Camp Captions: July

A Couple Days in the Life of Erika

Saturday:
Here at camp, Saturdays are our changeover days. The previous week's guests [are supposed to] leave at 9 am, and the next week's guests [are supposed to] arrive sometime around lunchtime. Between those times of moving our and moving in, almost the entire camp staff shifts into high gear full throttle, cleaning like craaazy. This week, it's a sold out week, which means that every room is occupied. Thus, tomorrow morning, every room will need to be cleaned. And we have about 800 guests here. However, last Saturday we got done in [literally] record time, finishing around noon. That's right--we finished in about 3 hours. I'm hoping we're able to repeat that tomorrow.

Sunday:
Sundays are interesting days because it's the first day of Kids' Klub for the newly-arrived guests. Going off of last week's schedule, I had staff devotions from 8:20 to 9 am, and then Kids' Klub from then until 11:30. I greet the kids as they come in, direct them to set up chairs, and frantically write the memory verse on the board. (One of these weeks Caleb and I will be organized enough to set up and write out the memory very ahead of time. I feel in my very bones that that time has not yet arrived and may not for some time, but when it does, I will hail it with open arms). Once all the kids have checked in and come upstairs, Caleb wanders in and we do name games with the kids (that's name games spelled "Do You Love Your Neighbor" and Whomp'em. Most of you know whomp'em as Zookeeper--real names instead of animal names. Also a pool noodle instead of random magazines, dowels, etc). We introduce the memory verse and create hand motions if it's a difficult passage. Caleb does the lesson while I attempt to maintain law and order. That's a standard Kids' Klub morning up to this point. However, on Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, the 5th graders come join us for songs or games for the last 20 minutes or so.

So that's Kids' Klub. It happens every morning,and then in the afternoon, I either work in the Purdy dishpit, doing dishes, or in the TeePee, scooping ice cream and filling orders and cleaning. It's always a fun time. This week, we had a full house in Purdy, meaning we fed about 300 people per meal. Most people use two or three plates, plus silverware, plus baking and cooking dishes...yeah, you do the math. I hear next week we're feeding around 80...yes, I'm excited :)

Random other things:
-I bought a camera, tripod, and 3 year warranty from Amazon, and they have both arrived :D
-Zivana and I went kayaking last week. It was fun, but I got a little seasick.
-I officially have Saturday off work to go watch Hosanna graduate from NYWG encampment.
-Poppyseeds are the spawn of evil. Related: did you know that Purdy has this super annoying poppyseed salad dressing that essentially remains in the dishwasher, infecting multiple loads of clean dishes until sprayed out?
-I should become a dishwasher repair person. And COTW should hire me to fix their dishwashers.
-I think I might accidentally be growing popcorn in with my avacado tree. There is some sort of green sprout emerging...
-We had a tornado watch thingy a week or two ago. We watched, but we didn't see it. Apparently it was nearby and some people died.
-I've gone to the beach several times. Usually I remember sunscreen, but not always.
 -Goodnight!

Camp Captions: staff training week...and the beginning of summer!

Here is a picture of some aliens to start this blog post off right.

So hi! I'm not working today until 2000 tonight which means I have like 12 hours today to do whatever I want. It also means that I'll be working til midnight, but that is okay. This past week was staff training week. Annetta basically followed the same schedule she's been on; since she's been working in the kitchen already, she just stayed there. On the other hand, I bid a fond farewell to the maintenance department and reported to the Kids' Klub building Monday morning. This past week was a mixture of informative sessions that pertain to kids' klub (like, what we do, where we go, what we wear, when we eat, classroom management techniques...and an unhealthy smattering of songs and a healthy smattering of activities and games), training on the other two jobs that we kids' klubbers do, and decorating our classrooms.

Speaking of decorating classrooms, check this little picture out. Bonus points if you can find Orion and the Big Dipper. 

I'm sure that some of you are still a little bit confused as to what exactly I'll be doing this summer. I am too. I'll try to post something like A Day in the Life Of Me later on once my schedule actually starts happening. 

Okay, another picture.

There are several people in this picture who I will be working with, but most specifically, see the dude 4th from right, holding some sort of gardening implement and trying to look like he knows how to use it? That's Caleb, the guy who I'm TA'ing for. So far, he and I have established the following, either directly or indirectly: 1) the other's name 2) apparent recognition of each other by sight 3) that I'm his TA 4) we both speak English words to communicate (well, usually. Ok fine...sometimes.) 5) he attends college somewhere, and has some major in something. So basically we are BFFs!

Let's see...what else can I tell you about... I know, I will give you a short tour of the town of Speculator. I just got back from walking there (had to return some library books and movies), so it is all fresh on my mind. Speculator is about 8 minutes away walking. But it takes another roughly 10 minutes to get into the center of town, and then about 8 minutes to get to the library. Yes, I timed it. Speculator boasts a public park/beach (it's on the same lake as COTW), several ice cream shops. several eating establishments such as Timberline and Logan's, a post office, the aforementioned library, Charlie John's (which is a store like Cassadaga's Shurfine, only possibly nicer),  a boat place, a car place, a real estate place, possibly a lawyer place, a Marine Corps office, a church, and some establishments for older people. It's really small, and the general population is old. During the winter, their population is under 400. In the summer, it's over 1,000.

Okay, I'm actually boring myself. But hopefully that gives you a brief update in the life of a COTW staffer. And I would reallly love to hear what's going on in your life! Seriously. Some of you I talk to and attempt to keep up with, and some of you I...don't. But that doesn't mean that I don't still think about you, pray for you, and wonder what's going on in your life :) And if that doesn't creep you out, I don't know what will. But I meant that in a non-creepy way, of course................................if you know what I mean ;)

Camp Captions: First Day

This morning around 1030, we pulled into the camp parking lot, and were immediately assailed with that first great question that has assailed travelers since Marco Polo, or perhaps even before him: where the heck do we go?? After cogitating on this perplexing issue for several seconds, we discovered that there were several strategic signs placed around the vicinity, directing our path to a certain building, and indeed, a certain door. We parked, emerged from our vehicle, and entered the building. Therein, we discovered Tim. Tim promptly and efficiently in-processed us, and released us to go unpack and wander the face of the camp until lunchtime. This is precisely what we did. After lunch, we were free until dinnertime, so Annetta and I (my mom and Hosanna left after lunch) found a friend and wandered around camp, trying to familiarize ourselves so that we wouldn't get lost (hopefully) in the future. During this time period, I managed to sunburn myself...hopefully not too badly.

Upon returning to our cabin (the early staffers are housed in several various cabins during the pre-season), I discovered that my roommate had arrived, and that my roommate was in fact Ellen. She is a friend of mine from college, and was one of two people who I knew that were working here at COTW. So rooming with her I think will be a great blessing. Ellen and I have shared some great times at Fillmore Wesleyan Church, most notably that one lunch in which I basically had back-to-back awkward moments for the entire lunch. It was hilarious. I have pre-warned her about my predilection to sneezing in the morning, so I think we are all set.

After dinner, we had a staff meeting, and then we came back to our cabin and are unwinding and preparing to go to bed. Tomorrow we start work. I will (apparently) be working on maintenance for tomorrow and Wednesday, barring inclement weather. Should be relatively entertaining. Thursday through Sunday may be different schedules, because we have a large group of campers coming in for an Episcopalian conference and we'll be actually staffing for that, not just getting ready. Yeah, should be interesting! Then I think (I could be wrong) we'll be doing more pre-season stuff, and then staff training week, and then it officially begins.

Let's see. The people that I've met so far are very friendly. Getting here early has had the benefit of getting to know the staff girls living in this cabin as they come in. Things you guys could pray about: just general smoothness of staff and getting along with everyone; pray that I don't get distracted or lose my focus on God; and pray for us physically, as I'm sure the work will be physically demanding for all involved. Okay, let's see about some pictures.

First one is at our campground form the past weekend.

 Second: Dibble and Willoughby send reetings from camp of the woods.

 Third: random caveman drawings at our campsite from the weekend. Don't know who would have drawn that (cough)...looks like a caveman chasing a scared yak.

 Ok, it's bedtime folks :) see you next time!

Hill Happenings

On May 6th, my first year at Houghton was officially over, and I headed home for about three weeks before leaving for Camp of the Woods for 12 weeks.I'm leaving tomorrow afternoon, and probably won't be back til the end of August. I have about 10 minutes before I go throw my laundry in the dryer and start packing, so I'm going to attempt to type out a brief update! So first I will tell you about this weekend, because it might be a little complicated, and then I will summarize my break here at home for the past couple of weeks.

My mom, Annetta, Hosanna, and I will leave tomorrow afternoon, like I said. We'll drive to the Stratton Air National Guard Base, where we'll drop Hosanna off for an encampment training weekend. Because Stratton is about an hour and a half south of Camp of the Woods, we decided we'd combine trips, but since Annetta and I don't start work til Monday, we'll be actually camping at a state park for the weekend. Then we'll pick up Hosanna from the base on Sunday, stay at the state campground Sunday night, and then drive to COTW Monday morning! Confused? Hopefully not...but it is a bit involved.

The first two weeks Annetta and I are there will be the pre-season. Then we'll have a week of staff training, and then it starts for real. Annetta will be working regular hours in the kitchen. As far as I know, I will be the teacher's assistant for the 6th grade class, plus I believe I'm working in the dishroom and selling stuff in the snack shop.

So, for a summary of the highlights of break...in noparticular order:
-LOTR movie night with friends (and a sleepover with Hannah)
-hosting a restaurant (the likes of which we used to do in previous ages)
-shooting a shotgun and a rifle for the first time
-photoshoot with Kim
-dance classes...seriously, I'm going to miss those
-driving around with the windows down and the radio blasting
-baby kittens
-cookies and tea with Elizabeth
-adventures with Rachel
-reading...lots of books
-watching movies (and Lois and Clark and White Collar.)
-and so much more that I'm not remembering right now

well...I feel like this is a very short update, but it's something. I hope to have pictures next time (if I get my camera dried out from its dunk in the creek :P). Hope you all have good summers...keep me updated!

Houghton: Backpacking Edition

Lots of things have happened since last I wrote. I've done lots of things. Things like Easter break, homework, papers, tests, plus there were stairs to be cleaned and food to be eaten, and don't forget spending quality time with my bunk bed... But today's story is all about backpacking. I have posted a hodgepodge of pictures on various other social media sites, so I'll just post a few here for illustrative purposes.

So anyhow, let us begin this tale. My backpacking class has been planning and preparing to go on an overnight camping trip since the beginning of the semester. This past weekend was when it actually happened. About 24 of us converged on some point in PA for many hours. I can't do math and thus tell you how long we were there, but you will figure it out as I tell you this story. Saturday morning, Sam, Nancy, and I consumed breakfast, realizing that this would be our last prepared meal, eaten in a warm, sheltered environment, for a while. Then sun came out briefly, fooling us that it would be warm out. It wasn't. After eating, we strapped our backpacks on our backs and staggered up Shen Hill to the gym, from where we were leaving. A couple minutes after we arrived safely in the gym, it commenced pouring rain.

 Sam, Nancy, Dan, and I rode in one of the cars, driven by fellow student Austen. The drive was about an hour or an hour and a half, but it was pretty scenic. And no, saying that and following it up with a picture of our lovely faces wasn't some sort of hubristic joke, but it is kinda amusing :)

 Once we got there, we strapped on our backpacks (bonus points: I didn't fall over or hit anyone any of the times I put on my backpack). We all had some random personal gear, like clothes, and a sleeping bag, various tent parts, and lots of food and water. Before we plunged off into wild nature, our instructor Larissa gave us a last minute pep talk about something I can't even remotely begin to remember. I was basically at that point being all like "what if I have to pee while we're hiking???!!" It's an easy thing to freak out about.

Our group split into two groups for the hikes to and from our campsite, because there were two trails. One was the longer, harder trail, and one was the easier one. Saturday afternoon, Sam, Dan, Nancy, I, and several other people took the harder trail. It included many steep hills...and by hills, I think I mean baby mountains. They were pretty steep, and there were several. But it was super pretty, and the weather was good--not too hot for sure, and not too cold while we were hiking.

Funny story: So, I was hiking along, when I suddenly noticed that someone's shoe was untied. Since this person had recently sprained her ankle (cough cough :) ) I bent down to tie it for her. Now, we were at that point on the side of a hill, and I was squatting on the downhill side of the hill, if that makes sense. Anyhow, when I went to stand up, the weight of my backpack, and the gravity from the hill-ness pulled me onto my back, where I lay, helpless, like a turtle. I was totally stuck. Fortunately, there was a strong dude right behind me, and he hauled me to my feet. I was laughing pretty hard...cause that would happen to me :P

When we got to our campsite, we set up our tent and helped start a fire. Andrew was our resident pyromaniac, which was good because it was pretty cold and windy. I didn't stop shivering for a significant amount of time until about midnight that night, so it was good to have a campfire to keep some of the chill off. We also used little camp stoves to make supper, which was penne with spaghetti sauce.

Our campsite had a couple of picnic tables, several colonies of tents, a fire, an outhouse, and a pump for water. We used the water to rinse our dishes out, and to get water which we filtered and boiled and used for food/drinking. We colloquially called the pump the giardia pump, as we assumed all the water pouring forth from it was teaming wildly with giardia protazoa, and would promptly infect all of us and we'd die or something. 

 After hanging around the campfire relaxing for the evening, we headed to bed (and I use the word 'bed' here very loosely. Very loosely indeed). I shivered and shook for a little while, and then told Nancy to cuddle with me. She did, and so we were both warm. Very stiff and sore, but warm. After breakfast, we packed up and headed out.

 We took the easier trail heading out, but our joints were stiff, and our muscles achy. The sun beat down, heating the atmosphere up to a raging inferno of 50 degrees. Thus windburn. My backpack rubbed and rubbed, thus raw blister spot on my waist. My toes rubbed, thus multiple blisters. But we persevered. We struggled through. We straggled through. We supported each other, encouraged one another, and around noon, we reached the end of the trail, whereupon we collapsed and ate lots of food.

 Above is a lovely picture of most of us weary travelers. You can see the victorious smiles gracing everyone's faces (all but Nancy and Preston, that is) as we celebrate the feat of weary feet completing the trek. Clearly, Nancy and Preston are already in a daydreamy haze thinking about food, sleep, etc. You can see it in their eyes. Nancy's all: "If you step in the way between me and my Nancy Nest, you are so dead. I can't even articulate how dead you would be. Let me give you a slight demonstration of my eyes' laser capabilities." And Preston's totally like "That cloud...yes that one...looks just like a hamburger. It looks like that hamburger Grandma made me last summer. That was one good burger. Oh boy." The rest of them are more or less like "whooooooo we've almost made it! Keep that smile on!!"

So we ate lunch. Then we drove back to Houghton, which is an entertaining story in and of itself, unpacked our backpacks, and went and collapsed in our respective dorms. And that is the story of the backpacking trip. The end!

Houghton Happenings: Public School Edition

Guys, I have a fun story to tell you tonight! It involves Erika the Homeschooled actually going to public school! I know, right? Yeah, this one's a real thriller! It involves gym class! Hallways! Hordes of small children! Teachers unrelated to any of their students! Wow. Stay tuned for more after this short commercial break!

**************This is a commercial break*****************
This is an infomercial about a girl. It's about a girl and a professor. It's about a girl having an existential crisis three times a week. You see, this girl often passes a certain professor (we'll call him "Dr. Case") in the hallway and smiles and greets him. However, his response to her cheery greeting is a head nod, or perhaps an eyebrow twitch. This sends the girl into spirals of existential crises: "Does 'Dr. Case' hate me? Does 'Dr. Case' recognize me? Is 'Dr. Case' Eeyore as a human? Or is 'Dr. Case' just Eeyore? Why does 'Dr. Case' hate me? Does 'Dr. Case' get annoyed, walk down to his class, and announce to the students (while pounding his fist on the desk) that he's going to lecture about the wrath of God again?" And then one day the girl realized that this same story, told by "Dr. Case" would probably go like this: "So...I'm walking along, wearing one of my favorite monochromatic outfits (I can't actually tell them apart, of course), pondering the juxtaposition of Girard to Jungel in the matter of justification and atonement, when a blip crossed my line of vision. It appeared to wave, or otherwise indicate that it needed an indication of a response. I wiggled my eyebrows at it and it disappeared. Then I created a model theory of justification and atonement that incorporated Girard and Jungel, and continued on my Eeyore-like way to class, where I lectured on some topic I've already forgotten."
*******************This is the end of the infomercial. It actually wasn't an infomercial...I just wanted to tell you that story***************************

We return to our regularly scheduled programming. So, I'm taking a class here at college called Educating Exceptional Learners, and it's all about inclusive education, and incorporating general and special ed classes. One of the requirements of this class was that we students actually go to a real, live school and observe real, live kids and real, live teachers. I know, right? Wow, yes, the excitement never ceases here. This morning, our entire class descended upon several area schools. About 6 or 7 of us went to Delevan Elementary School. A classmate of mine named Heather and I hung out all day with a second grade class. It was a day filled with exciting events, just like in the books and movies! The kids learned how to do math, actually performed mathematical calculations on paper with pencils, at desks. Then they ate lunch, and went to gym class, where they ran around under the supervision of an actual gym teacher. Then they went to their classroom again (walking in a line down hallways, following their teacher) and learned more things and did more work. And then I left. So yeah. I was all like "ooh wow! a desk!" and "ooh wow! lockers!" and stuff.

I kind of probably should go back to doing homework now. Storytime over! 

Houghton: Camp Retreat and Spring Break Edition

Hello People of Persia! (and if you haven't seen VeggieTales Esther, never mind about the people of Persia thing. And if you have seen it, please read it as "Poisia". Thank you for your consideration of this salutation.)

So I am sitting in the campus, as per the usual... not doing homework cause I don't really have any...ya know, livin' the life and thinking about food. Per the usual. Anyhow, it's been kinda sorta a while since I posted last, and stuff has happened. Somewhere back in February (the 14th, 15th, and 16th I believe), was the church retreat that my family's been going to for a couple years. Tyler (a friend here at college) has a car, thus I convinced him that he would enjoy going to the retreat, and then I tagged along. See what I did there? Yeah, subtle I am not, but at least I got to go, and we all had a good time. I put pictures up on some various social media sites, so I'm just going to skip past this and move right into spring break.

Break went from Friday afternoon after work to Sunday afternoon, so it was a little over a week. I got to go to church twice, go to Awana, hang out with various friends a couple of times (I'd list them all, but is too much; I had to sum up), go to dance class, played Risk, and made food. I also read a couple of books, one of which was about 600 pages long. See, that's the problem at my house about breaks: I come back, and my siblings are reading a book series. So I either start a series that I will never finish, or I plunge myself in the middle of a series that they've already started. I guess I did both over spring break. I also guess there are worse problems to have.

Joanna and I sort of tied in Risk (as seen by the picture...photo credits to Clayton, btw). Basically, it came down to I swept over most of the board, and then it was her turn, and she would have conquered me almost completely, and then it would have been my turn and I would have had enough little army guys to conquer her. So we decided to call it a tie, in the interest of time.

Since coming back on campus, I've stayed caught up in homework, watched Frozen, watched Captain Phillips (that's a movie. It was good. Jordan, you would like it, I think), gone swimming, gone hiking, and learned (more or less) how to drive stick shift. Tomorrow is HELP day, which is where there aren't any classes, we have meetings with our advisers, and we can go to helpful information sessions. So that's making this week pretty relaxed. I'm using this time to try to get ahead in homework, because I know that it'll start piling up towards the end of this semester. So, speaking of homework, I shall close this lovely little bloggie update here and float off in search of another, productive thing to do. Like eat. Yes. Please comment and tell me about your life, specifically what you've been up to today. Goodbye!

Houghton: Much Snowier edition. Also, pictures.

 I think this post will mostly be pictures, because I'm having trouble utilizing the words thing today For example, today at breakfast I said something to the effect of capturing and keeping prospective students (who were visiting en mass this weekend). And that conversation did not really end all that well, from the perspective of prospectives. (For the record, I love prospective students. I want them all to come and pay lots of tuition so I don't have to pay as much.) Anyhow...I don't know where I was going with that, so the picture that is above is my avacado tree. Isn't s/he lovely?

 And so it's been snowing and being pretty outside, so there are a lot of pictures that I took when I was wandering around outside the other day. In between pictures, I will tell stories at random, because that is how my brain is working (or not working) today.

 A few days ago, a few friends and I went to the little store right down the road, and I bought some ingredients to make my own homemade clif bar type things. They turned out fairly well, actually. I used chocolate (baking chocolate), peanut butter, dried dates, coconut, and oats, mixed them together, patted it out on a greased cookie sheet, cut them into bars, and stuck them in the freezer just so they'd harden. Then I put them in little sandwich bags. The only thing I'd change is how thick I made them...I made them only about a half inch thick, and they kinda fall apart...they need to be thicker. Anyhow, it was fun and easy and healthy, so if anyone's looking for a kitchen project, those are great :)

 Oh, that's a failed self portrait. I tried to get one that included more of my face, but finally I was like, "THERE ARE EYES" and decided that it was good enough. Most people are gifted with the ability to take selfies. I am not. Probably this is all for the best. But anyhow, that's some photographic evidence that I still exist.

 Friday night, a couple college friends and I went to the Fillmore Wesleyan Church for the kids game fest. They had several different games set up, plus a photo booth (basically just like our Awana fun fair, only on a smaller scale). And I got to do the photo booth and take pictures of little kids, and it was fun :)

And then yesterday morning, my backpacking class went on an exciting expedition! We went to Letchworth State Park, leaving around 0915, and we hiked. I don't know how long the hike was (like in miles or whatever), but it was a couple hours at least. We wore our backpacks, and snowshoes, and we went along the trail that goes next to the gorge. So it was very scenic. My friends Sam, Nancy, and Dan (pictured below) are in that class with me, so we adventured together!

 The waterfalls were frozen...it was so pretty!

 I think the reason I have so many pictures of pine trees is because they're green.

 Ok! So there is a train track bridge (trestle? tressle?) that goes over the gorge. And the only thing I could think of when I saw it was that scene in Fox and the Hound (and like every other cartoon).

We got back from the hike around 2:30 or so. After supper, Tyler went with me to the music building to play flute (I'm teaching him, and I wanted to practice), so we had a lot of fun doing that, including finding a really awesome music site that plays sheet music! And then, SPOT was from 10 to midnight (SPOT is the once a semester comedy thingy we put on...Jenn, are there better describers for that?). So that was a lot of fun.
This morning was church, so Alyssa and I got picked up at 8:45 for Sunday School, and then church. The kids did stuff in the main service, so they didn't go out, ergo I actually got to sit and listen to a sermon! It's kinda funny, cause I've been going to that church for about 5 months, and I've been working myself in, but until today, I hadn't heard Pastor Bill preach.
Let's see: this week, I have a take-home midterm to finish up, a 12-15 page paper on the trinity, and random classes and work to do. But this weekend is the church retreat that my family and I have gone to for the past couple years, and it's a lot of fun, and we're really looking forward to it!
Anyhow, I hope you readers are having a wonderful day! 

Houghton: First Week Back

It is the end of the first week back to college. Break finished up well. We lost electricity a couple of times due to blizzard type stuff, and I had to break my "no going outside if the temperature is in the negative numbers" rule, and discovered that it was cold. Philip came over and went rustically camping in our woods, and by rustically I mean eating blueberry pancakes, homemade ice cream, playing games, and watching movies...and sleeping in the woods. We had fun sledding with him and Rachel too. And I got to spend time with my ol buddy Sarah, which was good.

And my mom and dad and Hosanna brought me (and allll my stuff!) back. We unloaded, ate supper, and I showed my dad the campus. And since then, it's been a crazy hodgepodge of classes, work, friends, and homework.

And I will now bore all of you and tell you about the classes I'm taking, in chronological order:
-Metaphysics, Morality, and Mind: the required philosophy class. It's good so far...but fairly similar to stuff I've read/heard, which I guess is good cause it's not like all new stuff.
-Foundations of Youth Ministry: this is a half semester class that will be replaced with Christian Formation of Youth, taught by the same guy. The name is pretty self-explanatory.
-Chapel: well, it's not really a class, but it's MWF between class and lunch.
-Systematic Theology: it's taught by Dr. Case, the guy who I took Intro to Christianity from last semester. It promises to be a difficult, engaging, good learning experience.
-Educating Exceptional Learners: this is a little more difficult, just because I don't know a lot about the public school system. But I already know I'm going to love this class, and I know that it will be super helpful for me, just because of where my interests lie.
-Backpacking. This is going to involve hiking in the woods every week, as well as a day trip in February and an overnight camping trip the last weekend of April.

So those classes, plus work Tuesday and Thursday morning, and MWF late afternoon, pretty much make up the framework of my schedule. Last night, several of my friends and I went for an evening hike on the ski hill. We had a good view of the stars at a couple places. Saturdays and Sundays are a little different schedule-wise, of course. Most of my friends take advantage of the weekend to catch up on sleep, but since I don't do well mixing up my schedule too much, I get up around 8 or 8:30. Sunday of course is church, and Saturday...well, today I ate breakfast and then talked to Stephen. And now I'm planning to do homework, and maybe get over to the music building and play some flute.

Another thing that added to my week was that every time I ate food, my stomach would tell me it wasn't happy to digest it. Somewhere around Thursday, I decided to be smart and start cutting out the food groups that have bothered me in the past (...with those being gluten, some dairy, some fats, some spices, and some vegetables). And, after strictly cutting out gluten for the past couple of days, I am feeling a lot, a lot better. This semester, Houghton has added an area in the cafeteria that serves food that doesn't have the 7 most common food allergens in it. So it's not impossible for me to get good food that is completely allergen-free. I'm very thankful for that!

So...no pictures, but that's a fairly decent update otherwise! Hope all you home friends are doing well!

Home and Houghton

Well, 2013 was a doozy of a year. A funeral, a bridal shower, a trip to FL, a college graduation (entailing a trip to MD/VA), a wedding, a trip to NC, a trip to MD, a highschool graduation, a transfer to Houghton, another trip to MD over Thanksgiving break, and the completion of my sophomore credits. Adventures in our back acres, dancing Scottish country dances with homeschool friends, taking my sister's senior pictures. Working at Bilerio's fruit farm, and finding a cute baby snapping turtle and a huge, huge toad. Picking blueberries barefoot in the rain. Making friends with the boss's cat. And then at college...so many things happened this past semester, and I really don't think I can summarize them. I made a lot of really awesome friends, I took 17 credits, I started working custodial, I started attending Fillmore Wesleyan Church with Evan and helping out with the children, made pizza, shot nerf guns, attended concerts, and managed not to fall asleep in any of my classes. I got to go home a couple times...once to go out to Indiana for a wedding :) And several of my friends came and visited me...I got to give several campus tours. Jennifer and Elizabeth came out the beginning of December and we went to Prism:




My last final was on December 19th, and classes start on the 13th. Break's been good: I've made and eaten a lot of food, caught up with a lot of friends, gone roller-blading with friends, gone sledding with the little siblings, watched a couple seasons of White Collar and Sherlock, and celebrated Christmas.
(Speaking of Christmas: I made gingerbread eggnog trifle, and peach-cranberry ginger crisp. Both of them were new recipes, and they were really, really good, so the links here and here. And yes...for the second one, I substituted peaches for pears, and if anyone's wondering, you really don't need to add any liquid with the peaches. That's the only thing I'd change if I did it again.)

 A bunch of friend and sisters and I went and saw The Desolation of Smaug. Our family enjoyed the fellowship of lots of people, especially when involving homemade ice cream :) And, I attended a Scottish Country dancing ball this past Friday.

 Rachel and I rock the "northern country girls go to a ball" look, I think? :)

 And we were able to pull some decorations out of storage for the ball...reincarnated wedding reception flowers paired with pinecones was very wintry and festive!

 

 Shiloh has done a great job teaching our homeschool group the various dances over the past 6 months, and she did a great job announcing dances, teaching dances, and MCing the whole thing.

 And the dance demonstration groups did a great job!

I have about a week left before heading back to college. We're planning to go sledding again, make ice cream and cookies and hot chocolate, and hang out with friends by eating food and watching Sherlock with them. And we've been collectively battling against the raging cold and violent winds that have been blizzarding around us. Apparently right now, it's 1 degree fahrenheit, but with a wind chill of negative 22. I have a new rule that I just made up that says that I don't go outside if there's a windchill of anything in the negative numbers, so I'm trusting weather.com.

Anyhow, I hope you all are having a good break! Keep in touch over the semester :)