Live from Hope College

Yes, ladies and gentleman, we are live from Hope College, specifically, Gilmore Hall room 202, for the start of a new school year! Much remained unchanged when I returned to Hope on Saturday night, but several aspects were different.

1) Gilmore Hall has new, shiny, reflective windows! This means less peeping toms and more privacy. Something all girls love.

2) Phelps has yet again changed our mealtime routine by confusing our silverware habits and placing silverware INSIDE the area where food is served. Not on the tables. I've already gone 100% of meals without grabbing silverware before I sat down. The correct habit will eventually form, I'm hoping. Until then I'll work off the calories as I eat them with my continual hopping up and down.

3) It's hotter than usual. Already mentioned. I'll stop complaining.

Changes are minimal. Which is a good thing, because Hope College is, as Mary Poppins once said, "Practically perfect in every way." Pink petunias planted thickly along the sidewalk, tall pine trees shading you as you journey to class, restaurants and shops across 9th street that scream "adorable", nighttime worship services under the stars. This is a great school.

Tomorrow is the first day of classes; interestingly enough, my Tuesday is free of classes save College Chorus at 7:30. While everyone else has their first day jitters, I will still be in summer mode for another 24 hours :-)

I am happy to be here, even if it's hot as heck, because awaiting the thrills of a brand new school year are like awaiting Christmas morning. Friends, laughter, encountering God, beautiful charming Holland, caring professors, challenging assignments, good books, thought-provoking discussions. It's all waiting under the tree.

Let the school year begin!

Packing

I'm packing for college. I have no time to blog.

I am blogging, which means I'm not actually packing!

I want to pack but I want to blog too!

Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!

That's enough. Packing now.

Perfect Day

If today was a flavor

It was all my favorites, the sweet ones

And it was a coconut, dark chocolate, cheesecake day.

If today was a smell

Think about whiffs you take that make a smile spread

And it was a clean sheets, candles burning, christmas tree day.

If today was a color

Envision the way sunlight makes leaves shimmer

And it was a vivid greenbluepinkyellowpurplesilverredblackbrowncream day.

As I left home, the sun winked 'cause she said it would be perfect,

And as I returned, the moon and I agreed it was.

Not only for the perfect weather

A perfectly content drive from the cities to Fargo with coffee for company

Perfect pepperoni sausage pizza or the perfect length jeans from West Acres Mall

It was perfect because I had

The perfect boy to spend it with.

Construction work

“You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it." Matthew 7:13-14

Our street is in the process of being transformed. For weeks driving home has been a pain. Trucks, men in bright yellow vests, and neon orange blockades everywhere. Running on my street this morning caked my athletic shoes in gravel and loose dirt. It's a mess.

I took a different route this morning on my run, however, and an unexpected turn found me on a finished street. Construction was finished here, and the road was perfect. I was surprised with the little bubble of joy that hit me to be running on smooth, clean blacktop.

"The gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult..." Maybe when Jesus said those words, Israel was undergoing construction, too. Maybe new roads were being built and smoothed. People walked everywhere in those days, and so a bumpy, rocky road was no doubt annoying. I can imagine most roads were annoying...

My street is narrow right now because of the construction work, but soon it will be finished. Flawless. Isn't that what God is going to do for our paths in life? They may be rocky now; the dust and detours may overwhelm, discourage. Sometimes we might wish we were taking the easier route.

But trust God with your narrow way. The rocky road leads to the best destination... and God will get you through the mess. Construction is only for a season.

Waitressing and waiting for packages

This is what happens when you waitress at night: you serve people delicious looking food for five hours straight without eating a crumb yourself, then go home and consume half the house in your hunger. But none of it is as good as what you were serving customers! And then you're full and full of energy and you can't go to sleep for, like, forever.

So you stay up late and... blog? :)

I like my job, truthfully. Waitressing pays great and allows you the opportunity to interact with your community as they come in one by one to order pizza. It lets you meet interesting people. The perks: an occasional free pizza and good tips. The downfalls: sweat and pizza don't make a good perfume. And sleep is never close after a shift.

Thank goodness I go to college and am working towards a degree so I don't have to waitress forever! God was good to provide this job for the time being, but he is likewise good to allow me to attend Hope so I can have better jobs in the future.

I'm getting sleepy from all this blogging.... but on another note, I must say.... getting packages from Amazon is perhaps one of the most exciting things ever. When they are textbooks, the excitement is even greater! I'm not being sarcastic... my textbooks are things of beauty. I ordered approximately 13 works of art from Amazon, and waiting for them all to come is like waiting for Santa to come on Christmas Eve. Several came today: The Life of Frederick Douglass, Emerson's Prose and Poetry, and Short Stories by Edgar Allen Poe. I just want to dig in now, but then there'd be nothing to do this year at school now, would there? :)

Goodnight!

Creative Memories

It's August 6th.

I want to drop everything and scrapbook.

All I need is a bound book, scissors and tape

Patterned paper and a sharpie

To turn back the clock

And capture memories and moments.

And photographs.

I'll wrestle my nostalgia to the page

Adhere it, trap it, tape it down

So there it will be, forever.

Homecoming queen, graduation

Birthday parties, unique dates

And that day we did lunch in the fall.

I remember these times smiling

Plucking each one from the safety of my heart.

Your face will fill my pages.

Your exuberant love will be my design.

I'll capture that glint in your eye

Temporary perfect happiness

As the camera flashed

And the moment lingered.

Summer's brightest days

And most beautiful patrons, basking

In the glow of freedom and free time.

When we picked berries, cheered at the game,

Got stomachaches from those huge pieces of cheesecake

Sat by the lake and talked for hours

Stuck our feet in the hot tub

And sang so loud in the car.

You'll have a sticker by your picture

And a caption by that captivating smile.

I won't let you go so quickly.

Every picture that I glue

Will buy me another minute with you.