My Mind

Feel like each section of your brain is being pulled in a different direction all at the same time? I know what you mean. That's exactly what's going on right now. Mostly it's because I have so much junk to get done before the end of the quarter on Thursday (since I don't take finals on Friday). An art project and two late assignments, challenge gov't terms (32 of them) and studying up on a current events quiz, studying for an AP bio test on membrane structure (still need to read the chapter) and do two late assignments, and fix the devos that I wrote so there's one available for the reunion on Sunday.

It's crazy. Life is crazy.

I also need to remember to ask for a whole week of work off so I can make it to all the rehearsals leading up to the opening night of our play. I'm really hoping my boss allows it seeing as we have three new people working there who could fill those days. My concern is that she won't let me do it, even though she never has the schedule ready that soon so it shouldn't be too much trouble.

I'm just confused. I don't know where to start, but I know I have to start now. Goodnight!

My Fellowship

I think the concept of fellowship was stressed really well at this last TEC, and I just feel like sharing a story that stresses it some more.

It was Saturday night of the TEC weekend, and I was kind of struggling with a few minor details and such. I think I was saying goodnight to Amy and she realized I was a little out of it, so she asked if I wanted to sit somewhere for a minute. We sat at the head table in the conference room for at least a good 20 minutes (probably longer) and I just kind of let things go for the first time. That small timeframe (along the the random sufficiently awkward moments during the weekend) really helped our friendship strengthen. She's a good kid.

It felt really odd being the person who's venting, and I couldn't figure out why until after the weekend was over. Normally, I honestly don't have any problems to talk to people about. I love listening when people need an open mind, but I never really look to other people for advice because nothing really comes up in my life that makes me need to.

On that note, more fellowship. I virtually didn't sleep at all Saturday night. In fact, you might as well say I was awake from 1:30 Saturday afternoon until 8:45 last night. So after working from 7 am to 4 pm on Sunday, I was uber tired. Thing is, Amy and I had planned to get together in Kato and just chat. I drove through Vernon Center and thought about calling her to tell her I couldn't make it because I was very close to dozing off, but I started reciting Scripture to keep me awake.

We eventually decided where to eat (Jimmy John's is always a good choice), and had a good time talking about random things; everything came up in conversation from the fun signs on the walls to who we "knew" (she lies about it) at the restaurant.

I made it home without dozing off at all, but I did send a fun text about falling asleep. I was out like a light by 8:45, and ended up getting 11 hours of sleep before school this morning. Let's just say I didn't need any 2nd hour naps today. Plus, work was really good today.

My Yesterday

** (Quick note: in light of the final season of Scrubs beginning this last Thursday, all of my blog titles during said season [and maybe beyond depending on how well I can continue it] will begin with the word "My")

Friday, October 26. A regular day, like most others. I went to school knowing I had to work from 2-10, and the only strange thing that happened at school was that it was the first day this week I didn't fall asleep in any class. Kind of a good feeling. Made me enjoy the day a little more. That is until I went to work and started to change into my work clothes in the bathroom. My work pants were nowhere to be found. Turns out they fell out of my bag due to my rush in the morning because I was running late. My boss let me go home and get them, and when I walked past my kitchen I noticed the mail on the counter.

I checked the mail, and there was a letter for my mom from Northwestern College. Any other day I probably would've opened it because it would pertain to me anyway, but I was hurrying to get back to work. I flipped through the rest of the pile, and there was a letter for me. From who? Northwestern College. I opened it on my way to my room to get my pants, and it was exactly what I hoped. An acceptance letter. Yes, I was thrilled because I hadn't gotten a chance to apply anywhere else yet, and NWC is my top choice, but there's more to this letter. The first part of the second paragraph reads:

"You are to be commended on your fine academic record and have been named a Presidential Scholar. Your scholarship award is $7,600.00 annually. To renew the scholarship you must maintain a 2.75 cumulative grade point average in your freshman year and a 3.00 cumulative grade point average thereafter."

What does this mean? Well, it means my room/board and meal plan is totally covered by this scholarship (and then some). Another way to look at it is 1/3 of my actual tuition is covered by it.

There's more to this story. I also got a call from a lady at the school who was congratulating me on my acceptance. One thing she mentioned was the fact that I also qualified for the Peale Scholarship. This scholarship is huge, and I'm really nervous about it. How can I not be nervous about something that could earn me $12,000 annually (Yes, that equals $48,000 over four years)? "Criteria for the Peale Scholar candidates included a ranking within the top 15 percent of their high school class or a minimum 3.5 grade point average, and a minimum ACT score of 26." This isn't too much of a problem for me, but what follows the application is. This year, 146 applied, and there were 71 finalists representing 12 states. As a finalist, one is required to visit the campus for interviews and a writing competition. And all eight of this year's winners "include student council officers, community volunteers, students who have earned honors in speech and music competitions, and all-conference athletes." I'm maybe 1 out of those 4 things. It scares me to even apply for this, but I know I have to give it a shot. I'll definitely be asking for prayers from you all when the time gets closer because my nerves will be all over the place.

Northwestern College

Orange City, Iowa

My new home?

TEC 69

"Oh my goodness gracious!" Those were the first words I texted Hannah on Thursday when I woke up and realized the TEC weekend was just hours away. It wasn't until I was ready to type this blog tonight that I realized those were also the first words in my prayer of thanks last night after I got home from TEC.

This TEC weekend was more than I ever could've imagined. I'm going to attempt a Top 10 list, but it won't even come close to doing justice to the weekend.

10 - Music
Our music team was so incredible! I thoroughly enjoyed being in the Conference Room with all of them. Greg is always a blast to work with, Amy and I grew closer as friends, Dan's jokes are great, Paul is just plain fun, Sara is a big bundle of joy, and Emmalee is simply amazing. Having the last two members of the team stand at Closing made me chuckle. On another musical note (no pun intended, but it is a good one), the songs used for talks were great!

9 - New friends
It was so fun working with all these people I had never met before. I made a lot of new friends on team, and I can't even explain how much expanding my Christian community means to me. The most random ways I made friends during the weekend all involved the Candidates. I first talked to Jasmine while sitting at the pool, Calven has the same name as my dad with the exception of one letter, Lindsay sat across from me at Agape and we shared food, Julianna and I met Friday after knowing who each other was for a long time, and there were so many other random things.

8 - Old friends
There were also quite a few friends working this team who I had already known quite well. They're some of my favorite people in the world, and I can't find any words to describe how incredible it is to work with them time and time again. I became even closer with Amy (as I mentioned), and I feel like our friendship isn't nearly as sufficiently awkward as it used to be. The experiences that we all shared, whether first-hand or through talking about them, were absolutely fascinating.

7 - Conference Room
Wow (insert W-mouth-W here)! These Candidates, ATL's, and YTL's were so amazing! It was great being able to observe more than having to teach. So many of them already had faith background and just needed a good revival. It seemed like a lot of those had that revival, and I'm just praying they continue to burn for Christ!

6 - Talent Show
It was so awesome to see the variety of talent at this weekend. The talent show is always a big highlight for me, and this one didn't change that fact at all. The range of acts from the old school (ATL's with "Sister Act", Milk and Cereal, Dueling Banjos) to the new ("Taylor the Latte Boy", Frolicking 101, Brandon's song) was just awesome. Plus, how cute was it that Jennie and Greg shared a pair of pen lights that they put up their noses. Bob only made it awkward by saying her lights were used ones from Greg. I want to give a special thanks to Joey again for his dance that he said was inspired by John 1:4-5; I honestly could see the flame coming and going during the dance, and it was just awesome.

5 - Tim's Wheat
The most anticipated Wheat of the weekend turned out to be the first thing I pulled out of the bag and the last thing I looked at. It was a book of bedtime stories that he went all out on putting together. It's bound and everything. It starts with a couple of familiar stories (Tim mistaken as a girl, the Valleyscare story) and moves on to some of his letters, stories, and essays from without his school years. I'm so impressed by it. I keep reading it over and over.

4 - God's mysterious works
God really worked two amazing wonders on Saturday. One of them involved fully speaking through Ben to help a fellow team member just completely let go of everything they were struggling with at the time. Another was all about Joey and Erika, two of the greatest leaders I have ever known. God just gave them a total revival of strength on Saturday morning, and their team became so much stronger because of it (quick side note: Wheat team was so prayerful! The pray-up for Talk 9 was so incredible!). There were other times God worked in mysterious ways, but those were the two most prominent ones that I felt I had to mention. Praise God for his amazing ways of working in us and through us.

3 - My mom
Cody went through TEC 50 in January 2003, and I don't think it took long after that before he asked my mom to work the first time. After I went through TEC 59 in April 2005, the topic of her working still occasionally came up. I think the past year has just been hard for my mom ever since she was diagnosed with breast cancer last June. Maybe it was the experience of fighting this cancer that made her decide it was time to work a TEC, but no matter what her inspiration was I'm so glad she finally did. I was happy to have her in the Conference Room, and I hope she works again not only during one of my final 3 weekends, but also after I've graduated.

2 - Hannah
Oh my goodness gracious! Hannah Bartell is so amazing! When I found out she had accepted, I was absolutely thrilled. She was the only person bowling with us one night in Mankato who didn't know who the Rector would be, so she earned the nickname Captain Oblivious. I still think she's somewhat oblivious to how much it meant to me to lead this weekend with her. I won't talk about that too muh since I still have to write her Wheat (oops), but I will say that I don't think I could've worked this well with any other person in the world. Council really did pick an amazing Rectora who was totally on fire for Christ from the start.

1 - Catch a Fire
John 1:4-5 "In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it." I feel like this theme was perfect for this weekend. No matter how big of a fire the Candidates (and even team) caught this weekend, I still think everyone caught at least a little spark. What they do with it is totally up to them, but like Hannah said in Talk 9, that light can't be hidden. There's no way to completely shut off that light. I just want to thank God once again for giving us (in Joey's words) "a fire that no water can extinguish."


And now, the National Day of Silence for Pro-Life. It'll be tough, but it's totally a day dedicated to God's undying love for every soul, whether they're born yet or not.

Weekenders

It's here. It's gone. Let's recap.

Saturday was the big day. It was the 2nd annual trip to Valleyscare for a select group. Last year this group included Janet, Nate, Laura, Mariah, and myself, and this year was the same minus Janet. We had a coupon for some discounted tickets, and we were in line to buy them when I saw this lady pointing at me. It kind of worried me, especially when the guy she was with started walking toward us. Turns out it was actually karma on our side. He was offering us four free admission tickets, and we saw it as a "give and you shall receive" sign seeing as we gave away an extra ticket last year. Oddly enough, we never saw him while we were in the park.

We had a good time riding rides and such, and we definitely made Mariah go first through the CarnEvil attraction because she's afraid of clowns. While we were in line for The Asylum, I heard Nate look out say, "Is that Joel?" When I turned around and looked my first thought was, "TIM!" (sorry Joel). Tim, Joel, their significant others, and a couple of people I didn't know where at Valleyscare that day too, and we ended up chatting with them a while later. Tim even took our group picture (last year Steve Jacobson did it for us, so I think we always have to find someone we know to do it). Oddly enough, I knew someone who was in line for The Asylum at the same time as us too. He's a kid whose locker is just two away from mine at school.

It was a great time, and I definitely think this is going to be a continued tradition. And for anyone who plans on going to Valleyfair either later this month or next season, be sure to ride Renegade. It had a 52 mph constant speed, and it's such a rush. If you can help it, ride it at night when you can hardly see the track. It's amazing!


Sunday marked the final team meeting for TEC 69. We lost a Support member, so that was the first stress of the day, but I know God will work that all out. I'm just so excited about the weekend being this Thursday already. I know there's some last-minute things that are very important to get done (can you say "commissioning"?), but it'll be fine. It's harder for me to get things done for school right now than it is to get things done for TEC.

Laptop

So this post marks my first official post from my shiny new laptop, which I love. It's a lot of fun to play with, and the first night I had it I realized at about 1 a.m. that I still had an essay to write. Go me for playing with Vista for so long.

I'm not the biggest fan of Vista, but at the same time I like a lot of the random little features. The best features so far aren't actually Vista related, but they involve Office 2007. There are so many ways I can save time in my English classes that it's not even funny.

Team meeting #2 went really well, and I'm pretty pumped for the weekend. Amen.

Amazing....simply amazing....

This post is a day late, but only due to the fact that I fell asleep after I got home from the meeting.

I have to say, I am thrilled with how things went at the first meeting. God definitely put this team together quite well (by the looks of it so far), and I especially felt that Hannah and I were meant to lead together. The two talks were both awesome. Kelly never ceases to amaze me, and I'm so proud of Emily for being so strong. Tim wouldn't be too thrilled with the choice of songs for the first two talks, but he won't be there so his opinion is belittled.

[Adam, this is the part I was talking about. It ends with the quotes.] When Hannah and I introduced the theme, she ended up going on a little rant about it and she got so emotional and into it that the whole time I was just thinking, "Wow, this verse and this theme are perfect." She and I had a good time team-hunting when they all broke off into rooms to have some team time before the first talk. It ended up with a dance lesson where I tried to teach her the dance to "Crank That" (woot for Soulja Boy).

The most amazing experience involving this TEC happened to me tonight. I came home after work to pick up my checkbook and go back to Blue Earth to get gas (it went down 7 cents today). On the way back, I stopped at Tommy's to help him with some music he was putting on his computer. In the two miles from his house to mine, I decided to kind of pray about the weekend and recite the verse again. Just as I finished saying "but the darkness has not understood it," I saw a bright light at the top of my windshield. When I looked up, I saw the biggest, brightest, shooting star I've ever seen. Talk about prophetic! It was just beautiful with it's light blue tint, and I had to call Hannah and tell her about it. God works in mysterious ways, but I love them.


TEC 69 theme: On Fire for Christ
Verse: John 1:4-5 "In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it."