Getting splashed

• The first practice was today - the swimmers had to swim 1500 to prove that they could swim, so it wasn't really a practice-of-practices. I did get to meet a few people (we'll see whose names I remember next week) and cheer on some people too. I like it. I don't think people realize how much fun it is to be on the pool deck in clothes. This position is a big blessing, and I now found out that I am not needed at morning practices (which is a mixed blessing, I guess, since I was looking forward to them.) I'll probably try to go to morning practices when I can't go to the afternoon practices. Because I'm really comfortable on the pool deck and in this setting, I'm viewing it as a big blessing before I apply to teach this age next year. Who knows - maybe I'll get to tutor some calculus/ geometry/ trigonometry this year with the swimmers!
• Free pretzel sticks at Max & Erma's still! (Oh, maybe I shouldn't admit that again.) 
• Friends that you can be yourself with. Not that they like every single part of me, but that I know I can act however I'm feeling (sad, joyful, immature, giggly) and they will accept it. Example: I was taught how to play chess today - see a synopsis below.
• Him: Do you want to play chess?
• Me: I only know two things about chess. The horse moves up two and over one (or up one and over two) and the phrase 'king me.'
• Him: Silence.
• Me: Okay, I take back the second thing. 
• So then we are sitting at Cup O Joe and I am scrambling to see all the moves, reminding myself over and over again that "us mathematicians" are supposed to be good at chess and like it. Magically, (after about one hour of a game) I captured his queen. I may or may not have shrieked an evil cackle that made some other tables laugh. Of course, I still managed to just get a draw and not actually win, but you can be sure that all of my captured pieces were watching with rapt attention, organized by height and importance on the side of the board. It makes me smile that I can let my silly ideas out and people don't throw me out the door.
• Sleep. It restores us (physically, mentally, and cognitively). Animals sleep. Humans sleep. Why do we require 8ish hours of sleep? We could have been created like other animals that don't need very much sleep. I think it's because it reminds us that we're not invincible and forces us to step back, relax, and remember that we also have to rely on God. Plus, cool dreams. I remember my dreams probably 6 days out of 7. I also really enjoy dreams. Typically (when they're not nightmares), they're blessings.

but God will not take away life ---

• "We must all die; we are like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. But God will not take away life, and He devises means so that the banished one will not remain an outcast." - II Samuel 14:14. If there is ever something to be blessed with, I suppose that verse about sums it up. (Hey! I love it when I can work that phrase into a post.) This was spoken before we knew what God's mean was going to be (Jesus) so it's kind of a nice little pre-emptive promise to David (remember, he's our imperfect leader.)
• Swimming! This was already on the list, but that was for me swimming. There is one thing that I tend to feel blessed about more than swimming, and that's making other people swim. I took a job today as an assistant swim coach for a nearby district who is coaching their three high schools with one staff. Practice starts Friday, so I don't have much time to prepare, but I am super-duper excited about this opportunity. I tried telling my roommate about it and she said it didn't sound that fun ("Practices twice a day? Sounds horrible.") to which I responded a little quip about how it will be ten times easier to get out of bed knowing that I won't have to dive in the water. Plus - I get to run with the team in their afternoon practice! The coach was really pleased that I'm a runner because he thinks it helps makes the swimmers tougher, so I'll be running with different groups every week, probably more than once a week (groups run four days of the week, but I don't know what my role will actually be. Possibly running with them four days.) I think this is a huge blessing because the time commitment sounds like nothing to me. I am really excited to work with high schoolers, smell pools every day, work out, deal with headcases like me, and:
• This one deserves its own bullet: Early morning car rides in the dark with no radio on are my favorite start to the day. Dark or almost dawn. Few cars. The closest to the smell of nature that one finds in Columbus. Quiet. Tranquil. I cannot wait. And just to reiterate, this is made ten (maybe eleven) times better that I don't have to dread a cold pool at the end of the drive. I paid my dues for eight years, though, so I will not rub it in any swimmer's faces.
• Soreness. In anticipation of the interview today, I knew I needed to look the part of a hard-core swimmer, so I lifted weights this morning for the first time since before the marathon. I love the feeling of soreness - it's confirmation that I worked hard, that my muscles are still there, and that I deserve the Bakery Gingham Buckeye cupcake and cookie dough ice cream after dinner... Okay, maybe not always that. But the fact that I am able to work out (time and ability) and that it relaxes me is a blessing.
• Baptisms! My church has a baptism service this weekend. I take this for granted, but I'd love if this berakah were realized more in my life, just how much it actually means for us!

be jubilee!

I moved! Yay! This was Kristi's birthday present to me, and it's hanging in our stairwell at the moment. Tomorrow's plan? A Wii party. We have no furniture in the downstairs - well, there's one bookcase - but that leaves plenty of room to canoe without smacking anyone or anything. Come visit! If you continue reading this post... you'll see that's a definite plus for me.

I also bought new rain shoes in Texas that are super-dute cute (but I can stand it). Last year, it was pink heels (which I still wear) and this year, it was blue plaid rain shoes. Much more grown up than my pink rain boots, and much easier to carry around if I need to bring a second pair of shoes with me, like when I'm pretending to be old.

Peru update - fundraising has gone splendidly. Thank you all for helping me out and praying for me and my team. I'll remind you before I leave (August 28) but all looks well. They increased our expected trip cost by $200, but you guys covered above what I asked and thus my savings will cover the increased cost. Thank you, thank you! On August 15 at 1:00, Veritas (my church) is having a Missions Lunch - I'll be giving a little 5 minute talk about my upcoming trip and a few other missionaries at Veritas will be talking too. This serves as your official invitation. No, I won't make you eat guinea pig.

I made this: Pesto Meatballs and Orzo Recipes - Pasta Main Dish Recipes - Meatball Recipes and it was tasty. I haven't made anything else spectacular in a while. I am craving some intricately-decorated something though. I'll let you know what I come up with.

Lastly, the reason that I just want to wrap myself up in protective gear/ bubble wrap/ why my 9-months-pregnant friend pitied me and suggested that I get a day to just recuperate... I have had a week of minor injuries. All of them fun to talk about, and none of them terribly painful (until today's.)
1. Last Thursday - I got stung by a bee. Or a horsefly. The last time that happened, Molly took me home from Kristi's soccer game - which means I was probably less than seven.
2. A week ago Friday - I walked to DQ for a Nerds blizzard (Calah, I thought of you) without socks. My shoes have over 500 miles on them - they should be broken in, right? No. The walk ended with a blister and me bleeding through my shoe. But the Nerds Blizzard made it home.
3. Later that day - I stepped on a teeny-tiny piece of glass. It came out, but I had to hop on one foot out of the crawl space, up the stairs, through the kitchen, and into the bathroom so that I didn't drip blood on the white carpet.
4. Today: I promised (emphatically) that I would catch my little swimmers' heads as they swam backstroke.
"DO NOT turn around," I said. "I will get your head if your head is going to hit the wall."
Swimmers 1 and 2: turn around about halfway down the pool.
Me: "What are you doing? I said not to turn around!"
Swimmers 1 and 2: giggle giggle. Oh, hey! Look at Swimmer 3!
Swimmer 3, in a dramatic change of events, is SPRINTING across the pool, head-first, aimed right at the wall with no shot of having an arm hit first, about three giant steps from me. I then SPRINT two of the three giant steps - slip on step 3, wonder in the air if I'm going to need mouth-to-mouth, land somehow on the corner of the pool, with my leg on something painful (the corner of the pool, I'm guessing), one hand blocking Swimmer 3's head from hitting (successfully, I might add) and my other arm sprawled on the other wall of the pool. If it hadn't been the corner, I would've been in the pool. 
I'm pretty sure I bruised my shin bone. The actual bone. Swimmers 1 and 2 immediately said "that's why WE turned around!" to which I grimaced a smile out and pretended not to care that my leg was stunned. It hurts to walk on it... but the swelling went down after I iced it. It currently has about a 6-inch red bruise line running the length of my shin, accompanied by small swelling (just iced) and hopefully, a deep blue bruise as of tomorrow. As much as it hurts, it would hurt me much more inside if it were this painful and showed no outward signs of it.
I don't think that will be too much of an issue.

Done and Done

Calvin finished 7th at DIII Nationals this year. The meet was in Minneapolis (Tom, Jeanne, Nik, and Zoe came to watch on Saturday morning), a good bookend with freshman year Nationals.

I had a great individual meet, swimming some best times in the 50 fly (on the 200 medley relay) and the 100 free (on the 400 free relay.) I don't have any pictures to put up because everyone with cameras went on to spring break. Just wanted to let everyone know that I'm now done with 15 years of competitive swimming. (As long as you consider "8 and under" agegroup competitive swimming.)

I saw "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" last night. It's a sad movie. And it makes me want to read the short story it was based on. And pick through it a little bit.

Invicem!

Every year, the Calvin teams pick themes for Saturday night of the conference meet. This year, the boys picked - this theme? - and their cheer poked fun of another team's cheer. The other team's cheer repeats "WISE OWL!" and holds up an owl statue with a towel on it. At our dual meet, Calvin men cheered "DRY TOWEL!" and then the cheer advanced farther. They are repeating "DRY ROSS!" (Ross is in the dress) and then Ross got "sacrificed" to the water, at which point the cheer changed to "WET ROSS!"












Our theme was construction. We (but I do want to give myself some credit here) developed a cheer mimicking Bob the Builder. If we were losing on Saturday night, we could chant, "Can we fix this? Yes we can!" as Bob does. If we were winning (as we were), we chanted, "Can we win this? Yes we can!" and then repeated "BOB!" in a huddle.



















Overall, the meet was a success. I had best times in almost every event, getting "B cuts" (aka provisionals) in the 50 free and 100 fly for the first time in my swimming career. I was 3/100 off the school record in the butterfly, as was Caitlin (we tied for fourth in the finals - see picture above.) I am also on a few relays that will go to Nationals (the official list comes out Friday, I think.) Thus, I am headed to Minneapolis for March 19-21 to swim on some relays and two individual events. My last swim season - my last trip to Nationals - I am so grateful to be going. In practice today (long course = amazing) I realized that I am not ready to be done. What will I do with myself? I'm glad I am going again, swimming again, enjoying myself again.
I tried to swim as a type of worship to God - not just enjoying it myself, although that's a part of it, but actually swimming so that God could look down and say, "Again! Again! I love this!" Someday, I'll add in my favorite sermon story of all time that talks about God saying "again! again!" It will make more sense.

Humility, Autumn Film, a Byronic Hero, and some prepositions

You now have the privilege of reading the blog of a record holder in the 100 butterfly for two pools! Also, very humble. That's right, Calvin's pool (seeing as it was the first meet in the pool), and Alma College's pool on Saturday. (Both of them are the 100 fly.) I just wanted to put that out here before we have another meet in Calvin's pool and potentially I will only have one pool record after that. Having small goals and seeing them achieved really does remind me that God gives us enough for each day, as the sermon was about yesterday. (Also, God gave me great friends. And great, intertwining connections. And people with birthdays on Valentine's Day. I like all of you.)

I heard a new, amazing band named Autumn Film. Here is a video embedded for your enjoyment. They're making a new cd of rearranged hymns at some point, and the songs I've heard so far have been awesome.


Second semester classes start today - I'm taking Doctrine of God, History of Math (I didn't make that one up), Rock Climbing, Psychology (two of them) and Creative Writing. I got so excited for creative writing that I may have gotten a little obsessed over our interim break, thanks to a great suggestion from a friend and some old English notes. I would say, "YES! OMG!" (paraphrasing, since I've never said OMG and plan on never, ever actually saying it) and my housemates would say, "Another idea for your story?" And every time they said it, it was true. On the plus side, I feel like I've made new friends. Literally, made.

My English knowledge comes in handy for my summary of my prayer class: it's all about prepositions. We're not just praying TO Jesus. We are praying WITH Jesus, FOR Jesus (we should be praying as if it were Him praying), AS Jesus, ABOUT Jesus, and I think a lot of other prepositions work there as well. So we'll just leave it as "& etc."

"Just Because You Can't See the Sun Doesn't Mean it's not Shining"

Hope Meet: Yesterday was the Hope-Calvin meet at our new pool. The girls team won, and we had a lot of really good swims. I had a couple season-best times (I swam the 200 medley relay (butterfly), 200, 100, and 100 fly) and a lot of people on the team had season-bests as well. I'm not sure what we're cheering for there - the 400 free relay, I think - but Mom and Mark were here so they were timing. (I really should stop letting Mom time... Or teach Mark how to time multiple lanes. Someone gets too excited during good races, or races where me or my friends happen to be in the water.) AND the sun was shining yesterday amidst the frigid cold. But the title of this post is actually from an awesome Anathallo song.

On Friday, Cara and I did a trial run putting on our Blue Seventys: this is me at minute 15.

And Cara at minute 7.

This is me, 29 minutes later. Could've been quicker (it took Cara 22 minutes) but I was too busy taking pictures and wriggling around ungracefully. It is the right size - nothing ripped when I went into ta handstand. Molly, if you're reading this, I hope you feel ashamed of yourself when you see the mug that I happened to notice when I unpacked stuff from Christmas. Don't look too close, your future birthday present is on the shelf.

Finally! We're both in the Blue Seventy suits. They're like a wetsuit material. Kind of fun, right?

This week is the last week of interim, and then I start my last semester. In interim, we talked a little about healings with prayer, and then the NY Times ran an article about parents who are going to trial for their daughter's death (Link here). That opens up a can of worms - on the one hand, God CAN do anything. So we should entrust problems to him, physical as well as emotional and spiritual. But, we have developed hospitals and medicines and it seems as though those are a gift from God that we can use to bring shalom to the world. I don't have a convincing argument either way, although I do know how my actions lie on this issue. And that ambivalence doesn't bother me - perhaps it should?
The team with the main donor and her family.

All your ways and all your thunder

"All your ways and all your thunder/
Got me in a haze running for cover/
Where we gonna go from here?
Where we gonna go from here?"
- mat kearney


This is me in my new waterproof jacket (thanks Dad and Diane!), holding up the Blue70 from many of you. There was a new deal where I paid half-price to purchase half of the suit. (Just kidding - it stretches.) For those of you who aren't swimmers, that will take me about 20 minutes to put on. It WILL fit. This upcoming weekend is our meet against Hope in Calvin's new pool (for a glimpse, check out this link and video.)
We just had an invitational in Chicago, in which I had a chance to get mowed down by the UAA swimmer of the week for her butterfly events. w00t.
Also, had a chance to negative split a 50, which nobody can really figure out how or why I do that. Dan, my coach, pointed out that most people have a velocity graph that looks like y= ln x (he may have used other words...) and mine looks like a y = 3x.

More on Learning to Pray like Jesus:

• Praying in Jesus' name has lots of significance. In those olden days, knowing someone's name held a lot of meaning and power. By praying in Jesus' name, it means we can tap into his power in the presence of God. It also involves "praying in the place of Jesus. By using Jesus' name we are declaring that the prayer we are voicing is what Jesus would pray if he himself were speaking." (Grenz, Prayer: The Cry of the Kingdom, 22) If I were to think of that every time I pray, I think my prayers would be radically different. Not omitting petitions for me, but certainly understanding the significance of weightier supplications as well.
  
• As for the Lord's Prayer, the first petition "hallowed be your name" does not just mean "You are holy" as I thought. Hallowed is a verb, meaning "show the holiness of" or "sanctify." It's what Bible scholars refer to as the divine passive voice, the same as what Jesus used when He told people to "Be healed." Because names hold power, the Jewish rarely spoke God's name, and so used the divine passive tense, intimating that God is the subject or active object in the command.
  
• The second petition in the Lord's Prayer is "Thy kingdom come." My professor pointed out that most people don't feel any urgency for Jesus to return, but that we really should be. The best humanitarian action we can take, more than donating time or money, more than praying for reduction of injustices, is to pray that the kingdom returns. Nothing will stop wars, unnecessary deaths and genocides, energy issues and more except for the return of the kingdom, the Parousia, Jesus' return.
• It's actually the combined knowledge of the two above paragraphs that is inspiring me to keep better tabs on the news around the country and the world, because then I'll know what to pray for and what the world needs relief from. If anybody knows of anything that might not be listed on major headlines, pop them in the comments here, please!
• Last thing - I heard a speech about how love transfers into actions. Nobody can get away with telling their wife, "Honey, I love you, believe me. But I am going to ignore our marriage vows. But really, I love you." And yet... what an allegory that is for our relationship with God.
  

Besides that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?

The training trip in Florida is something every swimmer dreams about, whether it's preseason, mid-season, or at naptime during the trip.
Some dream to remember, some dream to forget...
In that way, it is a little like the Hotel California. All in all, it's such a lovely place (any time of year) but really - it feels like you can never leave. Many of us spend practices, days, the whole week, attempting to check out, but we are stuck. And often checking out is just as painful as putting your head down, taking the steely knives, and trying to kill the beast. I'm proud to say, this is the first year that I haven't "checked out" or just written off any practices, unless you count the stretch cord set - which, you probably do. But all the same, I held my own. After all - I was a prisoner there, of my own device.

Enough with the intense connection between The Eagles and the Training Trip. I spent the mornings before our first practice down at the pool restaurant overlooking Deerfield Beach. This picture is the beginning of the sunrise on the last day we were there.
Coral Springs Aquatic Center - this is the pool we trained at! We've trained here for the past 3 years actually, so it's almost a little sad to say goodbye. (If you're looking for me in this picture, I am in the second lane over, heading away from the photographer, probably trying not to drown or to get Hotel California out of my head. Whichever was easiest to concentrate on.
Every year, the swim team has a party. This year's theme was the "Dark Knight" - because of the movie and Calvin is the Knights - so this is Cara in her batman costume and me in my black (dark night?) pajamas.
The senior girls - I asked our assistant coach to think of a pose that says, "We are done and never have to do this again!" - This is what we came up with. 22+ hours of training within 6 days, getting over 10,000 yards every day - it's a rite of passage that all swim teams go through. And we never have to do one again.

"we may lose and we may win -
but we will never be here again.
so open up, I'm climbing in -
so take it easy."

Today was my last 8-10 pm practice, I think! Starting tomorrow, there is a free lane after school, so I no longer have to practice until 10, come home and eat dinner, and then wake up for school at 5:40. Yay! Swimming is going well too - I split a 59.9 on 400 medley (butterfly) which is, as much as I can remember, the first time I've ever been under 1:00 untapered (= tired).

Then, because we were already in Chicago, I stayed in Chicago for the night and got to MAKE PUMPKIN COOKIES with the Boumgarden family (graduated swimmer now doing Teach for America in St. Louis; he came to watch the meet.) It was amazing - sometimes, I forget how nice it is to relax, have fun, and just eat cookies and icing. Also, seeing John talk about his third grade classroom made me remember that I have awesome kids. Sure, there's a few that wouldn't be considered a favorite, but on the other hand, these kids are awesome. And I'm starting to (tangent here) get the question "what are you going to do?" a lot now. My answer?
"I'm a math major for secondary education."
Pitied Questioner: "oh, so you want to teach?"
"Er, well - maybe? I like a lot of things? Almost everything in my twenty-one years has pointed me directly on the path to nerdy math jokes and knitted cat- sweaters, but I know one thing: I'm pretty sure that I'm thinking I might not want to be a teacher." And a good mentor/friend of mine pointed out that I don't have to pick anything "for the rest of my life." I can just pick for a year, a few years, at a time. So my answer for the future - I am applying to a couple graduate schools for Ed Psych programs, which would prepare me for research. (Similar to what I did this summer, only leading the program instead of tagging along behind.) I am also looking at various non-profit organizations and community development programs that have educational and research-based components. Last, I am waiting until after student-teaching is over to reflect without the stressors of teaching; then I will be a little more decisive and opinionated about teaching, even just for a few years.

Oops, big tangent. Anyway, had fun in Chicago - pumpkin cookies and visited Josh's friends in Lincoln Park to watch their two little girls dedication ceremony at church.

And if you are looking for things to pray for, here's a mini-list:
- finishing up teaching - being excited about it and enjoying it; showing the kids that I love them and the subject of math.
- John teaching - patience, more love, for the kids to respond to the work he's putting into it.
- futures. they're crazy. As for this, I have a quote that I always think of - "God seems to do whatever he pleases with little regard for my schemes, and that is utterly disconcerting" -Winn Collier
- Norovirus to STAY AWAY - Hope College, our main rival, has been quarantined for 5 days due to an outbreak of the Norovirus (I think it's like a really bad case of the flu). No documented cases at Calvin yet, but we've been warned.

And if you're looking to respond, does anyone have any fun ideas about spatial relationships/ 3D geometry? Like 3D coordinates, polyhedra, etc... Short, fun activities that don't take up a whole lesson space.



Me, utterly disconcerted. (in my new glasses.)

Get Smart

I saw Get Smart yesterday - turns out, it's a pretty good movie. I recommend it! There are some pretty funny quotes by Steve Carell. I then spent a while this morning eating my banana-chocolate chip muffins and watching SNL versions of the debate and bailout crisis, which also provided some good quotes. Next I'll be looking for recaps on The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. I feel a little fake reading up on the political news because my motivation for watching the debate was so that I could get all the jokes on SNL...

And in fun news, I'm going to Waco for Thanksgiving! We found tickets to Dallas that are not that expensive, so Mom, Mark, and I are going to see Kristi and Dan (and SAMMIE!!!!) over Thanksgiving. The unhappy part means that I won't see the rest of you until Thanksgiving, but we do have a meet in Detroit November 15 that Dad usually comes to; and another meet Saturday, December 6 at Eastern Michigan that Dad usually comes to. So if you want to come there... it's just as bad as my high school meets. I apologize in advance. Kristi's already sent me various things we can do - visit the ex-cult site, go to a winery, see the Bush house, the Homestead Craft Fair, and do something with World Hunger Relief.

Another funny site is graphjam.com. They put up new graphs quite often. If you've heard of being rickrolled, that graph is funny. Otherwise, it might not be.



Also, I went to a tea party hosted by some of my friends a few weeks ago. Here's a photo of Allison and I in our best tea party costumes.



The other girls forgot to clarify which type of tea party we were having... They apparently assumed a classical music and pearls- type of tea party.

If I had just ONE more angle, and ONE more side - Life would be more interesting.

How I anticipate feeling tomorrow morning as I have my first early morning practice after 2 drylands, 2 lifting sessions, and 3 swim practices: I think "awesome - I ran with diana and friends this summer; I'm in GREAT shape." And then I bend down to pick up papers - or stand up from my bed - or try to put my arms in streamline, and I think OW. Ow ow ow.

Or, perhaps this video more accurately sums it up after Saturday (haha, get it, sums it up?) Skip to 2:15. That's where it comes in. Enough of my fake whining - I love feeling sore.

I had my first surprise observation today by my professor, and I think everything went well. The class was quiet and figuring out interior angle sums. I brought them back to kindergarten and read "The Greedy Triangle" to them as an introduction. I received a smattering of applause in two of the three classes for my dramatic reading of the triangle who wanted 'just ONE more angle and ONE more side.' It either had a moral of being happy with yourself, or that triangles are the best shape ever. Not sure which.

Last thing of the day is conversation I overheard from some little swimmers in the locker room, verbatim. Enjoy. Learn something, maybe.

Girl 1: Did you know that everything you've EVER dranken was pee?
Girl 2: Gross! Even fridge water?
Girl 1: Yes, even fridge water. It's, like, evaporation or something.
Girl 2: Is fridge water still pee?
Girl 1: No, it's not pee anymore! Sheesh.

At this point, I'd done so many confused/ half-laughs/ raised eyebrows that I have nothing left to do but go swim in a giant pool of water (water?) that these girls just got out of.