The reason we went to Arizona was to attend a conference called The Gathering. Well, actually my parents attended the conference, but they have a camp for the kids called GenNext. And it's so much fun. The kids, counselors, food, activities. Everyone is just so great. This year we went to a Diamondbacks-Rockies game, went on a hummer tour in the dessert, went river rafting, and indoor sky diving. But my favorite part is always just getting to be with my friends.
The day before we got The Gathering, we went to White Sands National Monument. It was pretty spectacular. We even got some saucers and went sledding on the dunes!
Some things I learned about life on the trip:
-The close quarters of RV life brings out all the ugly in us that just gets swept under the rug back home and forces us to deal with the problems.
-That a great thing about being kids is that you can not see someone for two years, and then have one meal together and it feels like you never were apart.
-That no matter how much I travel, the world never ceases to amaze me at how diverse it is. Mars? Rust colored with lots of mountains and valleys. Mercury? Small and rocky, with no atmosphere, it's freezing at night and burning hot during the days hours. Jupiter? Our biggest planet doesn't even have any land. Earth? It has the perfect temperature and atmosphere with mountains, valleys, plains, forests, desserts, jungles, rain forests, rolling hills, oceans, lakes, and rivers. And people honestly believe this all just happened by chance? All the other planets are incapable of supporting life; except for our amazing little oasis in space. People should just admit that they so badly don't want to believe there's a God, that they're willing to believe some ridiculous theory about evolution. Personally it would take more faith for me to believe in that, than it does for me to believe in God. Anyway, I totally just got carried away there. But simply put, I learned that road tripping is the best way to see American the beautiful.
- I also learned to not slack off and procrastinate with my school while traveling, because then I'll get my phone, iPod, and facebook taken away until I get caught up. And I also wasn't allowed to visit Liberty unless I got all caught up, and I really wanted to go there. So that meant I had to do two plus weeks worth of math in two days. But I did it. Which made me learn something else: you can do anything with the right motivation. And I don't think I'm ever gonna let myself fall behind like that again.
Liberty!
So, since I got all caught up in my school, I got to go to Liberty University last weekend. Four times a year Liberty does this thing called College for a Weekend(CFAW, you say C-faw). You basically just get to go and see what college life if like for a weekend. I went with two of my friends, and actually it was a pretty 'spur of the moment' thing for me.
I was over at the Rodriguez's Tuesday afternoon and at some point Jess mentioned that she was going to Liberty with her friend Emily on Thursday. I honestly wasn't even considering going to Liberty at that point, but thought the trip would be fun. So I asked my parents if I could go, and Thursday afternoon we started the six hour drive to Lynchburg, Virginia.
We got to stay in the dorms, which were super nice. Our student hosts, Kieya and Sarina, were so sweet, funny, and welcoming.
Alezah's younger brother, Micah, is sophomore at Liberty, so I got to see him, which was fun. It worked out that he was just finishing lab when we arrived, so he walked over to say hey for a few minutes before he left for work.
Their 7,000 acre campus seemed huge at first, but after the first day, I began to be able to find my way around. And I loved it. I know some people like small schools, but I definitely like big schools better.
On Friday morning we went to convocation(convo). Which is kinda like a mandatory chapel for students that is held on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 10am. They have worship and then a speaker. They've had some pretty great speakers in the past and the day we were there we got to hear Willie Robertson, the guy from Duck Dynasty. And people were cra- cra. In my opinion, he's just a normal guy who needs a hair cut. But try telling that to all the fans there? It wouldn't really work. Students were lined up hours before the doors opened and were wearing bandanas, fake beards, and shirts saying, "Si is my role model." I didn't even know who Si was! Then Jess told me he was the uncle. I was just so clueless about everything because...brace yourself...I've never seen the show. I guess I've just got better things to do then to watch episodes about someone else's life. But, seriously, I don't have anything against the show, I just haven't seen it yet, that's all.
After convo, Jess and I were going to go to an Anatomy and Physiology class, but got so lost we didn't find the class room till the class was started, so we decided to eat an early lunch and then go to the later A and P class. I loved the class and thought the professor was great, but Micah said he's not even the best one. Later, I went to two admissions classes (sessions only for CFAWs) and a New Testament Survey, which was really interesting, too.
Friday night was the Crowder concert. Colton Dixon was there, too. Honestly, I'm not a huge fan of either, but it was a good show. And both bands have a few songs I really like. And Crowder had a violin in their band which was a big bonus for me:) Colton was a little crazy though. When he was playing the piano, I thought, "I'm pretty sure that's not the way the piano was intended to be played." It looked like his head was gonna fly off any second! He was whipping it back and forth so fast. Jess leaned over to me at one point and said, "If he hits his head off the piano, I'm gonna laugh."
Saturday night was the football game, and I was sooo excited for it. That is just my thing. Any kind of school sport event, I'm all about it. But unfortunately, Emily got sick, so we ended up driving home Saturday afternoon. I was extremely bummed to say the least. But I kept telling myself, "Be thankful you even got to come, and for the awesome time you've already had." I kept reminding myself that God always has a bigger plan. And I was going to find out what that was, even though at the time I couldn't think of anything I wanted more then to go to the game. And I've never been to a college football game, so that just was one more reason for me to feel sorry for myself.
All of Saturday I was kind of living in denial, hoping beyond hope that Emily would feel better and that we would be able to stay for the game. But as the day went on, reality began to sink in. And as we got onto the interstate home, it had fully sunken in. I was leaving a whole day early (which is a long time, especially where there is so much of the campus you want to explore) and not going to the game.
I can be pretty upset, but with me, it never normally lasts for very long. Just ask my friends or family. I'm really bad at holding grudges, too. Which is actually a good this, I guess. So by the time we were home, I was fine.
The next morning we went to church. And this is when and were I started realizing that me coming home early was way better then me staying.
This sleeping arrangement didn't last long...I'm surprised we even lasted one night.
Visiting our friends in MO
A sunset in New Mexico. The picture just doesn't do it justice.
Sledding at White Sands
See, our church was hosting The Daraja Children Choir of Africa. That basically meant that all the kids and chaperones would staying at the houses of people from church. Sadly, we didn't get to host any because we were on out trip. But if they ever come back, I so want to.
Anyway, on Sunday, they 24 kids were split up between the three campuses. We got seven of the girls. They sang with the worship team, and then came to Epic Kidz. I got to help in the group they were in, and I had so much fun. When you asked them what their favorite was here, they would all say, "Pizza!" One girl told me they don't have pizza in Uganda. Can you imagine that?
The girls also sang a song for us. I loved it. And since I would be volunteering during their concert and wouldn't be able to see any of it, I was happy I at least got to see some of them sing a little bit.
After church I headed out to the Dickson City campus for KidzJam practice. And this is where I finally realized that is was totally God's for me to come home early. See, there are three KJ dance teams, A, B, and C. Two teams dance every month. So in September it was A and B. This month is B and C and next month will be C and A and rotation just keeps going like that. Well I'm team A, so technically I didn't really have to be at practice. But since this is my first year dancing, I figured I should go and learn the dances better. And it turned out it was really a good thing I went, because there were some songs I didn't know and since I was able to learn them, Karis said she could use me on Friday. But if I hadn't gone to practice I wouldn't have been able to do KJ. I love KidzJam. I'm like a little kid in that way. So, if you're ever around the first friday of the month during the school year, you should definitely stop by at 7pm to see the show.
So even though I really wanted to see the football game, it worked out just as well for me to come home, if not better.
Monday night was the Daraja concert in Scranton. I was on the balloon team. That meant we got to go to the courthouse square and blow up 1800 LED balloons for the giant balloon release that night. 800 would be stuffed into a net and the rest we would hold in giant bunches and hand out to the people attending the concert. After the show, all the people came down to the square, where we would release the lit balloon all together. Each of the Daraja kids have a colorful balloon and everyone else had white. The net of balloons formed an arch in the square, which looked really cool with all the kids standing around with their giant bunches. I was bummed I didn't get to see the concert and hear Bob Goff, but getting to be apart of the balloon was awesome. And most of my friends were there too. Lauryn and I were a tank team. She'd blow them up, and I would run them over to the net. I was also a runner for Evan. We were a pretty great team, and we didn't pop any or let any go. Okay, well I popped one sticking it into the net, but we didn't pop any while blowing them up.
When 9 o'clock rolled around, it was time for the release. The square was packed with people and glowing balloons. Mr. Stuenzi said a prayer, and then everyone let their balloons go and Phil pulled the string to open the net. It was amazing. So amazing. And I learned that hundreds of glowing balloons in the night sky is one of coolest things to see.
And I learned that God always, always knows best.
Anyway, on Sunday, they 24 kids were split up between the three campuses. We got seven of the girls. They sang with the worship team, and then came to Epic Kidz. I got to help in the group they were in, and I had so much fun. When you asked them what their favorite was here, they would all say, "Pizza!" One girl told me they don't have pizza in Uganda. Can you imagine that?
The girls also sang a song for us. I loved it. And since I would be volunteering during their concert and wouldn't be able to see any of it, I was happy I at least got to see some of them sing a little bit.
After church I headed out to the Dickson City campus for KidzJam practice. And this is where I finally realized that is was totally God's for me to come home early. See, there are three KJ dance teams, A, B, and C. Two teams dance every month. So in September it was A and B. This month is B and C and next month will be C and A and rotation just keeps going like that. Well I'm team A, so technically I didn't really have to be at practice. But since this is my first year dancing, I figured I should go and learn the dances better. And it turned out it was really a good thing I went, because there were some songs I didn't know and since I was able to learn them, Karis said she could use me on Friday. But if I hadn't gone to practice I wouldn't have been able to do KJ. I love KidzJam. I'm like a little kid in that way. So, if you're ever around the first friday of the month during the school year, you should definitely stop by at 7pm to see the show.
So even though I really wanted to see the football game, it worked out just as well for me to come home, if not better.
Monday night was the Daraja concert in Scranton. I was on the balloon team. That meant we got to go to the courthouse square and blow up 1800 LED balloons for the giant balloon release that night. 800 would be stuffed into a net and the rest we would hold in giant bunches and hand out to the people attending the concert. After the show, all the people came down to the square, where we would release the lit balloon all together. Each of the Daraja kids have a colorful balloon and everyone else had white. The net of balloons formed an arch in the square, which looked really cool with all the kids standing around with their giant bunches. I was bummed I didn't get to see the concert and hear Bob Goff, but getting to be apart of the balloon was awesome. And most of my friends were there too. Lauryn and I were a tank team. She'd blow them up, and I would run them over to the net. I was also a runner for Evan. We were a pretty great team, and we didn't pop any or let any go. Okay, well I popped one sticking it into the net, but we didn't pop any while blowing them up.
When 9 o'clock rolled around, it was time for the release. The square was packed with people and glowing balloons. Mr. Stuenzi said a prayer, and then everyone let their balloons go and Phil pulled the string to open the net. It was amazing. So amazing. And I learned that hundreds of glowing balloons in the night sky is one of coolest things to see.
And I learned that God always, always knows best.
And now for some pictures!
Aren't they so cute?
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Gathering Buddies:)
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| KidzJam! |
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| Liberty! |
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| Convo! The Vines Center is huge, in case you can't tell. |
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