So I did a little audit on myself and found out that I only need four more classes to be a Religion Major.  Neato!  So,  I will have two majors, a minor, a teaching endorsement and a study abroad experience to show for my time here.  I am very excited about this.  Also, having a double major will make me more marketable in the wonderful job market we have right now.  

Also, I get to take mostly all Religion classes next semester: BEST SEMESTER EVER!

Glo

 When I started at good old Central Michigan University, I thought it was quite strange when I heard that a person had been here for more than five years.  Images of a slacker drinking beer on Main Street instead of studying usually came to mind.  But, those sentiments have come back to haunt me.  I had an appointment with the Teacher Ed program today, and my last semester/student teaching will happen in the Fall of 2011.  That is six and a half years.  The funny thing is that the counselor told me that given all of the things I have done here (studied abroad, taken on an extra minor) I am actually right on schedule.  "The four year degree is a myth" she said, "reserved for rigid liberal arts schools or people who take 21 credits a semester."  She told me that I have applied at the perfect time, because some people try to apply too early.  I am done with my other degree requirements, so teaching classes will top off my experience here.

I am thinking of bumping my Religion Minor to a Major, to fill the cracks between EDU classes.  Six and 1/2 years for a double major, minor, and a study abroad experience?  I am okay with that.  The only thing I am worried about is the stigma and people asking that nails-on-a-chalkboard question: "So when you gunna graduate?"

Fall 2011, thank you very much.

Sometimes in life, after a great meltdown comes a process of rebuilding.  I am in the process of rebuilding.  Today was filled with things that I can't describe as other than divine assistance.  I finally slept in my  completely assembled bed again last night and had a lovely breakfast with Sam and Sandra.  I have wonderful people in my life.  I can't say that I take them for granted, but it is astounding to me how much I have been blessed in my life with quality people.  This is God to me.  This is also God:

Matt Schantz preached on Satan and demons and whatnot.  Now, I am of the opinion that there does exist evil in this world, and I have been presented with strong cases that support the fact that there exists spiritual warfare in the world (mostly friends who have experienced these things.)  That said, I think we blame things too much on Satan and fail to look at the human capability to create evil.  But along with this sermon, Matt preached about the places where evil can get a foothold in our lives.  Matt was a catalyst in a healing process that started last Spring, and anyone who knew me last semester knows what I was going through internally.  He was the one who pointed me in the direction of medical assistance and now I have been nearly depression free since the spring.  Its a huge shift in my life.  Back to the sermon, I felt a strong need to go and speak to Matt when the second set of worship songs started, and I did.  It just so happened that he wanted to speak to me as well, and he asked me how I have been doing.  He brought up issues we had spoken about last spring, and how I finally feel like I am at the emotional level where I can start to heal from them.  He also started talking to me about problems with my spiritual life that I did not even point out.  He sympathized that I am at a point in my faith where I have moved from "black and white" to shades of gray.  And he told me to explore those, to seek out great Christian minds who have wrestled with the big questions that I have had.  I told him that I am not leading a Lifegroup this semester and that didn't seem to surprise him at all.  He got what I was going through without me even asking him to comment on it.  This, my friends, I feel is God speaking to me.  Two people inspired to speak to one another in a time when one is on the verge of a radical life shift.  Yes, this is God to me. 

I would also like to record that Ben and I had an amazing conversation and Wendy's following the service.  Obviously he noticed that I was talking to Matt for a while, so we talked for over an hour about life and the need to move forward.  He is also somebody I see as a blessing from God.  It takes a lot to find a man who can not only listen, but give sound advice.  

So, I have seen the proverbial valley yet again in my life and I am coming out of it with a different view of the scenery.  


(Thank you Microsoft Sample Pictures, you're good for more than taking up space on my PC!)

This is a rant, with the sole purpose that I need to put my frustrations to "paper."  First, I am tired.  Our house has been infested with bedbugs (yes, our cleaner-than-the-average-college-house,) so I have not been able to get comfortable for the last couple of days.  I have to sleep on a pull out bed at Ben's, and though I am very thankful for it, its making me achy and tense.  On top of this, I ran out of my meds yesterday so I went for a day with my hormones out of whack.  Those meds play a key role in my energy and mood, and the lack of them combined with a lack of sleep has made me very very cranky.  Moving on, I have to somehow fit in cleaning my house in preparation for the exterminator into my 11-9pm class/his house schedule.  Currently, I am hungry, but because I can't keep all of my food in the house, I am missing the essentials to make a decent breakfast.  I didn't get all of my homework done either.

I feel like a mess.  All I want to do is crawl into my bed and sleep.  Oh wait, I don't have a bed right now.  Bombs.

Hello there!  Since I did not have a computer for part of the Summer (may my pos Dell rot in peace,) I did not  get to give too many updates, so here is my attempt to sum up the past three months!


I don't have any good group pictures of my first TST Next team, so here is one of the highlights... our MANFIRE!  This baby was at least 7ft tall.  Pictured are Sal and Lucas, co-builders of the MANFIRE (yes, I must use CAPS because of the magnitude of this fire's awesomeness.)


My second team only had six campers; we were small yet mighty.  Here is a picture of us, Brady Bunch style, before New Fro Rally. In the front is Derik, one of the two coaches I had the honor to work with this summer. 


Now for my week off excursion to the Upper Peninsula!  Here I am at the Mystery Spot with my sister (my dad is taking the picture.)  Just so you know, I beat the maze before both of them!


Twin Thursday on my third team!  I am twins with Iris, who I had as a camper two years ago.  We have actually been mistaken for each other from the back! 


And last but certainly not least, my coaches, Derik and Kairsta, whom I became quite close to over the summer.  Notice that Kairsta and I  are looking extra fly in this pic.   We deemed our last Wednesday "Woman Wednesday" and wore our dresses, just because we could!

So there you have it, a very short version of the events of the Summer.  I must say that this has been the most rewarding Summer yet.  TST Next is an amazing program and I can't wait to see where it goes "next" Summer!   I've been invited to come on board again!  I learned a lot about myself and my relationship with God.  Also, I got to be part of a budding relationship with a wonderful man, and I think it bodes well that we kept it together for three months of seeing each other once a week.    

Now its time for the first semester of my super senior year.  I can't wait!
 

Glo’s Fall 2009 Schedule!

Monday
2:00-3:15pm- ENG 294- Intro to Creative Writing- Anspach 260a

Tuesday
11:00-12:15pm- TAI 481- Directing- Moore 102
12:30-1:45pm- MUS 157- Women’s Chorus- Music 157
2:00-3”15pm- REL 501- Seminar in the Study of Religion- Anspach 169

Wednesday
2:00-3:15pm- ENG 294- Intro to Creative Writing- Anspach 260a

Thursday
11:00-12:15pm- TAI 481- Directing- Moore 102
12:30-1:45pm- MUS 157- Women’s Chorus- Music 157
2:00-3:15pm- REL 501- Seminar in the Study of Religion- Anspach 169
4:00-6:50pm- ENG 460- Senior Seminar in Current Issues in English- Anspach 157

Friday
No Class!

I am on my week off from camp!  I spent the weekend with my family doing the up north thing (which I love,) and now I am in Mt. Peezy spending some much needed time with Ben and creating beautiful things (perfecting a journal making idea that I might take to Etsy.) 

My laptop is broken so you will get pictures and a more detailed update later. 

Training is over and I have had my Nexters for a week!  They got paired up with their counselors today!  I just got over a pretty nasty throat infection, ew. 

Here is a pic of our lovely TST area directors this year!


This is going to be a fabulous summer!

Hey everyone!  I am leaving for camp today, so updates will be few but keep checking!


If you want to write to me or send me some love, here is my address at camp:

SpringHill Camps
c/o Gloriann McDonald (TST Next)
PO Box 958
Evart MI 49631

Echad everyone!

So I have had a lot of life updates lately but no spiritual ones, so here is the state of my soul at the moment.

God has been teaching me about worry.

In his book, The Dynamics of Faith, Paul Tillich writes, "...the dynamics of faith are the dynamics of man's ultimate concern" (1).    Think of all of the things that we are concerned with in our day-to-day lives.  I feel like my life can be divided into sections by what I was concerned about.  In high school and early college it was dieting and body image.  When I have been in a relationship, my boyfriend has been my ultimate concern.  In college, one of my huge concerns is the future and getting a job.  I have also been listening to the audiobook of Lamb by Christopher Moore.  It is the hilarious fictitious telling of Jesus' (called Joshua) life from age 12-30 (the dead space in the gospels,) through the eyes of his best friend Biff.  Right now Joshua and Biff and in India, learning about the Hindu gods.  The Hindus have over a million Gods (or so I've been told in my religion classes,) and many are attributed to differnent parts of life.  I would like to say that a lot of the gods are connected to "concerns" that humans have.  There are gods for death, fertility, rain, money, etc.  This can be seen in most polytheisms.  But I would argue that we do this to God in Christianity (or monotheisms for that matter.)  For example, when I was in high school, my God was the "god of helping me lose weight and love my body."  A vast majority of my prayers were about this issue, because it was my ultimate concern.  In relationships (as well as now, I have noticed) my God turns into the "God of helping my relationship work out" and subsequently my God-times turn into thinking-about-my-boyfriend-times.   I have seen God changed into so many things, the "god of wealth," the "god of getting jobs" and so on.  So, the "ultimate concern" of the moment turns the One God of the Universe into a petty flavor-of-the-week god.  Whatever happens to be my worry at the time becomes not only my "god," but also my "God." 

So there you have it, thanks if  you read the whole thing :)

Check out The Dynamics of Faith:
http://www.amazon.com/Dynamics-Faith-Perennial-Classic-Tillich/dp/0060937130/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242701657&sr=1-1
Check out Lamb:
http://www.amazon.com/Lamb-Gospel-According-Christs-Childhood/dp/0380813815

An update on my time home...

Last Monday I went to Necto in Downtown Ann Arbor for Gothic/Industrial night.  You may not be able to picture innocent little Glo surrounded by painted people and patent leather, but it is the most fun that I've ever had at a club...period.  Something about the intense beats and lights just make you not care about the people around you, and you are automatically a good dancer because everyone else is spazing around you. 


(Not my picture.  Front door to the club.)

My sister and I putting on our seductive faces before heading in...



My attempt at being hardcore... dark and girly?



Okay, enough of that.  The rest of my week was also very nice.  I drove behind my sister's car to  Mackinaw on Thursday because she did not have enough room in her car.  It was very nice to see her off at the pier.  After that I headed to Mount Peezy to see the boyfriend, and it was quite a lovely time.  I will spare the sickeningly adorable details and just say that I like that boy more and more every time that I see him.  I got to meet his aunt and uncle, and they were so much fun!   They took us out the The Bird and I got to try my first Woodchuck (my new favorite drink, btw, so much better than beer!) and afterward we went to China Garden and I got the best mock-pork I've ever had, lol.  I am also quite fond of his friends, who are quality and fun people.  Overall, I am a very happy girl right now. 

I also got to meet up with my old camper, Katie, in Flint.  I had her when she was a freshman, and now she is graduating and working with me this summer!  Time goes so quicky, my goodness.

Now I am doing laundry and gearing up for camp!  Only a few more days and I head off to Springhill!

This last week of school has been amazing.  So many things have happened to bless my life.  I got a hormone imbalance figured out, I got an amazing boyfriend, I am optimistic about my finals and I got to hang out with some of the best girls I've known.


The lovely ladies of 311!  We spent some time together yesterday, eating Qdoba and receiving our Second Annual Startdom Awards, thanks to Laura!


Qdoba day with the girls!   Nothing says "love" like burritos and nachos! 


Last year we gave our First Annual Stardom Awards back to Laura for safekeeping while we ate.   She found them a year later and re-gifted them to us, lol!   She also gave us the Second Annual Stardom Awards!  Mine is something along the lines of "Girl most likely to have her and her boyfriends name put together.  For example Glen or Blo."  Lol, I love it!


And finally, I got to spend my last few hours in Mount Pleasant with my amazing boyfriend, Ben.  We went to church together, and he got to come with my Dad and I to the Cabin for some pizza.  I'm going to miss this boy.

So now I am back in L-Town, spending time with my family and relaxing until camp :)

I would like to announce that I have a new boyfriend <3

To point out the awesomeness factor: last night, he introduced me to Jackie Chan singing "I'll Make a Man Out of You" from Mulan.   We watched the whole music video, and attempted to sing along.   Yes, this relationship will work out just fine, lol. 

Every year we have a mama duck that nest in the hydrangea in the front of my house, and my mom watches them like its her favorite sport.  Sometimes we miss the march of the duckies, but this year my mom saw it and got pictures!



Also, I am about a week into taking my new thyroid meds and its like night and day.  All of my body quirks are ironing out.  My mood is the best its been all semester and my metabolism must have picked up because I've lost a few pounds and I am not so tired all of the time.  In short, a little thing like a hormone out of whack can change so much about how your body works.  I am very thankful that this has worked out.

“Think about the word destroy,” the man said.  “Do you know what it is?  De-story.  Destroy.  You see.  And restore.  That’s re-story.  Do you know that only to things have been proven to help survivors of the Holocaust?  Massage is one.  Telling their story is another.  Being touched and touching.  Telling your story is touching.  Its sets you free”

-Baby Be-Bop by Francesca Lia Block

Francesca Lia Block is one of the authors that I have read for my Young Adult lit class.  Her writing style is so different and light, I just love it.  

Touch and be touched :)
 

Two things that I miss at this moment...


Puan kong chan (friends of mine)

and


Echad.

We had a memorial service for my Grandma Olga on April 4th.  Here are (left to right) my mom, my Aunt Carol, my sister, myself and my Uncle Ed.  In the middle is a picture of my Grandma with her ashes, reading glasses and some of her carvings.  She was a beautiful woman and a strong one.  She will be missed dearly.


A picture of myself on the Friday before my 22nd birthday.  Notice the copious amount of margarita, and my sister's non-alcoholic coke.  Don't worry Andrea, your time is coming...


Lil Ashley (!!!) and I as we count down the minutes before Andrea's 21st at Bora Bora.


My sister's first legal tequila shot at Gus O'Connor's.  The bar tender gave us ALL a free shot.  That's a bit o' Irish hospitality if I do say so myself!  After the first few drinks (and me stopping after my first so I could DD,) we went to B-Dubs for some food, and ended up at a hole-in-the-wall 24 hour diner for coffee and laughs.


Andrea's birthday happened to be on Easter this year.  Here we are coloring eggs for the big day!  I am 22 years old, and the Easter Bunny STILL gets leaves me an Easter Basket :P


And finally, me in front of my church's favorite Easter tradition, the flowering of the cross.  Each year we set up a cross covered in chicken wire and everyone cuts flowers from their garden (or buys them) and flowers the cross while we sing hymns.  Its a beautiful tradition with a beautiful result.

So, as you can see I've had an eventful few weekends, but it has been lovely to spend time with my family :)

I would like to inform the world that I am suffering from my first major cold in about three years.  Its so odd, after so long, to experience the symptoms of a cold.  I feel like not having a cold for so long (along with the sore throat, coughing, sneezing and runny nose) has helped me to be philosophical about it. 

Right now, I am sitting in Panera, preparing to write a speech for my Public Speaking class.  I have ordered a four cheese souffle and I am sipping mango tea with honey to ease my throat.  Because my nose is plugged up, tasting my breakfast feast had been difficult.  I have resorted to lifting the souffle to my nose to smell it before I put it in my mouth, and intentionally exhaling through my nose when the tea or food is in my mouth.  Its a slow process, but its making me realize how much really goes into enjoying breakfast.  Taste and smell are vital.  So I am taking it slow and enjoying myself.

My speech, I might add, is on the benefits of becoming a vegetarian.  I gave up eating meat for Lent, and in the waning days of the Lenten season, I have decided to keep going with it.  I am going to be a Lacto-ovo vegetarian, which means that I will still eat dairy and eggs.  Going vegetarian is something that I have wanted to do for a while, but I never gave it the "heave-ho" and jumped into it.  I like the discipline of it, and I like the health benefits and the eco-friendly nature of it all.  No, I am not an animal rights person and I am a believer that the only reason that animals on farms are alive is to be food.  That is their purpose, and I am not opposed to that.  I am opposed, however, to the chemicals and hormones used to grow livestock.

Okay, enough procrastination, time to write a speech.