Blessed

This weekend I went to St.Louis to visit some family and go to a cousin’s wedding and another cousin’s baby shower. It was a great weekend with my family and I had a good time hanging out with them. On Friday I headed home, then we went all the way to St.Louis and got there pretty late – just in time to visit for a little bit and go to bed. On Saturday we got up and went to my cousin’s wedding which was early for a wedding, so we had the rest of the day to visit with lots of family members and had a good time catching up. With them being in St.Louis we don’t get to spend much time with them, so that was nice. We had the baby shower on Sunday morning and headed out in the afternoon. Since we left so late we didn’t get home until about 9:30, so I ended up just staying at home on Sunday night. I came back here to Bluffton Monday and am working on getting into the swing of things again for another week.

While I was making the long drive to St.Louis I had a lot of time to think and just realize how blessed I am. Sometimes I feel like I get so caught up in the hustle and bustle of life and forget to thank God for all of the wonderfulness in my life. Sometimes I can’t believe how amazing my life is and am just so thankful for everything. I have people to love, people who love me, strength to get through the long days, activities to keep me busy, and countless other blessings in my life… I’m just amazed sometimes at how cool life is when you sit back and realize it. I’m going to work on realizing it more often. I would recommend taking a little while and realizing your blessings – it’s a feel good thing.
Here’s to blessings,
Mary

Pictures: some blessings in my life… scott, my best friends, and family (this particular picture is my niece and nephew playing in a toy box)

I love Chapel at Bluffton. Every Thursday at 11am we get to take a break from classes, meetings, and stress and enjoy a time of worship with friends. I love Chapel services from the worship music to the speakers to the fellowship. Today we had a different kind of service – we had it in Bob’s Place (a place to hang out in our student union) instead of in our recital hall, Yoder, which is where it usually is. It was a great change of scenery and nice to see Chapel from a different perspective. The Chapel Planning Committee even had lunches for everyone after the service so we could all hang out and enjoy some time just hanging out together.
At Bluffton, Chapel isn’t mandatory at all, which I think is a good thing. The people that attend Chapel and other religious life activities on campus are doing so because they WANT to, not because they are required to. I have grown a lot in my faith during my time at Bluffton and I know that it is because I have made the decision to do so, not because I have been forced to. I’m so thankful for that on Bluffton’s campus and glad that I have the chance to talk with so many different people about their faith and really learn from them.
Religious life on Bluffton’s campus takes on a lot of different forms. We have Chapel every Thursday and Sunday Morning Worship every other Sunday (this is to encourage students to get out into the local community and attend local churches), spiritual life week each semester, BASIC (Brothers and Sisters in Christ – these are small groups that meet approx. once a week and take on lots of different forms.. some are set up like a Bible Study, while others are more discussion based. These are led by faculty or staff members) several different ministry teams and various other activities and events to go to. The religious life on Bluffton’s campus is strong and something that I feel like has enhanced my time at Bluffton in a major way. I would recommend considering what type of religious life you want to look for on a campus, as it can be a big factor in your college experience.
Here’s to growth,
Mary
Picture: some of the people on the Spiritual Life Week committee from last Spring.

Best Weekend Ever (another one...)

Hi!

Wow, I am writing to you after an absolutely amazing weekend. It was one of the best weekends of my 22 years of existence... weekends like this past one don't come around too often.

Scott and I did just about the same thing this weekend, so him and I tag-teamed what we're talking about in our blogs, so make sure to read his blog for more details on different things...

On Friday there was the Homecoming parade, which was a lot of fun. Most of my friends were in the parade for one reason or another, so it was fun to have so many people getting ready for it at the same time. Scott and I were in it because we were on Homecoming court and after a mix up with the cars and the weather, we eventually got to go through the parade and it was a lot of fun to see so many parents, professors and friends along the route.

Friday night my parents were camping with our RV at a nearby campground, so me, Scott, and about 20 friends went there for a campfire. It was so much fun to hang out and laugh while making s'mores and sitting around a fire. I love hanging out with my family, and I love hanging out with my friends, so this was the best - everyone at once! It was a really relaxing night and a great way to spend Friday night of Homecoming weekend.

Saturday was a very exciting day. My parents, brother, sister in law, sister, brother in law, and niece and nephew came to Bluffton for Homecoming coronation (this is the ceremony where they crown the Homecoming King and Queen) and the game and it was so great to have them there. As you read in Scott's blog, I was crowned Homecoming Queen, which was definitely a surprise to me and so much fun. We had a great time hanging out at the game and it was such an awesome afternoon. (sorry, I'm realizing that I'm overlapping more with Scott than I am intending too... I just get so excited to talk about such a great weekend!)

After the game and afternoon festivities we all went back to our halls and got ready for the TOGA themed Homecoming dance. I absolutely love the dance every year because it's a great way to get everyone together to laugh and dance the night away. Me and my friends got all decked out in our togas and were ready to hit the wonderfully decorated Commons (the Commons is our dining area, but with the decor you could hardly tell it was a cafeteria!) to dance like crazy. I had so much fun with Scott and my best friends just laughing and enjoying our last Bluffton Homecoming dance.

After a crazy Saturday we slept in on Sunday and did a little bit of homework and then I got ready to go out with Scott for my birthday dinner. It was so nice to go out to dinner and to the coffee shop and chat with him. It was definitely a great birthday date. Then to my complete and total surprise, when we were going to my room to get a movie to watch, I walked into my lobby to about 20-25 people yelling "SURPRISE!" Scott and one of our friends, Sara, threw me an amazing surprise birthday party. I had NO idea they were planning it and it meant so much to me to have so many people there celebrate with me. It was an incredible way to end an incredible weekend.

I am definitely still on cloud 9 after such a great weekend. Parade, campfire with my friends and family, lunch with my family and scott's family, coronation, game, dance, date, surprise party... I don't really think a weekend can get much better than that!

Life is really great :)

Here's to memories and weekends that will last a lifetime,

Mary

lots of pictures this time... here they are, from the top: me and scott at the campfire, my friend Becca roasting marshmallows at the campfire, me and Thea (the sophomore attendent) at the homecoming game, me and Scott before coronation, me and my friend Carol after coronation, my friends LeeAnne, Carol, Jill, and I at the TOGA dance, and finally my friends Carol, Anna,Hannah, Ashley, and Hope at the surprise party!

Homecoming Week!

It has been a fantastic week at Bluffton. It's Homecoming Week and there have been so many great activities going on.
Monday we had the block party and that was tons of fun. We all just hung out and had dinner outside, cookout style. It was awesome to see everyone out of their rooms and playing games, listening to music and just hanging out together. Tuesday we had "Are You Smarter Than a First Year?" which was good times. Scott hosted the game show and they had four people be the contestants. The Homecoming committee had also chosen some first years to be the "students" and it was played just like the game show on tv "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" Then on Wednesday they had a pep rally that including painting posters for the athletic teams at dinner. I wasn't able to be there, but it seemed like it would be really cool because at the pep rally they introduced the fall sports teams. Thursday we brought in Chris Carter, an illlusionist/mind reader to perform and he was SO AWESOME! He performed for about an hour and half and totally wowed the crowd. It was so great because Yoder was packed with students and everyone really had a great time watching him.
We're all really looking forward to the weekend. I won't divulge too much information about that yet, but come Sunday, I will have tons to write about, including stories about the parade, game, and dance! woo hoo!
Here's to a super fun Homecoming Week,
mary
pic: me and my friend, Carol, before the dance last year. This year's dance theme is "TOGA!" I will be sure to have lots of pictures of that for you in the next post...

MCB

Well, this weekend was the annual MCB retreat. I've been on MCB (our activity planning board) on campus since my freshman year and it's been such a great thing for me. I love seeing people have fun, and MCB is the perfect group to be in for that. We plan activities for the campus and we have around 3 activities every week. They range from bingo, to dodgeball, to giant dutch blitz, to drive-in movies. It has been such a great way for me to meet so many wonderful people and have a blast. It's kind of weird that it's my last year on MCB, it's definitely something that I'm going to miss a lot when I leave Bluffton.

Every year we go on a retreat to bond as a board and also to work on planning some events for the coming months. This year we went to Ashland (Northeast), Ohio and had some rockin' good times. We worked on planning some events for Spring semester, ate out a couple of times, took a 7 mile canoe trip, hung out at our chairperson's (and one of my closest friends) house, did some fun mixers and energizers and definitely laughed a LOT! We're a smaller board this year, there are only 10 of us, so it was so neat to bond and get closer. Some of my best friends are on the board too, so it was great to spend a weekend off campus with them. I laughed so hard that I had tears running down my face multiple times, which is my favorite! I had never gone canoeing for a long trip before, so that was fun and a new experience... we only almost tipped over 3 times, but never did (thank goodness - the water was freezing...).
We came back today and all settled back into the school routine. Lots of people worked on homework, but I was lucky because I had so much last week that I don't have much this week, which is great. So, I went over to Scott's and just hung out and watched football (actually, he watched football... I slept) then just hung out with the girls tonight. I'm really excited about this week because it's Homecoming week, so there are tons of great events going on before the game on Saturday - I will definitely have lots to write about next time.
Here's to fun retreats and homecoming week,
Mary
picture: people having fun playing dutch blitz at an MCB event.

Stress!

Hi Readers :)

Well, the past couple of days have been quite stressful. Everyone came back from Fall Break on Tuesday, which was great - it was good to see everyone again. I knew that I had a lot of stuff due at the end of this week, but didn't think about the fact that we had Monday and Tuesday off, so I put homework off, thinking I had a whole week to do it when in reality I had a couple of days. Needless to say I've been up late the last couple of nights, but writing this blog is the last thing on my agenda for the day and I am pumped about that. I just finished a paper and I'm feelin' good.

Stress about homework, activities and other random things in college seems to come and go. Sometimes it gets really intense and sometimes it feels like I'm just chuggin' along without any stress at all. I feel like my stress level this week was pretty self-induced. I mean, several of the things I had to do I've known about for a long time, so I should have been working on them for awhile, but I've just been procrastinating a lot recently. oh well, the life of a college student :).

I'm pretty excited about this weekend. Our activity planning board, MCB, is having our annual retreat. It's a mystery trip, so I'm not sure where we're going to end up, but I'm sure we'll have a good time no matter what. I have had the opportunity to be on MCB all four years of my college experience and I've loved it. It's great to be able to plan events for the whole campus and watch people have fun.

Next week is Homecoming Week! woo hoo! I am so excited about that and we have some great things happenning on campus. I will surely have lots to write about next week :) In the meantime, try not to be stressed, life is too short for that :)

Here's to no more stress,

Mary

picture: this is a random one, but when we get stressed, me and my friends tend to do weird things like dress up and take pictures... here's the outcome.

Fall Break

Well, it’s Fall Break here at Bluffton and it’s been a good one for me (so far... there’s still another day left!) Being the residence life staff member on duty for this break, I’ve had to stick around on campus, but it’s been solid. On Friday Scott and I took a random trip home to my house to surprise my parents, sister, niece and nephew. It was a lot of fun to just hang out with them, especially since I don’t get to see my sister very often and she happened to be visiting on Friday. After that we went out to dinner, the pet store, and back to Bluffton. After that I watched some tv with Katie here in our hall, then visited some girls across campus and ended up hanging out a little bit more with Scott. Saturday was a really lazy day. I got up and went to lunch with Scott, then we spent the day just hanging out. It was good because we had some really good conversation and the day went fast as we just talked away. I went out to dinner with one of my best friends, ran some errands, then headed back over to hang out with Scott and listen to Notre Dame beat UCLA :). Woot! On Sunday Scott and I headed to his house for a family reunion, which was fun. It was good to meet more of his family and spend a day off campus (it is Fall Break, after all :) ). When I got back here I just hung out with the girls a little bit and went to bed early. Today I went back home for the day and shopped all day with my mom. I am on Homecoming Court this year, so I had to get some new clothes, which is always fun. It was good to spend the day at home and get in some quality time with my parents. The big excitement of the day was that I had to take my car in to be fixed and found out that it is pretty much dead. The repairs would cost more than what the car is worth, so I have to buy a new car in the next couple of weeks. I brought my Mom’s car back here to drive for a little while, but I can’t keep it for long because she will need it back. So, now I’m on the hunt for a car. I was planning to buy a car about this time next year after I have a job and steady income, but due to my car’s death I have to figure things out to do it now. It’s a little stressful figuring out the money, but I’m excited to get a new car. Since my parents bought my first car, I’m kind of excited to actually buy one myself… I feel like a grown up :). To finish out Fall Break tomorrow I think I’m going to sleep in and then work on homework so I’m not too behind when we go back to classes on Wednesday. I think that’s about it from here, but I hope you’re doing great, readers :).
Here’s to Fall Breaks and new cars,
Mary
picture: this might seem like a random picture, but it makes complete sense... as I'm writing this I'm watching the Indians game, and this is me and Scott at the Indians game last April... holla!

Excited

So, I am excited. At the beginning of this week I was pretty bummed beause I had another cold and was just feeling really overwhelmed (it probably didn't help that I was up until 5:30 in the morning on Sunday night :) ). But then I stopped and thought about it, and I have no time to be feeling down - I have way too many things to look forward to in the next few weeks. Let me share :)
This weekend and Monday and Tuesday are Fall Break - so, no classes! Since I am on duty this weekend for my hall I won't be able to go home overnight at all, but it's alright because some fun people will still be here, so I will have a lot of people to hang out with. It will just be nice to not have classes on Monday or Tuesday. So that's awesome. Then, next weekend I go on a retreat all weekend with MCB (the activity planning board on campus) and that's always a good time, so I'm pumped about that. Some of my really close friends are on MCB too, so it'll be nice to hang out with them. The next weekend is Homecoming which will be amazing. My parents and brother are coming over for the parade on Friday night, then we're having a little bonfire with my friends. On Saturday there is all sort of excitment. My sister and her family are coming so my whole family will be here as well, which is always so much fun. Saturday we will all eat lunch together, then coronation (where they crown the Homecoming queen and king), then the football game and the dance. I'm so pumped about Homecoming weekend!!! It's going to be blast. The Monday after Homecoming is my birthday, which is always exciting, and the weekend after that I am going to my cousin's wedding in St.Louis, the next weekend my family is coming for family day and we're going to the Browns game, then the next weekend me and Scott are going to tailgate at a Notre Dame game! PHEW! wow, from now until Nov.10 it's basically going to be nonstop fun. I am so excited. If you have made it to this point in my blog, thank you. I mean, it's probably not really fun to read about everything going on the next few weekends in my life, but you, devoted reader, are amazing :) I don't have great pictures from this week, so the picture is just one of my roommate packing to go home :). This is a scene common around campus today as everyone is heading home for Break!! Have an amazing weekend, and I hope you have lots to look forward too :)
Here's to excitement,
Mary

Only In College...

So, the past few days I've done a lot of fun things - all things that, as they were happenning, I thought "this kind of stuff only happens in college." Let me explain.

This weekend was great. I had a really stressful week last week, so it was so nice to have a relaxing weekend. Scott and I spent Friday together just hanging out. We took an adventure to Van Wert (about 45 mintes away) so he could go to his bank, which was fun, then we just kind of hung around and relaxed - perfect Friday afternoon activities. Then Friday night was the Root Beer Keg Party! PALS (peer awareness leaders), a really great organization on campus, has this event every year and it is so much fun - basically it's like a big dance party and they have kegs of root beer there. It was so much fun to dance all night with my friends and Scott - we definitely laughed a lot and Scott even won a brand new iPod to top the evening off. After the party me and the girls just hung out and laughed a lot. Root beer keg party, laughing until the wee hours of the morning with friends... only in college :)

Saturday was a totally wonderful day. I slept in and then went out for lunch with two of my friends here, Hannah and Anna (hannah is my roomie :) ) and we had a good time riding with the top down in Hannah's jeep. After that I was just kind of lazy and didn't do much...caught up on facebook, watched a little bit of the Notre Dame game, read a little bit, etc. Then in the evening I got ready and Scott took me out for a great date - we went out to dinner and a movie. yay! It was so great to just hang out with him. We discovered a great new restaurant, saw a great new movie, and had super great conversation - yay for great dates :).

On Sunday we got up and went to Sunday Morning Worship, then it was homework day. Reading, reading, reading all day long. Luckily there was "fall fest" in the middle there where student organizations set up booths and we go and have fun - I made cards and had my face painted! This was the kickoff to Spiritual Life Week. But anyways, back to the homework... It was my fault, really... I have had a PR project that I have known about for about 5-6 weeks now, and just decided to start on it yesterday. It was a long book review, along with a presentation and handout. Not too bad, if I would've started on it earlier. Luckily both Scott and one of my best friends, Carol, also hadn't started on their projects, so we were all up late. We were chatting as we were doing our projects and wondering why we had waited this long. We all went on a McDonald's run around 2 in the morning, and Carol and I locked ourselves out, so we had to call one of our friends to come and let us in... sigh... it was a long night :). We finally turned in around 5:30ish in the morning. dang. that's so late to be up! Oh well :). About an hour later I got up and went to a breakfast to thank the building and grounds staff here - needless to say, that's kind of a blur rom being so tired. Then I went back to bed for about another hour and half before I got ready and tackled a long Monday. Only in college would we stay up until 5:30 in the morning doing a project, then go through the whole day on 2.5ish hours of sleep. I love it :).

Tonight was one of my favorite events of the year, "Battle of the Airbands." It's a competition that is held every year during Spiritual Life Week (a week devoted to spiritual life activities - it is such a great week and I look forward to it every fall and spring!). My first year here me and my friends won the competition and then sophomore year we just sat back and watched. Junior year and this year me and one of my best friends MCed the competition. It is so much fun to have a part in that and make people laugh. Only in college is there a competition based solely on airbands, and how well they dance and act like they're really in a band :).

So, overall it's been a crazy but amazing couple of days. This feels like the longest day ever, having not slept much and had a full day, but hey, I'd by lying if I said I didn't love living the college life.

Here's to late nights, root beer keg parties, and airbands,

Mary

picture: me and scott at the rb keg party, me and my friend Jill at the rb keg party, and three of my friends competing in the airband competition.