A New Disease: Junioritis!

I am sure all of you have heard of "senioritis." You know, that's the feeling that seniors (in college or high school) get when it's close to the end of their respective schooling, and all they want is to be out of school. FOREVER.

Recently I have discovered this new disease, "junioritis." This terrible bug has bit me quite hard. You ask, "What is junioritis?" I'm glad you asked! Junioritis as defined by Hannah's Dictionary of New Terms is when one is in his or her third year of school (in my case in college). The freshman excitement and newness has long since worn off...school no longer fascninates a junior, rather it has become quite dull. A person afflicted with junioritis knows that somehow they have made through more than half of their schooling, but alas! it seems as though the end is still not in sight! That senior year seems oh so far away! Ah yes! they see a light at the end of the tunnel...they think...but they're not certain if it's the end of the tunnel or a train about to run them over!!! The cure for junioritis is not simple at all. The recommended course of action is to stick to the stuff, keep going no matter how hard, and most importantly rely on God for strength. A few things that may help are chocolate, caffeine, lots of sugar, and sleep, and don't forget those wonderful friends that make one laugh and relax when the stress is beyond belief.

Finale

YAY!!! I have finished my freshman year of college! I can't believe that I am actually done, that I actually did it, and I'm no longer a freshman! It's crazy! OK, I'm excited! :)
Finals went well. I got an 83% on my English Grammar final, not sure yet what my overall grade on that class is, I think it will probably be a solid C, which is a VERY low grade for me, but for English it is a really nice grade!
English Composition final grade was an 87% with a 91% average grade! That's the highest grade I've ever gotten in an English class! PTL! I still have no idea what my Intro to Missions final grade was, or what the average grade of that class is, but I'm really not worried about it because it was an easy class and there really was no problem with it at all! In Christian Home I got a 100% on the final, no shock there, I would have a 100% average in that class except that I got like a 98% on one test! :( Very sad! I should still get a VERY high grade because my paper, book report, and notes all received 100%s.
I got a 95% on my Christian Womanhood final, with an average grade of 98%! :) I really enjoyed that class and learned a LOT! I know I will use the information that I learned in that class over and over and over again.
Those were all of my finals through Tuesday. Wednesday were my two hardest finals, and I stayed up until 1:30 Wednesday morning studying for them, and then got back up at 4:30! World History came first at 7:30. There were only four of us in that class, and two of them were Seniors, and both managed to get at least a B average in the class so they didn't have to take the final, lucky people. I think we all had at least a B average, which is good, but it is still a HARD class! I got a 95% on the final! How in the world that happened, I have NO idea!
My next final, and final final started at 8:55, it was in the class that I struggled with the most, New Testament Survey. All semester I have had a really hard time with the class, it was a LOT harder than Old Testament Survey was last semester. My study sheet for the final was seven pages long! I spent SO much time studying for it, and I know I bombed it BIG time! There were 100 questions on the exam, and I left 21 blank! I had a B average in the class, now I have NO idea what my average is, I only can hope that I will have at least a C so that it will transfer to Shawnee next school year! It was crazy! Nobody did well on that final, so I'm hoping that maybe there will be a grade curve!
Through all the finals I know God has been there helping me! All of the grades that I got (especially the good grades) are all because of HIM! If it weren't for Him, I know that I would have "epic failed!" PTL!
We had our final chapel yesterday, Grandpa preached. He gave his farewell address, since he will be moving on this summer.
After that we were free FOREVER, or at least for the summer, no more classes!!!! :) :) :) :) :) :) :)
I did quite a bit of packing in the afternoon, had a voice lesson (my last one (sob)), and then left with the McMahon's for a softball game! It was a lot of fun, even though it was rather cold (because it was on the south shore, right by the ocean, so the breeze coming off the ocean was rather chilly!!) After the game we drove out to Fire Island. It was dark by then, but it was still nice, and at least I can say that I was out there! :)
At the dorm prayer meeting last night several people shared blessings from the year. It went pretty long, but it was worth it!
I was in bed before 11:00, and didn't wake up until after 7:00!! HOW WONDERFUL! I love it! I'm still in bed, I just don't feel like getting up! I have this lovely case of laziness right now! :) It's nice! :)

A Busy Week!!

This entire week has been absolutely HECTIC for me. With the World History lesson due, and other tests, quizzes and assignments, I feel as though I've been run over by a truck! Many late nights, and early mornings made for an exhausting week.
Classes were normal yesterday. Chapel was really good. Pastor Kurt Skelley preached from Jeremiah 18 about the potter. His main points were: 1. We need a Master, 2.
After classes I went on a walk with Mrs. Phillips and Charlie. We had a lot of fun with "rock races." :) We were kicking rocks and racing them. I won quite a few times!! :) LOL!!

*****Charlie*****

*****The first and second graders were outside enjoying the weather*****

*****A bumblebee was enjoying the weather and the flowers*****

After our walk I went back to my room and worked some more on my World History! I spent hours on that class!! UGH!
Church was good. It was a nice break from World History! :) Bro. Dan Donaghue preached from Luke 15:11-8.
Friday was the big day for World History. I taught chapter 27, which was about World War I and the Great Depression. It was a LOT of material. I didn't finish it! I had to finish it on Monday, but will get to that a little bit later.
The class schedule was change on Friday because we had a split chapel, which means that the girls and guys had separate chapels, the speaker for the guys chapel hadn't gotten in until really late Thursday night, or actually really early Friday morning, so he had asked for chapel to get moved a class period later than what it usually is. So right after World History I had a test in English Grammar! I had not had very much time to study, so I was not really prepared. Oh well.
Chapel was really exciting. Instead of having a chapel service for the girls, we loaded up on a bus and went to the Stony Brook harbor and were able to just relax, take pictures, goof off, whatever we wanted to do. The administration had decided to give us a "mini-vacation" and all of us really appreciated it a LOT!! It was a beautiful day, and we needed the break.

*****Me and Nichole*****

*****Me and Dina*****

*****Me, Arrianny, and Mirta*****

*****I was able to get really close to this goose, I was almost able to touch it, but it wouldn't let me. The city girls, (Nichole, Mirta, and Arrianny) all from Brooklyn were terrified of it!! LOL*****

*****I thought this house was beautiful, I like the style*****

I really wasn't feeling very well on Friday, I was REALLY exhausted, so I took the day off work and slept for 4 hours! It was WONDERFUL! Even after I woke up I didn't do anything except lounge around. I fell asleep between 10 and 10:30 Friday night and slept until 7:30 on Saturday!! I got over 13 hours of sleep! AMAZING! It was wonderful and I could sooooo do it again!
Life got really fun on Saturday. Instead of doing my normal bus route I went with Bro. Barnes and several other college students to another bus route where for about half an hour we knocked on doors, in that time we were able to get 4 or 5 new families that wanted to ride the bus!! :) After that we picked up some bus kids, went to Subway for lunch (yay!!), picked up some more bus kids and then headed for Yonkers, NY for a youth rally. Dina was supposed to sing and needed someone to play for her, so I was asked to do that. There was a slight problem though, it was a Spanish youth rally, I don't understand much more than mucho, gracias, and muy bien. LOL! The rally went from 3 pm until 8 pm!! It was insane! There were 4 preachers, one of whom was Bro. Barnes, so at least I could understand what he was saying!!
I gave up trying to understand, and went outside and talked on my phone for the last sermon. I wasn't the only one who decided to get out, Bro. Barnes and his two sons that came with him also decided to leave! They went for a walk and found a Dunkin Donuts, smart people!! LOL!
The people that had come with us, weren't very happy with us for skipping out on them! :) I say it was their own fault! They could have left too!!
There was a meal that was served after the rally, it was REALLY good! MMM.....the rice was to die for! I love rice when it is cooked right, and nice and tender, but not mushy, that was the way this rice was! AWESOME!!
The ride back was pretty uneventful, although we couldn't find a Star Bucks anywhere, and when we finally found one it was closed! :( We decided to try Dunkin Donuts, cuz they are normally open 24 hours, well, it so happened that the 1 that we did find had closed about 15 minutes before we got there!! What a rip off!! We did finally find a 24/7 DDs and we got our drinks and food and were good to go!
We didn't get home until 11:15 Saturday night. I was pretty tired, but thankfully I had been able to get a lot of homework done, (I did hw at the rally when I couldn't understand a word!)

*****Jamecca taking a big gulp on our way to the rally*****

*****This was on the way to the rally, I thought it was pretty*****

*****Bro. Barnes preaching with an interpreter*****

*****My boredome expressed, a banana peel on the floor!!*****

Sunday started bright and early at 5:15. It really wasn't that bad. :) The bus kids were really wound up, so by the time I got back to church I was ready to kill a couple of kids, and was pretty tired. LOL!
Sunday school was really good. Bro. Randall talked about having patience. He said, "Stop trying to figure out what you are going to be doing in 25 years, and start trying to figure out what you are supposed to do TODAY!" What a good point! It's so easy to try to figure out what God wants me to be doing later, when really, I need to be figuring out what God wants me to do NOW! Bro. Randall also said, "Good things happen to those who wait." Yet, another good point!
The girl who normally works on Sunday afternoons was sick, so she asked me to work for her. I worked for about 1 1/2 hours Sunday afternoon. Then I got out my camera and started taking pictures, cuz there were more tulips in bloom!! :) :)

***************

Choir practice was interesting. As Brother Randall put it, "We have an ADD choir." That was pretty much it, the weather was GORGEOUS and nobody really wanted to be inside singing.
Church was good, Bro. Longhoffer, from Brooklyn, spoke on finances.
I worked for almost 2 hours Sunday night and then took a shower and went to bed. :)
I finished up World History today. :) I must admit, I really do like teaching, it's a good thing that is what I am going to be doing for the rest of my life. :)
Work was ok.....it seemed to drag though, but I think that is probably because it was raining and I really didn't want to be working. :( At least April showers bring May flowers!! :)

I'm going to answer some questions that have been asked of me:
First of all, why am I going for Secondary Ed instead of Elementary Ed? A lot of people have asked me that over the past couple of years. Here are my reasons: I strongly believe that God has called me to help teens. Secondly, I want to teach the "hard" classes that will hopefully help high schoolers decided what God has called them to do. I want a houseful of kids some day, but I don't think I could teach little kids for 20 or 30 years, I don't have that much patience!!
Next question: How did I bribe Adreonna the other day when she was mad at me? I tried EVERYTHING! Candy, chocolate, promises to do things with her...all to no avail! Finally I found a stuffed animal and took it out to her and told Adreonna that the animal was sad because it couldn't go with me to NY. So I asked her to take care of it for me. That finally brought a smile to her face. I felt soooooo bad!!
How am I getting back to New York? I'm flying via South West Airlines from Midway in Chicago to MacArthur on Long Island.
I will try to sum up my break in fifty words or more, that might be a little hard though...I'll try.
I got into Chicago to snow, by the time I got home though, there was no snow! I was VERY disappointed!! Chicago was getting lake effect, but not us. :( For the first week in a half or so I was feeling great! Got to sleep in, text with friends in NY and elsewhere, visit with friends here, and pretty much to nothing! It was WONDERFUL!! Then one day I doubled over in pain while I was eating a meal. For the next 3 weeks I ate almost nothing, and went from doctor to doctor, and test after test before finally the docs found out that my gallbladder was VERY diseased and needed to come out! They got me in for surgery the next day, it went well and now I am ready to go back to school!
While I was home I also was able to go into the jail several times. That is always a blessing to me.
I also played my cello for a wedding and did several Christmas programs.
OK, is that at least 50 words??