Summers for college-aged folks are weird. I’ve decided this. We spend 9 months in an awesome community of friends, studying our brains out, and doing some fun things in our spare time… then all of a sudden, May rolls around and everyone scatters across the globe! So what do you do in those 3 awkward in-between months? Some people go home, some people do internships, some people work at a job, some people keep doing school through the summer, some people go on vacations and crazy road trips. The opportunities are endless!

This summer, I have the pleasure of counseling at Kidder Creek Camp in Etna, CA. I am having an amazing time.

I’m counseling for the Echo program. Echo is one of the “non-traditional” programs at Kidder Creek. It is for high school aged students who are looking for a more in-depth camp experience. They spend their mornings serving the camp, afternoons studying about God, and their nights playing hard! We have a great time and I’ve had some amazing experiences. Most of all, God has done some amazing things in the lives of the campers.

I’ve also been blessed to have MANY adventures while here at Kidder Creek.

-I rafted for the first time (and even guided a little! ):

-I biked a marathon to raise money for our Wilderness Ascent program that lets kids from inner cities come and experience God in nature for FREE

-I went to part of the Scott Valley Bluegrass Festival and not only heard some awesome bluegrass, but also heard some sweet cowboy poetry. Yes, that cowboy IS on roller skates:

-And, oh yeah, I’ve hung out with some of the most amazing high schoolers ever. Here is my group of girls from my first session:

I can’t believe it, but classes start in a little over a month. I’ll be back at Jessup in less than 20 days starting training for my new job as Outreach Coordinator! Whoo hoo!

I hope you are all having an awesome summer! Stay cool!

God Bless,
Stephanie

I know, I know! It’s been a while. It’s been quite a while, in fact, since I have updated all you dedicated readers (my mom, perspective students, Frank Shattner, etc.) on my life. All those syllabi I showed you in this post did exactly what I thought they would do: make me very, very busy. Excuses aside, I would like to fill you in on what you’ve missed:

- I cut off all my hair to donate to Locks of Love. It is quite short. I look forward to a cool summer with low maintenance hair!

- I went on a mission trip to Portland, OR with Jessup over spring break. It was amazing. I learned a LOT about Portland and the Salvation Army who we worked with. I created great relationships with the others on my team as well as the people at the Salvation Army base. It was an unforgetable trip. Here is a video of some pics of the trip:

Click here to view the embedded video.

- After Portland, I went to Seattle for the rest of break with my friends Jenn and Amy. Very fun. Very college-road-trip-eque of us!

- We had Passing of the Torch for then new incoming student leaders for 2010-2011. It was exciting to get to encourage the new RAs for next year and share with them everything I learned this year. I was also excited to receive the torch too as I take on my new leadership role for next year as Outreach Coordinator!

- I hosted a simulcast event about creation care for Earth Day on campus. During the simulcast, a creation care organization called Blessed Earth aired their film Hope for Creation. After, there was some great discussion with fellow students and faculty about how we can be better stewards of the earth with the choice we make on campus! It was really exciting.

- Man Olympics… you will have to come to Jessup if you want to know more about this…

- The University Choir and Orchestra (of which I am a part) preformed John Rutter’s Gloria for the Night of Classics all from memory. We worked really hard on the piece and it was really rewarding to preform. We got a lot of great feedback. Very exciting.

- The Night Under the Stars formal event. Good food. Good fun. Lots of good dancing!

-I got a summer job as a camp counselor at Kidder Creek! I get to hang out with high schoolers all summer as they worship through serving the camp and lead them through various spiritual disciplines. I also get to take them on many outdoor adventures like river rafting! I think it’s going to be a perfect fit for me. I couldn’t be more excited.

- I am officially less than two weeks away from being a JUNIOR! Can you believe it? Remember this post when I was just a wee college newbie? Little did I know how much would happen these two years. These years have been different than I expected in all the right ways. I am excited to see where the next two years take me, too! (I’m mostly just really excited to live in the apartments and be able to cook meals on a stove and bake in an oven!)

Have a great summer! I know I will. See you next year!

God Bless,
Stephanie

Last night I had the wonderful opportunity to attend the Scholar’s Day dinner. Scholar’s Day is a day for certain prospectives students to come and interview for scholarships they have qualified for. At the dinner, our president Bryce Jessup spoke about having a vision, integrity, and passion. He showed this video which aired on ABC’s World News Tonight:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Clay Butler and Don Brewster are alumni of our school who are really being used by God to change the face of Cambodia through their work in Jesus name. Clay came and spoke in one of my classes. He is now doing work right here in the Sacramento area to end sex trafficing that is happening here in our city.

It is inspiring to see and these stories and realize that those men were in the same position as me only a few years ago. It is exciting to imagine the potential my life can have if I allow God to work in it in the ways that these men did.

God Bless,
Stephanie

PS: I want to give a shout out to the three prospecitve students from Colorado I have met this year: Alyssa, Shelby and Leela! We need more people from Colorado at Jessup. I hope God brings you ladies to Jessup.

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

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

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

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

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.

Watch this.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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

More on that later.