Thoughts While I've Headed Back To Class

I have officially started back to class!

My morning started off
with a beautiful flower from my RA!
And a sunny blue day!

Classes kicked off on August 21 (on my wonderful fiance's 20th birthday!!!) and I began with Dr. David Olshine in learning how to communicate to youth.  I didn't voice this in class when asked as a group, but my goal from this class (Communicating to Youth) is to learn just that! Over the past 14 months while staying at home back in Hartsville, I have led the college Bible study, obviously working with college students.  Communicating with college-aged students is very easy for me.  Not just because I'm a college student myself, but because our generation, our age group, is more of the Seeking age group out of all human being developmental stages.  Our age group longs for something real, for some sort of Truth or purpose that isn't made up.  It is also the highest rate in age group to fall away from religion and stop going to church.  There is nowhere for them to plug into because they are caught between high school and adulthood.  They are in limbo between the two, yet so so so many adults expect them to fall right into a "more mature" adult crowd because they are 'adults' now.  There is so much young life still in college-aged students that older crowds just don't have room or understanding for.  This is where I feel called - the callous between the teen world and adult world so that the transition isn't a legalistic one.

Fortunately enough, I feel like God set me up right with classes this year!  My classes consist of Communicating To Youth, Communicating God's Word, Issues In Contemporary Youth Culture, Marriage and Family, and Sea Adventure.  The first three all have to do with learning different ways to effectively communicate God's Word to young people while keeping in mind the experiences and responses each of them have based on their past.  That is SO great to sit in each and really practice all the skills I'm learning at the same time to get better at what I'm called to.  The same skills I'm learning from Issues and Communicating To Youth are similar to the skills I need when handling a marriage and a family.  Effective communication of feelings and respectful approaches to confrontation on every level are crucial to strong bonds and relationships between spouses, and parents and children.

First kayak class with Julia!

Sea Adventure is learning how to scuba dive, kayak and do other water sports while incorporating such things with ministry to youth (PS. I'm a Youth Ministry, Family, and Culture major - just in case you were wondering what all these classes are coming from.)  Scuba diving was fun, but scary because I had to tell my body that it's okay to breathe under water... as I inhaled water through the nose in my mask... and sunk to the floor of the pool multiple times... I know that if I happen to return back to the pool for scuba, it would be a little easier because I'll know what to expect.  I LOVE kayaking, however, and I cannot wait to go again! It was hard learning how to handle rowing up-stream through the rapids, though, but just like the scuba diving - next time I'll know what to expect!  AND, I stood up in my kayak in the middle of the deep water!

I stood up in my kayak!!

Another thing I've been keeping up with on the side is my regulation of exercising and eating right.  I'm not a big person, but I have developed a pooch on my belly from eight months of parking my butt behind a desk in an office.  I build muscle pretty quickly because of my thick German-Scandinavian heritage, so the muscle-strengthening part shouldn't be hard.  It's just the whole losing the fat that has collected like dust on my belly! I have kept a regular exercise pattern, running a mile a few nights a week, biking a few times a week, using machine weights for toning my muscles, and using the elliptical for the first time ever.  For eating, I have been doing my best to take it easy on the desserts, bread, pasta, and potatoes.  The only reason I allow myself to have large amounts of the latter three are if I plan to workout right after to burn all the energy I get from the carbs and startches in those foods.  I reward myself with sweets once a week depending on how well I did that week taking care of my health.  Other than that, I've been choosing the right foods to eat - that are not southern-deep-fried, or covered in a stick of butter or margarine.  Fresh veggies are delightfully mixed in all different ways, and I am always too full when I'm finished eating.  Slimming up!  And I'm excited!  Wedding coming!

The Hobbit
12/14/2012

One more thing I have started this semester: reading The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien in preparation for the movie! ;D  I can tell you more about how that's going here!  86 more days until it is in theatres!!

So that is how my first few weeks back to school have been, my thoughts, and what I have been up to - busy, busy!