January
-I don't remember a lot of January just that it was stressful because we had our Midterms at the School of Worship, and had a song due. Like composing and putting a band together to play/sing the song you had composed. Even though this seemed impossible, I got it done, I had a lot of people willing to help though.
February
- Visited Devil's Lake with some people from Living Light: Morgan, Manu, Phil, and Brian. I wasn't sure that this trip would be worth taking a 4 hour car ride within a day for, but I'm so glad I went. It was an amazing experience. It turned out to be unseasonably warm outside, in the 80's so we were literally wearing short sleeves. Within the distance snow was all around, and Devil's Lake was even frozen so we could walk across it. The only thing challenging about this trip, was the steepness of the hills (I was a weakling but had encouragement from the others), as well as the ice making things a bit more exciting/dangerous.
-The day before my actual birthday, my family took me to a Mexican restaurant where I got to try my first Margarita. This is the drink I was most excited to try. There's something about alcoholic slushies that seems so cool. This Margarita however was extremely alcoholic, and kind of made me afraid that all margaritas would be like this (they're not). I do really like them. This margarita made my heart start pounding when I stood up.
- Celebrated my birthday with a small group of friends at Applebees, on the night of my actual birthday. These friends included, Ani, Manu, Katie West, Sarah Englund, and Liza. Since it was my 21st birthday I was given a huge sangria for free. I don't think I ever would of tried one, if I hadn't been given one for free. It turns out however, it is my favorite drink so far.
March
-Had another birthday celebration, this time inviting all the students on the School of Worship with me, as well as a few friends from Parkside. The Wests (family from church) have an amazing gift of hospitality, so the party was hosted there. Lemonade, Orange Juice, Champagne, and Vodka were available for those old enough to mix drinks. It was probably one of the tamest 21st birthday parties as our church believes getting drunk is a bad thing. (A few drinks is okay.) I looked up possible themes for a party online, and became interested in the idea of a masquerade party, minus the fancy clothes, just masks. There was also a mask contest in which the winner won a mug with a unicorn on it. Morgan who made her own mask, won this contest. Phil who came without a mask placed a Kleenex on his face, then put his glasses over that, and Manu came in wearing a cheese head over her face. I was also made an amazing chocolate cake by Emily West, who works at a bakery!Also the house was decorated so beautifully, courtesy of the Wests.
-The School of Worship hosted a benefit concert to raise money for the school. The theme of the night was Love. Only alumni performed and the current students acted as ushers, as well as doing other various jobs. I remember folding programs and welcoming people inside. It was a great night, filled with a bunch of talented musicians.
-Went to St. Louis with the School of Worship to tour a School of the Arts (Dayspring) that Teresa had used to work at. They are thinking of starting one in Kenosha eventually. Each of us were divided into groups for who would be roommates. We stayed in suites. My roommates were Kez, Raylin, Dorey, Morgan, and Bell. We spent only two days in St. Louis, wish we could of been there longer. We got to see a high school version of "The Wiz", as well as a production of "Annie". The last morning of St. Louis was spent at the St. Louis City Museum. By far one of the coolest places I have been. It's like a playground for kids. A fake airplane you can go into after climbing through a metal cage tunnel. Exploring a fake cave structure full of secret passages and sitting and spinning on a top as well as many other things, including a 10 story slide. Which I explored with Kez, Phil, Dorey and Morgan.
April
-The students of the School of Worship put on the Songwriting showcase. Each person picked one song they had written throughout the year to have performed. At the school, writing two songs is required. Writing songs is hard, but having that accomplishment and seeing it performed for an audience makes it rewarding.
May
-Traveled to Cadillac Michigan with the School of Worship. We have another Living Light up there that we were visiting. Even in May, Cadillac is still pretty cold, especially the church building. I got to stay with the sweetest older lady along with Manu (the best roommate) ;). Everyone in Cadillac is very hospitable and knows how to cook really well. Besides for spending time with the people there some of us looked for clams in the river, and fried them up afterward. Another day I got to drive a John Deere Gator through the woods, then on the way back I got to ride in a dune buggy. You needed to wear goggles due to dust, dirt, and pebbles flying through the air. Malitta and Phil drove one of the dune buggies into the mud, and were pretty much drenched in mud. I ended up with a dirt mustache. The church in Cadillac also has shopping carts within it for some reason, so of course we had shopping cart races. One person in the cart the other running, at the end of the path we would switch positions and run back.
-We took class pictures. It wasn't too exciting of a moment, but there were some gems of pictures that I'd like to share.
-The week after Finals was fun week. The first day we visited the directors house, and played games
outside. The second day we played crazy games, our teams being our worship teams. We won both games. One was creating some sort of machine with each person in your team, We acted as a radio. One person being a plug, two acting as speakers, one acting as the person turning on the radio, and the volume and power buttons. We each took turns singing a song, increasing in volume. The last person sang with the volume all the way up and the speakers exploded. I was one of the speakers. The other one we needed a team name and theme, and write a song. My creative juices were flowing as someone came up with the theme of trash, and I thought of the idea to wear trash bags. We all wore them differently. What song did we sing? Trash, Trash Baby! Me and Kez doing backup vocals as Aric rapped. Our team was probably the team most emotionally invested in each other, which is why we were comfortable in doing such strange things. Although everyone on the school was a bit weird. Wednesday we went to a mall in Illinois and did a task scavenger hunt, where we had to take pictures/videos doing certain thing, including a mascot of some sort in each picture. My team put time into our tasks and were the most creative, but didn't complete enough tasks to win. Our mascot was a rake. I was paired up with Kez, Raylin, and Manu. While waiting for all the pictures to upload Bell, Morgan, Phil, Steph, and I went to Petrifying Springs park where there was mud everywhere. Morgan ended up slipping and getting a butt full of mud. I think I drove home without shoes that day, waiting for them to dry. Thursday we got prophesied over, and Friday we had graduation practice.
'
-Graduation Day to celebrate a transforming year of life, and lifelong friendships. Looking back there isn't one person out of the 20 others I don't absolutely love. The graduation started with worship, then speeches with some original songs performed in between.
-My parents bought a new puppy. Here's some pictures of baby Drake.
June
- After searching and applying for multiple jobs ever since March, I finally got hired. The one that actually dealt with what I wanted to do in the future. (The best one). God's gracious. It seems like so much longer since I've worked there. But its only been half a year now. The kids I work with make so much progress in such little time, and have a lot to teach to you. Do to working 40+ hours a week, I barely went out and did fun things, unless it was on the weekends when I was off. I would also go searching for sea glass during my free time. Glass that has been rolled over by Lake Michigan's waves for years then shows up on shore, in many different colors. A new hobby for the warm months. Luckily there was a perfect place for collecting a 1 minute drive away from the Knapps. I put the sea glass into bottles and made necklaces for Christmas presents with the help of my dad and mom in November.
-Participated in the CareNet walk at my church. CareNet is a company that supports women with unexpected pregnancies. Encouraging them to choose to keep the baby, and make a plan for what that means. It was very hot this day, and I got badly sunburned.
-Moved into the Knapp house, so I could stay down in Racine while working. Definitely enjoyed my time there. Learning what it's like to live with 4 kids. I actually got hired at the job before I knew what I was going to do for housing. But God had my back and provided housing for me even if it was literally the last minute.
July
-I was able to find time to experience Summerfest. I thought I was going to miss it again for a second year. Luckily there was a group from Living Light going. I would name them all but there were quite a few of us. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures there. It pretty much downpoured the whole time we were there. When it was lightly raining we would walk a little farther, then headed under overhangs when it poured again. At one point we thought it would be a good idea to ride the Ferris Wheel in the pouring rain but never actually did this. I made a mistake of wearing a dress. The rain stopped at around 10pm. We were all so soaked. 10pm was when the concert started. We saw Ben Rector. At that time I didn't know who he was but really wanted to go to Summerfest. I remember enjoying the music.
-Traveled to South Bend Indiana for the OCM conference. (One church ministries). All the Wisconsin and Michigan churches meet at one location. Since there are also Living Lights in Europe, some people come over from there as well. It's the best thing ever to put your all into worship with a huge group of people. If I did it everyday, I wouldn't be physically able to move anymore, and probably sleep for a long time. We also had amazing food at a Japanese restaurant and a Mexican one. Explored the board walk of art, and had a mini reunion with the School of Worship at a place called the Chocolate Cafe. One of the things South Bend is known for is their chocolate factory. However, it wasn't opened when Faille and I tried to visit.
August
-Went to Hayward with my parents and Drake for a week camping. We rented a cabin near the lake up there. Took Drake on the boat with us the first time. Think he enjoyed it. Went fishing a couple times as well, but there wasn't as many fish as usual. Unfortunately taking off a week at my work means you have to make most of those hours up, so I was literally working almost 50 hours the week after.
September
-Moved back to the Parkside campus to finish up my Psychology degree. Being back at Parkside was a hard transition from being on the school.
October
-Went to Wisconsin Dells, staying at the Chula Vista for a conference on the Pro-Life movement. The conference taught all about how to run a Pro-Life club on college campuses. It inspired me to begin the process of starting a Pro-Life Club. I am almost there. Since last year the abortion has been an important issue within my church which now holds monthly Pro-Life prayer meetings/ It was nice to catch up with my friend Lizzy and sit in an outdoor hot tub, while looking at the stars.
- Celebrated Carmen's wedding, which meant a reunion of most of the people from the School of Worship 2017. Dillon and Josh came back from Iowa. Raylin came from Michigan. Ani from Switzerland, Manu from Germany, and Kez and Dave from England. (Phil, Steph, Malitta and Dorey were greatly missed.) It was so great having everyone back together again, and enjoying each other's company whether that be at the wedding, going out for dinner, at a campfire, or at someone's house. It was so surreal seeing those from Europe again.
-Went to a corn maze with a group of people from Living Light, and had an absolute blast. Many laughs were had that night. (I wrote a post about this already if you want more details.)
- Celebrated Halloween with a group of young adults from Living Light. It also acted as a Welcome Home party for Malitta, as well as Carmen and her husband. I dressed up as a butterfly.
November
-Not many things happened in November. Besides school, work, and celebrating Thanksgiving. Also saw my brother perform in a Shakespeare play in Milwaukee.
December
-Celebrated Christmas on Dec 1st at the women church house. Playing Christmasy games, making ornaments, and watching elf.
-Had a Christmas movie watching party at Brian's house. We watched A Muppet's Christmas movie, and Jim Carey's "The Grinch".
- Finals Week Happened.
-Celebrated Christmas Eve with mom's side of family.
-Will celebrate with dad's side on New Year's Eve then have a game night to bring in the new year with family friends.
(I feel like I probably missed a lot, as I didn't have much documented about the year. I probably missed a lot of hangouts with the School of Worship since we met up almost every weekend, etc. Apologize in advance. :p)
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