Better Late Then Never!

I kind of fell behind with posts and failed to post all over Spring Break! My bad!

For those of you who didn't know, I traveled with Grace Brass to Washington D.C. to tour for break. We started out on Friday and performed in Ashland, OH where we stayed the first night. Then on Saturday we left for Roanoke, VA. There I stayed with the funniest couple! They were a riot!Performing twice on Sunday, once in Roanoke and in D.C. in the evening, we were all a bit tired. There we stayed at Washington Bible College and commuted from there to different venues for the majority of the week. It wasn't until Thursday that we were actually able to be tourists!
Aside from Thursday, we generally traveled to schools and churches to perform. The best part about it was that we all matched! Often we would go into restaurants and be asked if we were one big family. With a "mom" and "dad" (our director and his wife) that have only been married for 20 years as of this past December it's kind of odd to have 8 children between the ages of 21 and 18! Those that asked generally felt pretty silly after we told them we were a music group.

Driving back through on our way back to school we stopped in Akron, OH. Here we were supposed to perform for three morning services at The Chapel, South Campus. Sadly, it snowed 16 inches on Saturday (compared to the high 60s we were in all week) which canceled all services but the noon service. Feeling bad about the way the day turned out, after we had traveled so far, the music pastor took us out to Spaghetti Warehouse for dinner. This is where things get good...

I'm sure none of you are familiar with the movie CAMP but it's a good one. Meredith, my roomie at UWO introduced me to the movie and not only did I fall in love with the songs but also the main character, Vlad. The actor who played Vlad is Daniel Letterle. Long story short, and I may be accused of skipping the good parts, he was our server at the restaurant. I was a spaz about it and totally embarrassed myself but was so pumped to have met him. Oh man...that was the highlight of the trip as far as I'm concerned!

There are more stories and more fun from the trip, so if you're a Facebooker check it out! Otherwise, if you interested, I'd love to share more..give me a call!

Febru-HAIRY!

As a whole dorm, we made a pact (really only about 15 of us) to not shave for the month of February. In light of Spring Break we had to 'party' early. Tonight we each had a chance to perform in whatever medium we desired to present our hairy legs to a few girls who stepped in as judges. Sadly, because of my blonde hair I didn't win longest hair or most dense because you can't really see it, but I did win Best Overall Presentation. I was a cyclist who 'danced' to Bicycle Race by Queen. Too fun! I won a beach Barbie with hair glued on her legs as my award. Two other girls on my hall won the other awards. Basically I'm not sure if I should be but I'm proud that my girls sweep the board over the whole dorm! Way to go Westy 4 West!

Let It Snow

If you would have looked out my window on Monday night around 7 pm you wouldn't see any snow aside from a few small piles left over. Then waking up this morning...this is what I saw.

Midterms

I've officially decided that midterms make people go crazy. Today, while studying for my one of two midterms, one of my girls screams from down the hall "Val, I'm all out of beer!" Obviously, this is something that would catch my attention as an RA on a dry campus. I go outside and find this. She was sick of studying and decided she'd rather be 'white trash'. Too funny!

Big Loss

I found out today that one of the students that I work with in the summer passed away on Sunday. He was affected with CP and seizure disorder so he is better off now, but it's still a hard loss to take. Please be praying for his family and those of us who are taken care of him over the years. Thanks!

Brandon was one of my students specifically. I fed him, and was often with him for classes. It wasn't until this year that he started to open up to the other staff but he was my buddy right along from the beginning. I'm going to miss that kid a TON! Love you Brandon.

Sick List

I've officially been put on the sick list here at school. And even worse I've been quarantine to my room. So much for all the classes/rehearsals/meetings I had today! Oh bummer.
I'm sick with a form of the flu the nurse said. Seems odd to me because I had my flu shot but I guess that doesn't cover it all. I now have four different medicines to take and salt to gargle...should be fun!

GGL Mini-Retreat

Friday to Saturday I took my Growth Group Leaders (small group Bible study leaders on my hall) to the Ramada for a mini-retreat. All year long I've felt like our hall leadership team wasn't quite connected as I would have hoped and we finally had the opportunity to remedy that with a night off campus.

Things started around 7 o'clock with a trip to Pickerman's for dinner. Aside from me, it was a first-time trip for the rest of the girls and they were quick to approve of both the price and the taste! It wasn't long, however, that they wanted to jump over to the hotel to 'visit' the hot-tub!
Obviously, the first thing we did once we got to the hotel was hit the hot-tub. After a few trips from the cold pool to the hot hot-tub we hit the sauna to dry off and head up to the room for some Mock Sangria. The drinks were a treat because they were so sugar loaded that the girls were getting a little wild off of them.After eating a little, and calming down a lot I shared a devotional with them regarding fears. It was really neat how vulnerable the girls were with one another and sharing their fears. Once we were wrapping up I asked the girls to take the colorful Sharpies and write their fears on their Sangria glasses. After some more sharing, we smashed the glasses as a symbol of giving our fears to God and asking for Him to help us overcome them. It was quite the experience.
After all the fun we headed to the grocery store to buy some breakfast, climb a snow mound in the parking lot, and ride in shopping carts. It wasn't long until we were back at the hotel, watching TV, and sleeping in. We woke up just in time to eat breakfast, pack up, and head back to school. Sure was a blast and I feel like our leadership team is better bonded!