Hello all! (if anyone still reads this, that is) Sorry about the delay for this post. I have been pretty warn out lately. As many of you now know, this has been the CRAZIEST season that The Marine Mammal Center has seen for 10 years. Yeah. It figures it's the summer that I come,lol. Anyway, the constant influx of malnurished sea lions has caused me to lose my crew day. Which basically means that I hardly ever get to work with the animals now. I am on the rescue line 8 hours (if not more) a day. Not exactly what I was expecting for this internship. I have been really frustrated about this lately. Especially today for some reason. I am just trying to figure it out. (always trying to find the logic, of course).
Did God bring me here to show me where he wants me? To let me know that I will NOT be working at TMMC? To lead me somewhere else? Or is it something bigger than that? Did he bring me here for the sole purpose of showing one person (or even more)His greatness? If that's the case, then I really shouldn't complain. I haven't told anyone about this yet, because honestly, I forgot about it until right now. The other day my boss, Shelbi, was talking about her commute to Petaluma. (the town just north of me where I go to church). So I chimed in and said "oh! I was in Petaluma yesterday." She sounded very confused when she asked me why on earth I would be there. So I told her, "Oh, I go to church there." On a Wednesday, she asked?? So I explained that I can't go to church on Sunday because of my hours, so I opt for Wednesday nights. She sounded very intrigued and asked me what denomination I was. As the stupid phones rang, I squeezed in a "Non-denominational christian!" before I was forced to answer. The look on her face was very interesting and I was SO bummed that the phones would not stop ringing after that, so our conversation ended there. So, I have been praying for more opportunities with Shelbi.
I have been super homesick lately. I am really bummed that I missing Elise's birthday. I hate missing birthdays. And I hate being too poor to send a gift,lol. I am also pretty upset that it's looking like I won't be able to go home until October. Uck. Buuuut good news!! MY WEBCAM WORKS!!! I now have a skype account!! So look me up!!:) Oh! Also, I changed the settings on my blog so that anyone can comment! So you don't have to be a registered user or anything:) i like comments..hint hint. ha. I am getting SO excited for my birthday! Honestly, I don't even care about gifts or anything, I am just so happy to have a visitor! A pretty special one too;) Wow, I am going to be 22. I'm old! Yeah yeah, i know..."it's not old! wait til your 30!" Buuut I am not supposed to be old...I'm the baby of the family! Haha-let me really freak the fam out for a second ... if I were Rachel I would already have been married for TWO YEARS! Weeeiiirrrrd. lol.
Well, I suppose I have run out of things to say for now. Today was pretty boring. The highlight of my day was that I actually cooked. Weird, I know. I made a chicken pot pie..thanks to Katie's easy recipe:) Rach, remind me to give that to you! It's a quick and easy meal for ya! Ok, peace out.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
New Friends and Good Food
Hello All!
So, I feel like there is not much to write about, but it's been awhile. Let's see..... Oh! Friday was my first day on crew. (or as Luke would like to say, on deck) ;) It was a verrrry long day, but it went fast! I am on harbor seal crew which means I work with all the tiny pups! They are ADORABLE!! Basically the whole day revolves around their feeding schedule. Because they are so little, they eat a lot! I learned how to tube feed a seal..which was kinda gross cuz I had to shove (gently) a tube down their esophagus and listen to them gag. Ew. Rach woulda loved that..hahaha. Anyway, it was really fun to feed the ones in "fish school." This means that we are basically teaching them to eat fish on their own. So I hold out the little herring and make it "swim" in the water and make sure the seal is tracking it and make them try to get it from me. It's pretty entertaining. But ya gotta watch your fingers! I think my least favorite part of the day was pen cleaning...yeah..those baby seals sure can leave big messes. Oh, and Friday just so happen to be the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony so we definitely had a crowd for every feeding. It was weird. I felt like I was in a zoo!
On Sunday I had to go to a rescue class as part of my training, taught by my boss Erin, to learn how to net and catch the animals in distress. It was hilarious. My boss and a volunteer, who I work with often (Lincoln), played the sea lions (seals don't really ever put up a fight,lol). And wow, did they go all out! They were pretty fiesty and we had to learn to net them, put them in the carriers while still in the net, and get the net out of the carrier. It was a lot harder that it looked! It was great though because we did it on the beach so we got a crowd of curious people thinking that we were rescuing animals when in fact it was my boss in the animal carrier. People were a tad confused when I human crawled out at the end,lol. Sunday was also frustrating. I felt like I was having kind of an "off" day. It was weird. Everything I was doing, I kept thinking..." I can do this better! Why am I not good today??" I think having the old interns around at work just really threw me off. I suppose I was just intimidated. Which doesn't take much with me. I just need to pray that this week goes better.
I had a really good day today though! It was the end of my "weekend" so to speak. I went to my friend Kelly's house for the afternoon and we just went shopping for a bit and hung out. She is SO sweet! Already talking about visiting me in Florida next year. She then gave me a stack of books to take home with me because I have been wanting to read more. It is so crazy creating a friendship so fast! It's just like we instantly clicked. After that my roommate Marielle took me to a free dinner at the Melting Pot! It was sooooo good! She works there and got employee of the month and got a coupon for dinner for 2. It was a very nice gesture...but ended up not being so free..ha. She got 2 different drinks which ended up totalling to be about $26. (plus she wanted to give the tip that it would have been for our normally $80 bill). So that totalled somewhere around $45. Oops. Sorry dad! lol. It was a really fun night though! Good bonding time. Then we got to talking about scuba diving and it made me REEEEALLY want to go for a dive! I miss it! I really hope I can dive before I leave here! They have great kelp forests over here, that i would loooove to see. But I bet it is uber expensive in cali too.
Tomorrow night I am going to the Wednesday night service at church with Kelly. I think some of us are going to go to the same coffee shop that we did last time to have a study afterwards. I am pretty excited about that. Also, Luke and I are ready crazy love together. I really like it so far! It just really puts things in perspective. We are so insignificant in this world! And yet we are so self-absorbed! Our life is like a flash to God. Not even. It's crazy to comprehend how short our life is in the span of eternity. And yet we so easily forget to live our lives for Him and not for us. Oh, and since I have been learning/struggling with trusting the Lord lately...this paragraph really hit home..i want to share it (because i am a natural-born worrier)
"Worry implies that we don't quite trust that God is big enough, powerful enough, or loving enough to take care of what is happening in our lives. Stress says that the things we are involved in are important enough to merit our patience, our lack of grace toward others, or our tight grip of control. ..... Why are we so quick to forget God? Who do we think we are?" It then goes on to give a great analogy...but it's kinda lenghty. You should just read the book..haha.
I don't know...it just makes ya think. Those are two things I definitely struggle with, but I have never really looked at it that way. This book definitely challenges you to re-evaulate the way we view ourselves, God, and how we live life.
It's weird...I have been really missing Florida lately. Never did I think that would be happening. Of course I miss the people that are there, but I actually miss west palm beach. The heat (well maybe only a little), the palm trees, the intracoastal, going to the beach whenever I have free time, just the familiarity of it all. I suppose it really is like home to me now. Another home at least. I don't know how I always end up writing so much on these things..haha. Oh well, hope you don't mind:) I love and miss all of you. Really. Anyone who is reading this...know that I really miss YOU!
So, I feel like there is not much to write about, but it's been awhile. Let's see..... Oh! Friday was my first day on crew. (or as Luke would like to say, on deck) ;) It was a verrrry long day, but it went fast! I am on harbor seal crew which means I work with all the tiny pups! They are ADORABLE!! Basically the whole day revolves around their feeding schedule. Because they are so little, they eat a lot! I learned how to tube feed a seal..which was kinda gross cuz I had to shove (gently) a tube down their esophagus and listen to them gag. Ew. Rach woulda loved that..hahaha. Anyway, it was really fun to feed the ones in "fish school." This means that we are basically teaching them to eat fish on their own. So I hold out the little herring and make it "swim" in the water and make sure the seal is tracking it and make them try to get it from me. It's pretty entertaining. But ya gotta watch your fingers! I think my least favorite part of the day was pen cleaning...yeah..those baby seals sure can leave big messes. Oh, and Friday just so happen to be the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony so we definitely had a crowd for every feeding. It was weird. I felt like I was in a zoo!
On Sunday I had to go to a rescue class as part of my training, taught by my boss Erin, to learn how to net and catch the animals in distress. It was hilarious. My boss and a volunteer, who I work with often (Lincoln), played the sea lions (seals don't really ever put up a fight,lol). And wow, did they go all out! They were pretty fiesty and we had to learn to net them, put them in the carriers while still in the net, and get the net out of the carrier. It was a lot harder that it looked! It was great though because we did it on the beach so we got a crowd of curious people thinking that we were rescuing animals when in fact it was my boss in the animal carrier. People were a tad confused when I human crawled out at the end,lol. Sunday was also frustrating. I felt like I was having kind of an "off" day. It was weird. Everything I was doing, I kept thinking..." I can do this better! Why am I not good today??" I think having the old interns around at work just really threw me off. I suppose I was just intimidated. Which doesn't take much with me. I just need to pray that this week goes better.
I had a really good day today though! It was the end of my "weekend" so to speak. I went to my friend Kelly's house for the afternoon and we just went shopping for a bit and hung out. She is SO sweet! Already talking about visiting me in Florida next year. She then gave me a stack of books to take home with me because I have been wanting to read more. It is so crazy creating a friendship so fast! It's just like we instantly clicked. After that my roommate Marielle took me to a free dinner at the Melting Pot! It was sooooo good! She works there and got employee of the month and got a coupon for dinner for 2. It was a very nice gesture...but ended up not being so free..ha. She got 2 different drinks which ended up totalling to be about $26. (plus she wanted to give the tip that it would have been for our normally $80 bill). So that totalled somewhere around $45. Oops. Sorry dad! lol. It was a really fun night though! Good bonding time. Then we got to talking about scuba diving and it made me REEEEALLY want to go for a dive! I miss it! I really hope I can dive before I leave here! They have great kelp forests over here, that i would loooove to see. But I bet it is uber expensive in cali too.
Tomorrow night I am going to the Wednesday night service at church with Kelly. I think some of us are going to go to the same coffee shop that we did last time to have a study afterwards. I am pretty excited about that. Also, Luke and I are ready crazy love together. I really like it so far! It just really puts things in perspective. We are so insignificant in this world! And yet we are so self-absorbed! Our life is like a flash to God. Not even. It's crazy to comprehend how short our life is in the span of eternity. And yet we so easily forget to live our lives for Him and not for us. Oh, and since I have been learning/struggling with trusting the Lord lately...this paragraph really hit home..i want to share it (because i am a natural-born worrier)
"Worry implies that we don't quite trust that God is big enough, powerful enough, or loving enough to take care of what is happening in our lives. Stress says that the things we are involved in are important enough to merit our patience, our lack of grace toward others, or our tight grip of control. ..... Why are we so quick to forget God? Who do we think we are?" It then goes on to give a great analogy...but it's kinda lenghty. You should just read the book..haha.
I don't know...it just makes ya think. Those are two things I definitely struggle with, but I have never really looked at it that way. This book definitely challenges you to re-evaulate the way we view ourselves, God, and how we live life.
It's weird...I have been really missing Florida lately. Never did I think that would be happening. Of course I miss the people that are there, but I actually miss west palm beach. The heat (well maybe only a little), the palm trees, the intracoastal, going to the beach whenever I have free time, just the familiarity of it all. I suppose it really is like home to me now. Another home at least. I don't know how I always end up writing so much on these things..haha. Oh well, hope you don't mind:) I love and miss all of you. Really. Anyone who is reading this...know that I really miss YOU!
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
God is Good.
Hello All!
Here are some pictures of the elephant seals at Chimney Rock. I wish you could tell how huge they are! The ones that are lounging are all females and the two big guys playing in the water are the males:) I was literally about 10 feet from them!
So, I am actually writing today's entry from work- which is crazy because it's NEVER this slow! Today has been a nice break. There were only 2 of us in the stranding office today (which isn't that unusual because there are only 4 of us haha), but Lauren left at 3:30 which leaves me here all by myself until 8PM. AH! Yes, that's right... I am in charge of the entire rescue line and response right now...pretty crazy. Anyway..today hasn't been bad at all. Only 4 animals in today. Compared to our 12 last night. haha.
Well let's see...not too much to catch you up on. Except on Sunday I went back to the Calvary Chapel that Luke and I went to while he was here. I absolutely love it. The pastor is great and I feel like both times the message was written just for me. This week it was on fear and trust. Something I have come to known quite well these past few weeks. The few days before this sermon, I was getting a little worried about my job. Just worried that I wouldn't be able to do well and handle all the tasks that I would be given. But last Sunday's message helped SO much. It made me really think about what I am fearing and why. There is no reason to fear failure. I know I can do this. God is here with me:).
While I was at church on Sunday I went up to the info desk to ask about the college ministry. The woman there quickly grabbed the college pastor who just so happened to be standing right next to me. He was really nice and invited me to the college group on Monday night. I was really excited to meet some new people....untilllll about 30 minutes before I was going to the group. As I am sure you all know, I am not exactly the textbook "extravert." In fact, going to something like this, all alone, is totally out of my character. I got out of work late that night so I almost made that an excuse not to go. I didn't want to walk in to the group already praying and be that awkward new girl-ha. But I called Rachel who gave me the advice of "well, just do it, at least if you don't like it, you were late and already missed part of it." (lol) . That didn't get me completely convinced either. So I called Luke who gave me the pep talk I needed to force myself to go. Also, I could feel God telling me... you need to go, you need to go. Sorry Luke, that may have given me a bit bigger push;). So I pulled up to this house in the country that the church rents and saw people playing volleyball and hanging out outside. Once I parked I literally sat in my car for a good 3 minutes convincing myself to get out. Haha. I am ridiculous. Anyway, after reluctantly getting out of my car I walked up and stood off to the side for a very long, awkward minute until 2 girls walked up. I turned toward them and smiled and one of them introduced herself to me. Her name was Kelly and her friend's name was Hannah. They were VERY nice. They then introduced me to their friend Selby (who happens to live in Novato). These are the sweetest people I have met in a long time. I was SO relieved! After 5 minutes of talking to Kelly and after she found out I was new in town she said "Oh I'm so excited! Can we please be friends!" haha. She's awesome.
So the bible study would not start. It was supposed to start at 7 and by the time 8pm rolled around, the 4 of us were getting a little antsy. The girls all agreed that ice cream sounded great so they all wanted to do our own small group bible study. So, since no one else had really bothered to talk to me and most of the people there actually seemed like high school students, I figured..why not? So, we drove up even more north to Santa Rosa (where 2 of the girls live) and went to a little cafe' called Aromas. The four of us had a GREAT bible study on the beattitudes. We used the book that the whole college group was using. Basically, I just had a really great night. Those girls were so welcoming and accepting. I got all their numbers and I am going to the Friday night worship service with Hannah this Friday. I am so glad that I trusted God and just went. He is awesome.
I've also been getting along really well with my roommate Marielle. It kinda stinks though because we both have pretty crazy schedules. But last night we found time to go see "Up" which was SO cute! I absolutely loved that movie. So yeah, everything is going fairly well. The center's ribbon cutting ceremony is this Friday and apparently, Minnie Driver is going to be there! haha. She is shooting a commercial for Dawn soap at our facility. Pretty crazy huh? We have been all over the news lately. Oh! And I am super excited about Luke being able to come visit me again:) We found out that he can use my free ticket from Southwest and will be out here the day before my birthday:) Yay! I hope everyone is doing well. Love and miss you all!
So, I am actually writing today's entry from work- which is crazy because it's NEVER this slow! Today has been a nice break. There were only 2 of us in the stranding office today (which isn't that unusual because there are only 4 of us haha), but Lauren left at 3:30 which leaves me here all by myself until 8PM. AH! Yes, that's right... I am in charge of the entire rescue line and response right now...pretty crazy. Anyway..today hasn't been bad at all. Only 4 animals in today. Compared to our 12 last night. haha.
Well let's see...not too much to catch you up on. Except on Sunday I went back to the Calvary Chapel that Luke and I went to while he was here. I absolutely love it. The pastor is great and I feel like both times the message was written just for me. This week it was on fear and trust. Something I have come to known quite well these past few weeks. The few days before this sermon, I was getting a little worried about my job. Just worried that I wouldn't be able to do well and handle all the tasks that I would be given. But last Sunday's message helped SO much. It made me really think about what I am fearing and why. There is no reason to fear failure. I know I can do this. God is here with me:).
While I was at church on Sunday I went up to the info desk to ask about the college ministry. The woman there quickly grabbed the college pastor who just so happened to be standing right next to me. He was really nice and invited me to the college group on Monday night. I was really excited to meet some new people....untilllll about 30 minutes before I was going to the group. As I am sure you all know, I am not exactly the textbook "extravert." In fact, going to something like this, all alone, is totally out of my character. I got out of work late that night so I almost made that an excuse not to go. I didn't want to walk in to the group already praying and be that awkward new girl-ha. But I called Rachel who gave me the advice of "well, just do it, at least if you don't like it, you were late and already missed part of it." (lol) . That didn't get me completely convinced either. So I called Luke who gave me the pep talk I needed to force myself to go. Also, I could feel God telling me... you need to go, you need to go. Sorry Luke, that may have given me a bit bigger push;). So I pulled up to this house in the country that the church rents and saw people playing volleyball and hanging out outside. Once I parked I literally sat in my car for a good 3 minutes convincing myself to get out. Haha. I am ridiculous. Anyway, after reluctantly getting out of my car I walked up and stood off to the side for a very long, awkward minute until 2 girls walked up. I turned toward them and smiled and one of them introduced herself to me. Her name was Kelly and her friend's name was Hannah. They were VERY nice. They then introduced me to their friend Selby (who happens to live in Novato). These are the sweetest people I have met in a long time. I was SO relieved! After 5 minutes of talking to Kelly and after she found out I was new in town she said "Oh I'm so excited! Can we please be friends!" haha. She's awesome.
So the bible study would not start. It was supposed to start at 7 and by the time 8pm rolled around, the 4 of us were getting a little antsy. The girls all agreed that ice cream sounded great so they all wanted to do our own small group bible study. So, since no one else had really bothered to talk to me and most of the people there actually seemed like high school students, I figured..why not? So, we drove up even more north to Santa Rosa (where 2 of the girls live) and went to a little cafe' called Aromas. The four of us had a GREAT bible study on the beattitudes. We used the book that the whole college group was using. Basically, I just had a really great night. Those girls were so welcoming and accepting. I got all their numbers and I am going to the Friday night worship service with Hannah this Friday. I am so glad that I trusted God and just went. He is awesome.
I've also been getting along really well with my roommate Marielle. It kinda stinks though because we both have pretty crazy schedules. But last night we found time to go see "Up" which was SO cute! I absolutely loved that movie. So yeah, everything is going fairly well. The center's ribbon cutting ceremony is this Friday and apparently, Minnie Driver is going to be there! haha. She is shooting a commercial for Dawn soap at our facility. Pretty crazy huh? We have been all over the news lately. Oh! And I am super excited about Luke being able to come visit me again:) We found out that he can use my free ticket from Southwest and will be out here the day before my birthday:) Yay! I hope everyone is doing well. Love and miss you all!
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