Well, I'm finally taking a minute to breath after a long and busy weekend! My husband and I are the host and hostess at the Latimer House. (Just in case you're wondering, the Latimer House is the college guest house. It was built in 1895. When the college bought it, they renovated it to look authentic of that time period. It's full of beautiful antique furniture. The college uses it for special guests and rents it out for all kinds of parties and receptions. Our job is to live in the house and take care of it. We make sure our guests are comfortable and help with the parties. In exchange we get to live in the house free of charge. It's a pretty amazing and unique job!) Homecoming is insanely busy for us because we always have guests and parties...So today is our day for catching up on everything that got pushed aside this weekend.
Another thing on my mind is our next paper. It has the potential to be a really influential paper. At this point, that realization is overwhelming. I'm trying to gather my thoughts and figure out what direction to go in with my writing. This is always the hardest part of the process for me...coming up with ideas and finding my focus for a paper. It always comes together in the end, so I know it will for this paper, too.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Saturday, October 18, 2008
thoughts about my community service project
On Friday I completed my community service project. I'm trying to gather my scattered thoughts about it. My husband and I went to the Baptist Children's Village, an orphanage in Jackson. We helped to fold letters for a large mailing that they were getting ready to send out. The letter was a request for money to buy Christmas gifts for the kids. As I read over the letter I realized how spoiled I am!! Every year I make a Christmas list knowing that I'll probably get at least half of the things on it. These kids probably get one gift that they treasure for a long time....long after the excitement of my multiple gifts has worn off.
The women that was in charge was so nice and friendly! She made us feel right at home. She insisted on getting us something to drink and a snack. Have you every met someone and just had a good feeling about them in your spirit? I don't mean to be over dramatic, but I had that sense about this woman. She seemed so content with her work...like she simply loved what she was doing.
Honestly, the work was monotonous. I have to admit that I wasn't really looking forward to it. There were boxes and boxes of letters to fold. I did some rough figuring and decided that there were about 36,000 letters all together! As I sat there folding I couldn't help feeling like I was barely making a dent. I wasn't able to stay as long as I wanted too. As I left, I glanced at my small stack of folded letters and wished that it could be larger. I don't know why I think that I should come away from an experience like this with a "warm and fuzzy" feeling about myself. Why do I need to be able to pat myself on the back for it to feel like a success?
I think one thing I can take away from this experience is the lesson that results are hard to measure. Sometimes "the best that we can do" doesn't always yield great and instant results, but God sees and takes pleasure in any effort that we make to reach out, regardless of how small it may seem to us.
The women that was in charge was so nice and friendly! She made us feel right at home. She insisted on getting us something to drink and a snack. Have you every met someone and just had a good feeling about them in your spirit? I don't mean to be over dramatic, but I had that sense about this woman. She seemed so content with her work...like she simply loved what she was doing.
Honestly, the work was monotonous. I have to admit that I wasn't really looking forward to it. There were boxes and boxes of letters to fold. I did some rough figuring and decided that there were about 36,000 letters all together! As I sat there folding I couldn't help feeling like I was barely making a dent. I wasn't able to stay as long as I wanted too. As I left, I glanced at my small stack of folded letters and wished that it could be larger. I don't know why I think that I should come away from an experience like this with a "warm and fuzzy" feeling about myself. Why do I need to be able to pat myself on the back for it to feel like a success?
I think one thing I can take away from this experience is the lesson that results are hard to measure. Sometimes "the best that we can do" doesn't always yield great and instant results, but God sees and takes pleasure in any effort that we make to reach out, regardless of how small it may seem to us.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
all my random thoughts
Well, I made it to fall break! I have to admit that I was "holding out" and anxiously awaiting the chance to rest from "normal life". I love having a slight lull in the everyday responsibilities and the room that it creates for fun things that I don't normally get to do. I think I might have forgotten what I like to do with free time! That's something that's been in very short supply over the last several weeks. Unfortunately I got loaded up with homework, but I'm determined to manage my time so that I can get it all done and still have time for rest.
I'm happy to say that I turned in my first big English Comp. essay this week! I think that should be considered a milestone. I feel that I've already improved a lot in my writing. I've been pushed to dig deeper and broaden my thinking when I write. This class has been so good for. At times I feel like I've lacked the motivation required, but when I press through and turn in a good paper I gain a real since of accomplishment and confidence.
Another exciting thing happened this week. I finally was able to find a Chinese friend to help me with my Chinese. I've been struggling a lot with that class lately. I hate the feeling of just barely staying afloat. I think I can finally say that there's light at the end of my tunnel! I'll always have to work hard in this area, but at least I don't have to feel alone in my journey anymore.
I'm happy to say that I turned in my first big English Comp. essay this week! I think that should be considered a milestone. I feel that I've already improved a lot in my writing. I've been pushed to dig deeper and broaden my thinking when I write. This class has been so good for. At times I feel like I've lacked the motivation required, but when I press through and turn in a good paper I gain a real since of accomplishment and confidence.
Another exciting thing happened this week. I finally was able to find a Chinese friend to help me with my Chinese. I've been struggling a lot with that class lately. I hate the feeling of just barely staying afloat. I think I can finally say that there's light at the end of my tunnel! I'll always have to work hard in this area, but at least I don't have to feel alone in my journey anymore.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
the football game
Last week my husband and I went to the home football game. We don't get to make very many of the games because life gets busy with "non-MC" things, but we had the night free and decided to go cheer for our team. It was so much fun! It was a beautiful night...the perfect temperature. The band was playing, the cheer leaders were pushing for more noise, and the players on the field were giving it their all. I felt content as I took it all in.
Football...pretty much a staple on most American college campuses....but there was something about being at that MC game that I later realized was unique. Football is so American, but there we were, watching the game and sitting next to me was one of our Chinese friends. Later it hit me that MC is so diverse and that I'm privileged to have the experience of being surrounded by students from other cultures. I thought about the fact that not every college student gets that opportunity. It made me realize that I should take advantage of the atmosphere that exists here and soak up as many meaningful experiences as possible.
Football...pretty much a staple on most American college campuses....but there was something about being at that MC game that I later realized was unique. Football is so American, but there we were, watching the game and sitting next to me was one of our Chinese friends. Later it hit me that MC is so diverse and that I'm privileged to have the experience of being surrounded by students from other cultures. I thought about the fact that not every college student gets that opportunity. It made me realize that I should take advantage of the atmosphere that exists here and soak up as many meaningful experiences as possible.
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