the great outdoors!

This weekend was an AWESOME weekend. Saturday morning started off on a great note: we didn't get up until 1130am...amen! We were cordially invited to go to the lake for the day on Saturday to enjoy some fun in the sun! We met up with the guys who had spent the previous night in the forest. The temperature was an amazing 75 degrees, but the water...whoooo buddy, that thing was cold! There was a rope swing that swung out over the water. One brave soul, a freshman go-getter decided to brave the icicles and went for a
swing! It only took one time for him
and us to realize, it wasn't a day for
swimming. So instead we laid in the sun and skipped rocks...or in CW's (pictured right) case, see how close to the shore he had to throw the biggest rock, in order for it to splash those of us who were still sitting on dry land.

An hour or two after meeting up with the guys, we relocated to the beach/grilling area where the rest of the group met up with us. Some threw around the football while others tried ever so hard to keep the frisbee from flying into the water. After everyone had arrived, the grill man Curtis, decided it was time to
fire up the coals. He got the first round started with some hotdogs. Thirty minutes later, we were ready for the real deal: the hamburgers. The guys bought eight lbs of hamburger and probably twenty hotdogs. We tore through them all! I mean we are growing college students! This is the group to the left that we went with. Brett and I are the only juniors of the bunch, the majority are sophomores and a couple freshmen, oh and one senior :) God has really blessed me with a great group of friends here. Half of these guys here are Bible majors wanting to do something big for God
when they're done with school.
Sunday afternoon brought the long awaited fishing trip with Tyler (left) and Travis (right). These two boys were in calculus class with me last semester and everyday they would share their fishing stories. Abby and I asked them to take us fishing and they extended the offer anytime. Yesterday, we finally were able to get together and go. Abby unfortunately had to stay and set up for Vespers (student led church service) so she couldn't go. Tyler took us to a place up the road...where the uppity people like to hang out: the Country Club. This club just so happened to have a golf course on it.
Near the edge of the golf course was this nice little pond. PERFECT! The plan: hurry up and bait the line as quickly as possible in order to catch one or two fish before being escorted out of the country club :). So we rush down to the pond, Travis baited my hook very quickly for me and within two minutes: SHAZAM! check out that bass....ohhh yeah! Five minutes later I caught a good sized blue gill. It just so happened the pond stood between a tee-off and a putting green. So every so often we had to move out of the way of the golfers, who each spoke with us as they passed by on their way to the putting green. They all wanted to know the same thing...did we catch anything? No one seemed to really mind that we were fishing. I mean it's not like there was a "no fishing" sign...:) We eventually ran out of worms for bait, and Ty and Travis were able to catch baby blue gill without any bait. Little did the babies know..they soon would be bait for the big billy bass. The guys both caught a big bass using the baby blue gill. I unfortunately didn't have the same luck. I let my baby go before he gave his last breath. After fishing, we went to the last Vespers of the school year. We reviewed our theme: AKOLUTOS = unhindered. We sang worship songs under the stars and had an awesome time praising the Creator. Afterwards, the night was made complete with a little s'more action. It was a GREAT weekend! An awesome way to end the school year!

Terrific Thursday

(disclaimer: some of the following content may be inappropriate and unsuitable for those who have weak stomach systems. please take caution)


One of the joys of going to a small private college is: they can cancel a whole day of classes for no reason other than to give students a break! Pretty cool, eh? Once a year: Wonderful Wednesday strikes! It always happens after spring break, but not necessarily on a Wednesday. Only a select group of students know (those who plan the event) and none of the faculty know when it will happen, until the day of. Sometimes it will start in the evening and go throughout the next day, which is what happened this year. As I was laying down to take an afternoon nap on Wednesday, a student with a megaphone came running through campus "Welcome to wonderful Wednesday!!" And so it began. Wednesday night started off the big shabang with discounted bowling. The suitemates and roommate and I all went out and bowled out hearts out. Well, some of us did. I realize that you can't really see the scores, but I'll break it down for you... Miriam: 10th frame: X X X = turkey = 151 pts total! Shoooot yeah! I rocked the house!

Terrific Thursday was filled with lots of outdoors fun, one of those being the slip n slide. Now let me inform you that the weather was a hot 62 degrees with a 25 mph wind: not really my choice of water sports weather. Brett and I opted to watch from the side lines as students, numb to the water and wind, slid down the tarps aiming to take out the 7 construction cones waiting for the human bowling ball at the bottom.





The obstacle course proved to be an entertaining event. Each team consisted of four people who each had a certain assignment. The winning team was the team who completed all tasks in the shortest amount of time. The first person had to stick their face in this...You see, this nasty muck of stuff in the pool is: baked beans, sweet pickles and southern style green beans. Bulk cans of each were dumped in together, mixed up and contained two fun size muskateer bars. Person #1 had to dig through here with their face only and find the wrapped muskateer bar. Next,


person #2 raced across the creek to be wrapped in a roll of toilet paper by person #3. This is more difficult than one might imagine because person #2 is soaked from the creek. Once the toilet paper is gone, person #3 smears peanut butter on their face. Person #4 must throw and successfully stick 3 marshmallows on the #3's face. Once this is completed, person #3 blows up a balloon and pops it. Person #4 (as seen left) jumps onto the blow-up dolphin or crab, races it across the creek. Up on the bank, is a hula hoop. Person #4 must hula for 5 seconds. After the 5 seconds are up, #4 retrieves the floaty, jumps
jumps back in the creek, rides it back across and
runs up into the gazebo, where time is stopped. Two teams compete against each other. Again, Brett and I opted to view rather than participate.

AND NOW!! what everyone's been waiting for!!! THE ANNUAL MILK CHUGGING CONTEST!! of course everyone knows it's physically impossible to chug a gallon of milk in an hour without throwing up. the technical rule for determining the winner of this game is whoever can drink a gallon of milk in an hour without throwing up..within that same hour. but as i came to find out, the REAL contest, is to see who can 1) make the best puking sounds 2) shoot it out the nose the best 3) spew the farthest....get ready for this.

to the left we see CT. right here, he's about 45 minutes into the contest: about 1/2 gallon chugged and no stomach reflex..yet. by the look on his face we can see the milk churning! he decided to take the slower route and see how
much he could get down without throwing up. ten minutes
left in the hour and the crowd begins cheering. CT feels the pressure and begins his chugging as the crowd chants, "Chug! Chug! Chug!" he realizes his doom is about to beset him as he rises to his royal throne (the folding chair). being a senior, and having competed in this heroic contest in the years before, CT understands the REAL competition. he takes his place and continues the chug. only a few seconds later, the vitamin D whole milk refuses to stay put any longer. the first displacement is, yes...curdled.. you see, CT held down quite a bit of milk for a good 50 minutes before ever letting anything out. So the first bit had set in the stomach acid for quite some time.

CT downed all of the milk from the gallon (only to bring it back up) and is still going through recovery today. as i spoke with him on his follow-up, he hasn't eaten anything since yesterday and still feels woozy. he doesn't want to see milk again for a long while, but feels it's all worth it in the end.

meet casey: casey started the competition with a bang. he chugged his gallon of whole milk within the first 20 minutes. he set the standard for the REAL contest. as i first approached casey, he was quietly listening to a friend's ipod, apparently waiting in the calm before the storm. the calm didn't last long: and out came casey's fire hydrant spray of milk. Casey definitely won the prize for farthest distance and fastest chug. this guy...he was impressive.




yes, this is truly what college is all about. bringing your self-esteem to a new level, defending your dignity and honor in the name of milk chugging. long live wonderful wednesday!!!

(brett and i had our own chugging contest: free soda!)

i realize it's been a quick minute since i've posted, so i thought i'd take this time to give an update:

SCHOOL: becoming evermore challenging everyday with my math classes; finals start in two weeks and i'll be done the first week of may, only to start summer school here at home the next week. even though tensions are building with the onset of the final stretch of school, the roomie and i are still getting along marvelous, praise God! Brett is such a fun girl and God has really knitted our hearts together. basically, we're long lost sisters/bffs.
WORK: i'm working at a restaurant similar to applebees as a server. i'll usually work 3-4 nights a week, but each shift can be from 7-9 hours. on a daily basis, i'm learning patience and the holy spirit is constantly reminding me that i am a witness in this extremely dark place i call work.
GOD: wow, in the last couple days God has taught me that my will isn't always His will (who would have guessed?) and with that revelation has come a hard lesson. i have to be willing to give things up in order to be in His will. being a child of God isn't something that is easy, but it's a privilege; and if i'm really committed to be who God has called me to be, i have to surrender specific things in my life. this is proving more difficult than i thought, so please be in prayer for me. but above all, God is stinkin' awesome! (right, pastor terry?!)