Let your heart be light

Finals are done!! I did better than I thought on most of my tests and most of my professors graded generously so I managed to raise my GPA a fairly significant amount. Woo-hoo!

We went to x-mas eve service at my grandparent's church, St. Andrew's, it was a good service with lots of music. The weather kept a lot of people away so the church wasn't as packed as usual and we didn't sing Handel's Messiah, so the magic of Christmas Eve didn't seem quite as bright; but after we sang Silent Night in the candle lit sanctuary I could really feel the Spirit moving.

Today we woke up early, opened gifts, and ate my mom's awesome bran muffins for breakfast. Then we picked up my grandparents and went to Rolfe to my mom's sister's house. We had a beautiful meal and wonderful fellowship. What a blessing.

Finals week verse

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

James 1:2-4

At the beginning of this semester I did all my homework on the weekends. All my assignments were done by the Sunday before they were due. Now I am getting stuff done on the day it is due. I have a Stat assignment due at 2 pm that I'm only half done with. My lack of motivation is pretty disgusting.

Yesterday in Physics recitation my TA told us a story. It was about how our professor might keep us in class the next day until we paid him 85 cents. None of us would have any money so we would call our friends and they would climb on top of Physics Hall and throw pennies in the window. Only a few people would get to leave because even though there were a lot of pennies it would take tons to pay everyone's 85 cents. Then our smarter friends would throw dollar bills and the rest of us would be set free. This story relates to Quantum Physics. We(students) are electrons in a piece of metal (classroom). We are trapped until light (friends) set us free with photons (pennies and dollars) pennies are low energy light and dollars are high energy light.

Oh Physics.

Singing life into dead week

Dead week is actually less stressful than the rest of the semester. My small groups are done meeting, I don't have O Chem, Physics, or Stat labs. I turned in my last paper of the semester today: The Effectiveness of Breastfeeding Education in Low Income Women. I have one more Stat assignment that is due on Thursday then I just have four finals next week. :)

This week the Catholics, Lutherans, and Latter Day Saints are caroling around campus. Today we sang at Conversations (the dining center where I eat and work). It was tons of fun, I love to sing. This weekend is Bethesda's Christmas program it includes, the adult choir, kids choir (80 kids!! That is more than St. Petri has parishioners on any given Sunday), band, and a small cast. We will be doing the program during all three of their services, it should be really fun.

class, work, meeting, repeat...

Physics: My professor is Greek, sometimes he spells things wrong, but for the most part he is just a lot of fun. My recitation TA is AWESOME, he is the best TA I've ever had. He answers my questions without giving me the answer but leading me there in a way that I can follow. My lab TA is another story, he doesn't speak very good English and he asks my questions back to me, grrrrr. Other than lab I am enjoying Physics, because I understand it. When I took it at RSHS I didn't understand at all.

Human Development: This is class isn't required for my major, but I thought it sounded like fun and lots of my friends took it and loved it. The materials are very interesting, but it is quite difficult. My prof usually teaches 300 or 400 level classes (this is HDFS 102) and she's never taught this class before.

O Chem: This class is really hard. Everything you've heard about it is true. It is just as difficult as general chemistry, but in a different way. But I did better on the first test than I ever did in gen chem so that is promising. I get to make margarine in lab this week, so that should be kinda fun.

Statistics: BORING. This class is taught by grad students, mine is this sweet guy with a super smooth voice. When he talks it is like he is reading a bed time story. My eyes glaze over and I almost fall asleep every class period. The homework for this class can be difficult because of the intense equations and graphs involved, but it is not too bad.

Contemporary issues in Food Science: This class only meets once a week, and we are not learning much. So far all we've talked about is ethics, it isn't even mildly interesting.

Working at the Dining center: I do dishes, toast buns, flip burgers, serve food, do laundry, clean bathrooms. I only get to work with food about half the time, but I am thankful to have a job.

Other: Food Science Club, Culinary Science Club, going to Bible Study, leading a Bible Study in my dorm, leading a small group at STA, and Bethesda Choir.

Let the rain fall down...

Last Saturday was the quilt auction at riverside. I didn't actually cook the food but I prepped the day before. I put about 3 pounds of cooked bacon in 80 pounds of baked beans, it was epic. I made one quilt for the auction,my mom made two, and the "young" quilters at St. Petri made two quilts. I bought a rug and 2 quilts, my mom bought 2 quilts. Between what we bought and made, our contribution to RLBC was about $2500. The total for the day was $41,000. Wow. It is amazing what a few pieces of fabric and some willing hearts can do.

Right after the quilt auction my family headed out for vacation. We went to the Leinenkugel's brewery in Chippewa Falls. Even though I can't drink beer it was a very interesting tour. My food scientistishness came out hard core as the tour guide talked about sugar levels and flavorings. The water in Chippewa Falls is amazing, it comes from a nearby spring, yum. We also went to a church there that had stained glass featuring important Lutherans and had a great sermon about social justice. From there it was off to the upper peninsula of Michigan. There we saw lighthouses, copper mines, and had some really good muffins made by monks. While we were in Houghton we went to two breweries. My dad tried all kinds of beer and tried to educate me about beer by describing Budweiser as an chips ahoy cookie and craft beer as a homemade chocolate chip cookie studded with pecans warm from the oven. It was wonderful.

We were really just getting started in the UP when we got a call from the Stover's that our basement was flooded. We had one foot of water in our basement. Uff da. We packed up, cut our vacation short 4 days and headed home; driving 11 hours. What greeted us was not beautiful, the water had drained but it left behind muddy sludge. Before we left for vacation we put everything on plastic boxes or on bricks, preparing for 1-3 inches of water. Turns out that the water rushed in with such force that everything was knocked over. For the next 3 days we carried our belongings out to the garage. We sorted and saved what we could and pitched the rest. My fridge, tv, printer, and microwave for school were damaged beyond repair. Lots of my mom's fabric got wet. Photos and countless keepsakes were destroyed. After mopping the floors and walls with bleach we set up dehumidifiers and fans around the basement. When everything is dried out we'll start putting stuff back.

As sad as this time was for us we are counting our blessings. People in China and Pakistan are facing much worse. The citizens of Colfax have basements and whole homes filled to the brim with water. The people of Ames have to boil their water before they drink it. All in all we did not have it that bad.

Well then so be it

I spent the weekend in Pella with Madison, Mil, and Kaitlyn. I am really glad that we went to see Kaitlyn because she so often comes to Story City and we rarely make the trip to see her. On our way there we missed the turn onto Kaitlyn's street and ended up going past Lake Red Rock. WOW! The water was SO high and they were using the dam to slowly flood the connecting river so most of the park was under water. Eventually we found our way to Kaitlyn's and later we went down to see the dam. The power of water is really incredible. Later we watched DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THE MORGANS? It was a pretty good movie. We were asleep by 12:30, all 4 of us are not quite 20 years old and yet we can't stay up all night talking like we used to because we are too tired, ridiculous! On Saturday we walked around the square in Pella and found some good deals. I bought some fat quarters with fruits and veggies on them at the quilt shop to make a food themed quilt. It was a wonderful couple of days!

Today St. Petri was supposed to have church in the park but the threat of rain was too much so we moved it inside. Everything was going smoothly until the power went out part way through the Lord's Prayer. Jo played GOD BLESS AMERICA on the piano with the help of Abby's flashlight. When we finished the some what discombobulated service we were supposed to head downstairs for the potluck, but Angie kept almost everyone upstairs for trivia while some of us went downstairs to find candles. Just as we were lighting the candles the power came on and the potluck continued without a hitch.

Celebration

Scandinavian Days was June 4-6. My mom and I did SOOOOOO much baking. We made Krumkake, almond butter cake, Swedish butter cookies, and blueberry pie. Usually St. Petri and other area churches have a bake sale together, but this year only St. Petri participated. It worked out pretty well because the bake sale was set right on the parade route. It sold out in about 3 hours and made almost $700.

The parade was not especially exciting. It mostly consisted of big trucks and fancy cars. There were really only two cool floats, but the band was great! John convinced Mr. Masemann to get berets for the tuba players so John looked pretty awesome.

One of my friends from ISU came up for Scandinavian Days and we made plans to play BINGO. Well it rained for a good portion of the afternoon so by the time I got there Zach was helping the the Lion's Club members dismantle the stand. I joined in and then we moved the posts and stools to the basement of the bank. I was so bummed that we did not get to play BINGO. As soon as we got it all put away the sun came out and it was a beautiful evening. Zach and I had some good time to catch up and then went to the annual musical. The theater troupe did a great job in Kiss Me Kate.

June 6th was also Pastor Tom's last Sunday at St. Petri. After church we had cake, pie, and ice cream to celebrate his 10 years with us. It is crazy that he's not our pastor anymore. He gave me my first communion, taught my 7th grade sunday school class, and confirmed me. We served together teaching confirmation and on church council. It is going to be tough without him. I'm really thankful for PT and the unique gifts he brought to St. Petri.

It really feels like summer now. It has been hot for the last few days. The Grinde family knows that full well because our air conditioner is not functioning. It broke sometime early this morning, so our home is hot and humid. No one can fix it til at least Tuesday, because tomorrow is Memorial day. Uff da.

Last week was leadership staff training at Riverside. I got to cook lots of food. It was awesome. We tried a new recipe called Strawberry Upside Down Cake. You put sliced strawberries on the bottom of a cake pan, sprinkle jello powder on top, add marshmallows, then pour cake batter on top. When the cake is baked you flip it over. It was supposed to be beautiful but it looked like cake with burned strawberry jam on top. So once the cake was cool I make strawberry whipped cream and frosted the cake with it. Everyone seemed to enjoy it, but I do not think I will make it again. This week Riverside's senior counselors and some of the leaders will be at Okoboji for more training, so they won't need me to feed them. Then there's one more week of training Riverside staff and then camp will start for real.

I am so thankful for my time at home this summer. I am really enjoying time to relax and recover from college. I know that eventually I won't really want to come back to my parent's home, but right now it is good to be in Story City surrounded by my immediate family and church family. They support and love me so much it is hard to stay away.

Another one bites the dust

Yuri is dead with no hopes of a resurrection. A few months ago my dad had the oil changed in my car. In the next couple of days the oil light came on. We just assumed that everything was fine, my car was just getting old (16 years) so I kept driving it. Well it turns out that the oil light came on because part of the engine wasn't getting oil. I drove it no problem for almost 4 months before it just couldn't take it anymore and broke down last week in Dike. It would be super expensive to fix, so we are not going to try.

Serendipitously my parents just bought a new, well used but new to us, Toyota Highlander, so we have an extra vehicle. They were going to sell our mini van, but because I do not have a car they are going to let me drive it. My parents are so generous, I am blessed by them everyday.

Best laid plans...

Yesterday a gal from one of my college Bible studies got married. Her wedding was in Cedar Rapids. The other girls in my study decided to caravan to the wedding. We made it to Dike before disaster struck. My beautiful, wonderful, and awesome 1994 Camry wagon, Yuri, broke down. We were getting on an exit ramp when all the lights on my car's dashboard lit up and I could barely pull off to the side of the road. I called my dad and he figured it out from there. It's sitting at a repair shop in Dike, tomorrow we'll find out what went wrong. I got in my Bible study leader's car and we kept going. We even made it to the wedding on time. My car breaking down was not cool, but I realize that it could have been a ton worse. Everything's going to be okay.

The wedding was really amazing. The decorations were perfect and it was wonderful to see the bride and groom basking in happiness. I just don't like how much waiting there is at weddings. We had to wait to be seated at the church, wait to send bridal party off, wait for the couple to appear at the reception, wait to eat, wait for the cake, wait, wait, wait. I have relatively no patience, as you might be able to tell.

At the end of the day it was all worth it. The cheesy potatoes were really good.

the adventure's just begun

I have one year of college under my belt. I managed to pass all my classes, make lots of friends, have tons of fun, and even bake pie for the people in my dorm once a week. I'm really glad I chose ISU. The campus is beautiful and I've been blessed with lots of opportunities to do awesome things.

Going to college was quite the transition for me. It was initially difficult to go from my parent's quiet and relatively spacious home in Story City to a tiny dorm room shared with a girl I didn't really know. After the first few weeks I adjusted. My roommate and all the other people on my floor were awesome, and with a couple personal touches my room didn't seem quite so small. Eventually figured out how to navigate campus without a map and could almost always catch the right Cyride bus.

It turns out that college classes are not quite the same as high school ones. I had quite the shock when I realized that I was not going to get an A on every test. College is difficult. My biology final from last semester was over 37 chapters from the textbook. In Chem 177 my professor went over everything I learned in 1 year of high school chemistry in 4 lectures. My GPA is nowhere near as pretty as it was in high school but I've learned a incredible amount.

Now that summer is here I'm working at Riverside again. This will be my 5th year in the kitchen. I love it SO much. I'll be working the supper shift. I would rather work in the mornings and have my afternoons and evenings free, but this way I get to sleep in. I'll also be filling in at the pharmacy whenever they need an extra pair of hands.