Don't drop your arms .............................. I'll guard your heart ... With quiet words I'll lead you in. ♥

…blink, and it’s GONE.

[I’ll give you something special if you read all this.]

It has been

an

AMAZING

year.

Bookended by OA. A week backpacking before school started, a week backpacking after school ended. Although my leader training trip was so much more awesome than my frosh trip. An LTT was a fantastic way to end freshman year.

And then I got to enjoy the view from Little Tower, which was awesome. Princeton just keeps amazing me. A year ago, I was ecstatic. Thrilled. Couldn’t believe I got in, couldn’t believe I was going to Princeton.

Sometimes I still feel that way. The thrill, the excitement, the disbelief. Because life is just whizzing past me, a hundred miles an hour, and I can’t keep up. Where did this year go? I have only three years left! I know tomorrow I’ll be a senior looking back, wondering where these four years went.

What sticks out from this year:

PEF and Manna come to mind instantly.
They have absolutely defined my college experience so far. I had always been searching for something like these fellowships, always knew that whichever college I went to would have Campus Crusades, or Intervarsity, or something, and then I got to Princeton and - wow, so many. Not exactly sure how I settled on PEF and Manna. I think I was down to PEF, Manna, and PFA, but too bad PEF and PFA both had Friday night large groups. (If not, I might have been crazy enough to try to do all three.) So Manna, on Saturdays, was definitely doable. Then between PEF and PFA I think SP and I just decided on PEF, maybe because DK had grabbed him through fb already, over the summer. I had intended to try PEF and Manna for a few weeks to see which one I’d choose, but instantly relationships in both formed, and I felt like I couldn’t drop either. I’m not sure how I’ve been managing to commit to both large groups and both small groups this year, but I’ll see how I manage in the next few years. [And then I’m asked why I’m in two - well of course my answer is “Why not?”…]

They’ve played a huge part in my spiritual growth, for sure. So I’ve been a believer for many years, but this year has been a turning point in my walk. And I can’t think of one instant or moment, but it’s been the whole year. PEF and Manna helped me become just more aware of how/where I am spiritually. Helped me see how amazing grace is. Like what SL said in her testimony at the Easter baptism - the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve….what in me is worth saving? That Christ could love me so much? That he’d die for me?

+Relationships - have formed and strengthened and deepened. Both horizontal and vertical.
+Prayer - now I’m more comfortable praying out loud/in front of others. And I found that I can get really emotional when someone else is praying for me right in front of me.
+Scripture - really closely reading and thoroughly digesting, not just reading to get to the next chapter or book.
+Awareness - of others, of things, of myself. Of my sins. Of what I need to change. Of where I am.
»PEF/Manna Winter Retreat. Best part of the year. Amazing, life-changing, unforgettable. Especially testimony night - my favorite part? Couldn’t stop crying, that’s for sure. Already looking forward to next year. Now I remember that my LTT was supposed to be over intercession so I could go home right after spring semester finals - but then I would have missed the retreat. Thank God my LTT was cancelled and changed to dead week.

Broadway - Lion King and Wicked. Especially Wicked, which was SO FANTASTICALLY GOOD. Not to mention cheap tickets, thanks to Whitman. Heh.

Hanging out - spending three hours in the dining hall just talking, staying up all night with friends instead of working, camera adventures throughout campus, sledding down the hill outside Whitman, pillow fights, free transit week + NYC, discovering the wonder that is the Cotsen Children’s Library [yes I will ALWAYS be a kid at heart].

Heart-to-hearts. Those deeper conversations.

Finding out that the lampposts in Whitman’s courtyards have power outlets in them.

So nothing academic? I want to say that I was blown away by classes and lectures, but….I really wasn’t. Ok, MOL 214 lectures were pretty cool. And the very first MAT 214 lecture, which was my very first class at Princeton, I thought was pretty cool. [It all went DOWNHILL from there…MAT 214 was a disaster.] But otherwise classes were just ok. I mean, most of them were requirements (language, writing, pre-med, etc.) But… I am SO excited and looking forward to next semester’s classes….can’t wait!

Well, yes I can. But I’m really excited.

And I’ve found that I get very easily excited/passionate about things. Like, “I LOVE that band” [there are many many bands I get excited about], “I LOVE that song” [also many many songs] , “I LOVE that person” [also many people I get excited about], “I LOVE PEF/Manna”. And then there are things I get really excited about, like pens (Pentel’s RSVP black fine point; Staedtler triplus fineliners), singing, Febreze, awkward moments.

Anyway, what’s not good about this year was the loss of relationships. In the beginning of the year there was an opinion piece in the Prince that talked about how inevitable it was for our high school friendships to fade. True fact. But it just makes me so sad, thinking about how we used to be so close and about how things used to be. I guess that’s what college does. Still, I’m so thankful for the relationships that have lasted thus far, especially SM.

I miss skating. Really skating. Working, training. Not skating for fun, like I do now. It’s not the same anymore. There was no going back after I decided to stop last year. But college was the infinitely better choice, and I won’t regret it.

Now looking forward/really excited for next semester, but I can wait. Only three precious months of summer, and I know they’re going to fly by too.

Friends, keep in touch. Especially graduating seniors.