Honduras on My Mind!

So yesterday marked exactly 4 months until we are back in Honduras! I got WAY excited yesterday, and then kinda anxious as I was realizing everything that had to be done, such as fundraising, gathering prayer support, setting up profit shares, filling out lots of paper work, filing with the Honduran embassy... yeah, there's a lot that needs to happen! But that's okay, because it will all get done :)

But, just a reminder that I have a separate Honduras blog that I update, just because I LOVE having it all in one spot and being strictly related to Honduras. Here is the link just in case you are wanting to know. Those blog posts will become more frequent as the ball gets rolling!

http://heartforhonduras2012.blogspot.com/

Yes, I know the year is wrong since I'm going in 2013, but I honestly had no idea that this would become an annual thing when I started up that blog! Sorry bout it :)

Not a Traditional Classroom

Over the past year I have grown to have two new, yet incredible passions: adoption, and disadvantaged children. At camp this summer I loved being able to work with the kids who hadn't had their fair shot at life, who had been given the bad end of the stick, who didn't have it easy. Some of my favorite kids, and although they were also some of the most challenging, were the ones who came from rough backgrounds - specifically the kids who were in foster care, just because their stories broke my heart into so many pieces.

I've known forever that I wanted to work with kids. Originally, I was going to do youth ministry. Then the idea of education came around, and that was the train I jumped on. And I've loved it. But, I cannot picture myself teaching in a typical, traditional classroom. That isn't where my passion is. Yes, there are several underprivileged kids in those situations, I know that. What has been on my heart recently has been teaching in an orphanage. Although not many orphanages exist anymore, there are several that are Christian based and have schools as a part of their program. It would be as far from a "traditional" classroom as imaginable. The idea scares the poop out of me, but is exciting at the same time.

I don't know if this is what I am called to do, but it has been layed on my heart the past few weeks. Another possible idea (just because I know some of y'all will have a minor heart attack when you read this), was to go teach overseas. All you need is a high school diploma, and many "schools" will hire you. No, I didn't honestly consider this as a possibility, but it did momentarily cross my mind! So when you think I'm crazy for wanting to take the not-so-traveled route in education, just remember -- I've had crazier thoughts!

Polo Season is Almost Here!!!

Tonight we had our informational for the A&M Women's Water Polo Team! We had somewhere between 15-20 new girls attend the informational which is AWESOME! Granted, I know that they won't all play or decide to continue into the competition season, but still... new interest is great! Just talking about everything made me so excited for practices to start NEXT week! It's crazy! I can't wait for practices to start back up so that I can use those as a "study break"... We explained it to the new girls tonight - practice is a lot of work, but it's always fun because we make it fun and we just have a good time. Seriously, we laugh the entire time, and it isn't a rare occasion for one of us to laugh so hard that we swallow a lot of pool water.... resulting in more laughter of course!

I am so ready for this new season :) Let's goooooooo!

Sleep is a Funny Thing...

Sleep is a funny thing sometimes.

Not enough sleep, and we all know what happens. We get cranky. We can't pay attention. We are fidgety and easily upset. Our patience level hits all-time record lows. It's not a good situation.

Too much sleep on the other hand, seems like an okay thing. Wrong. Too much sleep on a night before class means I'm yawning through lectures, I can't focus on what I'm reading, I never fully wake up and so I'm exhausted throughout the day.

I never had this problem growing up because I was always up by 5 for practice, so even if I went to bed around 10, I was still getting 7 hours of sleep. Now, I often don't get up till 9 or so, sometimes even 10 or 10:30, depending on my class schedule. Therefore, if I go to bed at midnight and sleep till 9, that is NINE hours of sleep. Way too much! I guarantee (unless I'm extremely sleep deprived already), if I get 9 hours of sleep before going to class, I will not be awake enough to grasp any of the content. It doesn't seem like it, but it is a real problem.

That explains why I was done studying by 10:00 tonight, and yet it's 12:30 and I'm still up. I won't get up until 8:30 at the earliest tomorrow, therefore I'm making myself stay up till 1 or so that way I don't get much more than 7 hours of sleep. Last night I went to bed at 2 and got up at 9 and have been feeling SO good today! I got A LOT accomplished as far as classes go, but I also got to Skype with Emily, catch up with Jennifer at the library, and enjoy a phone date with Carley. And I spent time for me, watching TV and working on Project Life. Ultimately, I was still uber productive, and also got to spend time doing things that I love. 7 hours of sleep = a pretty dang good day!

Lesson learned: although too little sleep is a bad thing, too much sleep isn't good either!! :)

One Word to Describe This Upcoming Semester?

If I had to choose one word to predict how this upcoming semester is going to be, the word would most definitely be BUSY!

These are the classes I am taking

Reading 351: A Monday/Wednesday class, with an online Friday component. The class itself could potentially be interesting, but the professor is about as interesting as the Charlie Brown teacher... Yeah.

Reading 361: A 3-hour Tuesday block class. I think it's going to be really interesting though, despite the insanely long time sitting in that class!

Communications 203: A Monday/Wednesday/Wednesday class. Yes, I go there TWICE on Wednesday's. I don't think it should be too bad though, just a lot of reading right now and a lot of speeches later on!

Calculus 131: A Monday/Wednesday/Friday horrible, miserable, terrible course. If somebody could explain to me why on Earth an elementary teacher needs to know calculus, maybe then I would care a bit more. But until then, I will probably despise this class. Plus, my professor who has an incredibly thick Korean accent says that he "won't speak English, only math"... uh, what does that even mean?

Biology 113: A Tuesday/Thursday class. Although science isn't my thing, so far this hasn't been too bad. The professor even gave us Dove Chocolate last week to bribe us to do an inclass experiment!

Biology 123: A 3 hour Thursday lab. Once again, 3 hours is a long time to be sitting in class, especially considering it's a "lunch lab" - aka from 11:15-2:00. Outside of being STARVING by the time we finally get out, it isn't too bad.

So yes, I'm in a LOT of classes. And even though technically it is no more than the last two semesters as far as hours and credits goes, none of these classes will end up being blow-offs, which is I think why it feels like so much. Once polo, and Youth Impact (if I commit to doing it) get added into my schedule, I know that my sleeping time is going to go significantly down (ugh!), and my chaos level will increase dramatically. Whooooo!

On another note, my roommate, Rachel, is absolutely PHENOMENAL. She deserves her very own blog post... maybe that will be a study break for tomorrow night!

11:30 - HECK YES!

Let me just say, I absolutely LOVE my Friday schedule! I only have one class, and it doesn't start till 11:30! That means, even though I didn't go to bed till 12:30 (which is honestly reasonably early), my alarm didn't go off until 10:30, meaning I still got TEN hours of sleep. On a school night. Say whaaat?! Yeah, it's AWESOME!

The only downsider is that my one class is unfortunately calculus... BLEH! But, only 50 minutes of class for the entire day... I think I can deal with that! Class, nap, movie night? Happy Friday to MEEEE!

Relaxation, Youth Impact, Fall 2012, God's Plan and Lots More!

So I know that I haven't blogged in a while. Whoops! Sorry! Here's an update on everything that's going on in life. Be ready! There's a good chance this could turn into word vomit! Sorry ;)

Relaxation: essentially all that I've been doing since I got back to CS. I have enjoyed catching up with friends, and watching TV episodes for hours at a time. I've been able to just sit and talk with my new roommate Rachel and share stories about our camps, about her trip to Brazil, my trip to Honduras, our families, our friends, and so much more! I have definitely enjoyed chilling these last few days, but I am ready to get busy again!

Youth Impact: a program that I am seriously considering being involved in this year! It is run through the church that I go to in College Station: Grace Bible. Essentially on Thursday afternoons I would help run a VBS type program for inner city kids in College Station and Bryan. Then on Sunday evenings I would have a Bible study with other college kids who are volunteering. I would also have a child that I would be responsible for mentoring, and then I once a week I would meet up with them, either go to their school for lunch, or attend their sports games, or something like that. I haven't committed to this yet, but I signed up for more information at church this morning. This is just an opportunity to do what I love most, teach kids about Jesus Christ, throughout the school year!

Fall 2012: This semester is going to be CRAZY! But I couldn't be more excited. I'm taking a FULL load of classes (16 credit hours, but 18 physical hours): 2 different reading courses, calculus, communications, biology, and bio-lab. I'm also still playing water polo, so will have practices Sunday-Thursday. I'm so excited though to see what God will use through the craziness! I realize that I will lose quite a bit of sleep, and quite possibly might end up overwhelmed, but God WILL be glorified through it all! Cannot wait :)

God's Plan: is SO much better than mine! I have completely surrendered my own plan, and know that His is a billion times better. So let me just explain to you what my plan was, and where God has been leading me recently! My plan... to find the perfect guy in high school, date through college, proposed to the summer after graduation, teach kindergarten in a rich school with perfect angel children, get married after my first year of teaching, have several kids of my own... you get the drill.  A quote that I read the other day said that "It's not about God making my dreams come true but about God changing my dreams into His dreams for my life". To say the least, my dreams have been shot out the window. I don't know if I will ever get married. I can pretty much guarantee I won't be teaching kindergarten in a rich school, my passions for that have completely changed. Honestly, right now I could see myself teaching school in an orphanage, adopting my kids. If God's plan doesn't hold a perfect husband in my life, than that's okay. His will is more perfect than mine ever could be, so how could I possibly be upset about that? Who knows where God will take me in life, but I know that it will be SO perfect and more than I could ever ask for! God is so good, and He will be glorified in my life!

Starting tomorrow, the chaos of sophomore year begins. The classes, the late nights, the studying, all of that that goes with getting a degree and excelling in college. Also, the road trips will probably begin to be planned, and Skype dates will probably pick up as I'm missing my dear friends in Nacogdoches, Marshall, Louisiana and Oklahoma. Polo will begin soon, and a little bit of my heart will always be left in the pool with that team every day. But most importantly, more important than grades, than friends, than water polo, than the college experience... the most important thing about this next semester is Our Awesome God WILL be honored and glorified in all of the small things!

Fall 2012... LET'S GOOOOOO!!!!