Prince Gilbert

Today my roommate, Dana, and I finally bought a beta fish! He is so pretty, and we decided to call him Gilbert. We also have three other fish that are kinda like translucent fish. Two orange ones and a smaller blue one, and I have a funny story about them: We originally bought four fish (two blue instead of one), and we decided to name them Adam and Eve (the orange ones), and Cain and Abel (the blue ones). We were joking that night about how Cain was going to kill Abel, because that's what happens in the Bible story. Well, we wake up the next morning, and guess who's dead...ABEL!!! Haha! We had a funeral for him in the bathroom. Here are a few pictures of our little family :)

Casting Crowns and a Day with Lauren

So on Friday night, Dana's mom bought me a ticket to go see Casting Crowns with Dana, Jonny (Dana's boyfriend), Lauren (Dana's sister), and her. She also bought me dinner at P.F. Cheng's, which was very tasty! That's where Dana and I are in the picture. I was a little skeptical because I don't like the concept of a Christian concert since it is glorfying toward the band, but they were so humble and I loved how much the leader encouraged the church rather than pointing out all the wrong things. It was really fun too! And, today I got to see Lauren! We met at the Woodburn outlet mall and got sweaters at the Quicksilver outlet. In the picture it's Kate (Lauren's roommate), Lauren then me. After that, we went to a Starbucks and did some homework. I have my first Anatomy lab practicum on Tuesday so I am stuffing my brain with information this weekend! Hopefully I will retain it all :) (Also, side note, tonight I played extreme spoons with some people from the dorm and actually met some of the guys from my "brother floor"! Haha, I haven't been very good about that, but it was really fun! We had to jump over couches to get to the spoons! There aren't any pictures from that though.)

(Above) In our new sweater's!

At P.F. Cheng's before the concert.

Goodbye Piccolo

I have already made a post about this, but here is a poem I wrote about Piccolo when he got the tumor on his leg. Tomorrow my dad is taking him in to be put down and buried at deep creek. It's actually pretty sad thinking that he won't be there when I go home for Christmas. Well, here's the poem/ode

A Tribute to Piccolo
By Monica Hartzell

A small black Shih Tzu with a mighty strong voice
Sits staring aimlessly into the dark cool night.
His owners have left him on his own,
With not much, only one eye for sight.

Seemingly indestructible, this dog has been.
One lost eye, a rare blood disease, and a little overweight.
And this just in, a malignant tumor on one back leg
Has caused him much hate.

He once was a playful, friendly fellow,
Who danced for a treat and chased his tail.
With a family like his, his life was desirable,
Except that his blatter sent him out with a wail.

Although he lives in jealousy
Of his fellow Shih Tzu’s who, in China are royal,
He enjoys his home
And his family who is loyal.

But if only he were one of them
With so much power and so much attention,
His plan to take over the world,
Would put the humans into recession.

From the viewpoint of an owner
He is a dog to behold.
So faithful all these years,
Fighting to survive in hot and cold.

We give tribute to our lazy little dog
Who loves to bark and loves to get treats.
He has lived a life of honor and courage
And has persevered through all the heat.

Piccolo will be greatly honored,
By all who have met him,
For they know that besides him,
No other humor could produce such a grin.

XC Meet #2

So, I finished in 23:37 (we ran a 5K) and I felt really good about how I did. It was a pretty tough course, so everyone's times were slower than normal, which means that my time will be faster when we do an easier course! I thought it was a fun course, even though some of the others didn't really like it. It was at Willamette University, which is in Salem, and the park was really beautiful!


As for school, it's been going pretty good. I have my first Anatomy exam on Monday, so I will be spending the whole weekend studying. I can't believe I've been in classes for three weeks already! Time has been going by so fast. I could be really overwhelmed right now, but it's really been amazing how much peace the Lord gives me when I make time for him every day. It's the most important part of my day! I am starting to feel like this is a home away from home, but I do have bursts of time where I really miss home. At least I know that Jesus is always with me!

First XC race

I'll start off by telling you about the dinner I had last night with my "adopted" parents, as they like to be called. Their names are Al and Miriam Washington, and they have a little dog named Brin. They are a really cool couple, and they design water fountains for yards...they have a beautiful back yard! The four other students (sophomores) that they adopted picked me up last night. Miriam made homemade sloppy jos and some wonderful pies. I usually don't like sloppy jos, but these were good! We basically just talked the whole time and went for a little walk in between dinner and desert. They also gave us each a little box with cupcakes, cookies, and a $20 gift certificate to a coffee shop close to campus! I was amazed by their generosity! I'm really excited to get to know them better. They already treat me like family. It was nice to be in a home rather than having dinner at the dining hall (the "Bon").

This morning I had my first college level cross country meet! Girls run a 6K (3.7 miles), and the guys run an 8K (about 5 miles). I didn't really have any expectations going into it for how fast I should run, so I just did my best. Another girl on my team, Kelsey, has never run cross country before, and we're about the same speed, so we ran together. It was nice to have someone to be encouraged by and to encourage the whole time. Our team got last place because one of the top five on our team ended up dropping out...therefore, I scored for our team (only the first five from the team score), giving us lots of points (points are BAD in cross country). I was in the back, but not last place, which was all I really cared about! My time was about 29:28. I want to beat 28:00 by the end of the season, which I think I'll be able to do. These pictures are of me and Kelsey. We were so excited to finish. Oh yeah, I also got to run against Lauren, so that was really cool to see her! I didn't realize we were doing the same race! And I'm really happy I don't have to wear spandex shorts or a belly shirt...we had the option for spandex, but I took shorts :-)

Serve Day 2009

Hey everyone! So, I haven't had a chance to blog about this yet, so it's a little late. This past Wednesday we had Serve Day here at George Fox, and it was an awesome experience! There are no classes all day, and the whole campus goes out into the community to serve. Our dorm floor served at an organization called Love Inc., helping to deep clean their house, garage, paint, do yardwork, and organize donations. They are basically a connection point for all the churches in the area to help those in need. Each church is a different "station" that families can go to if they need food, clothing, kitchen supplies, etc, and Love Inc organizes it all. They also have rooms to host homeless women. It was wonderful to get to serve them with our floor.
Now, it's my second weekend of college, and I have much more going on these next couple of days than I did last week. Tonight I'm going to dinner at a couple's house from the church I went to on Sunday, Newberg Foursquare. They are so nice and invited me over to get to know me better. Tomorrow, I have my first cross country meet, which I am both nervous and excited for. I'm not really sure how fast I will be compared to everyone else, but it doesn't really matter that much. Then, on Sunday, I'm going to a beach party with Lauren that Corban College is having! I love when I get to see Lauren! Here are some pictures from serve day.

Me and my RA, Anika. She's really nice!

Me and Megan, who lives down the hall. We have three classes together...she's very outgoing and friendly.

Washing windows!

Our whole floor...I won't go through all the names. Can you find me???

My roommate Dana. She's amazing!

First weekend of college!

This morning I woke up at about 7:45 and it was pouring rain outside...and we had cross country practice! I love running in the rain, so even though it was a hard workout, we got all muddy and it was great! After practice, I drove into Tigard, which is about 30 minutes away, to get a book at Barnes and Noble and to get some homework done. I was freaking out about the book and the essay, so I re-read the handout our teacher gave us on it. It said that the essay's not due until one week and one day before our presentation, and mine is December 4th...a HUGE relief! I had to e-mail him to make sure since it said a different day online. Also, tonight I got a little inspiration for my Psychology paper, so I'll start that tomorrow. God is so gracious!

I came back to my dorm and did a little more homework, then our whole dorm shared voodoo doughnuts in the lobby. It was interesting since I'm not a very outgoing person. I feel so awkward just sitting there. After that, I hung out with some girls from our floor and an RA from one of the other dorms was making his rounds. He stopped by and told us the whole story of how he and his girlfriend got together. It was kinda funny and random! It's been a productive day, which I was hoping for. Tomorrow I get to go to the Oregon State Fair with Lauren!

Homework :(

So I was feeling pretty good this week about how things were going so far in college. I wasn't too overwhelmed with what I had to do, until today. I have so much homework, and it's kinda stressful thinking about it. I have given it to the Lord, and He's been giving me peace, but it's still a lot. I have to write a reflection paper for Psychology, which I don't even really know how to do...find and summarize an article for a research project...read a book I don't have yet and write an essay on it by Friday...review anatomy notes...read for history...reading for communications... I know it will all work out eventually. I just need to trust in the Lord for inspiration and help in time management! Other than all the homework, I really love it here. I'm starting to become pretty good friends with my roommate, Dana. We made cinnamon rolls last night, and played the guitar the night before. Tonight there's a "movie on the lawn" for the whole campus. We're watching "The Little Rascals". I'm excited! Also, I get to hang out with Lauren this weekend which will be really nice. Overall, I'm really glad I decided to come here, and am looking forward to a great semester...challenging, but great!

First Day of School!

So yesterday wasn't quite my ideal first day of school. It wasn't bad or anything, it just didn't quite go the way I was expecting. Here's why...My class schedule online said that all of my classes were an hour later than they actually were, so I missed two of them. Luckily there was an anatomy class when I showed up, and I caught the problem before my last class. I missed history and Understanding Jazz, so I wouldn't say it was horrible to miss those. I'm just really puzzled as to why my schedule has all my classes an hour late. I did have to cut my run for cross country short because of this, which was disappointing. Other than that it was a great first day! Today I had communications, and I still have Anatomy lab and Psychology. It should be good. I'm just happy I caught that issue before it was too late...and hoping it's not too late for history! It's nice to have a schedule and to start a routine. Being in classes really makes me feel more like a college student, and takes my mind off of missing everyone so much.