The Adventures of Settling In

Well, my room is just about officially done. We finished arranging the living room and finally have a shower curtain, complete with rubber ducks.

It's been a great week though. We moved in Tuesday morning and spent the day unpacking. Wednesday I had my dentist appointment and spent the day in Monroe. Thursday was babysitting & a bonfire with C. I expected that to be awkward, given that we are now both ex's of the same guy, but it was really fun! We have a lot more in common than I expected. I'm glad I'm more outgoing now, else I probably wouldn't have had the courage to go.

Speaking of that, I have become quite an adventurous girl in the past 2 months. On my 20th birthday something changed. I'm not sure what it was, but my self confidence went from -23472 to a positive number. =) I found what makes me happy and am sticking to it. Before June 30th, I never would have considered skydiving. I never would have gone to C's house for a bonfire. I never would have decided to train for a triathlon, and I wasn't as happy and outgoing as I am now. Thank God for unanswered prayers!

As for the craziness of college life... I wish we had more time before classes start. I have three more days and I have no idea when I'm going to get everything done! Tomorrow I'll be in Tecumseh and Monroe all day, Sunday is the Miles Christi picnic, and Monday is a holiday. Sometime in there I've got to buy my course packs, figure out where I'm going on Tuesday, write a paper, study for The Exam (if I don't get an A, I'm kicked out of my nursing classes), hang out with Jade, etc etc etc. Too much to do!

Today was nice though. Last night was girls' night, and although we ended up arranging furniture and discussing all of our potential boyfriends instead of watching Little Miss Sunshine, we had a great time. (We felt very high school). This morning the Comcast guy came and gave us cable/internet (quite exciting). I drove one of the girls home and went grocery shopping & to KMart to get a wireless router. Set that up (tried to be all techy... it apparently worked!) and then went to the pool for an afternoon of meeting people in the apartment complex. =) Then I visited my brother and went babysitting. Quite an eventful, relaxing day.

Last night was the first soccer game of the season. I love that team. =) I'm so glad J asked me to play -- I didn't realize how much I missed soccer until I played last night! Looks like we'll be better this season too - hooray!

Duty calls - the 3 year old threw up and I get to go play nurse. (Poor little guy).

Goodbyes & Fresh Beginnings

Go figure. I moved out yesterday and already I'm back home. Just for the day though... dentist appointment before the semester started. No cavities, mom! =)

It's been an eventful day. First I woke up really confused, forgetting where I was. Then I remembered, but realized I was really cold because I left my window open all night and apparently it was quite the chilly night! Anyway, went to Monroe for my dentist appointment, unpacked some bins & such that I brought back home, and then reloaded the car. Who would have thought that there would be an entire carful of stuff left to bring back! I loaded up my bike, two bins that fit under my bed, a bunch of board games (for our weekly game night!), a few care packages from my grandparents for my brother & I, and my turtle.

About that turtle.

His name is Usasem (although if you ask my neighbor's niece, the turtle's name is "Sassy" and it's a girl). Usasem, the real name, stands for United Soccer Association of South Eastern Michigan. (He was my team's mascot). He's been through a lot. He was adopted from a parking lot or something of the sort by my biology teacher in high school. She forgot about him and left him in a box for an entire summer. She found him, and thinking he was dead, asked me to go dispose of him and his brother. His brother was rotted out of his shell, but this little guy wasn't. So I checked and sure enough, he was breathing. So I adopted him! My freshman year roommate dropped him a few times, my friend Sarah threw him across the room on accident, and he's fallen off a table or two. But he's still alive!

Today just added to his miseries. I left him in the car. I completely forget that I'd packed him up... and I went to lunch with my mom for an hour, visited my Morality teacher (who I'm skydiving with!) & my soccer coach for two hours at school, went to my grandparents' for an hour... I hope that turtle lives to see his new home in Ann Arbor!!!

Anyway, I'm at home in Monroe typing this up because my apartment doesn't have internet this week. Hopefully we'll get that set up soon! In the meantime, I'll be playing in my first soccer game of the season, babysitting some of the cutest kids ever, skydiving, and organizing the apartment - such joyous events!

Life is good. =)

#28: Go skydiving.

It's official. On Saturday September 5th, I am going skydiving. Not just any old skydiving trip though. I am going skydiving with my 72 year old Morality teacher.

That's right. My 72 year old Morality teacher.

He is my hero. In high school, he taught me extremely valuable lessons regarding Social Justice & Morality. He truly cared about my well being, and even had a "talk" with another teacher due to the way she was treating me (and I just found out about that today!). He's always there to listen if I need to talk, and he takes an interest in EVERYONE'S lives -- really, everyone... he made friends with the most random people on the Guatemala trip. I wish I was as genuinely interested in every person's life as he is. He climbed the biggest temples & pyramids in Tikal... and did EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM. He's the most humble man I've met, and the most gentle. And now he is jumping out of a plane with myself & 3 girls I played soccer with. I couldn't be more excited about it.

I'm a bit nervous but mostly just ecstatic. I can't believe I'm actually going to jump out of a plane. I've wanted to do it all summer but didn't think I actually would. I'm missing a Michigan game for it and I could care less.

Pray for us!!

In other news, I packed for school today. Filled up a UHaul, my car, my dad's truck, AND I have to come get more on Wednesday. (In all fairness, my dad's truck bed and backseat were MOSTLY filled with my brother's stuff). We'll see how move-in goes!!!

James 1:27

Waking up is my least favorite part of the day, I've decided. I'd rather jump to the part of the day where my face is washed, and my clothes are on. I've quit doing makeup every day - that's made morning a bit easier, and I usually don't do much with my hair, so that helps too. But getting out of my warm bed to splash cold water on my face is just not a happy thing.

Turns out, however, that every single day, it is worth doing. =)

Yesterday, I went to Mass and spent a lot of it thinking about my future. What does God want me to do? Am I supposed to get married and raise a family? Or am I supposed to do something else? Go figure, as I'm wondering about this, the lector says "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world." That is ironic, because my "something else" option involves moving to Guatemala and opening an orphanage. (There, when people can't afford their babies, they throw them in dumpsters. I found that out and just felt like I HAD to help them).

So, I'm going to find a spiritual director. Because the idea that I may never wear a white dress in front of a church with a smiling guy in a tux is just a bit too much to bear.

In other news, training for the triathlon is going well. I've learned that no matter how much I do it, I will always hate running, but will always love the feeling I get afterwards (endorphins, perhaps?).

Today, however, is dedicated to moving. I haven't started packing yet... should probably get to doing that as the Uhaul arrives this evening.