Merry Christmas!

What better way to get back into blogging than to update on Christmas.

This past semester flew by and I am one semester closer to graduating. But that feels a long ways away yet. Finals went well, although I haven't seen the grade yet for the one class. 

I've really enjoyed this past fall...the friends I'm making are amazing, and I've enjoyed the classes too. 

I'm so grateful to be home for Christmas and the holidays this year. I don't regret last year at all, in fact quite the opposite, but it was definitely a sacrifice to be there at times, especially during this time of the year. It just makes me even more grateful for the time I am allowed to have with my family now. 

The only slight imperfection...no snow. :( But I'm sure I'll get enough of that in the months to come.

My classes for next semester include: New Testament Survey, Studying and Teaching the Bible, Christian Missions, Research Writing and Intro to Disciplemaking. I ended up with 8 am classes Monday through Thursday, but thankfully the only Friday class I have is a one hour one at 11 am, so I almost have a 3 day weekend, which more than makes up for the earlier mornings.

I still don't have a lot of pictures to put on here...my camera never makes it out of my drawer. But I am making a goal to be more consistent, so we'll see about that. I definitely will update this more, at the very least.

And now it's time to go back down and re-join the family.

We're missing only 4 members from the Hostetler extended family at the moment, and they'll be joining us before too long, so that we can eat together and exchange some gifts. The real blessing is the chance to be together however, at least for me.

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Poor, neglected blog

I'm sorry I've been so lax about writing on here. There's not enough hours in the day, or at least hours that I have energy to spare.

Anyway, I have thought about updating...there is a lot going on, and I've even got some deep things to share too. :)

But alas, it will have to wait until the weekend...or beyond.

I had been hoping to be a bit more consistent with pictures on here, but alas, my camera often is forgotten when something exciting is happening. :) Krystle has some good pictures from football the other day so maybe I'll put some of those on here.

In fun news,
our ultimate frisbee team is two wins away from being the champions! We didn't have a very good season record, although I think it didn't accurately reflect the true talent of our team. So, anyway, we were seeded 16 out of 16 teams, meaning we played the #1 seed. So, Tuesday was the first round and...it was awesome! We won 10-4. And then last night we played again, and again we won. And now we're down to the last night, and if we win at 7 tonight we play in the championship at 9. I'm super excited to see if we can make it to the championship, just because I think it would prove that our record didn't reflect our true worth as a team.
Also, I had a blast last weekend, hanging out with the ladies from my floor and the guys from the brother floor. We played hide and seek in one of the classroom buildings, several other games, and sardines in the tunnels below the buildings around the plaza. Soooo much fun!

In schoolwork-related news,
Krystle and I have only two classes (same time, same prof) in common and because of the different classes it has played out that I have written a total of two papers so far this semester, while she has something to write almost all the time. :) I have stuff to keep me busy, but it's mostly reading. The disparity of our workloads has been somewhat humorous, but I'm still waiting, because I know it'll hit eventually...

In more reflective news,
I've definitely been challenged a lot the past couple of weeks. Mostly spiritually and mostly regarding my thought processes. It's been good/sobering/challenging/motivating.
Spiritual disciplines has been coming up a lot; in the small group I'm a part of (we're doing a book about spiritual disciplines) and also in the podcast I've been listening to.
Also, I've realized that I thought it was possible to move beyond the basics of justification by grace, not works, and other simple yet eternally profound subjects. God has pretty clearly been saying, "Nope, you can't move beyond any of these. You will spend the rest of your life wrestling with the implications of these concepts." Not exactly what I want to hear when I desire to mature in my faith. :)

So, tonight is the last night of ultimate, Saturday is the last day of the season for football and next week is Missions Conference. Then Krystle and I are going home for a few days (since we don't have classes the 17th and 18th) and while we're there we get to go to an Iowa football game! It's also Mom's birthday coming up, so some things are in the works for that too.
Otherwise my schedule pretty much is routine as always...it's nice to start finding a rhythm to life here.

Weekend Fun

I totally meant to take my camera along to the retreat over the weekend. However, it wasn't until we were halfway there that I remembered it. So, no pictures of the retreat...

However, I will tell you about it. :)

Friday night to Sunday noon we had a bro/sis retreat at the home of the guys RA, near Gary, Indiana.

It was such a great weekend!

We spent lots of time hanging out, laughing, playing games of all kinds (from Capture the Flag to Corn Hole to Mafia to Catch Phrase), watching the entire Bourne trilogy and generally just getting to know each other better, and on a different level. 

And, we had a beautiful Saturday in between days and days of rainy weather.

We have our last ultimate game tonight, and we're at 2-4 for the season. We almost won last Thursday and in fact went into double overtime trying to get the win. It was so much fun, because we were all really sharp, and played well together, finally! Maybe tonight we'll win and insha'allah make the tournament. 

Otherwise, I'm still looking for a job and working on schoolwork and hanging out with friends, and making new connections. 

Conversation on the "El"

Mondays are my PCM days. 

PCM stands for Practical Christian Ministry, by the way.

Back to the story...so this past Monday I was on the "el" riding home from PCM, reading and the guy sitting next to me leans over and asks if I'm a religious Jew. 

Now, granted, I was wearing a floor length skirt that I bought in the Middle East, but...that was because I wanted to culturally sensitive to that culture. It never had occurred to me that it could also be culturally appropriate for Orthodox Jews.

Anyway, the guy goes on to explain that his parents are religious Jews, but that he just loves everyone, and doesn't hold to any religion. He asked if I was religious and I said I was a Christian, and he asked what that meant and I told him that I just really love Jesus and want to follow Him. He told me that he really respects Jesus as a person, but doesn't believe He was God. So we talked some more, and he said he has a lot of respect for me for living out my beliefs. 

It definitely was an interesting conversation, and one I wasn't particularly prepared for. I don't think I'll ever be a person who comes on very strong about challenging someone's beliefs and arguing about apologetics, but I do want to be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks about my beliefs. I don't think I did a horrible job explaining my faith to this guy, but I didn't have any really impressive answers either. I think for me, to think through some of those things and to know how to respond to people from various background would be good, and I know now, needed. I know how to respond to a Muslim's inquiry, but not really to people from other backgrounds.

So, God is good, and is teaching me things and giving me opportunities to talk about the faith that I possess and my love for Jesus.

All because I wore a skirt.

Rhythms of Life

Life has started to find a rhythm here at Moody, which I'm grateful for. This week seems to be going a bit better, but maybe that's because I'm not sick anymore. :)

On Saturday intramural football started, and while it's just flag football, you wouldn't be able to tell that from the intensity some of the bro floor guys have for it. 

They are so into it that the floor has an A team and a B team. The B team basically is just there to have fun, but the A team is out to win it all. So far (all of one week) they've won, but they have two game this Saturday so we'll see how it goes. 

A bunch of us girls went to cheer them on, so here are some pictures from the day...

Sarah and Carley (my RA)

Lining up on D "to kill, kill, kill!" (their words, not mine)

The girls who went with the signs we made. 

Everyone's tagged on Facebook, so if you really want to know who they are, check there first. :)

Sunday we hosted the guys for an Open House type thing, when the dorms are opened to the opposite gender for a few hours one night. We played mafia and had lots of really good food.

And this weekend I have a rather intense (supposedly) paper to write for OT Survey. 

Speaking of which....I should go and get started reading. :)

Week 3

Wow. Week 3. Who knew it would creep up so fast?

I don't have a lot of profound things to write about weeks 2 and 3. They went by, sometimes at lightning speed and sometimes at a turtle crawl.

I went home for Labor Day weekend. My first of what I'm sure will be many, many trips on the Megabus. It was good to be home. I'm still adjusting my mind to the fact that I am close enough for easy weekend trips. Always before when I lived away from home, visiting was a luxury. :)

I spent a lot of time with my dad's side of the family. My aunt was in town and there was a funeral and a reunion of sorts for my Grandma's family, so that kept us busy. But it was so interesting to hear my great-aunts and uncles talk about my great-grandparents and life as it was a hundred years ago. And these same great-aunts and uncles blow me away with their interest in my life. They pray for me! I maybe see them once every few years and yet they pray for me. It humbles and blesses me.

I also got to watch a lot of college football. :) One of the reasons I love fall. I know it might sound strange for a girl to be so into football, but really, it's great fun to cheer on my favorite team. (go Hawkeyes!!!!)

This week hasn't been as easy as the previous two, mainly because a head cold has hit. I'm doing my best to fend it off, but this morning it felt like it was winning. Hopefully with a bit more Dayquil and a lot more rest my body can recover...insha'allah. 

Beyond that I'm really enjoying life here. I have amazing girls on my floor, and some amazing guys on our brother floor. This is the season for intramural ultimate frisbee and it's been fun to get to know some of the guys a bit better through that, since our team consists of us and the bro floor. We finally notched a win tonight (we are now 1-3), although I did not contribute because of my cold.

Anyway, that's a bit about my life at the moment...the Lord has been good to me, and I am filled with joy. :)

Pictures And An Ah-hah Moment

First, some pictures! 

I haven't taken many of my own pictures yet, but some friends have, so I'll get those on here soon.

The Chicago skyline from the roof of my dorm building. The tall one is the Hancock Building.

My roommate (in blue) and some other freshman girls from my floor. :) I think we're going to have fun together the next four years!

Second, the ah-hah moment.

I'm taking a class this semester called Church and It's Doctrines. Basically, it's Theology 101. Anyway, I was doing the required reading and I read something that was pretty interesting, at least to me. 

So...

In Ephesians 2:12 it says, "remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world." That phrase "without God"? In the Greek it's atheist. 

That's all.

I just thought it was cool to see the way the word was used in the original Greek, which gives it a different meaning/connotation than what we would think of today.

Eyes For "Small (And Yet Really Not Small)" Moments

The theme for our floor this year is this post's title. It's taken from a larger quote by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I think it could really be a great motivation for me to look for the small things God is doing around me this year. :)

Today as I was reading in 1 Chronicles before chapel I was reading right along until I stumbled on chapter 29 verse 34b, where it says, "the Levites had been more conscientious in consecrating themselves than the priests had been." Now this is the part where Hezekiah is cleansing the temple after his father Ahaz's wicked reign. Normally the priests would be the ones carrying out the sacrifices to cleanse the temple but because there were too many sacrifices the priests needed help and there weren't enough priests to help out so they called on the Levites to help carry out the tasks for that day. 

I think the reason this struck me was because in my mind it seems like out of all the people in Israel, the priests would have been the ones most likely to keep themselves undefiled. They were the only ones allowed into the temple itself, and the Levites, although they were from the same tribe, were only allowed to help with the worship and daily running of the temple, not the "important" stuff like sacrifices. And yet the Levites kept themselves clean during the unholy reign of Ahaz. I imagine it must have seemed pointless at times...why should they continue to cleanse and consecrate themselves if the priests weren't even going that far? But they did and when Ahaz died and his son became king, they were ready to be called upon for the very important role of helping with the consecration sacrifices.

And then it occurred to me that this is exactly the kind of moment our floor theme is talking about. Being faithful in the small, hidden moments allows me to be ready to step into the big moments when God calls me. 

Making those seemingly small moments really not so small any more. :)

Sum-up of Orientation...

Basically, I will really need motivation to keep ahead of my homework/reading and to not procrastinate. That's what I got from orientation. :) There was a lot of really good things, but mostly I realized that I might get super stressed if I don't keep up the motivation to study consistently and with purpose.

As for the rest, I'm super excited about this year. :)

Last night my floor went out with our brother floor to a park where we played capture the flag and ate ice cream. Lots of fun...there's some great girls on my floor and there's some great guys on the brother floor. It was a bit strange to realize Krystle and I were the oldest ones there...but it didn't really seem like it when I was talking with everyone.

In other news, I got my post office box number, along with the address that you can use to send me letters and packages and anything else. :) Hint, hint...just kidding...but seriously....I'd welcome any type of mail. :) I'll put the address on the side panel.

Tomorrow all of the returning students start to move back on campus, so what already seems like a lot of new people to me will get even more.

Anyway, I don't have any more profound things to say...I'll have to think of something for next post. :)

I Made It!

I am all moved in!

I'm not sure that I'm completely organized/settled yet, but I have everything un-packed and my bed is very ready to be slept in tonight.

We still have to get our A/C to work, but hopefully soon it will be up and running.

Tomorrow starts a full few days of orientation, and then the rest of the students arrive on Saturday and Sunday and school will be off and going.

Anyway, more to come at a later date...my brain is a bit too out of it to think of anything profound to share with you all.

Pictures

I actually have pictures to share! :)

I took these a couple of weeks ago when my mom's family was here for lunch. The two little girlies were treated to a make-over by Kerri and they were literally jumping up and down with excitement over each addition of finery...it started with Kerri's heels and hair and make-up, then on to nails, then dresses and finally Tori added Kerri's fake glasses. It was hilarious to watch them!

Tori with Kerri's heels on

Katie in the same heels

Doing Tori's hair

Showing off their hair-dos

Make-up time

The finished product with Tori

Leaving In Two Days!

Hi Everyone!

I'm hoping that this blog will be fun for you all to read...and hopefully I'll update it fairly often as well. :) I have a little over a day at home before I start yet another chapter of my life, this time in Chicago.

I don't know what to expect, and that means a bit of nerves, although I am super excited...I just want the waiting to be over with!

Anyway, more to come soon!