Good Night

Putting aside homework (it will get done eventually, I promise!) I had quite the night. We went to a very cute little coffee shop called the Wire to here one of or fellow students, Skyler, and has band play. The lyrics were great, and his songs were very thoughtful and musical. It was neat to see the support from friends and family of all ages for them! Little old ladies smiling away, proud parents, and even younger siblings helping out with video. We came back and went to the SMF bonfire. It's one of my most favorite events on campus! We had smores (I'm quite bad it roasting marshmallows on the fire and they are super sticky but I just like to eat the makings of them i.e. graham crackers, delicious chocolates, and of course giant marshmallows) Note: we did not play the fluffy bunny game but will have to save it for another day. It is just a really fun time to hang out with friends by a warm fire and sing praise songs to the Lord, Maker of it all! Fire is also a very powerful and amazing concept. When you start to think about it, it kind of blows your mind. After that I came back and planned to just wind down and go to bed. But after two foiled attempts, for which I was very grateful, I finally made it in at 2:30. The first attempt I heard there were brownies and of course I sprang up! Gooey brownies and the movie Dan in Real Life, I figured that was a good way to the end the night. Well then a friend told me to come let him in....they had made pancakes and wanted to bring me some! They weren't just any pancakes but hot chocolate pancakes. The poor guy had to improvise to thicken the pancake batter after he realized the milk he had was curdled! Gross! Well we were just standing around talking and a few more people stopped by, it turned into a few hours and eventually sitting :) My roommate came back at about 4, so I take it she had a good night too! The other night she was sad because she went to bed later than me and got up earlier, because of homework. I think this morning was a bit more normal as I got up earlier.
Other highlights of the day:
-the amazing Chiquita banana sticker
-sewing feathers on a soon-to-be skirt in the costume shop (the bird piece)
-talking to good friends on face book chat

Taste and see that the Lord is good!-Psalm 34:8
It is finally warming up a bit and i came back from work to see that our window was open....I just love the smell of fresh air, it makes such a big difference!
Had a performance tech evaluation today and God was really good. I was very nervous but was really happy, I felt like I gave it everything I had, left it all on the floor. I'm still learning how to dance for Him alone. I tried to think of that verse for this piece. Our teacher spoke of how it's a representation of the fact that in the midst of our trials and searching God is holding our hand through it all as we serve Him each day. Maybe I'll get a copy of a rough performance of it.

Just another day

Guess what?! I am actually doing homework and studying for my Educational Psychology Midterm tomorrow. Here are some thoughts I found interesting that we tend to know but not really think about....

As for gender differences:
-girls tend to be more motivated in school but can't handle failure. boys take more risks (guess they don't think about failure, I don't know because I'm not a boy)
-boys over estimate their sense of self/ego and girls underestimate/low self-esteem
-boys like to hang out in groups and girls are just fine with one or two good friends
Self-fulfilling prophecy can make or break a child's future. I don't want to be the one who causes a kid to drop out. Words are powerful.
I just thought this was an interesting quote: "Even if I had a quick answer to your question, I would never answer immediately. That would be saying that your question was not worth thinking about."-Gilliland
The context of the quote was how some cultures see interrupting a conversation as participating in the conversation, others see it as rude or disrespectful, others see a thoughtful response as respectful.

It is a beautiful sunny day in Jackson, MS and the Lord and music has gotten me through another day. Jason Mraz has been keeping me company with "World Play" and "Make it Mine". Actually each song that has come on my ipod, I guess I haven't listened to in a while because they've all been great!

Quote found in Education Psychology Developing Learners 5th edition, by Jeanne Ellis Ormrod, copyright 2006 Pearson Education, Inc., NJ. Pg. 110

so its midnight and just recently came back from I-hop's free pancake day! We got there at about 9:30 and waited for at least an hour. Somehow they missed our name or we didn't hear it. It seemed like they called it and someone else stood up so we didn't think it was ours. The pancakes were delicious! It was so hard to refrain from picking all the other yummy menu items. I decided that it would be a great place for a date :) breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

It's all about perspective

A professor was shot at JSU.
A lady was attacked at Laurel Park.
Four car break-ins on campus and an apsire student robbed.
A family laid their Marine son and brother to rest...he was 21.
Two middle school students were shot at a school in Colorado.
A friend weeps because her dad isn't there to banter with her mom.
Fly to Florida not for a sunny vacation but a memorial.

These are the times in which we live.

Hug. Sit. Cry. Pray.



"No guilt in life, no fear in death,
This is the power of Christ in me;
From life's first cry to final breath.
Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home,
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand."-In Christ Alone, words and music by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend

Oh Canada and office chairs

Oh Canada! Canadian ice dancers take gold! So exciting....we watched as my roommate sang along to her national anthem!
Random: after working in the same office for about 6 months now, I have just realized how amazingly comfy the office chair is, maybe the officer owner got a new one. I don't know what it was but today I noticed. I bet it would've been funny to video tape because I actually sat back in the chair instead of sitting on the edge and thought, this is so nice! I just sat back, kicked off my shoes and made my calls. I was thankful for a comfortable desk chair. It's the little things in life.

The power of a book....

Today was quite the day...
Sunday school was great and though my thoughts strayed slightly from the lesson, it was great to delve into the classic OT stories. We filmed our mock show of House for our capstone project and laughed a lot. It went pretty well until someone complained that we were being too loud. Then we had small group and I came back and started laundry. First of all, the laundry room was an explosion, I guess Sunday night isn't exactly the best night for that. Secondly there were rose pedals all the way down the stairs-slightly strange I must say. Got to talk to momma and after studying some and not having to study for the same test the study group in my room was studying for, I decided to not worry about other stuff and just read for fun.
Oddly enough I have tons of things I should be doing but at the moment am taking one day at a time and if possible, I might get to bed at a decent hour tonight.
Anyway, I just love books that pull you in. This one was no exception and is still wonderful (with the distractions of school, I have been working on this particular book since New Year's)! Anyway the lady in the book made a coffee cake to help her de-stress or not worry about the possibility of losing the guy she liked and then they went on a camping trip. So my first thought was boy could I go for some coffee cake! Next I thought of the camping trip which involved hot dogs and all the best camping food. All I could think about was all those trips I took with the fam when it would always pour and we would have mac and cheese, baked beans, salad, bbq chicken, hot dogs, hamburgers....mmmm! The list goes on! Now I would really like to go camping and eat that delicious food and I can't wait 'til summer cookouts. One of my friends commented and said that you can't always get what you want which is true but I will keep dreaming because they're great dreams!

Wishful Thinking

For some reason this semester all the fun things that I would rather be doing than school keep popping in my brain, (don't get me wrong, I am so thankful for the opportunity and the school I am attending, it is just summer time blues i suppose). For example, a stay-at-home mom or just being able to do small group instead of so many other things. However, that will come in due time and yes, life will not stop or get any less busy and that's ok. We are supposed to make the most of our days anyway. Once more I caught myself engulfed in wishful thinking. I would love to watch a movie, get some hot chocolate, read for fun something that I don't HAVE to pay attention too, and go out to eat (Chick-fil-A sounds wonderful!) However, until spring break, which is actually only a few weeks away....a majority of that down time will have to be overlooked.

In other news, the music played in dance class has been so great this week! We've had Pachelbel's Canon, titanic, and some worship songs!

And just fyi, USA is racking up the medals! Hershey's Cookies and Creme candy bar and the olympics-now that's a pretty good night!

I also feel as if I should never plan to do homework on a Friday....

Happy Weekend!

Learning

It's fun to be an ElEd major because you figure out why your teachers did the things they did. Today I was reading for Ed Psych and learned two interesting things: 1. the reason why they always read after recess was to calm us down, and get us back in the mindset of school and 2. if you need to learn the difference between the letters 'b' and 'd' make a fist but leave the pinky finger up...the one on the left or the first one makes a 'b' like it comes first in the alphabet and the other second one, a 'd'

P.S. apparently the snowboarding phrase (from the halfpipe Olympics commentary)is 'go big or go home!' I think I need to apply that to dance...

Does it ever go away?

It feels like it has been so long since I have posted but it has only been a few days. Today was one of those days where you get home and just feel like doing nothing. I had been going from 8a.m. till about 7:30p.m., didn't even have a chance to put make-up on so I went all-natural. Got some summer school figured out (it's a process), got a wonderful package from home, and worked in the costume shop, among other things. I cut out lots of feathers for a bird piece the dance department will be doing. Boy I stood there for about 2 and a half hours cutting and tracing. My feet hurt and I think I was starting to get a blister from the scissors but it was kind of nice to be by myself and listen to the quiet or the rehearsal music every now and then. I kept thining of how mom had to make all these headpieces for my little ballerina friends or sew rind stones all over a costume.
Well I feel as if I am fighting off a cold.
Rudolph the Red-nosed reindeer just came on my itunes.
It has been a weird day.
I wore my chicklet earrings again and one of my guy friends was like nice earrings-I knew they were good for something ;) just kidding, but they do brighten days!
In other news, I don't think you get over the loss of a loved one. In my package I got the letter Grandpa wrote to the grandchildren and his 'In memory of' card...I read them and the tears just fell. It still hurts and yet the whole thing was about not grieving but using your time for the Lord!
Whew, what a day!

"Perhaps my time seemed all to brief, don't lengthen it now with undone grief. Lift up your hearts and share with me, for God wanted me now-He set me free."

"There is work still waiting for you, So you must not idly stand; Do it now, while life remaineth-You shall rest in Jesus' land. When that work is all completed, He will gently call you Home; Oh, the rapture of that meeting, Oh the joy to see you come!"-Safely Home

new shoes!

So I definitely have a lot to do this week and should not have spent all that time on face book; I really have to study for a quiz. Well, my 8a.m. was incredibly hard to get up for, but dance woke me up soon after. Somehow, I am sad to say, i feel as if I will have a battle with 8a.m. for the rest of my life. Well maybe not that long, and maybe actually being a teacher will help instead of going to sit in a classroom. Maybe they are trying to teach my to be sympathetic towards students in the morning. Anyway, crazy week ahead but I have new shoes which makes everything so much better! I had to throw away my most favoritist pair of shoes (yes I know that was incorrect grammar at it's finest but I just had to prove how much i loved them). Those shoes were so perfect: slip-ons, cute, and just went with everything! Anyway, I am thankful to say, I found some new ones!

Happy Valentine's Day!
Church was encouraging, a good reminder from Psalm 8-1-know that you are significant! and from Hebrews 11-what have you done by faith today?
P.S. the flower goodies are for small group girls....hope they like them!

Olympics are Here

Olympic Madness has begun! I caught the end of the opening ceremonies. I was quite surprised to see tappers and violinist in kilts. The tappers even had sparks/fire/sparklers on their taps! It seizes to amaze me that after all these years, we still have a world wide competition. It must be awesome to be a competitor and meet people from all over the world! The speech that was given about how people look up to these young Olympians and they can make a difference, really made me think. To work so hard for that chance every four years and then to succeed must be incredible. Also to have that opportunity to influence so many, well that's a high calling. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to be famous!

P.S. Annie, I went back to the three post syndrome

Chains

When I was in Naples, I was trying to help my mom untangle her necklace...a task I often find that I have to try to do for myself as well. Man, I was struggling. There were a couple of knots and at one point the chain was so fine that I thought I broke it! Well, there was actually more than one chain and I did break one of them. It was ok, but then I started thinking...I wonder if that is what God feels like with his kids. He just works and works and sometimes we can be so stubborn that we don't budge. After a lot of love and hard work, I bet He is thrilled when we are untangled. Sure, there may have been some difficult breaks along the way. What a beautiful piece of work is left for all the world to see.

2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

Remember When

As promised, the following is the post from our Memorial Weekend....


Last weekend I boarded a plane, for the first time by myself. I was headed to Naples, FL for a memorial. It's a little difficult to explain when people ask on flights, but it is quite the conversation starter and can be a good testimony. I remember thinking about if I should go to the memorial, God would have to tell me because it was going to be hard-hard to get a ticket, hard to leave school, hard to fly by myself, hard to handle death. But you know what? It was a little hard, but God made all of it possible! I didn't miss any of my classes and can now say I know how to fly by myself (maybe I'll get out to Portland soon Josh & Alli)!



Anyway, it was all very surreal. It was such a blessing to see my family again, as for some reason this semester has been harder than usual. If you didn't think about it, it was just like every other visit to Naples. Except Grandpa wasn't there. Grandma started the day with 'God is good!'. What a testimony and legacy Grandpa has left! Oh my Grandma loved every minute of the service. Though I'm sure all of us are still hurting, she just loved hearing all of the Grandpa and Ed stories!

Well, Saturday some of the cousins went to the pier that Great Grandpa built and saw all the business and houses that Grandpa's firm built. There was even a crazy car show down there that we stopped by. I bet Grandpa would've loved it, especially watching Eli give everyone the low down on the all the cars :).
Saturday night we all had pizza and shared more memories. Yes, my mascara was shot and my eyes quite swollen in the morning, and that's ok.



Naples was beautiful, 70 and sunny. I feel like it's never winter there! After the pizza the Mike Schreck family (my mom, dad, and brother) went to desert. I think the waiter thought we were a mess trying to decide what we want, and talking about anything and everything. Mom and I laughed until we cried and I don't know why but somehow it seems I laugh the hardest with her about the silliest things!

The memorial was difficult yet all the praise and glory went to Jesus whom Grandpa Schreck is praising all the more.



Grandpa, I'm working on that advice you gave: take each day one at a time, step by step! I'm also waiting for that bowl of ice cream in Heaven! I'll see ya soon! I love you!

Snow Day!

11:30 What-a-burger trip is definitely the way to start a Snow Day! We sat and talked for a couple hours and came back to visit some friends in the other dorms. We were so excited about everything after a good long bonding time that we laughed and tried not to break quite hours. At 3 a.m. we ended the night with prayer and headed home. It is so neat how God is working at Belhaven and I think we all feel it and know the power and importance of prayer! One of my friends jumped up and yelled 'yes'! at the suggestions to pray. What a blessing!



Soon after I woke to the sound of yelling and screaming as lots of Jacksonians were playing in our Bowl right outside our room. Well catching up on sleep was a lost cause but it was so worth it to catch up with friends and realize that it was STILL snowing!
We've probably got between 5-6 inches I reckon! (Sorry that Southern drawl is rubbing off).


Oh I almost forgot, during our what-a-burger run, we ran into a cowboys, complete with hats, boots, and accents due to the rodeo in town. Everyone liked Alli's Dutch rain boots, quite the conversation pieces. Anyway, I attempted homework but it's not to be done on a snow day!



We watched Full House and ventured out into the Winter Wonderland for pizza day at the caf. The day got even better because the snow is a wet snow, great for packing snowballs and it wasn't so cold that you couldn't play in it. The caf. even had a chocolate fountain in honor of Valentine's Day. Two of our Malasian girls had never had chocolate covered strawberries. One of them was so surprised that we would put chocolate on fruit, on purpose. She then put the whole thing in her mouth, leaves and all! It made me happy. I recommended she not eat the leaves.
Snow puts just about everyone in a good mood!

Then we had a snowball fight, a mini one, complete with tray fulls of snow being dumped on people. We tried to get the culprit, but our aim was a little off. To end it, we came back and had hot chocolate. Well the day's not over yet. There's the Dance Ministry Concert and Valentine's Day the movie!

I'm a little sad because I mixed up all my body positions/facings and points for the Vaganova Method on my dance quiz today. I was going to ask about it after class but then I either forgot, or thought it would be ok. Only later did I realize that I have a quiz on the same stuff tomorrow. Well I might not have a quiz because it's snowing. When it snows in the Jackson, MS, or almost anywhere in the South for that matter, everything shuts down. I might not have the quiz. I still want to figure out those positions though.
P.S. the sound of a light snow hitting the ground is pretty cool....there's nothing like it and I don't get to hear it often

So a few weeks ago I had some really interesting classes in Literature and Form and Meaning and had meant to post something about them but then forget. Since I am now having to study for their tests I figured I would post a little.....
In Literature we are studying poetry from World War II which is very depressing but very powerful at the same time. These men had nothing to hold on too and yet they kept fighting amidst hopelessness. Two very moving poems, that may even seem relevant today in honor of or getting into the mindset of what a soldier still deals with today, are called In Flanders Fields and The Target. It seems as if many of these poems were just scribbled on a sheet of paper and yet they went down in history.
Just to wet your appetite....
"We are the dead; short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields."-John McCrae
As for Form and Meaning (an art and music class) the two pieces that are really though provoking are Erich Heckel's Two Men at a Table (To Dostoyevsky) and Edvard Munch's The Scream

The first evokes various emotions most of which are impending doom. One can only wonder what Dostoyevsky had done to get the two of them into that situation.
As for The Scream, which is a fairly well known piece, the alienation is quite evident or screaming if you will. For me, I want to head the warning and remember that you never know what friends are going through our how they may be feeling. As a teacher, one should pic up on warning signs and catch those who seem to be floundering. These expressionist pieces are certainly unforgettable and leave quite the impressions.

Yellow chicklet-cheer

So i really want to post but because this week is shaping up to be incredibly busy and sleep my even be hard to come by. This post will have to do. Maybe sometime this weekend I can catch up on internet world and sleep, i'm even trying to avoid face book and have pictures that could be uploaded.

Today I wore yellow square earrings that I have had for years but failed to wear. I don't know why because they are very fun and I like them a lot. One of my friends told me they are like chicklets gum and this made me very happy. I figured I could use the yellow cheer in my life to get through the day along with God's grace of course. I'm glad the yellow chicklet-earings worked. Maybe I'll manage a picture in the next posts or so.

So today my teacher told our class that we should "kiss dating hello" and our homework is to go on a date within in the next week or so. That along with the board table study system, I think it's been quite the day. At the board table in the lobb, we do things by a raising of hands...we got through studying in an hour, not bad, i think the system works. When the rabbit trails start going and we should be moving on, one raises a hand and the table must follow in suit. Did I mention a three hour season premiere of Lost was on? Granted 3 hours is a bit much. However, if you watched the first hour then you didn't have to watch all of the other four seasons. The next two episodes brought everyone together once again except there are at least two very different story lines. We shall just have to see....I am glad there is going to be an ending but I have to say these are some of my all time favorite characters.

Some of my favorite songs:

Seasons of Love: Rent
Concerning Hobbits: Howard Shore, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy Soundtrack
Why Should I Fear: Red Mountain Music, This Breaks my Heart of Stone
Home: Blake Shelton

I kind of feel like they are really good summations of my life at the moment.

In other much less important news. This week is apparently look like a celebrity week or something like that. I've got votes for Belle, Natalie Portman and Alexis Bledel.

So what do you think?

Oh and did you know that sissonne (a ballet term, you jump from two feet to one) was actually named after the originator of the step, it doesn't actually have a French/English translation like most of the other terms.
Also, Enrico Cecchetti (founder of the Cecchetti method, Cecchetti and Vaganova are the two forms of ballet, French and Russian) was born in a dressing room in a theater in Rome.

Won't be the same when we all get together Grandpa, but so happy for you!

And again, this is my life at the moment.