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.
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.
"Let what we do here, Fill the streets out there. Let us dance for you."
I am delayed on writing an update. So I will recap briefly my current events.
Friday night I watched Cars! for the first time since I have been away from home. It was magical.
Saturday I left bright and early to head to Wheaton. Despite my delay on getting there, it did not make it any less sweet of a weekend. A get away was just what I needed. Seeing relatives was what really satisfied my appetite. With all the random stress the opportunity could not have been timed better. I feel so blessed to finally live so darn close to grandmother and grandfather.
This week is homecoming, which means there has been some exciting events. We had sushi one night for dinner, it was excellente. We had a comedian group come to campus last night. Our homecoming is in Shedd Aquarium. Now we just have to beat Wheaton in soccer on Friday! Ah ha!
I am going to give Angie a call here when I get out of the library and hopefully see her tonight. And her boyfriend, name slips me. Tonight I have nothing going on! I did have a rowing meeting, canceled!
Rowing has been great. Minus the fact that I was running late and I was running and fell down concrete stairs and my legs are pretty scratched up. I have some serious "concrete rash". Coach told me I get to row the first novice boat. And I think I have seat one pretty warmed up for myself, and being a starboard.
Classes.. are fine. Math and Dialoge were canceled yesterday and Bible was canceled today. German is still my favorite. Dzejna is my pal in that class. She is from Bosnia. And she lived in Germany for like seven years when she was young.
What do I want to be when I grow-up? And how can I learn the answer?
Psalm 139
1 O Lord, you have examined my heart
and know everything about me. 2 You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. 3 You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do. 4 You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord. 5 You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand!
7 I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! 8 If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave,[a] you are there. 9 If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, 10 even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me. 11 I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night— 12 but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to you.
13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. 15 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. 16 You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.
17 How precious are your thoughts about me,[b] O God. They cannot be numbered! 18 I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!
19 O God, if only you would destroy the wicked! Get out of my life, you murderers! 20 They blaspheme you; your enemies misuse your name. 21 O Lord, shouldn’t I hate those who hate you? Shouldn’t I despise those who oppose you? 22 Yes, I hate them with total hatred, for your enemies are my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.
"who was dead and is alive again, was lost and is found"
I don't like it when I am in the library, on the quiet floor, and people insist on using their outside voices. ...In French
Just wrote paper #1, and about to start paper #2. But first, pictures.
We were told we had an hour to leave the dorm...
And we went down to dinner, and they told us we had to get out in five minutes. Lovely. [That is Erin, my roommate.]
Between our building and Magunsom.
Ditto.
Not normal.
I give them the excuse of "he is from Alaska".
Day two of pouring rain. That is my dorm.
FYI: Chicago River has raw sewage. There was a deer carcass in it... and a shopping cart.. And a lot of things you cannot see with the naked eye. Yeck.
And that building had sixteen feet of water in it. Hence why it is not open and there are construction workers on campus around the clock.
Our basement, this is not good.
Refugee night numero uno.
Night as a refugee numero dos.
My sleeping arrangements for night numero dos.
On Erin and I's reunion night, we kicked it off with fruit by the foot tattoos on tongues. Haha.
I think they have "White Noise" playing in the library. Because it sounds like coffee is brewing all the time in here. And there is NO coffee...
The weekend is almost here, and tomorrow is a breeze now that I have finished my paper. The plan is to go to grandparents this weekend. :)
I got to talk to RJ and Derek yesterday! Oh it was wonderful! I miss Topeka just for that reason. [Also for Darby... and mom and dad.. And Jonathan..]
There is a sense of relief when you can finally wake up at 4:50 with confidence.
We decorated our lounge on our floor last night. It was all plain white walls with just a couch. But now the walls have quotes, pictures, lights, etc etc etc all over them. It is like walking into a dorm room now. More comfy.
There is a lot of water on our campus. If you haven't heard.
This is the second night I haven't been able to go to my room to sleep. It isn't too bad. Other than the huge inconvenience it is.
I "created" this last night. There also is no school tomorrow because the buildings are not "safe". Because of all the water sitting in the basements. We got something like eight inches of rain. And the north branch of the Chicago River runs through our campus. Intense!
Tonight at CollegeLife the speaker spoke on being holy. And that we will never be unholy, because God will forever take our hardships for us. And Jesus died for us, for that very reason. Holiness is just something we have to reach. In order to be holy you must not look at the people around you or look at your past. Always be comparing yourself to the holiness of God.
I am always comparing myself to my past. And using it as an excuse for how I am "doing better". But really, I am not even close to the right standards I should be setting for myself.
New ideas are always so exciting! And new ways to grow spiritually, and grow stronger.
I did this too last night.
I am having a hard time with a friend of mine here. There is no confrontation going on, nothing like that. But it is a view that I know she has, and makes it very clear. She will not be friends with non-Christians.
Where in the Bible... How does she justify it?
She also has a difficult time accepting people if they made poor decisions in their past.
How do you open up to someone like that? Or draw near to them as friends?
I did more German homework today. And I did some brainstorming [really think about that.. brain-storming, weird] on a paper for English. Tomorrow will be more of the above, plus reading for bible.
There are so many concerts I want to go to. It is hard to turn them down.
Here is a recent picture of Nico. This was while he was in Berlin visiting his dad and younger half brother.
We went to the soccer game tonight and it was raining the whole game. It was a great game, our first home game! Vikings won!
My math test was not so bad today. I would say I missed maybe two out of the ten. I am pretty positive that this was the hardest I have ever studied for a test for. Hopefully it will reveal the fruits of my labor.
German class is always fun. I have all the determination in the world to speak semi-fluent German by the end of this year, because of the ridiculous amount of money I have paid for these books. And Coach Tim did the math and it is approx. $67 a class. So every time we miss class, or slack off we are basically throwing away that $67 into the eternal abyss. Talk about another means of determination.
On Friday's we have a lecture for all the English classes. Today's was a billion [yes, a billion] times better than last weeks! It was about Augustine and how to interpret the book as an 18 year old, 20 year old, and then 33 year old. And how when you are 18 you see how most of it is about lust and prayer. But a 20 year old sees it as a philosophical read. Where as a 33 year old reads it as a book of love to God, and sees it as a means of conversion. --There was a bunch of other stuff, but I am not going to get into it. The first thing I wrote in my book was "Is this book all about love?" The lecture today really tied into the way I interpreted it. His goal must have been to try and get everyone's view into one lecture in order to please the masses.
Spinning class tomorrow morning at Northwestern. For now, I am going to stick around in my room and stay updated on the weather.
"For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs"
Senor Scollon used to always tell us that the love for money was the greatest evil. And the one thing we should always be looking out for. He could not have been more right. And today I feel it.
I received a care package from Brookwood, [specifically, Marilyn Asklund]. It could not have come at a better moment in my day. I was upset and getting to pick up a package from the mail room was some what of a relief. And I realized that maybe the whole world was not out to get me.
First math tomorrow, and I have my doubts about it. I have gone through all my homework assignments and re-did all of them. And I don't feel comfortable about any of them. Math is not, and will not ever be my niche.
Rowing is still going well. I have a meeting tonight at eight, to fill out NCAA forms and get a jersey. And a hat. We get shirts in a couple weeks, long and short sleeves.
Next to my desk I have a bulletin board that always makes me smile. On it is a picture of Ike that Rosie gave me, Polaroids of Melissa and I, and Adam and I, a picture of Dan, Zakk and I, Matt and I and Nico and I.
Abbie and I. I just have to keep telling myself that this particular struggle is only temporary, and happiness is mandatory.
People are always outside yelling and laughing, like they don't ever have homework, responsibilities or have to wake up in the morning.
I don't get it.
I have become.. so focused on God, school and the girls. I have lost sight of what I feel like has been my biggest ailment these past six years: socializing. Correction: socializing with the the less focused on God.
It is hard to believe that I had myself convinced I wasn't going to attend college this year. But I think God gave me those thoughts so I could see how bad of an idea it was. Sort of playing reverse psychology on me. And then I prayed about it one night in February and the next day I got home from school and North Park had sent me a whole packet to fill out to apply. In all reality I thought everyone was going to be mad at me for the change of plans. Little did I know, the only person who was mad was someone who was a mere phase in my life. But those solid figures were joyous with me.
And look, I am sitting at North Park University and becoming educated like Jonathan, Matthew and Elizabeth. It is the trend for siblings to not want to follow their older siblings paths. Or often feel like they are pushed into that sort of situation. I want to follow the paths Jonathan, Matthew and Elizabeth have taken.
I want Jonathan's intellect to all aspects of life/studies/music, and his sense of humor. Matthew's ability to be his own person and care for the nature studies he did in Costa Rica. Elizabeth's strong faithfulness to God, and un-materialistic attitude towards life.
I wish for those for myself. The traits of the ultimate person. And being the youngest, I have a lot to be inspired by.
Today was the ultimate way to spend a Saturday... Woke up at eight fifteen, ate breakfast. Came back to my room and grabbed my bag that I packed the night. Road to Swedish Covenant Hospital to use the ATM, that does not accept checks. Even though the guy told me they did... ANYWAY!
Then headed down Foster, to Western, to Brewyn, all the way down the Montrose beach. [That is for you dad, to look-up how I got to Lake Michigan.] Locked my bike up then watched Erin run her race! Just after it started and I had watched Erin a bit, the guy from the Communications meeting [Eric] saw me and approached me.. And he gave me a camera to shoot pictures! So I shot pictures the rest of the race, then the boys race. I got to see Erin after her race, and met her grandmother, and saw her mom and sister again. Erin did great, the race was measured wrong so she isn't really sure if it was a good time or not.
So Eric and I rode back together and had a great conversation and he said that he wants to me to take over his position. And that I can start getting paid too for shooting sporting events. GREAT! We talked about what kind of photography we like, boring stuff like that.
Got back to campus by 12:30, so I had lunch. Then Kate [she is the girl on our floor whose roommate moved out on her] and I walked to Payless to return my shoes. And Erin and I headed to Jewel-Osco around two thirty. I got Nature Valley granola bars, three boxes for $7! Bananas, finger nail clippers, socks for rowing. A total of sixteen dollars, a lot more than I wanted to spend. I need to stop making money an object of such importance.
At four thirty I went over to Eric's house for a planned meeting to brain storm ideas on a fun photo shoot. And we carried out in an alley on campus. It was Eric, Beth [his wife], a guy named Robert, Jonathan, and Luke. If I get pictures I will put it on here, it is just Luke coming out of sewer, then me glaring at the camera in a dark alley... It was pretty painful to brainstorm ideas because we were all new to each other and unsure of what to do. Next adventure will be better. I think the idea is to start a Photography club, so we can get an account and get funding. Especially for equipment, and we can start entering contests. Exciting!
Then I got back and I missed dinner, so Brooke made me Ramen Noodles. :) I read about fifteen chapters of Genesis, then at nine we went downstairs for a whole floor game night!
And now... I am back in my room.
Getting up at 6:30 to go to the cross country photo shoot on the beach with Eric and Luke. And of course Erin!
Brooke just came in and talked to me about the New Community Covenant Church. Which I think we are going to try to go to tomorrow. It is downtown-ish so we will have to take the el. Website: http://thenewcom.com/
It is another gloomy day in Chicago. [Currently 66 degrees.] And the river is flowing really high. Our boat house flooded yesterday. Not good, but it has the weekend to dry-out.
I started violin lessons back-up this week. The teacher seems to be enthusiastic about teaching. She is no Jean, but she will still be great. [Jean is my former teacher.] --And I just practiced in my room because the practice halls are on the other side of campus. It is a pain to carry my violin back and forth. And all the lockers there are taken already.
My investment in this nice planner has been helping me greatly. My mind does not feel so scatter brained and lost throughout the day. Especially in the evening when my body is so run down and my mind just can't remember all that is ahead of me. It is a brand called "dotmine". And they sell all sorts of organizers, I got the "time.mine" one.
That looks exactly like mine! The best part is it goes until December 2009. I look forward to the day when I have gotten into my system of color coordinating and organization.
My newest endeavor is joining the communications team here at North Park. I got an email about it, and went to the meeting, where I was the only girl, and the only person who was not a freshman. Much to my surprise they were excited to have me because they are soon to lose everyone else! Our first brainstorming get together is on Saturday at one guy's apartment, who is a newlywed! Two people on the staff are newlyweds! Love was in the air at the meeting, haha.
Rowing is going wonderful! We ran six sets of eight flights of stairs yesterday. A.K.A. Go up.. then down.. and that equals one, then up and down, equals two. And a core work-out, plus some erging. --Today we erged for twenty minutes. --Then a full body circuit for another twenty minutes. After practice today Coach Tim came up to me and said "wow, you are really in shape." And I just sort of smiled and asked what else I could do, and how I could use my height to my advantage. And he explained that my time was really good on the erge and that what I needed to focus on was improving that. The reason I will always be in the back [or front, whichever way you look at it] is because my stroke is not as long as everyone elses. So, being in front of someone would only mess up their stroke. I have to follow everyone else but still make the pull just as strong. Does that make any sense? The same thing goes for really tall people, they cannot be in front because not everyone can follow their long strokes.
I'm rambling.
Tonight I am going downtown with a few girls. One of them turned 18 today [her name is Clarisa and she is on the rowing team] and she wants to get her nose pierced and her cartilage pierced. And I lost my stud lip ring so I am going to tag along and get one while we are at the parlor.
This Sunday is another adventure for going to church... We were going to go with Arielle, but Arielle's church has three services throughout the day.. not the same one each time, but different ones. Church is a whole day affair at Arielle's church, I don't know if I am up to that. But Brooke found a flier about a church who is serving breakfast.. Heyyy yo!
Time to do Math homework. And Erin just showed me how to get to her cross country meet tomorrow. Go ERIN!
I will start with.. Saturday! On Saturday we all when downtown. This was my first time to ever ride a train! And for everyone else.. it was their billionth.
Kelly
Ally [my RA]
Erin [my roommate]
Abbie [who I recently found out is twenty]
Joy
Brooke and Ali
Kelly, Ally, Ali, Joy, Erin, Abbie, Brooke Waiting for our bus Going downtown only costs $2! So you could have a $4 adventure just by going there and back. It is something I believe we will all be making a habit of doing.
Shopping was our numero uno priority, and dinner.
I didn't buy that, but I really wanted to. I bought the scarves that were on my arm though!
First we stopped at Jamba Juice, for those who don't know that is compared to Juice Stop. We slowly made our way down State Street. Home of a lot of famous sites and stores. Arielle met us at Millennium Park.
Personally, I find this strange. But everyone loved them.
Brooke and I
Abbie
Kelly
Ali and me.
Ally and me
Roomies!
:)
Joy and I!
After Millennium Park we carried on down Michigan Ave. to find a restaurant. Some of us went to Noodle & Co, others went to Chipotle.
After eating we did more browsing down Michigan Ave. Michigan Ave. is home of wayyyyy too expensive stores. But we enjoyed the picture opportunities. And glanced into many stores. Even a store that was only jewelery, more jewelery than you could ever imagine.
When we were walking over this bridge a guy said in my direction: "Cowboy books?! I haven't seen those forever!"
The sunset.
This was outside Nike Town, and we were waiting for everyone to finish. And behind us was one of those crazy silver guys that dances and stands really still in odd positions.
Abbie and Ally inside of the Hershey store!
We eventually called it a night.. And got back onto the train.
We got back to the dorms around eight thirty, and we all just went our separate ways. We were all really exhausted and just wanted to sleep and relax.
Sunday was the next day of adventure. I went to church at North Park Covenant. A nice church, almost identical to Brookwood.
I had lunch, then Erin and I were off on our adventure to the lake. It was just under a thirty minutes bike ride, not too bad. Fun to ride down the busy streets, and cute residential neighborhoods.
Here is our view. We read and slept, talked and swam.
And tried to take a good picture.
Had little success.
After about three hours at the lake, we rode to this little town on Clark street. Called "Anderson Ville". We got juice, and just walked down the streets looking at all the places we wish we were having our dinner at that evening. Clark Street reminds me of Mass Street. Very chill, and cultured.
We returned to campus by seven, and were pretty much in for the night.
Monday, since we had no school, I had a four hour practice for rowing. Since it was the first day it was all informational on the boats. We learned how to carry them and work as a team. Then we returned to school [our boat house is in Skokie] to learn how to urg. All-in-all it was a fairly boring practice.
I spent about two hours reading out on the green Monday afternoon. Where people play Frisbee and soccer, and study! Then the real fun began!
We had an ice cream social on our roof!
Getting ready to pray over our ice cream, led by our RD.
Hannah Joy
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The sunset was amazing! And the ice cream was equally amazing. In order to get toppings you had to do crazy things, or tell some story. I had to spell "monkey" and in between each letter I had to make monkey noises. And tell my most recent nightmare. And the farthest I have been away from home.
I... have been having a lot fun.
This morning we had practice.. I woke-up at 4:50, got downstairs by 5:00, got to the vans by 5:10, and left to Skokie by 5:15. I learned how to row today... Only eight of us did, everyone else had to run. At the end when we were done putting the boat away he told us he picked the eight most athletic looking girls. That made me feel pretty good. I sat at the front, in seat one, which he said is where the smallest girls usually sit.
I am really sore. Not from today, but yesterday, we did a few exercises.. It hurts to walk anywhere. Bring it on.
Time to get my laundry, then shower.. then go read my bible outside, then class! I have already taken over a nap for an hour. And Erin just woke up from a nap too.
"Here comes the sun." I get to see every sunrise now.
Second year at North Park University. A summer of work behind me, a school year of work ahead of me.
"A ship in harbor is safe -- but that is not what ships are built for." -John Shedd
