Lazy Days

Now that the rush of finals has flown by, I can relax.
Having absolutely nothing to do (besides Christmas shopping, of course) feels very odd.
Being able to sit at home all day without an agenda...and not feel bad about it.

As of right now, I sit on the couch, drinking hot apple cider, while watching "You've Got Mail."

Enjoying a lazy weekend is on top of my list at the moment.

Tomorrow I will start getting things done.

Getting ready for Christmas...and Zambia!!

Once again, my trip creeps up on me without realizing it.

I read through my journal from my last trip, and I got excited as I remembered how I felt while I was there.

Only 9 days until I leave.

This week is going to be a fun one! On Tuesday my sister and brother-in-law are going to be coming home. I haven't seen either of them in a long time, and I'm really excited!

My brother and sister-in-law are also coming home for Christmas day. It will be nice to finally all be together again. It seriously happens so rarely.

I can't wait to live in this Christmas break. It's going to be one to remember.

Autopilot

Do you ever feel like you're on autopilot?

Wake up, go to class, come home, eat a meal, go on the computer, go on facebook, check e-mail, listen to music, go to meetings, see friends, check phone, send a text, receive a text, eat another meal, go work out, go to another meeting, go on facebook again...etc...

Recently I feel like this is all I have been doing. Continuously moving and doing things that I don't necessarily want to be doing, but do anyways. Worrying about summer plans, finals, money, friends, and more. Why? Because if you don't worry, it doesn't mean that you care? That is usually what people seem to say. "You're not worried about what you're doing after school?" "Do you think you should really give your money away? When are you going to get a job?"

Not worrying doesn't mean not taking action. Not worrying is giving your worries and thoughts over to God. But also, not sitting back and saying, "okay, God, it's up to you now, I'm going to just sit here and wait for you to give me whatever I am asking." Instead it's taking steps forward and seeing which doors God opens and closes. I'm not sure what this has to do with being on autopilot. Maybe what I'm saying is that once you stop worrying and praying is when you're on autopilot.

Not a good place to be. We all have those days when we may feel this way. What we simply have to do is push through and at the end of the day- start prayin'.

Snow. Pie. Cider.

While driving home for Thanksgiving it started to snow. I absolutely love snow and get so excited when it first starts falling. I had a dream the other night that it was snowing. Except the snowflakes were giant and puffy. But they still had the detail on them like the little snowflakes we always see. It was such a fun dream and I wish it was how snow really was, because now I'm almost disappointed by tiny normal snowflakes.

This year for Thanksgiving I made a pie. And when I say I "made a pie" what I really mean is that my dad told me what ingredients to add and what to do. I just did what he said. However, it was a very yummy cherry pie. We recently re-did our kitchen and dinning room, so I got to bake in a beautiful kitchen! It inspires me to bake and cook more. Which would usually be what I would need to bake, motivation, but I am finding a new liking for the kitchen.

Another one of my Thanksgiving favorites is apple cider. Maybe this could be more of a Fall favorite too, but I'm okay with that. Seeing the chilly wind outside but being cozy warm inside is quite peaceful. Apple cider made over the stovetop is simply the cherry on top.

Sometimes I feel bad for Thanksgiving. Right after the day is finished, the very next day people are onto the "bigger" holiday of Christmas. It's quickly forgotten as people begin the hustle-bustle of preparing for Christmas. No looking back and saying "man, we gotta wait another year for Thanksgiving." But the day after Christmas, I ALWAYS think that. I hate thinking that the grand holiday of Christmas is over and having to wait a whole other year. So this year I'm making it up, "Thanksgiving, I can't wait for next year!"

"Everybody needs someone to adore"

The Weepies.

Man, I love them. If you don't know, The Weepies are a folk band. I could listen to them pretty much all the time. Unless I'm in the mood for pump up music, then it's on to Rap. However, any other time I can always listen to The Weepies.

They mostly sing about love. Most likely because the singers are a married couple, I mean, how cute? I also love the range that they sing in, because I can sing along :) Which is a very vital thing for me and music.

Rainy days: These days usually make me a little sleepy. When I feel tired, I don't try to fight it and dive right into homework. I take a little nap, because then I can focus better on my homework later. Preparing for a nap, the weepies are the way to go. The album that I would say most fits this time is "Say I Am You." My favorite song on this album is "Gotta Have You." mmm..I just love it so much.

Studying: SO perfect for this. I can always study with a little weepies in the background. Any of the albums are good for this, but I'm a fan of the new one: "Be My Thrill." My favorite songs on this album are: Red Red Rose, Hummingbird, and Be My Thrill.

The Weepies are by far one of my favorite bands. If you haven't ever listened to them, you should. If you have and you didn't like them, listen to them again and fall in love. I'm listening to them right now and I love it.

Enjoy :)

"Be My Thrill" lyrics

Be my thrill

My little white pill

My unpaid bill

The one who will

Be my love

My little grey dove

My push and my shove

My heaven above

And we tumble down like Jack and Jill

And I miss all of the joy you kill

But I love you still

Be my thrill

Be my one

My day in the sun

My little pop gun

The best thing I've done

Be my what

My open and shut

My everything but

My little hot slut

And we tumble down like Jack and Jill

And I miss all of the joy you kill

But I love you still

Be my thrill

Every morning is like the one before

And Everybody needs someone to adore

I'm counting on you

Oh oh baby say you will

Oh oh baby be my thrill

Be my youth

My kissing booth

My little sweet tooth

My beauty and truth

Be my thrill

My little white pill

My wait up until

The one who will

And we tumble down like Jack and Jill

And I miss all of the joy you kill

But I love you still

Be my thrill

And we tumble down like Jack and Jill

And I miss all of the joy you kill

But I love you still

Be my thrill

Yeah I love you still

Be my thrill

Finale

The celebration of Halloween seems to be the grand finale of the Fall season. After that, it's free to snow and be white. And I'm okay with that.

"Halloween"

-the freedom to be and act like anything(one) you wish.

-pumpkin carving

-lots of candy

-trick-or-treat

-candy corn

-crazy parties

-haunted houses

-pumpkin seeds

-did I say candy?

...can't wait for the next Holiday.

Collage Corner

If you have scissors, paper, tape, and mod podge you're good to go! You can do just about anything with these tools. Our room in our apartment was lacking some creativity, so we decided to put to use some old National Geographic Magazines. And this is what we came up with...

The back

Finished Product

The Creators!

The pictures don't do it justice. When you can see all the individual pictures, it's really cool. But now our walls are a little more creative so I love it!

What do you think?

Apples

One of my favorite fruits is the apple. I could honestly eat at least two apples day--if I could afford it. However, my roommates boyfriend went to a Michigan apple orchard and brought us back a ton of apples! Now I can enjoy an apple a day.

Now, an apple is great by itself don't get me wrong. But there is something about a combination that makes things extra special. Like hot chocolate and a blanket; both are great on their own, but when they are together they're perfect. My favorite combination with an apple---caramel.

This morning I had to get up and study for a test that I had at 1:30. After my earlier class, I came back to my apartment to study. I grabbed my notebook and my computer and sat by the dining room table. After I sat down, I realized I was hungry and so I went to go grab my favorite snack: apples and caramel. This in itself was a great feeling, but I had also just downloaded the new Weepies album, "Be My Thrill" which was playing. I love The Weepies. That's another blog post in itself. So there I am, sitting there with my apple and caramel listening to The Weepies, while studying for my test. It was a great feeling.

Later, I go to class and the first thing my teacher says is, "so you all know that you have a test this Thursday..." Um...no, I thought it was today. Dang! Well I guess my preparation skills didn't work for school, but it was still a successful study time with some of my favorites.

Creativity out of boredom

Sometimes

when you're bored

all you want to do

is do something...

Creative!

To keep up with tradition, my roommate and I decided to do something that we did last year. Which was painting our faces. For one, it's quite relaxing having your face painted. Secondly, it's so much fun painting on someone else's face. Once you get past the slight burning of your skin, it's thrilling to see what masterpiece your friend has painted onto you. It's not hard to turn this into...

Soy Chai Latte please

There must be something about a cold day and flannel that makes me want to go to Starbucks.

Being in a bad mood the entire morning, I knew I had to leave my apartment and roommates in order to get school work done. After a good catching-up-conversation with my mom, I walked into the city atmosphere of Starbucks. Indie music playing in the background and studious college students fill the room. I order my first hot drink in forever, a soy chai latte. A drink that I usually would not get. However, it's cold outside and that in itself calls for a sweet hot drink. Switching it up a little, I order it in a house cup instead of a paper one. Getting my computer plugged in and laying my FiveStar notebook in front of me, I am finally ready to get studying. Who knew studying at Starbucks would make my negative attitude into a peaceful and productive one.

Thank you Starbucks, cold weather, flannel, soy chai latte, and Intro to Media Studies for making my day better.

"I love love. I love being in love." -Inches and Falling, The Format

I love sweatshirts. I love sleeping when it's chilly. I love wearing scarves. I love wearing mittens. I love foliage. I love when the leaves blow in the wind. I love bundling up. I love being cold but still being able to feel the warmth of the sun. I love everything about the Fall.

Why is Fall such a short season? Would I like it equally if it was as long as Winter? Or does its' shortness add to my cherishing every moment spent in the season?

I love the season of Fall. I am constantly intentionally wearing jeans, long sleeves, and scarves because I am so desperately wanting it to be cold outside! I wake up, feel the cool breeze in my room, happily dress for cool weather. Immediately in a good mood, I head to class. Yet the moment I step outside of my apartment, it is 70 degrees and sunny. Stubbornly, I do not change in hopes of redirecting the weather. I do not succeed one bit as the weather remains hot the entire day. In spite, with the same wish, I do the same exact thing the next day. This sad routine repeats itself until that one day when the first leaves begin to change and I am on top of the world.

Make-over

As life moves on, I find myself now sitting in my college apartment miles away from camp. Camp was an amazing experience and I can not wait to go back soon. However, I must adjust to life here in Chicago. This coincidentally changes the theme for my Blog. I am unsure what I should do with this page now.

I could sit and write about my life here at school, but I do not think that that would engage your attention. I need something more exciting, something that I look forward to updating. I may be too busy to write on here everyday, but I could try. I was thinking about doing a color blog. Choosing a color for each day and then explaining why my day was that color. Yet, I'm not sure if I could keep up with that.

Another idea I had was to simply write on here whenever I want about whatever I want. I think this is what I will do. Sometimes, all you have to do is write about something to figure out what you really want to do. So, until I have an experience that will spark an idea for a creative blog, I will stick to my plan.

I don't care so much that people follow me, but only that I can have this space to write freely what I want. I almost enjoy the fact that people do not know about my blog so that I can be more open!

Psalms 8

It's now Saturday and a week of Senior High campers all just left. Man, what a week. I was lucky with having a cabin full of great girls that all got along. The week was full of crazy activities, such as: Braveheart, Gladiator, Highlander, waterfront games, dance party, fireworks and a bunch of other fun things.

Senior High week is a hard one. Hearing about these girls' lives and all the crap that they have gone through is heartbreaking. Girls ages 14 and 15 are going through things that they shouldn't even be exposed to; things that I haven't even been exposed to. But throughout the week, God showed His love to them. Talking with the girls and hearing about how they have loved getting to know all the other girls in the cabin and at camp was really cool. Hearing about the ways that they want to change was encouraging and the way they worshiped God through the week was also encouraging.

I realized this week that I really enjoy giving advice. I like to hear about what is going on in the lives of people and then allowing the Holy Spirit to work in me in order to encourage others. That is definitely one way that I felt like God used me this week.

I am exhausted and ready to rest today. Tomorrow 8-9th grade campers come and I get to go to the Island all week for the first time to counsel! I can't wait!!

God has worked in extraordinary ways this week and I pray that he continues his work in the lives of all the campers that return home to some really tough situations.

Wilderness Week

I am finished with my first week counseling! This week I had ten girls all age 10 and 11. The first couple of days were really fun just getting to know them all and playing fun games and such. I loved being excited about little things and I liked lifeguarding and playing with the kids and getting to know all of the other wilderness week kids.

By Thursday, however, my patience began to be tested with most of the girls. A few of them were great and never complained or sad anything negative, but some of them were the exact opposite. I have never been asked so many questions and have never heard so many random feelings that I have no control over. But they are all pretty young and obviously have a lot to learn yet :)

One of my favorite memories over the week was experiencing silly bands. Silly bands are rubber bands that are shaped like things, lions, hearts, centipedes, flowers, elephants, etc. The kids LOVED trading them and trying to get them off of you. There was one kid who would always come up to me and try to trade with me. He wanted them so bad! So at the end of the week I gave him one of mine and he was so happy and said, and I quote, "I will never trade this silly band because you gave it to me. I will never forget you, you are my best friend. You and Abby J. (another counselor)" It was so cute!! Love it.

I had my favorite campers who were great the whole week. They always listened and rarely complained. It's so nice having at least a few of those in the cabin :)

This first week was good because I got to learn more about how camp works and now I feel like I know more of what I'm doing. Next week is family camp and I am very excited because all of the counselors are sleeping in a cabin together the whole week and we just get to hang out with families! I'm glad.

Now I have to get some sleep.

Who to talk to.

Camp has been super fun , but also hard at some points in time. Throughout my life, I have always had someone who I am extremely close to and am able to tell them anything. Being here at camp, I don't have a friendship quite yet like that, it's been hard for me to know who to go to when I need to talk about something that is personal. I know that just about anyone here would love for me to talk to them about anything, but the opportunity hardly arises. I know that friendships like that come with time and that I will be able to have someone like that here at camp soon, but I guess the first couple of weeks have been hard in that way. It's kinda cool though too, because I have learned already that even though I may not have anyone here I can talk to, I can always go to God no matter what and wherever I may be.

Here it comes!

With two weeks of training under my belt, I finally feel like I'm ready to get some campers. Staff training was a lot of fun and filled with some crazy activities. We celebrated Christmas, had a dance party, played some games, cliff jumped (into the river in the picture), stayed on the Island, camped in tents and dressed up like super heroes, and so much more! Getting to know everyone and hearing people testimonies was such a cool thing to help me feel more comfortable at camp. I can tell that this summer is going to be a good one with everyone who is working here.

This first week at camp I am doing Wilderness Week. Which is a lot like a normal mainland camp, except we do more things concerning wilderness. I am getting excited to finally be able to counsel and get the summer started. I feel like we've all just been waiting to finally get campers. They come tomorrow and I can't wait!

CPBC first days.

I am here at camp! The first few days have been pretty good. It was a little weird trying to figure out how things work here. I still don't have the hang of it, but I feel like I am getting better as each day passes.

Camp is so beautiful! It is not too big, so you can walk just about anywhere within minutes. The lake is gorgeous. The water is clear and the bottom is sandy and not rocky...which is really nice actually. Camp is also different than what I expected. It is a lot nicer than what I suspected. I am use to roughing it when it comes to camp, but it's not bad at all. Very clean and organized, which is great when it comes to actually running a camp.

People here are great- of course. I knew a hand full of people before I came and that was very useful and made me feel more comfortable the first few days. I am meeting new people every day and getting to know them some too. It's exciting to anticipate how close we will be by the end of the summer.

The first day I was here we did work projects. A few of the other staff and I cleaning the costume closet. This is pretty much a medium size cabin that is FULL of awesome dress up clothes, shoes, hats, and other props. I can't wait to do skits and dress up all goofy for the campers. It's going to be a blast.

This first week, I have been doing lifeguard training. We do it pretty much all day. It's not too exhausting, but it is a challenge to remember all the right things to do. We went in the water today and it was really fun! The water is quite warm for this time of the year (so I hear). Thank goodness!!

FOOD. Oh man, how could I forget. The food here to so good!! I think I am going to gain at least 10 pounds. This is a fact. We had grilled cheese, tomato soup, biscuits, stir fry, salad, & carrot cake today. Who knows the delicious menu that we will have tomorrow!

I am looking forward to this week being over so that we can start staff training. Then we can start the summer with kids and counseling! I am glad to finally be here and to begin my first summer at Covenant Point :)

-Jenna

New(s) time.

Hello, friends!

12:41 am. Wednesday 29, 2010:

On my list of things to get done this summer, creating a blog a one of them. I wanted to start before I head to Covenant Point Bible Camp to be a counselor for the summer. What I am hoping to do is write about my summer there! I will be quite busy during the week, but on the weekends is when I hope to write about the crazy things that happened and what I learned and what the kids learned. I feel that this summer is going to bring a lot of surprises and I can't wait to find them out and share them! I do not know who will actually follow this, but I hope that some people have a desire and curiosity to read about my summer.

I am not going to stop after this summer. I will hopefully continue to write once I start College again in the fall. Eventually I hope to have at least a few good followers and a blog that I can look back on and remember the little things that I may have forgotten about the summer. I am excited to be doing this and I hope you enjoy reading my blog!