This place about to blow

This right now is the calm before the storm. Training has gotten a little less intense. I actually got to sleep in again! We are now mostly working on plans for the first night the freshman are here (Friday). This morning we are going to pray over all the rooms. Monday a bunch of awesome people moved in. All the people serving as mentors on west side, all the McConn workers, all the desk workers etc. That included my dear friend Kim! We had a beautiful reuniting of sprinting down the hallway into each others arms.

So the events right now are more relaxed. However, I know this won't last. Some freshman move in this afternoon because they have not registered for classes yet. Friday the masses arrive. It's gonna get crazy. I have adjusted to this new norm. It seems normal that we have 9 people living in one whole dorm. We can be crazy, quiet hours don't apply yet, we all just eat together...its simple. Don't get me wrong I am totally excited for the residents to get here. It just seems surreal. Sunday I am sneaking away (with approval of my boss) to go to a wedding in Indianapolis! I will get to see my whole family (both my brothers are in the wedding). Kevin and Jessie (the bride and groom) are adorable and I am so excited for them! This weekend will take the strength of someone else to get me through it! Tuesday school starts...I guess they actually expect me to take classes while I'm here?

 This is Kevin and Jessie with baby Austin who is their Godson!

10 minutes

This is a 10 min blog. I have 10 min till we are going to go watch a movie as a staff. I don't have a vision for this blog post only that it will take 10 min to write. Emily is also blogging next to me. That's cute. Today we finished Behind Closed Doors training. For those of you who don't know its where there are ARD's and returning RA's that act out scenarios in rooms and we have to be the RA in the situation and act how we thing we should. Some were pretty intense and some were easier to handle. But we learned a lot from each one. I was amazed by how much we learned each room we went to. For example a scenario could be a resident having cigaretts in the room or alchohol, or a homesick resident. Tomorrow we have a day away from campus. We don't know what we are doing but we are going somewhere as a staff. I have nothing entertaining to comment on or to say but I am excited for the rest of my dear friends to get to campus! More and more people are arriving each day! It hasn't been 10 min but I am running out of things to say.

So many good things!

I have been blessed by so many good things in the short amount of time I've already been at IWU. When I got to campus I was greeted by fantastic flowers.

 It may seem crazy but I keep talking about the flowers to everyone. It looks so great! I love the coziness of our room. I've been having a blast with my roommate Emily (click here to read her blog). We have a crazy awesome staff. Eastside get ready! I had a wonderful visit from an absolutely hilarious guy named Jason (who better be reading this). My unit decorations are coming together. We get to go camping tomorrow. I finished my phone calls to all my residents.

Under Construction

Yikes. haha my blog looks a little weird right now. I changed my background and it was late and I didn't want to change anything else. Ill get to it! Well I am all moved in! Am I all settled? Nope not yet. But its definitely getting there! I LOVE our new room. We made a specific effort to make it feel cozy. However, it is also still a little under construction. We have started RA training. Do I know everything yet? Nope. Still under construction and learning. So basically under construction was a great title for this blog post. I started a new journal this morning during my quiet time! Pretty pumped about that but basically when we are trying to become more like Christ each day we are under construction. Its a cool concept if you think about it. God is molding us and using us and fixing us, removing things, adding things, cleaning things in our lives to make us more like Jesus (who was how God intended humans to be).  But God is good and He is faithful to complete the works that He has started in us.

I started to call my residents tonight! Pretty crazy that I finally know their names! Once faces play in it will be unreal! Time to get to sleep!

Last night in the 630

Yikes. I can't believe that tonight is my last night of summer. It seems like last school year was forever ago but yet I don't think summer was long enough. However, I am happy with it. I had a great summer I will not deny that. But I loveeee summer. I have richly enjoyed being home. Its weird thinking that now its back to facing the world on my own (I know its not really on my own but you know what I'm saying) again. But overall my heart is full. I am so incredibly blessed and I have been reminded of that over and over and over this summer.

There are a billion reasons that I am looking forward to these next few weeks and to this next year. Ill try to list a  few but keep in mind that this is only a few. I'm so excited to be an RA. I am pumped to room with Emily and live in a short fat room! I am thrilled to see Kim and even more thrilled that we will see a lot more of each other this year since we both live in North Hall. There will be 2 more North Stars (people from my high school) joining me to be Wildcats and another friend from home. Overall, I'm really excited to see what God has in store this year. I look back over last year and I can not believe how much has happened, how much has changed, how much I've grown, etc! Its crazy to think that by this time next year another year will have happened and be gone.

I feel like my blog posts have been kind of lame this summer so hopefully they will get juicer when I am back at school. Writing in my blog is always a good way to avoid homework haha.

2 things.
God is good.
God is faithful.

Party AND Vacation!

Last week was crazy. We had a big party for Alex and Ayla on Saturday (slushy machine included) then Tuesday left for vacation in Michigan.

The party was fun but super exhausting. It was great getting to see so many family members and friends.

For Vacation we rented a house (that I picked out) in New Buffalo, Michigan. The house was awesome! It was a change of pace with a baby along but it worked out. The house came with a golf cart that was greatly enjoyed. We picked blueberries but I didn't get to pick as much as I did the past few years. 1. The place we usually pick just wasn't having a great year or something... my parents and I attribute it to poor or lack of pruning...and lack of weed removal. Tragic. 2. On the big picking day Austin didn't think it was a good idea.

We took our bikes and one morning my parents and I rode around the awesome neighborhood. I think Oprah might have a house in that neighborhood some of the houses were THAT nice. The morning before we left my Dad took me to the bike store to get new handle bar grips put on (now it doesn't look like I have black buggers all over my hands after a bike ride). I also got a water bottle holder. And do you know what that comes with?? A free water bottle!

I was greatly blessed to have abundant quiet time during the trip. There was a big comfy chair in the sun room that was perfect to spend time reading and praying. Big fan.

10 days till I am back at IWU!