Classes

So the past few weeks have been kind of demanding and stressful. I have spanish at 8 in the morning and its getting harder to wake up every morning. And then I have a G.E. class, political science on Monday and Thursday which is kind of difficult to understand and follow since I am not too into politics, some days we have interesting discussions though. And then I am taking two religion classes. The first one is History of Christianity, supposedly our class is the best class my teacher has had because we talk a lot and help with the discussions, however, I hear that the professor grades really hard, actually he has told us so, so I am worried about how the tests will go but for now it isn't too bad. And the second religion class is Acts of the Apostles. It requires so much reading. I am stressed out just thinking about it. I have 4 grad. students in my class and it is kind of funny because all of the undergraduate students in there are intimidated to talk in class because the grad. students are so knowledgeable about the topic. It is hard but I try to force myself to ask questions in class, hopefully the teacher will now I am trying. Those are my classes.

This past weekend I had to go to this Coptic Orthodox Church for my History of Christianity Class and it was interesting to say the least. The girl that set up the place to go said that it was only 2 hours long so we decided we would go there, the Coptic Church. However when we got to the liturgy we learned that it was a special service that was honoring the cross so it ended up being the whole 3 hours we were trying to avoid. And they stand the majority of the service, probably like 2 hours and 45 minutes of it actually. The priests and deacons chant all of the prayers and hymns and it was really funny but I had to hold in my laughter. It was tough to stand the whole time, my feet began to hurt. We had this hymnal book and we were trying to see how much longer the service was going on by flipping through the pages but it was in English/Coptic/Arabic and they kept jumping around the book which made it difficult to follow along. Part of the service was in Coptic, some form of Egyptian or something and it was really odd. The priest gave a good sermon though which was very practical, I found it to be easy to understand. I expected him to give a very theological sermon and I was happy when he didn't. When we did have a chance to sit down I was almost falling asleep, it was hard to stay awake because the liturgy was so long, and the hot building didn't help. At the beginning of the liturgy the priests walked about with this thing filled with incense and at the end the priests threw water on people in the congregation, it was entertaining. After it was over we exited the auditorium by rows starting with the front. We were sitting in the back and the woman we were sitting with the whole time answered some of our questions, she was very nice. The priest handed us homemade bread at the door for the people that didn't take communion and it was really good. It was a very weird but good experience.

My Dorm Room- Junior Year

Last week my dad and I drove out to California. Below is a picture of the long road ahead of us. My dad and I put my room together, he was excited because he helped put together a girls dorm room. I thought it turned out well. We bought a TV, worked out, watched monk and psych, and ate some good seafood. What a great trip.

Beautiful Summer Sunsets

I LOVE SUNSETS!!!!!! These were taken in Marble Falls, TX, somewhere in between Fort Worth and SA on 281, and Africa. God makes glorious scenes.

Wedding Bliss

I got to be in my first wedding this summer. Kelsea and Eric got married on August 1st. It was such a pretty wedding, we wore pink dresses and we carried calilillies (misspelled). The wedding was outside and it was very hot. Here are some pictures I took at the wedding.....

Some of my art...

I painted these in Nashville on a mission trip with the freshman class. I really liked them and thought I would share them with you. The baby one I did first because I didn't really know what to paint when I got there and this is what I came up with. The girls I was with made fun of it but I thought it turned out kind of cute. The leaf one I copied from a scrapbook magazine and the one with the cross is my favorite because I put my favorite verse on it!

AFRICA (these are long over due)

Lion in the crater.

Krista and Theirsten and I at the Crater Lodge

At lunch on safari

straddling the equator line, in both hemispheres

a door at the SOURCE, a great place to be and meet new people

Kids in the village.

These photos are some of my favorites from my time in Africa. I will never forget the experience I had their and the people I got to build relationships with.