Friends and other blessings...

(Trying Columbian soda for the first time!!!!)

(Me, Mook and the king...!)

(Some really awesome gal pals...we were on our way to dinner!)

Hello dear readers! Welcome again to my journal:) I promised to add smaller entries more often, so here goes... I must say that one aspect of coming to school that I never pondered much over was that of making friends.In my mind, I saw myself studying music and practicing into the wee hours of the morning, and being solely focused on my work without regard to creating friendships and learning to rely on those closest around you. I have been so incredibly blessed in not only having the most wonderful roommate (her nickname is Mook!) , but also having the chance to be with so many other Christian young ladies on campus.

(Watching the stars and playing games at night on the beach!)

This past weekend, the Christian group here on campus-CRU- took a weekend retreat over in North Miami beach. The goal of this time was to allow all of the young believers on campus to have a chance to draw closer to God, to each other, and to the realization that we need the support that comes from being a part of God's family and fellowshipping with our brothers and sisters...

These are just a few pictures that I took from this special weekend. Each photograph holds a beautiful memory for me and symbolizes the importance of having true friends. These young people are close to my heart, and are part of my family away from home...

Bleaching, Pressing, Packing

Tonight I have begun packing for my upcoming trip. Tonight? you wonder. Well, rightly so. You see, I have a tendency to wait until the last minute to do important stuff, like make sure I pack my toothbrush and plenty of socks, so I decided to remedy that situation by starting early.( Four days ought to do it :) Hopefully I won't forget anything...
Recently I finished a book by Alexander Solzhenitsyn entitled One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich , a rather horrific account of life in a Soviet labor camp. It was cleverly written and kept me interested throughout, though the heart-wrenching part was that it really happened to real people. I have now begun Ana Karenina by Tolstoy and will write my thoughts on it when I finish it.
Our garden is blooming profusely now- no more scraggly plants and weedy-looking areas. Most of our produce this season has been green, from cabbage and collard greens, to green beans and asparagus. Even the tomatoes are green! (They're just beginning to ripen now :) Our biggest dilemma has been the cabbage, though. I suppose when we planted the vegetables we didn't pay much attention to the labels- instead of broccoli and lettuce, it has ALL turned out to be cabbage! What to do, what to do!
Anyhow, the folks down our road and the families at church have been thrilled. Plenty of cabbage for the rest of their summers.>grin<
Well, I think I'll stop for this evening-more later.

To Illinois and Beyond...

I just got the official schedule for my upcoming week at the Illinois-Wesleyan Summer Composition Institute. Yes, I'm nervous, but excited,too! Everything from 20th century orchestral music to modern-day film composing is planned to be covered, as well as techniques and ways to develop compositional ideas. All paricipants will be writing a small piece for piano, cello, and flute while there, and at the end of the week it will be performed and recorded by faculty. Right now, I'm trying to get last minute preparations ready, as well as trying not to panic about switching planes during traveling. (I've heard way too many stories about missing flights) But I'm sure everything will be fine.
On Monday morning my dad and I took our trailer up to the Livestock Auction in hopes of finding the right cattle to add to our stock. We didn't see anything there that really persuaded us, so we just went about doing a handful of errands and getting ready for the soccer games that night. He and I coach my brother and sister's team, the Crew, and this will be our last week for the season. Several games had been rained out , so we're playing four to finish the season this week. Monday night, we won 9-0, and yesterday we won again, 7-1. Thursday and Friday will determine if we get to be undefeated this year, so we'll see what happens...
Mom and dad went up to Charlotte today to buy some clay so that my mom can turn more of her pottery (wow-is she an artist!) and tonight my siblings have piano lessons. I usually go too; however, tonight is my turn to milk our dairy cow Hershey, but I'll talk more of that later.