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!!!