My Team!

So I am offically at Focus on the Family Institute! There are a total of 48 of us which is exciting because we are half of the normal class size! We have done some crazy things already. The first game that we played I was paired up with a guy named David. We had to choose a double name for our team so naturally we chose salt and pepper. We were then seperated and put on opposite ends of a giant field and instructed to call out eachother's name at the top of our lungs untill we found eachother. My teammates name for the game was salt, so I got to wonder around the park yelling salt at the top of my lungs (use your imagination, it was very funny:). The inflection in our voice as we got closer was great, and we found eachother in record time (though I can't prove it because it was not actually timed)! So aside from the fun though, each game was designed to help us identify our leadership skills and those of our teammates. It was a wonderful time and I am so excited about the team that God has put me in. Having said that meet my team: starting at the top left in the back we have Jenna, my roommate Britany, Me, Amy, Elizabeth, and Laura. Then coming down to the front left we have Hal, Ben, David, and Gary! These people are wonderful and have blessed me so much already. Over this summer we will be working togeather to edify, challenge, encourage, and engage eachother to grow closer to Christ, to know God, and to become the agents of change that we are intended to be in this world. Please be praying for me and my teammates!

Mom, Laura, and I, and our Adventures!

We decided that we needed some fondu! Mom and Laura did not plan a head for the perfectly balanced compostion due to matching shirts but it did work out quite nicely.


This is a street front in a town called Manatoue Springs! We loved this little town.

This is mom and I in a crack in a giant rock formation at the Garden of the gods. What a beautiful park! There were all kinds of creative interpretations of the rocks but we never could find the sleeping giant. My favorite was the kissing camels.

This is a rock at the very bginning of the Garden of the gods called Balancing Rock.

This is the 7 Falls waterfall, and yes if you look carefully you will see the lovely flight of stairs that we climbed up to the top. Go team!

This is me and my momma at 7 falls! My mom, Laura, and I had a wonderful time at this park, although we were expecting 7 different waterfalls. Don't worry though, what we were missing in falling water we made up for in climbing stairs. I believe that when all was said and done I climbed close to 400 stairs to get to the top of the waterfall.

7 Falls park features much beauty and many stairs! Further more the stairs climb very steeply up the side of the cliff face where the waterfall is. Let me tell you that by the time I was at the half way point I was breathing as if I had just ran a half marathon!

This is Laura and Mom at 7 Falls! It is a park with a waterfall at the center of it that has 7 different kinds of waterfalls in it. I am completely unable to explaine how this is possible, but if you are interested my brother Michael just finished a geology class and may be of some help!:)

Laura and mom made reservations for us at a place called Flying W Ranch. The set up is of an old western town. This is a picture of us in the saloon. (I also got a camera before I left and we were discovering the wonders of the color option menu with this picture!)

While walking around the old town we discovered a bench where they used to shine shoes. We all had sandles on but we decided that we needed a shoe shineing none-the-less.

We had such a wonderful time together and I was so blessed that Laura and my mom where able to come over to Colorado with me and get me settled in! They did an exceptional job!

Trivia night here we come. 

Fund raising is always a tricky sort of thing.  In fact I think that it is potentially one of the most unnatural endeavors for human kind.  The average person does not like asking for help, but if you are going to put on a trivia night you better be willing because the list of details to consider is quite impressive.  The average person does not like asking for money, but that is in fact the definition of fund raising. Nor does the average person appreciate the release of control that comes with admitting that you don't have the funds on your, and then relying on the generosity of others to make up for your deficit.  In case you are wondering at this point, yes I am an average person.  However, as I have embarked on this great fund raising adventure for the second time in my life I must say that there seems to be plenty of generosity to make up for my deficit.  I don't like asking for money but there is a natural humility born from the need to ask for it and I am grateful for that.  And there are more than enough people wanting to help to accommodate my impressive list, as well as add to it :), of details.  

All this to say that my latest fund raising endeavor is putting on a trivia night.  The irony of the situation is that putting on this "rack your brain to see just what's in it" event is racking my brain.  Coming up with brain twisting yet reasonable questions is a brain twisting exercises in its self.  And Raising money without spending any in the process definitely utilizes the right side of the brain requiring an impressive amount of creativity.   But luckily, this is not so painful with multiple people putting the right sides of their brains together, which I am blessed to say has happened.  So if the ambition to plan a trivia night ever strikes you, remember that half of your brain power is spent before the first question is read, but you are not alone, there are plenty of people willing to lend their brains to the effort.

Life is Unpredictable!

Well I am back from my blogging break!  Here are some things that I find amazing:

 1.    I got my last job by admitting that I had no idea what I was doing in fact when asked how good I was with a pastry bag I said, "What do you mean with carrying a bag of pastries?"  For those of you who know what a pastry bag is you should already be laughing.  For those of you who don't a pastry bag is a bag of icing that is used to decorate a cake, not, as I thought, a bag full of pastries!

 2.    I got my current job after completely botching the first question, and when I say botch it is a possibly an understatement.  I went to an interview for a Teachers Assistant position, so it gave me pause when the first question I was asked was, "So why do you want to be a Paraprofessional?" Mentally I said, "A what?"  Externally I said, "Well, I just graduated college and I am just looking or something in the Saint Louis area that I might enjoy."  To which I received a blank stare that I now know meant, "Are you kidding?"  After doing a little digging I found that a paraprofessional is just another name for a teachers assistant and my answer was void of a show of passion for teaching or kids.

 3.    Finally, today I was called into my supervisor’s office in the middle of class.  In case you don't know instinctively, this is not a good thing.  Walking to the house I was trying to think through everything that I had done between my review the day before and this afternoon.  I got to the office and sat down to be introduced to my supervisor’s supervisor at which point I am pretty sure my palms were sweating.  She proceeded to tell me that due to budget cuts the district needed to cut corners.  It’s funny how your feelings can stay the same even though your thought processes is completely different.  My palms were still sweating and my stomach was still upside down but for a completely different reason.  All of a sudden she said, "We are not leaving anyone without a job but we are going to move you to a different location and district."  I thought, Amazing!  I have only been here since October and these people, who are clearly in a tough spot, who do not have the funds to keep me have found me a new job with the same pay and benefits. 

 In a time when so many are out of work I feel blessed and amazed that God has continually provided me with a job, in spite of my blunders!  He is good!  I am his!  And I am glad!   

    

Grace

Well, this week there have been a few times where I have come face to face with my own silliness and sinfulness. Whether it be putting my foot in my mouth for the hundredth time, or worring about something I have no control over, or reading into things instead of enjoying them, or failing to love someone well, I have realized a precious gift in response: laughter. Not laughter that ignors the seriousness of these things, or pretends that they didn't happen, but laughter that embraces the grace that I have been offered through Jesus christ. Jesus death and resurection has offered me so much, but one of the things that amazes me is the ability to embrace and live life fully and freely. Free from guilt or shame; able to laugh at myself and share my faults with others. Knowing that I am covered by Christ's sacrifice on my behalf. I have nothing to fear; not because I am great, because the Lord knows that on my own I am nothing, but because nothing can defeat Christ in me. I have complete confidence that christ can defeat all that comes against me, even aspects of myself at times. This reality leaves me smiling, and yes, laughing at times; stuned by the undeserved priviledge of enjoying Christ's grace. There is no greater gift, and there is no greater joy than that that comes from learning to recieve it daily. I am in love beyond what I can express with the one who loves me beyond what I deserve.

So tonight I got the answer to my earlier post about depressing movies: "Rat Race". After I published my last post my older brother and sister-in-law asked me if I had seen "Rat Race". When I said no, my brother declared that I was not alowd to graduate until I had seen this movie. After this conversation I left and went home and came back the next week unsuspecting. When i walked in however, there were balloons everwhere and a big sign that said "Thank You". The girls ran up all excited and Ryan and Dana explained that tonight was going to be Ashley night! Can you believe that? I have never had my own night before. I was already so excited, but the surprises kept coming. They brought out presents and gave me ice cream, soda, Krunchers, and the one movie that has been missing from my film collection: "On the Waterfront". They then told me that we were having tomato rice soup and grilled cheese for dinner and wonderful pastries for desert! My goodness it was amazing! All of my favorites in one night! Finally though, they told me that we were watching this crazy movie so that I can proceed to graduation. I dont know what to say about the movie other than that it was hystarical and we laughed so hard that we cried! This was of course the perfect anecdote to my earlier movie dilema and I am so greatful. But in the end funny movies are wonderful but family is priceless. I was so blessed by their love and all that they did to encourage me and it was a smashing success. I was able to enjoy a good movie with good company and good food! Now that is how to spend a thursday night. Thanks guys!

Film: Its a Love Hate Relationship

K...so here's the thing. I am a film major, which means that

I end up watching a lot of movies that my professors think are beneficail examples of various kinds of film elements. In the past 3 weeks the following are the films that have been considered benefical in some way:

First is "3:10 to Yuma", which was a good example of a conventional film. It just so happens that this conventional film has an unconventional ending in which the main character, and only respectable one in the film, is shot numerous times. The second film was "The Player", an example of a more complex, but still conventional film. This film happens to be about a man who commits murder, gets away with it, and manages to cheat on his girlfriend with the deadmans girlfriend. He gets promoted to president of the company that he works for and the girlfriend of the man he murdered can't help but fall in love with him and they get married and, everybody now, live happily ever after. Finally, we have "Zodiac", which in short is a film about a serial killer. Enough said about that one? I think so. Anyone see a trend...a fairly dismal and depressing sort of trend? The bottom line is that I need a pick me up. So if you have any sugestions let me know, but first I have designed a quiz to help you determine if I am interested or not. So please, before submitting ideas, answer the following questions:

1. Do numerous people die?

2. Does it seem to have an odd attachment to skepticism, brutality, or other generally depressing subjects?

3. Does it seem to think that any redemptive element is overrated, and so should be left out?

4. Does it find death to be a more interesting subject than life?

If the answer to any of these questions is yes then please suggest something else. Feel free to go in the opposite direction even and offer something uplifting, redemptive, perhaps even funny. After all when given the choice I would rather laugh than cry.