from California to Calvin

“Guys, I just really love life right now”   My roommate says this at least once a day and my floor mates and I are constantly teasing her for this but we share these feelings. We love our lives. Dwelling on this season of Thanksgiving and shifting the focus towards the birth of the greatest gift as Christmas approaches, I wanted to share a few ways that I have loved in my life this semester: Being involved in RHET. Planning dorm retreat, Chaos night, Service Auction (jumping in the Sem Pond after raising $1000 for our dorm partnership), and getting to know the friends on RHET has made this semester amazing Throwing M&M’s at a professor  Building community with the girls on 1st Veenstra (1AM talks in the hallway with cereal and peanut butter, floor outings with half-off appetizers, 11PM secret dance parties, movie watching in the basement, 8:15 breakfasts, waving to each other on the path) Learning and growing in a new relationship Classes and professors who invest

God, School starts tomorrow. In 10 hours, we walk into our first classes. So many feels. We’re excited, scared, nervous, and wishing for more summer. We think we’re ready, but we have no idea. Will our professors be easy? Will they assign homework on the first day of class? Will we get lost on campus? In our studies, I pray that we persevere. It’s not going to be easy. School is hard and requires commitment. May we commit to our studies while looking to You. Give us the strength we need to get through each day while making a difference on campus. Grant us the strength we need, but bring us back to You. This is a new year. With a new year comes new friendships, new relationships, and new dreams. In all this newness, may we seek You first. Calm our nerves when we are nervous and make it clear as to which path we should take. We pray that we would live in faith, not fear. Thank you for the leaders on campus and the behind the scenes staff that make our days normal. Let th

I started this blog a year ago as a way to keep my friends and family back home updated on my life in Michigan. It’s hard to believe that in less than 3 weeks, I’ll be back on 1st Veenstra! I’ve written reflections and told stories about my first year at Calvin but I’ve never written to my future self. At the end of high school, my Economics teacher had us write down goals for ourselves and told us to write down what we wanted to be doing in the future. We were asked the following question: Where do you want to be in 5 years? 10 years? Easy. In 10 years, I would be 28. I would be graduated from college, married, living in a nice two story house near the beach in California, have 2 young kids, and be a successful teacher. My perfect life. As I look back on my plans, I laugh. Those are 100% my plans. That may be where I had wanted to be, but where does God want me to be? Giving this more thought, I’ve realized that recently I’ve created a lot of checklists. In fact,

Remember that one time that I had a blog? Yeah, me too. It’s been a few months since I’ve posted but I did say in my first post that I wasn’t planning to post every day, just often enough to get a peek into my Michigan life. As my freshman year is nearing an end, I’ve decided to reflect and write down a few things that I’ve learned this year. Plus I have a lot to do and I consider this a study break from the 10 page Religion paper, case study presentation, and 8 page paper on societal structures that I need to write by Tuesday. 1. Moving to a new state is hard, but definitely worth it. Moving to Michigan has opened my eyes to seasons, shops in Downtown Grand Rapids, and artic parkas. I will never take the sunshine or blue skies for granted. Michigan winters are brutal. Everyone said that this winter was mild, so I’m eager to see what the next year will bring.  2. 15 credits vs. 17 credits are completely different. During my first semester, I took 15 credits and had s