Making Changes

I begin by saying "God is good." That has become the phrase with which I've prefaced nearly everything I've said of late. And it's true. It's so true.

This summer for me has been a time of serious searching and a time of difficult decisions. God has been working in my life, bringing to my attention a lot of things that I needed to see and a lot of things that I really don't want to see, but important nevertheless.

I'm not coming back to Maranatha as a dorm sup this fall. To be honest, this came as a very difficult change for me. I loved dorm suping. I loved Gould. I still love every one of my girls. But God has been redirecting, and I need to respond with obedience. He has very clearly closed one door and seems to be clearly opening another.

As I look at the coming fall, I still plan to live in Watertown. I will be working. And I plan to use this time to pursue my masters. I know what God is doing and teaching me through this is good, and I trust Him, not only for the outcome, but the process as well. I have seen Him do some truly amazing things in the past few weeks. I've had to trust Him in ways I honestly didn't before. And I know that this God that I serve will continue. He will continue to provide as He has provided before. He will continue His work in my life. I have that promise from Scripture. He will meet each and every need of the Gould girls. Of course He will; He is the only one equipped to meet those needs. I can only fall short.

My God is enough. May He be praised.

graffiti

While Leland enjoyed their cookout last night, Gould dorm began what may continue as their own tradition. Living up to their name, “Ghetto Gould” tagged the sidewalk and parking lot around the dorm. What had begun with 2 or 3 girls looking for something to do became 22 girls, psyched up, on a mission, and looking for trouble. Between 11:30 and midnight, we “decorated” guy’s side, substituting the easier to clean chalk for the traditional spray paint.

When I arrived on the scene, Brittany and Chelsie were already going to town, drawing stick figure replicas of their favorite Leland residents.

Sarah adds hearts to the myriad of flowers that make up the girlie graffiti.

This was the most participation I've ever seen from a last minute planned dorm activity.

Kathiann prefers to leave her message in Greek.

When fourth grade insults still work, why replace the classics?

Undoubtedly, the most excitement security saw all night.

The grand finale was a huge GOULD written across the parking lot which the girls promptly signed with the last fragments of chalk. Definitely a night to remember.

It's 2:00 a.m.

The dorm is quiet now

A few still linger in the halls, in a state of semi-awareness. Their intentions of pulling an all-nighter starting to wear away. The food meant to keep them awake has been gone for an hour, and the books and the wrappers litter the hall around them.

The dorm is quiet now

A strange contrast to the sounds I'm usually surrounded by.
Tonight there was the laughter. Someone being chased down the hall. Some rumor started about the dorm sup and (we won't mention who). Some silly ways of memorizing references for the prophecy test.
There was the singing. I stood on first floor as the music drifted upward from the basement and floated down from second floor. Two different songs, two different keys, but the same worship.
There was the steady stream of questions. Can I have late lights? Can I use your oven? Who will my roommates be next year? What is the Great White Throne Judgment? What do I do about...? Have you ever wondered...?" Would you pray for me? I just found out...
Followed by the advice. Study hard. Don't date your freshman year. You're going to make it. Start white glove now. Encourage each other. Let's pray.

The dorm is quiet now

I've just closed my door for the night, but now on my 3rd wind, I am wide awake and my mind will race for the next half hour as has become my custom until I fall asleep. I used to love mornings, a time of quiet, a time of pondering. But as my schedule changed this year, I was forced to trade my mornings for late nights. And now--I've found that same delight in the wee hours as the hush falls over the dorm just before sleep comes.

It's 2:20 and the dorm is quiet now.

Gould 104

First of all, my thanks to Keelin for providing me with this story. Not only did she give me something to post on my blog, she also supplied me with some great material to include in the article I'm writing for Journalism on dorm life.

A few things you not-in-the-dorm people need to understand:

1) Second semester incoming freshman are bottom of the totem-pole. Nothing against them personally. It's just the way it is. It's the way it will always be.

2) PC's are all-powerful. They cast the deciding vote whether they are right or wrong.

3) Dorm Sup's have the freedom to take whichever side they choose based on what seems most convenient or most fun at the time. (For the record, Dorm Sup is no relation to anyone in Stone Soup. Any similarities are purely coincidental).

It started when Keelin, innocently enough, asked to open a window.

4) Upper classmen control not only window openage and closage, they are the sole regulators of the thermostat, the designers of room arrangements, the dividers of closet space, and anything else that will give them a control boost.

Her request was vetoed. Not only by the PC, but 2 freshman roommates who qualify as upperclassmen roommates, being the only other roommates in the room. Further requests were not only denied, but got her banned from the room and locked out.

5) The property of a banned roommate is then divided among the remaining roommates at the discretion of the PC.

In this case, her roommates were generous allowing her to keep her green blanket. Her request for her pillow however, was denied.

Are you the ruler?

There are a few things I can't get used to as a dorm sup. Primarily, the power that accompanies the title. Speaking of titles, I had a visitor stick her head in my apartment and ask hesitantly, "So, are you like--the ruler here?" A year ago, I was a student. A year and a half ago, I wasn't even on the approved chap list. And now, suddenly almost everyone knows my name. Anyway, about this power thing--I can walk through Old Main and couples respond like two northern poles of magnets and I wonder which one just got electrocuted. Girls are constantly fidgeting with their skirts to tug them the extra fraction of an inch below their knee. But the most remarkable though happened on the Calvary bus. (Yes, I ride the bus. I have a car, and I ride the bus because I'm a nerd, and I'd just as soon save on gas). So, I'm on the bus and everyone starts singing which is all good and well until the music they were singing was not even near checkable. I didn't say a word. Didn't need to. It's this power thing. So I just turned around and looked back. That's all. Midnote, the entire bus went silent. It was as good a cut off as I've ever seen Dr. Budahl make. So I'm not sure if I like this power thing. I'm certainly not used to it.

I do like the randomness. You never know what question you'll get asked next. It's not the easy questions--"how do I fill out a pass." It's more like--"how do I fill out the pass when I don't know the name of the place we're going and we're only going to be there a little while because then we're going to go somewhere else and yes we'll be in a mixed group, but half of them are off campus and half of them are meeting us halfway there. Some are driving, some are walking, and a few are hitchhiking. But half the guys can't fill out passes because they don't know we're going and it's supposed to be a surprise. Oh, we need a chap? Well, does so-and-so count? He graduated three years ago. No, he doesn't know he's going either."

When it comes down to it, I love what I do. I love the talks that continue until 3:00a.m. I love the mattress surfing down the stairs. I love the girls that come to raid the leftovers on Tuesday nights. I love the laughter and the hallway commotion. I love the weekend parties. I love the singing. But mostly I love the testimonies. I love to hear what God is doing and and how he is breaking the hearts of my girls to do it. I love to hear them proclaim the goodness of God. I love to hear their passion and their humility as they stand in awe of His majesty, as they learn to trust. Thank you ladies, your testimonies were a blessing to me last night.