Time to Say Goodbye

May 5, 2009

Well, it has been a good, long year.  I’ve learned a lot.  I’ve learned a lot about Cornerstone, God, myself, my relationships, and different academic subjects.  There have been some trying experiences, but I realize that each one of them has helped me grow as a person and as a child of God.
 

I hope that you, my readers, have found my blog posts useful in your college search.  Go into the summer with confidence that God knows and wants what is best for your lives.  Too often we can get caught up in the circumstances and forget that we do serve an all-knowing, holy, and loving God.  Keep that in mind as you enter the next phase of your life.
 

Thanks for reading my blog!  God bless you!

Rock Speech

May 5, 2009

Last Friday I gave my “rock speech,” which was a requirement for my history class.  I had to stand up on the rock by the Corum Student Union (right outside the lunchroom) and give a persuasive speech about something I don’t believe in, namely, the Veneration of Mary.  It was noon on a Family Orientation Day, of all things.  How embarrassing!
 

My speech went pretty well, and I didn’t get nervous until a bunch of students came out from lunch and started watching.
 

And then Doc ruined all my wonderful preparation and threw me off by asking incredibly hard questions.
 

This is me, giving my wonderful oration:

Another Page in the Story

Apr 20, 2009

My history class has reached the culmination of our Esther Scroll project.  We have illustrated the pages and sewn them together.  Laura, Alexis, Emily (Laura’s roommate), and I spent Wednesday afternoon having a little sewing party.  Toni Nasca, a Cornerstone student, came by and took some pictures of us for her photography class.  She was gracious enough to send them to me because I had forgotten my camera:

 Alexis and me

 Laura

 Working together

Last night they were on display in the lecture hall in Bolthouse Hall on campus.  I took some pictures of the finished product.

Here’s mine and Laura’s:

 Our scroll is in the foreground; the real, authentic one is right behind it.

 The tea party where Esther told Xerxes that Haman was the bad guy.

 No, it's not upside down; Haman is hanging upside down.

Here’s Amber and Nicole’s (they illustrated the Coptic one):

Doc invited Dr. John Hellstern, a collector of Esther scrolls, to come and speak about his collection of real, authentic scrolls.  Unfortunately I wasn’t able to stay for the lecture.  But I talked to Alexis, the girl who copied the text for our scroll, and she told me what he said.  He talked about the story of Esther and the history behind his particular scrolls.  Alexis said there were some pretty interesting illustrations on his scrolls.  I wish I had taken a better look at them, but I was in such a hurry.

One assignment down, fifty to go…  Next I’ll write about my rock speech!

Family Orientation Day!

Apr 7, 2009

On Friday I took a big step towards my Cornerstone career: I attended a Family Orientation Day!  It was an incredibly fun experience that got me all the more pumped up about Cornerstone!  Some highlights from the day were:
 

1) The food.  This is interesting because I’ve heard current CU students complain about the food, but every time I’ve eaten it, I’ve thought it tasted great!
 

2) The conversations.  It was fun to meet other high school seniors who will be coming to Cornerstone.  They all have diverse interests, are from different cities, and represent a variety of majors, but we are united by our common love of Cornerstone.
 

3) The Opportunity Fair in the Corum Student Union.  Here I got to look at things and talk to people from different student organizations on campus.  Some of the groups I looked into were the CU English Society (because I love to write), the Herald (this is the student newspaper -; I’ll be majoring in Journalism), commuter life (I’ll be commuting), etc….
 

4) The session about student loans.  No, really, I know it sounds terribly boring, but the lady from the financial aid office did a fantastic job!  She answered our questions really well.
 

5) The session about Terra Firma (which means Solid Ground, in Latin, I believe).  I can’t tell you much about it, but it was really exciting and has me looking forward to the fall semester all the more!
 

Please, if you are considering attending Cornerstone in the fall, come to a Family Orientation Day.  It was extremely helpful to my family, and I hope it will be for yours.  I hope I’ll see you at CU in September!
 

My Handwriting Will Be in the Smithsonian!

Mar 31, 2009

Can you believe it?  Bible Across America is an RV tour (across America, of all things) that makes stops at different locations where people can handwrite a verse on a sheet of paper.  After all the verses in the Bible are written on these pages, they will be photocopied and printed into two Bibles.  One copy will go to the Smithsonian, and one copy will be auctioned off to raise money for Bible translation.
 

On Friday I went to Cornerstone and copied Job 40:9 onto one of these special sheets of paper!  Job 40:9 (in the NIV, whose 30th anniversary is being celebrated by this event) says, “Do you have an arm like God’s, and can your voice thunder like His?”  My handwriting will be in the Smithsonian!  Now, I’m not sure whether that’s a good thing -; I’ve never been known for my great handwriting, but it was a really exciting experience!
 

Of all the times to forget my camera, it was yesterday!  So, I have no pictures of my Bible-signing adventure, but I will show you the certificate I got:
It's not very easy to read, but it says, "Faith made history as part of the team of 31,173 contributors writing America's NIV."

So make sure, when you next visit the Smithsonian, to look for Job 40:9 in the NIV 30th anniversary edition Bible!