"I should blog that!"

The past few weeks of my life have been characterized by this nagging thought that keeps randomly popping into my head… It goes something along the lines of “Oh... I need to write a blog about that!” An event will occur, the thought will register… and then *poof* just like that, time will disappear. I’m not sure where it all seems to be going… (please let me know if you happen to come across any extra…)

Anyhow, seeing as the kids are headed to bed, and the house has finally reached a condition that could pass for clean… I decided to take a few minutes and blog about the past week.

With finals finished, I packed up all my belongings and headed off to GYC. On my way to the Atlanta airport, I stopped by home to drop off a few things… including fishy, who had managed to spill all over the floor of the back seat of my car, (he was swimming sideways in about two inches of water…).

I reached the Atlanta airport around 2 pm, and arrived at my hotel room in Minneapolis around 9:30 pm. I was ready to crash. ;)

GYC was incredible. Registration went really well – I don’t think we ever had any really long lines. I was helping with onsite registration, and I was amazed at the amount of people we registered – people who had just heard about GYC like the week before and had decided to come. God was definitely at work.

I can’t help but wonder as I think back on all that occurred in those few short days. I just can’t find words to describe it… It wasn’t what I’d call a “spiritual high”… It was different… I came back home with such a sense of quiet awe. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the great controversy so clearly revealed.

My brother and I arrived home the day before Christmas, to a house full of excited kids. Christmas morning, we were awoken to a bunch of excited kids. :) We ate breakfast, and then when Grammy and Grandpa arrived, we proceeded to open presents… only, we did things a little different this year. Instead of the traditional gift giving, we did a white-elephant gift exchange… and boy was that hysterical! The gifts ranged from a tea box with money hidden inside, to cream soda, Moon Pies, and Santa boxers! Lucky me ended up with a Michael W. Smith Christmas CD and some Boston Baked Beans. lol I was satisfied (it’s music… who wouldn’t be?).

After the wrapping paper, string, boxes, and bags were all picked up and the floor was made somewhat visible once again, out came over a dozen cans of silly string!!! What took place next can only be described as pure chaos! I can’t remember the last time I laughed so hard. It was every man for himself… or I should say, every kid for himself. When the last can was used up, there wasn’t a thing in the room that had escaped the colorful festooning… except for Heidi, who stood wide-eyed and open-mouthed in a far corner. She had missed the initial onslaught, and was therefore quite taken aback at our behavior (mom doesn’t generally allow all-out silly string wars inside house). :)

That afternoon, we had a delicious, candle-lit dinner – complete with bark and cranberry salad; and as the day drew to a close, we ended with some homemade spiced cider and ginger bread cookies, and a Christmas movie.

The following day, wasn’t marked by anything extraordinary... except for the fact that the entire house reeked of Vanilla Fantasy body spray. Opps! Did I say reek? Forgive me; I’ve been assured many times, by a certain little miss Heidi, that it’s supposed to smell good! I mean, who in their right mind wouldn’t want to smell like Vanilla Fantasy!.. never mind having a whole HOUSE that smells like Vanilla Fantasy… (I suppose this is where I count my blessings that it isn’t too cold to leave the windows open wide…) Anyhow, I discovered the offensive bottle this afternoon, and it’s nearly empty, so our prospects are brightening.

Seeing as some of us hadn’t arrived home until the day before Christmas, decorating cookies was saved until after Christmas… so yesterday evening we engaged in yet another colorful mess… only this one was edible. We took the precaution of laying newspaper out on the table beforehand, and it’s a good thing too because when those kids were finished, that stuff was nearly as colorful as the cookies, if not more so! :) Surprisingly I managed to remain un-frosted and sprinkled. The cookies that were produced were all works of art. Among many others there was a green reindeer with a yellow head, a red snowman covered with sprinkle stars, a mutilated snowman turned into an alien, a green angel with purple sprinkles, and an orange Santa. There was also a music note so layered with frosting and sprinkles that it nearly broke in two! As the cookies were produced, each person's were put on separate plates, clearly denoting who’s were who’s - this way, any who had an aversion to licked frosting utensils , knew which plates to avoid. ;) When the cookies were finally all decorated, we had about six plates… which has turned out to be about five plates to many. It’s no WONDER everyone gets sick this time of the year! lol

Anyhow, the tree has been put away and most of the decorations taken down, as we are now moving on to the wedding scramble! :) It’s actually Audrey who’s doing most of the scrambling (boy am I glad I’m not the one getting married… ). The rest of us are just cleaning, and practicing music, and cleaning, and fitting dresses, and cleaning, and finding pictures… and cleaning. If we could just loan the kids out for one day, I think we could possibly conquer the cleaning… but alas, I see no reprieve from this endless cycle.

So there you have it…

Next Wednesday the first guests should start arriving, and from there on out it’s all downhill.

And you know what’s weird?.. thinking that in two Sundays I will have a married sister!!!

Yikes…

-Shannon

*To the Tune of the "Hallelujah Chorus"

YIPEE!!! I just finished my last final!!!!!
Praise the Lord, I know I couldn't have done it without Him... He just brought so many things back to my memory... things that I hadn't studied in weeks! :D Dear me, I'm so happy right now I could kiss my fishy! (Through the glass of course. ;) Poor guy hasn't been getting a lot of attention these past few weeks... his tank is turning a bit green. :(
Anyhow, all I have left to do here is pack up the rest of my belonging, and then I'm off to GYC!!! Oh boy, I can't wait... I feel like a little kid at Christmas... No more classes, no more school work, no more finals, no more cafe food!!! :D
So yeah, guess I'd better go finish packing...
Hope to see a bunch of you at GYC!!!

-Shannon

What Makes Christmas… Christmas?

I think it started with Christmas on the Promenade… or was it Thanksgiving Break, when mom brought home the Josh Groban Christmas CD?... Obviously I’m not exactly certain when it started… All I know is that it did. This intangible thing called the Christmas spirit… or, as most put it, the Christmassy mood.

As the temperature grew cooler and decorations started going up around campus, you couldn’t help but get caught up in the spirit. Right after Thanksgiving break, we had Christmas on the Promenade, where all the different department decorated their buildings, and hot chocolate and doughnuts were served, as bands, choirs, and orchestras played music all along the Promenade. To close the evening, Gordon Bietz gave a short speech, and then turned on the lights to the big Christmas tree in the center of campus. It was a fun evening, and it totally put Allie and I in the Christmas mood. For days afterwards, we would keep all the lights off in our room except for the Christmas lights, and we had Christmas music playing almost constantly. In our hall lobby they set up a tree and hung lights, and afterwards there were cookies, candy, and sweet bread. The temperature was down in the 30’s and 40’s; and every day, heading to class, you’d see people bundled up in warm coats with brightly colored scarves and gloves.

Like I said, you just couldn’t escape it… it was everywhere… especially once the Christmas parties started! One Saturday night we put together flannel blankets as Christmas present for the people at Patten Towers (a low-income housing residence). Once again, there was Christmas music, hot chocolate, spiced cider, and way too many Christmas cookies. As Allie and I walked out of the building after the party that night, we were in such merry spirits we nearly ran right into the poor frightened couple making out by the doors! (I should clarify – the couple was only frightened AFTER we nearly ran into them… I’m sure they were just fine before that.)

Anyhow, as I was saying, the Christmas spirit was everywhere. Even our A&P teacher got caught up in it, as one morning in class he sang for us “The Twelve Cranial Nerves of Christmas.” It was pretty amusing.

Well I don’t know what happened… but it’s gone…. like TOTALLY GONE! Just disappeared… VAMOOSE!

Maybe it has something to do with fact that it is now nearly 80 degrees outside, and I’ve been running around in shorts. Or maybe it’s just that all of our focus is on finals right now, and there aren’t too many feelings of cheer and good will. Or perhaps it has something to do with all this wedding stuff going on (we had Audrey’s bachelorette party last Saturday night, and her wedding shower on Sunday!).

Whatever the cause, it’s clear in my mind that the Christmas spirit has officially left me. The Christmas lights haven’t been turned on in our room in quite some time, and I haven’t been listening to nearly as much Christmas music (right now I’m listening to the Gods and Generals soundtrack… I think we pretty much wore poor Josh Groban out…).

So all this has gotten me to thinking… what is it that really makes Christmas for me? Is it just the cold weather and frost on my car windshield? (a poor substitute for snow, I know…) Or maybe it’s the Christmas decorations and festive music? Or is it something more...

In A&P class the other day, our teacher was talking about the term “Xmas” and how we shouldn’t use it because it takes “Christ” our of “Christmas.” Then he compared that to how we need to remember not to take Christ out of the Christmas season. Granted, his analogy was faulty, considering the origin of the term “Xmas”, but the principle remains true. Without Christ, Christmas means nothing.

In today’s culture, we are virtually surrounded by all the artifacts that make up Christmas. The lights, the trees, the presents, the music, the blow-up Santas and snowmen… even the nativity scenes – by themselves, these things don’t do much for my Christmas spirit… and even combined, there is still something missing (although I honestly can’t say that the blow-up Santas and snowmen have ever done much of anything for me…).

I think I experienced it best, though, last Christmas. That year my family decided to skip the typical present-buying nightmare that usually comes with Christmas, and get each other presents from the ADRA Gift Catalog instead. We each drew a name, and that was family member you were to buy a gift for.

Christmas morning came around, and as my family gathered in the living by the tree, we were each handed a card.

I sat down to open my card, and nearly choked up as I read the words scribbled inside…

...Because you’re my favorite sister, I worked extra hard this year so that two children in Madagascar get hot lunches, and two children get flip-flops.
Love Hannah (5 yrs. old)

Now since when do children in Madagascar and flip-flops have anything to do with the Christmas spirit?

I looked up from my card to see Hanna’s beaming face; she was so proud of this gift that she had worked hard saving up for, all year long. And the joy she experienced in giving it, couldn’t be matched.

So maybe the Christmas spirit isn’t just one thing… maybe it’s made up of a whole bunch of things...

I still get excited when I hear the first Christmas song of the season, and when I see the first Christmas decorations, but when I try to think of what makes Christmas Christmas for me, I can’t pinpoint any one thing.

When I think of Christmas, I think of family… home… music… pretty lights… tree hunting… baking… decorating… smiling faces… fuzzy scarves… warm fires… good stories… Silk Nog and cookies… cold weather… and the Christmas story, which showed us the best example of giving ever.

-Shannon

FINALS!!!

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-Shannon

Thanksgiving Break!

6:15

In one hour and forty-five minutes I will be jumping in my car and FLYING southward to my home-sweet-home!!! :D (let's hope the cops aren't out and about...) I've been counting down the days since last break. Mostly all my stuff has been packed all day today, and I just got back from loading it into my car. I am now sitting here with nothing to do but blog... watching the minutes tick by...
And why, you may ask, am I still sitting here, twiddling my thumbs when I could have been long-since gone? Well, of all the absurdities, I have one more class tonight at seven! *ugh* And this HAD to be the day that I have NO classes ALL day until SEVEN PM!!!
So... this morning I slept in until 7 am (sad huh?)... met my prayer partner at 9:40... picked up breakfast from the cafe at 10 (my roommate asked if I was eating lunch)... met up with some friends to play tennis at 11 (very amusing since I'd never played tennis before)... went to lunch at 12 (didn't eat too much seeing as breakfast was still digesting)... came back to my room and packed some more... took a nap... went to the Village Market at 4 (it's just not Thanksgiving without the chic-ketts and Silk Nog)... came back to my room and packed some more... watched pixar clips on the internet... threw some last few things into my suitcase and hauled it out to my car... and here I sit... trying to find something to amuse myself with until seven... It's basically pointless going to class tonight, because I promise you my mind will be FAAAR from the lecture... but anyhow, seeing as I only have 15 minutes until class now, I suppose I could start walking over... take my seat with the few other faithfuls who decided not to skip class...

-Shannon

... only one hour and thirteen minutes until I'm gone...

Miracle Meadows

This past weekend, I went with my parents up to Miracle Meadows to visit my sister Vica. MMS is located in the beautiful countryside of West Virginia, and the fall colors all the way up were gorgeous.

Vica is a student at MMS, and I can already see what an affect the school is having on her life. She is not the same girl that left home a few months ago. She seems to be doing really well, and has definitely grown since I saw her last (physically and mentally). There are certain areas in her life that are a constant battle for her, but she is learning to take responsibility for her actions and control her emotions.

She is still her bubbly, chipper self, and is quick to laugh, and to tease. While sitting next to me after a meeting Friday night, out of the blue she turns to me and says "So, you got yourself a man yet?" and then cracks up laughing like it was some hysterical joke! lol Seeing as I thought it was a pretty amusing question myself, I decided to laugh along with her. I don't recall ever answering the question... ;) She had already moved on to some new topic by then.

Later on when she saw my camera, she got a hold of it and took some classic shots of certain people, most of which I am not posting for very good reasons. ;) She did take the second picture below, of mom talking with one of her teachers.

I really thank God for Vica and the blessing that she has been to me. She has taught me some life-lessons that I couldn't have learned on my own, or through anyone else.

Vica is a very special sister, and I know God has some awesome plans for her life...

-Shannon

Meekus

Please pray for my kitty Meekus.
He's very sick right now.
-Shannon

Tamarack Springs Academy

A few weeks ago, a local newspaper up in Northwest Montana wrote some articles on Tamarack Springs Academy. Seeing as I felt like bragging about my academy, I thought I'd post a link to those two articles, along with a link to my friend Kristi's blogspot. She just posted a buch of really neat pictures from their fall backpacking trip in Glacier, along with some from the school. She and my brother Michael are the only seniors there this year, and my little sister Elise is a freshman. So far it sounds like they've been having a great year, complete with multiple grizzly bear visits... but I'll let you see the pictures and read about that for yourself on Kristi's blog. ;)

Hope you enjoy!

-Shannon

Articles:

Back to the Basics

Off the Grid, Self-sufficient

Kristi's Blog

Once Upon a Dissection...

“Today we will be studying the muscles of the mink. You will split into groups of three, and each group will receive its own mink to dissect…”

As Dr. Norskov continued with his little introduction to lab, my mind was far from the lecture...

Taking another chomp on my mint-flavored chewing gun, my attention was riveted to what lay on the counter. In my mind, when he had said “mink”, I was picturing this cute, furry, long-tailed, little creature rolling around with a ball in the pet store. There, sealed in a plastic bag, lay a very un-lifelike looking grayish mass, partially floating in what Jessie (one of my lab partners) termed “mink juice.” It had a strange resemblance to something I had once seen packaged in Saran wrap in the grocery store… or maybe that was just my imagination.

As they removed the dripping, grayish mass from the bag, the pungent scent of formaldehyde permeated the air.

*blink*…*blink*blink*… “Oh no you don’t! If you even think about passing out right now…” I fixed my gaze on the lab book in front of me… “Come on… you can handle this… you’ve seen 2D road-kill before!... not to mention all the deer carcasses our collie used to drag into the front yard during hunting season…” The awful scent remained, but after a second my vision cleared and I was back to “normal.”

“I’ll go pick us out a real good looking one!”, I volunteered, as my two other lab partners donned their latex gloves. Digging through the barrel of plastic-rapped mink carcasses, I pulled out one of the smelly, fat covered, grayish masses and pronounced him ours. I think I saw him smile…

While returning to our table, I passed another group that had just picked out their mink as well. Unfortunately not everyone shares my sense of humor, as my comment of, “Boy, you picked a cute one!”, was met by protesting squeals of, “Oh sick! And we’re just about to cut him up!”

We got ourselves a tray, scissors, tweezers, tags, and some blunt-tipped probing things, and set to work. Cutting open the bag, we pulled out our little creature who was indeed grinning ear to ear, rather ominously. Teeth were about the only recognizable feature the poor little fellow had left on his face.

“Awww look… he’s smiling at you!” My lab partners (Jessie and Emily) chuckled, as we laid the little fellow face-up on the tray.

Our first task was to clear away the fat. Greasy globs of yellow adipose tissue clung tightly to the underlying muscle as we poked, prodded, and pulled. Upon reaching the thighs we came to the conclusion that our mink was most probably a female, due to the excess amount of adipose tissue in that area, (further investigation proved this hypothesis wrong.). It was at this point, (after making a comment about the fat tissue looking an awful lot like my chewing gum), that I decided to dispose of mine, as it was losing its minty flavor, and… yeah… it just had to go.

After exposing the muscle, our next task was to identify and tag certain muscles from a list we were given. “Sternomastoid, Pectoralis major, Pectoralis minor, Serratus ventralis, Transverse abdominis, Clavotrapezius, Gluteus maximus, Gastrocnemius…”, and the list went on. As Emily labeled the tags, Jessie and I poked and prodded, uncovering the various muscles. Upon locating one from the list, we would stab two holes in the muscle and slide a tag through, looping and cinching the tag.

Once finished, our mink resembled an already-marked-down, half-off sale price piece of clothing at an end-of-season closeout. The writing on the tags was only partially legible as most of it had been smeared off while cinching the tags, but upon inspection by the TAs’ our mink was pronounced good.

Then it was time to say good-bye to our furless little friend. We returned him to his plastic bag of mink juice, and began cleaning up our area. Using a paper towel, we scooped up all the scattered chunks of muscle fiber and fat tissue. I casually mentioned that the stuff had a striking resemblance to veggie burger… But once again, my appreciation for the lighter side of things was not so equally shared by all those around me.

When lab was finished that day, I stepped out of the room with a new appreciation for what an awesome Creator we have, and also for fresh air. Now it was on to other classes, other appointments, other fragrances…

Reaching up to brush a strand of hair out of my face, I caught the pungent scent of formaldehyde still lingering on my hand. At least for a couple more hours I would not be forgetting that day’s A&P lab…

-Shannon


(The result of too much A&P study and lemon-lime chewing gum...)

Where he stands...

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
-Martin Luther King, Jr.

I wrote this quote on our message board just over a week ago… Little did I know how much a part of my life it was soon to become…

The past week has been one of the most physically, mentally, and emotionally draining weeks I’ve had since coming to SAU. My day-planner can testify to that with all the exclaiming, circling, and highlighting. I remember looking at my planner at the beginning of the week and thinking, “If I can just make it until Sunday night…”

How is it too, that the Devil has a knack for knowing just when we are at our weakest—when we will have the greatest tendency to fall to pieces?… and so he chooses those moments to strike even harder… Unfortunately it’s times like these that my natural tendency is to stand with the “woe is me” crowd, (“Life is so hard right now…” “People are expecting too much of me…” “I’ll just go to my room and be an unsociable hermit.”). And of course seclusion only provides more time to dwell on my “unfortunate circumstances”, plunging me even further into the “depths of despair.”

I read a quote in Steps to Christ, two summers ago, that I haven’t forgotten since…

“When the mind dwells upon self, it is turned away from Christ, the source of strength and life. Hence it is Satan’s constant effort to keep the attention diverted from the Savior, and thus prevent the union and communion of the soul with Christ. The pleasures of the world, life’s cares and perplexities and sorrows, the faults of others, or your own faults and imperfections,—to any or all of these he will seek to divert the mind. Do not be misled by his devices. Many who are really conscientious, and who desire to live for God, he too often leads to dwell upon their own faults and weaknesses, and thus by separating them from Christ, he hopes to gain the victory.”
Steps to Christ, p. 71

So basically whenever I fall into that mentality of, “woe is me”, I lose access to my only source of strength and life! No wonder things start to look pretty depressing.

And thus this past week was a constant battle to evade my natural tendencies and find alternative methods for dealing with difficulties.

One way that God helped me to see beyond my problems was through the simple joy of helping others. Looking back I see now how many opportunities for service God provided me with. Most I accepted joyfully. Others I took to be an added burden to my life. All in the end were a blessing.

A wise man also once said, “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up… Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” Ecc. 4:9, 10, 12.

Friends and family are priceless. I can’t begin to express how much they have meant to me, especially during this past week when I felt like I just couldn’t stand on my own. Most of the time all it took was a sympathetic ear, or an encouraging word to make my day seem so much brighter So why then do I tend to seek seclusion when what I really need is a friend? Is it because I feel like I am being a burden by sharing my burdens? I’m not sure exactly, but whatever the case it’s obvious that we are better able to stand when we have someone there to help lift us up.

So what did I learn from this past week? In retrospect, I see now that what Satan intended for hurt and destruction, God was able to use as a building block in that thing that we call character. I know that the tough weeks aren’t over, and that this probably won’t be my worst, (final’s week is yet ahead! ;). But I also know that in this life I don’t walk alone…

-Shannon


P.s. Writing things out always makes my problems seem more manageable as well… so this little pep talk was more for my benefit than anything else… By the way, this week is looking much brighter! I only have two quizzes and an essay due, and come this weekend I get to go camping with my family!!!

Update on Mr. Fishy...

For those of you who were wondering about the condition of the unfortunate Mr. Fishy... he has indeed defied all laws of probability, and remains alive and kicki...err, I mean swimming! Astonishing I know... he's definitely a survivor.

What's amusing is how he responds to my roommate and I. I swear the little fellow has a mind of his own, no matter how fishy that may seem... You see, Allie claims that the poor little guy gets freaked out whenever she approaches the tank! He puffs out his little gills and charges at the glass!!! Whereas, when I go over to see him he gets all excited and swims around in little circles! :D Maybe it's just because I sweet talk him... "Hey mr. Flishy!... how's my little flishy doing this morning? You wansome food mr. Flishy? Awww.... such a good little flishy..." (and so on and so forth...but I won't gross you out anymore... you're probably already puking on your keyboard... just be glad you can't hear it with the vocal intonation!...hehehe...) So say what you may, I think the little guy actually likes me... (could just be my imagination, but for my feelings sake we'll say that he likes me...)

As you can tell we still haven't named him... poor little guy... My mom suggested "Agent 317372", seeing as that was the "winning number" that doomed him... but tell me, how would you enjoy having the name "Agent 317372"??? Ok, so it wasn't so much for HIS sake that I nixed that idea, as it was for mine... I just couldn't fathom waking up in the morning, trying to recall a name like "Agent 317372"... never mind being able to verbalize it at that hour... I'd probably just end up calling him mr. Flishy anyhow... so I'm not sure if it's ever going to change from mr. Flishy (don't ask me how that "l" got in there... it just did...maybe it's part of the whole baby/sweet talk thing... ;)

It is a wonder that the little fellow has survived this long, especially considering his location! He is strategically positioned to the left of the sink, beneath the mirror... on the bathroom counter! :D He's seen morning faces, bad hair days, and much more that I won't mention... lol He's had to deal with hair spray, body spray, and multiple other girly "toxic" fumes. (Little does he know how fortunate he is to have a lid on his tank!) But I DID remember to move him when I cleaned the mirrors with mirror spray... I just forgot to move the toothbrushes... :p

Then there was the time when I went to feed him and spilled fish food all over my hands and the sink... I cleaned up the sink and then promptly went to lick my fingers clean... (those of you who were falling asleep while reading this blog, just regained consciousness) Fortunately I caught myself just in time... (Mother always did tell me it was rude to lick your fingers...) :D

And so the saga of mr. Fishy continues...

I've heard that some of these guys have lived up to ten years... more often five. In Shannon's care... well... I guess we'll find out. I never thought of myself as a failure of a mother until those last four fish... so maybe this is a chance to redeem myself. :D Even so, we're aiming for the one month anniversary before we do any serious rejoicing...

I've flushed one too many fish in my short life-span...

-Shannon

SAU...

Reality is setting in... homework is piling up... assignments are due... I am back in school!!! :D

I arrived here last Sunday in a whirl of boxes, suitcases, and bags. I had woken up that morning in a daze, with this strange sense that something was different about that day... something... Oh DUH! I was going to Southern!... and I hadn't packed a THING YET! So the morning progressed in a flury of packing, and around 3pm. we were on the road.

We pulled into the parking lot at Thatcher Hall (girls dorm), and were met by a cheery faced Allen Parker, sporting his We-Haul shirt, and a dolly. :) We were very thankful to have help getting all that stuff up the stairs to our third floor room!

Now seeing as my poor harp had been baking in the back of the truck for the past few hours, we next ran over to the music building to see if we could find where it needed to go. After unsuccesfully locating a single person, we eventually decided on leaving it in the orchestra practice room, with a note attached to it. (little need to fear that anyone would run off with it... ;)

The remainder of the afternoon was spent unpacking, and setteling into my new residence for this next phase in my life... my dorm room. Upon entering my room for the first time, I was greated by my roomate... ALLIE!!! I am SOOOO thankful to be rooming with her! (she was one of my best friends on WFL)... and to make thing even better, our suite mates are my friend Lindsay Smith, and my sister Audrey!!! :D We're going to have a blast... :p

That evening I went to the New Student Dedication. We were exhorted to study hard, learn lots, and date lots of guys/girls. As I pondered this bit of sage advice, I decided dismiss the latter... I mean, who has time to study hard AND date lots of guys!!! (never mind the fact that I don't care to date lots of guys...) :P

Monday and Tuesday were all more orientation stuff. We had the Presidents Prayer Breakfast, and Acedemic Success Sessions, and Acedemic Department/Schools Orientation, and The Amazing Race, and New Student Residence Hall Orientation, etc... (fancy, after all that "orientating" I still felt somewhat lost...) On Wednesday we had Community Outreach. That was really neat. We split up into groups of between 10 and 15, and each group went to work at a different place in the surrounding area. My group went to the Collegedale library where we dusted book shelves, washed windows, cleaned the flowerbeds outside, etc...

That afternoon was the Organization Showcase. All the different clubs/organizations at SAU had a booth set up in the gym (it reminded me of the booth halls at ASI and GYC). They had everything from kayakers and running clubs, to health and outreach clubs. As Allie and I were standing at one of the booths, they announced over the speakers that the Student Learning Success booth would be giving away a Japanese Fighting fish as one of it's prizes. I didn't think much about this, seeing as I had tried the fishy thing four times before, and failed miserably... (they all passed through the porcelain portals within a week of my possessing them...) Well, Allie decided that a fish would be nice to have in our room... so we made our way over to the booth. We took their learning quizz, and were then given a ticket and told that the drawing would be at 5:30. So we wandered around, and made some new friends until they announced that it was time for the drawing. They drew three other winning numbers, and then on the fourth one, of all the absurdities, who's number should they call but MINE! I went over to the booth, and was informed that the first three people to get their numbers drawn hadn't wanted the fish... so guess who got mr. fishy... poor fellow... maybe I'll have better luck this time... :) I did find that he made for a great conversation starter... guess it's not ever day you see a person carrying a fish tank around campus...

Thursday was officially the first day of classes... and I had NONE! :P So I caught up on some e-mails that morning, went to convocation, did some last minute shopping, etc... Then that night was the department welcome parties... so I headed over to the Allied Health/Biology pary... sounds fun huh? :p Someone had it rumored that it was going to be a lecture... so a bunch of people didn't show up... but in actuality it turned out to be just what they said it was... they had banana splits, popcorn, fruit, punch, and games. The extent of the "lecture" was an introduction of the different teachers. :)


Friday was my first REAL day of classes... I had Anatomy & Physiology from 8:00 - 8:50, on one side of campus; and College Comp. from 9:00 to 9:50, on the absolute opposite side of campus! (so nice of them to give us all of ten minutes...) I did some of my homework right after class, and then after lunch I was free for the remainder of the afternoon... so I did my weekend food shopping at the Village Market, and came back to my room to do... I wasn't sure what... (I ended up taking a two hr. nap... :P ) Sabbath cleaning didn't take too long, and then it was time to get ready for Vespers.

As Audrey and I were walking to Vespers, the cord to my student ID card was swinging from my pocket... and unbeknownst to me, somwhere along the way it fell out. We arrived at the church, and not long after, I disocvered that it was missing. My first reaction was to panic... but Audrey told me that it was no big deal, and that someone would most likely turn it in at the girls dorm, after Vespers. So I sent up a quick prayer, and enjoyed the rest of the program. Gordon Beitz (the president) spoke on our purpose/focus/drive as students here at SAU, and the strings section of the orchestra performed Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 ... (I can't find word to express what it was like hearing that performed live...)

After Vespers we went back to the dorm, and my ID card hadn't been returned yet... so we had someone let us into our room (your ID card is you room key as well... and Audrey had left hers in the room.). I sent up another quick prayer, and got ready for bed... then, just after I had gotten into my PJ's, the phone rang... and it was the front desk, saying that someone had returned my card! I was so happy that I just threw something on, (not sure it really matched....), and flew down to the front desk, hair all askew. :P I'm so glad that God cares about the little thing too... :)

Sabbath was an awesome day. We went to the North River church in downtown Chattanooga. This is a church plant, meeting in a Methodist church, that was begun just last year; so it is still fairly small. I think yesterday was the largest it has ever been, with a bunch of the returned SAU students. Sabbath school was a lively discussion of Job and his wife, and then for church there was a young missionary couple that did a slide presentation of the work in Africa where they are. After church there was potluck, and then some groups split off to do different things for the afternoon.

Audrey, Luke, myself, and a few of their friends went on a bike ride near some big river that I've already forgotten the name of. Boy, was that quite the ride... I hadn't been mountain biking in a while, and this was some trail! Stick, logs and stones scattered the narrow path, and there were multiple times when you couldn't even see the trail due to the think brush! lol Thankfully I only wiped out once, (and it was very minor). I won't soon forget the thrill, though, of racing through the woods, sweat pouring down your body, not having a clue what lies around the next corner. :) It was great. Now just so long as we all don't break out in poison ivy all over are legs...

When we reached the car we quickely loaded everything up, seeing as we were supposed to be at a birthday party about then... but we weren't stressing too much due to the fact that the birthday boy (Jonathan Renolds) was with us! lol We called ahead and told them that we were running late, but that we would be there asap... Well, we made it within a minute of their house, when the car started sputtering... and stopped... we had run out of gas. :) Luke, Jonathan, and I got out and started pushing, while Audrey drove. We got it a little further before deciding to just push it over to the side of the road and leave it there. Then what should we see coming down the road, but a truck full of guys from Jon's house! Jon had called home and told them right when we had stopped, so they had loaded up all the guys that were there for the party, and come to our rescue! :D They made quick work of pushing it the rest of the way to the house... :)

The party was a blast... Mrs. Renolds had made Thi noodles that were awesome, and there was fruit salad, cookies, muffins, cake, and popsicles. After eating we all went around the circle, saying how Jonathan had been a blessing in our lives... it was neat to hear how many lives he had touched in just 22 years. The rest of the evening was spent chatting and having a good time with friends.

As we drove back to the dorm that night, we passed the SA Welcome Back Party on the lawn by the duck pond... there was smoke and hazy green lights and lots of people... Luke suggested that I run over and check it out... :p I declined... I was more than happy with the small party that I had been to... and besides... I was sore and ready for bed. :P

So... thus ended my first week at Southern... Tomorrow begins a full week of classes... Today... lol... well, seeing as it's nearly 3:00 and I'm still in my PJ's... maybe I'll go get dressed and do some studying now... :D

-Shannon

*Yawn...* well... sad to say, but my summer officially ends tomorrow... no more lazy evening lounging with a good book, swimming with the kids, harping on my harp, making messes in the kitchen... *sigh*... but looking on the bright side, it also means no more nine to five work days!!! :D That's one thing I discovered over the course of this summer... the nine to five work day was never meant for me... or I was never meant for it... or whatever... Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against work... I was very thankful to have that job, (I worked front desk at my dad's office.) ... but still, there's just something inside me that really disliked the thought of having to go sit behind a desk for eight hours a day, five days a week, trying desperately to maintain a genuine smile... But that's all over now... and it's off to Southern tomorrow! Boy, I haven't packed a thing yet... wonder when I'll start... hmmm... might have to pull a late nighter... Thankfully school's not too far from home this time, so if I forget something it won't be that crucial... which I'm sure I will considering that this is Shannon packing at 12:00 am... she'll be in rare form I'm sure... hmmm... yeah... anyhow, I should probably go now... just had the urge to post a farewell to another good summer at home...
-Shannon

Too wild...

Generally speaking, Calhoun, GA is not known for its vast or varied amount of wildlife. (we’re actually known for carpet, but that’s beside the point…) Slowly but surely, over the years the surrounding area has been built up… forcing the animals to find other wilderness. Supposedly it used to not be uncommon to see mountain lions, bobcats, and the occasional bear. Now days we’re excited to find a raccoon in the cat food bin!

Well, yesterday we stumbled across a baby bobcat…

It was mid-afternoon when my Dad and sister Sveta went out to a nearby spring to fill up some containers with water. When they reached the end of our street, they saw what looked to be a medium sized kitten hit in the middle of the road. Its hind quarters lay limp, as it spun itself in circles, trying to move with its front feet.

As dad pulled the truck over to the side of the road, Sveta jumped out with some gloves to rescue the kitten. By the time she brought him over to the truck, he had gone limp and his chances of survival looked slim. But as dad got a closer look, he noted with surprise the kitten’s unusual features… he had a longer nose; long legs; big white circles on the back of his larger than normal ears; and a short, black-tipped tail. This was no regular kitten… it was a baby bobcat!

Seeing as the poor thing didn’t look like it was going to live much longer, my sister took it over to some tall grass beside an old abandoned barn and gently laid it down to die… Dad called us up at home, and asked us if we wanted to go see a baby bobcat… He told us to warn the little kids, though, that it would probably be dead.

On their way back from filling up the water containers they decided to stop and see if the little guy had passed away.

As they neared the spot where they had laid him, there he was – head up, attentively looking around! It seems that he had come out of his shock, and was now feisty and defensive, hissing as they approached.

Judging by his condition that he wouldn’t be going anywhere on his own, they left him there and drove back home to pick up a few things.

We gathered together some towels and the gloves, and piled into the truck to go pick him up.

The poor little fellow had probably never seen another human being in all his life, so he hissed and pawed until we wrapped him up in a towel and covered his head.

When we got him home, we laid him gently on the grass for the kids to come over and look at. His back legs still lay limp, tucked together on the towel.

He had calmed down a little bit and seemed to be doing fine, when someone made a sudden move, scaring him. Before we could do anything he had jumped up on his front legs and dashed under the nearby play cabin, hoping along with his back legs. It took us a while to scare him out again, (Sveta and I were both sprawled in the dirt, half- way under the playhouse, trying to scare him out the other side; while Elise and Isaac stood ready to catch him, should he run out that way…); so this time, when we finally caught him, we put him in a cage and shut the door. This was definitely no dying cat!

Seeing as he was still in need of serious help, (never mind the fact that it’s illegal for just anyone to have one of these things in their possession…), we decided to see if we could find a wild animal rehab place to turn him over to. Mom got on the phone, while I surfed the internet… trying to find… I wasn’t exactly sure what. lol I was able to turn up a few numbers for what looked to be some animal rehab places, and I started calling. The first number was disconnected, the second place was closed, the third lady didn’t work with animal anymore… but, she could give me a number of someone who did…

This turned out to be a lady up in Ranger, GA, who takes in injured deer and small mammals. She said she had never cared for a bobcat before, but that she would be happy to take him and have her vet check him out.

We planned where to meet her, and then piled back into the truck… the bobcat in his cage in the back.

When we arrived at the gas station, it wasn’t long before the lady pulled up. She told us what she generally did with injured wild animals, and that her final goal was to get them released back into the wild. We related to her how we had found the little guy, and what his behavior had been thus far.

She had brought her own cage, but we offered to just let her take him in the cage he was in, seeing as he was a bit feisty. She said that probably wouldn’t be necessary, and asked to see him. She then reached in the cage and pulled him out, holding him by the scruff of his neck! lol He didn’t look too happy, but seeing as there was not much that he could do, he just hung there hissing. She placed his gently in the cage, and then loaded him into her car.

It was sad seeing him go… he was such a cute little bobcat. But before parting we gave her our number to keep us updated on how he does… so hopefully he will recover, and that will not be the last we hear of the little guy. :)

-Shannon

Jekyll Island

-Shannon