White Glove

So white glove at Liberty comes at the end of every semester. It requires deep cleaning, i.e. moving desks, dressers, beds, dusting base boards, shelves etc. It seems like a daunting task but we dedicate an entire hall meeting to setting expectations and explaining requirements. On top of this we post instructions on the hall as to what needs to be done before you can check out with us and leave for break. With this said I fail to see why it seems to be so impossible to be ready at your appointed time. You are the one who chooses when your check out time will be and it is you who will be charged for the tasks that are not completed. And yet every semester since becoming an RA we have had to check and re-check and write post-its of what needs to be done in order to complete the check out requirements.

But I have come up with a solution! Next semester at the end of the year I am going to buckle down and not charge their Liberty accounts but the hall fund. For every time I have to return to a girls room and re-check it because it was not completed at the time of their appointment I am going to charge them five dollars which will be given to the hall fund. Since most of our girls claim to be the typical broke college student this should motivate them to do a more accurate job in their cleaning.

If you have any other suggestions on how I may motivate my girls please feel free to send them to me.

Love from Liberty,
Peggy

One of those days

Do you even have one of those days where, you thought you had nothing to do and it turns out that you have a lot to do, and you don't know how it is all going to get done and then, because you have so much to do it makes you want to do nothing? Today is like that for me. And as I am sitting here procrastinating when I should be writing my paper that I just found out is already late because it was do at noon and not a midnight, I opened a piece of Dove chocolate, you know one with the little messages inside, and it said "remind yourself that it's okay not to be perfect." Sometimes God just gives you a little break and reminds you not to sweat the small stuff. Hope your day is productive and that you get done all that God wishes for you to accomplish for today.

Love From Liberty,
Peggy

Oh D.C.

So the head of office of student leadership is Dwayne Carson and he loves acrostics and is famous for his quotable moments. Here are an example of a few: "its not about titles its about towels", "if you see a turtle on a fence post it didn't get there by its self". And sometimes he says some really funny things, I am not sure that he always means to but they are still entertaining. Please note that the following quotes are taken completely out of context. "You wouldn't stick your tongue in your brother or sister's mouth would you?" "Some people are like seagulls, showing up making a lot of noise about nothing and crapping all over everything." "We work with a lot of spoiled, rotten, selfish, brats." "People are more important than policies because people have to pee." It is these moments that make RA meetings bearable and also remind me to think before I speak.

Love From Liberty,
Peggy

A new look.

So I thought I would try something new for a while. In spirit with the upcoming holidays I have changed my background. Soon it will be Christmas which will warrant another change. I love Christmas it is my favorite holiday. I am proud to say that I have already started my Christmas shopping and what I haven't bought I know what I am getting.

I am really excited for Thanksgiving this year. I am going to TN with my friend Kelsey to her grandmother's house. I am looking forward to sleep and peace and quiet and time to reflect. No deadlines or group projects or curfew checks just hanging out and helping in whatever way I can. Just over a week to go and then I am home free!

Tell me what you think about the background, I would love to hear!

Love from Liberty,
Peggy

Swimming

Having been a lifeguard for over 6 years now and on swim team since I was in the sixth grade I have a problem. I don't know how to just be in the water without actually swimming. People will say lets go swimming and I automatically think they mean swimming laps. The problem comes when we get to the pool and I realize that they meant just stand around in the water and talk. I don't understand this. I mean if I am going to have to wash my hair we might as well be exercising. If we were going to just talk why didn't we just go get coffee or something? Something that wouldn't require me to change and require a shower afterwards.

On the other hand I have been teaching swimming lessons for so long and getting in the pool with people who want to "go swimming" that I think I had forgotten how much I actually enjoy swimming laps. It is true that it takes a lot of energy and time but somehow I always walk away energized from it and in a happier mood. I used to use swimming as a stress reliever, a time that I could clear my head or truly focus on a problem. Tonight at work we swam 500 meters. Which isn't a lot but when you are out of shape and practice it takes quite a bit if energy. But when I was done I felt good like I had accomplished something. I think I was also a little prideful that I finished 4 lengths ahead of our "head guard" when we started at the same time. So my goal for this week is to go swimming at least once and then at lease one more time next weekend for at least 20 min. each time.

P.S. in case you didn't know swimming is the best form of exercise because it works every muscle in your body simultaneously and it is easier on your joints than running. I also feel that it is very peaceful and empowering knowing that you can survive with out your feet on solid ground and in something so powerful. It gives me a greater respect for the Lord as he walked on the water and was able to control the waves with his words. Knowing that God is in control even of the things we can't grasp in our hands. Just some thoughts.

Love from Liberty,
Peggy

Lessons from the Lord

I have a tendency to get very emotionally involved in things very quickly. I can't help it. I am a crier. I cry at everything. And I don't think people really believe me when I tell them this because I try really hard not to cry in front of others mainly because they think I am ridiculous for crying at something so silly and two because I am not a pretty crier. You know what I mean. Some people cry and they shed a few tears and they get the look of a lost kitten and they are cute when they cry. I am not one of these people. When I truly cry I hyperventilate, I can't breath or talk. I will try but it really doesn't work. I get red a blotchy and worse of all I can't stop. I will cry and cry and cry until really I am over whatever it was that I was crying about in the first place but I will continue to cry because I can't make my self stop. I thin this is the reason that I hate goodbyes so much is that I am so emotionally involved that I start to cry.

Anyway the point of this post is that sometimes when I hear God telling me to invest in someone who I know is not making good decisions I hesitate because I know that very soon after I begin investing into them I will become emotionally involved and when this happens you instantly make your self valuable. This summer I became very invested in the lives of one of my campers. She was dealing with a lot of hurt and past issues that had led to current bad decisions in her live. The Lord really burdened my heart for her and really broke me when I was listening to her story and trying to know how to minister to her. Ever since this I think that I have held back a little in getting involved in the lives of girls that I know are going to become more emotionally invested to the point that will cause me to be vulnerable.

Yesterday and today I have had the honor of listening to two different girls pour out their burdens to me. And as a sat listening to them my heart melted and I felt my self beginning to soften and to want to fix all their woes. It is a scary feeling to mourn with those that mourn, to bear one another's burdens, to have your heart broken with the things that break Gods. But this is what the Lord has been teaching me the last two days. To stop worrying about the things of the world and to instead invest in the things of the Lord.

I have been interrupted several times during this post and so this is not accurately conveying what I am trying to say. I guess my point is that the Lord has been opening my heart again to be emotionally invested in people that I know may not be receptive to in instruction that I have to give but that perhaps more than them being broken I need to be broken with the things that break God's heart. And by sharing in his heart I will continue to see then need for Him and his love and the gospel even in a Bible saturated place such as Liberty or the US. My prayer is that I will soon be able to rejoice with those that rejoice.

Love From Liberty,
Peggy

Campus Serve

This year I have been getting involved in campus serve. It is where Liberty students meet each Sat. morning and go out into the community to show that we care. There are 8 inner city sites where you can play with kids, there are also 2 nursing homes where as you may have read from an earlier post was not the place for me. Campus serve also has a group called respond that goes to the different inner city sites and disciples the adults and does more door to door evangelism. And the last group is called helps. They go around helping with practical needs such as painting, building, picking up trash, etc. The site that I have really invested in is called the Meadows. It is a newer site just started this year and I like it Beckie it is a chance to make a fresh start. Some of the other sites have had the same people going for four years so the kids are already attached to certain people and you can kind of feel left out but the Meadows just started.

A couple of girls on my hall and I have really started to get close to 4 of the little girls at the site. We took them to a football game at Liberty one day and they were so well behaved that then next week we decided to take them with us to our brother / sister dorm event of pumpkin picking. They are such good listeners and don't complain so it is easy to take them places.

Unfortunately, I haven't been in two weeks and I must say that I am beginning to miss them. They just look at everything so differently and everything is so exciting and new to them. It gives me a fresh perspective and a more positive attitude toward what ever we are doing. I think maybe next week we will take them to the Nature Zone downtown. They have all kinds of crazy animals, I think that they will really enjoy it.