The South Vs: The North

Don't be fooled by the titled; I'm not talking about the Civil War. No, this is simply a comparison. After looking over my blog this morning, I realized that it's been sometime since I've written something. So why not take some time and write about a topic that's been on my mind for quite a lot the last few weeks. The topic of what are some things that are different about the North and the South.

I have lived in the South for almost a year and a half. WOW! Has it really been that long? I guess so: a short time compared to the 18+ years that I lived in the Northern part of the United States. Being in Georgia the last 18 months has given me some time to notice three things that are so different from the North that it has taken me months to get used to them. So for your enjoyment and hopefully a good laugh, here they are (in order of increasing interest to me)...

1. Shoes
When I walk in to any house, I immediately take off my shoes. I was taught this at a young age. You never wear shoes in the house. Why? Because what you have on your feet has just touched the ground outside. And this ground is dirty, wet, snowy, muddy, you name it, and you wouldn't want to track any of that into the house. So naturally, when I moved to the south and entered a house, I left my shoes at the front door. But I soon found out that I was the only person walking around with no shoes on. When a southerner walks into a home, they leave their shoes on. Why this is so, I do not know. But, I have given in to this trend and while it is still habit (and preferred) for me to take off my shoes at the doorway, I will keep them on when appropriate.

2. Make-Up
I wore a lot of make-up when I was in late middle school to early high school. As I matured, I toned it down to just what I needed. My first year out of high school, I would only put it on when absolutely necessary. Now I go to UGA and have realized that women, and even young girls in 6th grade, wear SO much make-up. And I am NOT exaggerating. It's amazing to me how beautiful the women are in the south, but also how much make-up is on their face. Even when I did wear lots of make-up, I was never one to wear foundation. It clogged my pores and my acne is bad enough as it is without something else helping it to get worse. Down here, I see the girls from far away and envy their seemingly perfect, acne-less skin, but upon getting closer, I realize it is all only an illusion. What seems to be perfect skin is nothing short of the Covergirl liquid make-up that is hiding the blemishes that the sinful world and bad genes has cursed us with. Unlike the shoe issue, this is one area that I will not be conforming to (at least not everyday). I wear the occasional full-face of make-up (complete with foundation, blush and eye-shadow) for special occasions such as parties or church functions. But my everyday wear will still consist of only mascara and my special lipgloss (which at the moment is only chapstick). I want people to be looking at me for me, seeing the beauty within, not because my Neutrogena powder is covering all my facial flaws.

3. Food
Let me tell you a story. Last Saturday night I went to an engagement party with two girls from my Bible Study for the woman who led our Bible study. The time of the party was 6:30pm, right around dinner time. I was tempted to eat before going, thinking that I might get hungry while being there, when I stopped myself. "What am I thinking. This is the South. There will be food there." In the south, everything seems to revolve around food. You will never go to a party or a function without there being food (and people wonder why there are so many fat people in the south...hmmm). Now, I'm not just talking about chips and dip or cookies and candies; I'm talking about an actual meal. In the north, at least what I experienced, if you went to a party, ya, there would be food there. But the extent of the food in the north is just what I mentioned. Snacks: chips, dip, candy or dessert. In the south, it's a full meal, or enough that it could be a meal. At the engagement party I went to, it was a meal. Salad, pasta, bread rolls, mashed potatoes, roast beef, and even shrimp. I was talking to one of the girls that I went to the party with and told her about this difference, that this was not the norm in the north. She could not wrap her mind around the fact that if you went to a party in the north, there just might not be food.

I've been out of the US before. I went to Europe for 10 days with my grandparents and my cousin. I went to Panama for an 18 day mission trip with my Church in WI. I've been to Mexico and Canada. I have even spent a month in Brazil with Impact360 last January. People always talk about experiencing culture shock when going to or coming back from a foreign country. I never have...until now. Living in the south is a culture shock. And it's not like the year ends and I get to go back home where I'm used to everything. No. I live here now. This is my new "normal."

The Red and Black

Around the UGA campus are red newspaper bins In these red newspaper bins is the University newspaper that is free for anyone passing by. As one reads "The Red and Black," as the paper is so appropriately titled (because UGA colors are red and black, for those that did not already know), the reader will find numerous amounts of opinion articles that are written by various students that write for this paper. As always, keeping with the USA history of free speech, the writers can write about any topic they please. And boy oh boy, have there been some interesting topics (ranging from, of course, the football team, to the economy and even marriage and sex). Readers of The Red and Black are able and encouraged to write letters to the editor about any article featured in the paper, whether they liked it or disliked it. All letters appear online, and some get published in the paper. So last night, after reading an article, I decided to take advantage of this opportunity. I have posted the article, as well as the online version of my response below (although, my letter did get published in the paper).

Article:
Restrictions on vows
by: Stephanie Jackson

Marriage isn't fair.
To some it is a security blanket, to others, a religious duty.
But to me, marriage has always been a joke.

At least, that's what I thought a year ago. I was young, single, and starting my third year as a journalism student at the University of Georgia. I had no ties to religion, hated fancy clothes and would have died if I had to put all my relatives in one big room. Marriage wasn't on my mind.

My two best friends back home in Alabama, ideologically similar to me in many ways, had the same views.

My best girl friend had already started a family with her immigrant boyfriend. She knew a marriage proposal would only lead to legal issues - government officials asking for the dirty details on the truth of their love. She's a stubborn girl. There was no way she'd go through something other couples didn't have to.

My best guy friend already had the marriage decision made for him - he's gay, and that's not exactly legal where we're from. Never mind that he's been in a long-term committed relationship. He'll have to settle for moving in with his boyfriend.

But now, one year later, I don't know what I think. I'm about to hit the one-year mark in a very committed relationship and I'm only two months from graduation. I'm at that point where all my friends are asking me when, not if, my man and I will tie the knot.

But while I get to throw passing glances at bridal magazines, what do my old pals get?

They get to prepare answers to personal questions for a government official. They get to avoid the glares of "traditional" neighbors who don't like the idea of men living together. I always said I'd live in solidarity with them, that I'd refuse the traditional trap of marriage until it was fair for everyone.

But something still draws my eyes to those magazines.

It's not the ring. I've still got enough of my old hippie standards to oppose wearing a rock dug out of the ground by human slaves on my finger.

It's not about my foreign-born boyfriend's legal status. I'm not as stubborn as my girlfriend and there are much more legal ways to get citizenship than marriage.

It's definitely not the social status. My friends alone prove that you don't need a license to tell you it's OK to start having children or live together.

I'm torn because I know the real benefits of marriage. It comes with filing joint taxes or with sharing the health benefits offered by a spouse's job. It comes with adoptions rights, if we want them.

A recent New York Times article explained how a same sex couple could spend up to $469,000 more in their lifetime than a heterosexual married couple, simply based on the loss of benefits and the lack of social security credits. The numbers would be similar for any non-married couple.

My boyfriend and I can have that long-lasting love without a ring. But without signing a piece of paper, the man I plan to spend my life with might not get to make important medical decisions on my behalf if I'm ever too incapacitated to do it myself. Not without that damned ring.

Obviously marriage isn't for everyone. Not legally and not emotionally. Is it for me? I don't know.

- Stephanie Jackson is a senior from Birmingham, Ala., majoring in newspapers and English.

My letter:

In response to Stephanie Jackson’s column, “Restrictions on Vows” (Tuesday, November 3rd).

Since when has marriage become all about “joint taxes” or “sharing the health benefits”? Should the fact that a heterosexual couple can save “$469,000 in their lifetime,” compared to a same-sex couple, be the reason we get married? When did marriage, a lifetime commitment of “love, honor, and cherish…’til death us do part,” shift to just a way of saving money and making important medical decisions?

Marriage is not a “traditional trap.” The desire for that intimate relationship is what “draws eyes to those magazines.” Marriage is a gift given by God! It is a oneness that is just a small glimpse of the relationship which God longs to have with each one of us. It is love, commitment, and intimate companionship that should drive us to pursue marriage, not money or any other worldly issues.

-Catherine Holt
Freshman, Bishop
Dietetics

Science and Christianity

This is an short 1000 word essay that I had to write for a final in my Freshman Seminar class. The topic is "Science and Christianity According to X." X being the person that is writing the essay. So basically, this is my view of the relationship between Science and Christianity, in a short 1000 words. I thought I would share...

“In the beginning, God...” (Genesis 1:1a) What a perfect place to start, and that is, in fact, exactly where my beliefs begin when it comes to the topic of Science and Christianity. I have lived in a Christian home all my life, born and raised. My dad is a pastor, my mom homeschooled my siblings and me until we were in high school, and I became a Christian myself when I was just shy of five years old.

I have been always been taught that God created the world and have known all the Bible stores since my elementary years. Even though some young adults doubt the existence of God when they leave the nest, I have never, always believing that the world was created by God. I have, however, had the chance to develop my beliefs for myself and not just take my parents’ word for it. This is my take on the link of Science and Christianity.

First, let me define what I mean by a particular term that is overused in this age. The term is Christianity. Most Americans, if asked, would say that yes, they are indeed a Christian. But just because they go to church, sometimes only at Christmas and Easter, try to do good things, and give to charity, by no means makes you a Christian. A true Christian is one who is “saved by grace, through faith…and not of works” (Ephesians 2:8-9) solely because of the work that Christ did on the cross 2000 years ago. This is Biblical Christianity. That is the foundation of where I am coming from when it comes to relating Science and Christianity.

My beliefs about the relationship of Science and Christianity begin in the book of Genesis. It is quite simple. In six days God created the world and everything in it. He spoke one word, and it all came into existence. I guess you could say that I somewhat believe in the “big bang,” but my version is different from the evolutionists. I believe that God said “light” and BANG, there was light!

God made man as well. He made man out of the dust of the ground, and from His very breath He made them come alive. Adam was the first man He made, and out of this man Adam, and his wife Eve, would come the rest of the human race. I believe God made Adam as a full man from the first second of his life. No evolution from ape to Homo sapiens occurred.

The theory that man evolved from an ape to a human over billions of years is insulting to me personally and should be to everyone else on the planet as well. This theory says that we are no more than animals that just happen to live in houses made of trees instead of the tree itself. Why would anyone like that idea? It gives us no purpose to life except one of working to make more money so we can enjoy the next pleasure. Realizing that the universe was made by a God that gives us a purpose, to glory Him and expand His kingdom on earth, brings so much more to life than just going through the motions of everyday life. Without Him and a purpose, our goal in life is, to quote one of my favorite shows, House, to simply “live as long and as well as we possibly can.”

There are two bits of data that I encounter on a daily basis that prove to me again and again the existence of a Creator God. The first is that our world has a system of order. When I look at how everything works together and makes sense, it makes a statement to me that this world could not be an accident. How else would a bee know just how to pollinate a flower? How would birds have the knowledge to fly south when it starts getting cold during the winter in the north? Being in Chemistry this semester, I am currently studying all the trends of the periodic table. There is a tremendous system of order in those one hundred plus elements. Their placement on the chart shows so much order in and of itself. Without a God that created this world to have order, how else would all of those elements fit together perfectly according to atomic number and with all their properties following specific trends based on their placement on the chart?

The second evidence, of a Creator God that I see, is in how the human body works. So much goes on underneath the skin that only the medical field can discover. Just the thought of toe nails growing, blood clotting, and the miracle of cells dividing to create new human life is enough to make me marvel and worship at the One who created it all. There is so much detail in the human body for it to be an accident. This could only be the work of some higher power. For me, that higher power is the One true God of the Bible.

To me, science and Christianity go hand in hand. It is true that you cannot prove God in a lab, but you cannot disprove Him either. Studying the sciences is all about the great adventure of learning the handiwork of God. I find it a great privilege to be allowed by the owner of the Earth to be a steward of all that He possesses. I learn more about my God and the relationship between Him and me, which I call Biblical Christianity, when I am learning about His marvelous creation.

I feel sorry for those who believe in such a system of random happenings that brought about the earth by accident. I personally could not live without the belief in a God that wants a personal relationship with me as well as having a purpose for me. As a popular song states, “I don’t want to go through the motions.” I believe the Lord has given me a passion for science, particularly the biological sciences, with His purpose for me being one in the medical field. The rest of my life will be filled with the combination of Science and Christianity, and I am so excited to see what that is going to look like.

Family Pictures

First Week at UGA: TGI FRIDAY

This picture is very appropriate of how I felt as I left my last class on Friday afternoon. It was not a bad feeling, more like an overwhelming feeling, and not in a bad way. I love my classes and am looking forward to continuing them, but the weekend is ALWAYS nice.

The only classes I had Friday were Math from 12:20-1:10pm and English from 3:35-4:25PM (the times are so weird, and since high school I'm still trying to figure out why). I did some work the could hours between those classes, and then after, my dad and little sister met me at the student center to see some artwork on one of the walls done by a guy my dad knows. From campus we went to a pizza place in Athens called Stevi B's. After filling ourselves up on an assortment of pizzas at the buffet (and when I mean assortment I mean that they serve any pizza you want them to make, from taco pizza to macaroni and cheese pizza to blueberry pie pizza for dessert), we headed to the movie theater for a cheap show (Athens has a "dollar theater" that shows movies for $2.00 a person). We saw "Night at the Museum 2." Besides one or two cuss words and a few kisses, it's an excellent family film, hilarious and I think almost better than the first.

So, that's my first week of college. From memories and food, to glorified God and cars being towed, you have heard it all. There are so many more days of college that I have left (especially since I am a Chemistry major and will be pursuing med-school in 4 years), so continue following my blog as I try to keep my life interesting enough to blog about.

5 days down, a whole lot more to go...

First Week at UGA: Towing THURSDAY

10:00am. I leave the house and travel down to campus via my black honda accord which I am absolute IN LOVE with! With absolutely no place to park I once again settle for a "visitor's parking" place at a nearby apartment complex (same place as yesterday). I then proceed to walk up Baldwin street and then down Sanford Drive, turning in to the Miller Learning Center before walking past the football stadium. I sit myself on a bench outside of room 148 as I wait for my anthropology class to begin. Two girls come and sit next to me, and I can't help but overhear their conversation. One of the girls is talking about the class she just got out of, a woman's studies class, and she is speaking very highly of her new understanding of being a woman while also discussing her favoritism of feminism (I smile silently to myself as I am very much against the feminist movement). Her friend next to her pulls out a small book from her backpack entitled "Human Evolution," and their conversation slowly moves towards the reading of that book. As I hear their conversation continue, I am able to put two and two together and realize that they are both waiting for the same anthropology class that I am, and that reading this "Human Evolution" book is the first assignment of the course. "OH NO! What have I gotten myself into."

I enter the room, introduce myself to the professor and the TA, grap a syllabus, and settle for a seat in the middle left side. More students slowly trickle in, the room slowly fills up to about 150 people. Before beginning the class, the professor asks for a show of hands of all the freshman in the room; my hand goes up along with only about 4 or 5 others. Even though the class is "Intro to Anthropology," most of the people there are older than I. The professor started by talking about our place, as humans, in time and space. He proceeded to draw on the board a timeline of the beginning of the word starting 5 billion years ago. As a Bible believing Christian, I take the account of Genesis more literally in that I believe in a young earth, that God created that earth and that He took six 24-hour days to do so. I believe the earth is between 8,000 and 10,000 years old. So, because of all this, I do not believe anything that my teacher is saying when he says that vertebrates evolved around 3 billion years ago, and then humans somewhere around 500 million years ago and so on. However, I am still frantically taking notes and drawing down everything bit I can of the timeline. I have started reading the Human Evolution book and find it fascinating and very interesting, even though my point of view is on the complete opposite side of the spectrum. If anything, this class is going to help me think about where the "other side" comes from as far as the beginning of the world. Before the class was over the professor told us to write and essay about our views on this timeline. I am always looking for ways to talk about God around campus, and this essay was yet another way for me to do so. I am very excited about this class and can't wait until Tuesday morning when I get to go to it again. I do ask for your prayers in this that if I ever get a chance to challenge something in class that I will able to do it with love and respect but at the same time speaking truth!

After class was over I walked back to the place where my car is parked, technically illegally parked, only to find it not there. Yes, it had been towed, as the title of this blog says. I call my mom and to make a very long story short, my dad came and picked me up, we drove to get my car, and had to pay $125 to get it back (the place gave me a free t-shirt though) and I've actually already worn it. The quick summary of that might make it seem like it was no big deal, but in reality, it was HUGE to me. I was bawling and was actually really scared. My dad said it's just another experience of my college days to tell about. Now, I don't have to worry about a parking spot because I was able to purchase one for the whole semester for a very reasonable price. And guess where there parking spot is...in the very same apartment complex that I got towed from. Except this time I have spot 104 in the back and a sticker on my car to make it legal. No more parking worries!

After getting my car back and cleaning up my make-up from crying so much, I went back to campus, parked in my own spot, and studied for a few hours at the student center. I went to Chemistry class that night, and afterwards, went and played glow-in-the-dark ultimate frisbee at the intramural fields at UGA with The Connection group. My team didn't win, we actually lost miserably, but I did launch a scoring throw as well as make a few good catches. It rained that night, and that's when I ended up wearing my free towing shirt. I got home later that night and washed off my dirty, grassy feet because I played barefoot. I was really glad to climb into bed that night.

4 days down, 1 to go...

First Week at UGA: Worship WEDNESDAY

Wednesday looked very similar to Monday with one difference: no Greek class. My anthropology class took place on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so today consisted of Math, Freshman Seminar (the class about C.S. Lewis), and English. All of this ended around 4:30. I walked back to my car (today it was parked in a "visitor's parking" place in a apartment complex just 1/2 a mile from my last class, thankfully it didn't get towed) and headed to Jittery Joe's a Five Points for some iced coffee and a bit of homework doing (it's only been in the last year that I've started drinking coffee; I hated it before, and now I love it).

I realized this day that even though I love technology, the computer, internet, phone, all of that, I really prefer the traditional way of doing homework, with pencil and paper. At UGA, and I'm sure many other big universities, most assignments are being done online now. Oh sure, you can use pen and paper to do your work, but you enter all your answers and submit your homework through a program online. The reason I don't like this is because I can get the right answer on paper, but when I try to enter it into the computer, it can say it's wrong. The key is to enter it in the exact way that the program wants you to enter it, and figuring out what way that is can be tricky. I hope I don't have this problem when it comes to my first quiz on Wednesday (those and tests are also done online).

I sat in Jittery Joe's for a few hours, doing math homework, slurping my iced coffee and doing a little reading, until it was time to head to The Connection. At UGA, there are many Christian campus ministries that I've heard good things about, so for this month I've decided to "ministry hop" until I find one that I want to commit to. The Connection is one such ministry that is connected to a local Baptist church in the area. The people that night were very friendly, and I really enjoyed the speaking! Next Wednesday night I will attend Wesley ministry, with the Methodist Church (an IMPACT360 alumnus from the first class is on the leadership team at this ministry). So, in case you didn't know, there are actually two IMPACT360 alumni at UGA, me, a freshman, and Abby D, who is a senior this year and graduating in May.

3 days down, 2 to go...

First Week at UGA: Taco TUESDAY

My first Tuesday at UGA began by meeting a few friends for lunch. At 11:45am, I walked into Barberitos, a southwestern grille and cantina, at 5 points in Athens and was greeted by friendly faces. One of those faces was a fellow IMPACT360 alumnus, Zak Ellison. As was tradition on every Tuesday at IMPACT, Zak wore a plain gray shirt with the word "Tuesday" spray painted on it. Not one to break tradition, Zak, once again, wore his "Tuesday shirt" this day! He said, and I quote, "in a world of uncertainties, it's nice to have a constant." Zak, who is from Athens, is attending Columbia International University (CIU), in South Carolina, this fall.

One of the things that IMPACT likes to see happen is for their students to spread all over the globe. The class of 2009, my class, is doing a great job at that. With Zak at CIU is Mark Barrett. He and Zak were roommates at IMPACT360. We have two alumni that are going to Liberty University, Emily Rettig, from Maryland and Cameron Ford, a Missionary Kid from Ukraine. Bekah Babb, also a Missionary Kid from Ukraine will be attending Taylor University. My roommate, Morgan Reynolds (Sharpsburg, GA), will be at Lee University in TN. From the class of 2009 there are three students attending the Kings College in NYC, Corinne Cordasco (Virginia), Tiffany Owens (NC), and Bethany Pickett (TX). Also joining those three in NY are two alumni from the class of 2008. Brittany Shadburne (TX) will be attending Berry College in Rome, GA. Ashely Culpepper (Hamilton, GA) will be at Moody Bible Institute. Her roommate, Katlynne Shields (KY), will be at Union University, along with Josh Whitson (McDonough, GA). Amanda Sanderson will be staying in her home state of TX the rest of this year and will be joining the Navy next year. Catherine Olson (IA), Ali Erickson (Hamilton, GA), Katie Hamrick (FL), Bekah Hagan (AZ), and Nathan Cook (Marietta, GA) will be staying in their home states as well for college this year. Alex Berner (Tyrone, GA) will be attending College of the Ozarks in Missouri, and I, of course, am at UGA! As for our Student Living and Learning folks, Brian and Bethany...they got married!!! I was honored to attend their wedding in June, and a few weeks ago, they moved into their apartment in Marietta, GA. Brian will be working at a Chick-fil-A in Atlanta while Bethany attends graduate school.

Now that you have the 411 on my IMPACT class of 2009, how about my second day at college. After lunch was over, I studied for a while before my Greek class at 2:30. I once again had trouble finding a place to park. Today's spot: a small neighborhood off of Baxter street where many other cars were parked, so I assumed it would be okay; I took the last spot. After Greek, a friend from church who is also in my Greek class, invited me back to her dorm room. Once I arrived in Church Hall, her dorm, we both dropped Greek and added different classes. Why?, you might ask. Well, we got a second look at the work load and decided that it was going to be too much for us to handle our freshman year and with all the other classes we were taking. We both decided to take it at a later time when we could devote more time to it. The class that replaced it for me: Intro to Athropology. I will talk about that class on Thursday.

6:30pm. I enter a HUGE auditorium where at least 300 people are seated. This is my Chemistry class. I'm excited because I loved Chemistry, but I also know it's going to be hard work. At 7:00 there are still 45 minutes left of class. The professor is already finished with all the syllabus explanation, and he begins to lecture. Even though I haven't had any science since my junior year in high school (at least 2 years ago), all the stuff about molecules, atoms, elements moles and joules starts slowly coming back to me.

It's 8:17pm. I walk in the door, hungry, sweaty, and tired. First a bowl of cereal, then a nice hot shower, and I'm in bed.

2 days down, 3 to go...

First Week at UGA: Memory MONDAY

Before I start talking about classes and my day on the 17th of August, let me mention a little thing I went to before school even started: a PARTY! It's called "Phi Slam." (www.phislam.com) Phi Slam is a privately owned and operated fraternity (Phi Sigma Lambda). A group for about 7 guys lives in this fraternity and about 2-3 times a year they put on a party that is open to any student that wants to attend. These parties are alcohol free and are an alternative for students, particularly freshman, who want to avoid the college drinking scene. Friday night, August 14th was the back-to-school pig roast. And they did just that...roast an entire pig. There was barbeque, chips, pickles, and to drink...gatorade! Just looking around, I would have to say that there were at least 500 students, most of them freshman. I met so many people that night, and I was very encouraged by the number of professing Christians that were there. I went home so excited because even though this is a liberal, secular college, there are still people, my age, that are hungry for and seeking after the Lord!

This is the first part of a 5 part blog entry that will capture all my experiences during the first week of UGA. So begins, Monday!

As I left the house to go to down to the UGA campus, my mom said "you're a little bullpup." Even though as soon as you go through orientation at UGA they give you the title of a "Bulldawg" (that is correct spelling in Athens), I feel so young and inexperienced at college life, "bullpup" is a more correct title for me, for now.

Monday afternoon at 12:20 marked the beginning of my college career. It was very appropriate that my first class turned out Math, my favorite subject. Because I have not had any math since my junior year in high school (a grand total of 2 1/2 years ago), I scored very low on the math placement test. The result, being placed in pre-calculus. But after 3 days of it this week, it is starting to come back to me.

After journeying from Hardman Hall, the Air Force ROTC building where my math class is located on Soule Street , I walk down DW Brooks Drive where it deadends into the Chemistry building, the place I will be spending most of my time in the next 4 years because I am a Chemistry major. However, at this particular time, 1:25pm, I am not attending a Chemistry class. Until 2:15pm, I will be sitting in a small conference room with 15 other students in a freshman seminar entitled "C.S. Lewis: Science and Scientism." This class explors C.S. Lewis's views on Science by reading his book That Hideous Strength, the third book in his space trilogy. Being a big C.S. Lewis fan, I did a paper on him in my freshman year of high school and am already thinking about studying abroad at Oxford where he studied and taught, this will most likely be my favorite class of this semester!
2:15. I take a right out of the Computational Chemistry building and start walking down Cedar Street. I eventually turn right onto Sanford Drive, the street that is home to the ever popular Sanford Stadium where the Bulldawgs play "between the hedges." Memories of earlier days start flooding through my mind. Like how, in Wisconsin, every Saturday when there was a Georgia football game on TV, my mom would be playing all the Georgia fight songs on the kitchen cd player as she mopped the floor or cleaned up the breakfast dishes. Although I was annoyed then, thinking my mother was insane for being so obsessed about GA football, I am now greatful for those songs being forcefully carved into my memory. Now, when I attend my first GA football game, I will being able to sing and cheer along. As I look down onto the field (I am not the only freshman doing so), I see the workers cutting the grass, cleaning the bleachers, and testing the lights. Again, it takes me back to high school when my mom and I walked around campus one game day trying to get tickets from those that were selling them (it's hard, by the way). Games are usually sold out! The thought never crossed my mind that 4 years later I would be walking the same route as a student and passing by that famous place every day on the way to my classes. God certainly has a sense of humor!

Sanford Drive takes me right to the entrance of Park Hall, where the English and Classics Department is located. It's 2:30 and time for Greek 1001 to begin. I have wanted to learn Greek for a while, mostly for the ability to be able to read the New Testament. First assigment of my college days, memorize the Greek alphabet, pronunciation and letters, both capital and lowercase. It took me almost two hours that night to do so, but now, I can drive down the streets of Athens and know what each fraternity and sorority are called just by a little glance!

At 3:10pm I go, no where. The next and last class I have on Monday is English Composition in the same building. After walking all over campus from class to class, I am glad to have 15 minutes to just sit outside the classroom. I have really begun to enjoy writing, which is probably one of the reasons I started this blog. Academically, IMPACT was mostly reading and writing, and I'm hoping that doing it a lot this past year helps me in this course. This class was also the first place I was able to talk about God outloud so far this day, the rest of the day I hope I was speaking through my actions.

4:25pm. My day ends with a mile walk down Lumpkin to 5 points and a little up Milledge to a neighborhood where my car is parked (I haven't yet received a parking permit). As I think about all that's taken place in the last 4 hours, I am a tiny bit overwhelmed. I hate the first day of any class because the dreaded syllabus is handed out. My "achiever" mind thinks "I have to do this all right now," completely forgetting that the semester doesn't end 'til mid-December. "Oh wait, no, I have 4 months; take it one day at a time."

Time management is going to be a big thing to get a grasp of this year. I am not working a job this semester, and I am being very careful to what I commit to doing as far as activities, groups and clubs go. I will save that 'til Spring, after I get used to what being a college student is going to be like.

1 day down, 4 more to go...

Is it August already?

Looking back on the time since IMPACT ended, time seems to have gone by really fast. But also looking back I know there were those days and weeks that seemed to just drag on and on. This summer I worked full-time as a Nursing Assistant at a nursing home just 1/2 a mile up the road from our new house (pictured below), which by the way, I love! I worked night shift (11pm-7am) at this place. So, working those hours, you can imagine that I had to sleep during the day, which proved to be very difficult for me. I have been tired a lot this summer. The job has been hard, but I learned so much. I made a new friend and was able to buy a car (pictured above) and pay for my first semester of college all by myself with the money I made. One of the things this job taught me was that I am definitely not ready for the full-time working world. In time I believe I will be, but I think I'm going to stay in school for at least six years to avoid it as much as I can. (hehe) As of today, I am done working there full-time for the summer. I have decided to not work very much during the first semester of college. School comes first, and I want to get used to my schedule before I commit to doing to much.



Speaking of school, I as of this week, I am an official University of Georgia student! I have the ID to prove it! I had freshman orientation Monday and Tuesday and while those two days were spent hearing about stuff I already knew about, I walked around campus realizing this is where I will spend the next four years of my life. I fell in love! The campus is absolutely wonderful, and the more time I spend in Athens, the more I love it! I registered for classes on Tuesday and in addition to taking some core freshman classes, math, english, chemistry, I will be taking a freshman seminar about the plants of the Bible as well as beginning my study of classical Greek! Classes start August 17th!

I have two more weeks before classes start. This week is going to a real summer consisting of getting some stuff done before school begins, like buying books, getting my car completely fixeds up, and relaxing by the pool. A beautiful tan, here I come. A week from tomorrow I leave to go back to the IMPACT campus in Pine Mountain, GA for an IMPACT alumni reunion. I am so excited to see my fellow IMPACT students, from my class and the past two classes. What a perfect way to the end the summer and begin a new chapter in our lives!

The One with the Little Sayings

I want this blog post to be thought provoking. These are from some books on my summer reading list.

From the book The Imitation of Christ by Thomas A Kempis:

"Lord, let everything be in accordance with your will. Give what you will, as much as you will, and when you will. Do with me as You thing good, as pleases You best, and is most to Your glory. I am in Your hand; guide me according to Your will. I am indeed Your servant...how I wish I could serve You perfectly and worthily."

"Your slowness in turning to prayer is the greatest obstacle to receiving My Heavenly comfort."

"When you think I am far away, then often I am nearest to you."

"Nature regards the outward characteristics of a man: Grace considers his inner disposition. And while Nature is often misled, Grace trusts in God and cannot be deceived."

"The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to be won hereafter." (Romans 8:18)

"The deeper he descends into himself and the lower he regards himself, the higher he ascends towards God."

"For those things which men regard as commendable are often blameworthy in My sight."

"Let this be your constant desire-that whether in life or death, God may at all times be glorified in you."

"If you can win complete mastery over self, you will easily master all else. To triumph over self is the perfect victory. For whoever so controls himself that his passions are subject to his reason, and his reason wholly subject to Me, is master both of himself and of the world."

"Without the Way, there is no progress; without the Truth, there is no knowledge; without the Life, there is no living."

"...so neither can anything you give Me be acceptable without the gift of yourself."

"I have given My very Body and Blood to be your food, that I may be all yours, and that you maybe mine forever."

"The more completely a man renounces worldly things, and the more perfectly he dies to self by the conquest of self, the sooner will grace be given, the more richly will it be infused, and the nearer to God will it raise the heart set free from the world."

"For were the works of God readily understandable by human reason, they would be neither wonderful nor unspeakable."

From the book Knowing God by JI Packer:

"What makes life worthwhile is having a big enough objective, something which catches our imagination and lays hold of our allegiances; and this the Christian has in a way that no other person has. For what higher, more exalted, and more compelling goal can there be than to know God?"

"What God does in time, he planned from eternity. And all that he planned in eternity, he carries out in time."

"If our God is the same as the God of the New Testament believers, how can we justify ourselves in resting content with an experience of communion with Him, and a level of Christian conduct that falls so below theirs?"

"He cannot change for the better for He is already perfect; and being perfect, He cannot change for the worse." -AW Pink

"Living becomes an awesome business when you realize that you spend every moment of your life in the sight and company of an omniscient, omnipresent Creator."

Past, Present and Future

It's been quite a while since I last wrote. Since then, lots has been going on. For one, Impact is over, and I have moved back home with my parents. Mommy and Daddy just closed on a house in Bishop, GA, about 10 minutes away from where we have been living the past year. We are currently in the process of moving. This house is a huge blessing to us. It is just one of many "God moments" that have been happening to me and my family the past month. I want to share those moments with you. So here it goes...

Impact graduation took place May 8. I moved out and back in with my parents the following day, May 9. Three days later, Tuesday the 12, I had a job interview at a nursing home, a half a mile from our new house in Bishop, GA. I got a job as a Certified Nursing Assistant. I took the semester class through my high school in my senior year. I started working full time Monday, May 18.

Monday, May 11, I was driving home from running errands and my cell phone rang. I was greeted with the message that I had been moved off the waiting list to full acceptance to my number one choice for a college. Which one is that you might ask? I am proud to say that this fall I will be an incoming freshman at THE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA IN ATHENS. It's really cool to be going to the same college as my parents went to, as well as many of my aunts and uncles. The more I am in Athens, the more I like it.

Just that news was a tremendous gift from God in itself. What comes next is just icing on the cake. I petitioned to get in-state tuition and was approved (without in-state tuition, we couldn't afford UGA). I also asked to be exempt from the rule that freshman have to live on campus and was also granted that request. This saves us a lot of money in housing cost as well as not having to pay for a meal plan. The result, I will be living at home this fall!

As far as my future plans (you've already been told the past and present part of this blog), I will be majoring in Chemistry with a Pre-Medicine interest. The fact that I can even pursue this major is a God thing as well. All other colleges that I was looking at did not have pre-med. The only way I could do this degree program was through UGA. After my four years of undergraduate work, I will mostly likely attend a medical college in GA, Lord willing, that's the key phrase. The ultimate end goal for medicine study is in obstetrics.

God is so good! I can't say it any other way. It's been neat the past couple of weeks to see these things fall in to place. Even though moving away from WI last year (wow, it's almost been 1 year that I've lived in GA), looking back I can see God working in it all. I have seen that no matter what the cost, following Christ is worth it, even if you can't see it all right away, or even on this earth.

I now present to you...IMPACT360 class of 2009

I'm Not Gonna Cry
a parody by Joshua Whitson

Sunday Shoes, Homeward Bound
The whole town gathered around
9 whole months now it’s all comin' down to this.
I scanned the crowd and it fills my soul
My best friends all here in rows
No turning back, Now its time to walk that line
This tassel is gonna turn
But when the moment passes by
We’ll just walk away
Then slowly grow apart

But I’m not gonna cry, no
Not one sad or happy tear
I’ve waited my whole life
To come by friends this dear

It’s a bittersweet goodbye, but I’m not gonna cry

Sunny Days, Frisbee Games
How we loved and how we played.
It didn't matter who won or lost,
Only how we played,
Memories as good as gold,
909 and GNOs
Racin' down 27, to Callaway,
Sure we made a little trouble,
But learned from every mistake,
So there's no regret,
We've done the best we could

So I'm not gonna cry, no
Not one sad or happy tear
I've waited my whole life
To come by friends this dear

These have been the best months of my life
So I'm not gonna cry

It's been a winding journey
Not one soul lost along the way
Still we've hung in there through the tribulations
Now its time to celebrate
It's our graduation day

So I'm not gonna cry
Not one sad or happy tear
I've waited my whole life
To come by friends this dear


This has been the best day of my life, so I'm not gonna cry

It's a bittersweet goodbye, I'm not gonna cry

End of the Year

WOW! I can't believe that in less than a week I will be graduating from IMPACT360. Time goes by so fast. I don't know where I would be without this program. It scares me to think the kind of person I would be without the 20 other students, that you see in the picture above, as well as the staff. God has put these people in my life at this time to use them to help me be molded into the woman he wants me to be. I am so thankful for this privilege he has allowed me to be apart of.

Once in a Lifetime trip on "Moo Force One"

My morning cup of coffee
Outside of the CfA private jet.

Flying in the cock-pit.
Dan Cathy and myself
Our first CfA stop in New Jersey.
The second CfA, in Baltimore, Maryland.
Playing in the play-place (Ranson, West Virginia).
A CfA, "It's My Pleasure" cookie (Ranson, West Virginia).
A CfA truck (I want one!) - Ranson, West Virginia
Dancing with the cow (Ranson, West Virginia). When I left, he told me to "Eat Mor Chikin."
Dan Cathy, myself, and Mark in the early am outside of the new CfA after the grand opening.
Dan Cathy playing his trumpet to awaken the first 100.
Before bed in the playhouse.
I guess someone took this while I was sleeping!
The first one to go down this slide!
Walking on the red carpet into the CfA jet.

This entry is a bit overdue, but I can still write about it. I had a special opportunity, along with three other I360 students and two staff members to take a trip with Dan Cathy and Chick-fil-A for an overnight to a grand opening. I have one word for this trip…abso-tively-posi-lutely-super-de-duper-enormously-once-in-a-lifetime-opportunity-incredibly-fun trip. I’m pretty sure that Dan Cathy needs to adopt me so that I can do this all the time. We were on the go the whole time (we were in 6 states in one day, if you count flying out of GA), traveling all over the place, talking to so many different people! It started out at 6am Wednesday March 4th. We got in the vans and drove to a small airport in Peachtree City where “Moo Force One” (the name of the Chick-fil-A plane) was taking off from. From there we took off around 10am and flew to Philadelphia,Pennsylvania. En route we flew over DC, and saw, from the plane, the Air Force Base where the President flies out of. We also flew over Baltimore and saw the smoke from the tall buildings on the horizon. We saw the Potomac River and the DC airport as well. I got to sit in the jump seat of the plane for the last half hour or so of the flight and listen to all the chatter and see how the plane is run. I kept hearing the word Wisconsin over and over again, and Dan Cathy (he flies the plane) told me that it’s the name of an airline that was in the air at the time. Special huh? (especially considering I'm from Wisconsin) Upon arriving in Philly (there was snow on the ground!) we were picked up by the operator of the Chick-fil-A that we were going to visit. The CfA was in New Jersey, so we crossed the border by car to visit it. The purpose for being at this CfA was to encourage and spur on the operator as well as his team because this CfA had only been open for about a month and a half. Driving to and from the airport, I sat in the front seat with the operator, and we had some good conversations. Throughout the whole trip I felt so privileged to be a part of the CfA family…and now I really want to work at one this summer (an application is in progress right now). Even though I had met the operator of that CfA just that day, we still talked about different things as if we had known each other for a long time. The next place we flew to was Baltimore, Maryland. The CfA we visited there had been open for about a month. After Baltimore, we stopped in Ranson, West Virginia for a grand opening there. We flew over the mountains, and I saw them out of the nose of the plane because I was in the jump seat from take-off to landing since it was only a 20 minute flight. We didn’t stay in Ranson very long because our final stop was Manassas, Virginia where we were spending the night. A CfA grand opening is such a fun event. The first one hundred people who get there by, I think, 6pm and stay there all night until 6am, they set up tents in the parking lot, get free CfA for a year (or 52 free CfA meal coupons). They had lots of games and then a time to ask Dan questions. We got to be on his radio show that night and talk a little about Impact and how the program has affected our lives. I slept inside the CfA playground, well, the little play car to be more specific. Then we woke up at 5am to get ready and dressed for the grand opening at 6am. The workers bang pots and pans as they welcome the first 100 into the store. The people receive their coupons, a shirt and then some chicken strips for breakfast. We headed back the airport around 8am that morning and were back in Atlanta by 10. I was very tired, but it was all worth it. From the plane coming back, we saw the Atlanta airport, as well as the CfA corporate offices. Throughout the whole trip, I was amazed and inspired by Dan Cathy’s servant heart, and leadership. He truly lives out the SERVE model that we’re learning at CfA corporate and he is the ultimate example of a true leader that serves. I feel so proud and honored to be a part of this great organization.