swing show at common grounds.

Wednesday-typical Wednesday. Chemistry-alright but not exciting. Sociology-still my favorite class. We watched a video of one of our classmates, Jake, showing us his living space. We talked about socialization and watched a video clip of the Breakfast Club. The point of the clip was how all the teenagers were talking about why they acted the way they did, but as they did I started crying because of the anger and frustration they all obviously held. On Sunday, Kyle Dunn (college pastor) talked about how oftentimes we judge non-christians instead of letting our hearts break for them. God is definitely working in my heart about that. There was a time when I wouldn't have been able to get past all the s-bombs and f-bombs and actually listen to what the characters were saying. This time, I listened to the emotions behind their language-and I just let myself cry. There are real people in the world hurting like this. I know that wasn't the point of showing the video clip-but that's what I got out of it.

Awana Wednesday evening!!! I got my permanent group of sparkies for the year. I have three boys and two girls, all second graders. I already absolutely love them. During game time, one of my girls, Aidan, asked to go to the bathroom, so I went with her. As we were headed back to game time, she said, "There's my daddy!" and ran down the hall. I looked up to see who she was running towards-and it was Kevin Dougherty, my sociology professor!!! That's just WAY too cool of a coincidence. Okay, so I don't believe it's a coincidence, I believe it's a God thing. It's just so weird, though. I saw Aidan's last name and thought "I have a professor with that last name". I saw Aidan, and she has vibrant red hair JUST like her daddy-and it still didn't click. It didn't even cross my mind. When Aidan found out that her daddy was my professor, she thought it was the coolest thing. The first thing she told the other girl, Madelyn, when we got back to game time was "My daddy teaches our leader!"

Monday 9/15/18

So I woke up and got ready for classes yesterday morning, and was ready to go when I realized that I didn't know where my ID was. This is VERY bad. Life at college basically revolves around the ID card-it's what I need to get into my dorm, what I need to eat, what I need to pay for stuff, what I need to get credit for chapel attendance...I spent about 10 minutes searching for it when I realize that it really is nowhere to be found. I knew that if I didn't leave right then, I would be late to class. But I also knew that I also may not be able to get into my room later. Deciding that school was definitely a high priority, I left and went to Chemistry, then to Sociology. Afterwards I went back to my dorm, managed to get inside the building, and obtained an emergency access code from the front desk to get into my room. Once I got inside my room I searched EVERYWHERE for my ID but couldn't find it anywhere. Finally I decided it was going to take less time to go get a new ID than to search and find my old one. So I left, hopped on the bus to go to Robinson tower, and got a new ID. It literally took 30 seconds once I got inside the building to get my new ID. The bus route is a 15-minute route, so I decided that waiting for the bus wasn't worth it and walked back. (Yes, I crossed under the freeway...don't freak out.) I missed chapel, unfortunately, but I would have needed an ID to get credit for being there anyway. So the morning was somewhat eventful. The rest of the afternoon was not.

Monday evenings are latin dance. I've had latin dance lessons before but I'm not very good. I was very happy though, because I got to dance with a couple guys who REALLY knew what they were doing and pushed me to improve. Even between the beginning of the evening and the end, I felt dramatic improvement in my technique. I'm excited about continuing to learn and improve. :)

Great news!!!!

I called my cousin Amanda earlier today, and I found out that Yomarrah, my cousin Nestor's girlfriend, accepted Christ as her Savior!!! Praise the Lord!!!! I am so excited!!! There is a new child in the kingdom...

Michelle Kick's birthday party and Highland Baptist Church

On Saturday, the campus got soaked thanks to a thunderstorm from Ike. Thanks to that, I stayed inside the dorm pretty much all day and did almost nothing. That was pretty much going to be my whole day, but around 7 Grant from swing dance instant messages me and asks if I want to go to a swing get-together for the president, Michelle Kick's, birthday, at 8. I said sure. So Grant picked me up about 7:50 and we headed over to the party. We just ate cake and hung around for the first hour or so until Stephen and Johnny showed up. We then proceeded to watch the movie Kung Pao. WORST MOVIE EVER. Total waste of time. Shane showed up in the middle of the movie. Michelle, Shane, and the other girl (I feel bad that I can't remember her name) were all cracking up over the movie. Kevin thought the movie had its moments. Stephen sat there with this "You've got to be kidding me. I can't believe I'm watching this," look on his face the entire time (except for one point where he started playing with Michelle's dog, Libby), and Johnny alternated between looking miserable and laughing at Stephen's face. I alternated in between points when I was trying to decide whether I was going to laugh at the movie, or cry because it was just so horrible. Most of the time I did neither and just sat there. Johnny said that I made some funny faces too. I think Stephen adequately summed up the movie when he said "I can already feel the brain cells dying." After the movie we played Catch Phrase. Johnny and I did a good job playing off of each other. Unfortunately, I kept messing up and guessing when it was the OTHER team's turn. The swing people there got a heavy dose of my competitiveness. I kept getting really excited and would do things like yell "MAN OVERBOARD" at the top of my lungs. I think I was just sleep deprived...

After several rounds of Catch Phrase, we decide it's time to leave, and Johnny volunteered to drive me back to campus. We walked out the door and I got to see Stephen's car, windows covered with writing saying stuff like "QT pie", "Mwah!", and "God's gift to women". Apparently some freshman girl is completely infatuated with him. I jokingly warned him not to let it get to his head, or else I would slap him.

So this morning I went and visited Highland Baptist Church. And my search for a church here at college is now officially over. I have fallen in love with Highland and am making it my home church. The pastors are AMAZING. They are not afraid to speak truth. Both of their sermons were amazingly convicting. The people are very friendly, the worship is awesome. Highland is just enough like Grace that I'm comfortable there-but it's definitely NOT Grace. It's funny, last week when I talked to my mother she said that I should just choose a church as soon as possible and stick with it, rather than just spending a long time "church shopping"-especially since I only have two years here before moving to Dallas. Considering just how many churches are in Waco, I thought "yeah right". Well, once again, mother is always right. As soon as the first service was over I knew Highland is where God wants me. Praise the Lord!

I miss...

Thanks to technology I can communicate with friends and family back home whenever I want. Because of this, I haven't really been too homesick. But today I became just a little bit homesick when I realized what is missing here at Baylor.

Though I can talk to anyone I want pretty much whenever I want, I miss being able to hug friends and family. My "love language" is physical touch, and I really miss being able to physically relate to everyone back home.

Other than that, everything at college is going well. I finished my first round of tests/papers/projects and did well in all of them. The Latin dance society and Social dance society started this week and I am thoroughly enjoying them (though not nearly as much as swing).

And I've met a couple Baylor graduates who were homeschooled. Pretty neat.

AWANA and classes

Last night I went to Highland Baptist Church to work with their Awana program!!! I thought I would be working with the Cubbies, but when I got there they told me they needed more help with the Sparkies. One of the leaders was out sick so I was given a group right away. It was only four kids, consisting of three boys and one girl, all first graders. I loved it!!! Highland's program is definitely larger than Grace's, and they run things a little differently too, but I am excited to be involved and to get to know people. I LOVE AWANA and I am so glad to be working in Awana again!!!!! I get my permanent group next week. I'm pretty sure I'll be working with 2nd graders but we'll have to wait and see!

Classes are going well. I have finished my first exams in chemistry and religion, my first paper in sociology, and my first project in acting. I definitely have A's in all my classes so far.

I have a couple of prayer requests:
*First, I have been suffering from bad insomnia. NOT because I'm upset or anything, because I'm not, I am perfectly fine and happy...I thought it was because of being sick, but even as I have been getting better I have not been sleeping better...actually, I've been sleeping worse. If I want to actually sleep through the night, I have to take PM allergy meds, but then I am exhausted in my morning classes. I can never review my notes after class because I am so tired that I just go back to my dorm and take a nap. It's gotten so bad that when I went with a group of friends out for coffee after swing dance I fell asleep on one of my friend's shoulders. I'm guessing it's just new surroundings that I'm not used to, because I see no other reason why I should have trouble sleeping. Pray that I'll start sleeping normally without the use of sleep aids.
*Second, pray that I would find a close Christian girl friend here on campus. I actually know several really neat Christian guys here on campus, and I've met many Christian girls, but for some reason I see the Christian guys consistently and not the girls...I'm hoping that between activities such as Awana and the national student nursing association, I'll meet one or two girls that I can be really close with. I have plenty of close Christian girl friends that I can talk to, but no one who can be a physical presence here on campus, who I can go to when I need a hug. Pray that God would bring me a close Christian girl friend.

*Gasp* Shaney is updating her blog!

Yes, that's right, Shaney is actually on here to give an update on college life!

Move in day was August 25th, and immediately all the freshman were swept up in the chaos that is Welcome Week at Baylor. They had so many different activities it was crazy!!! In a way I was happy because it gave me a lot of chances to meet and get to know people, but in another way I wish I could have had more time to myself to be able to have more time to do things such as walk around campus and learn where everything is, finish unpacking, etc. But I am definitely glad that their were plenty of opportunities to meet people.

I've been to three different churches now-University Baptist Church (David Crowder's church), Calvary Baptist, and Columbus Avenue Baptist. Calvary, though a nice church, is a definite no (they ordain women pastors), Columbus is a maybe, and I would like to go back to UBC. I also would like to go to Highland Baptist and Antioch. I'm going to Highland to work as an Awana leader, so I'm probably going to go there for church as well, but I obviously have to visit it first before I make that decision. There is also Church Under the Bridge here in Waco, so I'd like to go there once or twice a month.

Classes are going well. Overall, I am liking all of my classes, but I am completely, thoroughly in love with Sociology 1305. My professor is AMAZING and I love his teaching style!!! If I could guarantee that I would have all of my classes with him, I would seriously consider switching my major over to sociology. As of right now, I'm thinking I'll take social statistics as an elective next semester, just so I can have another class with Kevin Dougherty. He's that good.

Chapel is a lot of fun. Phil Vischer, the creator and multi-character voice of VeggieTales, spoke at chapel yesterday. The Hastings drove up to see him (and visit me in the process). We stuck around afterwards and got to talk to him and get our picture taken with him. Afterwards, I took them to eat at Brooks hall (the coolest cafeteria on campus) and then took Paul & Christina to see my dorm. I was so excited to get to see them again!!!


I think I've finalized my extra-curricular activities this semester. Most of my social life seems to be revolving around the social dance societies. There are three on campus-the social dance (ballroom) society, the latin dance society, and the swing dance society. A lot of people (including myself!) think it's kind of crazy to join all three, but I absolutely LOVE dancing with all of my heart, and I realized that I will never have access to a dance education for this cheap and this accessible ever again after these two years, so I better take advantage of it now. I'll drop one or two if my school load ever gets too heavy, but so far it looks like my load is going to be really light this semester.

Then there's the national student nursing association, awana, and IF I have time, volunteering at the salvation army soup kitchen.

Swing dance society has basically taken over my life. It seems the people that I am getting to know the best here are all in the swing dance society. We've already taken a road trip up to Ft. Worth to go swing dancing for four hours straight and I LOVED it!!!! Maybe in a later post I'll introduce y'all to some of the people in the swing dance society and share some stories, but right now I need to get going on Chemistry homework. I have my first exam tomorrow. I'm not too worried because it's all basic stuff that I learned in high school, but you can never be too prepared!!!