Life is Better with Jesus.

I can definitely say that life is better with my good friend, Jesus. About a year ago, an online store/website found it's way into my life. It's called Son Gear. They have wonderful things like shirts, cards, hoodies, and anything else you can imagine. It is a Christian based website, and the creator has such a passion for Christ and it shows in the things they distribute. One cool thing they are doing now is called "Coat for Coat." This project involves buying a coat, and by doing so, Son Gear will donate a coat to someone who needs it. 

Its a great ministry that you should definitely check out in the near future. Visit it at: www.songear.com 

Until next time,

Jenny

iGlow. Do you?

This past weekend, I was blessed with the experience of the IYC iGlow workshop. Well, first I should probably back it up and explain what IYC is.

IYC. It stands for Interdenominational Youth Choir, but trust me it means so much more. In short it is a Gospel choir on my college's campus that has 50+ members who sing to the Lord with all their heart. All through highschool I was a part of my church's youth choir and it was an amazing experience. My best friends to this day are those who I met due to being a part of that choir. When I got to college, I got involved in a church right away and I am so thankful for that. I instantly connected with the other college kids that I met at church. There still was a part of me that was missing, and that wasn't content. I missed the choir aspect of my life, and making joyful music with my friends. One day, out of the blue, I was talking to a friend in my math class and she told me about this Christian choir group and invited me to join her at a rehearsal. I looked the choir online just to see what it was all about. I decided to go and check out a practice. I was welcomed with open arms held out wide! After the first song we sang, I knew that this was the place for me. I have formed many friendships in the past few weeks with the other choir members, and I can't wait for what's in store ahead.

So back to the amazing things that happened this weekend. Every year, IYC hosts a big workshop for gospel choirs across Illinois. The weekend started out with a college concert night on Friday. This showcased all of the choirs that came for the weekend and allowed them to show off their talents in a few songs. When it was our turn to go up we blew the audience away with our joyful music and energetic attitudes. IYC sang 4 songs total, and boy was it fun! I let the music inside of me and just rocked out by singing and dancing my heart out.

Saturday started off bright and early. We were fortunate enough to have 2 classes that taught us all how to strengthen our faith. Later on in the day we had Tye Tribbett, a famous Gospel artist come in and to a class for us. The words that he shared with us were just amazing. He has such an insight on life and a strong relationship with God. One thing that stuck out that he said over the weekend was "When it's raining hard, you know it won't last long..." That night we had a mass choir rehearsal where Mr. Tye Tribbett conducted us all and taught us his songs. The sound that was produced by all of us was just outstanding!

Then on Sunday we had the mass choir concert. It started off with the praise team singing some songs. Followed by a beautiful dance by the praise team dancers. One of my favorites of the day was the mime ministers who did a dance to a song and let me tell you, it was amazing! It was one of those moments when your sitting in where you are and everything around you is still and it seems like everything is content. The mass choir then filled the stage and worshiped and sang with Tye. It was an experience I will never forget. I was so excited that my dad got to come down to see me sing. We went out for a yummy dinner and got to chat for a bit. :)

I really feel that I am still glowing from this weekend and probably will be for a while. I'm spreading my light with everyone here on my campus, and everyone I can. So when someone asks, 'Do you glow in the dark?' I can say 'iGlow!'

Tye Tribbett & I

Only for GIrl Scouts...

Being a part of Girl Scouts, is something great and really special. I am fortunate enough to have had my mom be a great troop leader. The 12 other girls that graduated high school with me and were in my troop, yeah, they were and still are my best friends. Girl Scouts has made such an impact on my life, that I am finding ways to give back to the Scouting community. One way I am doing so is becoming a troop leader for a daisy troop in my college's town. All the details aren't set in stone yet, but they will be soon.

My good friend Julie and I are all reregistered and ready to volunteer our time and our hearts to become a mentor, friend and troop leader to a group of younger girls. We contacted a membership person from the council down here to get information about leading a troop in the area. The woman e-mailed us back the other day and gave us a choice between 2 local schools in our area. It was up to us to decide which school we would start our troop at. Since neither of us are from the area, we had no idea what each of the schools were like let alone where the heck they were. After consulting MapQuest, we found that both schools are about a mile away from our dorms and would likely take us a half hour to walk to each school. Cold weather is quickly approaching, and I knew that we would not be smiling in the snow walking to our meetings to see our kindergartners. We decided it would be a good idea to try the public transportation system and find a bus to get us there.

Our meeting with the person from council is tomorrow and we had to let her know which school we wanted to be at before the meeting. So we decided that it would be a good idea to do a test run on the bus. When we walked out of our dorm, it wasn't raining too much. By the time we got to the bus stop a few blocks away, it started to rain some more... We got on the bus and were only a tad bit wet. Neither of us have ever been to this school, and we only had a general idea of where it was. The bus ventured through the slick busy streets, and I saw a street sign that looked familiar so I signaled for us to get off. Little did I know that it was the wrong street. At this point it was pouring rain, and we were walking through side streets looking for this elementary school, hoping that it was near by.

We eventually found it and had a look around. We did get some weird looks, but that was probably because 2 strange soaking wet teenagers are wandering around a grade school... The grade school was actually really cute and made me even more excited to get a troop going.

After a glance at our watches, we realized that we should start heading back if we wanted to catch the bus. So we forged the monsoon again, and found the busy street that the bus route was on. The traffic was being rude and wouldn't let us just J-Walk across the busy street, so we ventured down a block or two to the stop light. Finally we made it to the covered bus stop (which was fantastic because at this point we were SOAKED). After waiting for a half hour to 45 minutes, and seeing no bus... We called Julie's amazing friend and she gave us a ride back to our dorm.

Only for Girl Scouts will I forge a monsoon and go on an adventure to a grade school. I'm super excited to share a troop with Julie and I think we are gonna be awesome leaders. :)

Until next time,
Jenny

That Awkward Moment When... #1

So we all probably know this, but life is FILLED with awkward moments. Sometimes they are more noticeable than others.... It's always fun to share these awkward moments with others. I decided to do a little series where I'll share awkward stories that occur in my life. There are a few rules though... No judging. No laughing. No smiling. Okay, well, I guess you can smile and laugh, otherwise what fun would this be? :)

This past Saturday night a bunch of girls from my dorm floor decided to go to this Hog Roast. A local fraternity was hosting a Hog Roast and we knew a guy who was in it, so he sold us some tickets. I've never been to a Hog Roast before because they don't really do that where I'm from, so I was really excited. Not only was I excited to experience all that a Hog Roast was, I was also looking forward to meeting cute southern boys with amazing accents. Haha!

About an hour before we were going to leave, all of us girls were getting all dolled up. There was hair curling, toe nail painting, dressing up cute and just general excitement. After everyone was all ready to go, we took some group pictures [ Because I guess that's the college thing to do... haha. But it's all good, I like pictures :) ] and started walking to the Hog Roast. We walked past these weird apartments and there were these creepy guys sitting in their window who started calling out to us. It was really awkward and weird... So we keep on walking, and finally get to the fraternity's house. We walk up and show them our ticket in exchange for a black dot on our hand. All of us walked into the backyard where the food was, and we found that we were surrounded by a crowd of people wearing jeans, tennis shoes and plaid shirts. Needless to say we didn't really get the memo about the southern style outfits... And they didn't even have the pig out for us to see...

On the bright side dinner was fairly good. No, I did not have hog (I know Dad... I should've tried it... Next time...) But I did have excellent corn on the cob and really good potato chip type things. Things didn't turn out quite how I expected... but it still was a great and fun night spent with friends.

Next time we get all dressed up, I say we just go out to dinner or something like that. :)

All of us girls ready to go :)

Until next time,
Jenny

For Greater Things Have Yet To Come.

It is a Thursday night and I am finding myself doing what I do on most nights, studying. The thing that makes this night different than other nights is that I have found a new place to study! You see, I live on the 15^th floor of my building, and while we have a lounge to use for study and play, it is mostly used for recreational purposes. It's at night times when the floor “comes alive” and everyone is in there bonding and causing trouble. So tonight I ventured up to the 18^th floor with my friend Julie. We wanted to find a new place to study, so we thought it would be a good place to test out.

Nighttime has always fascinated me when in bigger cities because I love to look at the city lights. I know that the town I am living currently wouldn’t really be considered a bigger city, but boy do we have a great view from the 18^th floor and there are sure a lot of lights to look at, so my heart is content. I am able to see for miles and miles and watch the city as things start to die down and take rest for the night.

Sometimes darkness can be related to despair or frightful, but I don’t believe it’s either. When I was younger I am sure I was scared of the dark and hid under my covers with a flashlight in hand. And I know there have been days where the dark nights have brought sad thoughts to my mind. But I was listening to this song today called “God Of This City” by Chris Tomlin (who is a great artist, I would recommend looking up some of his music if you’ve never heard him sing before). In Chris’ song, he says, “You’re the Light in this darkness. You’re the Hope to the hopeless. You’re the Peace to the restless. You are.” These lyrics make me realize that even though it is dark outside where we are, God is still there for us and is guiding us and giving us hope and peace. Sometimes it’s hard to see God and know he is there, but these lyrics just reconfirm the fact that he is and will always be there for us. The song continues on to say “For greater things have yet to come, and greater things are still to be done in this City.” I really like these lines because it describes how each day is a new day filled with opportunities. Just because darkness, despair, frustration or sadness rains on one day, doesn’t mean that the next will be the same because greater things have yet to come.

Sitting up in the 18^th floor lounge, in a quiet, peaceful time is not only relaxing, but also reassuring. It’s nights like these where I can take a moment to reflect upon what I am thankful for. I am thankful for His guiding light that leads me down a good path. I know that there are greater things to come tomorrow and the day after, but for now I am content sitting up here looking at the lights dotting the horizon around me.

Good night friends :)

~Jenny

I'm on fuego!

Please take note to when this blog was written and posted. My clock now says 5:35 am, and also please know that I have been up for an hour or so. One may be wondering, why on earth is Jenny up so early?? No, I wasn't out partying it up. I wasn't studying like a good college student. Nope, the fire alarm went off at 4:15 in my dorm, so that is why I am up.

Wanna know something weird and scary though? My lovely roommate went home this weekend. I do miss her dearly! As I was climbing into my bed last night, I thought to myself, "So, I'm by myself. It would not be good if the fire alarm went off in the middle of the night. I hope I would be able to wake up without Amanda being here..." I am a heavy sleeper and I have been known to sleep through big thunderstorms and such. Because in college you are kinda on your own for the most part, no one's gonna come and wake you up to escape the burning building.

But yes, that was one of my last thoughts before I went to bed last night around 12:30. I slept for a good 4 hours until I heard this really loud, obnoxious beeping noise. My first thought was, 'Shoot! It's already 9 in the morning... I don't want to get up!' As I slowly woke up more, I heard a voice in addition to the beeping. It was the announcements coming over the loudspeaker of my dorm. It was at that point where I'm like, crap, what's going on. I heard that they were telling everyone to evacuate the building immediately. Upon hearing this I rushed to climb down my scary high bed (it's lofted and didn't come with a ladder... So I have to ninja scale up the wall to get into and out of bed). I threw on a sweatshirt and flip flops and grabbed my keys and phone. It didn't really occur to me that it's kinda cold outside, and all I was wearing was a sweatshirt, my brightly patterned PJ shorts and flip flops. In hindsight, I probably should have put pants on...

Everyone in my whole building was rushing down the stairs to escape whatever it was that we needed to escape. After about 10 flights of stairs, I was really starting to question why on earth I lived on the 15th floor of a 17 floor building... It was quite interesting to see the varying degree of people and their outfits as I got outside. You had those that knew what's up and were dressed in sweatpants and a sweatshirt (some even brought their blanket). Then you had those who were like me with shorts and a sweatshirt. You also saw those who literally looked like they got out of bed and ran, because all they had on was a pair of shorts and no shirt (these were only guys that I saw doing this...) And lastly you had the girls who were still dressed up from their night on the town.

Needless to say, it was quite the adventure for the night. Eventually we got the all clear and nothing seemed to be on fire. But yeah. I thought I would share my exciting happenings with you all now because I cannot fall back asleep.

Until next time,
~Jenny

The First Days

Quick side note: I wrote this entry a few days ago, but neglected to post it, so sorry for not being on top of things... :)

Hello everyone!

So as of today I am an official 2nd week college student because today was the start of my 2nd week of classes. Before I talk about my wonderfully amazing classes that are the result of the end of my summer... ha! I must tell you all about my move-in adventure.

In my last post you saw all my belongings that were being packed away. I wasn't sure if all my stuff was going to fit into my extremely small dorm room... But, do not fear! It did! After a good night's sleep, I woke up at the crack of dawn to pack up the van. During the drive down, my mind was racing with thoughts about college! This whole experience was new to me, so I had no idea what to expect. We got there quite a bit early, so we grabbed some lunch and picked up my textbooks. At my college, they give you a 4 hour time slot of which you can move in. The time slot depends on what floor you live in and which dorm you are in. My time slot was supposed to be from 1-4 in the afternoon, but since we got there early, my mom was convinced that they would let us move in early... We pulled up and unloaded all my crapload of boxes on the curb. We then loaded all my stuff onto our pull carts and swam up stream to get inside the building. I guess there are pros & cons to moving in before your slotted time. Pro: there aren't that many people moving in because it's during a lunch break. Con: you get dirty looks from the people that are working the move in day because you are interrupting their lunch break. Pro: you get to pick what side of the dorm room you want and aren't as crowded when moving stuff in. I guess the pros out-weigh the cons, so in the end it was worth it. My new home for the school year is on the 15th floor, and boy does it have a great view! I lofted my bed so I could put a comfy chair under my bed along with some other stuff. My desk is right next to my bed, and I use it to get up to my bed because unfortunately there is no ladder to my bed.

Unpacking my stuff was a process that took sometime, but once everything was in it's spot, it was all good. :) My parents stayed for a little bit and helped me unpack. Once it was time for them to go, it was kind of bittersweet. There was a part of me that was excited for college but there was another part of me that still wanted to be at home with my parents like life normally is. After they left I just hung out the rest of the day and explored the campus. My college campus is pretty big and has a nice little downtown area to it. There are some nice shops and really good ice cream places.

Classes were a new thing. I am taking 4 classes, math, psych, biology and a com class. My teachers are all super nice and very supportive. The only strange thing to me is that my biology class has about 300 people in it! I guess because this is college, I should get used to it, but it's still kind of weird. I have taken the advice of others and I always sit in either the 1st or 2nd row. So far, classes are going pretty well. The work load hasn't gotten too intense yet, so that is a good sign.

Before I sign off, I thought I would give you a short list of some fun & crazy college memories I've had so far.

• Random people doing Medieval Times fighting in the quad
• Encouraging messages chalked on the quad
• Dining hall food!!! Well.. I'm not so sure that's a great thing... ha!
• Freshman youth group/Bible study
• Merge, the weekly college worship service
• Awesomely decorated dorm rooms
• Getting letters from far away friends
• My wall filled with pictures
• Late night conversations
• Sunday night dinner with church friends
• Going to Merry Ann's Diner at 11:30 at night
• Learning Sign Language with friends
• Bracelet making parties
• Movie nights
• J-walking, oh wait, that's illegal, never mind. 
• Going out to dinner with the girls from my floor
• Interesting professors
• Squirrel underwear, now I just have to capture a squirrel 
• Corn fest & my free corn!!
• and many more.... to be continued!

I'd say that college life is treating me pretty well. While I do miss home, I do look forward my newest adventure. College is making me get out of my comfort zone and try new things, become and continue to be outgoing, and conquer the world. I recently found a quote that kind of relates to the beginning of college for me.

"A ship in port is safe, but that's not what ships are built for."

I could easily not adventure out into this new world and just stay where I'm comfortable, but I'm being called and pulled out of port. I'm setting sail, and who knows the places I'll go!

Until next time,

Jenny

Col·lege

col·lege

  

[kol-ij] 

–noun

An institution of higher learning, especially one providing a general or liberal arts education rather than technical orprofessional training.

There is this thing called college that is right around the corner for all of us who are recently graduated high school seniors. I think the amazing thing for me is the fact that I leave in 3 days. After the many hours spent on getting my applications perfect, turning them in right on time and then stressing out waiting to hear back from them... It's strange to think that 3 days from now I will be on my own, living through this adventure we all call college. Grade school, middle school and high school all have brought great experiences. I am blessed to have had a strong core group of friends to support me through the good and the bad times. I also am lucky to have many opportunities that have helped me decide what kind of career I want to pursue. It will be different not having my family surrounding me all the time, but I know that everything will be a-okay. :)

Just the other day my parents & I went to visit my great-aunt to take her out to lunch. My great-aunt, who I call Aunt Marion, is 90 years old. During lunch, I was telling her all about what my bedding is going to look like, who my roommate was, and the kinds of classes I signed up for. She then went on to give me some advice. Her first piece of advice was to go to class. Her second was, "Don't Fail!!" It made me smile to know that she was excited for me to go off to school. 

The rest of this week and for the past several days I have been packing, packing, packing...! It's amazing how much stuff you need to take with you! Staplers, scissors, a mirror, towels, clothes, notebooks, laptop, socks, tweezers, pens, markers... And the list goes on and on! I gathered everything and checked it off on my master list. Luckily I have a great mom who helped me play Tetris with my stuff when packing it into boxes. 

The days are counting down and college is getting closer and closer...

Me being me, I organized my things according to category. :)

My dog Riley was very confused to why I was packing all my things, so he just decided that he would come along with me to college! I hope my roommate won't mind... :)

Well, that's all for now. To all my family and friends, I will talk to you soon. And to all those college kids out there, good luck this year! 

~Jenny

The Epic Battle

The other day I went to the doctor to have an MRI done. Now I've never had anything done like this before, so it was definitely a new experience. I didn't really know what to expect... All I've ever seen or heard about MRI's is what I have seen on TV, which may or may not be accurate. I decided to go into the appointment with an open mind and not freak myself out. They had me lay on this table and I had to keep my head real still. The good part about this all was that I was able to listen to music during the whole procedure. I was very indecisive about what kind of music I wanted to listen to, which resulted in my listening to Bon Jovi. I'm not the biggest fan of him and his music, but I can take it in small doses. The only problem was that I didn't know any of his songs, so I ended up ignoring the music and just listening to the loud noises that come with an MRI. I was told ahead of time that the noises would most likely sound like a construction site, and I would say that the analogy is pretty darn accurate. With Bon Jovi singing to me loudly and the sounds like they are putting up the world's next biggest skyscraper and being in a small tube like thing and not being able to move my head or any part of my body because I feared that I would screw up the tests, it just all added up to give me a headache. The one part of this experience that was quite funny was when the technician told me that the next test would make the table shake. I was looking forward to the change of pace, but what was ahead of me was much more...! It was an EPIC BATTLE and my body was in the middle of it. The noises were a tad bit louder, but when the table began to shake I knew it was going to be an adventure. There were noises of B.B. guns shooting each other. First they came from the left... Then they came from the right... It went back and forth, from right to left for quite a while. The left side of my body was in a battle with the right side of my body. After about 2 minutes, the left side were left standing and alive. They let out a few more warning shots before going back to making my body run smoothly and efficiently.

Now I guess if your reading this, you may think I am now going crazy. That may be the case... But is not likely. I had to find something that would amuse me for the 40 minutes that the test went on... :)

~Jenny