But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength.

Some powerful Scripture I wanted to share:
Isaiah 40:28-31
Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount on wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

God is strong and we when we rely on Him, we can renew our strength in him.

A few days without blogging

It's been a few days since I blogged last. I thought this week was going to be dull and boring and uneventful, but in thinking that, I planned some things and it has been more full that I expected. Thus, the lack of blogging...

I spent a lot of today and yesterday reading and preparing curriculum for the class I'm teaching. I sometimes get lost in it a little and needed to take a break after today - wow - I was a little fried. I took someone's shift at work tomorrow (yay for money, boo for standing on my feet for 5 hours) - hopefully it will be just the right balance of some customers and enough time to read some, and hopefully an interesting coworker to work with.

Interesting to note: I have 4 buckets of sand/gravel and 5 empty bowl-shaped aquariums in the backseat of my car. Why, do you ask? Well, they're a part of a lesson I'm going to be borrowing from my professor for the class I'm teaching - it will incorporate water pollution and clean-up. I had to get it today because he's moving his office and is packing all his stuff up. This also means that he's getting rid of a lot of old education and science books. I definitely helped myself to some of them - especially the ones that have lesson plan ideas and the like. It was tough not to get sucked into the vortex of free books - I love bookstores and the promise of learning in all the books available. Put the word "free" with that, and watch out... No worries - I think I came home with less than 10 and they will all be used in my pursuits as a teacher.

Also interesting to note: I have 6.5 shelves which are at least half dedicated to books (most of those are full of books). So, if you ever want to come peruse and borrow, let me know!

Signing off for the night... Tonight's post was really random...

Borrow Mine

One song that really captures my life right now: Borrow Mine by Bebo Norman.

Lyrics:
Take my hand and walk with me a while
'Cause it seems your smile has left you
And don't give in, when you fall apart
And your broken heart has failed you
I'll set a light up
On a hilltop
To show you my love
For this world to see

Chorus:
You can borrow mine
When your hope is gone
Borrow mine
When you can't go on
'Cause the world will not defeat you
When we're side by side
When your faith is hard to find
You can borrow mine

Take my love when all that you can see
Is the raging sea all around us
And don't give up 'cause I'm not letting go
And the God we know will not fail us
We'll lay it all down
As we call out
Sweet Savior
Heal our unbelief

(Chorus)

When you are weak
Unable to speak
You are not alone
The God who has saved us
Will never forsake us
He's coming to take us
Take us to our home

(Chorus)

Take my hand
Take my love
Don't give in
Don't give up

Live Simply

A sign on my desk days: Live Simply. This past few days, in my efforts to rearrange my room, I have been trying to minimize and create a space for myself - a space that's life-giving, a space that's simple and free of clutter. I'm not quite there - I have a few more organizing tasks to do to maximize functionality... but it's better. I've managed to section my room into a bed/book/relax area and a desk/get-it-done area. My desk now has a hutch on top that will hopefully keep some of the clutter off my desk...

Watched Kung Foo Panda tonight with my dad. It wasn't as funny as Madagascar but it was pretty good - a simple message: "there is no secret ingredient, you just have to believe in yourself" (or something like that). It was good to spend time with my dad. And we actually made dinner instead of getting food out:) We make a good team.

Not sure if I'm all that cut-out to be a blogger. I still hold some fears of self-disclosure as I'm not totally sure who all is reading this, since anyone has access (I think). And my thoughts aren't all too interesting... I'm hoping for some philosophical ones here at some point:) We'll see how it goes - 4 days - so far, so good.

More adventures to come...

I got the job!

Not sure if I mentioned this yet, but I applied to be an instructor (well, THE instructor) for the Iowa First Nations Program, a science program for 9-11 grade Native American students from across the country. Well, I got it!! ...despite the fact that I'm not a certified teacher nor do I have a whole lot of experience working with diverse student groups...

It's a 2-week course, everyday 9-3pm (minus lunch) and my job is to develop the curriculum (with the program director) and teach it. Many of these kids are some of the 1st people in their family to consider college, so they'll get a taste of college life (dorms, dorm food, visiting/using campus buildings). Should be fun!

Since I got that, I have decided not to do work week at Castaway Club. I was hoping to go (despite the fact that I'd have to drive most of the way to and back by myself...boo) but I decided I need to be in Iowa City to begin developing the curriculum (I have two weeks to get it all set!). So if you're an Iowa Citian, you get to have me around for an extra week of the summer. If you're a Castaway-ian(?) you won't see me til 3rd session! yay for work crew bossin'!

Nothing too deep today... I moved all the furniture in my room myself (picture me at 7am trying not to make too much noise while hoisting bookcases and a huge desk across the room by myself... yikes). I got impatient and a little gung-ho... So it's closer - now I just need to go through things to get rid of some stuff and make new places for things. It's fun:)

Signing off for tonight. Sweet dreams!

A great day: rearrangement and permission to lean on Jesus

Today was a wonderful day. I contemplated different arrangements of furniture in my room, went to an interview for a 2-week summer teaching position, started rearranging my room, ate Panera with a 6th grade friend named April, had dinner with a same-age friend named Kara, and am now heading to bed.

I am reading Jesus Creed by Scot McKnight and learned about Jesus in the Wilderness today. Scot pointed out that Jesus was called into the wilderness just after his baptism (which he never needed - a sinless man repenting for his sins, what? but therefore, could repent perfectly - blows me away!) and is tested in the wilderness the same three ways Israel was tested (to trust God's providence, to trust God's timing, to worship God alone) and Israel failed. But Jesus passed perfectly. And so, Scot says "we can draw on the strength of Jesus who in the wilderness did trust the Father perfectly...Jesus' own trust can empower your struggle to trust." Wow - so freeing. We aren't and will never be perfect but we can lean on Jesus - whose faith and trust in the Father is perfect - in our weakness!

Moved my bed tonight which means I only 1/2-way rearranged my room (did my closet and my bed...) and now I have to wait for help in moving the other pieces of furniture. Hoping to do it soon so my room isn't left ashamble for too long... Anyone want to help me move a bookshelf and a desk from one side of my room to the other? Oh wait, I don't think anyone follows my blog yet, so probably won't get a response;) hehe. But you can say: oh yes, I totally would've helped had I been a trusty follower of Katie Graf's blog that one night... It's okay - I forgive you preemptively - oo, another thing Scot talks about in his book. It's a good one - read it.

Starting a Blog

So I'm trying this whole blog thing because I'm going to be out and about around this beautiful country pretty much the whole summer and I'm not sure I want to do mass emails... so - let's see if I can keep this up!

My summer plans:
Taking kids to Wyld Life camp at Timberwolf Lake in Michigan June 9-13
Possibly teaching a science class at Iowa June 13-27 (interview is tomorrow...)
Visiting/volunteering at Wilderness Ranch June 29-July 4ish
Taking a Geology course in Crested Butte, CO July 5-14
Graf family reunion near Green Bay July 19-23
Work Crew Boss at Castaway Club, Detroit Lakes, MN - July 24-Aug. 14
Classes start for my last year of grad school at Univ. of Iowa Aug. 24

Phew... So that's a lot of different places and I'll hopefully give a regular update on my adventures:)