Birthday Boy

Happy 20th to my best friend!

This kid deserves a whole week of celebration, so that's exactly what's been happening. On Sunday he opened his present from me and we spent the day at Silver Lake. Last night we went back to Wautoma for Grandpa and Grandmas annual anniversary celebration at Silvercryst. We enjoyed great steaks and great company. Tonight we are hoping to head to Appleton so Nathanael can buy his birthday present to himself-a motorcycle! Not sure how I feel about that one yet... Then onto Red Robin so this kid can order a bacon cheeseburger- I guarantee it!

We are also looking forward to seeing the new Batman movie together and spending time with our families to celebrate this fantastic guy.

You are the bees knees!

Love you!

Drought

Yes, I have been on a blogging drought. Though that is more intentional than the actual drought happening outside of my house.

Here's a photo montage of my summer, maybe you will see why I don't ever feel like updating my blog too. :)

Oh Rudith...

This summer started out with a lotta lake and green grass. Now the lake is low and the grass varies from brown to non-existant. This is one of the fires we could have before the burning bans were put into effect. Some people aren't even allowed to grill! And yesterday at work a resident told me cigarette butts started an apartment fire in Milwaukee!

Nathanael was vacant from my life for like, 3 whole weeks due to work and his South Dakota trip. I'm glad he's back. :)

Lyss and I took the yaks all the way to the bridge and back! We have shared a few quality workouts this summer, all have been fun and different than just running.

Living the dream.

Ad talking on the phone while we play in the boat.

Got to enjoy a Brewer game, and even got skybox seats to get out of the heat for a little bit. Maybe someday the racing sausage I vote for will actually win!

Went to Mount Olympus and the Tommy Bartlett show in the Dells for an afternoon with some "Other Smits" girls

Yeeeeeeehaw. Went to the Manchester Chute Out for some INTENSE bullriding rodeo fun.

I'm still enjoying both my jobs as a CNA at Hillside Manor and Markesan Resident Home. Although I keep encouraging myself that this is probably the last summer I'll have to work as a CNA. Hopefully next year I can do some sort of nursing externship!

My computer isn't happy about all this photo commotion and is slowing down, so many more to come later on. :)

Back to Blogger

I finally found a computer! Or finally just found the time and efforts to sit down and spend time on one. Summer doesn't require I check my various emails, favorite blogs, deal sites, or facebook. So I don't. Which also allows my blog to suffer and lack new posts.
The most exciting things are happening outside of this little computer screen, and I intend to spend little time on here to in order to maximize the fun beyond what I'm typing.

I've started a new job. My first shift went terrible, but when I worked yesterday I felt confident, like I already know how to do things better than a few people working there.
I do know that I will NOT be a CNA the rest of my life. This is hopefully my last summer ever having to do that as I'll be able to do an externship next summer and can start doing more serious things, less poo-ey things...you get the idea.

We reclaimed the cottage. Boat lifts and boats are all in after many trials and tribulations. Yesterday we even endured a storm as we were tubing and swimming in sub zero temperatures...or just severe cold. You'll have to ask in person if you really want to inquire about the experience of being stranded in the middle of a big lake with 10 people on a little boat- a blue boyfriend figure, one crying kid, a singing girl, some panickers, and a few ticked off people.

My cousins graduated.

Joeli and Alyssa walked across the stage last Friday and received their diplomas. Got knowledge? Check.
I'm so excited for Lyss to start hair school in 2 weeks. That Glamour girl will have me stylin in no time-hopefully before the summer is done! She is the perfect combo of spunk, hard work, and chat, which will result in a good cosmetologist.
Jo gets to join me and all fellow Trolls at Trin next fall. As Ben leaves Trin, I'm so glad another cousin is on the way to experience Trinity. Even if we only see each other in the BBC a few times a week, that family tie is very special to me. Also, I will love having another travel buddy to accompany me back to Wisconsin whenever we please.

Nathanael is alive. After retaking his finance exam together and passing with an extra percent, he is breathing and back to work. He is a lotta bummed that he can't participate in a lot of the fun we have at the lake due to his recovering neck, he is glad to be filling his days at work and earning some HEFTY checks. It's pure joy that I can drive to see him in 10 short minutes, we both definitely take advantage of that in the summer.

Other than that, he's a cool guy, I like him.

My room is clean...ish. After a day of rearranging, I've managed to hang up all my clothes and scrubs and tuck away most of my dorm life to one side of my room.

I like my friends. The perfect combination of funny and serious as we endured Insidious a few weeks ago, and simplicity with laughter when we sit by the fire, eat, play ping pong or just hang out.

My dad is turning 50. People, that is getting up there in age! Wish him a happy birthday on June 1 if you see that old fella.

If you haven't gathered, I am enjoying my summer to a great extent.

Ketchup

Hello all, I promise I'm still alive! I often would return to Trinity saying I sleep more at school than I do at home. All I can say is amen to that! While others may imagine college students basking away in the free time of summer that is not my case. Here's a little list of what I've been up to:

-wedding bells!

the first weekend home I celebrated with Nathanael's newlywed brother and sister-in-law

-talks with lyssa
-early mornings!
-babysitting L &A, this keeps you on your toes.

-work at MRH, the elderly never cease to make me happy
-a new job- starting at BDCH's Hillside Manor! PTL! :)

-teasing my sisters
-barely speaking to David in the mornings because we are both too tired to be up around 5am

-being 10 mins from Nathanael

-cottage

i live for days like this.

-bonfire

-family

Things I have yet to do:

-unpack, seriously the worst thing of my life. it's like all my belongings have to fit into a corner of my room until they get to be released next year.

-get stuff done for my new job

-sleep more than 7 hours at a time

-upload my pictures to FB

-eat a breakfast that consists of more than a granola bar

I have to work the 5-1 tomorrow, meaning an alarm set for 4am. I think I'll eat some supper, attempt to clean up my bedroom floor, and hit the hay.

Almost There

Today I took my two hardest exams. When I looked at the exam schedule initially, I saw that Microbiology and Anatomy were on the same day. I knew right then that the only breaks I would be taking were to stop studying one science and study the other until I could hop back into the first. That definitely proved to be true. Yesterday my tummy hurt from all the coffee I had to drink to maintain wakefulness and all the stress that was on my shoulders. I couldn't even sleep last night because pathogens and viruses kept invading my head. Thankfully I got a full 3 hours eventually!

The past week I made note cards, jotted down bacteria, remembered viruses and vocab words, took quizzes, summarized and whatnot for these two finals. Yesterday I asked you to guess how many pages in my notebook were for this Micro test.

Here's your answer, 30.

Not to mention an abundance of flash cards to help me remember all those diseases!

Well, now that it's all over I'll take a break from my cleaning duties and tell you about the end of these two classes.

Microbiology- Dr. Carlson

This class was incredibly difficult. The material was very interesting and I enjoyed learning about the microbes of the body. I would have enjoyed this class a lot more if I knew that the upcoming test I would be given wouldn't be so hard. Dr. Carlson is a cool guy-mostly because he's from Wisconsin and appreciates the farmers and Badgers in that great state. He is also overjoyed with Biology, something really cool to see. I hope I can be as passionate about my job someday. Some things I will remember forever from this class are:

• WASH YOUR HANDS.
• lactobacillus
• we should fall to our knees and praise God for little bitty things working inside of us to make us so fearfully and wonderfully made

Anatomy and Physiology- Dr. Boomsma

You may remember that this semester started out with a different prof for this class. I am so thankful to have had Dr. Boomsma come back to teach us the second semester of Anatomy. This semester of Anatomy was a lot harder than the previous semester. One thing I can tell you about this class is that there are SO many hormones. The semester started and ended with hormones. Hormones that deal with pregnancy, growth, maturation, this, that, everything, nothing, so.many.hormones. The final was pretty hard, mostly because of an abundance of hormones.

Pretty soon my Mom and Dad will be here to pick up a bunch of stuff for me, not everything could fit in the black beaut Toyota. I only have one exam tomorrow and then I will be on my way back home!

<3 



Half Off

Last semester my friend Victoria had the clever idea of briefly summarizing each class as it came to a close with a final exam. I thought I'd do the same to clear my mind of those credits and get ready to  move on! Today I had three exams, so I got half of my finals done in one day!

Math 151, Statistics- Dr. Klanderman

I'm not a math fan, especially not at 8am. I don't think I learned anything in this class that will especially carry into my nursing practice. Like education majors have to take math for teachers, I think nurses should take math for nurses which would incorporate conversions and what not. I was glad to have Kirsten in this class to help me out. She is a math whiz and helped me study before every exam. Sometimes we even did our homework in class the morning it was due. : )

Honors 333, Psych: Contemplation, Meditation, Yoga- Dr. Colosimo

This class brought together a variety of majors. I probably never would have class with Church and Ministry majors or business majors if not for this class. Dr. Colosimo is one of my favorite professors at Trinity and she brings sophistication, class, and wisdom to each and every interaction. We got to do yoga every time we met for class-something I really enjoyed. Though this class didn't require a lot of work, I am so appreciative of a class that allowed me to breathe. With 19 credits I was always studying, and this class allowed for a break from that. I'm glad my presentation is over, but I will miss the friendships I made in this class.

Psych 352: Behavioral Pharmacology- Dr. Hassert

This was my first class with Dr. Hassert, he is an interesting man. And this class would have been a lot more interesting if I hadn't taken chemistry or any of my biology classes. I already had the fundamentals of what he was teaching us about so the drugs and their effects weren't too exciting. Not to mention, this was a night class, being cooped up at night wasn't my favorite feature. I had to take this class to get going on my Psychology minor, so I'm glad it was an easy class to cross off on that checklist. The nicest feature about this class was a take-home final, so this afternoon I just had to hand in a scantron sheet to be graded.

Tomorrow are my hardest exams. The sciences. Micro and Anatomy. I dare you to guess how many pages of Micro I have written already. Come back tomorrow to see the answer!

I must get back to studying!

Final Days Before Finals

Ladies and Gentlemen, I only have 11 more classes to attend. 1 more day of work. 10 more sleeps in Tibstra 34. And a few more meals in the caf. I'm almost halfway done with my college career. I'm overjoyed that I've made it this far and that the next time I come back, I will be on the decline in slices of pie. (In reference to Grandma Smits' analogy of semesters) However, I'm beginning to get a little sentimental! I have just begun to realize that when I plagued myself with 19 credits this semester, it would result in poor actions on my part. I didn't do enough with my friends, or get to relax and enjoy this ride as much as I would have liked to. I'm disappointed that I missed so much because of my overload of things to do.

When I look at my 13 credits next semester, I think, "I'll have tons of free time!" but then quickly remind myself that it's going to be a tough 13 credits, accompanied with early early early morning clinicals.

So I just wanted to post a little blog to prove my existence during these next 2 weeks.

And here's a little reminder to take everything in stride, it's all happening because God wants it to!

Clouds

Today started out as just another Monday. Went to Micro, learned about pathogens of the cardiovascular system, went to lunch, sat through 1.5 too many hours of anatomy, complained about how hard the last anatomy test was, was thankful that I still passed, and I continued on with my day. I got a wake up call when I opened a text from Nathanael saying that he would be going to the UW for surgery on his neck. He had fallen this past weekend and couldn't shake a sore neck, so he got it checked out today. A whirlwind later, he is at home in a neck brace for 2 weeks.

Thinking he would be in recovery for days, I was planning to see him in Madison tomorrow and emailed my honors prof so I could skip my class at 11. I wrote to her that I received a really dark cloud of news. I honestly was in shock. Nathanael's parents are on a cruise and I didn't know if I would have to quick hop in my car, if his brothers could see him, if my parents needed to see him; I didn't know what vertebrae were hurt/broken/fractured or really anything that was going on. I felt so in the dark being 3 hours away. I worried about surgery around the spinal cord but was comforted that he had endured the suffering he experienced all weekend. I just asked my friends to pray. Nathanael and I had just been talking about God working in mysterious ways and I didn't really know what He was doing here.

Then I wrote that I could see the silver lining. Trinity has OPUS tomorrow-a celebration of learning, so we don't have any classes in the afternoon so I could easily drive to Madison to see Nathanael. Thankfully he is already home so I can skip 6 extra hours of driving and just plan on seeing him when I get back home on Thursday afternoon.

This day has been very mysterious, kind of a freak accident. However, God [not-so-gently] reminded me that every breath of life is in His hands. As I finish my final projects and assignments for the semesters my personality requires that I see the need to see control in my own hands as I complete my sophomore year. God has the plans for my life, that's something I can work on seeing.

A Grand Wednesday

Throughout my education, I've had the chance to spend a day with my grandparents when they are invited to school as we celebrate the blessing of these people in our lives. I always looked forward to having my grandparents visit me and I was so happy when they would help me color and sit with me in class.

This chance continues at Trinity. You see here...

... as BOTH sets of my grandparents were able to visit me today, I'm feeling pretty spectacular and special.

Grandpa and Grandma Smits arrived last night and took Ben and I to Buffalo Wild Wings for supper. Gramps enjoyed his first visit there and loved trying wings! We got back to campus and played our favorite card games at the BBC. Cards are a staple for Smits family activities, Grandpa and Grandma have diligently and patiently taught each and every one of us to play Shanghai and Golf. These games have become so traditional we play after church, on girls nights, at the cottage, and even played on our big family trip to Cancun last Christmas.

Today Grandpa and Grandma Hoffmann arrived and I met up with all four of my grandparents for chapel and lunch. They filled me in on things happening in Waupun and Oostburg; how my great-grandmas are doing and what my teeniest little cousins do to make them laugh on Mondays. I appreciate this, especially because being at school entitles me to even less time with my family in Oostburg and Green Bay than when I was living at home. I am so looking forward to spending time at the lake with both sides of my family. This is the first time my Hoffmann grandparents have seen me at Trinity and I was happy to show them my home away from home-I think they left with a new appreciation for this place, it has sure gotten bigger since Auntie Kiki was a Troll!

All the visitors I get at Trinity bring me one thing every time-cookies.

It seems as if everyone knows I am a sucker for that chocolate chip goodness.

My Grandmas are making sure to keep me chunky! :)

I am so blessed to have loving grandparents that share their love and their knowledge of God's love with me!

Thanks to all my Grandma's and Grandpa's for one GRAND Wednesday!

"They will stll bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, "the Lord is upright; he is my Rock and there is no wickedness in him.""

Psalm 92:14

Math Lessons at Church

A Micro test tomorrow meant going to the early church service at Palos CRC today to ensure a full day of studying. The pastor preached to us about community-it was great, things I really needed to hear. But what really stuck with me was this video that was played during the offering.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35WyG8Q_tSc

We all are trying to change the world and this video emphasizes that when we add, God multiplies.

The past few weeks I studied for the TEAS test, a nursing entrance exam. I wasn't very good at math in high school...okay, I could have failed Alg II, I even had to ask Beefy to help me with fractions and percentages and such over Easter so I could be prepared for the math section of the test.

Besides that fact, I could definitely grasp the idea that when we give a little of what we have, God will take it and multiply it into much greater things. As a poor college student I realize that this doesn't have to be money, mostly because I don't have any, but I can give what talents, gifts, services, and time I have for causes and events that God can multiply.

So what can you add to this big math problem that God will multiply?

PS-I passed my TEAS scoring a 79, basically a nurse right now, someone should hand me my diploma tomorrow so I don't have to take my Micro test. :)