Sitting here with my fiancé

:)
We're just here, in Chris' living room, by the Christmas tree, wish we weren't doing homework, but we are, except for me blogging, and someday ending this forever run-on sentence.


I. cannot. wait. for. Christmas. time. 
I know that I say this every year, but seriously, my senioritis is the worst and break could never ever come soon enough.


One of the multitudinous great anticipations of break is being able to blog more. But another, infinitely more important one, is getting to spend some quality time with my man. And this blog is just a little tiny bit of my appreciation for him.


First of all, I don't know where I'd be without him. Sounds cheesy I know, but I was just reflecting on how much I've grown because of knowing him and being challenged by who he is. I'm just so stinkin excited to see where we go next and what we will be doing and probably living in a tent for a little while because we will be so poor. But really, what are the first couple years of married life if you aren't poor? I know all the best stories I've heard have come from barely scraping by. 


Basically, he is just the greatest. And he just bought us some peanut butter chocolate ice cream, which was basically all the goodness of a Reese's peanut butter cup wrapped up in a creamy delicious bowl of ice cream. 
I can't wait to be out from under the oppressiveness of homework [and yes, I know, directly under all the oppressiveness of life after college, but] living life together somewhere new. 
Sounds fantastic.

...

I have had the Psalm chants from the monastery stuck in my head all day. The thing is, they just don't sound as good at the quicker tempo of life here outside the monastery.

Breathe

So, I just tried to shut down my computer. And it took for. ev. er. I mean, I've had this wonderful little mac all of my college career, and so a little slowness is usual and understandable, but this time it seriously took forever. And I think its because my mac is in some odd ways a representation of how my life is and I forget to shut it down often enough. Just like I forget to shut down and breathe and sleep and sabbath enough. 


One of the problems is [and I realize this is just an excuse] that I need to find a place to set up my hammock. Hammock being still time is just one of the best kinds. But I know I need to be intentional about establishing that before I get into all the craziness that is a college school year. So basically this blog is a little friendly reminder for myself and whoever else needs it to rest. and rest often. 


I just finished reading Plan B by Anne Lamott, and I pretty much loved it. This quote [I believe she is referencing her priest friend here] is a good reminder for me today [and everyday]:


p. 15 - "He teaches his students, and has taught me, to slow down, breathe, and take care of everyone, which is of course the same message Jesus taught--that breath is our connection to holy spirit, to our bodies, minds, and soul; and that if the devil can't get you to sin, he'll keep you busy."


On another note, my broski left for college on Saturday, and I miss him already. I wish that  Maria and I could watch Psych with him this fall...I just finished all of season five and I'm so pumped. 

broski

my lil sis is getting so old!

this is what summer is all about...

strawberries the size of my palm

that and family vacation....

 

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey was the coolest ride I've ever been on in my life. There's some pretty sweet things in Islands of Adventure, like the old school Jurassic Park ride and Spidey and Hulk, but we lived in Hogsmeade, so that we could drink butterbeer and ride this mind blowing ride four times. If I had time, I would have gone eight more times. 

Ah. The beach. I miss my dolphin friend, even though he only swam by once to say hey and then ditched us. But I don't want to get down on him. I know if there had been less people around he would have come back to swim with me because he knows that I have read A Ring of Endless Light seven times.

The fam. At my cousin Noelle's wedding. Dance parties at weddings are one of the many amazing things about having tons and tons of cousins. I love it.

Compline...

What a great way to end the day. 
I'm glad I've outgrown my slight aversion to liturgy and am learning in college how completely wonderful it is.
I would actually love to end every day of the summer with a nighttime swim and compline prayer.
It's quite refreshing.

Call me lame if you want...

...but this is how I spend most of my Friday evenings in Indy...

...doing [a little bit of] work, drinking coffee, and watching Psych or Friday Night Lights...

           ....and I rather enjoy it....

Windows and Mirrors

I'm hanging out at Earth House Cafe right now. It's a sweet little fair trade/organic coffee shop/cafe. They have an art exhibit up right now called Windows and Mirrors with really sad but thought-provoking paintings on the war in Afghanistan. 

I'm missing my DR families and team today, more than usual. It's just hard since there's no easy way to see them again in the near future. Hopefully someday I'll be able to afford a plane ticket, but until then I want to write some letters.


It's also a little bit sad that my immediate family is spread out over four states currently. There are only five of us, but we have somebody in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Texas. Crazy. It'll be great to have a family dinner all together again, and vacation in the second half of the summer.


Also, my sister just went through an appendectomy like a champ. Wish I could have been there with her, but she's got my mom and grandparents so I think she'll be alright :)


The hummus, veggies, and flatbread I ordered here was pretty good. But it didn't taste quite as good to me as my eggs and biscuit dinner from last Saturday...

I'm in Indy

And this internship is the beeest.
The people I'm working with here are fantastic. I watch Monk with Heidi, my supervisor, sometimes on our lunch break and last night had Indian food with the Pastor's family and went to a movie with the ladies.
[I actually do work here too, I promise, this is just the fun stuff]


A little bit of my work is keeping up with this blog for the summer camps:


http://lynhouseinc.blogspot.com/


We start camps for the kids next week. And I'm pumped.

A couple observations...

1. It is an absolutely wonderful thing to get one of your best friends back from a foreign country. I highly recommend the experience if you ever get the chance.


2. In talking with said world-traveling friend, I came to the beginning of a realization. Alone time in Latin America was coveted and wonderfully refreshing. Alone time here on the other hand, is sometimes just lonely. I'm still not exactly sure why it has been like that for me. But as much as I thoroughly love and cherish social times in both of my worlds, I want to recover the sacredness and joy of alone times as they were in the DR, regardless of where I find myself in the world... 

Oh the Wonderful World of Homework....

I would like to be doing what's in this awesome picture I found on earthshots.org:

But instead, this is my lot for the night:

I hope my summer is full of things much more like running around in the beautiful sunlight, than staying up late writing research papers.

Younger than Springtime

This weekend was be.a.utiful.
Nothing like cooking out and playing baseball with the fam to cure the sickness brought on by the world's longest winter. It was SO nice Saturday, and having so many people here hangin out was the best. The only downer of the weekend, [besides some people missing who I wish could have been there, *cough, cough* JJ] was the fact that all my little cousins like Jordan more than me. But I'm over it, because its really cute to watch them be in love with him. 
Now, after the full bellies of a weekend of wonderful eating, [cookout, Mario's pizza, and Hibachi's] the kids are down for the count and Aunt Annie, Mom, and Maria are passed out on the couches in the living room. Great people, great laughs, great food, and great sleep. Can't beat that.

But ya gotta have friends....

I need to take a minute to brag about my friends....


Ok, seriously? How in the world do I get blessed with so many of the world's greatest friends?  Is it really fair for me to get the world's greatest boyfriend/best friend plus 47 [ok, maybe not quite that many] other incredible bestest friends? 


Homework has taken over my life lately so hanging out with people today has just made me wake up and re-realized how unbelievably blessed I am. Started off the day right with brunch and Prison Break with Jordan. And then Andrea came over to work on Spanish and even though we were doing homework, it was just refreshing and wonderful to get to hang out with her again. Also, my roommate is the best and we got to go to the city museum together tonight. Plus, if there were such a thing as a remedy for the pain of the homework I've been avoiding today, it would probably be laughing and eating ham and cheese sandwiches with Megs. The other day I went into Jo's and I almost cried because of how long it had been since I'd seen Hannah Ruth. Fortunately, we're gonna hopefully double date at Hibachi's and road trip soon. Road trip to see Sarah Dawn. Gosh I miss that girl. And Corrie and my DR peeps. AND, I really miss RACHEL. Rach, you should probably come back from Costa Rica. Soonish. Like real soonish. And hanging out with Kelly Baker on spring break was wonderful. The list goes on and on and on.... 

Soy Dominicana...un chin

Sitting in Pauline Epistles today made me realize how Dominicana I've become...


We split up into groups and once we got situated, I looked up from mi yogur congelado, prepared for a laid back conversación, to see all my group members with paper out and labeled to take notes. Whoops. I'm still a little out of my element here, trying to be in traditional student mode. But I'll get there.


Guess. What. 


I just got to talk to my Dominican bros on the phone!!! Wonderfulness. Chi-Chi asked me when I was coming back. I don't know yet, but I can't wait :)


Also, I'm so glad Jordan's car is fixed. I didn't know if that guy was going to make it out of the shop alive this time. And I was worried. I wasn't ready to say goodbye yet. So thank you Chad. 


Now its time for a little letter-writing and hulu-ing and relaxing with my Megs.

Started Preschool Again Friday....

and it was really weird to speak in English. I mean, it was nice to be able to say whatever I wanted, because I happen to be fluent in English, but it made me really miss these kids:

Almost cried in Spanish class today. Dad played Eres El Rey and we sang that at mi iglesia out in Mata Gorda and I wanted to go back SO MUCH! Someday...

I hope I don't use up all of my calling card minutes by calls that don't go through. I need to talk to my little bros. And SOON.

I wanna share some exciting ideas for my preschool class here soon, but for now I am going to return to some of the most productive hours of my life, while I'm iced in my room here....

where do my Achiever and Discipline go when I need them?

Started the full load of spring semester yesterday.
Classes and homework are still somewhat of an abstract concept for me. 
Hence the blogging instead of doing homework.


Starting Spanish class yesterday and listening to a Spanish worship song right now has me missing my other home. Especially my little bros. I almost cried the other day when I found videos of them singing and dancing and being ridiculous.

So about this homework thing being really hard for me. The Dominican was so not homework oriented. I mean, we took classes and did homework, for about 5 weeks. But 5 weeks and a whole semester of studiousness are a little bit radically different. And a couple of the classes down there were more independent study-ish. With some deadlines that have yet to come. And I need to just get those papers done. Because I hate having things hanging over my head. The problem is I just keep finding much more worthwhile investments of my time. Like getting pizza and hanging out with my friends. Or going on a snow walk with Jordan. Or drinking iced coffee and watching Parenthood with Megs. But I'll manage. It's just another phase in the re-entry process. 


I just really need to get a calling card and call my families. Because I miss them. 


Alright, here I go. I'm off to write a paper. Wish me luck.

daaaaaa bears

Chicago Bears games in the snow are a beautiful thing...
And Matt Forte and Greg Olsen are studs.
Really everybody just showed up yesterday. Jay getting things done. Offensive line steppin up. And of course Urlacher and gang shuttin em down, especially in the first half.
Gotta love Bears football with my fam.

......

I have been back in the states for a month now.

Kinda hard to believe.

But at the same time, it feels like forever since I was in the Dominican Republic.

Life moves a lot faster here. Thats for sure. 

But as much as I miss it, and as pumped as I am to go back again someday, hopefully soon, it is absolutely wonderful to be home. And I am really excited about my schedule for the spring, hectic as it may be after a semester of laid-back life in the DR. 


Also, I hate it when my broski gets sick.
It kinda almost makes me want to be sick with him so he doesn't have to suffer alone.

Don't know what completes a dorm room like a Borders and a purple DR hammock...

I just read blogging as one of the things in Stuff White People Like [hilarious book and website if you haven't read any of it yet]


This makes me not really want to blog.


But, I've also missed blogging....


....so I'm going to anyway, as much as I hate to fill stereotypes...


But then again, I don't have all that much to blog about at the moment. Except the fact that it is wonderful to be back on campus and walk places with Jordan again and live with Megs and play cards with my friends and have class with Hannah. And the fact that today was a good day. The beginning of it had a little too much presentation homework for my taste, especially considering my current inability [or really just lack of motivation] to get back into the traditional student mode. I really had no problems adjusting to learning through hiking mountains and coloring and speaking Spanish with 3 and 4 year olds. That I can handle. 
But, I had a really good evening because I got to listen to two of my favorite professors on campus be wise and share insightful, inspiring thoughts. And then eat delicious ice cream and pretzels with Jordan. And since I was inspired, I'm hoping for thoughtful, deep reflection time soon. But, in all honesty tonight I just had to break the silence, because the pressure was building. If I haven't blogged in forever I feel all this pressure for the new one to be something really good. But then again its good for me to stop talking sometimes and just listen. To God. To other people. To the silences. To life.