Snow Day

I predicted it.

I was going to have a snow day on my first day of student teaching.

I woke up this morning at 4:30am, pulling the blinds back to my apartment parking lot dressed in inches of white. "Snow day!" I cheered to myself as I jumped back in bed. I later woke around 6:15am to confirm my suspicion, and was enthusiastically congratulated when "Reading School District" flashed across the screen.

No one is ever too old to have a snow day.

Rather than spending my Wednesday observing a 5th grade class at my first placement; Northwest Elementary School, I finished an internship application for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship; a possible job opportunity for next year. I was thankful to have the time to thoroughly complete the application, along with some time to enjoy shopping with my roommate Sarah and scrapbooking while watching a movie with my roommate Nadine.

After completing the application, I turned to Nadine to share an answer with her, remarking that "sometimes we have no idea just how impactful we are as part of God's plans until we answer a question about it."

"We don't give ourselves enough credit," I told her.

Not that witnessing or discipling or journeying alongside someone as they come to know Jesus is about "giving ourselves credit," it's just that sometimes, we don't think that we "really make a difference" when in fact, we do.

Take a look at the response I shared with Nadine:

Name one person, not a follower of Jesus at the time, with whom you’ve talked during this school year about following Jesus. In what ways did you speak and model the Gospel to this person? What happened?

This past semester, my best friend and I decided to co-lead a small group for some upper-classmen women. One of these ladies in particular has been a close friend of mine since freshmen year. In the past, knowing she wasn’t a follower of Jesus, but seemed interested in why I was, I’ve comforted or encouraged her with scripture, discussed with her some major apocalyptic questions, and even bought her a Bible for herself. I invited her to large group Albright Christian Fellowship meetings, which she attended a few times throughout freshmen year before stopping, and to our first camping retreat that same year. I’ve taken her to Hope’s Hangout, an after-school program which serves inner-city youth. Whenever hanging out, whether at dinner, at a game night, or at a party, I’ve always been conscious to model other aspects of the Gospel to her (and others) through demonstrating a loving, caring, and respectful attitude towards myself and others.

This year, she immediately accepted the small group invitation, exclaiming that she and another friend were “just talking about wanting to do something like this.” Since the small group has begun she has hardly missed a meeting. Within small group time, we catch up on “life details,” discuss scripture, pray, and watch Grey’s Anatomy together. (I’ve learned to tolerate the show; the things I do for Jesus!) Prompting the group with questions and discussion, my friend has eagerly asked questions of her own; bringing up points of confusion and discussing significant pieces to the passages in response to the prompts. She loved learning that Jesus’ first miracle involved turning water into wine: Jesus wants us to have fun, and learning that Jesus is not a boring, soft-spoken, pacifist as conveyed in a Vintage-21 You Tube video, but an intelligent, risk-taking, and creative person! She even takes notes during discussion!

My friend and I spend time outside of small group together, too. We’ll sometimes eat dinner together, attend a party together, or head to the bar with some friends on the weekend. During these times, we’ll not always have direct conversation about Jesus or faith, but she’ll tell me stories about how her and her friend decided to give up gossiping or how my relationship with her boyfriend has served as a positive model for her relationship with her boyfriend. She’s expressed interest in continuing a small group this semester, and has admitted during some reflection time in small group that “it’s easy for her to read the gospel and be amazed at Jesus, but it’s hard for her to think about changing a lot of her lifestyle choices if she ‘follows Jesus.’” I’m excited to continue to walk alongside my friend as she adventures through this next part of her journey. I know that she’ll forever be a great friend of mine, and her journey with Jesus has been both inspirational and encouraging.

I never realized the impact that my friendship with my friend could have with her relationship with Jesus. All this time, I felt guilty because I had "not done enough" to share the gospel with her, yet what I didn't realize was that God's been working in my friend's heart for four years-regardless of my awareness.

Wanting our friends to love and know Jesus as we do, too many times we "beat ourselves up" because we "don't do enough." It's important to remember that before Jesus began quoting any scripture, he formed relationships with the people around him. He dined with them (Mark 2), sincerely listened to them (John 4), and empathized with others over the death of a friend (John 11).

People were fascinated by what he had to say because he was relational with them first.

As I continue to enjoy reflecting on the relationships which God has blessed me with, I pray that I can follow Jesus not only in attitude and love, but in his model for ministry.

What Jesus Didn't Do

Below is an article by Nathan Plye that the leadership team of my campus' InterVarsity Christian Fellowship read and discussed during our pre-semester training this past Sunday. Ironically (or not-so-ironically) the article raises some pretty interesting discussion starters about limitations and expectations; two issues that are recently "hot" on my personal reflection radar. The article can be found on relevantmagaizine.org.




If you wanted to meet every American in your lifetime, you’d have about 10 seconds to shake hands with each person and exchange names.

It would take one hundred years. You couldn’t sleep, couldn’t eat, and most importantly couldn’t wash your hands. (I bet you’d get real sick.)

In other words, it would be impossible. There is no way you could meet every single American in your lifetime. I was pondering this fact recently when someone told me that the world population at the time of Jesus was likely similar to that of modern day America.

After considering this for a while, I came to a bold conclusion. Steady yourself. Call me crazy, but I concluded that Jesus did not meet every person on Earth in his 30-plus years here. I’m not saying He couldn’t have. I’m just saying He probably didn’t. Now, certainly He ministered to hundreds and thousands; Scripture is clear about that. But the larger part of the world He probably never spoke to. It’s likely there were sick people that He didn’t heal, miserable people He didn’t comfort and hungry people He never fed.

I think there is something important to learn here, but we must be clear. As we read the gospels, we see Jesus always quick to heal anyone who came to Him. He wasn’t running away from crowds or screaming at the mob of lepers like in the famous scene in Jesus Christ Superstar.

He was more than willing and able. It’s just that He had only a certain amount of time and a certain group of people to whom He was called to minister. And that’s it. He came to do His Father’s will and nothing else.

It may sound strange to say it, but the idea has lifted a great burden off my shoulders since it came into my mind. Jesus, whom we are to imitate, had a finite to-do list in His earthly life.

So do you.

You can’t feed every AIDS orphan. You won’t house every homeless person you pass. There are thousands of cities you should never visit and billions of people out there that you are not meant to minister to. You should find peace in this. I do. In fact–this may sound callous–but I find peace in the ability, when I’m passing so many people on the street, to say to myself, “I may or may not minister to you.”

It seems crazy, right? But I know I’m not the only one who has felt this weight. Like my buddy Chad said, “When I chose my kid for Compassion International, I felt like the guy in the pet store who wants to take home every single puppy.”

But we can’t. And we shouldn’t–we’re on a team. We all need to be reminded of this because there is a certain tendency for sensitivity to go hand in hand with an egotistical and absurd belief that it is my job is to save the world. But if St. Paul said it once he said it a million times: you are a part of the whole. You play your part and only your part.

That’s a relief. I couldn’t even meet everybody in my own country, much less remember their names. (I know this because my record is remembering just 5 new names at once–I set it just this past Sunday during the turn-and-greet part of the service.)

God has indeed called us to go and preach the Gospel to everyone. But understand this: Christ’s earthly ministry set an example for us in its limits. You are to play your specific role in the body of Christ just as, when He was here on earth, He played His role in the body of Christ.

Can it be said too often? Look to Jesus as your model. We must find our role if we are to accomplish His redemptive plan. Once we find our fit, we as a body can link arms and form a giant chain to sweep across the land and search for every lost soul like all the townies looking for Jim Carrey in The Truman Show.

We are inseparably linked. In this knowledge, I find freedom. It’s a different kind of freedom, being linked to the whole. But it’s the best kind. So it is, whenever I pass people on the street, I can say, “I may or may not minister to you, but somebody will.”

Because I’m on team that will not lose. And I can rest in this truth.

Graffiti Board

My final class at Albright College will finish tomorrow.

I'm done classes at Albright.

Forever.

It has been quite an enjoyable "interim" (January term). As I described in a previous post, it has been a time for me to rejoice in "MJ time," celebrate friendship with others, and work on my "domestic skills" of cooking. With the exception of the cooking thing, I met my goals efficiently, and after some final presentations in class tomorrow, my interim will cease.

I'm excited about my final project. It's objective was very appropriate for the last project that I'll ever create for an Albright class. The project required us students to create anything, whether a game, poem, dance, painting, etc. to symbolize our personal growth throughout the class. Tomorrow, each student is expected to share his/her project with the class.

I chose to do some graffiti for my project.

Not real graffiti of course (I'm not that talented), but instead, I represented my feelings through an activity called a "graffiti board." This activity was introduced within our education theatre class. It's similar to a brainstorming web; a topic is written in the middle of a board, piece of paper, etc. and participants are invited to come and record words, pictures, etc. to represent their ideas about that topic. For example, if the central topic is food, one could draw a picture of a pizza slice, write "Chinese food," or do a combination of both! With the topic of "educational theatre, my final project ended up looking a bit like this:


Organized chaos at first glance, hunh? It's interesting, however, because as one chooses to admire the graffiti a bit closer, one can see that a theme of words and numbers draw itself across the posterboard from 1-15. Each of these days, separate by by different colored shapes (day 1 is a blue square, day 2 is a light blued circle, day 3 is a green square, etc.) summarizes a "theme" for what was learned that day.

What I loved about this project was that it challenged me to understand the value of moments of reflection and expressing that reflection in ways that illustrate intentional periods of growth.

I suppose that's not completely true. I've always been aware that reflection is valuable, I just never have taken the time out of my schedule to do it.

This has always been a problem in my personal journey of understanding myself and coming to know Jesus. While I've always been quick to adventure on self-discovery by enthusiastically joining clubs, meeting new people, and taking risks, I've never quite taken the time to reflect on such opportunities and experiences. Instead, I always find myself too exhausted from the day's events to record a special moment or to ponder a theme that summarizes my growth for the day.

Even more, I hardly make time to quietly sit with God in prayer or to reflect on Jesus' teachings so that I can record a special moment or ponder a theme that summarizes my growth or understanding with Him.

If you want to grow in understanding yourself and Jesus, not reflecting is not an option.

Not making the time to reflect-to record a thought, to sit and think about the day, to make quiet time for prayer or hearing from God is unacceptable. Understandable, it's hard work. Many times, whether it be before the day's agenda or after a night's activities, we're too tired to sit and reflect- it's just one more thing to do! And yet, we wonder how our life can feel so "purposeless" when we fill it with activities, service, and "good, Christ-like" things to help others comes to known Jesus.

When seeking God's word, scripture reminds us that God speaks to us in whispers.

• The LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by."Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. ( 1 Kings 19:11-13).
  

I want to be okay with have moments of silence, quiet, and reflection.

I want to hear God speak to me in whispers.

I think I'll continue to jot down a word or two to summarize a "theme" for my day. I'll expect that these records will extremely helpful over the next few weeks. Perhaps some of them will appear in my blog, or perhaps, I'll have to make another graffiti board.

Perfection

I just finished a very interesting conversation over the phone with Adam. After Adam mentioned that he was bored, I enthusiastically began asking him a few "romantic questions" from a cheesy couples' question dating book that I grabbed a few years ago. After a few "warm up" questions, ene of the questions asked, "What is one personality trait that you possess that is a bit out of the norm compared to others around you?"

I chose to discuss my "personality trait" to constantly drive after perfection within everything I do. Although Adam has been well-aware of this personality trait since he read an essay I had written in my junior year of high school pertaining to "my" Scarlet Letter (a "P" for Perfectionist), I proceeded to explain how I aim to externally display to others a (false) sense of perfectionism. Whether one were to walk through my unusually-tidy college apartment, marvel at my unique collection of photographs and keepsakes from significant events in my life (homecoming, prom, birthdays, etc.), or simply come across me in passing, I confess this egocentric, unrealistic, and downright disgusted desire for others to envy me.

I told Adam, "I want people to look at me, read about me in the newspaper, hear about me in friends' conversations, and say, 'I want her life.'"

Of course, I realize the immaturity-and in insincerity- in that statement. I feel even worse knowing that I've published this blog and anyone could be reading my confession. Yet, I desire to no longer define myself by such measures-perfection-or false motivations that are likewise self-serving. My blog is one about my journey to understand who God has created me to be, when no one's looking.

Who am I when no-one's looking?

The first step to solving a problem is admitting you have a problem, right?

I have a problem with self-image.

If you were to catch me a real vulnerable moment, as Adam had, I'd confess that I care too much what others think about me and thus, I'm motivated to participate in organizations, programs, and opportunities to boost my personal reputation. I want to be in the most ambitious clubs, collect the most elite recognitions, and transcend every one's expectation of "the best." Even as I confess these things here on this blog, I still want my post to seem "perfect."

Ouch. That's ugly. (And quite time-consuming.)

But, really, honestly, if I were to strip myself of my fear that without my achievements, recognition, and reputation I'd be "nobody," I'd admit that I really want to not have to join so many clubs or complete so many programs to "feel" as if I'm "someone worthy to recognize." I want to not care what Albright College has to commemorate me with when I walk across the stage on graduation day. I want to be confident that I'm a beautiful creation of God because I'm a beautiful creation of God-and nothing more.

I want to be confident that what I do does not define who I am.

For some reason, I feel this self-image/comparisons/perfectionist issue really hits home for women, especially. Although Jesus is a wonderful example of someone who's demonstrated self-confidence in who he is and not by what he does, I feel led to look at a woman role model for this issue.

Immediately, I am drawn to the Mary/Martha story shared in Luke 10; a story of two sisters and their interaction with Jesus. As Martha busies herself with preparing the house and meal for Jesus, Mary chooses to "sit at the Lord's feet listening to what He said" (Luke 10:40).

I want to be a Mary. I want to just sit at the Lord's feet and know that I am his.

I don't want to be a Martha. I dont' want to feel as if the only way I feel significant is if I busy myself with measurable and accomplishable tasks.

How do I learn to sit at the Lord's feet? And what other female role models are there to admire within the Bible? What does the Bible have to say about this topic of perfectionism?
(I would love to hear some thoughts and suggestions.)

As I finally confess whole-heartedly my inappropriate motivation and desire of my false self-image, I realize that my change of mind/self-image will not be an easy-nor quick-transition, especially for someone who has defined herself by the former for so many years. Yet, it is so important to me that I understand, seek, and desire a true knowledge and confidence about my identity, regardless of career, achievements, or recognition.

Memories

I really should be in bed right now.

I have plans to wake up around 6am so that I can run 5 miles before my 9am class. (It's all part of a training for the 10 mile Broad Street Run on May 3rd.) For some reason or another, while updating my profile picture on Facebook, I got stuck looking through some old photographs that I've taken throughout my time here at Albright. Don't you love/hate when that (randomly) happens?

Take a look at a few of the memories that I've captured and will always hold dear to my heart. (In chronological order, of course!)


Freshman Year: Dorm room shopping the summer before my first year at Albright! I was so young and naive then! Oh, what a precious picture!


Freshman Year: Ah, yes, an experience that has challenged and strengthened me in several ways: pledging, Greek life, and understanding how it all works.


Freshman year: Meeting my best friend, Nadine Varty, at Albright! MTV came for a "campus invasion" that year!


Sophomore Year: Eagles games+best friends. What more could a girl want?


Sophomore Year: Of course, no student can go to Albright without receiving PANKRATZ PHOTOS! This picture with some of my girlfriends has made the "Albright slide-show" quite a few times!


Sophomore Year: My first "InterVarsity" Christian Fellowship Conference. Who knew that I'd be applying to consider a staff internship a few years later?


Junior Year: A birthday bash thrown for one of my apartment mates, Teira, on her 19th birthday! If you guessed that we're at Applebee's, you're GOOD!

Junior Year: A favorite photo of Erica Rubin (2008 grad) and myself at an Open House-Preview Day.


Junior Year/Senior Year: The "POPS" (Peer Orientation People) 2008 Steering Committee. We bonded since the minute we were placed on a team. Yes, we ALWAYS wore matching T-shirts, too!


Senior Year: I'll never forget the moment of being honored as 2008 Homecoming Queen with Jared Epler, the Homecoming King!

Oh boy, if only I could explain the memories, stories, and lessons learned behind each of these (and hundreds more) photographs. I'm so grateful that I have kept separate scrapbooks for each year that I've attended college so that I can always remember these days. They'll be a resource that I'll be relying upon often as I continue my journey of self-discovery and love.

Sabbath

Today was a very different sort of day for me.

I had absolutely NO plans.

None.

Zero.

Zip.

And so, as I woke up around 11am, tidied some things up in my living room and kitchen, and moped around with no set plans, I realized something very significant about my life.

I have a really hard time "doing" sabbath.

I woke up today discouraged because of how late I had slept in. When not having a set "agenda" for the day, I found myself searching for things to do. I thought to myself, "maybe I can work on this job application or send out these references." I questioned, "what sort of things can I do now to prepare myself for a few months from now?" I just wasn't content with doing "nothing." I found myself saying, "if I don't find something to do, I'll have WASTED my day!"

I wonder what God thinks when he sees me wrestling with celebrating a sabbath day. As part of one of the creation stories, God creates and celebrates a sabbath day himself:

• "By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done" (Genesis 2:2-3).

If a sabbath day is "good enough" for God, it SURE AS WELL should be "good enough" for me! The Bible shares that God blessed the day, making it holy. Celebrating sabbath (rest) is not only important, it's a biblical command:

• "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy" (Exodus 20:8).

I've always struggled with celebrating sabbath regularly. As I've shared in previous blogs, throughout the school year, I thrive off of my "scheduled" lifestyle. I find pleasure in heading to the gym before most of my peers pull themselves out of bed, counting the number of "things" I accomplished that day, and setting goals for the completion of tasks throughout the remaining days of the week. Although I realize it's not the healthiest lifestyle in the least bit, I find myself "doing" and "going."

"Doing" and "going?" Didn't I just write about not wanting to define my lifestyle by those things?

Today, I felt challenged by the phrases I'm remembering from my last post: " It's so easy as leaders to go, go, go and do, do, do. But God is calling us to be, be, be."

Today was definitely a day "to be."


Once I accepted that today was a blessing from God, I took some time to sit in front of my large sliding glass window watching the snow fall as I journaled, prayed, and read some scripture. I'm not sure how long I sat there. It might not have even been that long, but time didn't make a difference. I remember some time later one of my roommates, Teira returning from her trip home, and us both sitting in front of the window together. For the first time in a long time, "T" and I had conversation about "everything and anything." We talked about class assignments, family, games, and most often, God, church, and some spiritual questions. I've missed my time with T; it's one of the reasons why I was thankful we would be taking an interim together. I really valued our time together today. It helped remind me of how blessed l I am to have her as a friend.

For one of the first times while at school, I truly felt as if I were celebrating the sabbath. My thoughts were not distracted with scheduled activities and I felt no burden to quickly return to my homework. Time for myself, time with God, time with a best friend; I need to remember that the sabbath truly is a day to be celebrated!

As my devo dared this morning, I hope that I can continue to challenge myself to "carve out a rhythm (including a sabbath time) that renews me." I want to one day be able to celebrate my "no plans-Saturday." I no longer want my evaluation of a "good day" to be measured by the amount of tasks I've accomplished. I want my days to be holy.

Gifted for Leadership

I've recently added a new section to my blog. The name is sort of cheesy, but it's a list of women bloggers who I admire for their leadership in ministry-and being able to blog about it! The blog list is called "Girl Power Blogs." Check out some of the blogs if you're a woman reading this who feels that she's called into leadership and/or ministry of some kind.

One of my favorite blogs to check into is a blog for women who are Gifted for Leadership, hence the name of the blog. The blog is currently focusing on a 14-Day Devotional Journal for women, if you're interested in checking it out for yourself, you can download the devotional for FREE by clicking here and follow the prompts!

Today's "devo" was called the "Antidote to Over achievement." I immediately was hooked. Here's a short passage that spoke to me from the devotional:

• It's so easy as leaders to go, go, go and do, do, do. But God is calling us to be, be, be. To-do lists, bullet points, and check marks have their place, but when it comes to your spiritual life, you need to toss an“achievement” mindset into the garbage and spend some time in God’s presence simply being the real you.

I then read this post on the leadership blog, and I couldn't believe the similarities between its author and myself:

• Did you feel like Sally had you in mind when she wrote today’s devotion? I sure did. As soon as I read her introduction to today’s devotion, I felt like this could be a prophetic nudge from the Lord about an all-too-familiar topic. Because, you see, I’ve always been someone who wants to be not only good at things, but distinctively the best. I’m naturally driven and inquisitive, and find peace in lists and accomplishments. My default is please others and follows the rules. This propensity to overachieve easily went in to hyper-drive when it came to school. In fact, the only intentionally disobedient thing I remember doing in elementary school was to sneak into the forbidden teacher’s lounge and steal extra homework from the recycling bins. Later in high school, I took high-level classes and worked hard for straight A’s. When people at church told me God would take care of all my needs, I would sneer, “Oh yeah? God’s going to write this paper for me?”Clearly, I have problems. While my parents praised my grades, they knew that I sometimes let stress rob me of confidence in God and ultimately of my submission to him. One day, I found a note on my bedroom desk. During his morning devotional time, my dad had been praying for me and felt strongly about Titus 3:14, which says: “Our people must learn to do good by meeting the urgent needs of others; then they will not be unproductive.” Dad jotted me a note (below) which simply reads, “Titus 3:14. Live this out and let the grades fall where they may.” I think he knew that my perfectionism was breeding self-centered anxiety instead of concern for other people. He was telling me that true productivity happens when we love others like God loves them. And he was enabling me to be free from a bondage to over achievement. For me, this verse and memory are what Sally refers to as “antidotes to over achievement.” Like her, I think prayer and meditation – taking the time to refocus and let God get a word in – are invaluable solutions to anxiety. When I really open myself to God in prayer, I begin to feel so small compared to him…and it’s wonderful. That insurmountable task doesn’t necessarily solve itself while I pray, but God gives me the ability to see its importance for what it really is: not very. Do you ever feel this way when you pray? (Hollie Baker-Lutz)

Needless to say, I'll be posting Titus 3:14 on my desk. I'm also not ending this devotional nor blog reading any time soon. I'm finally beginning to feel some clarity about understanding who I am, why I feel gifted in leadership, and how, even as a leader-I'm to focus on "being" rather than "going" and "doing."

Interim at Albright

When I was driving my familiar route back "home" to Albright last night after a satisfying Eagles win, I couldn't believe that I was returning to school from...well, what has been my very last break. "Already?" I pondered. Oh, why does it always seem like our college breaks last "forever" until we find ourselves shoving clothes into bags the day before we're to return, wondering how the time passed so quickly?

The truth is, I'm actually returning to college three weeks early.

The reason I've returned so early is because I've chosen to take my last course of my college requirements during what Albright refers to as an "interim" period; essentially, a three-week January session. The spring semester doesn't begin until January 26th, so, until then, a few hundred students have chosen to return to Albright's campus to practice for a sport's team, work an on-campus job, or sneak in an extra class (class are held for 3 consecutive hours each day).

I absolutely love "interim" at Albright.

When I was a freshman, I didn't return during Albright's interim time; thinking that instead, I'd want to celebrate the extended break with my family. I remember working, scrap-booking, hanging out with friends, and then, being very, very bored. Understanding that I'm a person who loves to "always be doing something," I vouched to never have that long of a break again! Every year since then, I've made sure to sign up for an interim course.

The beauty of interim at Albright is that it's a comfortable "in-between" transition from break to the spring semester. With only taking one course either in the morning or evening, students are free to collect green, catch up with friends, or have time to themselves to enjoy personal activities like reading, watching movies, or sleeping! For me, the start of interim was refreshing as I thrived off of jumping back into my "usual routine." I was excited to be running my usual three miles at 7am this morning, jumping in the shower by 8:10am, and walking into the campus center by 8:45am to grab a bagel before my 9am class. Having a chance to eat lunch with friends by 12:30pm, my afternoon quickly filled with a meeting at the career center at 1pm, research in the library at 2pm, shopping at Walmart until 4pm, some organizing, homework, dinner, a quick nap all before hanging with friends at 7:30pm. I even had a chance to "relax" with my roommate as she watched TV and I read New Moon, the second book of the Twilight saga.

Early mornings, busy afternoons, schedules, I just love it. (Not all the time. There are times to relax "schedule-less" of course!)

I'm excited about my 2009 interim course, Educational Theatre. Taught by a team of two professors (one in the education field and one in the theatre field), the class is designed for future professionals that are going to working closely with people, in a business, counseling, teaching, or other relationship. The course aims to assist future professionals in being able to use theatre techniques as tools for such human relations professions. With 13 days, we're expected to produce a 20 minute play in ensembles of 5 as well as present an "personal theatre project" to illustrate our individual growth within the course.


Outside of class, I'll be working 16 hours each week between three different jobs in the fitness center, admission office, and at Hope's Hangout, an after-school program in Reading. I hope to spend time reconnecting with friends a few nights each week and using the weekends to invite friends from home to share in some of my Albright experience-most have never ever seen my apartment! I've even set some (more) goals for myself regarding my improvement in what I call "domesticating myself." Because I only have a meal plans to eat 7 meals in the campus dining hall, I'll be challenging myself to cook dinner a few nights each week. And when I write myself, I truly mean myself seeing that the "usual" cook of our household, my roommate Sarah, will not return until the 26th! I hoping that with the extra time, I'll be able to exercise the patience to prepare and cook my own meals, especially as I adjust my eating schedule for student teaching!

Interim will be a time of growth, self-reflection, and (of course) good ole' Albright fun! It's my last opportunity at school to have the freedom to stay up late, hang with friends, and celebrate the flexibility of my college schedule-especially on the weekdays!

Oh, how I'm going to miss college-well, Albright College!

New Year's Resolution

2009: I can't believe it.

This is going to be a huge year! Full of graduations, weddings, celebrations, and major times of transitions, 2009 is going to be a year that sticks in my mind forever.

As always, it's a tradition to make a resolution (or a few) for the new year. This is easy for me to do. Too often than not my mind is preoccupied with thinking about the future. Some of the New Year's resolutions that I've set for myself include the following:

1. I want to read the entire Bible in one year. I know, I know, this sound super ambitious, super nerdy, and maybe super boring to lots of people. I think I made this resolution last year too. Obviously, it didn't exactly turn out as I'd wished. This year, I've looked into a few additional resources that can help me. I've chosen to follow an Old/New Testament reading plan, in which I'll be able to read a bit from the Old and New Testament each day. Other selections offer Bible reading plans to read the bible in chronological, historical, or from beginning to end. Check it out at Bible Gateway.com and www.ewordtoday.com/year/.

2. I want to continue to love myself and my body through emotional, spiritual, and physical care. Up until a few years ago, I never realized how difficult it was for me to love myself and my body. I never thought I was one of those young girls whose mind was filled with junk about false beauty, security and self-image until I faced some of those issues head on in college. I'm now excited to share that I've been pursuing a transition in which I'm truly beginning to celebrate my body. I'm recognizing God's creativity through it's uniqueness-curvy, short, and strong. Likewise, I've been trying to celebrate my strengths, gifts, and passions and focus on these areas in which God has specifically made me. I look forward to continuing to find freedom in eating healthy and exercising because of the right reasons, such as wanting to keep the body that God's designed me with strong. Just as equally, I hope to continue to understand that a love for myself is not based upon achievements and accomplishments, but on loving who I am on the inside, my character, my values, regardless of all that "stuff," especially when no-one's watching.

3. Finally, I want to continue to seek out opportunities to discover my passions. (Or, to perhaps narrow the focus on my passions!) With being interested in so many different things-teaching, ministry, speaking, etc. etc. etc.), I NEED to continue to seek out all different types of opportunities and record my thoughts along the way! Thus, in the New ear, I intend to network with speakers nation-wide, seek out speaking/presentation engagements, and blog about all of my experiences. Beginning with my student teaching experience come February, I hope to include my thoughts, struggles, and frustrations about teaching so that my responses are effectively considered!

It looks like I have a bit of things to hold myself accountable for. I hope that by publicly sharing some of these resolutions, I stick with them and keep you updated on my adventures!

Good luck on your resolutions!