back again

It's been a while now.... I've been back at Gordon for about 3 weeks and there is SO MUCH SNOW!! My body went through major shock coming back here :-( I miss California too much! Another storm came today and it was such a pain because I forgot to wear a hat or hood.

Why am I here??

But I know the answer to that question. I am glad I came to Gordon... I just can't really see myself living in a place that gets this cold in the winter for the rest of my life. Maybe if I have a winter home in a warm place LIKE CA....the New England fall and summer is pretty nice...

So I've started singing in my Church's worship team! Yes, another little thing to add into my schedule but it's very different from Catacombs because we use mics and it is something I've really been missing. I sang in choir lots in Congo and my church in SC and sometimes led worship with youth or sang solos up front in church growing up.... so it's been a while but i am back at the microphone :-)

I've also started working for Deirdre's (the lady I work for 1-2 times a week) father-in-law who is 89! He has put together a book of his favorite quotes or little stories from his life and it was printed up but in the wrong order and some things have to be changed/fixed, so that's my job! I go over to his house with my computer and edit everything for him. He thinks I'm a genius and a "very smart girl"... which to him is very unique these days. I disagree and say I'm not that smart but he reminds me that I've lived overseas with my parents and not many people in my generation have even left their state of birth! I'm not gonna lie... I'm trying very hard to be liked because he's a really generous guy, and he's old and ... maybe he'll sneak me into his will! NO!! -- JUST KIDDING! :-) That's horrible. But whenever I tell people what I'm doing now they're like "oh! that's awesome! Maybe he'll put you in his will!" ... one can only dream.
The first day I went over there he wasn't really sure what to do with me or how I could help so he said "I'm just gonna pay you $30 for your trouble of getting over here and I'll drive you back right now." It was weird but I couldn't complain! :-0 That's a little example of how nice this guy really is. And he's still so sharp/with it! He drives this little Subaru around everywhere... with his walking stick in hand... and remember, he is 89!

There isn't much else to say right now but I am back and I am going to try to keep this updated a little better now.

Classes are pretty good -- I don't have many! So it's a nice change.
later.

so i'll crawl underneath my blanket

Today was a hard but good day. Woke up at 7 to go to the gym with Koto...showered, had devos, rode my bike to work at Deirdre's, played with her dogs, did some expenses and filing, copying, and stuff like that.... not difficult at all but then i came back, had my 3 classes in a row, got to my 3rd class and realized i had COMPLETELY forgotten to read for it! We have quizzes every day on the reading for that class so i really have no clue how i would forget to read. Pretty funny. I totally made up answers and i don't think ANY of them were right... sigh.... Why can't i be blessed with the gift of BSing? ;-)
It's also homecoming week so i've been dressing for points and today we had some blow up bouncy thingys outside -- like an obstacle course (almost a bounce house but better), a blow up wrestling ring "king of the mountain" type thingy, and another one with a bungy cord. I tried it all except king of the mountain. The obstacle course was great fun:-) And then we got ice cream sundaes and cheesecake. You gotta love the Gordon Student Association.

Oh and Chester's Place opened this week too!! (Gordon's alcoholic-free "Pub"/student hangout) Named after some very rich donor's cat. The Fowlers. They gave gordon lots of money so now we have a student hangout named after their cat. Wonderful. Shouldn't we have their cat roaming around the place then? Or at least in a cage? That would be nice. That would make it so much better. :-p It really has a "pub" feel though. It's all dark wood, hardwood floors, wooden booths (that are very hard to slide into because they're made for very skinny bodies), a small fireplace, big mantlepiece, wood ceiling,... i can't describe things very well tonight but yeah it'll be good to have.

Oh man. This was such a slacker week! Yesterday I accidentally slept through my first class!! I woke up to my suite mate timidly saying "Eva? Oh sorry! Did i wake you?" and i looked at my phone and it was 11:15!! My class was at 9:45. OOPS! First class of the year I've slept through! But it has to happen at least once a year i think. I dunno i guess i've just been extremely tired. .. .

EVERYONE IS SICK! 3 of my friends (one of them is my roommate so that's not good) at least! So I'm taking my Vitamin C and garlic hoping not to catch anything. Koto has bronchitis! Ah! This would be the WRONG weekend to get sick because KATE IS COMING!!!!!!!!!!!!! She and Andy are driving down from Maine tomorrow.... meeting us at Rainforest Cafe where 18 of us are going to be having a little BIRTHDAY DINNER for Koto and Charlotte:-) i can't wait!! It'll be so fun! And Kate'll be here til SUnday night or monday morning so I'm so happy. Haven't seen her since MAY!

I'm really scattered right now so I'm gonna keep flying randomly through my life/week. I've gone 2 or 3 weeks in a row now with Koto going to the gym at 7:15am MWF. It's been SO great to workout so early. It's such a nice way to start the day. Yeah it's HECK waking up but once i am up it's happy. And then I get back to my room and shower and read my Bible...sometimes I have time to journal too. So that's been extreeemely nice.
I have a LOT coming up next week work-wise. Not looking forward to it at all but it will be Quad break next weekend which means i'll be dropping 2 classes!!! My 2 lit classes will be done but then of course i'm picking up sociology so it'll only feel like i'm dropping 1. Anyway though, I studied/worked for 4 hours straight tonight because i have 2 papers, 3 exams, and a big presentation all next week beginning Monday. YUCK. Environmental Science is kicking my butt and we have our 2nd exam on monday! not happy. the rest of the stuff like my presentation and paper for Nobel Lit should be good. It's kinda a fun project we're doing.... and then my other paper is just a "journal..." and the lit exams should be easy. So i'm not TOO worried. It's just science that I worry about I guess.
Why is Gordon so hard???

I picked the songs this week for Catacombs with Colby and we're singing some great stuff. I got to pick the "theme" too ... based on what's goin on in my life and what God's been showing me and telling me. Oh and we have a violinist now too! Which is AWESOME!!! So I can't wait til Sun. night. :-)

Okay Enough Random Rambling For Now!
I'm gonna try to get some sleep after watching the most recent episode of Pushing Daisies. The cutest show ever, but probably very bad for me to be watching these days. It just makes me sad.

I need You

SO! Today I found out that I made Catacombs band!!! (Just when I thought all hope was lost....)
I am so thankful to God. I have been wanting to get back into worship leading since leaving Congo. I needed another place to be involved. Too much free time is very bad for me right now. You can probably figure out why.

If Ever - Damita

At this point in my life after all we've been through
I can't see myself living without you
For you to just walk away without having anything to say
It breaks my heart I cant make it through the day
If you ever really loved and everything you said is true
I need you to show me
I need you

Chorus:
If ever (if ever i needed)
I needed (if ever i needed)
You surely i do need you now (surely i need you now)
If ever (if ever i needed)
I needed (if ever i needed)
You surely i do need you now (surely i do need you now)

Just like I need the air to breathe
Just like the birds need the trees
I need You here to say you'll never leave
Just like the day needs the night
I need You as my guiding Light
You're all I need in my life
Cause with You I can do anything
Yes anything with You
I really need You
I need You

So,...now what? :-)

I went to the chiropractor today.
It's been great, I started going at the beginning of Aug. because I found out my insurance covers it! I have had a pinched nerve in my right shoulder for about 4 years so i finally got x-rayd everything to see if there is something bigger going on. Not that you need to know all this, but basically, i have lost most of the curve in my spinal part of my neck, and that has thrown everything off. So I've been going almost 3 times a week to this chiropractor and it has been really helping! Anywho, I rode my bike there today and I told him I had been swimming and was hoping to be on swim team or was at least considering it and seeing if i had time for it... .and he raised his eyebrows and looked very concerned and said: "Umm... I would definitely limit that right now."
And "limit" means going less than 3 times a week which is what I have to do right now to be able to be ready for swim team when it officially starts. We have 3x a week optional practices right now plus dry land training on the other 2 days....and I shouldn't be doing any of that I just found out. "Limit the arm over head exercises."
I have been praying so much that God would lead me and help me know where to get involved and how much time to put into different things. I am disappointed but at the same time, not at all, that I can't do swim team. It is kinda nice having a good real legit reason to not commit to the team. The chiropractor says I shouldn't! And if I can't be in the pool right NOW 3 times a week because he says my muscle is tryin to heal, i will never be able to catch up to the team and start swimming 6 days a week in October. I think I would ruin myself [shoulder].
So it looks like I've made my decision. Or God has. I can't swim. I'm physically not capable.
I really wanted to challenge myself and see if I could really do it. Balance my time between studies, swimming, work, friends, ministries, and alone/God time....but it looked impossible.... I was gonna try anyway.... But now God has shut that door.
I'm grateful in a way though. The pressure is off. I can commit to other things without worrying so much. I am definitely doing dance ministry now, and I am still praying that I got accepted into one of the 2 worship bands I auditioned for.

Well, I made 2 call-backs! And I've already been to the call-back auditions so now I have to sit and wait. and pray more.

I'm so excited for this year and what God has for me. It must not be swim team, so lead me God! I had a rough start with Orientation and other things in my life, but I am doing okay. I know that God has a plan, and I know He has His reasons for everything that's going on. He fills my loneliness, He takes away my sadness, He is there every minute of every day when other people can't be.
My joy is in Him. And I can trust that whatever happens, He worked it out that way and He just wants me to live for Him, live IN Him, live With Him.



the pictures you see are a few of my close friends (top left), my great roommate Emily on the right, and then me with Charlotte, my great suitemate (on right below the previous).

life begins again!

I'm back at Gordon!!
Actually, I've been here for a while. Half a month!
I moved in early to do Orientation staff stuff... so I had a week of training, then moved in freshmen, had my own "Crew" of freshies, and went into boston with them, met up with them lots, hung out,..... etc....
It was a lot. VERY crazy and I probably will never do that again! There's a lot more to say but I won't right now.

Classes started on the 27, and I'm doing 18 credits again. So far, I'm surviving okay. I am a little worried that I'm trying to do too much though. Besides classes, I will be starting up work again (for Deirdre, the high school consultant) on Tues./Thurs. mornings. I have chapel 3 mornings a week and I'm supposed to go to at least 2 of those 3.

I told Becky I'm gonna try to do dance ministry with her... it's basically dance team, but we do more ballet/lyrical/modern style dancing than the dance TEAM.

I am trying out SWIM TEAM until Oct. 6 (Oct. 6 is the day we have to COMMIT...give it a yes or no and start training 6 days/week!)... so for now I'm doing 3 days a week (with the team..."captain's practices") and 2 mornings a week (just with my roommate). It's pretty intense. I have no idea yet if i'll actually be able to or want to do it when it actually starts up for real.

Tonight I had my first audition for Catacombs band. Catacombs is a Sunday night worship service, and ever since last year I've been wanting to be up on stage singing with them.... last year I only made call-backs, so I'm hoping for better this time around! If i get IN, they practice one day in the week and 2 hours on sunday before performing.

Tomorrow night I audition for CHAPEL WORSHIP band! If I don't get into Catacombs I really wanna do this, so I'm hoping for the best. I don't really know which one is better for me or if I am supposed to even do either one. But I'm praying a lot about all this.... all these opportunities,... and trying to not commit to TOO much! I do have lots of homework obviously these days.

I think if I get into one of the worship bands then I will say no to Gospel Choir this semester even though it was really fun. The thing is that it fell apart 2nd semester and barely existed. Gospel choir basically consisted of me and my 2 best friends. We were the only ones dedicated enough for it. This year apparently they had 30 sign up, and they emailed me to ask me to come back. I guess if I don't get into one of the bands I will do it. It isn't THAT big of a time commitment and it's fun as long as lots of people are in it and serious about it!

I have no idea how I'll do all this, but God is strong and so far it sort of looks like everything will work out. Will I have a life? No..... will i ever have free time?? Probably not. :-) We will see how this goes.

The audition tonight I felt like went awesome.... so I'm hoping tomorrow night goes the same!

I'm excited about my classes this semester/quarter.... I have Journalism I, Public Speaking, Nobel Lit: Poetry and Drama, Western Lit: Homer-Shakespeare, Sociology (doesn't start til 2nd quarter), and Environmental Science (the only one i'm not liking at all). Pretty intense schedule but once this quarter is done, both of my lit classes will be finished!!!

By the way-- the big news is that my family found a place in Pasadena, CA and are living there while they're on furlough!! I'm so happy for them and so excited to get to visit at Christmas!!

OKAY-I need to run to bed but I just thought I should update a little!