I'm Ba-aack!

Friends, family and countrymen,

Hello again. Thank you all for the wonderful comments on my last blog. It's very encouraging to hear from all of you and realize that you're thinking of and praying for me. :) I do apoligize. I know that I have completely failed at updating this weekly. I do plan todo my best at keeping you all up-to-date and I give you all permission to bug me about it if I seem to slack off.

Of course, I do have an excuse for my sabbatical. My family came out to visit me last week! I know what you're thinking: "Gee, she's been away from home for three weeks and her family misses her so much that they drive out from California?". Okay, so that's not exactly what happened. Because of the fire in California, my family got evacuated from our home. Since there was nothing they could do and they were living in the trailer anyway, they decided to flee the smoke and head out to Virgina! So as I pull into church with some other students, I see a big 5th wheel in the parking lot. What a wonderfully familiar sight.

I had a great time with my family. My sisters came and spent two nights in my dorm room with me. They attended my classes and ate in the cafeteria. I tried to make them study, but that didn't work out too well. They also tried to tell my roommates horror stories of how I am conniving, sarcastic and evil. I don't think they succeeded in convincing them. But I found out that family keeps you out late, distracts you from studying and are, overall, a detriment to academics. But I love them for it.

I spent last weekend with my family and we went down to Harpers Ferry. Harpers Ferry is a national park about twenty minutes away from the school. Its main claim to fame is that it's the sight were John Brown attempted his historic yet failed revolt to free the slaves. But as we found out, it is also the sight of a stratigic battle in the Civil War that resulted in the biggest United States surrender of troops until WWII. Pretty fascinating stuff. Of course, there were plenty of reenactments, signs, and educational opportunities. But there were also some cute little shops, very nice people, and a beautiful graveyard on top of the hill. It was very pretty and I really enjoyed my time there. It was great to be a family again, especially doing something that is so typical of our vacations together.

Of course, having my family here meant that I also had to say goodbye yet again. I admit, I did go through a little bit of homesickness all over again. It also meant that I was just a step behind on all my schoolwork. And boy, was it a tough week to be behind in. There was some fluke in the Logic homework assignment, and one day's homework took four to five hours. There were also some heavy readings and assignments due, and on top of it all we had cleaning inspections AND our first exam is coming up on Monday. It's been a pretty crazy week, and yet by God's grace I've survived. No - I've done more than survived. I enjoyed this past week. I've seen how easily I get stressed, and I know that everything this past week has been accomplished with God's grace and peace.

Every busy week deserves celebration on the weekend. Well, Saturday night was the traditional Freshman swing dance. The sophmores host it and the freshmen get in free. I'll admit that I was nervous going into it. I don't know how to dance and I don't know the people here very well yet. But it ended up being an incredible, wonderful, awesome experience. They gave us a quick lesson on the basics of swing at the beginning. Then, we danced the night away! It wasn't too hard to learn, and there were lots of people who really knew what they were doing. The best part was that guys actually asked the girls to dance. That was such a totally new experience, and I one that I enjoyed very much. The main dance of the night was swing, but there was some modern, waltzes and polka as well. I had a blast. It was so much fun. The blisters on my feet are definitely worth it.

One praise: I believe I've found the church I'm going to go to. This morning was my first time there, but as soon as I walked in it just felt like I belonged. It's about five minutes away from the school, and they provide a shuttle. They have both children's and youth ministries, an AWANA program, and a college group. After the service I attended a get together for the college kids and I had a good time. I'm really excited about this church and really eager to get involved. It fits. Praise God. :)

So my prayer request right now would be that God would teach me how to be a friend to others. I realize that I've been incredibly selfish by waiting for friends to come to me, when there are people here that need someone to reach out to them. I need to work on building relationships. Sometimes I just feel like I don't fit in to the college crowd, and I don't know why that is. But hey, I have four years to work it out.

I miss you all very much. Feel free to write (my mailbox is sadly empty...), call, email or Skype me. I can't promise that I'll answer the first ring, but I'll do my best to get back to you. Thank you for all your prayers. May God bless you all richly. He is both mighty and good!

Much love,
~Carissa