So my first weekend of working at Easter Seals camp is finally over. And I have to say it's one of the best decisions I could have ever made. I learned SO much in just a couple of days. My patience, strength, and compassion were all stretched just a little farther. It was certainly a drain on my physical strength. I did everything from lift campers out of bed, help give them shower and dress them, to taking some on nature walks, to leading a few games, to a 2 hour dance, to scrubbing down a cabin with bleach.  I even learned how to count to 12 in Russian with UNO cards!! All of the counselors hit the floor at 6:30 and didn't get into bed until about 11 at the earliest. It doesn't seem like a whole lot, but it's a long day with little to no rest or sitting down. And yet every single moment was worth it. I've got a little more paperwork to do and then I'm officially on staff for every month's respite and summer if I want. Although the job will probably put me away from home all summer during the weekdays I can't wait for it. It's hard to explain how much this weekend impacted me. Most of it was made up in the little moments that maybe didn't really mean anything to anyone but me. Rather it was a campers smile or a hug or just a statement. It changed me, and God taught me a lot through this opportunity. I can't wait to go back next month!!

is officially one of the coolest things I've ever done!

So I'm sitting here hanging out at Easter Seals camp. It's not even 10 and I'm already done for the day. The campers are all in bed and all the staff are hanging out in the lounge reading, homework, talking, etc. There's only about 10 of us on staff. Most of us are college students or graduate students It's amazing here. Even tonight I've already learned stuff I couldn't learn in a classroom.  The campers are great and totally different from anyone I've worked with before. I'm really really praying stuff works out and I end up on staff on here. Guess I'll find out by Sunday!

So I've gone to all my classes now. And most of them look pretty good except college algebra. the teacher doesn't teach and has the personality of a rock. He just presses the slide show button and mumbles and doesn't make any sense to anyone. Not to mention he assigns homework like his class is the only one we have. English looks like it's gonna be really good again. Intro to teaching wasn't as bad as I was expecting. It even looks somewhat enjoyable. And U. S. History  is looking like my favorite class. Dr. Barnett is pretty amazing. So yea, aside from math, as usual, things look pretty good. But now I get to go do my 4 homework assignments and 2 quizzes for algebra...all of which are due tomorrow!

So in the last couple days a couple of exciting things have happened.

1. This Friday I'm headed to Mt. Juliet to work at Easter Seals which is a special education camp for the weekend. They have Respite Weekends once a month in which about 20 campers with disabilites come and participate in all kinds of activities and such that relate to the month's theme. This month is New Years. I'm working this weekend as a volunteered with an older staff memeber, but if I prove to be any good and I'm comfortable starting next month I'll be on staff with campers of my own. It's something I'll get to do once a month and could turn into a summer job. It's supposed to be an awesome camp that will give me a lot of experience so I'm really looking foward to it. But pray for me! I'm really nervous about the whole thing. I'm really worried I won't be that great at it, but God worked it out for me so I'm beliving something good will come of it.

2. The other exciting thing. We have Dorm Wars in February here on campus. I'm one of the 7 on the team for Davis Hall. It's going to REALLY take me out of my comfort zone but I can't wait!

So yea. God's been opening some really exciting but really scary doors for me the last couple days!

So I'm back at Lee and it is AMAZING! So much better than home. There are a couple people I'm gonna miss, but for the most part things are a lot better than they were 3 or 4 days ago. It's hard to explain. I mean I love everyone back home, and it's nice to see everyone once in a while, but I'm so much more content here. On another note, I have to go buy books. The one downside to college, classes.

2 more days until I get back to Cleveland! I'm more than ready to get back. There's a couple things and people I'll miss, but for the most part I can't wait to get away from here!

Only 3 more days! Thank God!!

Life is a mess. 5 days and life will be a little simpler

left in Murfreesboro, counting today. So technically 5 since this day is almost over. In some ways I'm ready to get back to Lee. But in a lot more, I'm not

Thank God for the amazing friends that I have and the little things they do to make life better without even realizing. Things just got a little better.

ok so let's correct that last thing i said. i'm not comfortable with it, yet. i'm trying really hard to be. and up until today i was. and now, not so much. there are some things that are perfectly fine and i have no complaints about. one rather new thing in particular. but then there is so much that just frustrates me. today was, insane, to say the least. i went thru a rollercoaster ride of emotions and hid them all. i saw 3 different people and dealt with 3 different situations. in some aspects it was a good day. in others, well, i'll get back to you on that one. idk. i've discovered things are usually either way more or way less complex than i make them out to be. this is one of those way more times. 

i'm about ready to get back to Lee. I deal with certain things and people better from a distance. Although there are a couple people I'll definetely miss a whole lot when I go back I need to get away from all the unnecessary drama again too...

my life really doesn't make sense to me anymore. this is another one of these weird stages where nothing really makes sense. only this time i'm comfortable with it.

being sick is not fun! at all!

was tonight.We sat around for a little while talking and eating and such. Then we played a couple games, read the Christmas story, and that was about it. Wasn't the most enertaining thing in the world, but it was still fun. But now I'm tired, and I think I'm trying to get a cold, so I'm gonna go sleep or something.

I was actually productive today. I almost finished Christmas shopping. I found shoes for tomorrow night, so that's one less thing I have to stress over. It still does NOT feel like Christmas. 63 degrees is not Christmas weather. That's October weather. It needs to get cold at least for Christmas. It can get warm after that, but at least for Christmas day it should be cold. 

I finally got all my grades for the first semester. All As. That made the day a little better.

It's really weird to think I don't have to go back to Lee in the next couple days. I think 5 days is the most I've been home before now, and it's already been over a week since I got back. I'm not going to complain though. It's been great so far, and I still have quite a few people to catch up with and a couple more to spend some more time with, before I go back. One of my friends is supposed to be coming home on leave from the Marines today so that's exciting. Maybe today I'll get out and do something productive with my life like finish Christmas shopping or something. Probably not, but it sounds good to say so.

I'm realizing more and more how good it is to be home. It was so nice being back in church this morning. And tonight was great. I was supposed to have plans tomorrow, but sadly it looks like I don't. I'm free all week except Wednesday night. If someone wants to hang out let me know. I definetely don't have anything to do.

Bored...that's one thing I forgot about Murfreesboro. It's boring. At least without friends or somethin going on. So I'm sitting here, been reading a book forever b/c I can't sleep. Church in the morning....

 I'm so glad to be back. I didn't realize how much I'd missed it. And so far things have been really really good. It's so great to realize I get to be here for another 3 or so weeks. I'm just afraid I won't want to go back.

 On another note, I made an A in my Special Education class. All that work finally feels worth it

Today was a very good day!

finishing my last project, studying for my last final, and packing! I come home tomorrow!!!!

Things are really starting to get better. I've only got 2 exams left. One of which I'm not worried about at all. By Friday after my math exam I'll be stress free. Found out my schedule's gonna work so I can go home on Monday instead of Tuesday or Wednesday like I'd expected. Stayed up until 4 this morning writing a paper and discussing the Little Mermaid very indepth w/Jackie. Amazing the things that'll come out of someone's mouth when they're sleep deprived. No classes tomorrow. I have some observation work to do, but that's actually really enjoyable. Then about 3 hours of Apples to Apples. I got sleep today!! More than 3 hours!! That's pretty great considering that's all I'd had in 3 days.  Spent some good time w/some girls in my hall. Due to all the decorating last week I'm starting to build some new friendships with some of them which is pretty cool. Just got back from Midnight Breakfast with them. Pretty sure our RA took our hall toilet from decorations to breakfast w/us. Good, good times.

I've been working on this crazy big project for my Children w/Exceptionalities class for about 2 months now. It was one of those kind of projects where you thought it was almost done, and then you'd discover something else you still had to add to it. I spent about 16 hours on it Saturday and then started on it again about 1 yesterday. Finally at 7 this morning, after lots of coffee and stress and working on it in the lounge with Jackie so I didn't fall asleep, I finally finished it! It was such a good feeling to turn that silly thing in this morning and not have to worry about it anymore. Tonight I've got a paper to do and an exam to study for but after today it's pretty easy from here on out. I'm looking foward to next week when I finally get to come home and know there's nothing left to stress over for a while!

However, I don't know who that person is. We all went out to Chattanooga tonight and while we were gone someone hit the side of my car. They left a dent and took some of the paint off. Of course they drove away leaving no information or anything of that nature. So now I get to deal with that...