Before I came to Seminary: Truckin' Along

Hello friends! I hope this post finds you all well and happy! It was a great reading week for me overall--such a wonderful respite from reading! Anyway, I'm drawing my seminary series to a close very soon, and I hope you all liked it up to this point. So, before I came to seminary:


Tri-axles. My old man owns a tri-axle business. This means that my middle school years were filled with air horns, air brakes, jake brakes, and a whole lot of grease (by choice)! The summers during these years were consumed with Fort Building and Truckin'. Ten through twelve years old were spent in way like I had a full time job. Wake up at 6 be in the truck by 7, haul coal, stone, or blacktop until at least 3. I'd like to say that I did all the hard work, but I slept during the first two or three loads and then only worked the dump control, air horn, or other small things. It was pretty awesome because I got to go to work with my dad everyday, and you won't believe how much I learned about trucks!

CB radio. Of all the things I worked or help fix, I rarely touched the CB radio. To this day, I have no idea why. All the other truckers that we were running with knew I was there and who I was, but they never heard my voice over the CB. For some reason, I was shy... which is saying something about me. Plus, there is definitely a "trucker-CB" language that one needs to master before just jumping on the radio waves. If any of these truckers would stop by the garage when I was there, I would talk at length with them, but I just refused to talk with them over the CB. All of my remarks were conveyed through my dad.


80,000 Pounds of Patience. One thing I learned about dumptrucks is that people generally do not like to be "stuck" behind them. Many a driver will cut of a tri-axle going full speed downhill, just so they do not get behind them. Generally speaking, when these trucks are unloaded, they can hold their own concerning speed. But even at full speed on the highway, drivers will risk their lives (to the point of passing on the shoulder) to get past big trucks. It may be one of those things that you won't believe until you see... I didn't. This observation about driving taught me patience before I even had my driver's license. Road rage is something you will never see from me because of my time spent truckin',


Fix it. Clean it. Repeat. After work on weekdays and most of the day on weekends, my dad and I would take time to fix anything wrong with the truck, and clean it--inside and out. I kind of just supervised the fixing, fetched tools, climbed into areas too small for my dad, helped with little things, and commandeered the cleaning task! I was a grease ball most of the time--my mom is a magician with laundry! It's really incredible.

How this helps: Patience, mechanical knowledge, driving skills, responsibility.


Next Post: Hand-dipped Drumsticks

Blessings to each of you! =)

Before I came to Seminary: Pink Sweatpants

Now, we shall venture into my even earlier years of middle-school and job-less summers! Some of you may be wondering about the title of this post, and I can hardly blame you for it. To this day I wonder about it... I mean, pink sweatpants? Do they even exist? And if they do, would one wear them? Why on earth would one wear them? Would one where them in public? Would they be PJs? What on earth would be the function of pink sweatpants?! Hopefully, by the end of this post we shall both understand this mystery of pink sweatpants! Before I came to seminary:
 
Forts. Do you want to know what the most fun thing in the whole wide world is when you're 13 years old? Building forts. Yep, and I'm not talking about the kind when you push couches close together and put blankets over top with a vacuum for the center post... although those are fun too! I'm talking about real outdoor forts (oh, and ps--it's not a "club," it's a fort!). The kind of forts that you are never done building! The kind where it takes a ridiculous amount of time and physical labor to gather all the wood and put together. My best buddy and I would spend big chunks of our summer and free time after school with a few neighborhood boys putting together our masterpiece. Some weekend nights we would even build a small fire and just hang out. Our fort was so awesome that we had old couches and could sit in there without getting wet--yeah, waterproof fort! We were cool kids. ;)

Horses. On top of all of this grueling labor, my buddy's family owned a couple of horses that needed taking care of. So every day around 5, we would trek back to her house, which was rather close to our fort, and feed her horses. Now, if any of you are thinking that feeding horses is as easy and simple as feeding dogs or cats--think again! Feeding horses is a form of physical conditioning in and of itself. We would have to carry these huge buckets full of water, measure the horses' grain perfectly, give them the right amount of hay, clean their stalls, ensure that we led them into the barn in a particular order (so the male didn't get angry), and not get trampled in the process. Before we started this process, we would at the very least change our shoes--you don't want your school sneaks to get all muddied up--and if you've been caring for horses most of your life, you would also change from your jeans into... pink sweatpants! That's right, pink sweatpants do indeed exist, and they are absolutely hideous! But who cares how disgusting they look if you're just intending on getting them dirty!


Trouble-makers. Now I know this is going to be extremely difficult to believe, but KR and I were... maybe... a little bit of troublemakers at times. For instance: KR had an unfairly early curfew, but how are we supposed to know what time it actually is when we are hanging out in our fort?! There are no clocks in forts (not even our deluxe fort), and we hadn't yet mastered reading the sun for the time or wearing wrist watches (and this was before cell phones). Our hands were tied. We couldn't help but being late most of the time. Hey, time flies when you're having fun! Another for instance: we may have every once in awhile on multiple occasions made a huge mess of my mother's kitchen. But come on, what are we supposed to do?! We had to make jello, brownies, and french toast when we were hungry! We were just trying to be resourceful! And I am convinced that the world did indeed benefit from our Ramen: how to cooking show. And to be fair, our hippocampi and pre-frontal cortexes were still forming at this age--we didn't put everything away because we must have forgotten where it all went. And as for cleaning up... well, horses' lives depended on our going to feed them! If we didn't show up hours early, we could have been late! I'm just saying!

Best Buddy. Through all of this, hundreds of viewings of Finding Nemo, and all the other things KR and I have done over the years, I have a Best Buddy! She's pretty awesome! I am very grateful! And just to give credit where it is due and relate this post to the series it is within: the first time I stepped into a Presbyterian church was because of her. It's interesting how things work out sometimes.

Left to Right: KR, AG, EK, me!

How this helps: Building design & maintenance, responsibility, love, importance of inviting friends to church.


Next Post: Truckin' Along

Peace be with you! =)

Before I came to Seminary: Let's Go Wreckers!

Greetings beloved friends! Welcome to my athletic post! I will just jump right in: I was an incredibly active and involved student in high school. I took academics very seriously and played every sport imaginable. I think it is important to note that despite my overwhelming love for athletics, academics always came first. It is true that I dedicated an incredible amount of time to sports, but I also made sure that everything was up to par in the classroom. The latter without the former was out of the question....before I came to seminary:


Sports. Eat, breath, sleep... sports! Okay, so not literally, but that's what it felt like on most days. All throughout high school, and really much of my younger life, I was full throttle active. I love doing things, and I do not like being bored. In a way very similar to how I am now, I always had to be occupied doing something. In high school, this something was usually sports. Volleyball and Basketball were my big things, but I also played other sports (including summer hockey ref. Ankle Breakin' Moves). Since I was involved in so many sports, I was in pretty good athletic condition. This conditioning along with skill practices and natural God-given talent made me a rather gifted athlete. I always did my best to be the best at any sport I played. At the same time, I also worked to be a good leader, a humble player, a great teammate, and calm under pressure. Sports were one of my most defining characteristics in high school: they dominated my schedule, they influenced who my closest friends were (and are), and they kept me occupied.

   Senior Year: 2006-2007

Open Gym. After five grueling days of practice during every week of the school year, what would a typical person do on weekends? Rest? Probably, but not me, oh no no no! Instead, I would go to "open gym." It is exactly what it sounds like--open gym. One of the basketball coaches would come every Saturday and Sunday and open the gym for anybody and everybody that wanted to use it. To this day I am convinced that this is the only reason I was ever any good at basketball--because a very busy adult would take time out of his weekend to come and unlock doors and turn on lights. Oh, the simple gestures in life that can mean the world to 14 year old me.


Rules and Leadership. As I talked about in my hockey post, I was always obsessed with knowing the rules to particular sports, especially the sports I play in. I am confident in my ability to play the game according to the rules, AND my ability to explain the rules to anyone--including referees. This "explaining of rules" sometimes got me in trouble with those brave humans who put on black and white striped shirts, but in my old age I have come to realize that reffing is a hard job (and I probably should have cut them all some slack in high school). Anyway, my knowing of the rules coupled with my athletic ability and naturally extroverted personality helped me step up and take many leadership roles on many sports teams. This was always something I took very seriously: I worked to build my teammates up--both in confidence and ability, I became a jedi master in constructive criticism, and trust me when I say that there was never anybody more excited and energized than me on any sports team I have ever played on... and excitement/energy is contagious! =)


Injury: Building Character. In all reality, this injury story I am about to share with you is way too long to fit into a single blog post, so if you have a burning interest to know the full story, talk to me in person. So, with athletics comes a risk of injury. Trust me when I say that I know this very well. I have had more injuries over the years than I can count... all of which I was able to handle, play with, or fix in a reasonable amount of time. My senior year injury was way different. During a pre-season scrimmage I tore my ACL (major ligament in the knee). After a series of attempted practices, a failed attempt at a game, and a orthopedic visit, it was determined that I needed some serious surgery to fix the problems, and that I would miss every single game of basketball (and eventually softball) of my senior year of high school. This injury ended up having farther-reaching implications than I had ever anticipated, but overall, it was a time of serious character building in my life. If you have ever been physically incapable of doing something, you probably know what I am talking about. Recovering from an injury is not the most pleasant process: surgery is a physically taxing process, PT is no walk in the park, and sitting on the sidelines saying, "Only if..." can take its toll on even the most mentally tough people out there. My prize for all of this?--a rather large scar on my knee. But this healed wound is more than a scar... it is a long list of lessons learned: a new found love and appreciation for the game, for my coach, for my teammates, and (most of all) for the capabilities of the human body. I learned to be humble, modest, and grateful. I became a better teacher, leader, and coach-like figure. My (reasonable) loss of trust in the stability of my knee transferred to an increased trust in others (I couldn't just do things myself--basketball or more practical chores--I had to learn to rely on others). Trust me when I say that injuries are no fun.

How this helps: leadership, team-building, dedication, perseverance, trust, and humility.

Next Post: Pink Sweatpants

Shalom. =)

Weekend in DC

I am interrupting my "Before I came to Seminary" series to tell you all a little bit about my Spring Break week thus far. It has been quite action-packed and fun-filled!


Weekend Respite. Being a creature of habit and routine, I would do pretty much the same basic things everyday for the past five weeks of the term. This week, however, time to change it up and add some non-school related excitement. A small group of us took a little weekend trip to KO's house just outside of Washington D.C.  A brief outline of the weekend: arrive Saturday night, church Sunday morning, Old Ellicott City Sunday afternoon, make awesome cupcakes Sunday night, Washington D.C. on Monday, leave early on Tuesday.


Cheese Grilled Cheese! Lunch on Saturday! Cheese grilled cheese! That's right. It is basically grilled cheese with cheese on the inside and outside! It's quite a wonderful creation!

Cupcakes. And then on Sunday night, we decided to make aquarium cupcakes instead of actually going to the Baltimore aquarium... it's much cheaper and far tastier!


D.C. This is such a fun place. I have been there several times, but this was probably the most fun time thus far. We went to the Capitol building, National Archives, White House, Vietnam War Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, the WWII Memorial, Washington Monument, and National Museum of American History. And we walked everywhere--yep, look at us, but we also had some sore feet by the end of the day. It was a good way to justify the grilled cheese and cupcakes from the day before. =)

Vietnam War Memorial (Left) & National Museum of American History (Right)

WC. After a day layover in Princeton, I made my way to West Chester to meet up with some friends and go to the church's midweek fellowship program! I got a chance to catch up with one of my college roommates, I got to see my church mom (great, great news!), and I participated in the very impressive Bridge program.

Now, the rest of the week I will be in good 'ol NEPA keeping myself busy with social engagements. Hopefully I will find time to study for my huge NT midterm and do my taxes (yuck!). I continue to keep all of you in my prayers! God Bless! =)

Before I came to Seminary: Cruisin' in Julia

Good day dear friends! I hope this post finds each of you well and also enjoying these posts. I must admit, they have been pretty fun to write about. I will post about my wonderful trip to Washington D.C. very shortly (which I think most of you will enjoy); I should have some down time when I am home this week.

Now, we shall explore earlier parts of my life starting with one perspective of the latter part of high school before I came to seminary:


My 1st car. Oh Julia, my first car ever: a 1995 Chevy Cavalier 2-door teal sporty-looking thing. It cost me $300... but $300 to a 16 year old is a lot of money. It was a used car with a lot of dings. It was 4-cylinder that sounded like a lawnmower on big hills. Julia, Julia, how I miss her. She was a great car--good in the winter, big enough to fit 4 teenage girls into, no problem. After I got her, I needlessly cleaned her out, changed her oil, rotated her tires, scrubbed her hubcaps, changed her brakes (all with the help of my Poppa Bear). Knowing about cars is something that my dad taught me pretty early in my life. If I was going to be driving one, or even driving in one, I should probably know that basics... "just in case." Sometimes I take this teaching for granted; over the years, I have come to realize how few people have received such informal training about cars. Some people quite simply, just don't know about these things. My dad made sure that this would never be the case for me, and for this I am grateful.

Cruisin'. What is the first thing a 16-year old does the second she gets her license? Drive around aimlessly with no destination. Driving just to drive. Now, now, now, this was back in the days when gas was less than $2 a gallon, so it really wasn't a huge economical hit to just be cruising. One would think that this urge to drive around with no purpose would fade pretty soon, but that was not the case with me. As a matter of fact, I sought out and found some crusin' buddies. KR, NH, and LE were just such people. We would aimlessly drive anywhere and everywhere. Much of the time we would explore the backroads where I live, or take a trip out to Wal-Mart to purchase yarn and knitting supplies (that would be used while watching a Disney movie later that night). Such wonderful friendships were built and maintained through this completely pointless activity of driving around.

"Don't Stop Me Now!" A Queen song that we would all sing at the top of our lungs while cruising or on our way to school in the mornings. I can't listen to this song without thinking about Julia and all my cruising buddies.

WBS Penguins! Another great thing about getting your license is that you no longer need to trouble your parents to take you places (this was extremely helpful to my parents concerning sports practices). Attaining my license allowed me to attend more AHL hockey games than ever! I usually went with a nice crowd of people, or just my best buddy! It was always a wonderful time! Let's go Pens! =)

How this helps: priceless car knowledge, stories about the "old days," relationships can be built up anywhere!


Next Post: {D.C. Post} then Let's Go Wreckers!

Peace. =)

Before I came to Seminary: Ankle Breakin' Moves

Most of my childhood and now into my young adult life I have played hockey. It started because I wanted to be with my brother instead of going to softball while he was at hockey (I ended up doing both). Hockey is something that I have come to really enjoy and be good at. As a matter of fact, my brother and I are each exceptional hockey players individually, but if you put us together on a team--watch out! We've been playing together so long, and we know each other so well that we don't even have to think about where the other is or what the other is doing--we just know! It's like sibling ESP, and it's really cool (albeit frustrating to our opponents). Anyway, before I came to seminary:

Roller Hockey. Growing up, I played street hockey: literally little kids running around with sticks and heavy amounts of protective gear in the hot, humid, sticky summertime air. Since there are age limits in most hockey leagues, when I began to approach my limit in the "Junior league," I strapped some inline hockey skates on my feet-sies and learned to go at the game from this angle with far more speed (and if any of you all think ice skating and roller skating are the same... think again! It was a whole new monster I had to take on!). Once I out-aged the junior league, I entered the adult league where I have been playing every summer that I have been home. I have won a championship* and played on three separate teams since my inaugural season. The league isn't huge--8 teams--which allows me to know pretty much all of the players on a personal level. This makes everything all the more fun!

"Put me in coach!" When I aged out of playing in the junior league, I immediately transitioned from being player to being coach! I absolutely love coaching! I was able to coach the little players (age 5-12) as well as the bigger players (age 10-16). The little ones are so darn cute; they melt my heart every season... and they try so hard to be good. And they're still at that age where Mom and/or Dad come(s) to every game! Whereas I focus on teaching the little ones the fundamentals of the game, I try to teach the big players more about harnessing those fundamentals and being sportsmanlike. This can be challenging at times, but with a little bit of patience and determination, it could be done. I have been lucky enough to have both JV (little ones) and Varsity (big players) teams win championships! Woo Hoo!

Referee. Another responsibility that I take up in this league is one of reffing. When I play sports, I try to play them in a smart way. In order to do this, I know the rules inside and out, and upside and down. It's not that I memorized a rule book, but from watching and playing hockey for so many years, I know all of the rules. The problem that can arise in hockey is that much is left to the referees discretion: contact, icing, too many men, frozen pucks, unsportsmanlike conduct, etc, etc. I never realised how difficult a ref's job could be until I became one. Trust me when I say that I enjoy reffing the junior league games more than the roller league games. Kids tend to argue and yell far less than adults when it comes to sports. Reffing has also granted me more patience with refs in all sports... although I do occasionally get into discussions about enforcement of the rules during intermissions and timeouts, I try to cut them some slack. Nevertheless, I love to ref.

Pick-up games. Since I play, coach, and ref in the same league, I am at the hockey rink pretty much every single evening. The problem is: there is usually this awkward gap between when I'd get off of work (somewhere between 12-2) and when hockey starts at 6pm. What's a girl to do? Call other hockey friends that don't work during that time, throw my brother into the car, and invite some older junior league kids who know how to skate, and play some pick-up games! These are always incredibly fun: no rules, no clock, no score, random teams, hottest part of the day, soaking wet gear, but an insane amount of fun fun fun! I kid you not when I say that many of my summers are consumed with hockey!

I have made lifelong friends of all ages playing in this hockey league. Oh, what wonderful people.

How this Helps: Teamwork, Leadership, Discretion & Fairness, Fun, and Integrity.

Next Post: Crusin' in Julia

Blessings to you all! =)

*Only person ever to win every kind of championship in HS Hockey League, and only girl to win Adult League championship.

Before I came to Seminary: A Humble Job

Wrapping up my college years before I came to seminary:


30 hours a week. More than part time, but less than full time. That's the logic I used at the time. 30 hours at Giant grocery store each and every week. I must say, however, I am very grateful to have had that job. First and foremost, I was pretty darn good at it. I worked in the grocery department, and I seemed to have had a knack for all of the responsibilities. Time usually flew by while I was working because I enjoyed my job. The people there were wonderful, my bosses were fair, and the job itself was very hands on! 30 hours may not have been the most ideal situation on top of my work at the clinic, school, and time spent at church, but once I got into a routine--it worked out just fine.


Friday nights? Ah man! I worked every Friday night (with very few exceptions) all throughout college. We started price changes on Fridays, so we needed two people to work those nights. Fortunately, I was always with another college-aged, interesting person! Unfortunately, this means that I missed a lot of fun events on Friday nights. This is usually when my friends would go out on the town, or go out to eat, or go to the mall, or do something fun. I had my own routine, though--after work: Chinese food! Every Friday.

Rough Sundays. In retrospect, I am a little bit crazy. You see, Giant pays time and a half on Sundays, so I took advantage of this by working on Sundays. But, the thing is... church is on Sundays. So, I used to work really early Sunday morning or overnight Saturday night, so that I could get time and a half AND not miss any church. This usually took the form of my being awake for several hours before going to the 8am service, then to 9am Sunday school, then to the 10:30am service, then to noon breakfast with my roommates, then afternoon nap from 1-4:30pm, then back to the church, then 6pm Contemporary service, then 7pm youth group, then back home around 9pm to fall asleep almost immediately. I really like routines, so this worked well. Every Sunday.


Giant friends! One of the great things about Giant is all of the friends I made while working there. First and foremost, there are many college students who work there that I would not have otherwise met. WCU is a relatively big school (14,000 students), so I met a lot of people outside my major and outside my grade. I was also able to make friends with many of the full-timers--cover a shift once in awhile and bring cookies at Christmas time and you are golden! I got to know a number of people very well because my job was more of a team effort kind of thing, and when you work together with certain people for 30 hours a week, you get to know them pretty well. Finally, I met a lot of really awesome people who didn't work there, but shopped there. I am not the only one in this world that likes routine. Many a customer would show up at very particular times just like clockwork, and when you remember someone's name, they really appreciate it! Well anyway, I made a lot of wonderful friends that I still keep in touch with to this day, and for this I am grateful.

How this helps: Building routine, team-work & communication, networking.

Next Post: Ankle Breakin' Moves