It has been a while

Hi folks. Sorry for not keeping up. I don't think I'll ever be good at this blogging thing. I usually live in my own bubble, interacting with the people near me. I only occasionally talk on the phone and email with friends far away. Forgive me if I haven't kept up with relationships as I should have.

Now for an update: I have officially moved back to Bowling Green and have my Academy job back! I have a whole exciting new year of wing activities, adolescent shenanigans, surprising mishaps, weekend programs, prom, and van chauffeuring ahead of me. I am actually looking forward to this year. For a time, I was unsure if I wanted to be here another year or if I should go abroad or do something more international. But I feel good about being here. For some odd reason, Bowling Green seems to be the place where God would have me be at this point in my life. I look forward to growing closer to my Bowling Green friends throughout the year and continuing to grow in many ways on my job.

I have just completed one week of training with my fellow Residential Counselors and supervisors. We are closer than ever as a team and all have one year of experience behind us. Also, a lot of the problems and mistakes of last year have been and will be ironed out. Things should be a lot more organized and expectations should be clearer for this coming year.

Mexico this summer was terrific. I always enjoy hanging out with my Morelian friends. I got to know a friend in Guadalajara much better also, and I gained a better understanding of how study abroad programs operate through the internship that I did with KIIS. I'm still not sure what I want to do career-wise in the future, but even if I don't become the director of international programs, I can say that I've explored that option. I'm not convinced that it is the perfect fit, but I am willing to go wherever God leads me. I have a lot of thinking to do this next year.

As I am a person who loves to set goals for myself (although I don't always carry them out), here are a few that I have for this year at the Academy:

1) Get on a more regular sleeping schedule- go to bed around midnight, wake up at 9-ish (high goal, I know... :) this job is not very conducive to an early bedtime)
2) Read more and spend less time online
3) Bike everywhere I need to go that is in biking distance
4) Make good use of my free time (definition of good use would be reading, praying, spending time with friends, researching grad schools or jobs, exercising, studying French, scrapbooking, and learning in general)
5) Truly take off my days off. I will always have Tuesdays and Wednesdays off, and I hope to get away from the Academy for most of the time those days to rejuvenate
6) Build relationships with a lot of Academy students and also with the staff