This Semester Has Been About...

Taking opportunities, being with friends,

writing prayer, writing deep insights, writing bucket lists,

 laughing at 2 am, mysterious tally marks,

FOCUS, applying for jobs, singing,

Johnny Depp (seriously, that's him),

and celebrating the Chinese New Year.

I'm loving this week

This week has been awesome so far. Here's why:

1. I got some really great news on Monday.
2. I had lunch with my friend Lauren and we had a great talk about the legacy we are leaving as seniors and what we can still do with the time we have left.
3. Prayer has been so fruitful. I love when I don't want to leave the adoration chapel because talking to God is just so easy.
4. We are almost ready to start running subjects. It's going to be so legit.
5. I've loved reading about personality. #psychmajorproblems
6. I got to play with chalk yesterday
7. Today my friend Murphy tweeted: "This week my themes are that joy is a choice daily and that authenticity in how I talk and live are crucial." True that, Murph. These two things have been a theme in my week so far as well.
8. Though I still have no idea what I'm doing, I've been really peaceful about what the future holds
9. My bible study girls had insightful conversation on Tuesday. They're the best.
10. An old camper told me all about how close she is with God right now. I love when my kids are intentional about pursing their relationship with Christ. That's what camp is all about and it's good to hear about their joy in prayer
11. Sarah, Emily, & I sat down to plan DG bible study today. I'm really excited about our plans and pray that it's going to be fruitful. I'm really, really excited about it.

The rest of this week is looking pretty good: Salvadorian food with Emily, senior bible study night, and a Chinese New Year Party!

10 Things I Want to Learn This Semester

1. What it means to no longer have a formal leadership position on campus
2. How to challenge the girls in my bible study to continually grow closer to Christ
3. Significant things about the History of Psychology
4. Whether or not our research hypothesis will be supported
5. How to really trust in God's plan
6. What personality theory I relate the most to
7. What I will be doing next year
8. How to properly use my ridiculous amount of free time
9. Who I want to be when I graduate/"grow up"
10. What DG can mean to me after I graduate

Today (and yesterday), I Learned...

1. That the discovery of the concept of self is how we first began to distinguish humans
2. I might be a published researcher at the end of this year
3. Technology and text messaging makes communication harder
4. Talking to someone about things you love can drastically alter your mood and levels of calmness
5. Taking a deep breath and a step back and help you re-evaulate a situation
6. Text message games are silly
7. Open communication can solve so many issues, so even if it's scary and hard, you should probably sit down and talk face to face about it
8. Approaching a situation in a calm, collective manner might make the issue seem like it's not a big deal, but it makes communication easier and less aggressive
9. You can pay $300 to do a personality evaluation based on handwriting, but there is no scientific support behind it
10. A lot of things about the names of the people in my personality class
11. About Rorschach tests in my Astronomy class (I still have no idea why we were doing personality tests in that class)
12. Having free Wednesday nights means I can go to InterVarsity
13. You should never go to McDonald's when they are restarting the system
14. I want to get rid of my facebook
15. I didn't miss going to Panhel too much
16. I will always be aggressive primed #BOOM

Make It a Day ON.

After endless tweets and facebook statuses quoting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, over 100 people gathered in the Drake University student center to give back. Today we practiced being the engaged citizens that Drake challenges us to be each day. We created personal hygiene kits to send all over the world, made cards for a boy named Max with Leukemia who wished to receive 1 millions cards, and made tie blankets to be donated to local hospitals and shelters. Other people made newspaper flooring for an animal shelter and made cards for veterans.

Bonding with Carley, Justine, and other friends was fun, but what was more important was the reason we decided to partake in the day of service. My friend Maddie's quote by MLK was my favorite, "our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter." I think it's really important that continually give back and stand up for what we believe in. Today I volunteered because it is far too often that I forget how fortunate and blessed I am. There are so many others in this world who struggle to survive every day. What matters is loving those people and giving what we can to them.

Today was a great way to end winter break.

Oh, and I was interviewed and on TV. I'm basically famous now.

Back to Des Moines

We're back in Des Moines!

Spring 2012 has started off great. Emily & I took a picture by the Drake sign - we were practicing for graduation. It was too cold to take more than one but we're pretty sure we'll have some great ones in May. Today has been filled with grocery shopping and cleaning and getting ready for school to start on Tuesday. We can't wait for Carley to come back.

Yesterday Dana came to visit. I have these (awesome) paper streamers on the wall and every time Dana comes over she tells me she thinks it looks like a bird. We sat down to talk about how I'm feeling about my job search and other serious life things. As I began to answer her, Dana picked up the tape that was sitting on my counter and after she took one step I asked, "are you going to make a bird on my wall?" She was.

Meet Penelope.

She's a fortune telling bird who lives on my wall. She has her own fan page and can't wait to tell your fortune.

She's also really funny and loves her best friend named Hank. 

We think it should be everyone's goal to get a picture with Penelope. 

We celebrated being back in Des Moines with a trip to El Aguila and ate a lot of chips, salsa, and queso. 

We also made up a story for this couple. The man is mad because his sister is a horrible gardner and she just picked the last living flowers. Since they have no more flowers at their house he is heading away to  find some more seeds, and probably someone who can take care of them.

I love being back here and seeing people. Everyone is so excited to make this the best semester ever and take advantage of every opportunity presented to them. Yes, classes will be tough but it's going to be so fun. I can't wait to finish out senior year strong.

When I Grow Up...

These past few days have been filled with interviews, endless searching through job boards, and completing program applications. It's got me thinking a lot about what we want to be when we grow up. It's a standard question we ask a child (I remember when my little brother wanted to be a cave...) and it always can be a good topic of conversation.

What I Wanted to Be as a Child:

1. Teacher

2. Astronaut

3. Camp Tecumseh Counselor

4. Choir Teacher

And then I entered college, and that became the most stressful question I could be asked. I cycled through majors...

My Majors:

1. Music Education

2. Open Business

3. Psychology & Business

4. Psychology, Marketing, & Management

5. Psychology & Public Relations

6. (This one's the winner!) Psychology with a minor in business & concentration in human resources

and with each change came a new set of career aspirations. I wanted to teach or to work for the New York Philharmonic, or maybe be a counselor or get my PhD. The possibilities were endless and with each new possibility came so much more stress. I realized I didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up and if that was the case, how on earth was I supposed to pick a major!? Nevertheless, I got to my one major (and I still feel pretty good about it) and am now a semester away from graduating. Though I cannot give you an answer when I'm asked what I want to do next year, I can tell you who I want to be when I grow up.

When I Grow Up, I Want to Be...

1. Creative

2. Free spirited

3. Loving

4. Generous of my time, talents, and money

5. Wise

6. Peaceful

7. Known as a good listener

8. A woman of God

9. Strong

10. Joyful

With all of this focus on finding a job and figuring out what I want to "do," I think it is important to remember that the job you have does not define who you are. Yes, I want to love my job, but my job will not limit what I am able to do and it will not define who I am going to be. Someone very wise once told me that you should "never ask what you want to do before you know who you want to be." So as I'm figuring out what my life is going to look like in five months I am going to continue to focus on who I want to be. I know that if I focus my energy towards that, what I do will naturally fall into place.

The first days of 2012

Over the last nine days I have spent over thirty hours in the car traveling to see friends and family. We started the trip on a sad note. My family and I headed to Cincinnati for my Grandfathers funeral. It was a sad occasion, but it was good to be able to celebrate his life with those who loved him. The theme of the two days and the overall message of the homily was how he had lived a good life and was a good man. I want to leave that type of legacy behind me - family and friends who love me and nothing but kind words to be said.

Despite the sad circumstances, it was good to see family. I haven't seen most of my family in four years. It was so good to reconnect with aunts, uncles, and cousins. Aren't the Dehne girls just precious?

After a few days in Cincinnati, I headed to Bloomington for New Years Eve. Jessica, Murphy, and I came from North Carolina, Ohio, & Kansas to be with each other for the occasion. We didn't really have any set plans so we just went with it. It ended up being a night filled with the joy of seeing old friends and so much love.

I was good friends with Katie and Ali my sophomore year of high school. We lost touch when I moved over six years ago, but it was so fun to run into them at IU!

We all loved ringing in 2012 together. Someone told us that the state of being you were in at midnight was an indicator of what your year is going to look like. If that is true, 2012 is going to be full of excitement, incredible friends, and love. I can't wait.

The next day we headed to Indy for a CT lunch. We sat in Paradise Bakery Cafe for over three hours and just loved being with each other.

The lunch was followed by a trip to Kokomo, Camp Tecumseh, Rock Creek, and finally back down to Fischers. The first days of 2012 were filled with wedding planning, hilarious heytell messages, not taking enough pictures of our time together, and just loving the fact that we were all together. It is rare that we get to be real life friends with our camp friends in seasons other than summer so this was a real treat.

I spent my last day in Indiana with Molly crafting. I found this box at goodwill and I just had to get it.

I think it turned out well. 

Molly was excited to join the ranks of crayon artists. I think it looks pretty great.

Yesterday, I hoped in the car to head to Des Moines. There I was able to spend time with a friend, expanded the list of movies I've seen, and take some time to relax. I finally made it home around 8:30 tonight.

The first few days of 2012 were filled with lots of driving, but they were filled with so many new memories with incredible friends. I loved being able to just be with people that I love and laugh about how weird we are. As I'm entering my last semester at Drake I want to focus on just being with people. I want to soak up my last days of being a student, of being an active member of DG, and living with Carley & Emily. I think this semester and year are going to be filled with great things.

3 New Years Resolutions

1. Keep my room clean. At the beginning of last semester I loved the fact that I was able to get so much work done in my room. However that slowly changed as I let my clothes take over my room. This semester I want to keep my room (and desk!) clean so I can keep my room a calm and productive place throughout the year.

2. Record highs & lows of each day. They don't have to be long or intense but I know I function best when I'm writing things down and reflecting on them. This will be a way for me to stay on top of that.

3. Read more. I miss reading for fun. So this year I'm going to try to keep reading. I just bought two books that's I'm really excited to read when I'm done traveling.

10 Hopes & Prayers for 2012

Last year I wrote about 10 things I'm looking forward to for the year. That's a little hard since for the first time in my life, I literally have no idea what I will be doing after May 13, 2012. So here are my hopes and prayers for 2012.

1. That my Dad's wound will heal and he will be able to start working again.

2. That Arielle & Joe and Dana & Derek will have blessed wedding days and happy marriages.

3. To be able to see and spend time with all of my family, especially those we haven't made a habit of seeing on a regular basis.

4. To silent myself and listen to Christ's call for me.

5. To figure out what I'm going to be doing with my life after graduation.

6. That Joey will really be able to grasp what his faith means when he is confirmed.

7. That I am able to keep in touch with my close Drake friends after graduation.

8. That I will be able to continue to minister to youth in some way, shape, or form.

9. That I can truly put Christ first in my every day life.

10. To give more to others than I receive.