Jessup Is Cool: Shout Out to Bryce

Dear Reader,

Something cool happened today at lunch.

This is my boyfriend and the president of my school sitting together (it’s not the best picture, I know, but you get the point). Today at lunch, Bryce sat down at the table we were sitting at and he and Daniel started exchanging jokes.

That is crazy: the president of my university, sitting at lunch with us, dialoguing with, not acting as though his status as president makes him unable to interact with the lowly students, but just having a good time, sharing fellowship over a good meal. THAT does not happen at many universities.

Jessup is cool.

This is Bryce’s last year as president of Jessup. Here’s a link to the article with more information about his retirement. Needless to say, Bryce, you will be missed. Thanks for being real!

God Bless,
Stephanie

143,000,000 minus 1

Dear Readers,

On of my favorite parts of being a student at Jessup is how I am challenged to be more and do more. My friends, teachers, and supervisors don’t let me get away with being just “good.” They challenge me to be great.

This year, there has be a bit of a theme in my life. I find it popping up in my classes, conversations, and experiences: “practice what you preach.” One of my teachers said something along the lines of “if you REALLY believe what you say you believe, you will act in a way that reflects your belief.”

This is something I believe in, and I encourage you to check it out and see what you think:

Read this. It’s a link to a blog by my friends Becky and Mark who are in the process of adopting a little boy from Ethiopia. I have been SO blessed to follow along on their blog as they go through the journey of adoption.

As many of you may know, adoption is EXPENSIVE, and Becky and Mark have another big bill coming up in about thirty days. Mark designed custom reusable shopping bags that they are selling to raise money. They are really great. Everyone wants reusable shopping bags, and this one has a great meaning behind it.

So check out their blog and consider helping them out this month as they bring in a little bit of the Kingdom to earth.

God Bless,
Stephanie

Virtual Tour

Dear Readers,

Exciting news! WJU just put up the new VIRTUAL TOUR on their website!!! And I’m in it. So click THIS LINK and then go to “The Village” then “Residence Halls” and I’m in that video.

I’m pretty excited about my film debut.

God Bless,
Stephanie

This Semester

Dear Readers,

Those are my syllabi. They may, to the untrained eye, look like a few lightweight peices of paper; but let me tell you, those are some weighty documents. If you only knew how many hours of reading and lectures and note-taking and paper-writing is represented by those syllabi!

I am not trying to complain at all, though. I’m one of THOSE people. I LOVE school. Totally. I love studying and reading and learning. I do not love writing papers… but I love being done with a paper and turning it in and realizing how much I learned by writing that paper. I love it!

This semester is significantly more busy than any other I’ve experienced, and it’s only the 2nd week. It’s like I woke up one day and I wasn’t a freshman anymore and all of a sudden I have to actually read those expensive books to get A’s in the classes. Though the mountain of work-to-come is looking HUGE from here, I know that it represents so much learning and growth that I’m going to experience this semester. I can’t help but get excited about all the awesome thing that are to come which I am being prepared for right here, right now.

What an adventure!

God Bless,
Stephanie

Where Were You…

Dear Readers,

I’m feeling a little retrospective and reminiscent. In the last few weeks I’ve found myself looking back at the past few years for a lot of reasons. As my third (where is the time going???) semester of college is coming to a close, I have a lot to look back on.

What I’m realizing is I’m not the same person I used to be. I’m not who I was four years ago (thank the Lord, literally). I’m not who I was last year. I’m way different. I’m a new creation and God is shaping and forming me constantly into the best me possible. It’s a rough process and can hurt a lot, but no matter what I go through, I have God by my side. As cliche as that sounds, I cannot think of another way to describe it. I’m thankful that God has brought me to where I am and am excited to see where He takes me from here. These last couple of years have been the most exciting and rewarding years of my life.

It reminds me of how God was always reminding the Israelites how he brought them out of Egypt, yet they were forbidden to go back. He wanted the people to remember where they came from, and the slavery and heartbreak He brought them out of, but He never wanted them to go back to that life. Instead he had something new for them–the promise land.

I think it is healthy to look back and remember where you’ve come from. If you do not see what God has saved you from, then how can you fully understand what He has saved you for?

Where were you last year? Two years ago? Four years ago?

Think about it. Reflect on it. Move on from it. Be a better person because of it.

God Bless,
Stephanie

P.S: Here are some pictures from when my family visited Rocklin for Thanksgiving. It was great having them on my turf. I had a lot to be thankful for that weekend.

P.P.S: It snowed in Rocklin last week. Not what I signed up for. I left Colorado for California to escape the snow. Luckily, it didn’t stick. In fact, I didn’t even see it because it fell and melted all while I was asleep. But here is a picture of the ice that was left over from those cold days.

Babies

Dear Reader,

Watch this.

I feel like this movie was made for me. I love babies and am passionate about learning about other cultures.

And what a awesome idea, to parallel the first years in the life of little ones–so different, yet so similar.

Brilliant.

God Bless,
Stephanie

Real Quick:

Living in community makes a lot of things harder. You face problems that you don’t face in isolation. But you also miss out on the blessings that far outweigh the problems.

More on that later.

Full of Glory

“Heaven and earth are full of glory, a glory which stubbornly refuses to be reduced to terms of the senses of the humans who perceive it.”
-From N. T. Wright’s Simply Christian

Dear Reader,

This last weekend I had the opportunity to go on the 2009 Fall Retreat. We went to Sierra Pines up near Tahoe. That area is great! I’m a huge fan. I love to be in the mountains every chance I get.

More and more I’m realizing just how much I love to be out in nature. It is so refreshing for me! When I sit out there thinking about God, things just seem so much simpler. When I look at trees and clouds and streams I’m not thinking, wow the world is really screwed up, which is what I think a lot when I’m surrounded my civilization and media and all that.

As N. T. Wright would argue (we’re reading his book in my English class), the beauty of creation is simply an echo of a voice or a signpost that points to God. But the beauty of creation leaves me magnificently unsatisfied. I was standing there one night this weekend staring up at the HUNDREDS of stars I could see and got that feeling that you’ve all had, I’m sure: I’m so SMALL and God is so HUGE and these stars are so awesome that I just can’t wrap my mind around it all…

I can’t wrap my mind around it all.

We had a “solo time” where we got to go off on our own and sit in silence and just be with God. When I get opportunities to do that I always go in thinking that I’m going to work through some of my problems. However, when I get out into nature, all those problems just seem to fall away. My mindturns out from its normal self-centeredness and selfishness and it wanders off to bigger and better things.

In and of itself, nature will never and has never completely satisfied me, no matter how much I love it. Instead, creation points to something bigger. It makes me think of the way things should be—the goodness in the world. It causes me to not focus on the stuff that doesn’t work out. I causes me to realize the ways that the Kingdom of God has and is coming.

God Bless,
Stephanie

PS: These lovely pictures were taken my my amazing former roommate Jenn!!!

What a Week!

Dear Reader,

Spring break has come and gone. I got to go back to Colorado for the break (I even managed to surprise my boyfriend, how I pulled that off, I’m still not sure). It was great to spend the week and Easter with my family and friends back home even if it did snow on Easter. Yuck.

I’ve been back at Jessup for a little more than a week, and so much has already happened:

-I wrote 2 exegesises. Have you ever written one? An exegesis? They are crazy. In 2 days I wrote more than 20 pages of detailed analysis on 16 verses. It was madness. But I got then done and turned in. So uh… thats… cool.

-I had my first “RA” thing. I got accepted to be an Resident Assistant for the 2009-2010 year! SOOOO awesome. On Wednesday we had the “room draw” where the current students can pick their rooms for next year. It was cool to get to hang out with the Resident Directors and other RAs and think about next year. After the room draw we played a game and had dessert. I haven’t laughed so hard in a long time. It’s a taste of things to come I’m sure.

-I spent Friday in San Francisco with my lovely roommate, Jenn. We did some of the “touristy” things that we had been avoiding and had quite a bit of fun. We went to Peir 39 and looked in the shops and saw the SEA LIONS!!! SO COOL!!! We also drove down Lombard Street and went to Golden Gate Park. Then we got lost trying to find a restaurant on Haight Street and just so happened upon an  awesome beach! (I always get excited about the beach. ALWAYS. I realized that it is comparable to how excited some of the Cali natives get excited about “the snow.” So I guess I have to stop giving them a hard time about that.) The water was SO COLD, and it was really cold but we got some cool pictures and that’s all that really matters, right?

-I got sick. Being sick in dorms is the worst (I get the most homesick when I am sick). But I was quite lucky, because my roommate took good care of me and even drove me 30 minutes both ways to take me to the only Urgent Care that was open on Sunday that also took my insurance. I don’t know what I would have done if I didn’t have here around. She’s my hero of the weekend for sure.

And as has been a common theme throughout this year, I CANNOT believe that we only have 3 weeks of classes left. My freshman year has flown by! I’m getting really excited for next year, though. It’s going to be different, but in the best way possible. Now one big push of motivation until the end…

God Bless,
Stephanie

Keeping it Real?

Dear Reader,

In the words of dear Bindi Irwin (imagine a Australian accent): “I’M THE LUCKIEST GIRL IN THE WORLD!”

Here’s why:
- I have the most amazing parents in the world. And that is all I’m going to say about that.
- I’m pretty sure I’m going to one of the coolest schools in the country.
- It’s looking like I’m not even going to have to take out any loans next year!
- My roommate is hilariously amazing. I couldn’t ask for a better person to share my space and most of my time with.
- I have shoes.
- When I was sick last week I only had to drive like .5 miles to get medical attention, then another .2 or so to get my prescription that was ready in like 10 minutes.
-  I got better.
- I have insurance.
- I got to spend last weekend in Tahoe. (HUGE lake, mountains and snow.) I REALLY missed mountains. I hate snow but I kiiiiiinnnnda missed it. And I never really get to see huge lakes… there really is not any water in Colorado.
- I’m totally going to rock my Biblical Interpretation Mid-term this afternoon. (OK maybe I’m counting that chicken before it’s hatched…)
- Spring break is in like 2 weeks.
- Spring break is like 11 days long.
- My niece and nephew are the cutest people in the world. I’m serious.
- The Caf has food for me when I’m hungry.
- My wing-mates are very calm people.
- Settlers of Catan is on the internet.
- I still have friends even though I play Settlers of Catan on the internet.
- The weather is SOOOOO nice now. LOVE Nor Cal.
- I have multiple Bibles. In my dorm room. To use at my leisure… when people are risking their lives to get it.
- My professors are really smart. And I get to hear with they have to say.
- Jessup people are really nice.
- Jesus saved my life (oh yeah that one!)

You’re alive! You’re breathing! You’re redeemed! Live like that today.

God Bless,
Stephanie