Looking back, and ahead

My first semester at ORU is finished, and on top of that, 2012 has come to an end, with very little to show for it all on this blog. So much has happened everyday since I moved to Tulsa, but I am so, so bad at remembering to type it all up here.
That is one of the things I plan on working hard on this next year. But before I get into all my goals for this next year, it's best I sum up this year.

This time last year I was a third of the way through my first work experience in a professional setting, interning at DHS. Since then I have finished my internship, finished at Clackamas Community, moved 2,000 miles away, and now have finished my first semester as a university student, with a 3.0 gpa I might add!
In Tulsa I volunteered at a shelter, for abused children, once a week. It has been a great way to get involved with the community, and reminded me of my fond memories of my internship. In late November I put in an application to get a job there, but will not hear back until after the New Year.

When I met my roommate, I quickly found out she had been to Africa last summer. I told her that Africa had been a life long dream of mine, but I didn't know if I would ever get there. She told me to at least try to go with the school's missions program. It seemed impossible to me at first, but now....it's happening!! :)

I made some fun friends, some do crazy things with me like making dancing music videos, others go on random late night pointless car drives the way I love to do, and one of my favorite past times is going with a big group of buddies to get Mexican food and sneak it into the theater while we go watch scary movies. One time when our movie going group got Mexican food, I had to wait 10 minutes for the chicken to cook, so I got a 5lb burrito for free!
I found a super great church in Tulsa that I simply LOVE! They will be opening a new building next year, and I hope to get involved there.

For Thanksgiving I got to see my cousin Ian, and stayed in the great state of Texas, which I loved by the way. I could easily see myself making Texas my permanent home down the road. Silly, but one of my favorite things about Texas was that every single time I turned on my blinker to change lanes, people slowed down and easily let me in. I was taken back by it every single time! In Texas I got to visit a church I grew up watching on tv, Eagle Mountain church, and I also ate gizzards for the first and last time.

The weather in Tulsa is phenomenal so far, it was 80 the first week of December. But I am told January is the coldest month, so I am in for a treat this New Year. When it gets cold, it's not only super cold, but windy. It makes it so cold it's painful.

Well there's a snippet of my year! My goal for this next year is to journal WAY more. Let's hope it's a goal I can attain!
This next year my goals are that I need to find a job in Tulsa, I want to volunteer more at the children's shelter, get involved with my church, fund-raise all the money needed for Africa, go to Africa, join the ORU Zumba group, join the ORU Spanish club and get better in that language, write more of my stories that I hope to make into books someday, and I want to read more. Yes Mom, you read that right, I want to make myself read more. Reading is such a chore to me, I hate it! I only do it when required to. I want that to change.
Achieving all these goals will make for some fun blog posts. Let's just hope I can keep up the ambition to accomplish all these goals, and the memory, attention span, and desire to write about it all.

It started with 4

Four years old I embarked on a mission. I found a passion and a drive that influenced every aspect of my life. Sitting on my aunt and uncle's floor, I heard the telephone ring. My aunt turned the television on and left the room to answer the phone. This simple action changed my life. When my aunt returned, she found me in tears, terrified by the "monsters" I saw on tv.

What I didn't understand was that I had not seen frightening monsters, but an ad to help feed starving children in Africa. My aunt explained to me that in other nations there is no money to buy food, and kids get so hungry, that they end up looking like the images I saw, skin and bone.

That's when she told me about missionaries. My little world was turned upside down, and I knew from that day on, that some day I would go to Africa as a missionary.

Through out the rest of my childhood, I always felt a sense I was born to be great. Every mistake I made, I felt the conviction that I was letting down the African kids I was destined to meet. My life had a purpose, through all the hardship endured, I told myself that someday in Africa, I would look back on all this and smile because it only made me stronger.

A lot of bumps and bruises, and some downright crashing and burning through the years; no matter what living situation I was in, or what belief I put my faith in, the one thing that remained true is that I wanted to go to Africa more than any other wish in my life.

Summer before high school, I got my heart right with God, and felt stronger than ever that my calling was to be a missionary, and to be a missionary in Africa. By Sophomore year I started traveling the world with whatever opportunity arrived, all with the belief it was prepping me for Africa. Mexico, Spain, Kamiah Nez Perce, and Peru; North America, South America, and Europe; all amazing and irreplaceable experiences and all visited before graduating high school.

Then I started my first year of community college and I was faced with a crisis. I failed all of my nursing classes. It was a soul crushing defeat. I knew I was not meant to be a nurse, although that had been the plan since 5th grade. Then began the quest to figure out what it would take to get to Africa. Things were not working out with every thing I tried.

Finally I thought I should just quit college and go.


The day I determined to quit college, was the day before I saw the video about the fatal flaws in the child welfare system.

http://www.komonews.com/news/problemsolvers/70599312.html?tab=video&c=y By the time I had seen this video, I already knew child abuse prevention was something I felt passionately about, but it was while watching this video that God was able to open my eyes and see that I needed to find a career I was good at and interested in, instead of just doing whatever it took to get to Africa.

The day I learned to fully surrender myself, including my hopes and dreams, to God, was the day everything started to fall into place. I changed majors, again, to social work, and I began to love my classes, then I loved my internship, and I gained incredible experiences then I got a scholarship to a university I loved.

At four I grasped onto a dream. At nineteen I learned to give it up to do what God was calling, and now at twenty one, he has lead me down the road and has placed the opportunity to go to Africa right in front of me.

Four years ago I gave up on my dream of going to ORU. Three years ago I learned to give up all my dreams to God, and trust him that I would end up where I belonged. One year ago I trusted God to try again with ORU.

Today I write, while at ORU, announcing that I finally get to go to Africa thanks to ORU Missions.

Now here's all the trip details!
When: May 12 to June 12 2013
Where: Uganda, Africa
Doing what: Street evangelism, remote villages ministry, children's church and school, visiting orphanages.
How much: $3,500 I'll be needing lots of support financially to make it there, so be looking forward to me asking you for help!

"Pitch Perfect" and other happenings

Here is the book behind the movie I saw. The movie was funny enough for me to think about reading the book.

This weekend I went to the movies with a friend and saw "Pitch Perfect". We went to the Cinemax theater, and it was a gigantic theater. Twice the size of Hilltop theater back in Oregon City. They also had a full mall sized food court where I picked up a cheeseburger that was bigger than both my fists.
The movie had me laughing out loud all the way through. Fat Amy with her great one liners was my favorite character, maybe more because she SO reminded me of my good friend I met here, Jessica.

That being said, I don't think I will ever get the first scene out of my head. I don't know how a book could fully capture the hilarity of seeing an acapellla singer up chuck all over the competition judges, and the sheer horror expressed on their faces. Add to that when halfway through the movie the shy Asian girl making the vomit angel. Maybe it's my potty humor but this movie was probably one of my all time favorites.

There's an area on campus called "The Fishbowl" between the guys and girls dorms and is the main place for genders to commingle. I was in the fishbowl with a group watching a movie and met a guy named Darnell. We got to talking and I told him Darnell was my favorite character on the show "My name is Earl" and he said he'd heard that a lot, and he too liked the show. We laughed as we spouted off the different frequent phrases, "Oh snap", "Darnell, get yer keister over here Mister","Awe heck no, Darnell!" A few minutes later I brought my knitting down to work on, and Darnell thought knitting was the coolest thing. He kept watching and saying, "that's so awesome." He was very excited to see the finished product. His fascination has given me a little extra motivation to work on it, so I've gotten a lot done on the blanket in progress.

Yesterday I hungout in the fishbowl again and Darnell teased me, "Why aren't you knitting?!" So I brought my knitting down. Then I met a guy, Tori, who was equally interested in it, and told me he'd be right back. He came back with yarn and knitting needles he had ran to buy at Walmart, and asked me to teach him.

I still can't get over the weather here. In early September people thought I was crazy for being so amazed at sweat running down my arms and legs like half time of a basketball game, when I was only standing still. It was 112 out then, the hottest weather I've ever been in. Now October is nearing an end, and the weather is wonderful. It's been low 80's this past week, and looking to be similar this week. While out walking Friday, I got sunburned. I had to laugh again as I told friends I don't think I have ever had a sun burn in October.

Hello..again

I talked to my mom last night and she told me people have been asking why I stopped updating my blog. Oops! I wasn't sure if people even read this.

I have some very exciting stuff starting just around the bend, but I have to wait until it's all official to talk about. October 25 is the big day when I will know all the details for sure. Anyone who's know me at least 5 years will be very excited when they hear what I'm doing. Ooh don't you love me teasing your curiosity! =D
Last night I went to Cheesecake factory for the first time with a big group of friends. I had my favorite, shrimp and angel hair, and I do believe it's the best I've ever had. I know, that's sad being the best seafood is AFTER I move away from the coast. The shrimp were HUGE, and the plate of pasta was even bigger. I ate as much as I could, and still the to go box was stuffed. Guess what I'm having for breakfast?

A random fact I was telling my mom I discovered here, is that people think I am funny. I'm not used to that! Back home now and then something crazy would happen to me, and if I shared the story in the right context I could make someone giggle. I got here, and without even trying, people laugh and tell me I am funny. When I share the stories of the different pranks I pulled on the public before I left home, people have tears of laughter.

I mentioned to a friend how my cousin married an African American and her first son looked white at birth and got darker as he got older, and she was near hysterical. When her mom told her that was normal, she laughed even more. I realize it's probably odd that I add this into my blog, but I thought it was pretty neat that I found people who laugh at my jokes. Mom said that means I've found where I belong.

This past week I've been on break. I was supposed to go on a road trip to Colorado, but it didn't work out last minute. So I have spent some of my time walking and exploring Tulsa. I found a great 4 mile walking trail along the river, which has been my favorite new find.
I met a friend's mom and we got to talking about how we both have a dream of being authors. At the end of the conversation she was passing my info onto a person who runs a website for christian writers. Long story short, I am now writing a monthly article for them. My first piece was published earlier this month, check it out! http://thechristianpulse.com/2012/10/08/a-simple-song/

Hello!

So my last idea of updating my blog throughout the week was a total fail. Oh well!

This past Thursday I went on my first ORU weekly outreach to an emergency children's home in Tulsa, for children who are waiting to go back home or find a foster parent. We were there for three hours.
For the first hour I played with various musical toys and danced around with a group of toddlers. That entire hour the sound of an infant wailing blared through the room non stop.
After about an hour I sat down and one of the staff offered the crying baby to me. The pink cheeks, tiny fingers, and slobbery face girl was placed in my arms and stopped crying almost instantly. The staff all admired how quiet she was, and after a few minutes one staff mentioned that was the longest she'd been quiet since she'd gotten there.

I was told she was born addicted to drugs, and had just been released from the hospital after a couple months. The woman handed me a bottle of milk and said, "Since you seem to do so good, why do you try feeding her? We've hardly been able to get her to eat anything in 3 days. What she does eat, the throws up."
I gently put the bottle in the baby's mouth, and a few minutes later, she had gulped down all of it. I was so excited for her.
By the time we left, she had kept all of the milk down, and was starting a second bottle. It wasn't an earthshaking event, but it was still very exciting for me.

The next day I got on a bus and headed out of Tulsa. A two hours' drive later, a group of us 15 ORU students were at a luxurious log cabin in Kansas, Oklahoma. We were there for a retreat held by the writing department. We went on hikes, took a lot of prayer time, and mostly relaxed in writing. I was excited with how much writing I got done in two stories I am working on.

I had a riot of a laugh one night, when some of the city girls wanted to sleep under the stars. We laid down our sleeping bags on the dirt in the woods. Soon we were all a little spooked by all the sounds of nature, and I decided to have a little fun throwing rocks into the bushes and making people scream. Mwa ha ha, I'm so bad =)

In both events last week, I made great memories, and some new friends.

I have signed up for a VERY exciting new adventure, but will wait to share until all the details are certain. So be looking forward to that in the weeks to come!!
**love life**

Midweek update

I've had a thought on my mind this past week, as to how facebook and twitter have somewhat killed many good stories, or blog entries. How many times has something hilarious happened, and I just wrote a 2 or 3 sentence post on these websites, then forgotten about it? The same with pictures. All of these moments of the day and week add up to a great tale, which I fail to document on more than a little blurp. So I am trying something new here. When something funny happens, or I have a funny thought, or I do something fun, or see something cool, I will post it in a draft blog. Twice a week I will go through and add pictures, and more detail to what I have written, so down the road I can look back and fully appreciate my experience here. Every time I would update my facebook and twitter, I'll do it here instead. We'll see how this goes.

I went to church with friends Jessica, Anna, and Emilie at a great place called Church on the Move. Pastor Whitney George was filling in for his father Senior Pastor Willie George aka Gospel Bill. Whitney gave a great word on sacrificing what God is asking of us, in order for God to have total control. His emphasis was on how God will make challenging difficulties simple.

It was an eye opening experience for me when he spoke of the young, rich ruler who was asked to leave his possessions behind and become a disciple of Christ. He was to afraid to sacrifice his worldly possessions, and therefore missed out on being a key player in humanities greatest story. Made me realize just how much we give up when we are afraid to give up what God asks.
Monday started out with a good hard laugh. I had a class at 7 in the morning, so my sleepy self was running late and printing off my homework, when yes, my printer legitimately ATE MY HOMEWORK! It pushed the paper halfway out, then pulled it back in, then spit it out crumpled up. I was shocked, I could not believe my eyes. And my teacher had a similar expression when I handed in the wrinkled paper.
In Psychology class, my professor was speaking of the different parts of the brain and their function. He ended with saying, "Now, tonight be sure to pray and thank God for your frontal lobe, parietal lobe, temporal lobe, occipital lobe, brain stem, and cerebellum."..................so I did :)

Lately I have been using the ORU gym because they have really cool machines that work out muscles I didn't even knew I had. This week I have been forming somewhat of a recipe. 2 miles of walking outside to work on my tan, then 30 minutes on treadmill, 20 times legs weight, 20 times arms weights, and then 5 minutes on this awesome machine that is like a pedal bike for my arms(no clue what these last three are called). In my month in OK I've lost 8lbs. Now that it's in my mind, I am going to attempt weight loss by using the ORU gym daily. Super excited.

Tuesday night I had a blast being a part of a flash mob. We all met then started dancing a routine in the middle of the ORU campus. It was recorded to be used as an advertisement for the school. A funny part of the thing is that I met in person two people who I had accepted friend requests from on facebook.
After the flash mob, I went to my first Social Work Club meeting. The special guest was a woman from the Tulsa Jewish Federation who was speaking about the new community garden they are working on. 3 days into my week...this has been a pretty fun week!

My HOT week

This week has been HOTTTT! I have never been in such extreme heat! I was literally just sitting there in the shade, and sweat was running down my arms and legs. And guess what, I love it! Sure it's annoying that the school dress code says I can't wear shorts to class, and so the walk to class is killer...but when I'm in my tank top and shorts, just enjoying my afternoon, it's heavenly, ironically speaking since hell is the hot place. Gasp! At home, late in the evening I would get bursts of energy and want to go on walks. But it was too cold, no one would go with me, it was too dark, and there was the threat of hungry predators lurking in the woods around my house. Here, I feel like going for a walk around campus at midnight, they have a loop meant just for people to do that, and it's well lit, well secured, lots of others doing the same thing, and it's a pleasant 80 degrees. Did I say it already? I love it!

On Saturday, August 25, I went with ORU to provide disaster relief through Samaritan's Purse. Before I got there, there had been a morning shift of ORUers at the burned down house. All of the morning crew insisted we find the tin turtle. The homeowner told us it was her most treasured item in the house, and was left behind because they had only a matter of seconds to escape the house. She told us how her mother gave it to her, and it was so special. The entire house burned down, and we were there salvaging through to help them get what few belongings remained. We'd been told to clear out for the bull dozer to come through, but we pleaded for just a few more minutes; cause everyone was praying to find that turtle. We got the few extra minutes, then were told to clear again, and right then Paul announces, "I got it!"

Last Friday the sky was especially beautiful, but I couldn't grab my camera until the last little bit of it. Here's what I was able to capture though.



The rainstorms here are awesome. It comes fast and it come heavy. It's so warm and relaxing, yet it makes every one giddy and giggly. We all run out into instead of running inside to get away like I'd do in Oregon. I shot this picture of some of us. I thought it was pretty cool... They guy with the pink balloon tie added just the perfect touch of hilariousness.

Wednesday night, my roommate's friend Will Retherford was having an album release event at a local church. I had never heard him before, but I was more than a little impressed. The entire band sounded great. Here are some of the pics

Last night I went and got my hair cut at the beauty college a few blocks away. My appointment was too late in the evening for me to get it dyed, but I had decided hours before that I really wanted to dye my hair...of course, you say, that's what everyone does when they move away. So I got some hair color at Walmart and went over to a friend's house to do it ourselves. It turned out pretty well if you ask me.

Livin Life

Came up to eat lunch, and couldn't find any of my friends, so I decided to have some alone time. Grabbed my plate of stuffed baked potato, and sat at a small table looking out a window, and pulled out my laptop to journal a bit.

Coffee has become my very best friend(Sorry Emily, Caitlin, Lydia, and Lexy) as dorm life keeps me up late, and class wakes me up early. They warned me on my first day here that sleep deprivation is the number one cause of college illness. What I didn't realize thought was just how easy it is to not get enough sleep. Today though, I had so much fun, when I got out of class, and propped up a makeshift pillow on a bench, and took a nap outside...man this is a good potato...ehem... It was splendid, laying there, feeling the hot sun on my face, the warm wind blowing through the leaves on the trees, and birds chirping in their own kind of melody. I keep having these awe ha moments where I feel like I have truly found paradise.
As I sit here in the cafeteria writing this, a guy dropped his plate and made a loud crash. The entire cafeteria, at least 300 people, broke out in applause. I am fascinated enough to want to mention it!

I have now had 2 of every class but PE. My first PE class is tonight. However I have used the gym and swam in the pool, and from those experiences, I think I am going to love PE.
In my psychology class they are going over the different types of psychology fields. The professor told a story of a student he had in the past, who wanted nothing more than to graduate with a degree from ORU, but her schizophrenia was so severe she could not complete any of her classes. He talked about how hard the entire faculty and staff tried to help her dream come true, but she simply could not pass the classes. They eventually allowed her to sit in on the twice a week chapel, to still feel like an ORU student, but even then, her sickness worsened everyday to the point she began to get physically ill from poor hygiene. They finally had to help get her into a permanent mental illness ward, and she never got to complete her ORU education. My teacher finished the story by saying, "Every year I watch my students walk across that stage and receive their degree and I think of her and wonder, `Do these people have any idea just how blessed they are to be graduating from ORU?'"

He mentioned people will tell us we are fortunate to have the money, to have the support, to have the brains, to be able to graduate. But his message to us is that we are blessed to even have the mental ability to go to class. He ended with the inspirational word, "That woman wanted nothing more in life than to graduate from ORU. But she was never able to. You are living her dream. Make it count." I was telling my bestie Lydia everything he said, she pointed out, "That's so amazing. The teacher cared about her so much, that he tells her story to all his students. So even though she couldn't graduate, her time there has had a lasting impact that inspires other students. He helped make her time there worth it."

I had another class, which the college president Mark Rutland, teaches. He told a story that I am writing in this blog because I want to remember it forever. He said he was going to school in Maryland. He had a teacher who was a passionate atheist. One day the teacher found out Dr. Rutland was becoming a minister, so he made him stand up in class and asked, "So Mark, you are a Christian? Do you believe God can do everything?" "Yes." "So can God make a rock so big God cannot lift it?" "Yes." "Then God can't do it!"
Dr. Rutland then said, "I wish I could go back and take that class again, and tell that teacher what I know today. Because today I could stop him at his first statemnet and say the truth that no, God CANNOT do EVERTHING! God cannot lie, he cannot break his promises, God cannot sin, God cannot quit being God!" I loved that and I want to remember it for all my life! So I am documenting it here. :)

Just a theory

Last night at ORU we had worship in the prayer gardens. It was a student led meeting to worship and pray for this new school year. It was a great event with hundreds of students and the college president's wife. Alison Rutland shared a story of praying over her bologna sandwich, when God gave her a vision. She spoke of how every moment could be a God moment.
This made me think of my time at DHS. There were things I saw that tore me to pieces, and I would have to go to the restroom or my car and just cry. I would cry for the children and I would cry out to God. Even in a state agency where God is more or less a forbidden topic, I had intimate moments with God as he dealt with my broken heart.

Then there were times I listened to God and amazing things happened. Like when deciding whether or not to stop for gas with a foster kid in the car. Just as I came to a red light and decided to get gas at the next right, I felt I was supposed to be in the left lane. I scooted into the left lane and decided to get gas after dropping the child off. Just as I got out of the right lane and was waiting impatiently for the light to turn green, a semi came screeching up in the right lane. His brakes were not working right, and he was struggling to stop. It hit the car in front, but had stopped in time to only leave a dent in the rear fender. As the two drivers popped their heads out their windows and began a shouting match, I realized that the only reason no one was hurt in the collision, is because the semi had the extra 10 feet of stopping space. I looked at the damage to the back of the car hit, and the dent in the front of the semi, then looked to the back seat of the car I was driving. I saw the precious baby girl, who had already had an unimaginably hard life in her 3 years, staring curiously at the two shouting men, and knew that if I had stayed in the right lane, her life would have ended, as our car would have been crushed.

There was another time I was going to pick up a little boy, and take him to an appointment. Before I left the office, I had been warned by his social worker, several DHS staff, and both his foster parents called to warn me, that he had severe separation and stranger anxiety, so be prepared for him to panic, hit, scream, and fight me. When I got inside the foster home he saw me and started crying. Right then I started silently praying for God to bring him peace. His foster mom then handed me his diaper bag, and picked him up to hand to me. When she approached me with the 18 month old, he wailed dramatically, but reached out his hands for me. When he was in my arms, I continued to silently pray for peace, his crying stopped. His foster mom seemed surprised that he was so content. She asked if that meant I had worked with him before(I had not). By the time we got to the car, he was giggling. When we drove down the road, he mumbled along to the songs I sang for him. When we got to his destination, the receptionist said this was the first time she had seem him not crying. I handed the child to the family therapist, and he said the boy had never gone into his arms without a struggle before. As I turned to walk away, I said bye to the boy, and he smiled and waved, "Bye".

I could ramble on with stories of way more intense things that happened than these stories, but I tell these stories for a purpose. This morning I chatted briefly with a friend about the worship night, the night before. He said to me, "It just doesn't feel like the anointing got to set in last night. I didn't fully feel God there."
I didn't have the chance to ask him, but I wanted to know, what qualifies as God really being there?! You didn't feel God there...why not?

All of these thoughts fill my head, not just on what this particular friend said, but on memories of numerous people saying the same thing. I want to shake them and say, "God is not a feeling." I think music naturally has an emotional effect on people. I can get more emotional singing a country song, "Sarabeth was scared to death cause the doctor just told her the news" than any given Sunday singing, "Yaweah holy holy." Because someone went to a service, where the music wasn't that great, or the sermon was somewhat boring, doesn't mean the spirit of God was not there.

For me it doesn't take having an emotional experience to know God is there. God is in every moment of the day...it is up to me seeing his moving. I did not have goose bumps all over me, or break out in tongues when I heard the little guy start crying. I did not hear some great revelation from the sky saying, "Thus sayeth the Lord, Ye shalt go to the left lane!" It was small, everyday, normal actions at work; but I most definitely consider them amazing God moments.
My theory is that God is moving in every action through out our day. We just don't have the wisdom or attention span to always see it. It is a lack of us noticing it, not a lack of us calling him in. Worship can have a huge emotional impact on our God experience, but again, I think the times we do see miracles happening in a worship service, it has more to do with the individual taking more time to look for that healing. For me, worship is not the time of day to serve God, it is the time of day to thank God for all he has done. The rest of the day is when the serving really happens. I was serving God by changing lanes and sparing that girls life. I was serving God when praying for peace, when the boy had not had others pray for him.

It seems to me lots of people live with the theory of needing to ask God to come to them. With that theory, they only think to ask for him to come once or twice a week during worship services when our emotions are telling us to call on God. God will draw near to those who call on him, but I'd rather walk with him through out everyday, rather than ask him to come near twice a week, and then be disappointed when I don't get into the right mood. I follow his voice when he gives direction, even sometimes with out realizing he is speaking, like how I thought I was just changing my mind on when to get gas. I could have left my thoughts as, "Oh boy, good thing I wasn't in that lane." But I chose to look for God, and knew, "Wow, if it had been up to me, I would have been in that lane."
This is why I was not disappointed with the worship service last night. Because I have a deep inner knowledge that God is with me, and I chose to see him last night. As the bible says, not just at worship services, but "In ALL your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your path straight."

These are just the thoughts running through my head, and I may end up disagreeing with myself in the future. But I am curious what others would say about this. If you disagree, well then I hope you'll at least enjoy some pictures from my week :)

Only at ORU

He has two eyes, he has two feet, he sleeps by day, stalks by night.
I am sleeping more or less comfortably tonight on a friend's dorm room floor. I was screaming while running around the whole building earlier this evening. A fire alarm went off in another dorm building, and I greeted each person as they exited the building with, "Hi, I'm Anna, I'm homeless too." All this, because of a bat.
I was in my room talking with my roommate Jonnah, when her jaw dropped and she asked if I just saw something fly by. We popped our heads out into the hall, and something swooshed past us again.
Word quickly spread through out the entire floor, a bird had invaded our dorm building. Screeches and squeals filled the air, when I announced, "That's not just a bird, that's a bat!"
Cameras were filming around every corner as our screaming turned to loud laughter. Then the worst thing happened. The bat was trapped in our room! We waited over 30 minutes for security to arrive. Shortly before they did, two girls got sick of waiting for security, and went in the room trying to find it themselves. They couldn't find it!! Security got in there, went through all our personals, climbed on top of everything; the darn thing was no where to be found! Finally everyone gave up and decided it must have found a way out. Everyone calmed and dispersed to various places they were supposed to be. Jonnah and I were left there wondering, "Do they really expect us to be ok sleeping in there with that thing?!" And thus we were both to chicken to be in our room, we found different people's floors to sleep on.
And that folks, is how a bat made me homeless at ORU. Oh and how about that awkward moment when you are sleeping on a friend's floor, and you have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, and accidentally lock yourself out of their room and have to wake them up to let you in :3 Ok, I admit I did giggle just a tiny bit at that!
Speaking of awkward moments, how about being at Walmart and asking an employee some questions about a product and they act like they have no clue. Ok, ok, so actually, I saw a man in a uniform with a name tag. Went up and asked him some questions about a product, and he honestly did pretty good a BSing an answer. But still I could tell he didn't know much. I thanked him for his help, but started to walk away thinking, "Jeez, Walmart doesn't train their employees very well." That is when I had the gut wrenching epiphany, that his name tag did not say Walmart on it! Ha! Oh Anna, Anna, Anna, the trouble you get yourself into.
I failed to mention why I was at Walmart. That is a story in itself. I had my laptop sitting on my bed. My cell phone was on top of it, and they were both plugged into an outlet, charging. My phone rang, and I hurried to answer it. The cord wrapped around the laptop, and sent it flying when I pulled my phone. There was a loud crash, followed with the violent homicide of my faithful laptop. Rest in pieces my friend, rest in pieces.
9 months ago when I sat up in bed in the middle of the night to fill out an ORU application, because a word from God, I had no idea what when I got to Oklahoma all this would happen in my first week. Only at ORU have I been stalked by a rodent with wings, scared a poor guy into trying to answer computer questions, catapulted a laptop, been the culprit in a computer homicide, and been stranded with only a friends floor to sleep on.

What a cool day!

Today at ORU was the "Welcome" Chapel for all new students and their families. I have moved into my dorm, and get along great with the girls on my floor.

After Chapel, my parents and I drove about 20 minutes away, to check out an address of a person who was possibly my step dad Steve's cousin Paula who he lost contact with 20 years ago. We pulled in the driveway, and as Steve was about to knock on the door, a young man opened with a "Who the heck are you?" expression. His mom followed and Steve recognized her almost immediately. He got all excited when he said, "Hi I'm Steve, your cousin."
We had been nervous about how the meeting would go, as no one had seemed to have contact with her in a very long time. But she squealed with excitement and gave him a hug. We sat in her dining room with her for a good two hours, and she and Steve got all caught up. She said at the end of the visit, "There's some people I need to give a call to reconnect."

When we left Paula's house my mom and Steve both needed to get some new sandals. So we stopped at DSW shoes. It was a fun visit for me, and even better, we got Italian food for dinner afterwards.

After Italian food, the parents went to church with me at Victory Christian Center, right across the street from campus. We were all suprised, and my mom and step dad were ecstatic, when we found out the church was having a guest speaker, their favorite preacher, Keith Moore.

When I got home from the service, the girls on my floor were having a party in the largest room. It was half an hour of being silly and singing loudly and over-dramatically while flailing...ehem..dancing around. Overall, Sunday was a very memorable and fun way to spend my 2nd day on campus.