Just a little bit longer

8 hours and 28 minutes until I'm finally done working at the lab. This summer has gone by so fast yet taken its sweet time in finishing up!! I am so ready to be done with work. After about 4 full weeks of 40 hrs in the lab, weekly bible study and discipleship, as much fundraising as possible and the tiny holes of free time filled up with staff meetings.....I am insanely exhausted and ready for this new freedom. I've actually found myself a bit delirious when 10 pm hits. My room looks like a tornado ripped through it and I actually can't remember the last time I did laundry where my clean clothes were put away.....there's pile of clean clothes and a pile of dirty clothes on my floor. Hey....it works and there's still a path to my bed--that's all that matters :)

I actually don't know what to expect with the next few weeks. I feel like I'm slowly running out of contacts and fundraising work to be doing but I have so far to go. I can definitely see myself getting lazy with a not so strict schedule but then maybe I'll have the energy to do more. I guess we'll see.

I also have tons of stuff that I would like to do with all this new free time I'll have (that's 8 hours each day!!!). I have a picture that I need to finish painting, of course I need to clean my room and eventually move down to the basement. I would love to spend tons more time in prayer: praying for the campus, praying for my family, praying for my roommates..... I would also love to spend more time in the Word. I would also love to get up to 75% very quickly. I guess I'll just have to surrender my days over to God and see how He desires that I spend them!!
For now...I just want to sleep.

Boredom

Soo......

I'm bored. I'm completely out of things to do at work.....wait...not true, I have several brains to section, but someone beat me to the cryostat and I must wait my turn. That delimma leaves me with no additional work to do. So what have I decided to do with the next few hours?

Well, sadly I can't read the Trusting God book that I'm going through since I left it at home because my bag was too heavily filled with other important materials.
My head hurts---I'm convinced I inhaled toxic cleaning materials while meeting with someone on my lunch break. And I don't think I have any other work to do.....if I do, I don't want to do it.
So I decided to read other people's blogs. Since the blogs that I subscribe to haven't been updated in a while, I was forced to search for other blogs to read. Its not entirely fun to read blogs by people I don't know. What's the genious solution to this delimma?!!? Search Facebook. Its amazing!! All you have to do is type in Blogspot or some other blogging website and it shows all the people who have a blogspot blog posted on their facebook page. The other convenient thing is when you click on the 'people' tab it shows the people you are friends with first. So all your facebook friends who post a blog on their page show up and you can read through each one.

I've observed quite a few things:
-some people write too much
-some people abandon thier blogs for months if not years at a time
-some poeple are more creative in thier blog layout than others
-the topics are interesting; some treat it like a journal, others a book review, others a political stance, some are filled with only poems/creative writing, and still others may serve as a missions update
-its a good way to catch up on the lives of old friends (you know, those you rarely talk to but you're still official facebook friends; or those you met several years ago on one summer trip and live forever away....so you never see them)

Anyway, its been entertaining!
If you'll excuse me I have more blogs to read.....

Sigh.....

I can't believe it but its already been two weeks since my last blog!! I guess I've been busy!! I usually write on this thing at work and for the past two weeks I've been working on stuff that piled up while I was gone and teaching someone else all I know about my job.....which is a lot....and makes me feel special ;) I am currently at work, the guy I'm teaching went home early and I'm fairly caught up on my work.

Since I couldn't write on it at work and had no free time for anything other than God and fundraising......the blog was slightly neglected.

I'm getting tired though and need more endurance....it's always been something I've "struggled" with....that's why I don't run. I'm also feeling the onset of laziness which can't happen right now, but I feel it slowly creeping in....especially today. I'm going to need to pray that God doesn't let me get lazy and gives me a burst of energy when I leave work!!

Fundraising, in general though, has been going well. I'm working hard, I've sent out several letters, met with tons of people and still have more to do!! I actually can't imagine what it would be like if I wasn't working a full-time job!! Praise God I'm up to 11% and have several people waiting on Him to decide how much to give. Thinking about it though, I have so much work to do. I would really rather start thinking about the students and the exciting plans for this coming year but I don't even have time to think about that!!
Fundraising has not lacked in lessons learned. I am continuously reminded of the importance of the principles taught during training.....that simple phrases make all the difference and that I shouldn't start anything without praying first, its amazing just how much I see God do!!! God is also personally teaching me through my meetings with others....reflecting on my personality. I'm Phlegmatic but have seen a lot of my Choleric side shine through during these times of needed organization and 'strictness.' I actually laughed at myself last week as one of my meetings was canceled because they didn't show up. I got pretty mad and fumed on my way back to work....I kept apologizing to God knowing it didn't really matter and that He had planned for that to happen. Then when they called to apologize for missing lunch with me I was so kind and forgiving on the phone. This happens all the time; I'm sure others appreciate it, but its so weird seeing my drastic change in attitude!!

Anyway, that was kinda random.

So I had to make this Saturday another Sabbath....much needed once again!!! But it was so much better than last week. My time with God was much more directed by Him than myself. A few months ago, one of my roommates shared with me some experiences one of her friends had....about visiting God's house. It kinda sounds weird but I went too!!! This girl was kind of freaked out when someone asked her if she had ever visited God's house then if she wanted to. She hesitated at first then agreed. She was told to close her eyes and picture the front door of God's house. She didn't see anything for a very long time....then finally she saw it....and was led through the house like a vision. My roommate decided to 'visit' after hearing her friends story. Then when my roommate shared with me I decided I wanted to go. I knew that I could easily 'force' it or daydream or something so I prayed hard that that wouldn't happen and sat out in the woods for quite some time on a Saturday morning. Then I pictured it!! I entered the house and went upstairs. At the top of the stairs was a room to the right, very empty with one open window letting all kinds of light in. A man was standing in front of the window (I assume it was Jesus---I didn't really see His face), and there was a huge and empty canvas in the middle of the floor on an easel. I didn't hear any words the entire time but somehow I knew I was invited to paint with Him, we both painted (my side was much worse and He later fixed it) and when we finished we sat in silence staring at what we created!!! It was really amazing......

Anyway, so this past Saturday I visited again. This time I went to the wine cellar. Yep, God has a wine cellar!!! There were two stools in the middle of the room and He poured each of us a glass of wine. Then He talked about what happens to the grape when you make wine, that you have to smash it--causing the skin/flesh to break open, then the juice comes out. He described how that happened to Him; that His flesh was broken and His blood poured out. And that I would have had to take the punishment of my numerous sins if it weren't for Him.
I encourage whoever reads this to try it out.....don't treat it like a 'daydream' let God take you somewhere with Him and reveal more of Himself to you. And if you go...you should tell me about it!!!

Breathe In, Breathe Out

Well, it's been a while since I've written anything. I was gone for two weeks in Colorado Springs for EDGE Corps training....which was amazing. I had the internet but sadly the blogger site was blocked. Oh well. I have tons of stuff to write about but I'll spare whoever reads this and stretch it out a bit.

Briefly, the few weeks of training were amazing, overwhelming, challenging and encouraging. It was great to have the opportunity to meet other individuals in the same situation that I am in: God kind of surprised me with this opportunity and my parents weren't super excited about it, which is similar to the situations of many others.
The training was just about perfect. I went in without many expectations and came out very glad that they taught us more than I thought I needed to know. All the information and new responsibilities are overwhelming but now I have tons of resources and realize that I am officially employed by the Navigators: I'm officially a staff member!!!

The location was amazing too. Learning all about the Navigator's heritage and feeling accepted into the entire Navigator family (not just the one at Mizzou) was....well, cool!!

Being back in Columbia is exciting and stressful. I'm technically working two full-time jobs. I'm still working at the lab until August 1st and I need to be fundraising full-time as well. I need to be at 75% of my budget by August 15th or I don't get to start on campus. It was kinda scary when they told us that....but I suppose its a real possibility.

So, I just need to take one day at a time; breathe in, breathe out and fall on God every second of every day!! Praise God, He's there for me!!!
This also means I probably won't be writing on here everyday....we'll see how busy they keep me at work.