A bunch of words about highlights and lessons and stuff

It’s official. Fall semester 2013 is over. I’m in the airport waiting for my flight back to Seattle right now (although by the time this is posted, I’ll be home since O’Hare is lame and doesn’t have free Wifi… but I have an hour until I board, so it’s blogging time.) I can’t believe that first semester is already over. Time really does fly. But anyways, the point of the post is to reflect on the past 4 ½ months since I arrived back on campus to start my year as an RA, more specifically the last quad since I did a mid-semester reflection over fall break. I really liked what I did last time, so I’m going to do the same thing and highlight some of my favorite moments of B quad.

-Bro-sis Halloween dinner. Though Halloween was on a Thursday this year, T4/3S still dressed up for our weekly Wednesday night dinner. I found a onesie at the co-op (pretty much a thrift store, but better because it’s free for Wheaton students), and dragged my teddy bear along to be a little kid. And I was a pretty adorable little kid, if I do say so myself.

-Octemberfest. For you non-Wheaties, Octember fest is an event my dorm throws every year in the end of Octember/beginning of November, hence Octemberfest. It’s a big deal. Each floor has a theme, typically with some sort of adventure/goal for people that come to accomplish. In the past, this event has been much more focused on Traber (the boy side, once again for you non-Wheaties), but this year, Smith stepped up its game. 3S and 3E combined to do “Grimm Misadventures”, in which people had to navigate their way through the enchanted forest, accomplishing various tasks to collect cursed items the evil queen left behind, defeat her, and bring back all the fairytales’ happy endings. There was almost always a line waiting to get onto the floor, which was pretty much unheard of before this year. 2S and 2E also combined to do Hunger Games and did a wonderful job as well (or so I heard… I was on 3S all night as Rapunzel.) This night was a wonderful time, but even better was preparing before hand because I got to know some wonderful 3E people I probably wouldn’t have met otherwise. #topfloorbestfloor

-Ben came out to visit. He was in his college roommate’s wedding, which was only an hour away from Wheaton, so I got to spend a Saturday afternoon/night and Sunday morning with him, which was much needed after a crazy semester.

-JASIE CAME BACK. Jasie, my RA last year, came back from student teaching abroad in Senegal. I got to see her for the first time in 6 months, which was amazing. That girl is great, and if you don’t know her, you should.

-Amanda’s directing debut, aka Jukebox’s production of Curious Savage. I’ve really missed theater, so it was such a joy to see the show, especially since I knew several of the people in the cast… and my suitemate was the director ;)

-Weekly OUAT nights with Grace, Stine, Amanda, and whoever else decides to come. Since I caught up on Once Upon a Time during fall break, I was able to join in the weekly party on Sunday nights at Grace’s apartment. Fun times hanging out with friends and gushing over Hook.

-Thanksgiving break. I was on duty, so I stayed in Wheaton, but it was a ton of fun. Between a movie night with two of the girls that stayed, seeing Catching Fire, hanging out with the other on duty staff, Thanksgiving at the Smiths, and decorating the floor lounge for Christmas, it was a great break. Oh, I also bought the new Zelda game and beat it… Did I spend too much time playing it? Probably. Am I embarrassed that I beat it in less than a week? A little bit. Do I regret it? Not at all.

-WICKED IN CHICAGO. Words cannot describe, so I won’t even try.

-Just being on 3South in general. I love those girls so much, and they never fail to make my life interesting between late night talks, McDonalds runs, and bursting into my room unannounced (cough cough GWEN cough cough). I’ve started developing such great friendships with the girls on the floor, and I am so excited to see them again in January and continue building those relationships J

-And last of all, that feeling when I turned in my psychology final and I was officially done… and then had to stick around another 2 days for RA stuff.

As I reflect back on this semester as a whole, the amount of growth that has occurred strikes me. I really don’t feel like that different of a person than I was 4 ½ months ago, but I definitely am. I have learned so much, most of them the hard way… but my theory is that you really take it to heart with you learn lessons the hard way, so although it sucks, it’s worth it in the end. There’s been numerous lessons that I’ve learned, but if I had to sum them all up into one it would be this: God is sovereign God that loves me, and that’s all that matters. A quad was learning to let go of my expectations and let God do his work through me, because his plan is so much better than mine, and he knows what he’s doing although it doesn’t always feel like it. Although I would like to say that I’ve mastered this, I definitely haven’t. But I’m learning. This quad, there’s been so many moments of (read this in a whiney 5 year old voice) “But God…. I don’t WANT it to happen this way. I want it to happen MY way” and God gently reminding me that he has a plan for me, and I reluctantly let go (most of the time…I’m still working on it). This quad has been about finding confidence, strength, and value in Christ alone. I’ve just started to grasp how amazing God’s love for me is. I don’t think I’ll even completely understand it; it’s mind blowing how much he loves us, but I’m just starting to uncover what exactly that means. “I pray that out of his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God” (Ephesians 3:16-20). This was the longest verse RAs had to memorize this semester, but by far, it’s my favorite. “May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to fully understand”. That’s gold right there. Learning this lesson has not been an easy one. Like so many others, I’ve given into the temptation of comparison. These comparisons cover a whole range of topics from RA to friends to boys to classes to gifts/talents to faith. It even got to the point where I couldn’t handle going on Facebook because I had only 13 likes on my profile picture while many of my friends had 50+, many even 100+. So I deactivated my Facebook for a couple weeks. I mean, how stupid is that? My value does not depend on how many likes my profile picture gets, how many people comment on my status, or how many followers I have on instagram. But sometimes, it honestly feels like my value rests on those things, or what people think of me. “Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.” THAT’S what keeps me strong. God’s love. Not my reputation online, or even on campus. Why is that so hard to understand? It’s so easy to say, so hard to believe. So that’s what I’ve been learning this quad, and probably will for the rest of my life. That God loves me, and that’s all that matters. When I rest in God’s love, I will be strong, and everything else will be so much easier than when I try to do it on my own, working for the approval of man. This has not been an easy lesson to learn, but I’m glad I’m learning it now. God has slowly been breaking down the strongholds in my life that have kept me from fully resting in him. It hasn’t been easy, and I sure haven’t enjoyed it, but I am thankful for it.

Lastly, I just want to point out the irony in that all semester, I’ve struggled to write papers, even short 3 page ones. But just now, I easily cranked out 4 pages. I truly am an external processer. Hah.

Merry Christmas everyone, and fellow college students, have a great break!

Christmas Time Is Here

What? A blog post only slightly over a month since my last one?
Don't get too excited. I don't really have anything specific to talk about. Perhaps I have a lot on my mind, or perhaps I just really don't want to work on homework, but I just felt like blogging. So bear with me, this post will probably prove that the "external processing" part of my blog name is fitting.

Today, the day after Thanksgiving, marks the beginning of the Christmas season. I'm on duty this break, so I had to stay in Wheaton for Thanksgiving break. And so here I am, sitting in the Starbucks on the corner of Geneva and Main (it's much bigger than the one downtown... and right next to the dollar store so I was able get cheap Christmas decorations. Yay!) listening to a Christmas playlist on Spotify that one of my dear friends sent to me (Thanks Emilea!), writing this blog post, draining my laptop battery, giving me a valid excuse to head back to campus and decorate the floor since I forgot to bring along my charger. And yet I am so excited that it's finally Christmas season, it feels a little surreal. I'm quite torn... On the one hand, the start of the Christmas season means that it's almost Christmas break. Only 2 more weeks of class and then finals and I'll be back in Washington for the first time in 4 1/2 months, the longest I've ever gone without being home. I'll get to see my friends back home, I'll get to go to Woods and enjoy some *real* coffee (sorry Starbucks... as much as I love you, my heart will always be with Woods), I'll get to ride my pony, I'll get to cuddle up by the fireplace with my kitty... I'll get to fly to Tokyo to watch my brother get married and finally have a sister after almost 21 years of waiting. But yet, the beginning of the Christmas season means that the stress of finishing up classes and finals is creeping up, that my family will have our first Christmas apart (my parents and I will be flying out of Seattle, one brother will be in Tokyo, the other will be flying out of Denver, and we will all be reunited late on the 26th. Pretty much, I'll be time traveling on Christmas). Though the approach of these things feels oddly surreal, I'm prepared for them. Flying home for Christmas is routine. End of classes and finals feel like second nature to me now after 4 semesters of college. Even my brother getting married doesn't feel too weird... I've been looking forward to it for several months now. What really feels surreal is the fact that in just a few weeks, I will be half way done with my career as an RA. It's hard to believe that almost a year has already gone by since I found out I would be serving as an RA this year. The past 3 1/2 months since freshmen moved have been such a whirlwind. So much has happened, so many relationships have been built, and so much has been learned. I wish I had time to write about all the things I've learned so far this semester as an RA, but I only have a few minutes of battery left on my laptop... I guess that will have to wait until the next blog post.

But all this rambling does have a point. In the midst of all the craziness of the end of the semester and Christmas, it's hard to remember, as so many people say, "the reason for the season". Jesus, the Son of God, came down to earth as a baby to save us from our sins. How awesome is that? How can I complain about finals or not getting to celebrate Christmas with my whole family, or that I'm half way done with my RA year, when I have already received the greatest gift of all? This is something I've been working on the past couple weeks: Gratitude. Gratitude for everything God has blessed me with and watching how much I complain. And what a better time to do that than Thanksgiving and Christmas? Okay. My laptop is literally about to die, so I better wrap this up. Thanks to all of you for putting up with my rambling, and I hope that all of you are having a wonderful and restful break!

Fall 2013: A quad reflection

It's hard to believe, but it's been two months since I wrote my last blog post and I began my junior year of college. I haven't decided quite yet if it's so hard to believe because it went by so fast or because it feels like so much longer than that. When I think back to August, it feels like a world ago. I didn't know my freshmen, I didn't know my staff team, I had no idea what God had in store for me the next two months. But yet when I think about the fact that I am a quarter of way done with my junior year, with my RA year, it feels like this year is flying by. But anyways, since it had been so long since I had blogged, I'm on fall break staying at my former RA's, Gretchen, house, and have nothing better to do than pretend to do homework while Gretchen's sleeping on the couch next to me (she was trying to read... but kept falling asleep... and I think she's given up on staying awake now) with a blanket wrapped around her head because she's so cold, I thought that I would blog and reflect on these past two months. (Can we just acknowledge how long and confusing that sentence was? I apologize, but I'm too lazy to fix it.) I honestly have nothing specific to say, so it will probably end up being rambling, but what else would you expect from me?

I'm gonna start with memories from A quad that have stuck out to me:
-Going to my first day of Methods of Teaching Foreign Language and absolutely falling in love with the class and the idea of being a teacher after doubting it over the summer.
-Bro-sis reunion at Ian's house. There may have been a tornado warning, but that didn't keep us from partying.
-Being "in" on the night of the square dance. I was thankful for so many reasons- One because I had a legitimate excuse not to go to the square dance, but also because so many wonderful people came over that night and made my first weekend night in one to remember.
-Bro-sis trip into Chicago on Labor Day.
-Walking down the hall to the lounge... only to find a poster of Liam from One Direction up by the supersuite with Bible pickup lines all over it. Gosh, I love 3South.
-Gwen and I driving to Yo yo land (like a 15 minute walk) because it was so. freaking. hot. outside.
-A bunch of the sophomores and I skyping Jasie. I miss that girl.
-CLC reunion
-Sleepover in my room with Gwen and Clare
-Floor initiation. Have I mentioned I love 3South?
-Once Upon a Time night with Grace and Stine. And me freaking out and them just laughing at me since they'd already seen it.
-When Smithy taught Tim and JohnBo how to tango in the RA lounge
-3South homework party on the lawn. It started with just me, but, by the end, most of the sophomores were out there... Needless to say, not a whole of homework got done.
-RAIDDD. Yeah, 3South was the first floor to loud raid. We're pretty awesome. And it was LEGIT. Mafia murder mystery for the win.
-McDonalds trips. Especially that one time. You know what I'm talking about Clare, Gwen, and Nailah...
-Seabird concert with Stine.
-CLC reunion... with Erika!
-Sitting in front of the Rykens at the homecoming concert.... and all of us freaking out about it.
-Movie night with Grace and Stine
-Teaching Spanish for the very first time... and loving it.

And just a few things I'm thankful for...
-Any of the numerous times I stayed up late talking with 3Southers. Especially boy talk.
-Hanging out and praying in the RA lounge. I'm blessed with a wonderful and supportive staff.
-RA hangouts in senior staff apartments
-The fact that I still see Stine and Grace and they haven't abandoned me like I was so worried about. (I honestly don't know why I was worried. Those girls are so great and would never abandon me). But for reals... for the first time since we became friends, we don't live down the hall from each other... we live in three different places. But we still make time to hang out and have late night conversations.
-In nights. Sometimes they're a drag, especially when I'm tired or when no one is one the floor, but majority of the time they're an amazing time of bonding with the girls. OUAT, hair braiding, and candy is all you need to draw in 3Southers.
-One on ones. They may have consumed my life a quad (and I still have a few more), I think that's been one of my favorite parts of being an RA thus far. I love meeting one on one. It's how I function best. And being able to meet with every single girl on my floor? Well that was pretty awesome. I got to find out so many things I might not have otherwise, and got to talk to girls that aren't on the floor as much. So great.

I have learned so much already this year, and I can't wait to see what God has in store for me for the rest of this year. It's been a difficult quad, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. Oh, and just in case Mom and Dad are reading this... I have been learning stuff in class too... but that's much less interesting to write about ;)

Roadtrip, Training, Decorating, Orientation: My life the past 3 weeks

It has almost been a month since I last blogged... Oops. But I have a legitimate excuse this time! The past 3 weeks, I have barely had time to breathe, let alone blog. But it has been a fantastic few weeks.

Three weeks ago, I packed up my new (old) Subaru Legacy, Flo, and took off to make the trek back to Wheaton with my parents once again. On Friday, August 9th, I arrived back in Wheaton, moved into my room, and was reunited with my lovely staff team. The following Monday we left with all the other student leaders on campus (around 270 in total) and headed up to HoneyRock, Wheaton's camp in the northern woods of Wisconsin. The following week consisted of training, team bonding, and in my case, lots of coughing and feeling miserable due to a persistent cold (I'm still not 100%, I still have a slight cough). But despite being sick, it was an amazing week of bonding with my staff team and getting to know them better, learning about what it means to be an RA and a part of resident life, and lots of fun camp activities, including jumping in a bog and getting filthy with my fellow RAs, as seen in this gorgeous picture.

Smabe City '13-14. These people are pretty great.
Also, apparently I'm incapable of looking intense/terrifying. But that's okay. 

Once we got back from HoneyRock last Saturday, we had very little free time. Every moment not in training/staff meetings was used for preparing and decorating the floor. I have realized even more that I am NOT an artsy person. But it was still a lot of fun decorating the floor, and I'm really happy with how it turned out. A huge shout out to Andrea who made a ton of flowers for me, and also Gretchen who came and helped me set up. I love you both. You're amazing. But anyways. Training has been great. It's made me even more excited for this year and the opportunities I have to work with the 30 girls on my floor. Nerves are still present, but I'm just so incredibly pumped to see how God works on 3South this year. A few girls moved in during the course of the week, but the biggest rush was on Thursday; 11 of my 18 new girls moved in on Thursday afternoon. The rest came of the freshmen came throughout the day on Friday, all the sophomores moved in yesterday or today except for one girl coming tomorrow. So just like that, within just a few days, 3South went from feeling completely empty to full of life once again. 

3South before and after decorations. So many hours put into this, but it was so much fun. I LOVE how it turned out, and I think the girls do too :). If you're in Wheaton, come by and visit!

Already I have been blessed by my floor. My sophomores have been so extremely helpful, the freshmen have been patient with me as I sort out this whole leadership thing. I definitely still have a lot of learning to do, but I am confident that this floor will love me though thick and thin, and I will do the same to them. 3South has been my home and my life the past two years, and I am so extremely blessed to have the opportunity to lead this amazing floor this year. 3Southers, if any of you are reading this, I love you SO much. GAH. This year is gonna be great. I can't wait. 

Well. This is pretty short, but I just wanted to give a brief update on what's been going on in my life in the past few weeks! Classes start Wednesday, so hopefully soon I'll get back in the swing of school and settle into my regular schedule and can blog some more :) 

Summer exits, rising stress enters

I'm in the homestretch of summer. I'm once again an only child, my brothers left on Monday. This week is full of some last minute money making by babysitting, spending time with friends before saying goodbye for another semester, and packing up my life once again to roadtrip back to Wheaton with my parents. This time next week I'll be... probably somewhere in South Dakota. In a week and a half, I'll be back in Wheaton and start my job as an RA... Wow.
I am so incredibly excited to be an RA. I've wanted to be one since my brother was one four years ago. It fits my personality almost perfectly. Naturally, I've been a bit nervous about being an RA, but it seemed so far away, so I wasn't too worried about it. Now with returning back to campus to start training in sight, and freshmen moving in in less than a month, it's feeling extremely real. A little too real. As summer has been coming to a close, stress, nervousness, and worries have made their entrance back into my life. Thoughts like "what if I don't have enough decorations? What if my decorations don't work out the way I want them to? What if I forget something? What if all the other RAs have really awesome ideas and mine just seem lame in comparison? What if my girls hate the decorations... what if my girls hate ME? What if I'm a horrible RA? I just want to be what my RAs have been to me for my girls... but I'll never be as good of RA as they were. What if I ruin someone's Wheaton experience? What if I ruin someone's LIFE?" Okay. I realize that I'm getting a little carried away. But remember? This is hyperbolea here. I'm a worrier (thanks, mom), and worries tend to build upon each other and escalate quickly. And I realize that things will turn out okay. Maybe not how I'm expecting them, but they will turn out how God wants them to be, and I'll learn and grow throughout the year. I realize that it's very possible not all my girls will like me, and it's impossible that I'll be best friends with all of them. But still. These things worry me. Along with a whole host of others things that I won't get into here.
But there is hope. There is encouragement. This summer, my pastor started going through Nehemiah in his morning sermons. This past Sunday was chapter 4:10-15. His first point hit close to home: Don't Get Discouraged When the Job is Too Big. RA is a big job. I have a lot to do before I leave, and I'll have a lot to do throughout the course of the year. But I can't get discouraged. I won't go into the whole details of this point and how it was exactly what I needed to hear, because I could go on about it forever. Ask me about it if you're curious. But another awesome thing was how well it connected to two other things that had been on my mind as well. First, the passage that I'm memorizing for RA this summer, I Peter 4:7-11, especially verses 10 and 11. "Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ." My pastor had talked about how though we have a huge job of living his Word and spreading it, he has given us gifts to use, and puts us in places where we can use the gifts, making the job easier. I have a servant's heart. I have a listening ear. Though I am not perfect, and I have a lot to learn and grow in, I have the ability to be a good RA. The second thing the sermon reminded me of was a sermon I heard at my church in Wheaton this past semester. (I should also give credit to one of my best friends for reminding me of the sermon when I was freaking out this past weekend and talked to her about it all.) Anyways, in this sermon, there were three main points:
1. The call is colossal  2. Our credentials are inconsequential 3. Christ is close, using Moses, Gideon, and Jeremiah as examples. God calls us to a huge job. We are not qualified or capable of doing it. But Jesus is with us, and with his help, we can do it.
So. Am I still nervous? Yes. Am I still worry about ridiculous things? A little bit. But do I feel more confident after being reminded of these things? Absolutely.

Okay. Time to go look at my room and stress out about how messy it is and how I'll never get it cleaned up and packed before Monday.

Mountains vs ocean

A couple weeks ago, my brother asked me two questions. First, do I prefer mountains or ocean? Second, do I prefer cake or pie? I said mountains and cake. Apparently as long as you have one of the two in common with someone, you will get along with them. Of course, this isn't foolproof. So take it with a grain of salt.

Earlier this week, my family, along with my brothers' girlfriends who are visiting, went up to our favorite vacation spot, Point no Point. Located on Vancouver Island, about an hour or so west of Victoria, Point no Point has a series of cabins along the coast of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. There's a series of trails leading from the cabins down to various beaches. Throughout my childhood, my family and I would go for several days every other summer. It's been 3 years since we last went, so we were excited to return, and especially to share this favorite spot with the girlfriends. If you want to see pictures, look at my facebook. I just posted some. If you want to see more, creep through my photo albums on facebook, there's more in there somewhere.

Being back at Point no Point made me realize how much I love the ocean, the feel of sand between my toes, watching the sunset over the water. It's beautiful. I commented to my brother "Maybe I am a ocean cake after all". He scoffed (he's a mountain pie), and said though it is beautiful, he still preferred mountains. Though mountains will always be dear to my heart, how could I not be love with sights like this?

It's pretty gorgeous. And I'm in love with this place. But then today, I went up to Artist Point with my dad, brother, and his fiancee. And it was pretty darn gorgeous too. 

Table Mountain

Mt. Baker is in the background

Mt. Shuksan over Picture Lake (classic Washington picture) 

So I think I'm still a mountain person. But I really do love the ocean. I guess it's a good thing I live in a place where both are so near by! Or at least for breaks... and then I go back to the midwest where mountains and beaches are only a distant memory.  

So there's an update with what I've been the past week! Time is speeding up and summer is coming to close... I leave two weeks from this coming Monday afternoon. I know. I can't believe it either. 

Excuses, excuses

Often times, my mom asks me to do various chores around the house. Which is fair, seeing as I am living here, and my parents aren't charging me rent or anything, so I should do my share of the work load. But often times, I don't do all the things they ask me to do, whether it's clean the barn, weed the garden, clean the kitchen, or whatever. When my parents get home, they ask me if I finished the things they had asked me to do during the course of the day. And often times, I haven't. And instead of apologizing and admitting that I hadn't done what they asked, I start streaming off excuses. "I would've, but I had to work today, and I was really tired when I got home" "I had a headache, so I just slept all day" "You told me to do it when I was still half asleep, so I had forgotten by the time I woke up" "I was busy with other stuff". The list goes on and on. One of these instances happened last week. When I realized I hadn't done what my mom asked me to, I started listing off my excuses. My brother took one look at me and said, "You are so full of excuses." That made me think. I really do make excuses a lot. I guess I knew that about myself, but hadn't really thought about it. Or really thought about why I make so many excuses. I guess it comes down to another characteristic that I've always known about myself-my defensiveness. You could ask any of my friends or family-as soon as they make some sort of jab at me, playful or serious, my guard goes up, I have to defend myself. And usually that happens through excuses. Reasons that I am the way that I am. Trying to cover up any responsibility I have for my short comings. And I've realized that's pretty immature of me to do. In a way, when I work to cover up my mistakes, I'm denying grace. Grace from God, from friends, from family. These people love me, and they will show me grace. So why do I feel the need to appear perfect, to have a reason for anything I do wrong? I am sinful, messed up person, just like everyone else, so why? Insecurity and pride are the two reasons that come to mind. I've always been insecure, and so I use excuses to pass the blame away from me. I'm also extremely prideful, not wanting to let people see my faults. So this is something I want to work on for the rest of the summer and into the school year as well. When I mess up, I want to admit that I messed up. When a friend playfully jabs at one of my faults, I want to acknowledge that maybe they're right, and I should work to improve instead covering up. But most importantly, I want to remember that it's okay to acknowledge my mistakes, and to humbly accept grace instead of pridefully passing off the blame.

My enemy, thy name is The Lower Arbor

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been working at the farm I worked at in high school. This job consists mostly of weeding. The farm I work at has several beautiful flower beds and gardens that I weed throughout the summer, but the one I always have to come back to, even when I first worked there 5 years ago, is the lower arbor. The arbor consists of 4 flower beds, two small, two large. I'm much better with pictures than describing it, so here's a basic layout to help you understand:
                                                   xxxxxx        xxxxxxx

                                                   xxxxxx        xxxxxxx
                                                             x        x
                                                             x        x
                                                             x        x
                                                             x        x
     
I feel like it's self explanatory, but just in case not, the Xs represent the four flower beds, the space between them is the walkway. This whole area is covered by an arbor with roses and grape vines growing through it. It's quite beautiful, actually. The only problem is that once these flower beds are left alone for awhile, grass and horse tail along with other various weeds take over, making it a several day job to get the whole thing weeded. The past several work days (they're kind of spread out, depending on my schedule and the schedule of the people I work for, along with the weather) I've been slowly working away at getting it weeded. The two small flower beds are easy; there's some clumps of horse tail, but these beds are much more frequently weeded as they're constantly in the shade and much smaller, therefore much easier to weed. I finished those in less than a day, then went on to various other tasks around the farm. It's the two big ones that are a little more scary. Field grass completely takes over these two arbors, which are still full of flowers (mostly irises) underneath the jungle. These beds are hard to weed for several reasons, which I won't go into. But mostly because it's majority field grass, which is extremely difficult to pull out completely and there is little shade covering these flower beds. Finally today, after working in these flower beds for numerous hours this summer, I'm at a point where I can confidently say the end is in sight. There's maybe an hour worth, if that, left that hasn't been touched at all, and then maybe 2 hours of going through and getting anything that has grown since I first started, several weeks ago. This is a big moment for me. Never, in my 3 summers of working there, have I completed finished the lower arbor. That's a testament to how difficult it is, my poor weeding skills, and how much time was spent doing other tasks around the farm. This is a project I've poured blood, sweat, and tears into-well at least the blood (from getting stabbed by a rose bush a few too many times) and sweat (cause you know, it's hot and stuff), but I'll probably shed tears of joy after finishing it tomorrow.

But all this to say, as a continuation of sorts of my last post, I really do love farm work. I believe it gives a sense of accomplishment not found anywhere else. Is it hard work? Yes, but how many worthwhile things aren't? Is it difficult to make myself go do it? Extremely. I mean, wouldn't you rather relax in your nice cool house, or enjoy the warm weather at the beach or hiking, than work in the 80˚+ weather? No? Well I guess I'm alone here... But farm work, especially weeding, gives me time to think about life, and other profound stuff like that, unlike any other job I've had. Like I mentioned before, it gives me a certain sense of accomplishment I have yet to find elsewhere. And it gives me the opportunity to delude myself into thinking I'm getting a tan, while it's really just layers of dirt.

Some of my inner farm girl has surfaced (part 2)

About 2 years ago, I wrote this note and posted it on facebook. I was in a somewhat similar position as I am this summer; due to not being available to work full time until June and having to leave earlier than most college students, I was unable to find a job. So, like this summer, my parents decided to pay me if I did various chores around the farm. I wasn't exactly excited about this job, since I had worked on a different farm for the past 3 summers and was looking forward to something different. However, as I say in the note, I rediscovered my love for farm work during the beginning of that summer. I closed the note with pointing out the fact that it was still the beginning of the summer, and by the time I left for college I'd be ready never to do another farm chore again. Well, that wasn't quite true. Probably because I eventually just gave up trying to work on a regular basis and then got hired by the Washington State Migrant Council (which I will write a post on, and my experiences there, someday) for the last portion of my summer. But once I got to Wheaton, I did find that I really missed farm work, and when I was home for a short amount of time during Christmas break and had a job, again at the migrant council, during the summer, I throughly enjoyed working out in the barn and occasionally helping out with other tasks around the farm. This is what I expected to experience once again this summer; I would have a full time job outside of the farm, but would help out when I had time.

My plan seemed perfect until I was notified that I wouldn't be able to work at the migrant council this summer due to needing to leave 3 weeks before the end of the season. I had no idea what I would do; I had already booked my ticket to Japan, which wouldn't put me back in Washington until June, leaving only 2 months to work. No one would hire someone new when they're available for so little time. So I accepted my fate for the summer. I was going to work on the farm once again, so similar to 2 years ago, but without the possibility of getting a job at the end of the summer. So for the past 4-5 weeks since I got back from Japan, I've been working not only for my parents, but at the farm I had worked at in high school as well. But once again, my love of farm work has surfaced, this time with a more appreciative attitude after being gone for 2 years, albeit, not quite as appreciative as perhaps my parents would like :)

So now that I've rambled on about how I got to the point I'm at, and tried to compare this summer to summer 2011, I can write about the real point of this post. Earlier this week, a small group consisting of myself, my brother, my dad, and some friends picked up and put away 459 bales from our field down the road. Doing hay, or bucking bales, whatever you want to call it, is by far my favorite part of living on a farm during the summer. For you non farm folk, here's a quick description: first, the grass must be cut, then a few days later, raked and baled. If it rains at any point after the grass has been cut, the entire crop is ruined, so we have to wait until there's a long stretch of good weather, which, as you can imagine, can be difficult in Washington (but not as difficult as probably many of you non-Washingtonians may think). Once the hay has been baled, we go down to our field, about a half mile away from our house with our tractor and hay wagon hitched on. Once we get to the field, I take over the tractor driving while my dad goes to help Ben on the wagon stacking the hay. Everyone else grabs and lifts the bales onto the wagon as I drive past. Once the wagon is full, usually about 130-160 bales, depending on the size of the wagon, we climb onto the wagon to the top, and drive back to our farm and park the tractor behind the hay barn. Then several of us stay on top of the wagon while the rest go into the barn. We pass the hay down via a hay elevator (which we decided this year is more of a hay moving walkway). This continues until all the hay is stacked in the barn. Then we go back to the field and do it all again. It's a difficult chore, and by the end of the night, everyone is drenched in sweat, covered with hay as well as small scratches from the hay. Though we're tired and feel disgusting, we feel accomplished. We've completed the difficult task once more, and won't have to do it again for another year. This is also a fun activity because of the company, the awesome view from the top of a wagon filled with hay, and the delicious pizza, lemonade, and DQ blizzards we consume throughout the night.

As I grow older, the likelihood of me being home for summer grows less and less. I have no idea where I'm going to be next summer. I could be home, I could be in Spain, or Guatemala, or Wheaton, or some place I haven't even considered going. I can't imagine missing a PNW (Pacific Northwest for you Wheaton people... one of my friends once thought it stood for prisoners of nuclear war... don't ask me how that makes sense.) summer, for so many different reasons, but especially because this chore, which probably sounds so bizarre to many of you, has become part of my summer. I can't fathom the day when I won't be a farm girl anymore, no bales to buck, stalls to clean, or gardens to weed. I guess that though I may not always act like it, I will always be a farm girl at heart.

About me, this blog, and whatever else I feel like writing about.

Why hello there. If you're reading this, you're probably either:
A. My mom, who is ecstatic because I have finally started a blog like she's been bugging me about for the past billion years.
B. My dad, because mom told him to.
C. One of my brothers to keep track of my life, but also (and mostly) to get new material to make fun of me.
D. One of my friends because I begged you to go to my blog so that I can feel not absolutely pathetic.

Anyways, whoever you may be, you probably already know a fair amount about me, but I'm going to give you the low down on Lea Gibson anyways.
-For those of you who understand what this means, I'm an ISFJ on Myers-Briggs and a type 2 (The Helper) on the Enneagram
-I grew up in a small town in Northwest Washington, about 10-15 minutes from the Canadian border.
-I am attending Wheaton College near Chicago to get a degree in Spanish education and just finished my second year there
-I love horses. Love, love, love.
-My top pet peeves are all about my name: being called Eleanor (my full name), people pronouncing my name Lay-uh (especially being called Princess Leia), or people spelling my name wrong (I know, I know, there's like 20 different ways to spell it. I think mine is the simplest.)
-I love writing, and have since elementary school when forced to write a book in 3rd grade. Though I don't write as much as I used to, I still do occasionally, but it usually ends up being angsty teenager song lyrics that I can't get away with writing since I'm no longer a teenager. (But wait... neither is Taylor Swift, yet she gets away with it...? A topic for a day I feel especially like ranting)  
-I also love music. I took piano lessons from kindergarten through high school, sung in various choirs for 5 years, and got a ukulele for Christmas this year.

Enough about me. Now about this blog. Why start one? Why pick this name? Why should you bother reading it? As I mentioned at the beginning, my mom has telling me to start a blog since I was in high school. I always said that I had nothing interesting to write about, so why bother? I still don't have anything particularly interesting to write about, but I really miss writing just for fun, so I thought that I'd start this up. The name comes from two major things about my character: I tend to exaggerate a lot, and I external process a lot. Hyperbolea (pronounced like hyperbole but with a "uh" at the end so it sounds like my name) was one of the many nicknames my brothers came up for me. It only lasted for a summer, but it always stuck out to me as one that I liked.... maybe that's why they stopped using it. But anyways, my guess is that the title is a pretty good indication of what this blog will end up consisting of: exaggerations/over reactions and external processing. As for why you should bother reading this, hopefully it will be entertaining. I know it may surprise some of you, but I can have some insightful thoughts, and I'll share those on here as well. And if for nothing else, at least stay for the post showing all my failed decoration attempts for my floor next year that I'll post at some point this summer. It's pretty pathetic, and I'm not even close to done yet. I did not become an RA because I'm artistic and have the capability of decorating a floor well. But enough for now. Good job to all of you who actually read all of this!