At long last...

For the past several weeks, I have been stressing out about one thing. I had yet to receive my formal acceptance into la Universidad de Deusto in Bilbao, Spain. I'd been accepted into the program here at GVSU, but not in Spain. I had hit the point where my prayers went something like "Jesus, make me more like you. And could I please get my letter from Spain ASAP? Help me to become a strong holy woman of God and get into the University of Deusto..." I think you get the general idea.
I was so worried/stressed that this morning, I had my housemate Christina check my email for me. I knew the acceptance letter would be coming soon and I knew it would be coming to my email. But I couldn't handle one more day that dejected, rejected feeling of checking my email in the morning and seeing nothing from Spain. And then Christina opened my email account and said, "So, do you want me to read the email to you?" She started reading it to me and then she let me look at it. It was an amazingly peaceful moment.
So now I'm filling out the questionnaire for family housing. I'm hoping to live with a family; maybe even a Catholic family but that's probably too much to ask. But I'll keep praying. It probably won't be prayers along the lines of "Father, make me a strong, holy woman of God and please let me live with a Catholic family."
Pero, ahora, estoy feliz con el hecho que puedo asistir la Universidad de Deusto.

My left foot-paw!

This past summer I attended Campus Outreach Academy (COA), a program run by University Christian Outreach (UCO) to train and form good Christian leaders to evangelize on today's college campuses. This was a wonderful experience and I'm so grateful that I went. During numerous prayer times those two weeks, we heard many prophetic words and scripture passages telling us to prepare for times of sorrow, struggle, trial, and suffering. Sitting here on my couch in Grand Rapids and looking back over the past year, I've really started to realize that my many struggles these past nine months have been spiritual warfare more than anything else.
First, in September, there was my bout with walking pneumonia. This was a stressful time and in some ways changed the way I prayed and the things I requested of God.
This was followed by several months of simple, occasional health issues related to anemia, a migraine here or there, and stress/winter related fun.
Then, in January, I went to the UCO Winter Conference. And, as I realized the other day, I haven't been completely physically healthy since then. My migraines got to the point where I had a few that I thought were going to kill me. Then, my breathing problems, which turned out to be allergy-induced asthma rather than bronchitis, came along. And then, there was the long and painful saga of my left leg. (Side note: For some reason, I was just reminded of a comment a friend of mine once made that went something along the lines of "Identity crisis, my left foot-paw!" She was referencing this excellent series of children's books.)
My leg crisis began when I fell on the ice on my way to the bus-stop after work one jolly, cold night in February. I heard a distinct pop coming from my left knee but being in a hurry and rather tired, I thought nothing of it and headed home for the evening. My knee continued to hurt for a few days but I chalked that up to the fact that I was working six to eight hours a day most days that week. And I had spring break a few weeks later, so my leg seemed to heal and I went back to my normal life.
Unfortunately, my leg did not heal. Instead, I frequently found myself in pain after walking or running for a long time. This situation worsened as time went by and I started finding myself frequently packing my knee in ice. And Greg and Kyle frequently began pressing me to go see a doctor. So finally, right before finals week, I consented and made a doctor's appointment. The day after I finished my last final, Kyle's twin brother, Alex, drove me to Ann Arbor, and then Jenny Pink drove me to the doctor's office. The doc ordered an MRI and said I was looking at one of two situations. Either I had a torn meniscus (which would mean surgery and weeks in bed) or a sprained LCL. So, I made an appointment for and MRI the following Wednesday. And then I began wearing a knee brace and starting using crutches to hobble around the world. Then, I had my MRI and the following day found out these shocking results: sprained ACL (not too bad, just means I need physical therapy when I move back to Ann Arbor in late June) and arthritis.
Yep, I have arthritis. So I'm going to spend the rest of my life struggling with arthritis.

And yet, I know that in all of this, God will be with me and love me and support me.
More on this story later...I'm tired but I'd love to tell you about the ways that God has used this situation to bless me in the past few days.

More on my health...

So this past Thursday after classes, my dear mother picked me up from my domicile and drove me home to Ann Arbor. Aside from spending some quality time with the Sneezes and Miss Jenny Pink, I made time in my busy social calender to visit the doctor. The visit revealed a few things. I do not have bronchitis and have not had it for several months. Instead, it would appear that I have allergies (seasonal as well as to things such as dust and mold) and these allergies are creating an asthmatic situation in my lungs. Thus, I am not nearly as close to death as was previously suspected. I am on more medications than ever...I think four is an all-time high for me although no where near as high as many people I know, especially those over the age of seventy.

This news is, in my opinion, pretty much fantastic and calls for a celebration. I think the best possible way to celebrate would be to study until my eyes fall out of their sockets and write as many papers about inane topics as possible all while preparing presentations on topics about which I don't give a darn. After this, I will take difficult tests about things that I may or may not care about, depending on the subject matter at hand. After these examinations, I will give myself ten days to relax and then I will go back to the old grindstone and take two classes for six weeks. And then I will rejoice in the coming of summer.

But for now...check out these pictures of a west Michigan spring that I took while wondering GV's campus last week.

This is the pond behind the library looking out towards the performing arts center.












Spring has sprung...













Have a lovely week!

My guardian angel has blue eyes

So I have a little tale to tell y'all...
Last Saturday night, I was hanging out with my friends Mark, Lauren, Nicole, Clarissa, Kyle, and Alex at Mark's apartment. Around midnight, I started feeling a little weird so Kyle decided to round up the troops and take me home. Once he had Alex (his twin brother), Clarissa, Nicole, and I settled in his mom's van, he starting driving. We'd made it about a minute or two from the apartment when my breathing became weird, gasping almost like a scream. It apparently sounded like I was hyperventilating. So, Kyle asked me if I wanted to go home or to the hospital. I very insistently (and stubbornly and stupidly) demanded to go home. So Kyle drove me home. Once home, Clarissa rushed me into the house where my roommates and that good-old-fashioned paper bag trick did us all a few favors. Then I went to bed...
Monday morning, I called my doctor back home who told me to come in as soon as possible. Thusly, I made arrangements for my mom (who is on spring break this week) to come pick me up today and take me home to see the doctor. The nurse also told me that if anything funky happened with my breathing between Monday and Friday to immediately get my butt to urgent care.
Then came yesterday. My breathing had been a little painful all week but yesterday afternoon, inhaling and exhaling had become a painful, burning process. So, after my 3:00 to 4:15 class, I made my way across campus to my 4:30-5:45 class. But while sitting there before class, I shot Kyle a text message telling him about the burning breaths thing. He responded that he could take me to the hospital if I wanted; just let him now. And he was leaving campus at 5:00. It was 4:34 then.
I considered my options and said a quick prayer before gathering my things up and running out of class while frantically dialing Kyle's number. We agreed to meet at Kirkhoff ASAP and I started walking while he started driving. He and Mark were waiting for me when I got there and they drove me to the hospital. As we drove, he called his wonderful mother who told us which hospital to go to and even offered to make the half hour drive down from her house to the hospital to help out.
As it happened, someone had alerted Noelle, my roommate, to the situation and she alerted my brother, Greg. They came to the hospital but then we decided just to have Greg stay with me and Kyle would take Mark and Noelle back to my house where they were all expected for dinner. Greg stayed with me through hours of questions and waiting and watching other people get checked. He waited while I had a chest x-ray taken and then while we waited for two hours for it to be read. Then came the verdict.....BRONCHITIS. So they gave me a prescription for an antibiotic or two and an inhaler. But of course, they discharged me at 9pm so we'll have to wait a bit on filling them. I'm still going home today to see the doc tomorrow, by the way.
But afterwards, Greg took me to the end of the UCO meeting. And that was great, seeing all these people who had been praying for me. Afterwards, we went to Applebee's to get me some dinner; it was 10pm and I hadn't eaten yet. Before we left, Kyle (who has blue eyes, by the by) gave me a hug and told me not to do anything stupid...
It was an amazing experience, realizing that while being sick sucks there are people around me who love me and care about me. They were such a sign of God's presence in my life yesterday. And it was one of those days where I felt like my guardian angel was inhabiting the body of someone near me. And yesterday, that person had blue eyes.