Chapter Ninety: Explore

It's just about midterm season, so you can only imagine how busy our roommates and I are. This is obvious upon glancing at our messy rooms: papers strewn everywhere, textbooks scattered on the bed, missing pencils, piles of dirty laundry, Awake chocolate bar wrappers.... It's been a little crazy. Thanksgiving break has never seemed so far away.
Despite the business in our lives, we do make our best effort to find some time to relieve stress and have a little fun. Something that is important for all college students, or anyone who is twentysomething really, is the need to define ourselves. We have an intense need to discover who we really are. This takes a lot of alone time, thinking, and, most of all, exploring. Joining organizations, getting out of our comfort zones...these things aid us in discovering who we really are, and who we want to be. This past week was spent doing a lot of exploring...
For example, this past weekend, Bailey went on a fall retreat with her church. She did this last year and fell in love with a church near campus and has become a part of an awesome community! Spending a weekend with Christ is always a good idea. Speaking of exploring, Bailey has been accepted to the World Race, an intense 11-month-long mission trip that visits several countries. Bailey has started a blog and I encourage you to support through prayer. Check out her blog here!

This last Thursday, in honor of Luke's birthday (October 14), we went hiking at Palo Duro Canyon, which is about 2 hours outside of Lubbock. We had aspirations to do so much, but with limited time (and class tomorrow morning) we didn't get to achieve all of our goals. Despite this, we had so much fun exploring our chosen trail. I love geology, and the Earth in general, so taking time outside of the city (as urban as Lubbock is) to get my hands dirty and a little sweaty was so much fun. I'm pretty sure Luke enjoyed it, too!

While on our trail, we had lots of fun talking about life over granola bars and exploring rock formations around us. Sarah is a little scared of heights, but that didn't stop me from getting killer views (or pictures).

Towards the end of the day, we found a nice little spot and enjoyed the sunset in the canyon. We watched the clouds turn to cotton candy and listened as the soundtrack for the moon began. It's times like these that really allow us to appreciate life...and give us an overwhelming desire to camp! We will definitely visit Palo Duro Canyon again (especially since I didn't get to go to the gift shop!).

This past weekend, Mary, Nikki, Esther, Carolina, Celia, and I all celebrated Carolina's birthday (Happy Birthday!!) at Olive Garden on Friday night, and then followed that up the following evening by attending a rave, Foam Wonderland. This was my first rave, first Foam party, and first time in the pit. It was an experience, for sure...but it was so much fun! I was so proud of my group for staying the entire night (it ended at midnight) and not being afraid to dance and just have fun. My body really, really complained the next day, but the memories made it all worth it.

Here's your Pet Update:
Farore, my plant, is doing really well. This last week was the last week it spent in the greenhouse, so now it's home with me. This week it has started to bloom! Farore is rarely droopy anymore, which makes me extremely happy.

Hard work pays off

This week in Animal lab we had a surprise. When I went to pick up Phoebe (from the community cage, to put in her individual, observation cage) I couldn't find her anywhere! My TA noticed my struggle and informed me that something happened to Phoebe over the weekend...He pulls up a slide on the projector screen and all we see is a white, almost transparent cockroach.

Basically, Phoebe molted. 

So, what's the big deal?

Well then my TA pulls out this cockroach from the community cage and says, "Phoebe has horns..." 

Female cockroaches do not have horns....

Turns out, Phoebe was a male all along! Oops!

This isn't really a huge deal...But I really feel like it's a different cockroach. Oh, well. We still don't like it. We decided that Phoebe isn't really a great name for a male, so we decided to rename our cockroach Bruce. 

The "Horns" are the protruding features on the head.

My frog, Tiny Tim, is doing great. He sings and swims and just overall has a good time. He studies with me late at night, so I'm pretty sure he could ace my tests. He just has those eyes that seem like he is full of wisdom...

In other news, while this isn't necessarily my "pet," it is the official Greenhouse pet. I am pleased to introduce Mr. Whiskers, the new kitten that is in the Pest Control Department. He is very friendly, cuddly, and playful. I am oftentimes tempted to take him home, but I know Mr. Whiskers likes hanging out with all the plants.

It's been pretty eventful these last couple of weeks, and the fun hasn't stopped yet! Mary and I are staffing the Raider Awakening Retreat. We are so excited, especially since we just retreated last spring. When we retreated, our eyes were opened to the beautiful community around us. I've made so many friends and I have just started! I am so blessed I was given the opportunity to retreat, and I'm even more blessed I get to staff! To add to the excitement, Luke (Yes, the Luke Henderson) and a couple of other friends (Kathleen, I'm looking at you) retreating! We cannot wait to see what the weekend has in store for them. (Please keep us in your prayers!)

Stay in touch, October isn't quite over yet. I still have Halloween to blog about! Thanks for reading.