The View from Saturday

So it's 10:10 AM exactly, on a Saturday morning, and I am a) awake, a feat in and of itself b) not tired and c) eating dry cereal. More specifically, eating off-brand Lucky Charms.

Today is awesome because I will be at home tonight. A friend of mine (Adam) is working at Woodland Christian Camp this weekend, and he's going to be really close to my house, and he's kind enough to take me as far as Temple. I haven't been home in three weeks, and although my guy friends tease me ("It's called being independent, Elizabeth." "Yeah, independent.") there's nothing wrong with wanting to see my parents. When I was planning to go to Arkansas for school, I knew I'd never get to come home for weekends and I was okay with that. But one of the advantages of going to school closer to home is GETTING to be home every so often, and I'd have to be stupid to not take advantage of that.

Today is not awesome because I have so much stuff to DO! My Monday is chock-full of classes, study sessions, blood-donating sessions, and essays to turn in. I'm hoping to get a lot of it done before I go home so I can relax and hang out with the aforementioned parentals. Hence my 8:30 wake-up call. I'm going to go to some more homework.

- Elizabeth

Geeze it's early...

Yeah, so I'm not really the type to get up before 9 if I can avoid it, but my boss in the cafeteria asked me last night to come in and cook breakfast because the normal lady will be out of town...so here I am, at almost 6 am, no classes until 2, and I'm looking for my first (of many) cup of coffee.

Haha, but it's worth it, because I know that everyone will appreciate it. Besides, I like to cook. I've been in the kitchen since I was 14. It also feels good that my boss can trust me to get the job done, it's a lot of responsibility!

Meanwhile, I've finally found my routine for balancing classes, homework, work, friends, and you know good ol' God. There were a few days last week that I didn't get to spend time reading my bible as long as I normally do, and it scared me a little that it would be that way all semester, but now that the dust has cleared, seems like everything will work out.

In other news, ALL of my roommates are graduating! I'm so happy for them, but that means I have no idea who I'll be living with next semester. That's something I'm gonna work on, finding some other upper-classmen friends to live with. Sounds exciting!

Yikes! I gotta get started on breakfast! See ya!

- Lawrence

Hello, Hurricane!

I just finished up a chat with my friend Georgia, and sat down with a cup of coffee in the lounge. I'm wearing my pajamas already and am looking forward to a calm and peaceful night of relaxing before the week ahead of me sets in. I try to take these blogs in a literal--less metaphysical sense, but sometimes I just feel like sharing what's on my heart.

Everyone who's been... alive.. has experienced those moments of impending doom, where you can just FEEL something looming on the horizon. You know it's coming and there's nothing you can do to stop it. You have two options. One: Fall on your knees and give into the "inevitable" collapse. Two: Stand, facing this massive storm, screaming with everything within you, "Bring it on!" Prepare for it as best you can, then wait, confident and assured, resting in God's hands.

Lately, a couple of curve balls have been thrown at me, things I have no control over, things I don't need to have control over (and if they were really curve balls, things I have no hope of actually hitting). It's easy to fall back into old patterns of thinking and old habits, and more so, it's tempting beyond belief. I'm scared of what the future holds for me, and as I was discussing this with Georgia, she said, "Yeah, of course you're scared. But do you think ultimately something good's going to come out of this?"

"Two Bible verses come to mind," I replied. "First, 'For we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.' This bit in Psalms sort of defines 'good' for me, 'As for me, nearness to God is my good. I have put my trust in the Lord.'"

At the end of this school year, I doubt I will be in love or even have a boyfriend. I don't think I'll have won the lottery (kinda hard when you don't play), or have all my dreams come true. But I do think I'll be near to God. And, as far as I'm concerned, nearness to God is my good. I trust him to know what the end game is.

So, I think as I wait for the impending storm, I'm going to sing, like Jon Foreman, "Hello, hurricane, you're not enough... you can't silence my love. I've got doors and windows boarded up. All your dead end fury's not enough. You can't silence my love."

Video of the Blog Post: Hello Hurricane by Switchfoot.

- Elizabeth

Oh, Holy Night

It seems as though "Holy Night" would be something said only during Christmas time but, oh... oh Holy Night.

Last night on Twitter, roughly 9pm, I saw the status of my friend Ayiesha. She's a Christian recording artist and was doing a live chat. I absolutely love her love chats, she's hilarious, her brother's hilarious, and they always sing and do random stuff - something worth watching!

Ayiesha was recording a new song and closer to midnight they started doing Q+A and just chatting. I was doing some homework so I wasn't really paying that much attention but I saw someone who was posting about free beats. Donald (Ayiesha's brother) started playing the guys beats and talking with him, it's was pretty cool they were, for the first time, doing free promotion on a live chat.

To make a long story short, it was aobut 1am and the chat was still going on. This time mostly talking to the young guy who initially posted about his beats. At this point Donald and Ayiesha were telling him about God and salvation and calling God had on his life - the guy has crazy talent!! Let's call him C. :)

Closer to 2:00 am most people had gone to bed except for Ayiesha, Donald, C, myself and about 10 of Ayiesha's friends. Reasonable, the "small" number 10, as live chats usually last up to two hours - at the most. But wherever two or three are gathered...

Ayiesha started playing worship songs, literally praying on a live chat, we were all saying encouraging things to C and praying and worshipping in our homes. Some of us in Georgia, some in Illinois, Texas... God was moving!

I believe the chat ended at 4am. We were all tired but honestly I didn't realize it.

The last was hour was filled with praise - C accepted God into His life.

Ayiesha was playing praise songs and just slap happy!! Haha. I couldn't even stay in my seat. Literally. I have never seen something like that. Someone accepting Christ in a video chat - it just adds to the fact that it's not Facebook and MySpace and other internet sites getting bad rep, but the way they are being used.

Every Twitter update or live chat doesn't have to be praise & worship songs, but as Christians we should be ready for that because we never know who is watching, who is listening or who should be. And the way we can be ready is by always posting clean stuff, never saying things that don't line up with our morals; just always being ready.

So, at 1pm I finally woke up. Ha. Still happy about God's amazing way of working but pretty frustrated about my throat. It. hurts.

I guess I would be OK with it if I didn't have a really big audition tomorrow? Yet I'm just praying I'll get better atleast for the next 24 hours. I'm chugging Throat Coat tea, about to take some Claritin and am gonna try not to talk.

Well, hello impossible.

- Jamie-Grace

On a rainy, winter night...

On a rainy, winter night...I celebrated God's love being evident as he secured a new job for me! I work in the Institutional Advancement office part time now. Cool, huh? It's not a big important job or anything, but it feels good to be able to assist the school even more directly.

Unfortunately, it also meant that I missed the housewarming party in Gilbert Hall, and had to skip Open Mic night tonight, mainly because it was raining and I was already tired from a long day of classes and working. But it worked out kinda well, because a lot of us who couldn't make it to the party and Open Mic were hanging out in my room, getting to know each other a little better. God works in strange ways, huh?

So with this new job, I can finally relax a little on my budget. (Can you say Dwarf House?) But my free time is a little more limited, but that's just part of being in college. I have finally been to all of my classes (No, I wasn't skipping...private music lessons are kinda complicated to schedule the first few weeks.) And I'm glad to say that I've started the semester out well. Now, I'm going to finish up a little English Homework, and run off to bed! PEACE!

- Lawrence

Dear Diary

Dear Diary,

Today I went to class and it was so awesome! Dr. Blackburn turned into one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse and taught us how to add and subtract large numbers in our head. Then, I watched some upperclassmen wrestle over the last chocolate chip cookie in the cafeteria. Awesome!

I'd love to tell you about the rest of my day, but I am so tired, Diary, I'll have to wait until tomorrow.

Love,

Elizabeth

- Elizabeth

Action Packed Weekend

Hey everybody! I know it's Monday, but since I didn't post last week, I'm posting this for last week, because it still feels like Sunday because we had Monday off and I didn't really get a Sunday because I was at camp all weekend and then had a student lock-in and never got to sleep until 9 a.m. this morning. Run-on sentence much?

Anyway, that was my weekend. We left Friday afternoon to lead worship at a camp in North Georgia, and what was supposed to be a 2 hours trip turned into a 5+ hour journey full of obstacles and pratfalls! But it was totally worth it to see how God turned the disaster of being 7 hours late into part of the message that the pastor of the church we went to Sunday used. Oh but wait, That wasn't the whole weekend.

Sunday night there was a student lock-in at the church I used to go to before I applied to ACC. It was great times, and even though I never got more than thirty seconds of sleep until 9:00 this morning, it was fun to just have fun and fellowship with my old youth group and church family. I can't wait until next year!

With the first week of classes down and all of my private music lessons scheduled, this semesters is turning out to be pretty darn amazing! See ya soon.

- Lawrence

pray for haiti - a beautful cliche.

I have seen it in Facebook status, Twitter updates, email forwards and blog posts. The "cliche" Pray For Haiti is everywhere I go.

In profile pictures, website introductions... everywhere...

and it's more than beautiful.

I found out about the storm when sitting with my mom on her hospital bed. (She is recovering, but please keep her in your prayers...) I felt my phone vibrate and the Twitter update, sent via text, came through. It was from my friend Aegis (currently in Haiti with the Hands and Feet Orphanage), in all-caps stating that they were OK but a 7+ earthquake had just hit, and there was a lot of destruction around them. Seconds later the Twitter update from her husband Mark stating the same. I stood up, in shock, and immediately shared the info with my family in the room.

My sister Morgan and I had talked about going to Haiti on that trip... our tickets weren't purchased and our bags weren't packed, but it gave us the thought, "What if we were there?"

Within minutes of those Twitter updates, I got so many more. Almost everyone simply stating, "pray for Haiti" or "I'm praying for Haiti." Some even saying, "Hanging out with my friends, still praying for Haiti."

Shortly after the news came on and we were informed about the earthquake by anchors. It was crazy... as the night progressed seeing more and more updates from Twitter, Facebook and the news... the storm was serious, lives were at risk and all I could do was pray.

I'm not there, if you're reading this you may not be there so all we can do is pray.

As time has gone on there have been more and more people saying to pray for Haiti. There are also numerous websites with opportunities to donate to Haiti - also amazing. All of the bad slack and reviews social networking websites receive should be reevaluated. It isn't the amount of people on Facebook, it isn't the fact that Twitter exists, it's how we choose to use technology itself.

I have seen it in Facebook status, Twitter updates, email forwards and blog posts. The "cliche" Pray For Haiti is everywhere I go.

In profile pictures, website introductions... everywhere...

this is the most beautiful cliche.

Mark Stuart is one of the founders of the Hands and Feet Project.
https://www.handsandfeetproject.org/home.php


- Jamie-Grace

The Good Reaction

As an English major, I write--a lot. Consequently, as the picture illustrates, I revise and then I am not afraid to react! I took this photograph last summer while "reading my old fiction" that I found in an old file box containing a book I was working on back in middle school. Though it was middle school, not a lot has changed in terms of reading old work and "reacting to it." Year after year, this has always been an issue in my writing until

last semester.

Thankfully, I decided to give something I wrote a chance at a little life. Dr. Dycus, who is the head of the English department and a professor here at ACC mentioned a Literary Symposium that was coming up in January 2010 at another university. They were looking for literary submissions from college students nationwide. I thought it was a good idea, and at the very last minute, I decided to give some of my poetry a shot. Yesterday I checked my email and found that my work had been accepted and I will be reading at the symposium! I am beyond excited. I guess reading and reacting to my work doesn't always have to be negative. Criticism + Positivity can bring great results!

I will definitely blog after the conference next weekend and let you all know how it goes. Hopefully I'll bring back some good "reactions!"

- Morgan

Dear World, Sorry I Suck at Blogging

Oh, hello there, once-a-week commitment. It's nice to see you again. How have you been? I'm doing all right. It's been tough to show my face here again, I admit, but I think we should patch things up and be friends again. Are you cool with that? I hope so.

Anyway, let's focus on the positive, shall we? I've been back at school for a grand total of three days. Class was canceled today because it snowed. I'm not really a huge fan of snow, honestly, and I know I'm going to get hate mail for that last comment, but it. Is. So. Cold! At any rate, I got some well-needed sleep last night out of the bargain, so I'm satisfied.

This semester is shaping up to be awesome. I'm looking forward to my classes (because I'm a nerd). The highlights of my semester? Introduction to philosophy, beginning guitar, and concert choir. I tried to teach myself to play the guitar a couple of years ago, with little luck, so hopefully this time will stick. I like singing, and I absolutely LOVED the ACC choir's Christmas concert (saw it three times, and loved it all three) and I'm looking forward to participating. Introduction to philosophy is a bit more..... hm. Well, for starters, it's on Monday nights from 6:00 to 9:00. I'm not sure how long sitting in a room for three hours is going to be fun, first of all. But I've been looking at the text books, one of which looks almost like a philosophy for dummies book and the other is meant to be a novel, Sophie's World. Also, I think the teacher (Stephen Bain) is the son or other relation of our librarian, and Mr. Bain-the-librarian is a wonderful man, with this excellent dry sense of humor. I think I'll enjoy the subject matter, and I'm looking forward to starting class.

In other noteworthy news, lots of new freshmen moved into my hall. I've been making friends, or trying to at least, and they all seem really nice. I had lunch with three of them today and I'm looking forward to getting to know them better.

In OTHER noteworthy news, I made an idiot of myself in my preaching class on Wednesday. Dr. Strother was calling attendance, and he called someone named Kelly. There's a new freshman girl named Kelly who moved into room 1 in Upper Head, and I said so, TRYING to be helpful. Dr. Strother makes a comment about how we weren't being very friendly, to not have ensured she came to class. Literally seconds after this exchange happens, a boy walks into class. "Who are you?" asks Dr. Strother and my friend Katie says, loud enough for Dr. Strother to hear, "That's Kelly." He asks, "Are you Kelly?" and the boy responds, "Yes, sir, I am." . . .Needless to say, this is NOT the same person who moved in next door in room 1.

Right, well, I've been working on this post for the better part of an hour, with various sundry interruptions. I think I've lost my ability to blog easily. Maybe with more practice? And I WILL have more practice. We're going back to once or twice a week, blog readers, I promise. Call it a New Year's Resolution.

- Elizabeth

Back in Action!

Mastodon!
Pterodactyl!
Triceratops!
Saber-Toothed Tiger!
Tyrannosaurus!

If you haven't caught on, then you must be pretty young, or had no TV in the early to mid '90s, because Power Rangers was probably the best action TV show you could watch as a kid. And that, friends, is what my Christmas break consisted of. Lots of family, fun, good times and ZORDON.

Aye yi yi!(Says Alpha, Zordon's faithful robotic assistant likes to say) It's time for another semester! I did as well as expected last semester, and I plan to improve even from there this semester. I'm also now considering instead of just majoring in Music w/ emphasis on Guitar Pedagogy and Performance, that I'll add a second Major, Music and Worship Leadership! I think this will help me the most with post-graduate work, as well as going to further my education.

Hi-yaaah! That's what I plan to do, this semester, kick it into high gear! When I started at ACC, my GPA wasn't so great, but with the help of my professors, friends, and a little dedication on my part, I've brought it way up, and will be heading towards that 4.0 in no time! Since it's the first day of classes, I need to get organized early, so I'm gonna start on that now. Later!

Oh, and what Power-Rangers riddled blog would be complete without...

IT'S MORPHIN' TIME!


- Lawrence