This is Home

So I have completed a little bit more than a week of school and its been fun so far! But that's only because out of a 5 day week we have only had 3 days of school. Last Friday I moved in along with most of the campus, then the weekend was spent making new friends, hanging out with the BSU people on campus and just learning our way around. Sunday we went to church then that afternoon we enjoyed what we thought would be our last free afternoon. Monday was class and the 2 I had seem like they will be interesting. One of them is a once a week class so I'm not sure how well I'll like being in class for 3 hours in the afternoon, but I can handle it for a trimester.

I don't have any of my books because they have to be ordered online and I didn't get my list until I actually went to the class. Its a messed up system. All the music books here must be bought online, we don't have a choice. We get to class and our teachers expect us to have the books and are disappointed to find out that we don't. But we still have to wait days for our books to get in. Then Monday afternoon we found out that Tuesday and Wednesday classes were canceled due to Hurricane Isaac. So Our school drive was completely killed. We didn't have books, we had 2 days off in the fist week and so we had nothing to do. Not how I would have liked my first week of school to go but all over I suppose it wasn't too bad. Though I would have rather had classes on Tuesday and canceled Thursday.

Tuesday is was beautiful! The weather was nice, it wasn't really hot or cold, it was just perfect. So many kids went home that the campus was fairly empty so we could do almost whatever we wanted. Tuesday night was when the rain started though. I played Frisbee outside for a bit in it so I suppose I can say that I played Frisbee in the hurricane, but it wasn't that bad. Wednesday it rained ALL DAY! Thursday really wasn't any better. Everyone was so sick of being wet and cold. My feet are incredibly sore because I (and half of campus) ditched wearing shoes. Why would we want to get our shoes wet? And flip flops are hard to walk in when everything is flooded, so we'd just carry them around in our bags or leave them in our room. Almost every time I walked into my dorm I'd throw my jacked in the dryer then pick it up later when I left.

But we went back to school on Thursday sadly. That night was fun though because the Student Government was holding a free skate night about 5 miles from school! They have those every few months. I had a ton of fun! It's nice to be able to skate without having to worry about running over my little kids. They had races and I won the girls race. I have a feeling that will become a fun thing we do every so often when we need a break.

Theres a Walmart just a little bit away from the school with a Sonic in front as well and right there is also a walk in Doctors office. Why do I know this? Because I spent my weekend cleaning and looking after sick people. My roommate got sick on Thursday and so she went home Friday morning. That night I went into a cleaning mode that had me busy for hours that night. I didn't want to take the chance of getting sick so I washed all her cloths and bedsheets, swept the floor, wiped down every surface and swept. I'm living on the 3rd floor at the end of the hall. No elevator. Stairs are in the middle of the hall. So I was going up and down those stairs at least once every half hour for about 3 hours. Always carrying a basket of laundry or a trashcan. My legs were so sore.

But I got it all done and so I could sleep easy that night knowing I did my best to get rid of the germs. Since I'm not sick I'm assuming that I did a good enough job. Saturday was also spent around sick. My best friend has been fighting a cold for ages and finally he agreed to go to the Dr. So we woke up and I drove him into town. We did get lost a little because I missed the street, but it worked. And now I know where to go if we ever need a dr, so hurray! Then across the street to get the meds, had complications, went back to school, ate lunch, helped with homework (since I don't have any books I can't really do anything), took a nap, then waited around on said sick person to wake up so we could go get the correct meds. 

Since this is long enough I'm cutting it off here, but there is a run down view of my week at school. I really have lost my drive though, so I'm trying to stay busy doing one thing or another so I don't just sit and watch movie on my computer all day. Its felt like more of a summer camp than actual school, but I guess next week (on Tuesday) the real fun will begin. Goodbye for now!

2 Days, 23 Hours and Counting

Its early in the morning, this is the second to last time I'll sleep in my bed until November. I've been up watching movies and making bracelets. Today's (yesterday, but since I haven't slept yet it's today) been, kinda a stressful day. Nothing seemed to go the way I planned it too. Things I expected to complete had to be postponed to tomorrow, things that should have been done last week are still left unfinished simply because its out of my control. I have no motivation to get up and start packing, so it was incredibly easy to go off and help my mom with something, or practice volleyball with my sister, or go play the piano. I'm really stressing over this college stuff.

I'm so ready to move out and get on my own its suffocating! But all the same, I don't feel ready. I look around me and see other kids who are my age and younger, but they all seem like the older college students I looked up to as a 10yr old. I look in the mirror and don't see an almost 20 year old girl, I still see the selfconcious girl in 7th grade who was terrified of speaking up in a new place.

I can be a little apprehensive about the future, I'd be crazy not to be! I think what I'm trying to say can be summed up in a scene from C.S. Lewis' "Prince Caspian". Aslan is telling Caspian that he is a king of Narnia and Caspian tells him that he does not think that he is ready for it. Aslan calms his fears by saying "it is for that very reason, that I know you are".

48 hours from right now, I'll be sleeping (hopefully) somewhere in a hotel waiting for the sun to rise and a new adventure to begin. About 7 1/2 hours later, I'll be driving in the front gate and the adventure will begin. Tomorrow I'm going to try and take my own advice and just let things happen. I'm not going to stress about packing or getting things done, just do it and do it all with a smile on my face!

Here's to all you college students out there. Whether you're going back to college, whether you're starting college, hey this even goes for you high school kids! Life's an adventure. Don't be afraid to step out and enjoy it.

A New Chapter

This week I'll be starting a new chapter in my life by moving off to college! My dad mentioned in church last Sunday about how people should ask me how it happened that I found this school. Well no one did, but thats okay. I"ll write it here and maybe if you want to read it you can.

Last September I really felt the need to get out of my hometown and go somewhere on my own. I wanted to go to a new school and actually be away from home. One of my best friends from out of state was in his senior year of high school and he was looking for schools as well. We both wanted to go to a Christian school, that was really important to us. I told him I was going to look for a new school about the same time that he was changing his life plan so he suggested that we look for schools together. His mom had printed out a list of all the Christian schools within 12 hours of their house; which meant that they were anywhere from 6-18 hours away from me.

He was looking for schools with a good ministry program while I wasn't entirely sure, so I went with something I loved-theatre. His mom went through and crossed out all the ones that were out of our price range so all we had to do was look through a list about half the size of what it was. He'd read a name off the list and we'd both go to the website and look it over, if we liked it we'd write it down to inspect closer later. By the end of the day, we each had 4 schools that we liked. 3 of them were the same. We had to get off the computer then, so we prayed over the schools on our list and were going to look closer the next day. This was Thursday.

So Friday we got back on the computer and pulled back up the schools. The 1 school that we each picked that was different from the other we really chose so that way we'd have a different choice than the other so it didn't seem like we were only picking schools that we could go to together. We just both liked the same schools and they offered what we really liked. So we crossed that first school off fairly quick. That left us with College of the Ozarks, Blue Mountain College, and William Carey University. We spent an hour or two going over each school. For different reasons, either it was we didn't like the program they offered us, didn't like the location, didn't like how it was set up,  we crossed off the first two schools from our list. I found it a little funny that it was the same school, when neither of us thought that was really an option to go to school at the same place. We agreed to pray about it and later on in the weekend we'd decide if that was really where God wanted us.

Saturday we both received confirmation from God that was almost impossible to miss that He wanted us both at William Carey. So while my best friend was completely sure about it and he could start working towards it, I still had to find a way to get my dad on board. I knew I was supposed to go, but I knew how my dad felt about me studying theatre. So then I just had to pray for a way to tell my dad about it.

My parents had wanted me to take a test that told you different things that you might be good at. I wasn't really into it, but I went ahead and did it the following Tuesday. I was given a bunch of little booklets that had different vocations on them that I might be good at. One stood out to me-Music Therapy. The more I looked at it, the more I liked it. I showed it to my mom and she felt like I would be good at it and it was something I could spend my life doing. So I decided that I was going to go to study Music Therapy, but now I needed a school that offered it. I had already decided I liked W.C.U., but what if they didn't have Music Therapy?

I went to the College Board website and did a college search. Its actually pretty fun, you can chose what states you want to go to, what programs you'd like, if its a small/medium/large school, all boys, all girls, stuff like that. So I did a search and the only limitations I put on it was it had to offer Music Therapy as a major and it had to be a Baptist college. When it showed me the results of the search, there was only one school on the list. William Carey University.

I was ecstatic! I knew the Saturday before that I was supposed to be going to W.C.U., I just needed a way to go, and here it was. So this weekend I'll be moving into my dorm along with my best friend, but also my "sister" will be my roommate, and another close friend will be going there as well! My best friend has a roommate from his hometown that he knew a little bit, and one of my girl friends has a friend going there as well, so I have a group of 5 people that I have met in some form or fashion.

God really does provide, and its so interesting to see how he works things out. If you had told me that I'd be going to school with 2 of my best friends, I wouldn't have believed you. If you had told me how I was going to find myself at this school, it would have seemed far fetched. But God is good, and He works things out according to His plan and purpose. All I have to do is hold on, keep up, and enjoy the ride.

Peru!

Hello Everyone :) In December I'm going to be going off to Peru on a mission trip. I'm so excited for it!! Although the preparing part isn't so nice. I've put off sending out letters for awhile sadly, so I've popped in the Zorro movies and plan to work on all that while watching with my little sister.

Sadly, today was my last day of work at the daycare. It was pretty sad...I've worked there for over a year. But its been good, and hopefully I can return next year :)

Here is a first draft of my mission letter, I'd love it if everyone could pray for me and the team I am joining!!

"Dear Friends and Family,

            This past January God opened a door for me to do something I had been praying to do for years-serve Him on a foreign mission trip! I will be joining a church in Mississippi working with Go World Missions (www.goworldmissions.org). Our plan is to serve the people of Peru for a little more than a week during the Christmas holiday by providing meals and handing out Bibles. In addition to this, we hope to raise enough money to buy toys and shoes for the children there. By serving the people of Peru, we can show them God’s love and hopefully open their hearts to Him.

            I need two things in order for this to happen. First and always foremost, we need prayer! Please pray that our trip there and back again is safe and simple. Also that everyone in our party remains in good health but most importantly that the people of Peru open their hearts to the message that we are bringing them.

            Second is raising the funds. In order to go I need to raise $2,300. I know God will provide the money that I need in order to go. The money will go towards airfare mostly as well as ground transportation, the expense of staying there and the food that we will be serving.

            If you would be willing to support me in one or both of these areas I would be extremely grateful! I cannot wait to see what all God has in store for us as we further His kingdom!

                                                                                    Blessings,

                                                                                                   Heidi Rochelle

                                                                            

He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation

.-Mark 16:15"

Closing and Beginning

The London Olympics have reached their conclusion and with them I'm beginning to reach my own. Next Thursday I'll be packing up and driving off to open a new chapter of my life at school away from home. Its my second year in college, but this year I'm actually attending school away from home.

It's been a bit nerve-wracking getting ready for it. I'm the first kid to leave home for school so its been a learning experience for my parents and myself on the Do's and Don'ts for preparing for school.

This week is my last week of work and then I'll be saying goodbye to my kids until next summer sadly. I'm ready for a break from them, I need some time to not be around kids...but I'm going to miss them so much!! I know I'm going to cry at some point this week by saying goodbye to all of them.

I've made the computer switch from PC to Apple, and it's different for sure.

Well I'm going to end this because I am completely distracted by the giant blowup octopus in the middle of the London Stadium for the closing ceremony, but I promise there will be more blogs to come in the next few weeks! Goodnight all!!

My Little Family

My kids at work haven't forgotten our "family" from Tuesday. In fact, they make sure all the other kids in our group who missed out know about it and get them involved too. I was a bit worried about that. Its fun to play like they're all siblings and call them different names and hear 'MOMMY' being called across the room (in a playful manner), but I was concerned about the fact they might start undermining my authority as the counselor and getting out of control with it all.

But today I decided I didn't really have to. Only 1 girl takes it to far, she insists on being known as only "Lizzy" and will be the crazy one. But after talking to her, she did calm down and I talked to my kids, telling them what would happen if they started getting out of line. So from then on things went fine! I'm really glad too, I've seen a small change in my group this past week.

We go to rooms and instead of the kids breaking off into small groups of 2-3, everyone's been playing together and they're getting along! I've watched some kids who never really played together before spend hours running around because they are brothers or sisters and so they have something in common to play. I've actually had less problems out of them when we are in small group time because they are playing so well together! I'm not sure how long this is going to last before they all get tired of it and move on back, but it really has been a fun week with our little 'game'.

Things in Common

Yesterday I was at work playing air hockey with some of my kids. I don't remember how it started, but they were talking about siblings and finally, they turned to me and asked about mine. (I knew it was coming, the great thing about kids, they always pull you into their conversations.) I started out saying I had two sisters, but then told them those weren't biological. I knew one girl in my group was adopted like me, so that was for her sake. Then this other girls speaks up and says that she was adopted as well! So the three of us sat around and talked about being adopted. One was from Russia, myself and the other girl are here in Texas. We talked about the biological siblings they had, why our parents had to give us up, how old we were when we were adopted (none of us over 8 months) and about our adopted families.

What I really enjoyed was even though they both like me, when they found out that Miss Heidi was like them, they established a connection that no one else in our group has. Yes they're 8 years old and it doesn't mean that much to them, but it means enough to know that I've got something in common with them. It was also fun to have the other kids listen in and ask questions etc. I love going to work!!

Happy 4th of July everyone!!!