Power Outage

We started "family dinners" here at the Upper Room. Katie and I cooked supper tonight. It wasn't that exciting, just spaghetti, but it turned out pretty good.

As we were cleaning up the power went out. At first we thought maybe we tripped a breaker or something, but it was our whole apartment. Our downstairs neighbor knocked on our door, to see if we'd also lost power. She went to go check with the basement apartment and came back to tell us that the houses all around us were without power. So, to kill time we showed her though the upstairs and we checked out her apartment. Laura told us she'd heard from Brown House and Rachel and Tess and they were also out. People in town don't know how to deal without electricity. They just stand in the middle of the street with dazed expressions on their faces.

The power came back on with in an hour, which was great because it was getting really hot in our apartment. I don't know what I would do without air conditioning.

We chalked the Quad last night for FreeBibleNow.org, but I'm pretty sure it rained last night and washed it all off.

Right now, I'm putting off writing a speech as long as I possibly can. How bad is this...week #2 of school and I already don't care about my grades!

In Christ
~Michelle

Excitement and Oddities

Urbana has an ice-cream truck! It comes by the apartment every Monday evening. I think this might be a bad thing.

We have neo-hippies living down the street from us. They like to wander around with minimal clothing on in the middle of the street, barefoot.  I think they are the culprits of the section of sidewalk with yellow  foot prints leading away from splattered yellow paint. :)

Urbana is odd, but cool. I'm absolutely loving the brick sidewalks and old houses.

In Christ
~Michelle

Diversity Training

Last night was the new BSW student orientation/diversity training. Diversity training. Ah! Yah. If you have never attended diversity training before, you probably don't understand my apprehension.  Often, these training sessions are more about tolerating/advancing the rights of people-who-chose-to-partake-in-activities-I-find-more-than-disagreeable, than they are about actual diversity among people. 


We split up in groups of five or six and taught each other about our own culture. My group was awesome.  I was the lone white girl in a group with a Chinese girl, three (to be p.c.) American women of African decent (hehe :) and I can call myself a white girl), and a Mexican guy. All, of whom came from Chicago.  We were given a list of topics to discuss about our culture: death, food, marriage, birth etc. So we went around the circle talking about family, foods, and marriage traditions.


So, my turn. I talked about living on a farm. They of course were impressed. :) Then...one of those moments you wish you could catch the words before they come out of your mouth.... "um, we do marriage a little differently..." :) I talked about how I've never dated, how I look to Christ, how I desire to marry through faith, I talked about purity, I talked about prayer. At the end I mumbled something about how it might seem strange, and one of the girls stood up and said "Hon, No, you got it right, we all gots it wrong, and don't let nobody ever tell you different. You Innocent and that's good!"


Wow. I went into this program really nervous, that I would be alone. Before the training started we ate supper together, and as I bowed my head to pray I saw another girl already praying. And, then this. :)
Anyway, the meeting and classes so far, they are all going so much better than I thought.




Well, the meeting ended at 7, so I ran back to my apartment and made it to church by 7:20. woohoo! And then the yg went out for ice cream. Class went well today and this evening I'm off to sing at the shaker. So, the first week seems to be flying by.


The Lord provides.


In Christ
~Michelle

First Impression

You must have prayed.
I know its only the first day, but seriously I am so relieved.

I am in love with the campus. I made it to all of my classes somewhat on time without getting lost. My teachers (so far) seem really nice and are actually better than some I've had at ICC. The other students seem really nice. There are other Christians in my classes who are really upfront with their faith, I am so excited. There are a few...um...more liberal students, but all in all most seem fairly grounded.

It does look like its going to be a stressful semester though. I've been to three of my five classes and I already have seven papers to write, seven speeches to give, presentations, group work, a five hour long interview, and I have to videotape my self roleplaying. Oh, and I came up with five more books I need to buy. :P

I walk a lot. Its a 20 min. walk to my first class, and then I have a long break so I walk back to my apartment to eat lunch. Then a ten minute walk to my second and third classes and then another ten back.  Its beautiful and the perfect weather so, at the moment I really enjoy it.

Please, keep me in your prayers. :)

In Christ
~Michelle

Moving

I'm all moved in to my apartment in Urbana!

It took two loads, one last Monday and one yesterday.  My dad was at the U of I Ag. day while mom and I were setting my room up. Right now it looks like everything is going to fit with plenty of room. Classes start on Monday...I haven't even really thought about that yet! :)

My bunk beds, and table and chairs

the bunk beds all set up

putting together my storage bench....

The finished product :) I'm excited.

And here it is, my bedroom for the next school year :)

And, last night I helped Jenny move her kitchen over to the new house.  So, I've been doing a lot of moving lately.

Yah, I might overlooking school just a bit. I almost forgot about my book bag full of books....:)

 In Christ

~Michelle

Summer Afternoons

The weather has been absolutely wonderful lately.  The other afternoon I took advantage of the temperature and climbed the grain-leg.

The first platform

Up, and up and up

Everything looked so pretty and green

Oh, Look! I can see Eureka! :)

 Sunday evening was grandma's birthday party. She just turned 83 and she's doing great! :)

The three Metzger girls :)

Volleyball with the family

Volleyball was hilarious. The adults joined us. Really, they're not that bad, it's more how they play. :) hehe. 

Jenny and Bob are moving,  and we've been doing a lot of work at their new house. Actually, I've been mostly shelf papering. That is one of the most frustrating jobs ever! You think you have it laid nicely but there is one bubble so you try to fix it...there is a lot of screaming involved. :) Their house is looking really cute and it has an awesome yard. Just perfect for a band of little children to run wild in. :)


Ooo, and this Sunday I'll be officially moved in at U of I! I'm not really looking forward to thinking... :P


In Christ
~Michelle

The Bride Wore White

Sunday was Ellie's wedding. It was so beautiful and they looked so cute together. The whole weekend was lovely, though exhausting. Saturday morning pictures started really early so, we all slept at Ellie's house. It was a lot of fun but kind of crazy all trying to get ready together. We took pictures at a gorgeous house in Peoria. It was extremely hot and buggy, but so much fun.

Ellie :) aww...

The adorable couple....and Ellie's gorgeous dress

The whole wedding party.

There was a four hour break between pictures and the rehearsal dinner. I'm pretty sure most of us went home and took naps. The rehearsal went great, but I think its a lot more awkward when there aren't any guests. I maybe laughed a lot. We had to walk so slow, and it feels so silly.  But, we did pretty good and we only had to run through it twice!

The rehearsal dinner was at Two25 in Peoria. I got to sit across the table from Troy and Ellie, I felt quite honored. Dean, Trent, and Wendi brought their instruments along and we sang for about a half hour.  Darcy put together a slide show, and they got there scrapbook(s). :)  The dads each gave really sweet speeches. Doug almost made me cry :(. 

It was a lovely evening.

 Aww....:)

So, Sunday was the big day.  We got ready at my grandparents condo, and drove to church so that no one would see the dresses. But, the door to the back room at church was locked and the people showing up late got to see us, until I figured out the key. Oh, well.

While we were standing around waiting to walk in, Ellie suddenly stopped and said "holymoly...I'm getting married...!" hahaha....Yes, Ellie we know that, and we've been freaking out for the past three months. :)

Walking in went really well, though they say we all looked nervous. I didn't trip. yay. 

And with in an hour all the preparation and worrying and stress and nerves and planning.... they were married. 

The reception was one of the most beautiful receptions I have ever seen. Every table was perfect.  The bridesmaids didn't have any jobs, which was nice because I got to see a lot of people I haven't seen in a very long time.

One of my absolute favorite pictures of Ellie :)

the very end of the reception- we all look a bit frazzled

Sigh...Away they go... Mr. and Mrs. Steffen

It all seems like such a blur now.  I don't think it has all sunk in yet...but hey, life moves on! I already moved a bunch of stuff down to my apartment and school starts in ten days...so, there really hasn't been time to mope around and wish it hadn't changed. Funny how that happens. 

In Christ

~Michelle

Before I Die

...or get married. Which there isn't much of a difference. :) hehe
Anyway, I made a bucket list.


1. Go skydiving! (and para-sailing, bungee-jumping, and hang-gliding)
2. Visit all 48 contiguous states and Alaska (strangely, I have no desire to go to Hawaii, unless to see Pearl Harbor)

The blue is where I've been.

I've driven through more though, but I don't count that.

3. Get a FOID card and buy a gun. :)
4. Travel to India to visit my sponsor child, Revathy.

5.  Go rock climbing.

ok, it doesn't have to be over the ocean, but that would be so cool!

6. Make it to all 100(ish) AC churches in the U.S. I've been to 54.

7. Take a group of girls up to the BWCA 

8. Learn to play the guitar

I hope my expectations aren't too high. Oooo, It makes me want to book plane tickets and guitar lessons right now! :)

In Christ
~Michelle