#byebyebowman

A few days ago we found out that the president of our university was going to be retiring. This came as sad news to practically all the students here on campus because everyone loves our president. He has been president of this university for several years now and has done many great things for our campus. Although I haven't gotten the chance to meet or talk to him personally, I know for a fact that he cares for each and everyone of us.

To honor him and show our appreciation, all the students (well, a good majority) took part in a pep rally yesterday afternoon. The students, along with the marching band, gathered in the grassy area outside the window to his office. At noon we all started chanting his name in hopes that he would hear us. Sure enough he heard us and came down to greet us and talk to us. He gave an impromptu speech. In that speech he expressed how much he appreciates us and how he is going to miss us. He then went on to say how we all deserve A's and if our teachers didn't give them to us he would be mad. (I wish he had the power to give us all A's haha). But overall it was nice to have a send off for a man that gave his all to this university.

[Peace&Love] Jenny

I Voted! And you should too!

Unless you live in a cardboard box, you probably have heard that it is election season. I registered to vote this year for the first time, and I'm glad I did. It's really cool knowing that your vote can help change the future and elect the person that will be leading you and your fellow citizens.

This past weekend I went and voted early in my hometown. I thought I would share my experience in voting in my first Presidential election. My grandparents picked me up from the bus stop and took me ot the polling place to vote. It's a crazy story and involves us (my Bapa & I) almost getting arrested... So prepare yourselves :)

We arrived to the polling place and my Bapa & I parked and went inside. Before we went inside, he saw that there was an American flag outside the door. He insisted that we take a picture in front of it before we go inside.

As my Bapa was taking the picture seen above, a family of 3 came out of the building. With them was a boy who looked to be about my age, and was also voting for his first time too. His parents saw this marvelous picture opportunity and insisted that he do the same pose after I was through. He didn't seem to excited for this though. I smiled apologetically and said, "You're welcome?"

We then proceeded to go into the building and fill out the necessary forms. Upon filling out the forms and I stood in line to check in and prove to them that I was indeed who I claimed to be. The women that was helping me fill out all the forms and such asked me if this was my first time voting. A smile broke across my face and I replied, 'Yes!' She then proceeded to announce this to the whole ENTIRE room of voters by saying, 'Hey everyone! We have a first time voter!!!!!' Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and clapped for me. While I did blush and turn beet red from all the sudden attention I was receiving, it was kind of cool that they were all excited for me to vote for the first time. 

It soon became my turn to go into the little voting booth. I was surprised to find out that the ballots were electronic, so you were voting on a computer type thing. I always remember when I was younger and I went with my parents to vote I always thought it was a paper ballot. But hey, it's the 21st century folks, so I guess we can use fancy technology to vote! Ha! 

The next set of pictures seen below document the morning adventure so far. My Bapa LOVES to take pictures and wanted to capture this moment in history. I may not have been super excited to take a ton of pictures during the whole process of voting, but I'm thankful that he did because now I can show these to my future kids and grandkids saying, 'Look, here's the first time I ever voted!'

Waiting in line to get all the registration done. 

Starting to vote!  

This is my 'okay, too many pictures' face... Lol :)

Okay, now comes the exciting part of the morning. As I was standing in my little voting booth (would you consider it a booth? Maybe just a station...) my Bapa was standing on the other side of the room, taking pictures of course. He wanted to take an ariel shot of the whole room. As he was doing so, one of the officials came up to him and said, 'Excuse me sir, you cannot take pictures in here, it's against the federal law. I'm going to have to ask you to delate that photo.' During this conversation, I was still concentrating on voting, but the thought crossed through my mind, 'Are we going to go to jail? I haven't even said goodbye to my parents yet...' Am I being a little dramatic? Yeah, probably. But it was an adventure none the less. 

I am thankful that I am able to vote and took advantage of this amazing opportunity. I also am glad that I got to experience it with my grandparents. It's empowering to know that I am voting for our future as citizens of the United States of America.  

{Peace&Love} Jenny 

Advice from my Bapa

Family is my everything. They mean the world to me, hands down. This weekend I had the privilege of going home and getting to spend some quality time with the fam. We all gathered for a family dinner tonight of some delicious pizza.

I shared with my parents and my grandparents all about school and everything that I am involved in. These past 2-3 weeks have been stressful. School has gotten a lot harder and much busier. The stress of tests, projects and homework has been piling up on me. I serve on 2 e-boards for the organizations I am a part of. Although they have helped to keep me grounded this semester, they both still require a lot of hard work. Combine all that with the stress of living up to the expectations of others. It's a lot for a college student to handle. I was looking forward to a weekend to be at home and breathe for a little bit, before diving right back in to the ominous sea of school.

Before my grandparents left to go home, my Bapa (my grandfather) gave me some advice. He told me that I should enjoy my years in college. No matter what grades I receive, I have a bright future. I'm doing things right and have the potential of obtaining my dream job. It was good to be reminded of this. I think that as students, we get so caught up in the stress that school causes. We often evaluate ourselves on the grades that we are given and labeled with. You are much more than a letter grade or percentage. Keep working hard and you can achieve anything that you set your mind to. Take time to stop and smell the roses that life offers us on a daily basis.

So if you're reading this Bapa, thank you. You encourage me more than you'll ever know. I love and appreciate you so much.

{Peace&Love} Jenny 

Hardly Normal - I live in the mountains.

I live in the town of Normal, where things are hardly ever normal. I have come to appreciate and love this crazy town I live in.

So this morning I woke up at about 7:30. It was a bit earlier than I would have liked, considering I don't have class until noon... But needless to say, I was up, so I got out of bed. But before I climbed down from my towering bed (yay for college dorm beds that are lofted to the ceiling...), I noticed a glowing coming from my window. I peered over to the window to just see a glowing white, and that was it. I literally couldn't see anything else. Normally from my 15th floor window I can see the 28-story building that is 2 blocks away from my building. But today all I could see was a white glow. It was kind of peaceful, but still a little strange, almost like my dorm building (or even my whole campus) got relocated to be in the mountains.

So now I go on my way, getting my work done for the day. It still makes me smile that for a moment in time, I felt like I was on top of the world, just staring into vast white skies.

{Peace&Love} Jenny 

#45. Go to a concert.

#45. Go to a concert.

I am a sucker for good music, so when I heard that an African children’s choir was coming to a church near by I was SO excited! A few years ago we had the Mwangaza Children’s Choir from Uganda come and sing at my church. Not a moment has passed that I haven’t thought of how those children have touched and changed my life.

The Watoto Children's Choir from Uganda.

 So this summer, the Watoto Choir from Uganda was coming to sing a local church near by. We got to the church early to ensure that we would get a good seat up close to the front. The church was filled to the brim with eager people awaiting the concert to start. Once the concert did start, the room was filled with energy, like to the max! The children in the choir came out on stage with huge smiles on their faces. They did a number of pieces that combined traditional African song and dance. The passion for music and God that the children had while they sang was overwhelming. One thing that I really liked about this choir is the family aspect that they had. All of the children and adults really were like a big family. During the concert, they also had some children give testimonies and tell a little about their life in Uganda. It was very powerful to hear their stories about how they came to Christ or the struggles that they have gone through.

It was all smiles after a fantastic concert! 

{Peace&Love} Jenny 

#42. Go backyard camping!

#42. Go backyard camping.

You may be thinking to yourself, ‘what the heck it backyard camping?’ This it a type of camping where you set up camp in a backyard. It just so happened that we were camping in Mother Nature’s backyard. She welcomed us with open, loving arms, and didn’t give us any rain or anything! There were about 12 of us, so we had a couple of tents in our campsite. One of the cool things was that our campsite was right on the river that we had been kayaking on during the day. At night while we were falling asleep there were huge barges that passed by. When I say huge, it’s kind of an understatement. I stood there and watched one, and it literally took 5 or 10 minutes for the whole ship to pass. Overall my backyard camping experience this summer was great! 

{Peace&Love} Jenny 

#34. Have a sleepover.

#34. Have a sleepover.

I personally love sleepovers, they are just so much fun! This sleepover just so happened to be an outdoors sleepover. My friends and I went camping and when we went to bed, it was basically like a sleepover. Before it was bedtime, we had some s’mores and apple sandwiches. Our hyper-ness level was through the roof, and all we wanted to do was talk and stay awake. There were some people with us that were very tired, and they didn’t really appreciate how hyper we were.

{Peace&Love} Jenny 

#32. Roast marshmallows.

#32. Roast marshmallows.

The group roasting our mellows over the fire! 

Marshmallows and s’mores are a staple in the summer lifestyle. For this item on my bucket list, I shared the experience with some international friends. After coming back from the Girls’ World Forum, we had some guests from Taiwan stay with us at our local Girl Scout camp. They stayed with us for about 4 days and it was great to get to know them and become friends with them. It is a tradition at camp that every Thursday night, there is a campfire and all the girls overnighting for the week come and sing songs. Before the campfire, my friend Annie and I cooked with our new friends. It was a rough night to try and cook outside because Mother Nature insisted on having dark gloomy skies that threatened rain. Annie & I’s fire building and starting skills were awesome, so we had no problem starting the fire. The menu for the night consisted of pie iron pizzas (if you have never tried them before, you must!). For dessert we roaster marshmallows over the fire and made some yummy s’mores. Our guests had never had s’mores before, so this was going to be a real treat! We taught them how to make the perfect s’more and let them explore the difference between burnt and golden brown ones. There were smiles all around, so I think the s’mores were a hit.

Tasting our yummy s'mores! 

{Peace&Love} Jenny 

#29. Do something illegal?

#29. Do something illegal?

Now before you judge me or give me a lecture on how doing illegal things, let me explain. When I say illegal, you have to put it in perspective of me and my personality. I am not the type of person to cause serious trouble, just good fun. J

Matea, Ruthie & I with the mighty mustang! 

The first weekend I got back from school, I hung out with some friends. We were bored and wanted to just roam around town. The 3 of us were on our senior’s class board in high school and we wanted to go check out the new mascot statue that our class sponsored to be put up in front of the school. My high school’s mascot was the mustangs. At the end of the school year, we had some money set aside for a gift to give back to the school. So my senior class decided to have a bronze statue of a mustang be sculpted and put in front of the school. There was a sign by the statue that clearly stated that you weren’t allowed to climb onto the platform and stand in the little planted area. Obviously being the rebels that my friends and I are, we stood up there for a quick picture, before hopping into our getaway car. It was quite an adventure. 

{Peace&Love} Jenny