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!!!

My new address!

I expect lots of letters and packages!

Shaney Lee
One Bear Place #82972
Waco, Texas 76798-2972

Fall Class Schedule

The past two days I have been in Waco for orientation at Baylor. I am now officially a Baylor student, and I have my schedule for the fall. It's pretty decently light. I am taking 14 hours this semester. I would be taking 17 but I get to skip English since I took it at ACC. :)

Chemistry 1300-Introductory Chemistry-MWF 8-8:50
Chemistry 1100-Introductory Chemistry Lab-F 12:20-1:10
Sociology 1305-Introduction to Sociology-MWF 9:05-0:55
Religion 1310-The Christian Scriptures-TTh 3:30-4:45
Theater 1314-Acting for Non-Majors-TTh 9:30-10:45
Human Performance 1117-Beginning Ballet-MWF 1:25-2:15
Chapel 1088-Chapel-MW 11:15-12:05
Chapel 1088-University 1000-F 11:15-12:05

(I have no clue whatsoever what University 1000 is...I just know it's required).

Gaining Wisdom and Spiritual Passion from Older Generations

On one of my previous blogs I wrote a post I titled The Church As Burger King, in which I mentioned briefly, among other things, that "An older Christian adult with much more life experience can give something [to a teenager that] one's peers cannot."

At the end of May I officially graduated from the youth group at my church. This fall I will move to Waco and find a church of my own, but for the summer I needed to find a Sunday School class to go to, so I decided to go with my parents to theirs, The Way and The Word. I have only gone twice but I am absolutely amazed at this class. It mostly consists of couples with children from elementary age to college age, but there are a couple older couple who have no children at home, and of course, there's me, a college student. But despite being the youngest one in the class, I'm already feeling more at home there than I ever did in the youth group. These adults have a spiritual passion that is so contagious. They are more than just a class-they really are a family! They rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn. They constantly lift each other up in prayer. They are incredibly connected. You can't sit through one of there classes without sensing the spiritual passion these people have. They are eager to learn. When the teacher asks for someone to read a passage in the Bible, there is no awkward silence!!! Someone is always willing to read from Scripture, and it's not just the same someones over and over either. And the knowledge they have about Scripture is amazing. Bill Schreyer is the teacher, and he has an incredible wealth of knowledge about the Bible and about history. In youth group, I always had an "I already knew that" during the sermons-not in a bad way, it's just that there wasn't ever much material that I already knew. The opposite is true in this class-I am an "AWANA nerd" and yet I am learning so much every class!

I am loving this class and I am so excited about how much I am going to learn this summer. The adults are amazing. I liked youth group, but it will never compare to this. Of course, the age range is very different, the youth group is much bigger, and many are there simply because their parents bring them-but I hope that one day the youth group will experience the same spiritual passion that this Sunday School class does.

Maybe if teens spent much more time with adults like the ones in this Sunday School class, then youth groups would have more spiritual passion. How can you not see how much these adults love the Lord and NOT want what they have?