May at a Glance

It doesn't feel like much blogworthy has happened in my life over the last month, but since half my readers never see me, it might be worthwhile to hit some highlights.

• Scrambled to catch up on office work after returning from eleven days of fun with friends
• Started my capstone class for my Liberty MBA program, after agonizing over selecting and being selected by the right teammates. Have been enjoying "managing" a multi-million dollar sensor company in a business simulation for the past four weeks. Each week is a year in the life of the company, and we have to make decisions for it each year. So far we're about the #2 company of the six companies competing in our section. It is actually a lot of fun. Now my teammates and I are in the process of writing 42 pages of industry and company strategy, which is slightly less fun. (I did end up with two super teammates, thank the Lord.)
• Got a new cell phone, mainly to help me stay in closer touch with my family. I'm not sure we've called each other more than normal so far, so maybe it's not working. But it has been nice to call them on the move. If you think you're my friend and want my new number, you can e-mail me. (Nice girls don't post their cell phone numbers on their blogs.)
• Enjoyed the second great ITC egg drop contest. It was a part of the Spring Challenge, so every LIT team participated. Each team had to design a device in which a raw egg could be dropped from the thirteenth floor of our building without getting broken. It was terribly comical, I must say. The first entry, announced with much fanfare, was "Osama bin Bear," a stuffed bear in a cardboard airplane which proceeded to crash into the side of the building on its way down. Okay, the designers were smart, but I don't think that the building crash was planned. Two other entrants were Humpty Dumpties, one who rested on the outside of a shoebox and still landed intact. Another was a giant Hershey's Kiss--actually sleeping bags, comforters, and pillows wrapped in a blanket and secured with duct tape. Its landing made a thud like unto a muffled gunshot; inside the building, Dr. Paine wondered what had happened. Yet another was an intricate plane made out of scraps of wood. It might have flown if it had caught the breeze right. Jamie's and my entry was an impressionistic wire whisk. The whisk part was thread and an aluminum foil parachute. The egg was in a long cardboard box, inside a container of marshmallow cream. All of the eggs survived.
• Went to Goshen to speak for the Salem Mennonite (Kimberly and Carmen Martin's church) mother/daughter fellowship dinner. I talked about how friendship pictures the kind of relationship God wants to have with us. I didn't feel like I communicated very well, but the ladies were very warm and gracious, and I enjoyed the chance to get to spend time in Kimberly's neck of the woods. Splurged on Ritter's and Dunkin' Donuts while I was up there, too. Yes, there is a DD in Indiana (just not Indianapolis)!
• Finished the Spring Sprint (Challenge). Went to the Judays' country home for a day and two nights of fun with the girls as a reward for those who made it. All of the girls' teams made it, even though one was working almost to the deadline to qualify. We had fun relaxing in the sun and consuming enormous amounts of junk food. I read another chunk in Paul David Tripp's Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands: People in Need of Change Helping People in Need of Change, a highly recommendable book.
• Helped out with another community clean up--very enjoyable.
• Turned in my graduation application. I finish classes August 20 and graduate in September. There's no ceremony then, but I'm eligible to participate in the May 2007 ceremony in Lynchburg, if I so desire. My whole life feels lighter to have the end in sight. The last class, Economics, is supposed to be the hardest, though. I've been dusting off my Calculus to get ready for it.
• Designated a whole file drawer for all my friends' wedding invitations. JUST KIDDING! Invitations to Elizabeth P's (a friend from volunteering at Good News Ministries Youth Center), Fritha and Jeff's, Joy and Ben's, and Beth and Al's have been put away now, as they are past. Paula and Robert's is next weekend, and I think I'm going to make it to that. Shelly and Phil's is the following weekend, and I've given up on going to Canada for that. The remaining invitations on my shelf are a classy one for Brooks and Izzy's in August and--the one I was most surprised and tickled to receive--one for Dan Spillers' wedding in July. I won't make it to Louisiana, and it's doubtful I'll make it to D.C. the day after the conference here in August, but I'm still hoping.
• Am working on scheduling the fall EQUIP class, and am very excited at the interest level so far. Four applications with probably ten more to come, and that's just the people I know about. Our speaker schedule looks a little different this year, but it's always neat to see how God orchestrates the classes. I have three excellent people considering returning to be girls' team leaders, too, which hints to me that we will have a lot of girls coming!
• Started planning summer Bible clubs for our community with Mrs. Norcross, who has a vision to do four week-long clubs in July. Am very excited about the LIT department being involved in that!
• Have been working with Dr. and Mrs. Paine to identify and treat some health needs. Their recommendations (after an expensive diagnostic test): keep a Sabbath "religiously" (thankfully part of my lifestyle, anyway), eat better and drink lots of water, take the vitamins and supplements and prescription they gave me. The eating better is the hardest thing for me, as much as I like sugar. I was sugar-free for three days last week . . . um, but not the rest of the days. (I had to have Ritter's for Rachel J's going away party, after all, had to eat the Tasty Cake and chocolate kind friends gave me, had to have dessert the Filsons served me for lunch on Sunday, had to eat dessert the night the Gergenis took the long-term staff out to say goodbye to Ruthie and Rachel, and had to eat the lemon meringue pie Ruthie made for me. I was "eating what was set before me.") However, I'm not seeking out sugar, and I really am doing better than usual in my general eating habits, which actually feels good.
• Am enjoying attending Second Reformed Presbyterian, the Indy church I've adopted since January (and since leaving the last church I attended regularly two years ago). It's not home, but it's very Biblical and warm and family-ish. I enjoy the way they teach and apply God's Word. I love their involvement in community and outreach, and their support of families. (I've been attending the parenting Sunday School class.) I love intelligent and challenging Christianity. I love Dr. Blackwood's preaching and testimony. I'm getting used to singing psalms only. (I love the Psalms.) I had two invitations to the homes of church families just last weekend (last weekend because they invited Ruthie and me together, to say goodbye to her; those families because they wanted to get to know me, too). In June, we'll be doing ABC Bible studies on Jonah in small groups, which I'm looking forward to in a timid sort of way.
• Am looking forward to my trip to Australia at the end of the summer, when I have time to think about it.
• Said goodbye to one of my very best friends and roommate of over a year, Ruthie, who returned home to Wyoming to help out her family. It was way harder than I thought, and I'm still working through it. It's hard to go back to an empty, lonely suite. It's harder for her than for me, though. I had to say "goodbye" to just one friend; she had to say "goodbye" to a hundred or so. Pray for her, if you think of it.

There. That's the overview. It's longer than I thought it would be, so maybe I have been productive this past month.