Saturday, December 6, 2008

Frist Semester

The first semester of my college career is less than 156 hours away from being over.
[that is 9360 minutes or 561,600 seconds]
Wow.
That also means that I am that much closer to being home.
Home sweet home.

I love it when mom says to me " So, aren't you glad you decided to go to college? "
Weil, sie hat richtig.---Because, she is right.

Hannah Joy

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Together

Hearing stories from back home are so strange.
A boy from my highschool who graduated before me died the other night.
A girl got shot.
And there are so many people who never left.
Leave.

I need to put pictures up of Nico's stay.
And go through the highlights.

We...
-went to a Conor Oberst concert
-saw the Bulls
-saw the Blackhawks
-ate Chinese take-out on a Clark street bench
-walked at the Navy Pier
-went downtown nearly every day
-had help with my German homework :)
-watched Batman and Madagascar
-ate a lot of chocolate
-went to Molly's Cupcakes
-ate some GREAT Thai food
-had a nice dinner at a Thai/Sushi restaurant
-ate at Ed Debevic's with all my girl friends here



Ali and I at the airport.



NICO IS IN AMERICA!



My abundance of chocolate.
No worries mom, a lot of it is coming home.



At the Conor Oberst concert.





Trying furniture out at a flea market.
haha



Our Chinese food on Clark Sreet.



A beautiful church on Michigan Ave.



Inside the ESPN store.
Nico checkin' out the Bulls display.



Downtown at the Obama rally.
View of the city lights.





This was a street.



Water Tower on Michigan Ave.



Haha, inside the toy store in Lincoln Square.



Before the Bulls Game.
Nico and MJ.



In the arena.



YEAH!
They won. And when they score more than a hundred points you get a free Big Mac.
And they scored 100 points!



Down by the court.



Nico enjoying his free Big Mac.



At the Navy Pier.



And A BLACKHAWKS GAME!



:)



I was so happy.



The score, Flames-1, Blackhawks-6!



Down by the ice.



Before our nice dinner at the Thai restaurant.
Nico with a funny face.



Me with a funny face.





It was a great time!
And I cannot wait to go to Germany to visit him.

Today I..:
Donated blood
had Bible quiz
did group presentation in Bible

And I survived all of it.

About time for soccer practice.

Hannah Joy.



Sunday, November 16, 2008

Peanut Butter.

Our kitchen service here does not serve dinner on Sunday nights.
So I now sit here with a jar of peanut butter and a fork.

I did the most un-procrastinating thing this weekend.
All of my homework was done by 11:00 Saturday morning.
That did mean no going out Friday night, and waking up on Saturday morning.
BEST IDEA EVER.

Saturday night Erin, Kate and I went to the 24/7 Guatemalan bakery, Starbucks, then back to the dorms to watch "Wicker Park".
Which takes place in Chicago, you guessed it, in Wicker Park.

Today [Sunday] Erin and I got up and cleaned our room, and waited for her mom and sister to get here.
We ventured to Target, then went downtown for lunch.
At 3:00 I put in "P.S. Ich Liebe Dich", and thirty minutes later I was passed out.
Luckily, I had my alarm set and woke up to it at 4:50.
Got to talk to Herr Nico.
Practiced my violin, then attended College Life.

Okay, I cannot finish this.
I just learned that I have German Workbook due tomorrow.

Ah geez.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

October is almost over.

Whoa whoa whoa,
I messed up on my last blog.
I meant Daniel! I had David on my mind because I was reading it just before I got on here.

Soo...
Speaking of Daniel!

I just filled out what classes I want to take for next semester.
And I knew I wanted to take another BTS [biblical theological studies] class...
So I was going through them and found "Old Testament Prophets"!
The best part is I was talking to a teacher the other day, his name is Boaz Johnson.
And he recommended being in one of his classes and this is one of his classes!

My classes:
A Quad-Two Dimensional Drawing [2 credits]
B Quad-Three Dimensional Drawing [2 credits]
Old Testament Prophets [4 credits]
German II [4 credits]
Concepts and Structures [4 credits]


Time to go grocery shopping.. a.k.a. restock my peanuts and raisin supply.


Hannah Joy

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

David

Whenever I think of my sister, I think of Esther.
A lot of that is because I always find her relating a lot of what she says to Esther
and I am pretty sure that is her favorite figure in the Bible.

I want to be like David and be able to bring him up in my day to day walk.

Times are crazy here!
A whole lot of exciting things are always happening.
[Women's retreat, papers, Small group, new friends, Nico is coming, I enjoy all of my classes, violin, soccer]

I am even managing to be excited about life when I have just lost
all of my hard drive.

Hannah Joy

Saturday, October 18, 2008

"Ask, how are you getting home.. alone?"

In trying to decide where to attend tomorrow morning...
I went ahead and looked up the Ev.Cov. churches in Chicago.
And there is a nice spread of them!

I came to a verdict: Ravenswood Evangelical Covenant Church.
Link: http://www.ravenscov.org/content.php

It is close enough to walk or ride my bike during nice weather.
And it only requires one bus ride and a short walk during cold weather.

My fall break has been successful.
And to think I still have tomorrow.
There has been approximately five hours of work on one paper, two hours on German, an hour on a group project.
As for tomorrow, I plan on the same.

Studying is exhilarating, writing papers are not.

I even found time tonight to watch the past two episodes of The Office that I have reluctantly missed out on.
But they were great!
"If a baby was president there would be no taxes, there would be no government!"

A quiet campus has been exactly what I needed to fully collect my thoughts and relax.

We return to our original cafeteria on Monday.

On Friday Erin and I rode our bikes to Andersonville.
Ate at this 50's diner called Paulines, then walked on Clark street checking out the art vendors.
Link to Paulines: http://www.paulinesbreakfast.com/

Time for pictures..

Enjoy.




I got to see mom and dad for the first time since August!



The marathon.




The sunrise in the city the day of the marathon!



After Brad was done running.




I was cleaning my room, but talking to Nico on Skype at the same time.
He told me that the least I could do was put the fish in front of the camera.
There ya go.




Outside our chapel.



The show only meant for Northwestern students that we got into!




Kelly and I, the girl I went with.







While at the concert we ran into other North Parker's who got in.
And this guy named Josh was there, and we were on the bus and noticed that we were twins.
Nearly.



The regatta



North branch of the Chicago River.



Have a great weekend everyone!

Hannah Joy.


Wednesday, October 15, 2008

God provides.

My fall week just became a day and a half longer.
That means more time to get stuff done and feel accomplished.


Everything has been going wonderful.

Tonight at my small group I am "telling my story".
And I chose the option to talk about my family and one person in my life who has impacted it.
I have got my family figured out, but as for one person who has impacted it..
I have not decided. That is okay, I have more than three hours to decide.

A part of me wishes I could go home for Fall break or for Thanksgiving.
But the other part says it is good to stay here and stay submerged in this environment.
And especially not to miss another Sunday opportunity to scope out new churches.

"O our God, hear your servant's prayer. Listen as I plead. For your own sake, Lord, smile again on your desolate sanctuary." Daniel 9:17

I have declared Daniel as my favorite book of the bible.

I am going to upload Marathon pictures right now.
So expect to see them later this week.


Hannah Joy.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Wishful Thinking

Hallo meine Freunden!

Where do I start...?


I am done with rowing!
Rowing is in the past.
"My list" is now more relaxing and I can handle it.
It is one less, and priorities are being set straight.
The experience was fantastic, the people were even better.
But when I prayed to God about North Park, rowing was not in the ultimate plan.

God has something in store for me here and I am way excited about it!
I have joined a great "family" called Prayer Team.
You guessed it, we pray.
My prayer life is weak, I struggle with it.
I can never express myself in day-to-day conversations, let alone in prayer.
So I joined the one group I knew I would struggle with the most because I have been struggling with it.
And I am pumped to see how prayer can change the world!
I meet with this small group of people Wednesday nights at 10:15, I did not get back last night until just before twelve.
[Without rowing, this is possible.]

There are several occasions in the week I can meet with them.
Tuesdays a group of people fast, whether it is food, internet, cellphones, etc.
And they meet at seven to start the day with prayer.
One guy has people to his apartment for snacks/devotionals/prayer/music on Tuesday nights.
It goes on.

The prayer team is going to start to go into different groups, or two different focuses.
One-prayer for North Park: students, professors, current events, upcoming events, ailments
Two-the world, for our Global Partnerships, current events, crisis'
I have opt for team One, because this past week I found myself while walking in campus praying for the campus, and just thinking about North Park as a whole.

I have also joined a small group!
This is Wednesday nights at 7:30.
So far, great.
The girls who are in it are such random matches...
Which is I s'pose a part of the power of the concept of "small group".
Saturday, Kelly (our leader) and I are going to breakfast on Clark street.
And next Wednesday I get to "tell my story".

CollegeLife and chapel are still the highlights of my week.
They make each day brighter.
Wednesday a man name Samuel Bedonze [sp?] spoke.
I can sum it up with a couple quick notes:

Authority vs. power, authority wins.. always.
Examples: David & Goliath, Esther & Mordecai, Rosa Park vs. Segregation, MLK vs. Segregation.
"You can kill the messenger, but you cannot kill the dream."
" 'How can you forgive those who have enslaved you for 27 years?' -reporter, 'If I did not forgive them I would still be their prisoner.' -Nelson Mandella "
Voting gives you authority.

Okay, those were not so quick.
But quick for the 45 minutes he talked.
He was fabulous man, I went and talked with him afterwards in what we call "chapel chat".
He has worked along side three presidents, works with the Naval Academy, speaks to all sorts of schools/institutions.

Another thing be brought up was how he believes there are two things the world/young generation are consumed by: "Naughty ploys and high tech toys."
Sex and texting.
He just gave a different spin on it, and I was enlightened.
And proceeded to grow frustrated with people in class who text and are confused with their poor grades and lack of social skills.

Funny story..
"Do you text?"
"No."
"Why not? Texting is cool."

Haha, true story.
Today around 4:30.
I thought he was joking but he had a completely serious look on his face.

I have been introduced to types of students in class that are seven weeks into the semester of their freshman year and believe that they are already more intelligent than the professors.
That creates a good time.

Nico comes to Chicago in twenty days!
And I am looking forward to it.
Now I just have to get my friends from Kansas who keep saying "Yeah, we will come soon." "We want to come visit."
To actually follow through.
Just the idea of having people here who have known me for more than two months just makes me real excited!


I have a big weekend planned.
Wheaton, then attending the Chicago Marathon.

Quick set of pictures.




I am the fifth head.
Oh, I forgot to mention.
Our regatta was bomb, we kicked a lot of butt.



A lot of us from 6th floor.



More of us from sixth floor and Noodles & Company about two months ago.

Hannah Joy.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

"I cannot talk about it, I have to sing about it"

It is only Tuesday.
Hard to believe, especially because I am sure I have lived a couple lifetimes in these past two days.

This week I got to start working with Eric on photo shoots around campus.
And we did three on Monday and we have one tomorrow [
Wednesday].

I have made my final decision about rowing.
I will not be continuing it after this Fall season.
Instead I am going to devote time to the
Prayer Team on campus and violin.

There is a
women's retreat coming up too.
http://www.northpark.edu/umin/06/misc/womensretreat.html
There is a link to more information.
It is $20, but $20 well spent.

On Friday I have a Math test, and I have two papers due this week.
AND a group project tomorrow.




At the Homecoming soccer game.
Abbie, me, Kate, Catherine.



That was taken while I was downtown waiting for the Metra.

Now Erin and I are listening to
Counting Crows-"Mr.Jones".

Chapel tomorrow will be featuring Lauren Winner: http://www.laurenwinner.net/

I received the most amazing piece of mail today,
from a very special lady in my life.. Rosie.
It was perfect to be sitting outside on the bench in front of Old Main reading it.




On that bench on the bottom right. :)
I look forward to the moment I have to write back.

Rosie and Ike now sit above my desk on my bookshelf.

Another day is done, and another day is ahead.


Hannah Joy.

"I cannot talk about it, I have to sing about it"

It is only Tuesday.
Hard to believe, especially because I am sure I have lived a couple lifetimes in these past two days.

This week I got to start working with Eric on photo shoots around campus.
And we did three on Monday and we have one tomorrow [
Wednesday].

I have made my final decision about rowing.
I will not be continuing it after this Fall season.
Instead I am going to devote time to the
Prayer Team on campus and violin.

There is a
women's retreat coming up too.
http://www.northpark.edu/umin/06/misc/womensretreat.html
There is a link to more information.
It is $20, but $20 well spent.

On Friday I have a Math test, and I have two papers due this week.
AND a group project tomorrow.




At the Homecoming soccer game.
Abbie, me, Kate, Catherine.



That was taken while I was downtown waiting for the Metra.

Now Erin and I are listening to
Counting Crows-"Mr.Jones".

Chapel tomorrow will be featuring Lauren Winner: http://www.laurenwinner.net/

I received the most amazing piece of mail today,
from a very special lady in my life.. Rosie.
It was perfect to be sitting outside on the bench in front of Old Main reading it.




On that bench on the bottom right. :)
I look forward to the moment I have to write back.

Rosie and Ike now sit above my desk on my bookshelf.

Another day is done, and another day is ahead.


Hannah Joy.