March 15, 2010
senior year: lesson 5
Truths I learned/relearned about God:
- God >>>>> me
- He is GOOD
- He is sovereign, the Rock greater than I
- He keeps His promises
- prayer is powerful
December 9, 2009
senior year: lesson 4
It’s funny how certain truths are reinforced through mundane things that happen in our lives. Recently, I’ve been reminded of how God promises not to give us more than we can bear. I’ve been sick the past few days which in turn has led me to be 10 times lazier than I usually am. I’ve gone to a grand total of 1 class this week (so far), which means I’ve skipped 5 (4 lectures and 1 precept). I’ve done virtually no work and have spent 50% of my time in bed. And even though I feel bad (sort of) for skipping so many things this week, I realize that its only through God’s grace working in my schedule that I can skip all that stuff and not be burdened by the guilt of doing so. I’ve been blessed with a relatively easy class schedule, virtually no homework for the remaining 1.5 weeks, and a laid-back timeline for thesis stuff. I look at the other busy bees around me (especially the juniors…sheesh they have craaazy lives) and I realize I could not afford to be sick if I were in their shoes. It’s funny how so many little things come together to work out for the best, you can’t help but recognize that there’s a Bigger Planner up there. Oh, and the icing on the cake: Karen’s mom has been staying with us for the past few days, which means yummy (and nutritious!) home-cooked food, an uber-clean Spelman room, and a constant supply of oranges so I can get my vitamin C. Mothers are amazing.
November 17, 2009
senior year: lessons 2 & 3
This is a bit overdue, but enough epic-ness happened this past weekend that I need to catalog it. Mainly: I had two near-death experiences within 48 hours.
1) the blazing inferno that erupted in our kitchen. pot, oil, flame, water…kabooom. need i say more? water and oil obviously don’t mix. i’m just glad i came away with only some singed hair.
2) eating a whole jar of nutella (ok, this might not really be near-death, but for about an hour it felt like it). i don’t know WHAT possessed me to challenge bk to an eating contest, me with a jar of nutella and ben w/ french onion dip. oh yeah…it was the bebabo. let’s just say i learned my lesson about mixing sugar with alcohol.
November 1, 2009
retreat
I guess this is the obligatory post-retreat post where I summarize my thoughts/emotions over the past week + reflect on the year so far. It’s good cause it forces me to sit down and think about my life, something I don’t naturally feel the inclination to do normally.
Today, when we were letter-writing, I found it hard for words to come to me. There wasn’t terribly much I wanted to say, which sort of characterizes the way I felt (have been feeling). Well…no, not really, cause I’ve been feeling a lot. It’s just been difficult to translate into words, and also in the sense that I don’t quite know what I’m feeling. Haha…so vague and not helpful, I know. But yeah, I don’t really know how I felt this retreat. It seems to pass too quickly, and I didn’t get to experience any one thing in a deep way. Things just seemed to pass, and I rode along with the flow. I can’t say I felt broken, euphoric, or even deeply affected by anything. Usually (especially during praise or prayer time) there is some instant during retreat where I experience something deep that makes my heart hurt (either in a good or bad way). That didn’t happen this weekend and I’m not sure what to think of that. I also usually end up bawling at some point, because of that heart-feeling and that also didn’t happen. Well, I cried, but that’s a given, cause I’m a leaky faucet and cry almost every time someone prays for me. But in general, I guess I’m kind of ambivalent toward the whole weekend. In some respects sort of disappointed that certain conversations didn’t happen that I wish could’ve happened, or the lack of hanging out with people who I wished I could’ve hung out with. But I really appreciated the experience of nature…even though it was rainy and gross on Saturday (and I had wanted to take a walk in the woods given good weather), there’s something incredibly calm and soothing about being out in the rain, amongst the trees and leaves. There’s a certain stillness and silence that comes over nature during rain, but its filled with sound at the same time. Hard to describe…but this summer in Honduras really developed my appreciation for the natural world. Hmmm…yeah, so I don’t really know what to think of this weekend. But it was good. I enjoyed it 
October 21, 2009
big T progress…
wow. going into lab for thesis has been sooo unproductive. so far, all i’ve done is stock reagents and put labels on everything. and spent 1 hour today trying to figure out how to work the PCR machine. it really doesn’t help when you have to make ALL the basic solutions yourself, something the lab manager would usually do. but because I’m working in an “extra” lab w/ no affiliation to any professor’s lab, I get nothing. boo hoo.
sorry…this post was also not productive, just a whine-post.
October 16, 2009
tgif
It’s been a while since I’ve had a spontaneous 2 hour lunch, the last time was probably sophomore year when manic busy-ness hadn’t overtaken my life yet. I’m reminded again of how meals are such a good mechanism of developing relationships (isn’t this the whole idea behind feeding freshman , and to take it further, of dating?). Being busy really robs you of the chance to sit down to a meal and not worry about what time to leave to get to your next thing. Of course, thankfully, today is a Friday which means no afternoon anything, which meant I could eat and converse at my leisure with someone I don’t get to talk to a lot. And the amazing thing is (I’m not sure why I’m surprised…shouldn’t I expect it from Him?), God really worked in our conversation today, even though at the beginning it had nothing to do with him. Suffice to say that I did not enter lunch thinking we would go from questions about thesis to questions about God. But He certainly works in mysterious ways and uses every conversation for His glory. RH said he was thankful for everything we had talked about, and though I was the one giving answers, I came out of it feeling immensely blessed and that I had received something precious as well. I guess 10 years later, it’ll be these moments that I look back on remember, and I hope that by that time the seeds Christ has planted will have borne fruit.
October 12, 2009
the last three days
Monday’s almost over!! Yaaaaay. This point of the week is always my collapse-and-don’t-move/think-until-I’ve-gotten-20-hours-of-sleep routine. Which usually means, I don’t re-activate until Thursday, and then the cycle restarts all over again. Why must I perpetuate bad habits??
This past weekend was probably the most relaxing thus far. No Triple 8 drama (thank GOODNESS!), got my pset done before 4 am Monday morning (2:30 am, but still an improvement), and most of all, the alums came to visit!! Michelle, I still didn’t get to see enough of your lovely face!! But it was nice to catch up with D-rock (hahahahaahah 
), the other DL, Joung, and RB. They make me feel young again Ha, jk jk. It’s just always a great reminder of the awesome Manna community we have even outside of the university…makes me excited to join the alums soon! On the other side of the spectrum, the freshmen are uber-cute. Even though we (the uppers) totally dominated them at the upper-under bball game, they’re so enthusiastic and just…cute! AND they go to 8 am prayer meetings…props to them.
My fave picture of the weekend:
Hahahaha…ooh, grand little sib, you are funny.
September 27, 2009
senior year: lesson #1
I can’t deal with change, especially when they’re not anticipated/part of the original plan. Except usually its for the better but I’m just too stubborn to let go.
Oh God, soften my hardened heart.
September 22, 2009
time flies doesn’t it?
So senior year has officially started… I’m still getting used to the fact that I (we) are SENIORS. The other day at JSG leaders meeting, we were praying for the junior class, and I did a double-take: wait, aren’t WE the junior class? Ha, not anymore…which means we’re seniors!?! Ahhhhh… so weird.
Life has been quite hectic so far, and classes haven’t even contributed their share of stress yet. My first weeks were spent thinking/doing 60% of the time Triple 8, 20% Manna, and 20% Spelman/where my next meal is coming from. Even though I’ve been running around constantly, it’s been fun, if a bit tiring. Being AD of Triple 8 kind of chains me to my email, as there’s always something to plan/organize/remind people. People have always said senior year is busy, but I guess I didn’t realize how busy until now. Whew…it’s crazy! Where will I fit in thesis!?
Living in Spelman is soooo amazing though. I think it’s something about the apartment style of the place, but when I’m here, I feel like I’m off campus, which is remarkably relaxing. It feels more like a home than any of the dorms I’ve lived in in the past, and its a huge blessing (plus lots of fun) to have so many friends/Manna people in one building. And now that all four of us are settled in (mostly), we undertook a project to better decorate our common room. 26 had painted their room yellow last year, and we wanted to do something to the walls too. And, since we are doing Hebrews in SSG this year…
A picture is literally worth a thousand words (or more…).
