Summer Begins!

Sorry for the lack of posts lately! Just a quick update on life since being home.

Finals got done almost two weeks ago now. My parents came down that Friday and we managed (somehow!) to get all my stuff packed into the car and leave enough room for ourselves! It was a tight squeeze for sure. And once again I was reminded that I have way too much stuff! So one goal for this summer is to go through everything and clean it out. After getting everything packed in tight, my parents and I headed to Peoria for my cousin Joanna's wedding. And thus began the summer of weddings! We had a great time getting to see and spend time with family that we don't get to see all the time. Joanna and Matt's ceremony was beautiful, and I'm so glad to have been able to celebrate with them! I've been blessed with a big extended family that loves each other and more importantly loves God! It's always good to be with family.

After the wedding reception it was time to head back to Door County. Many hours in the car later, and I was home! Then began the task of unpacking, which I'll admit was a slower process than it should have been. I wanted to start the cleaning out process as I went, but there was so much to go through that I'm still not completely done...also probably because I get bored of working on it and typically fail at trying. :) Don't worry, someday it will happen. Someday...

The rest of my time home has been spent by doing some odd jobs, watching many episodes of Project Runway, and otherwise bumming! It's been too cold to do much outside, until today that is! Looking forward to getting some sun now for sure. Saturday my mom and I made a quick trip down to Zion for wedding #2 of the summer, and then headed over to Lake Geneva area for my cousin's graduation party. Again, it was great to see some friends and family that we don't see all the time. Julie and Jani are the last to graduate from the Finger clan. It's been fun to be able to celebrate several graduations between the Gregorniks and the Stewarts in the last several years.

We drove home that night making for a long day and a late night, but there's always a lot of stuff to do and it's hard to be gone for too long when we're just about to hit the busy season, which will (very) soon be upon us. Church on Sunday, and an 30th anniversary party for Rick and Joyce Johnson that night. I'm grateful for the influence these two wonderful people have had in my life for the past...I don't know how many years. I always feel welcomed from the moment I walk in to their home. They always make me feel like I'm just another part of their family! Monday was Memorial Day, which was spent (as per tradition) at a Fish Boil at the Weborgs. Love me a Door County fish boil! I also got to spend a little bit of time with my dear friends Jeni and Bonnie getting coffee at Brew Monday morning. So good to be able to catch up with these ladies for a bit! Today I spent the afternoon doing mulch for a camp neighbor. It was hard work, but I'm glad for the cash and a bit of sun I was able to get!

And that is life so far! Looking forward to wedding #3 this weekend!

Wo-ah! We're halfway there!

Before I begin this post, I would like to give a shout out to Joel Robinson and Jenny Suszek, because every time I hear the aforementioned song, I think of them. :)

But for real! I'm halfway done with college! Woo woo! I officially finished at approximately 2:15 this afternoon, after completing a strenuous exam (False. Not strenuous! Wonderfully short and easy, made better because of the open note option). Since then I've been packing up the room even though I'm not leaving till Friday. Now I get to spend a few days just hanging out in Greenville with my dear friends Jenny and B. And whomever else might find themselves still in Greenville. :) My parents are coming down Friday and it's off to my cousin Joanna's wedding on Saturday! Then it's SUMMER! So very excited.

Let me break down this school year for you quickly:
-Got to Greenville in August for soccer
-Played soccer, lots of soccer
-Started classes
-Spoke Spanish, lots of Spanish
-Played some more soccer
-Took a trip in November to California to hang with the bestie (and John!)
-Soccer team made it to Christian Nationals, first time ever!
-Finished up first semester, headed home for Christmas break for six weeks
-Spent a wonderful time at home, doing some work at camp and otherwise just bumming
-Headed back to school for second semester at the end of January
-Started classes again
-Spoke more Spanish
-Played soccer (indoor)
-Declared a second major (!)
-Changed my semester abroad plans, found a much more exciting and better option for me! (Guatemala here I come!)
-Spring Break! Turned 20!
-Back to classes
-Coached a team of four and five year olds in the beautiful game
-Played soccer again (back outdoors)
-Parents came down for a weekend, and to watch our outdoor tourny
-Played in said outdoor tourny in miserable weather
-Went on an epic camping trip over Easter
-Volunteered and got my worship on at AgapeFest
-Finished up my first coaching gig with a carnival to raise money for the girls going to Italy this summer
-Did tornado clean up with my soccer girls in STL, realized how blessed I am

End of the year stuff:
-Group project/presentation for Anthropology
-Group debate for Policies and Agencies
-Spanish Final (10 minute presentation)
-Paper for Marriage and Family
-Fine Arts Final online- 2 hours, worst test format ever
-Paper for Policies and Agencies
-Presentation for Tesol, including 6 interviews
-Finished up the year with a final for Anthropology
-Breathed a sigh of relief!

That was my year in a nutshell! Crazy that it's already halfway over. Also crazy that this year is already over! Seems like just yesterday Kayla and I were setting up the room. It was a great year, but I'm ready for what's next! Here's to the next two years! :)

Do we rejoice?

The question has been posed to me a couple of times now. How do we respond to the death of Osama bin Ladin? Do we rejoice? Should we rejoice?

Facebook is filled with cheers and parades and gloating as if the entire internet world was the one to have pulled the trigger. I do not know what I feel, what I should feel. As an American, shouldn't I be jubilant? That this man who has caused so much heartache in our country got what he deserved? Shouldn't I feel as if justice has been served? Shouldn't I feel safer, because this threat to our very existence has been taken out? I should. But I don't. I feel sadness.

Sad.
That I would even want to feel jubilant at a man's death. I don't know that we should ever rejoice at death, regardless of the life that was lived.

Sad.
Because I know where he is now. You may say he deserved it, and this is probably true. But I am not the judge. Thankfully so. And as hard as it is, I have to believe that God's offer of salvation really does extend to the worst of these. Shouldn't we mourn every time someone rejects his offer of salvation? It's not an idea I necessarily enjoy, or fully understand. Salvation for someone whose life was filled with so much evil? Doesn't seem to be right.
I've lived my whole life as a Christian. And you want to tell me that had he confessed with his mouth and believed in his heart that he would be in heaven with me someday? I deserve it. Don't I? Nay, friend. Nor I or he deserve salvation. But the offer extends to us both. I'm not saying he is in heaven. No, I do not think there were virgins and a land of paradise waiting for him. I think he found out that Hell is very real. But do I rejoice over this? Facebook seems to tell me I should. Many of my fellow Americans are.

My heart does not rejoice. I don't know if it should, but it does not.

Sad.
That there would be a life so evil I would even consider rejoicing over its ending. Be glad heart! A man is dead, and beginning an eternity of torment and being separate from God! Be Glad! No, heart. It does not feel right to even pretend to tell you to be glad. I do not rejoice. But he caused so much pain and suffering. He was truly evil. Mourn then, heart, not for a life lost to a bullet, but for a life lost somewhere along the way. For what must have happened in that life, for a mind to become so twisted and evil? That it could justify the heinous acts it committed? Mourn, for the broken life that would lead to so much death and destruction.
No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite. -Nelson Mandela
But why was it hate and not love that was taught? Love comes more naturally. Why wasn't it love? Why was this man so filled with hate? Where is a life lost along the way? And why was it not helped?


Safer. They say we should feel safer. Safer because of one man's death? In a world filled with violence, and evil, and hurting? Look around you. We live in a broken, twisted, evil world. You don't even have to look much beyond your front door to see pain and suffering and unspeakable violence. And one man's death will save us? I don't think I believe that. One man's death already saved us. Perhaps we are safer from the harm one man could cause. But there will be another. And we will grieve some other tragedy. Evil is in this world. It did not leave with the death of Bin Ladin. Some evil did, yes. But Satan is still fighting. He will find another foothold somewhere.
No, I do not feel safer. There is evil all around us. At no cause of Bin Ladin.

No, I do not rejoice. Heart, what do you feel then? Sadness. An incredible depth of sadness, for all the broken lives in our world. Grieve, heart. For all of them. For everyone who rejects His gift. For every broken heart, life, community. For a broken world.

Nay, I do not rejoice.