Life is Good

I hate that it gets dark so early in the evening now. It's strange that it's dark at five now. Super strange.

Today was my cousins husbands fathers funeral, and I spent the majority of the day helping my mom set up the dinner that they were going to have following the ceremony. The dinner itself occupied the majority of the day.

Following that we traveled back to the house where we've proceeded to sit in the living room and watch movies. For the most part it's been a productive day, at least to some extent. Tomorrow we plan on going to visit Riley, something that I definitely have to do before going back to school tomorrow evening.

Hopefully that situation can work itself out.

To some extent though going back to school is exciting. I am really excited for the month ahead. In the next two weeks the semester will wrap up and in the week that follows I will nail down my final GPA. I think I'm going to finish this semester strong, and as a transfer student that is a major accomplishment.

I'm also super excited to get to go back to work over break. I've missed it more than I ever really could have imagined I would. I miss the people that I worked with, and to some extent I miss the work that I did. I was on top of things when I worked there, I had two years of experience and therefore felt competent at my job.

It's exciting to get to return to that. Over this break I'll get my new drivers license and I'll have the opportunity to hang out with some of my best friends. Life right now, despite any stress or pressures I may be feeling, is good.

Writing Style

This seems to be a common problem. I think about the fact that I need to blog, and then fail to do so when I'm thinking about it, AND THEN midnight rolls around and I've failed to blog. I've done this enough times now, that you think I would have learned my lesson by now.

Apparently I'm a slow learner.

I finished reading Mitch Albom's latest book, "Have A Little Faith". It was so good. Although honestly I adore all of his books. He writes in such a straight-forward manner that it is easy to let yourself get lost in the story. His writing style is similar to Anderson Cooper's. Each of them write in a very clear and simple way.

They say what they mean to say without being overly showy about the way that they say it. That is the writing style that I strive for in my journalism career.

It is officially Saturday morning. I have gotten all of my letters asking for support in my trip to Mexico put together, and just need to mail them in the morning. At some point today I'll be blogging again, in penance for lessons unlearned.

Thanksgiving Day

Today was Thanksgiving, and it was an interesting day to say the least. In fact it could have been less interesting and that would have been fine with me.

As usual we had Aunts, and Uncles and Cousins over for the usual family dinner. We watched the Detroit Lions lose, at a delicious meal and just generally enjoyed each others company. However, unlike most family dinners, we had the weight of my nieces disappearance on our shoulders. Her other grandmother dropped her off at her friends house last night, and then this morning she wasn't there and wasn't answering her phone.

At one point this afternoon I drove into Tecumseh to see if I could find her at one of her friends houses there, and didn't have much luck with my endeavour. Thankfully she finally turned up this evening, though really the trials are just beginning. For the moment we are praying for the strength to weather this present storm.

In other news, I have now determined that though I can drive on empty for sixty miles, seventy-three miles is clearly too far. I most definitely ran out of gas as I was driving to get gas this evening. Dad had to bring me gas, which didn't end up doing the trick, so we then had to use the mini-van to push my car to a local gas station.

It has been an interesting day. At the moment we're watching "My Sister's Keeper", and just taking it easy in general. We shall just have to wait and see what tomorrow brings.

Awesome is the Word

Today was awesome, I love being at home!

By coming home from school last night, I skipped my classes this morning, but I could definitely afford to do it. The prospect of extra time spent here at home was just far too enticing. Plus, the way that I figure it my GPA is in good shape at the moment and so there's nothing to worry about.

This afternoon Sarah and I planned to go to Cabela's but first I stopped the The Book Abby, a local used bookstore. I picked up one of the two Mitch Albom books that I'm missing. Hopefully at some point while I'm home I'll manage to pick up the other one at another used bookstore. Maybe I'll finally go visit the one down in Toledo that I've been planning to visit.

Anyway, Sarah and I went to Cabela's and it was awesome to get to see everyone. I really do miss working there. It's strange to find yourself at a place in your life where you are content with where you are, and yet missing what you had. I frequently find myself caught in that conflict.

But, I did get it set up so that I can go back to work after finals. Call me crazy if you like, but I'm excited to be going back to work. It'll be awesome!

Resources and Advantages

I definitely didn't realize how close I was cutting it to my deadline tonight. I guess being at home will do that to you. I delved into Mitch Albom's new book earlier today, and I think that I'm going to take tonight to finish reading it. It is a really good read, although in general Albom's books are so really it's not that surprising.

I got the chance to talk to the parents about doing Spring Break in Mexico, building houses. In general the response was the one that I was expecting. I asked Dad if he'd be opposed to the idea, and he said that I was old enough to do what I wanted.

Therefore, I'm planning on going to Mexico for spring break.

It's an excellent opportunity to use the resources and advantages that I have to help someone else who doesn't have those same resources and advantages. God put us here to help and love each other, and I think that 's something that we often forget, or choose to forget.

It's important to remember to be thankful for the things that we have, and prepared to help those in need. It's easy to complain about the things that we don't have and wish we did, it's more difficult to be aware of how fortunate we really are.

Day Trip Mission

Saturday was awesome. A few of us from His House traveled to Detroit, and spent the day interacting with the homeless population there, offering them food and clothing, as well as prayers and encouragement.

We went there in a capacity to offer them comfort and a helping hand, but ultimately they ended up teaching us some valuable lessons to. It really was an eye opening experience, because it put a face to the blight of homelessness. It made the issue more personal. Being there and in the moment made the issue clearer I think.

It became less of an abstraction and more of a rooted reality at least in my mind.

When you consider homelessness you understand it logically as being a horrible circumstance, but when actually confronted with the reality of it you come to realize how much we really have and how often we take it all for granted.

It puts our struggles into perspective.

We first met at the mission that we were working through with the group that had come from Central, and once we had all met up there we caravanned to Comerica Park. As we were making our way there, at one of the corners we were driving by there was a homeless woman standing on a corner.

It was amazing to watch the group in the car ahead of us hop out and give her one of the bags that had been brought to hand out. Her face lit up, she was so happy to get that bag. It was really beyond words, and most definitely the perfect way to get started.

Once we met up by Comerica Park, we got into a circle and prayed together before splitting into smaller groups. With maps in hand we split up, and began to comb the streets of downtown Detroit.

We were there to pray for them, and yet the first group that we spoke with wanted to pray for us. They were so appreciative of the fact that not only were we there to provide them with what resources that we could, but also that we were willing to acknowledge them. We took the time to speak with them, and lend them our ears.

The first group was a fairly large one, and so we left the majority of our bags with them. We then walked some more, and met with a woman who we offered a few sandwiches and some water. She wasn’t interested in being prayed for, but we were more than happy to be helpful in what ways we could.

Our last bag we gave to a man as he was riding by on his bike. Unfortunately we weren’t able to speak much with him because we were standing in the middle of the street.

Once we had handed out all of our bags we met back up with the other half of the MSU group as well as the few from CMU that had been out with them. From there we went and got something to eat, and were able to talk and watch a portion of the MSU v. Penn State game that had just started.

It was going on four thirty or so when we started back to the parking lot to meet up with everyone else and get ready to leave. The walk back was really amazing. We were making our way back, and had one bag left among us, and a man from across the street called out to ask if he could have the bag.

So he came over and we gave him the bag, and then a few more people came over and though we didn’t have any more bags a few people in the group had just enough leftovers to provide for them.

Then one of the men came over and said that he had heard that we were offering to pray for them and he would like us to pray for him, so we all got in a circle and joined hands to pray for him and a second man that came over to be prayed for.

It was just really touching to be able to be there and see what a difference it made in their lives for us just to be willing to be there and speak with them. You really get a sense of how often people walk by and don’t think about it, they are so caught up in their own world that they aren’t aware of the suffering of those around them.

It was eye opening, and most definitely something that I think I’d like to be a part of in the future. This is the kind of issue that I want to be able to champion and make people aware of. I think I’m starting to get a greater sense of what exactly it is I need to do with this education that I am pursuing.

Break Time

I think I've managed to round up all of the information for my third out of class story in JRN 200. Now it is just a matter of sitting down to actually get the piece written for Tuesday.

I've got time. I'll get it taken care of.

Lit/Cultures was actually kind of interesting today. Mostly it was interesting because people actually participated in the conversation and there weren't as many awkward silences. Although there were a lot of people absent today, so the class being smaller probably had a lot to do with it.

Most likely that's the case. Thankfully though the semester is almost over. I'm really ready for this Thanksgiving break. I'm a little burnt out on school and continual deadlines. I finally managed to finish reading "Liar". Now I just need to get a review written and posted for the SpartanEdge. I'm going to make my quota of three post this week and that is exciting.

Same Old Story

So I'm definitely glad that I checked the syllabus for my Lit/Cultures class. Apparently there was some reading to do for tomorrow, and the movie needs to be watched for next week. Or one of the next few classes anyway. Unless he combined some of the lessons and I misunderstood.

That's possible of course.

At any rate I have managed to get half of the reading done, and will hopefully have the other half read before I decide to get some sleep. I think I've studied enough for my JRN 108 exam in the morning. It's all multiple choice, so it should be fine.

In fact, I am very close to having things squared away for the break. I think that by Monday night I should have everything caught up to a degree.

Laundry definitely took longer earlier than I was anticipating. Thursday seems to be a popular laundry day. But at least I've got that out of the way. I just really want to have things caught up before going home for Thanksgiving. I'm excited about getting to go home and hang out with my family, especially since last time I was home I was so sick.

That was awful, though I guess if you're going to be miserably sick that home is the place to be.

No Homework?

My goal is to be caught up with homework to the point that I won't have to bother with it over break. The idea of being able to go home and not have to give school a second thought is incredibly appealing. Especially since it is so hard to get motivated to work on homework when I'm at home anyway.

As I write this I'm sitting in Lit/Cultures and am so lost. I miss calculated what I needed to read in order to be prepared for class today. We're talking about subcultures, but the way that the prof is trying to present the idea isn't very effectively spurring conversation. That is the way that class usually goes though, so I'm not certain why it's surprising every time.

Thankfully all we have to do for Friday is watch a movie. That will be simple enough, or at least it should be.

When I wrote the above earlier I didn't know yet what I wanted to write my final out of class article on for my JRN 200 class. I just finished filling out the tip sheet though, so hopefully that goes well. At any rate I've written down an idea. I'm much further along than I was.

Things To Do

I bought the new FlyLeaf CD earlier today! It is awesome, I'm really enjoying it.

I seriously need to get some reading done for class tomorrow, but it's reading for Economics so I'm really not motivated to go about doing so. Then of course there is the continued drama at home. Can I say, for the record, that my sister is being a moron.

You can not throw around the fact that you are thirty-seven years old and then act the way that she is. It is not acceptable to act like a juvenile and then expect the people around you to take you seriously. Not to mention that she is completely taking for granted everything that Dad has ever done for her. Dad has done nothing but support her and she's throwing all of that support down the drain.

It is unbelievably frustrating. I need to read.