Hello peoples!
If you have not read my "That Boy" post yet, pause, read it, and them come back.
Okay...I think we should be good now. For those who don't know, the butterfly effect is when you look at an event, fiction or nonfiction, and change one small thing and then look at everything that one choice effects.
This morning That Boy and I were having breakfast together and talking about all sorts of things and at some point in our conversation he mentioned how at one point he had had the opportunity to test up a grade but his parents had decided it would be best if he stayed where he was. Initial though was wouldn't that have been cool if we were in the same grade. Or would it? Of course with me it couldn't stop there, so we started talking about all the implications that would have.
First just looking at when we would have met. It probably would have been in middle school, maybe through band, maybe in a different class. That Boy was in an advanced placement class called Stretch in middle school. But if we are moving him up a grade we decided he may not have made the cut for the class, and while still very smart would have also just barely missed being put in a higher level math course. It would have been 7th grade when we met since that's when I switched to public school. I didn't have high expectations from the kids around me and was often fed up with their lack of commitment to learning and rules. I was a good student, very smart, but had no patients for my peers, especially the boys. He admitted that 7th grade wasn't his best year, he hung out with kids who weren't as smart in an attempt to seem cool and he tried to fit into the popular crowd. From what he described he would be exactly like the kind of student who really ticked me off. The type that even when we got to high school I probably would never have been able to look past that terrible first impression. Knowing I probably came off a bit snobbish at times in middle school, he may not have had much of an interest in getting to know me either.
After that shocking discovery we went on to hypothesize that if we had found a way to look past middle school faults, did we have any chance of reconnecting with each other in high school. To which we quickly discovered was probably a no. Part of the reason we met is because I hung out with younger students and we were both friends with Bunny, which is how we initially met. If we never dated then we can't even be sure we would have ended up at the same college because the college we are now at may not have been on his radar.
Continuing down this rabbit hole we had another realization! He would have had a completely different friend group! I know this seems obvious but friends have a huge impact on how you grow and develop different parts of your personality. If he had taken and passed that test back in elementary school he would have met totally different people. Even at church he may not have been in the same Sunday school class as his best friend! He may have been closer to some of the older boys but it would have changed the dynamics of his church youth group a lot. His school friends would have been the people in my grade but that would have changed dynamics in the friendships those people already had too.
There are so many different ways we could take this but it didn't take to long to discover that the chances of us meeting and liking each other were slim to nonexistent. Even discovering that all the friends that shaped That Boy would be totally different, in essence changing the type of person he grew up to be. While a lot might be similar about him, he wouldn't be exactly who he is today. Even looking at how each of us has influenced the other the past two years and wondering who we would be today if that influence was gone?
I could talk forever about all the different possibilities but in the end it doesn't matter. God had a plan for each of us and how we would meet. As hard as it is some days to be a whole grade level apart, being the same grade may actually have been terrible for us. As shocking as all that was to think about, I had a lot of fun theorizing about what things might have been like. But I am so glad that everything has happened the way it was supposed to and that he never took that test.
That's my view!
Friday, August 28, 2015
That Boy
Hello peoples!
Today is a big blog day. I have two posts I want to get up today but I want to write this one first before I write the second one. Some people already know who I'm talking about but even some of my college friends don't know the full story. It's not the most common thing to bring up in conversations, at least not for me. That Boy is my boyfriend and we have been dating for almost two and a half years. Yes, I said years. We met in high school, but to do this story justice I want to start as far back as I can.
That Boy is four months younger than me but because of when birthdays fall, he is a whole grade below me (this will be very important in my second post). We were both in band, he was a saxophone and I was a flute. The first time he saw me would have been band camp his freshman year. When we were in playing arcs the flutes were in the front row, clarinets second, and saxophones third. He has told me he remembered seeing that really tall flute in the front row (I was 5' 9" then) and thinking she was kinda pretty but surely she must be a senior, and after a 1st grade heartbreak he had sworn off ever liking/dating an older girl. So very quickly he had decided I was out of his league.
I was a little slower at noticing him. I didn't normally mingle with the other sections, had my own freshmen to worry about, was a sophomore, and it was my first year marching piccolo (small flute, set in a higher range). So during band camp I wouldn't have really seen him. Then with freshmen band separate from the upperclassmen band I still wouldn't have seen him much.
The first time I saw him was when we went on the band trip to Disney World in Florida. But it wasn't the best first impression. He had a group of obnoxious freshmen boys that he hung with, which instantly made him another obnoxious freshmen boy. If that wasn't bad enough one of the days my older brother was hanging out with a group of us (my girls were freshmen which is why the obnoxious freshmen boys were with us), and at the time big bro and I weren't on the best of terms and he and some other people decided they wanted to split off because they didn't want to do the same rides I did. While looking back now I realize it wasn't big bros fault or even something to be that upset over, but it was very personal at the time and anyone who left was siding with him and abandoning me. Give you one guess on which group That Boy went with.
Big bro's.
The funny part was later in the day he and another obnoxious freshman were begging my group to let them join. One of the rules was that every group had to have at least three people in it, and the two of them had almost been caught by the directors and would have been in major trouble. Honestly though, I wasn't in the best of moods and wasn't feeling too nice. If it had been my choice I would have let them get caught, they had made their choice already. But luckily for them other people in my group were fine letting them join.
Note: I recognize I was not always the nicest person but part of what I'm sharing are my thoughts and not what I actually said to people. I did have somewhat of a filter back then and knew that sometimes you just don't say what is on your mind. I've grown up quite a bit since then and try very hard to not judge people so harshly or hold onto grudges like I used to.
So that's our first encounter with each other. Not the best. However, over the summer we both grew up a bit. When band camp rolled around we hung out a bit because our friend groups overlapped. He was still an annoying but slightly less so. During that fall semester we became kinda friends, but there still wasn't an attraction there on my end at least.
Then spring semester began. Our group of friends had a texting group that was active almost all day. One day That Boy sent a message in the group, that is when I believe my interest in him was first started. He said he hadn't been responding because he was with his church youth group serving an older gentleman by cleaning up his home. A few thoughts instantly hit my radar. First, he was a Christian most likely, something I hadn't considered about him. Secondly, he was actively serving, something that couldn't be said of a lot of the Christian guys I knew. None of this meant I fell in love then. I was at a point in my life where I was content to be single and didn't plan to ever date in high school. I was at the point where I had decided I wouldn't get obsessed with a crush even, and that my whole focus was to be on God. However it wasn't long after I had reached that point that God placed That Boy in my life.
So that text message was probably sent over Christmas break, and that next semester That Boy had a different schedule that changed him to my lunch shift. After some prompting from Bunny (my crazy clarinet friend), I invited That Boy to sit at lunch with Mouse (my quiet clarinet friend) and myself. Initially he said maybe but ended up sitting with some other band friends. Bunny was the only person I had confided in that I might like That Boy and she was very supportive. After a month he started sitting at my lunch table, at least a little bit. He would eat lunch with his friends and when he was done eating would come over and talk to me. Eventually he started sitting at my table through all of lunch. Few more weeks and instead of conversation ending, he would walk with me till we reached his class room, which was only a short while since I still had to walk down to the end of the building. By late March he was walking with me all the way to my class! Surely he must have some interest. I talked with Bunny a lot about what I should do, I wasn't sure if I should even pursue this, she thought I should. She had talked with him some and was pretty sure he liked me, but I wasn't ready to put myself out there. Throughout the past few months I had seen his character and personality, and I really liked what I saw, he was a good guy (still is). There was a lot of prayer during those months and chats with mom on her thoughts.
The big moment came April 7th. My church was having a Knockout tournament, trying to set the Guinness World Record for most people playing in one game. We were encouraged to invite lots of people, so I invited some of my friends and That Boy. My thought was at least it would give me a different group setting to get to spend a little more time with him and get to know him. At the last minute everyone bailed on me, except That Boy. I was terrified! I now had no school friends to balance out the encounter, just my family who all knew I had been crushing the past few months! This seemed like worst case scenario. But it went pretty well despite a bit of family embarrassment.
That night I was texting Bunny and she was encouraging me to finally say something, even though I hated the idea of being the first one to say something. But I picked up the nerve and sent a message telling him that I kinda liked him. He was very slow to respond! He asked for confirmation of what I meant......then didn't really say anything...........by this point I was pretty convinced I had just ruined the good friendship we had built. Finally he responded that he kinda liked me too. Now what? We talked a bit about what this would mean, first thing being we needed to talk to our parents. Also we didn't want to post anything on social media to say we were "in a relationship" until we felt comfortable with it. And finally, we didn't want to tell anyone at school yet till we knew where this was going. We both recognized from the beginning that the purpose of dating is to find the person you want to marry, and that by dating we saw that as a possible option and if it ever wasn't we would need to end it there.
Well we let the parents know and that very weekend my dad had arranged a time to sit down with That Boy and have a little "chat" since dad had to approve any potential boyfriends. I was told nothing beforehand and to this day I'm still not sure of what all was said at that corner table at Panera. Whatever was said he passed the test.
Not gonna lie, meeting his parents was terrifying for me! I had what I would call a respectful fear of his parents, probably lasting for at least the first year, especially for his mother. He was her oldest, but still her baby boy and I did not want to get on her bad side. I'm not afraid of them anymore, I would say I actually have a really good relationship with his parents and his whole family, but I still have a lot of respect for them and always will.
We moved pretty slowly with our relationship. The first time we hugged was after two weeks of "dating" each other, and even after that it wasn't a common occurrence. It was a huge deal when after a month we held hands for the first time, and again it didn't happen very often. But something else that's pretty different about our relationship is that before I met him, I had decided that I wanted my first kiss to be on my wedding day. He was very respectful of me and also thought that this would be a good boundary for us and a good way to honor God in our relationship. So we have not kissed each other and don't plan to till that day. I won't say there hasn't been temptation, there most certainly has been, but through prayer and accountability we have kept the boundaries that we set in place. I know it will be worth it when the day comes.
Back to the story, since it was near the end of his sophomore year, my junior year, when we started dating. We went into it knowing that if we stayed together, in a little over a year I would be leaving for college and we would have to figure out how to make a long distance relationship work. Fast-forward, we were still together and I had decided upon a college that was 3 hour away form home. The year apart was very hard, but a good test of where our relationship stood. I came home roughly once a month, and while we spent as much time together as we could I still had other responsibilities when I was at home. One of my favorite things that we did was have video call "dates." Sometimes we just talked, other times we played battleship on personalized boards I had gotten us for our 1 year anniversary, and occasionally we would watch a show together. It wasn't the same as being together but it was a small way to feel close to one another.
Fast- forward some more and here we are. Currently we are now at the same college and figuring out the next challenge, how to be together after a year of being apart. We both are still working to learn the balance but I'm feeling pretty good about it so far. After all we have been through the past two years, I feel very optimistic about what this next year holds for us.
Alright I'm done being sappy. But before I end this post I want to quickly explain how he got his nickname. My mom and youngest sister came to watch one of the band practices the summer before my senior year started. Mom was trying to find me on the field when Punkadoodle (youngest sisters nickname for the blog) pointed across the field and said to my mom "It's That Boy!" Sure enough it was him. Since then my whole family has called him that and even his own parents have on occasion.
So that was the "quick" version of how That Boy and I met. It was very important that I write this first before I could write the other post I have for today. Hopefully I'll have the next one up soon, but if it takes me as long as this did, it may not be up till later this afternoon. Until then...
That's my view!
Today is a big blog day. I have two posts I want to get up today but I want to write this one first before I write the second one. Some people already know who I'm talking about but even some of my college friends don't know the full story. It's not the most common thing to bring up in conversations, at least not for me. That Boy is my boyfriend and we have been dating for almost two and a half years. Yes, I said years. We met in high school, but to do this story justice I want to start as far back as I can.
That Boy is four months younger than me but because of when birthdays fall, he is a whole grade below me (this will be very important in my second post). We were both in band, he was a saxophone and I was a flute. The first time he saw me would have been band camp his freshman year. When we were in playing arcs the flutes were in the front row, clarinets second, and saxophones third. He has told me he remembered seeing that really tall flute in the front row (I was 5' 9" then) and thinking she was kinda pretty but surely she must be a senior, and after a 1st grade heartbreak he had sworn off ever liking/dating an older girl. So very quickly he had decided I was out of his league.
I was a little slower at noticing him. I didn't normally mingle with the other sections, had my own freshmen to worry about, was a sophomore, and it was my first year marching piccolo (small flute, set in a higher range). So during band camp I wouldn't have really seen him. Then with freshmen band separate from the upperclassmen band I still wouldn't have seen him much.
The first time I saw him was when we went on the band trip to Disney World in Florida. But it wasn't the best first impression. He had a group of obnoxious freshmen boys that he hung with, which instantly made him another obnoxious freshmen boy. If that wasn't bad enough one of the days my older brother was hanging out with a group of us (my girls were freshmen which is why the obnoxious freshmen boys were with us), and at the time big bro and I weren't on the best of terms and he and some other people decided they wanted to split off because they didn't want to do the same rides I did. While looking back now I realize it wasn't big bros fault or even something to be that upset over, but it was very personal at the time and anyone who left was siding with him and abandoning me. Give you one guess on which group That Boy went with.
Big bro's.
The funny part was later in the day he and another obnoxious freshman were begging my group to let them join. One of the rules was that every group had to have at least three people in it, and the two of them had almost been caught by the directors and would have been in major trouble. Honestly though, I wasn't in the best of moods and wasn't feeling too nice. If it had been my choice I would have let them get caught, they had made their choice already. But luckily for them other people in my group were fine letting them join.
Note: I recognize I was not always the nicest person but part of what I'm sharing are my thoughts and not what I actually said to people. I did have somewhat of a filter back then and knew that sometimes you just don't say what is on your mind. I've grown up quite a bit since then and try very hard to not judge people so harshly or hold onto grudges like I used to.
So that's our first encounter with each other. Not the best. However, over the summer we both grew up a bit. When band camp rolled around we hung out a bit because our friend groups overlapped. He was still an annoying but slightly less so. During that fall semester we became kinda friends, but there still wasn't an attraction there on my end at least.
Then spring semester began. Our group of friends had a texting group that was active almost all day. One day That Boy sent a message in the group, that is when I believe my interest in him was first started. He said he hadn't been responding because he was with his church youth group serving an older gentleman by cleaning up his home. A few thoughts instantly hit my radar. First, he was a Christian most likely, something I hadn't considered about him. Secondly, he was actively serving, something that couldn't be said of a lot of the Christian guys I knew. None of this meant I fell in love then. I was at a point in my life where I was content to be single and didn't plan to ever date in high school. I was at the point where I had decided I wouldn't get obsessed with a crush even, and that my whole focus was to be on God. However it wasn't long after I had reached that point that God placed That Boy in my life.
So that text message was probably sent over Christmas break, and that next semester That Boy had a different schedule that changed him to my lunch shift. After some prompting from Bunny (my crazy clarinet friend), I invited That Boy to sit at lunch with Mouse (my quiet clarinet friend) and myself. Initially he said maybe but ended up sitting with some other band friends. Bunny was the only person I had confided in that I might like That Boy and she was very supportive. After a month he started sitting at my lunch table, at least a little bit. He would eat lunch with his friends and when he was done eating would come over and talk to me. Eventually he started sitting at my table through all of lunch. Few more weeks and instead of conversation ending, he would walk with me till we reached his class room, which was only a short while since I still had to walk down to the end of the building. By late March he was walking with me all the way to my class! Surely he must have some interest. I talked with Bunny a lot about what I should do, I wasn't sure if I should even pursue this, she thought I should. She had talked with him some and was pretty sure he liked me, but I wasn't ready to put myself out there. Throughout the past few months I had seen his character and personality, and I really liked what I saw, he was a good guy (still is). There was a lot of prayer during those months and chats with mom on her thoughts.
The big moment came April 7th. My church was having a Knockout tournament, trying to set the Guinness World Record for most people playing in one game. We were encouraged to invite lots of people, so I invited some of my friends and That Boy. My thought was at least it would give me a different group setting to get to spend a little more time with him and get to know him. At the last minute everyone bailed on me, except That Boy. I was terrified! I now had no school friends to balance out the encounter, just my family who all knew I had been crushing the past few months! This seemed like worst case scenario. But it went pretty well despite a bit of family embarrassment.
That night I was texting Bunny and she was encouraging me to finally say something, even though I hated the idea of being the first one to say something. But I picked up the nerve and sent a message telling him that I kinda liked him. He was very slow to respond! He asked for confirmation of what I meant......then didn't really say anything...........by this point I was pretty convinced I had just ruined the good friendship we had built. Finally he responded that he kinda liked me too. Now what? We talked a bit about what this would mean, first thing being we needed to talk to our parents. Also we didn't want to post anything on social media to say we were "in a relationship" until we felt comfortable with it. And finally, we didn't want to tell anyone at school yet till we knew where this was going. We both recognized from the beginning that the purpose of dating is to find the person you want to marry, and that by dating we saw that as a possible option and if it ever wasn't we would need to end it there.
Well we let the parents know and that very weekend my dad had arranged a time to sit down with That Boy and have a little "chat" since dad had to approve any potential boyfriends. I was told nothing beforehand and to this day I'm still not sure of what all was said at that corner table at Panera. Whatever was said he passed the test.
Not gonna lie, meeting his parents was terrifying for me! I had what I would call a respectful fear of his parents, probably lasting for at least the first year, especially for his mother. He was her oldest, but still her baby boy and I did not want to get on her bad side. I'm not afraid of them anymore, I would say I actually have a really good relationship with his parents and his whole family, but I still have a lot of respect for them and always will.
We moved pretty slowly with our relationship. The first time we hugged was after two weeks of "dating" each other, and even after that it wasn't a common occurrence. It was a huge deal when after a month we held hands for the first time, and again it didn't happen very often. But something else that's pretty different about our relationship is that before I met him, I had decided that I wanted my first kiss to be on my wedding day. He was very respectful of me and also thought that this would be a good boundary for us and a good way to honor God in our relationship. So we have not kissed each other and don't plan to till that day. I won't say there hasn't been temptation, there most certainly has been, but through prayer and accountability we have kept the boundaries that we set in place. I know it will be worth it when the day comes.
Back to the story, since it was near the end of his sophomore year, my junior year, when we started dating. We went into it knowing that if we stayed together, in a little over a year I would be leaving for college and we would have to figure out how to make a long distance relationship work. Fast-forward, we were still together and I had decided upon a college that was 3 hour away form home. The year apart was very hard, but a good test of where our relationship stood. I came home roughly once a month, and while we spent as much time together as we could I still had other responsibilities when I was at home. One of my favorite things that we did was have video call "dates." Sometimes we just talked, other times we played battleship on personalized boards I had gotten us for our 1 year anniversary, and occasionally we would watch a show together. It wasn't the same as being together but it was a small way to feel close to one another.
Fast- forward some more and here we are. Currently we are now at the same college and figuring out the next challenge, how to be together after a year of being apart. We both are still working to learn the balance but I'm feeling pretty good about it so far. After all we have been through the past two years, I feel very optimistic about what this next year holds for us.
Alright I'm done being sappy. But before I end this post I want to quickly explain how he got his nickname. My mom and youngest sister came to watch one of the band practices the summer before my senior year started. Mom was trying to find me on the field when Punkadoodle (youngest sisters nickname for the blog) pointed across the field and said to my mom "It's That Boy!" Sure enough it was him. Since then my whole family has called him that and even his own parents have on occasion.
So that was the "quick" version of how That Boy and I met. It was very important that I write this first before I could write the other post I have for today. Hopefully I'll have the next one up soon, but if it takes me as long as this did, it may not be up till later this afternoon. Until then...
That's my view!
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Clarifying 福爱婷
Hello peoples!
I guess I didn't make myself very clear yesterday so I just wanted to quickly clear up some confusion. When I introduced myself in Chinese I didn't use a random name. 福爱婷 is my Chinese name.
In my Chinese class our first "homework" assignment was to find a Chinese name to use, and 老师 (teacher) said it may help to ask someone Chinese for help.
I already knew that I wanted 福 (fu) to be my surname. Both of my sisters have the surname 福 even though they come from different orphanages and different cities. So in honor of them I wanted to choose to have the same name. 福 means good fortune; blessings; happiness. After deciding that I hopped on WeChat (social media site used in China) and messaged the guide I had had this past summer while I was in China. I explained my situation and asked her if she could help me come up with the rest of my name. She was very excited to help and came up with 爱婷 (ai ting). She told me it was a beautiful name and that 婷 was something many girls in China liked. 爱 means love and 婷 is one of the radicals in the character 婷婷 (ting ting) which means graceful. So my full name 福爱婷 (fu ai ting) means blessings, love, and graceful. I am very honored that my guide helped me pick such a beautiful name and that she believes it represents me well. Even though I only need to use it for this class, I plan to continue to use it as my official Chinese name!
I hope that helped clear things up and explain why the name is so special to me.
That's my view!
I guess I didn't make myself very clear yesterday so I just wanted to quickly clear up some confusion. When I introduced myself in Chinese I didn't use a random name. 福爱婷 is my Chinese name.
In my Chinese class our first "homework" assignment was to find a Chinese name to use, and 老师 (teacher) said it may help to ask someone Chinese for help.
I already knew that I wanted 福 (fu) to be my surname. Both of my sisters have the surname 福 even though they come from different orphanages and different cities. So in honor of them I wanted to choose to have the same name. 福 means good fortune; blessings; happiness. After deciding that I hopped on WeChat (social media site used in China) and messaged the guide I had had this past summer while I was in China. I explained my situation and asked her if she could help me come up with the rest of my name. She was very excited to help and came up with 爱婷 (ai ting). She told me it was a beautiful name and that 婷 was something many girls in China liked. 爱 means love and 婷 is one of the radicals in the character 婷婷 (ting ting) which means graceful. So my full name 福爱婷 (fu ai ting) means blessings, love, and graceful. I am very honored that my guide helped me pick such a beautiful name and that she believes it represents me well. Even though I only need to use it for this class, I plan to continue to use it as my official Chinese name!
I hope that helped clear things up and explain why the name is so special to me.
That's my view!
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
你好！
你们好！
(Hello peoples!)
我叫福爱婷。
(My name is Fu Aiting.)
This semester I am taking Chinese 101, so far it has been really cool. I am loving learning the individual parts of the words, pronunciations, and how to write the characters. As you can tell I even downloaded a pinyin keyboard for my laptop. I may put a bit of Chinese in my blog every now and then just for fun.
That's really all I wanted to say. I will try to post again soon. Hopefully I'll have a post up tomorrow but no promises.
再见！
(Goodbye!)
That's my view!
*Note: I did not word for word translate all my phrase. 你好 means hello. 你们 means you plural.
你们好 means hello to you plural. 我叫 means I am called. 福爱婷 is my Chinese name.
(Hello peoples!)
我叫福爱婷。
(My name is Fu Aiting.)
This semester I am taking Chinese 101, so far it has been really cool. I am loving learning the individual parts of the words, pronunciations, and how to write the characters. As you can tell I even downloaded a pinyin keyboard for my laptop. I may put a bit of Chinese in my blog every now and then just for fun.
That's really all I wanted to say. I will try to post again soon. Hopefully I'll have a post up tomorrow but no promises.
再见！
(Goodbye!)
That's my view!
*Note: I did not word for word translate all my phrase. 你好 means hello. 你们 means you plural.
你们好 means hello to you plural. 我叫 means I am called. 福爱婷 is my Chinese name.
Sunday, August 23, 2015
He's Not Finished With You Yet
Hello peoples!
I am currently sitting at my desk waiting for my computer to update and got the inspiration for another blog (currently at 18 out of 65 and have already been sitting here almost 20 minutes hopefully it doesn't take too much longer). So as I'm sitting here on my phone waiting for my computer to finish updating, I started contemplating different verses in the Bible that are important to me. One that's being rolling around in my head quite a lot recently is Philippians 1:6 "being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Chrit Jesus." This verse had been such a huge encouragement to me these past few months for a couple of key reasons.
The first being the confirmation that He has begun a good work in me. God has specifically chosen me to carry out His will in a way only I can do. He has chosen to do a good work in me to carry out His glory. Some days when it's just hard to make it through the day or when I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be doing, knowing that God is in control, and that He wants to use me, is such a huge encouragement. The God of the whole universe has a plan for my life. I don't have to worry about what the future might hold because He already knows, and it is good!
The second place I draw encouragement from is that He will complete what He started. It's okay for me to not be sure what God has planned for me because He is still working in me and through me. He's not finished with me yet. God is still molding and shaping me to bring glory to Him. While I may not always be certain where He is taking me or what plans He has for me, I can have hope because He promises to finish what he started in me.
I don't know what plans God has for me this semester or this school year. But over the past few weeks I have had this unshakable feeling that God has some big plans for this year and I want to be ready to be used. I want to see God impact this campus in a way that no one will miss seeing what a big God He is! I pray that God will use me this year to bring others to Him and show those around me His great love.
Thanks for reading my thoughts this beautiful Sunday afternoon. I pray that y'all can find the same encouragement in God, He's not finished with you yet!
That's my view!
I am currently sitting at my desk waiting for my computer to update and got the inspiration for another blog (currently at 18 out of 65 and have already been sitting here almost 20 minutes hopefully it doesn't take too much longer). So as I'm sitting here on my phone waiting for my computer to finish updating, I started contemplating different verses in the Bible that are important to me. One that's being rolling around in my head quite a lot recently is Philippians 1:6 "being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Chrit Jesus." This verse had been such a huge encouragement to me these past few months for a couple of key reasons.
The first being the confirmation that He has begun a good work in me. God has specifically chosen me to carry out His will in a way only I can do. He has chosen to do a good work in me to carry out His glory. Some days when it's just hard to make it through the day or when I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be doing, knowing that God is in control, and that He wants to use me, is such a huge encouragement. The God of the whole universe has a plan for my life. I don't have to worry about what the future might hold because He already knows, and it is good!
The second place I draw encouragement from is that He will complete what He started. It's okay for me to not be sure what God has planned for me because He is still working in me and through me. He's not finished with me yet. God is still molding and shaping me to bring glory to Him. While I may not always be certain where He is taking me or what plans He has for me, I can have hope because He promises to finish what he started in me.
I don't know what plans God has for me this semester or this school year. But over the past few weeks I have had this unshakable feeling that God has some big plans for this year and I want to be ready to be used. I want to see God impact this campus in a way that no one will miss seeing what a big God He is! I pray that God will use me this year to bring others to Him and show those around me His great love.
Thanks for reading my thoughts this beautiful Sunday afternoon. I pray that y'all can find the same encouragement in God, He's not finished with you yet!
That's my view!
Friday, August 21, 2015
Campus Biking
Hello peoples!
So quick post that's been on my mind for the past few days...okay since the beginning of freshmen year. There are plenty of college campuses out there but not all relate to this problem. On my campus we have sidewalks and bike paths, pedestrians and cyclists. As a freshman I was thrilled to discover that my campus had bike paths. Surely this meant I could safely ride my bike on campus and not have to worry about being in the way of pedestrians or of them being in my way. I was so naive to think that everything would be fine. It took one day for me to discover that there is no respect for the bike paths on my campus at that most people saw it as an extended sidewalk. It was so frustrating for me, I tried so hard to try and follow every rule and look out for pedestrians as rode through campus, but other people walking around simply didn't care to pay attention. People would walk wherever they wanted so that it was convenient for them. Even though on my campus the bike paths are clearly marked with little bike symbols, outlined in brick, and tinted red, they are still ignored.
I do recognize that some bikers don't follow the rules of the bike path either, it is a problem on both sides. However, these paths were built for the safety of everyone on campus. I did my best to stay as strictly to the bike path as I could but even then I've had numerous near collisions and a couple full-on.
Last year I was heading to my evening class and it just so happened to be the last day of rush on campus. All the ladies who had finally been welcomed into their sororities were now running to their houses—conveniently located behind my dorm. Nothing wrong with that, the ladies who rush work very hard, they deserve to be excited. The problem? They were running on the bike path. I tired to slow down and stay to the side but with the approaching mob I had nowhere to go. I was at a near stop when when a girl ran straight into me. But it wasn't her who fell, she stumbled a bit and kept on running. I was the one who toppled to the ground with my bike on top of me. I think one person glanced back and asked if I was alright, but they didn't stop running to help me up. I waited for the group to clear and kept on going, only to be greeted by the next group of joyful girls. While this time I didn't fall, a girl nearly flipped over my handlebars because she wasn't watching where she was going. It was scary and I got scraped up. It was not a good first impression of sororities on campus for me. It wasn't till later that I had friends in sororities that I was able to respect them for the good that they can bring.
After that I invested in a bike horn, not a bell, a horn! Even that doesn't always help, but I feel better having it. I have multiple occasions of having to slam on my breaks—nearly toppling over in the process—in the hopes to avoid hitting someone. Then my favorite, when someone is walking with a group of people on the bike path and I can't get around them, thus making me have to bike at a snails pace that doesn't give me the momentum I need to stay balanced. That's normally when the horn comes out.
I try very hard to be respectful and understanding, but when I'm driven of the path into a bush it becomes a bit harder to feel like being nice. The whole point of the bike paths is to keep everyone on campus safe! If you are on a campus that has bike, paths please don't walk on them, for your own safety and for the bikers. Bikers, stay on the bike paths, I understand they aren't always the fastest route to get around campus but it isn't safe for anyone if you bike on the sidewalk.
I'm hoping to bring awareness about this issue on my campus in the near future but until I can do that I wanted to share my thoughts here.
That's my view!
So quick post that's been on my mind for the past few days...okay since the beginning of freshmen year. There are plenty of college campuses out there but not all relate to this problem. On my campus we have sidewalks and bike paths, pedestrians and cyclists. As a freshman I was thrilled to discover that my campus had bike paths. Surely this meant I could safely ride my bike on campus and not have to worry about being in the way of pedestrians or of them being in my way. I was so naive to think that everything would be fine. It took one day for me to discover that there is no respect for the bike paths on my campus at that most people saw it as an extended sidewalk. It was so frustrating for me, I tried so hard to try and follow every rule and look out for pedestrians as rode through campus, but other people walking around simply didn't care to pay attention. People would walk wherever they wanted so that it was convenient for them. Even though on my campus the bike paths are clearly marked with little bike symbols, outlined in brick, and tinted red, they are still ignored.
I do recognize that some bikers don't follow the rules of the bike path either, it is a problem on both sides. However, these paths were built for the safety of everyone on campus. I did my best to stay as strictly to the bike path as I could but even then I've had numerous near collisions and a couple full-on.
Last year I was heading to my evening class and it just so happened to be the last day of rush on campus. All the ladies who had finally been welcomed into their sororities were now running to their houses—conveniently located behind my dorm. Nothing wrong with that, the ladies who rush work very hard, they deserve to be excited. The problem? They were running on the bike path. I tired to slow down and stay to the side but with the approaching mob I had nowhere to go. I was at a near stop when when a girl ran straight into me. But it wasn't her who fell, she stumbled a bit and kept on running. I was the one who toppled to the ground with my bike on top of me. I think one person glanced back and asked if I was alright, but they didn't stop running to help me up. I waited for the group to clear and kept on going, only to be greeted by the next group of joyful girls. While this time I didn't fall, a girl nearly flipped over my handlebars because she wasn't watching where she was going. It was scary and I got scraped up. It was not a good first impression of sororities on campus for me. It wasn't till later that I had friends in sororities that I was able to respect them for the good that they can bring.
After that I invested in a bike horn, not a bell, a horn! Even that doesn't always help, but I feel better having it. I have multiple occasions of having to slam on my breaks—nearly toppling over in the process—in the hopes to avoid hitting someone. Then my favorite, when someone is walking with a group of people on the bike path and I can't get around them, thus making me have to bike at a snails pace that doesn't give me the momentum I need to stay balanced. That's normally when the horn comes out.
I try very hard to be respectful and understanding, but when I'm driven of the path into a bush it becomes a bit harder to feel like being nice. The whole point of the bike paths is to keep everyone on campus safe! If you are on a campus that has bike, paths please don't walk on them, for your own safety and for the bikers. Bikers, stay on the bike paths, I understand they aren't always the fastest route to get around campus but it isn't safe for anyone if you bike on the sidewalk.
I'm hoping to bring awareness about this issue on my campus in the near future but until I can do that I wanted to share my thoughts here.
That's my view!
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
Long Overdue
Hello peoples!
It has been waaaaaaay to long since I last posted. Not for a lack of potential content, I just didn't do the best job of finding time to blog. But this means I have a lot to catch up on, so I won't be running out of ideas anytime soon. But before I get into the super detailed "where have I been for a year," I wanted to give a brief summary of what I've been up to.
When I last logged on I was excited to have just started college and was still nervous about how I would make friends. But little did I know that within the first few weeks I would meet some of the most amazing friends, who I have terribly missed during the summer. The support network I've built at college is something I know I will have with me in years to come. I am soooooo pumped to get to see them this weekend for a leadership retreat with our campus ministry (I'm going to be a small group leader this year). On the academic side of college, one year later and a change in major, I'm now pursuing getting my bachelors of social work. I'm so excited to be starting down this path and it's all because of the mission trip I went on last summer to China. God really worked on my heart during that trip and I now know that the adoption world is where my heart is.
Speaking of the mission trip, I had the opportunity to do another mission trip this summer and got to do some extra travelling prior thanks to my dad's work. Dad and I left the day before my birthday for a Mediterranean cruise. It was my first cruise and was pretty amazing. I've got lots of photos and stories to share, but I'm saving that for a separate post. After returning home completely jet lagged, I had a little over two weeks to get ready for a second mission trip to China TO THE SAME ORPHANAGE! It was absoulutly incredible to have the opportunity to return to my "home" in China and get to see the wonderful staff and sweet kiddos. Again, more on that to come later. Quickly backtracking to those two weeks before leaving, that was when I started working at my job, aka babysitting.
It may not sound very glamorous but I have really enjoyed it and learned a lot. I sit for two girls, the older of the two is in my sister's Chinese dance class, which is why I was asked to do the job. I have a nine year old "typical preteen" (her phrasing not mine), and a six year old monkey. Love these little girls to bits and pieces but occasionally they can be a bit of a handful. I've continued babysitting since returning home from China a week ago, but with jet lag refusing to leave and sinus issues since the trip, keeping up with the girls has been a bit of a challenge. However, despite this so far being a tiring week, it is also my last week since college move in is next week.
Well it's really late as I'm typing this and I should really get to bed. Like I said, I've got a ton of catching up to do and a lot that's coming up. I'm really going to work hard to get better with blogging more consistently. But until then...
That's my view!
It has been waaaaaaay to long since I last posted. Not for a lack of potential content, I just didn't do the best job of finding time to blog. But this means I have a lot to catch up on, so I won't be running out of ideas anytime soon. But before I get into the super detailed "where have I been for a year," I wanted to give a brief summary of what I've been up to.
When I last logged on I was excited to have just started college and was still nervous about how I would make friends. But little did I know that within the first few weeks I would meet some of the most amazing friends, who I have terribly missed during the summer. The support network I've built at college is something I know I will have with me in years to come. I am soooooo pumped to get to see them this weekend for a leadership retreat with our campus ministry (I'm going to be a small group leader this year). On the academic side of college, one year later and a change in major, I'm now pursuing getting my bachelors of social work. I'm so excited to be starting down this path and it's all because of the mission trip I went on last summer to China. God really worked on my heart during that trip and I now know that the adoption world is where my heart is.
Speaking of the mission trip, I had the opportunity to do another mission trip this summer and got to do some extra travelling prior thanks to my dad's work. Dad and I left the day before my birthday for a Mediterranean cruise. It was my first cruise and was pretty amazing. I've got lots of photos and stories to share, but I'm saving that for a separate post. After returning home completely jet lagged, I had a little over two weeks to get ready for a second mission trip to China TO THE SAME ORPHANAGE! It was absoulutly incredible to have the opportunity to return to my "home" in China and get to see the wonderful staff and sweet kiddos. Again, more on that to come later. Quickly backtracking to those two weeks before leaving, that was when I started working at my job, aka babysitting.
It may not sound very glamorous but I have really enjoyed it and learned a lot. I sit for two girls, the older of the two is in my sister's Chinese dance class, which is why I was asked to do the job. I have a nine year old "typical preteen" (her phrasing not mine), and a six year old monkey. Love these little girls to bits and pieces but occasionally they can be a bit of a handful. I've continued babysitting since returning home from China a week ago, but with jet lag refusing to leave and sinus issues since the trip, keeping up with the girls has been a bit of a challenge. However, despite this so far being a tiring week, it is also my last week since college move in is next week.
Well it's really late as I'm typing this and I should really get to bed. Like I said, I've got a ton of catching up to do and a lot that's coming up. I'm really going to work hard to get better with blogging more consistently. But until then...
That's my view!
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