Denver Trip Day 3: Echo Lake and Indian Hot Springs

     I slept in for awhile this day then packed some crackers and a water in my bag for a hike. I made peanut butter toast before heading out. When researching hikes to do near Denver, I came upon St. Mary's glacier. The views of the alpine lake with the mountains in the background looked amazing. I again drove the same way I had gone the night before to get to Georgetown, but not as long to get to the trailhead. Getting to the trailhead took a lot of weaving back and forth. The winds increased the higher up I got, and it even started snowing. When I got up to the trailhead parking lot I looked up at the trail. The trail looked really steep and rocky not to mention it was really cold. I decided without spikes on my shoes or other equipment that it wouldn't be worth the attempt to hike up the trail. I ended up driving to a nearby town which I would be stopping by later in the day to go to the Indian Hot Springs there. 

     Idaho Springs, like Georgetown was a cute little mining town. I looked up nearby coffee shops and found an awesome little coffee shop called "The Frothy Cup". There were other coffee shops nearby, but the name of this one appealed to me the most. It ended up being as great as the name sounded. There was plenty of seating, a big menu, and the employees were very nice and accommodating. I ordered an eggnog latte which was very delicious. After my visit to the coffee shop I visited some of the other shops, but decided I really wanted to see some mountain scenery in the afternoon sometime before it got dark. I asked one of the employees in a shop if he had any recommended hikes, and one of the places he recommended was Echo Lake. Echo Lake was nearby and I looked it up after leaving the shop. The pictures were gorgeous so I decided I would go there, Unfortunately some of the trails and roads are closed during winter for safety reasons. One of the trails ended up being closed for Echo Lake. I could see the lake from where my car was parked, and didn't necessarily need a trail to see the lake so I took in the view from there. The wind was very strong at Echo Lake as well and it was cold, but after living in Wisconsin my whole life it was bearable. I ended up finding a trail and started walking on it. Then I started to think about how I was walking alone....in nature.....and how an animal could easily attack me if it wanted pretty easily, I decided it wasn't a good idea afterall and went back to my car. I then drove back towards the lake and found another parking lot with a trail that actually went near the shore of the lake. Another car came into the parking lot and parked so I waited for them to get out, and went onto the trail a little bit after they did. I did this because I didn't want to be alone walking on a trail again. However the trail was really short so I didn't have to worry too much. The group of people I had followed in asked me to take their picture and then took mine. The sun was very bright so the lighting in the pictures turned out pretty bad. The lake was also mostly frozen, but it was gorgeous and I was glad I drove to see it. One of the girls introduced herself to me, I told her a little bit about myself, then she asked if I had an Instagram and if we could be friends. She looked normal enough and was about my age and appeared to have a twin sister within the group. Before she asked she said "I know this is strange but" I don't know if she was just really friendly or had other motives and I guess I might never know. I kindly gave her my Instagram username (the wrong one on accident) and she gave me her number and told me she worked at a restaurant in Denver. She said that if I came tomorrow that she would pay for my dinner. I didn't end up going. She never gave me a time or pressured me into giving information which I feel like manipulators would do, but I couldn't take any chances. I walked the small trail along the side of the lake then went back to my car and drove to the hot springs. 

    The hot springs were definitely one of my favorite things of the whole trip. Especially the private hot springs located in a cave. The Native Americans had discovered these hot springs, and used them as a sort of healing element. Within the resort there are a lot of options. You can stay over in hotel rooms, get massages, take a mud bath, go to a public hot spring called "the pool", reserve a private bath, reserve outdoor hot tubs, or go into a private cave hot spring. I did a combo which included "the pool" and the cave hot spring. I changed into my swimsuit and then went into the pool. The pool was in a greenhouse type of place with tropical plants in planters around the pool. The pool was nice, but felt almost like a normal pool. There were kids treating it like a normal pool. It was still cool anyway. I spent about 15 minutes in "the pool" before going into the private caves. The caves were separated by gender, and were perfectly quiet. There were 3 hot springs, each in increasing temperature from front to back. The temperature of the caves was also high, so it felt like you were in a sauna as well. Only one other woman was utilizing one of the hot springs at the time, and she ended up leaving so I had the cave to myself for awhile. It felt like pure relaxation. Picture your best hot tub experience and multiply it by two, add a sauna, and the smell of eucalyptus and you get the Indian hot springs. Getting out of the hot spring and walking was a little bit hard on my body as it was so hot, but I managed. I ended up sitting in a hallway outside the cave on a bench to cool down before reentering again. The process of cooling my body down was very calming as well. I went in a second time and tried a different hot spring then went out again to sit on the same bench. I was then satisfied with my visit, and decided it was time to leave. I left and went down the street to a Subway before heading back to my AirBNB for the night. 

Denver Trip Day 2: 16th St. Mall and Georgetown Train

   In the morning I traveled to downtown Denver to visit the 16th St. Mall. The 16th St. Mall is a mile of stores that could be found at a mall, hence the name. There is also restaurants and souvenir shops throughout. There are also free mall buses that stop at each block of the mall, which is really nice. You can get to the specific places you want to go to way quicker. I started at the block of the mall closest to a public parking garage I had found that charged way too much. 😛 One of the first things I spotted without trying was the Hard Rock Cafe. Being an avid music fan I knew I had to stop. I checked out their gift shop first and got a few things included a guitar shaped pin with Denver attractions that said Hard Rock Cafe on it and a Mason jar that also said Hard Rock Cafe Denver on it. (You can pay extra on your drinks to get a free glass or Mason jar included with your purchase after your meal.) I signed up for the rewards program while in the gift shop then sat in the restaurant part for lunch. I ordered the nachos. For joining the rewards program you got free dessert. The free dessert ended up being a piece of cheesecake or a giant sundae, which I was pleased to get. After finishing my nachos and icecream I looked at some of the music memorabilia that was there. This particular hard rock cafe was two stories. Two memorable items at this hard rock were a suit John Lennon wore to the Grammy's and the sled the Beatles used while filming the movie, "Help". As decoration for Christmas the restaurant had their small stage decorated with a Christmas tree, and a drum set. The photo op was too good to pass up. 

   While shopping at the "mall" I was able to pick up a Christmas gift for my dad and brother.  At one of the shops the cashier talked about his experience living in Denver and was actually excited for the forecasted snow later in the week because he felt the snow really made Denver shine. I was okay with not seeing snow while in Denver. 

   I then went to the AirBNB for a quick rest before traveling to Georgetown for the "Christmas Train". Georgetown is a historical mining town where in the late 1800s gold and silver were found. The Georgetown loop train is a steam powered train that drives through the mountains on a recreated track that used to be there. Georgetown was an hour to travel too so I made sure I left 1 hr. 20min before my reservation at 5pm. I went through some Denver traffic, and so my GPS updated my ETA to 4:58pm. Two minutes before the train would begin to leave. I called the place telling them what my ETA was and drove a little faster than I should have. The place said they would hold the train for me. Even driving faster than I should have I still arrived at 4:58pm. (Suffice to say Google Maps has an insane standard for ETAs). I hurriedly walked to get onto the train, but was stopped. Apparently you had to have a printed out ticket and a digital ticket wouldn't be enough. An employee told me to go print out a ticket, and that the train was leaving. I was very frustrated after having driven so long. I didnt think they would be able to schedule me for the next one, but they did. Unfortunately the next train wouldn't be until 6:30. At that time all the shops were closed in Georgetown so I settled for a coffee shop and waited for time to pass then drove back up to the train depot. The train was near the top of a mountain so it was really windy and snowy up there. When you drove a little ways down the snow disappeared which was a strange occurence.     On the train there were three different sections of train to choose from. One with tables, I sat in the cheapest section which had a bench on each side of the train to sit on and no food or drink offered. Outside were Christmas light displays you could look at as the train was driving. One of the employees said it took them four months out of the year to set up the displays and decorate the train cars. The lights were beautiful but hard to take pictures of. All in all I think this was a much more magical experiences for the kids that were on the train then for adults, although I did enjoy knowing the history of Georgetown and the train while riding along. I'm thinking I would have much more enjoyed riding the train during the day and seeing the mountains and other scenery than Christmas lights, but I'm glad I did it. 

   The ride to and from Georgetown can best be described as "a long and winding road" or in this case highway. A highway to get around all the mountains or in the case of the Memorial Tunnel, through the mountain. It definitely makes driving in Colorado more interesting. Driving west means driving towards the mountains, and driving back to Denver meant the opposite. Although the city lights of Denver at night were really something else. I am always so mesmerized seeing city lights at night. 

Emotions, Accountability, and God

   Emotions are hard, and your brain can suck sometimes. This week was an emotional week for me. Tuesday and Wednesday being the hardest. I started working at a new school (Grewenow) after having a break after leaving the last school (Hillcrest). I was excited to work at a new school, after the high stress intensity of Hillcrest. I didnt go into this week with a negative mindset, but my brain had other plans. 

    On Tuesday my emotions hit me really hard, and by the second hour of the workday I was on the verge of crying most of the day. I had to continually wipe my eyes and try to calm down. By the afternoon I was able to control it a little, but it freaked me out. I was glad when the end of day came, thinking when I went home I would feel better, but I didn't.  Instead I felt full of anxiety, and had thoughts of wanting to quit, because I really didn't think I could make it the rest of the week working there. 

   When Wednesday came around and I couldn't make it past 9:30am before having to go home from being on the verge of crying again, I beat myself up. Who cries on their first week of work? Why was I even crying, Grewenow was nothing like Hillcrest? Was I not ready to do this job? I feel so immature? What do the other staff think of me? What if my mental health is declining? Theres no reason I should be feeling this way. I was fine last week,  and on and on,ruminating. The thoughts were so strong and so powerful that I thought distraction would be the only way to help. Knowing that distraction would only add as a little bit of a buffer. The negative thoughts seemed stronger than the positive ones. I called a friend from the church, and we talked for an hour. It didn't seem to help at the time, when talking to someone usually does for me. She pointed me to Jesus, and told me not to give up on my job, or make big decisions based on my emotions, also to quit beating myself up. In the hard times when the bad thoughts seem to outweigh the good, pray even when you don't feel like it's working because it is. The truth is I hadn't gone to church in the last three weeks, and hadn't been praying much or reading the Bible. When you've gone awhile without these things, you can start to feel off. Thursday morning I put on worship music when I got up. I didnt tear up when I got to work. I had a stomachache but finally things seemed a lot more manageable. I was getting to know the job more, feeling less isolated, etc. 

   The reason why I felt these intense emotions comes down to a plethora of reasons. 1)unprocessed emotions from working at Hillcrest surfacing 2) unprocessed emotions of grief from my grandmas death earlier in the fall 3) fear of mental health decline 4) other people's health worries 5) Satan trying to make me give up and focus on these bad feelings. The devil knows I have been most challenged in life through my journey with anxiety. He used it as a way to see myself as weak. The truth is he doesn't want me to realize how strong I really am. He wants to destroy God's plan for my life. He wants to destroy the positive impacts I'll have on these kid's lives, etc. The truth is I had a really valid reason to feel all these emotions so strongly, and it sucks that they all had to be felt at once.  The truth is when God looks at me he sees a mighty warrior. I may not see it or feel it, but that's okay because God does, and he'll only use this experience to make me stronger. He works everything together for good, we need only to trust in him. I can trust in him when things are hard, and seem impossible. 

My Adventure to Denver (Day 1)

        The solo trip I took to Denver was a very last minute decision. Beginning Thanksgiving day- December 12th, I got approved to take a two week break before starting at a new job. (I'll make another post on that later. Why I switched to working at a different school etc.) I knew I would probably be approved for the two-week break, but nothing was finalized until November 23rd..

    I began looking up flight prices for multiple different cities. I was kind of hoping to travel somewhere coastal. Dana Point (I'd loved traveling to California both the times I had before, and had heard this was a beautiful place), Lake Tahoe (a lake I had saw a picture shared of online. The water is super blue and clear and the area looked mesmerizing), Jacksonville (I had yet to visit Florida), Texas (I hadn't visited Texas yet and heard it was nice). I had also considered driving out to Nashville, as multiple friends of mine had really liked the city. Unfortunately a lot of these flights had layovers, and weren't the cheapest. Not only was flying to Lake Tahoe not cheap, it was also cold there in December, and if I was going to travel it had to be at least a little warmer than Wisconsin in December. 😋Since a lot of flights had layovers in Denver, you could get tickets to Denver pretty cheap, and having had flown into the Denver airport twice before I knew it was a good choice. The Rocky Mountains are more beautiful than the Smokey Mountains, I will fight you on this. Despite being in the mountains the weather forecast for Denver was warmer than Wisconsin's too. (It is quite a bit more south than WI too.) 

    I'm actually surprised with how last minute everything was booked, that it went as well as it did. With no big problems, which always seem to occur when I'm traveling. My AirBNB was perfect in location, and aesthetic. The activities I chose to do, and booked ahead of time were all great, etc. I watched quite a few videos on things to do in Denver, and near Denver before my trip. 

   My flight was set to leave at 8:35ish in the morning, meaning I had to get to the airport earlier than I would have liked to in the morning. I made it to the airport in plenty of time, and felt pretty accomplished. The flight ended up getting delayed for boarding about 15 minutes. I noticed that traveling alone, gives you the opportunity to talk to more people potentially, or people you wouldn't have, had you gone with someone. For instance while waiting for the plane to arrive an older guy made a joke about how he liked my black paper mask. Said guy was also wearing a black paper mask. He asked me where I got it, and we started talking. It turned out he was a Psychology professor at MSOE, I told him how I had been a psychology major, which started a conversation on psychology which went mostly way over my head in what he was saying but it felt cool to have had that conversation anyway. The airplane I ended up on was a smaller plane even though I was flying through United with about 20 rows of two seats on each side. We would end being let out on the runway instead of into the airport through the connecting portals, but our flight also was a little late getting to Denver.  

  I flew out of Wisconsin at the perfect time, as it started snowing after my plane took off and the temperature dropped. It was in the 50's when I landed in Colorado at around 11am Colorado time. I then made my way to the baggage claim, which at the Denver airport requires riding an underground subway to the different terminals and baggage claim. I wasn't expecting to get on, and get off right away at the next stop, so I ended up riding the subway too long and had to get off, and get on another one. By the time I made it to baggage claim, my bag was with one of the airport staff. I grabbed it and then took a shuttle to the car rental place. There was a line to rent cars, so it took a bit, but finally I was given my car for the week. A black Nissan Ultima, that you could drive 500 miles before having to fill up the gas tank. (I drove a little over 400 miles in my five days in Colorado.) I thought that when I had gotten my rental car, I'd explore downtown, but I was exhausted after getting little sleep the night before etc. I stopped for lunch at a restaurant down the street from my AirBNB called Chop Shop. The Chop Shop has a lot of interesting food combinations. I ended up ordering the shrimp fried rice with bacon, edamame, an over easy egg, snow peas, etc. It overall tasted good, although I think it would have been better without the bacon pieces, which added a weird flavor. The rest of the night I spent resting at the AirBNB, and making a quick stop to Safeway to buy a few things. 

 

Nana

 

      Death is strange. Someone who made a huge impact on your life, is suddenly gone, and the world keeps on moving. You wish it would stop until you feel okay enough to live life again, but time stops for no one. On Monday morning, the bus will come to pick up kids for school, people will get up and go to work, while I’m grieving you.

                I can almost pretend it didn’t happen, and that’ll I’ll see you again. Not think too much about it so I can go about my day without breaking down thinking about what life will be like without you. I can almost pretend you’re still alive, and the next time I come home to visit I’d see you, and tell you about my life.

                But you won’t be there. I won’t see your beautiful blue eyes light up when I walk into a room. I won’t hear you say that you’re so proud of me, that you love me, and are so thankful for me. I won’t get a card from you anymore for different occasions like my birthday or Christmas. I won’t get to watch TV, complain about the news with you, or make you laugh anymore. I will cherish the time we did spend together. I am especially thankful for 2020. How it made me move back home, and how because of that I got to see you weekly or multiple times a week. To keep you company, to warm up dinner for you, to wash your dishes, or get your mail. I loved doing absolutely anything I could for you. I would spend time with you, and I remember whenever I had to go it was sad, because the time we did spend together was never enough.

     Thank you for always loving me so much. I’ll remember sleepovers at your trailer and house in Campbellsport. How you were there when my anxiety was all consuming as a child, and didn’t treat me any differently. How when I was being bullied for my extremely curly hair, you always saw one of the most beautiful girls you had ever known. I wish we had more time together, and would have visited more. But that’s what death does. You always wish you had spent more time together. I am thankful for the 25 years we did have together.

                It’s hard to know what to say when the people who have no idea what just happened ask you how you are. Do I lie and say good, or explain why I’m just okay or less than okay. I don’t want to have to explain, and make them feel sorry for me. I honestly feel like I should feel worse than I do, but I know it will fully hit me in waves. That it’ll be hard, and then a wave of grief will hit me again in a few months.

                We selfishly hold onto things that God wants us to give up, usually promising better things. It’s that way with you. I wanted to hold onto you, but knew that letting go would mean eternity in God’s presence. A place you’d no longer feel pain, but pure contentment, because you were finally where you were created to be. Only in the full presence of God can we be fully happy. Finally you get to be with your creator, after living a really rough life. Most people would have been bitter, but you were kind-hearted. I’m thankful that the last time I was with you, you responded to my voice and opened your eyes.

                Very recently I used to want Jesus to wait to come back to the Earth, as is promised in the Bible. A lot of people think that time is very soon, but who knows. The thought of it made me anxious, because for some contradictory reason I felt like I wanted to hit more milestones in life before he would come back. Falling in love, getting married, having a family etc. This is contradictory because our soul was made to be with God, and the things of this world weren’t meant for us as Christians. I don’t have to be as anxious anymore, because the sooner that he comes the sooner my soul will be fulfilled, and the sooner I’ll get to see you again. My last living grandparent.

Trapped

     As an intro I work at a alternate school for kids who have been expelled from other schools (Hillcrest). One day this past school year I sat in on a class to observe and/or help if needed. During this class there was a conversation that happened between one of the students and the teacher that really changed my perspective on things.

      The guy talked about how everyday he felt like he was in danger of being badly hurt or killed. He never felt a sense of safety and felt as if though he had to look over his shoulder at every moment. The only way he said he could truly be free of this lifestyle was to move away to a place where no one would know him. He hoped to get out of Kenosha as soon as possible, but being that he was just 16 he couldn't yet. He was trapped here. It made me think about how I only on occasion feel in danger. I dont have to deal with it on a constant basis. How I never felt trapped in his sense. I didn't feel the need to make myself look intimidating to not get beat up. I mostly felt safe and therefore was able to focus on my schoolwork and other things other than merely surviving. 

      This taught me that situations have a lot of complexities that we have no idea about. That a lot of the students that go to Hillcrest actually have similar situations they endure everyday. That their intimidating personalities and their threats to fight other students stems a place of protecting themselves/surviving. If they show weakness they put themselves in danger. That some of this danger may even come from their own families who were meant to protect them. They're more focused on survival then school work and understandably so. We first must get to a place of safety before we can pursue other needs. They're so focused on survival they fall behind in school and are distracted by such things. 

   These kids aren't just "bad" kids who fall behind in school because they're lazy. This may be a part of it but it's a small part of the big picture. These kids need most of all to be shown encouragement and find a sense of safety/love when they're at school because maybe that's really the only time they'll experience this. It also takes a lot of patience and empathy to fully understand these children but getting through to them and having a positive impact is a very fulfilling goal. 

Things I've Learned After Being a Server for A Week

    I work at a school during September- the beginning of June and then have the summer off where I don't make anything. (You can opt to get paid less during your paychecks during the school years so you can get paid during the summer, but I needed the full paychecks, so this wasn't an option for me.) I decided it would be smart to get a job for the summer. Something low stress, fun, and part-time hours so I didn't have to spend my whole summer working, and could recover from the school year. If you've read the title you might see where this is going  I applied to be a server, and got the job. However, this is by no means a low stress job at all, and with how short-staffed the food industry is right now, I am working more than I wanted. I started working at Applebee's this month, and since then have learned a ton about what it means to be a server. (With my first job I worked in a nursing home dining room where residents could order off menus with only three items, which was kind of similar but not really.) Here's a list of what I have learned so far, and why your servers deserve the tip you give them. 

 1) Servers can be dealing with up to six tables at one time, and each table could need something different, at one time. The server has to keep in mind what every table needs and figure out a solution that will cause the least amount of frustration for each customer. Be patient with them if they forgot you had asked them for another Pepsi, etc. 

2) The servers may have put your order in the right way to your specifications, but that doesn't always mean the line cooks have cooked it to your specifications. (We usually make sure its cooked to your specifications but be patient with us when you asked for a specific specification but it didn't come that way). 

3) This is common sense but if the restaurant is busy, the kitchen is dealing with a lot of orders so it's probably going to take longer. Most restaurants are offering curbside pickup so the restaurant may be even busier than it appears. 

4) Servers and other staff are usually at the restaurant an hour after closing cleaning and organizing the kitchen and dining room/ wrapping silverware. Jobs include putting sauces back in the fridge, putting away dishes, wiping down surfaces, sanitizing flavoring nozzles/soda nozzles, making sure items are stocked, vacuuming the floor, sweeping up things, wiping down the windowsills etc. (At Applebee's we have a specific job we're assigned to do based on what section we were assigned to wait on during our shifts) 

5) Most people tip less than 15% or only $5 and servers rely on these tips. I've gone home making less than $30 in tips after a 6 hour shift and multiple tables all served well. Some people don't tip at all, and that's really difficult to deal with. (The two times I haven't been tipped have been on tables with 6+ people making huge food orders and drink orders.) It took along time to put in the order and make sure it was accurate and make sure it was accurate in the kitchen as well. It also takes multiple trips to get all of the food out of the kitchen. 

6) Sometimes the line cooks forget to make one of your sides so it takes longer to reach your table. (Mistakes happen and I appreciate the line cooks so much!) 

7) Sometimes the computer system gets messy and it takes longer for you to get your credit card back. They haven't forgotten to bring you your credit card back the computer just sucks sometimes. 

8) After hours of consistently walking around, your feet start to hurt but the only break you get is when there's a lull in people coming or when you need to use the bathroom. We seldom if ever get a chance to sit down. 

9) We don't eat at all or very little.  Shifts are usually upwards of 6 hours and you eat very little or nothing. You dont get a lunch break or dinner break (at least at Applebees) but you can bring snacks, and eat them when you have a lull in service. Otherwise when a meal is brought back into the kitchen because their was a mistake you can eat that. Which is glorious. 

10) Dine and Dash. If you've never heard this term, consider yourself lucky. It's where people come into a restaurant, get their food, eat it, and leave before paying. It happens, and it happened to me. With a huge order ^ one of the ones mentioned above that didn't end up tipping. Don't do it. 

11) I myself didn't get sufficient training which I do not blame the restaurant for, they are understaffed right now and need as many servers as possible, so be patient with new servers who have to ask other staff questions. They're still learning everything.  The menu and what comes with what and what alcohol we serve takes a bit to learn. 

12) You're doing better than you think. I felt like I didn't do a good enough job because I had a hard time dealing with four tables at once on a Saturday night and made a mistake on Sunday night (Father's Day). Of course there were valid reasons for my not doing a perfect job and that's okay. All servers make mistakes. We all want to be good at the jobs we do, just don't be too hard on yourself. It takes time but you'll get it. 

13) I'm not sure if this happens in other restaurants but when you clock out, and put in the amount you made in tips, if you didn't make a certain amount it alerts the manager.  (Either you're a bad server or/and more likely you had low tippers and it had nothing to do with your quality of serving. 

14) The servers rely on tips, since they only make around $2.50/hr. on their own. If you don't tip the server only makes $2.50 for that hour or longer of service, and worked hard for barely anything to show for it. 

  I'll probably add more to this list, but this is what I've observed so far. The next time I go to a restaurant I'm going to have all of this in mind, and think about the way I tip a lot more. 

Christian Book Recommendations

 "Out of the Salt Shaker and Into the World: Evangelism As A Way of Life" By Rebecca Pippert 

    This is my top favorite Christian book that I've read. It was recommended to me by a friend when I wanted to learn more on the topic of Evangelism. I took so many notes off of this book, and even bought a copy for myself after returning my friend's copy because I loved the book so much. This book paints Jesus as the main evangelist, and biblical examples from his life.  This book is encouraging, and offers practical tips at becoming better at evangelism. 

"The Final Quest" By Rick Joyner 

    I was introduced to this book when attending the School of Worship. One of our teachers read us the first chapter out of the book, and I was immediately hooked. I needed to get a copy myself to find out what happened next in the story. This story is written about a vision that Rick Joyner, the author, had over a year.  The vision provides a visual of the battle between light and darkness. It also provides great imagery of spiritual warfare. This book is a part of a trilogy with this one being the first.

 

"God's Lavish Grace" By Terry Virgo 

This book was recommended to me by one of the people at my church, when I had first joined Living Light, and had gotten serious about living for God. They let me stay at their house a couple of days when my anxiety was bad. (Going home always gave me a lot of anxiety, thankfully it doesn't anymore). This book was left out on the nightstand, and the lady recommend I read it if I wanted. I read part of it then, and really liked it.  On the School of Worship this was one of the required books to read, and each week we would read a chapter and discuss it more thoroughly. It gives in depth information on God's grace that he has given to us, and how great of a gift it truly is. 

"A Little Book on the Christian Life" By John Calvin

I just got done reading this book in a women's small group. At first glance looking at it, and knowing the author lived in the 1500s was really daunting. I wasn't sure I'd be able to understand the words he would be using to get his point across. However, I was shocked at how relatable to the world now this book is. A book written over 500 years ago. It was also pretty easy to follow, even though we were reading it at around 6:30 in the morning. This book is heavy, but uses examples on what the Christian life looks like, and the right way to be one. 

"Awake & Alive to Truth: Finding Truth in the Chaos of a Relativistic World" By John Cooper

I was really excited to read this book, once I had heard about it being released, and got a copy for Christmas. (I finished it shortly after :P). This book describes how to live in the world today when there are so many different things trying to tell you what to think. John brings out how to find what is the biblical truth we should believe in the midst of the chaos all around us. It also describes different world views, and what our culture believes and why, and uses stories from his own life. This book was encouraging to stand firm in God when things are tough. 

"You're Not Enough (and That's Okay): Escaping the Toxic Culture of Self-Love" By,Allie Bell Stuckey

The title of this book is counterintuitive, especially when constantly in culture we are told "you are enough." Self-love we are told will make us happier, but we are more self-obsessed than ever before, and we're actually the saddest we've ever been as a culture. We think to much about ourselves, and what we want, think we deserve, but this is shallow and leads to loneliness. Constant reflection on ourselves and our inadequacies as humans instead of looking to God who is truly perfect in everyway. (I've only started reading this book, but I am excited to read more.)

"Humility: The Journey Towards Holiness" By, Andrew Murray 

Humility is a virtue we all need in order to become more Christ-like. It is one of the hardest virtues to accomplish especially in an individualistic society where everyone is so focused on themselves. Even when we think we are doing well with being humble, we probably aren't. It's a consistent battle in life to stay more humble than prideful and this book highlights the importance of humility and how to become more humble. This was another book we went through when I was on the School of Worship.

"The Pursuit of God: The Human Thirst for the Divine" By, A.W. Tozer

The pursuit of God, as the title reveals is about pursuing God in our Christian walks. Not to just believe in him, but to actually pursue what his will is for our lives, and his wants for us. Continuing to follow after him and do his will, even when things get tough. I read this book on the School of Worship, and will pull it out to review it sometimes, just for the great reminders that are within this book. 

"StrengthsFinders 2.0" By, Tom Rath

   Strength Finders is a book based on the Clifton Strengths Asssessment which is an online test you can take in order to assess your strengths. It's not free, however I think it is a good investment. I took it a few years ago and I think it was around $20. The book helps you discover more about your strengths and how to apply them within your workplace, or in the case of Christianity, networking God's purpose in your life. I took this assessment years ago and still I have access to the results of the test to look back on as a reminder. Though not necessarily a Christian book, I feel it is helpful for that as well.

"The Lion and the Lamb" By, Tony Ling

      The Lion and the Lamb contains two books that go through the symbolism/imagery and its meaning in Revelation. This makes Revelation, a relatively difficult book to understand because of its high use of symbolism, easier to understand. It also provides a hopeful and encouraging insight on the end times when it's usually viewed as a frightening topic. A friend had an extra copy of this book, and gave it to me as a gift. 

 

   I will probably add more books to this list as time goes on. I read a lot of books on Christian topics and I'm sure I probably missed one. 😊

 

 

Kentucky Trip (Part 2)

      On Tuesday we headed out early again, in order to get to the Creation Museum when it first opened. Again it was a really nice day. Although the Creation Museum wasn't quite as cool as the ark replica it was still worth seeing. The Creation Museum had a lot of exhibits which showed the biblical view on things, as well as the Evolution or Scientific view of things. The exhibits go in order of the 7 C's of Christianity. Creation, Corruption, Catastrophe, Confusion, Christ, Cross, and Consummation. 

    These exhibits also answered questions I didn't know I had about "The Bible". Like why didn't the animals go after each other before the fall? The answer to this question is because there were no carnivores before the fall. The humans didn't need to hunt animals in order to keep from getting hungry, and the animals didn't have the urge to prey on other animals. Through the exhibits I also discovered that the first animal sacrifice happened right after Adam and Eve had sinned and tried to cover themselves up with the leaves and figs, God sacrificed an animal in order for them to cover up themselves with the hide. It is in "The Bible" but I never realized that, that was the first time an animal had been killed. They had a whole exhibit dedicated to catastrophe/destruction in the world which was really moving. On one of the exhibit doors a message was scratched saying "the world's not safe anymore" and the exhibit also had a lot of screens switching between different dark things in the world. (Nazi's, starvation, drug addiction, etc. ) One of the exhibits went through how we tend to think that the first people were stupid and cavemanlike when they were actually pretty brilliant, and used amazing architecture techniques. Just think of Noah's Ark, or the look of ancient architecture like the pyramids. I have included pictures of different exhibits I took pictures of that answered questions I had or that I thought were cool. Outside the creation museum there were paths, one had a garden with a koi fish pond, and a cherry blossom tree. 

    After exploring the Creation Museum we ate lunch and rested once again. You can fully get through both the ark replica and Creation Museum in 2- 2.5 hours without rushing. That evening I thought it would be a fun idea to go to Cincinnati since the part of Kentucky we were in was very close to there. However, before going into Cincinnati we hit traffic and a 25min drive turned into 40min. We stopped at Findlay market which turned out to be in a sketchier part of the city. I explored the shops around and then we sat outside to enjoy the weather and drank our separate drinks. Mine being an iced caramel latte, After the Findlay Market we went to Eden Park. A park that is located on a hill and overlooks Kentucky. The park also contains a reflecting pool and fountain. The part where you can look over at Kentucky was pretty crowded so we could only get rushed pictures as we drove past. We drove back into Kentucky and I took pictures of the Cincinnati skyline on a bridge back to Kentucky from the car. We got ice cream once we were back in Kentucky since the ice cream place I wanted to explore was closed on Tuesdays in Cincinnati. 

Kentucky Trip (Part 1)

        Since last year my mom had been talking about wanting to go to Kentucky to visit the replica of Noah's Ark. We were finally able to make that a reality during Spring Break, and I organized the trip and booked our hotel. The trip was fairly quick, we left on Easter around 11am and got back Wednesday evening. For our Easter supper we had Dairy Queen, but we were able to eat it outside due to the great weather. 

   We arrived at our hotel at 7pm on Easter, and I was excited to note that they actually had the pool open. When I was originally booking the hotel back in February they had said the pool/hot tub would be closed due to Covid. We never utilized either, but it was great to know. The hotel I picked was actually the perfect spot between the two attractions being the ark replica and the creation museum, which are apart of the same organization. The hotel was also clean, and offered free breakfast, so there isn't anything bad to say about it, thankfully. 

   On Monday we went to the ark replica, built following the directions given to Noah by God in "The Bible" Since we no longer use the measurement of cubits to build things, the researchers tried the best they could to make the best representation of what they thought it would mean (look like). A lot of research went into this project as a whole in order to best answer commonly asked questions on the ark and to build exhibits. The ark was also part museum so it did contain some exhibits and painted a story of life on the ark. This included the living quarters of Noah and his family, and cages with animals that are now extinct that may have been on the ark. For me I took pictures of things that answered questions I never really thought of. Like: How big is a cubit? How did they feed the animals? How many animals did they have to take care of? etc. (They studied ancient civilizations to best guess on what the answers to these questions might be.) For feeding the animals they had bags for food and pots for water which they kept piled up on the side of the ship as away to store them. They also guessed that they had a feeder for the animals which you would only have to fill every couple days and a system of getting rid of the animals poop. Each person would have to take care of an 1/8 of the animals which was a big number but not overwhelmingly big. The animals were kept in cages and not roaming free so they wouldn't harm each other, and only land animals mainly would need to be kept on the ark. I have included the pictures here of answers to common questions so you can read for yourself this cool information. Along with pictures of the ark replica itself.

  After the trip to the ark we had lunch then went back to the hotel to rest. After resting we went to a local mall.