Beginning of Summer 2011

Welp, summer break has begun. Thank goodness. I'm glad to be home. It's been wonderful so far. I'm letting my crazy organizing side take over and organizing. everything. in. my. room. I never used to be like this before college...but now that I have to pack nearly everything every few months, I like to know EXACTLY where stuff is, how to get to it, quantity, color, size, you name it. Makes packing ten times easier. So this time I really went at it. Gutted my closet and reorganized everything. Opened up my desk and threw out stuff I probably haven't bothered with in ten years...let me tell ya, this unpacking and reorganizing is incredibly freeing...for my room at least. Not for the living room where piles of donate/storage/who knows what ended up. And all I have left to do now is to reorganize my knick-knacks on my dressers and go through my memory box and keep up with staying this clean, and I'll be set! I figure since I won't be working the first part of the summer, at least I can stay on top of all the household chores...kind of a preparation for housekeeping next year.

Okay, I've definitely done stuff besides sorting since I got home...such as...went to South Dakota with the parentals and did all the tourist-y stuff there is to do around Mount Rushmore. Went through a cave, watched glass-blowing, toured a wax museum, walked around downtown Rapid City, spent most of one day at Mount Rushmore doing what there is to do. We went ahead of the summer rush, so we beat all the lines and crowds and heat, thank goodness.

And now for the rest of the summer. I'll work until the end of May, and then start my CNA course. I'm so ready to just start already, but all things in due time. My projects for around here are to do more work on my genealogy and, probably with Matt's help, start cataloging Mom's recipes...both to straighten up the recipe drawer here, and to use for the house next year. And organizing music...I have so much old music and music from my old neighbor's auction years ago that I just don't know where to start, and I want some kind of idea what all I have....yes, the organizing side of me is definitely taking over this summer. Fun times :-).

Adoration Adventure

Once upon a time, two young ladies attending school together went to go visit an adoration chapel that they had not been to before. After finding the church, they drove around looking for the door. Finding the door clearly marked as being an entrance, they parked and entered the door, finding themselves in a long hallway. At the other end was another door, this one with the keypad lock that barred their entrance to see Jesus. The young ladies were a bit miffed, thinking they would have to go find a priest or church employee to let them in. They then noticed that there was a corresponding letter with each number on the keypad...W-1, O-2, R-3, L-4, D-5. "A puzzle!" thought one. This one attempted to spell W-O-R-L-D and open the door, but unsuccessfully. The second young lady laughed softly and whispered, "Wouldn't it be funny if the letters we're supposed to push are L-O-R-D?" This young lady tried L-O-R-D for the combination, tried the door handle...and it opened! The young ladies doubled over in laughter at the irony, and made their way into the adoration chapel.

Afterwards, discussing the incident, they realized how poignant their discovery was. The combination made complete sense. They had come looking for their Love and Joy. They could not get to Him, however, through the WORLD. It was not possible. The only way to find Love and Joy and Happiness was through the LORD. "How exciting this is!" they each thought. Though they told their tale time and time again, these two young ladies alone contained in their hearts the excitement of what they had discovered.