oh hey, I've moved on to better things
Thursday, November 19

THIS BLOGGER HAS MOVED. PLEASE FOLLOW HER TO
WWW.HALEY-ELISABETH.TUMBLR.COM

I mean, it's only natural that I would use tumblr since I used to tumble... :)

Posted by hales 2:31:00 PM 0 comments

quick update on life. pictures provided.
Wednesday, October 28

It's been a while since I posted last… and I have a lot to write about...
I will provide an outline of what I am about to discuss...
1. Tailgate and adventures that followed
2. U2 concert that I did not attend
3. Kids conference
4. The GRE and grad school
5. Power
6. Reading
7. Theatre class
8. Restlessness
9. Homecoming
10. Pictures
11. Pine Cove is here!

Ok. Let's see.
1. I went to the Pine Cove tailgate at A&M… It was great fun. Tons of people… We ran out of food before I got any… just because I am slow. So Jason took me with him to the Sky Ranch tailgate and a nice man made me hot dog. Nick got a shirt… haha.

2. U2 was in Dallas… I wanted to go so bad. My brother, Aaron, bought a ticket months ago… And then my mom and other brother, Clay, got to go for free with the One Campaign. They were just rocking out, having a blast, when Bono looked out into the crowd, saw Clay, and motioned for him to come to him. And then Bono pulled Clay on stage, ran around with him, sang "City of Blinding Lights" to him, and gave him his glasses. Check out my facebook for videos. Its unbelievable. I put on the glasses the other day. I felt powerful.

3. Last weekend, I worked a kids conference. I had forgotten what it felt like to be famous. All these kids saying, "Hey, Troggie!" or "Hi Haley!" I didn't know who half the kids were… but, they knew me! haha… One of the Forgies, Grant, has been a dear friend since before my freshman year at Baylor. He's great. So great, in fact, that while performing in a Towers skit, he jumped off the stage and broke his leg. But instead of falling onto the floor crying like any sensible person would have done, he got up, finished the skit, and climbed all the way up stairs! And then broke down and said he couldn't stand up… I got to see Blair and Abby and Allison… I spent the night with Blair and Abby at the Murphy's house. Katie is a great host.

4. I have been preparing for grad school all semester. Too bad I should have been preparing all my life. I have been so stressed out about it.. completely freaking out. So much to do: Letters of recommendation, resumes, personal statements, GPA, GRE, application fees… Oh and just figuring out which ones I want to apply for. I have really been looking at schools in Denver, Virginia, DC, and other Northeast states. And then came the total freak out. I just don't have enough time to do all of those things at the same time! So I think I am going to wait a year to go to grad school. Get a job doing research somewhere. I might still apply to some schools nearby but that's just because my dad wants me to. I took the GRE on Friday. It went better than I expected. I got good enough to get into grad school! whoop! But it wasn't good enough for my taste. But at least I know I am average. haha

5. I have just been so encouraged lately by Ephesians 1… The fact that the same power that conquered the grave LIVES in ME. wow. Why do I ever worry? He defeated death! And He lives in me! And has given me every spiritual blessing… I am so lame for worrying about life.

6. I decided that I am going to read the top 100 books according to Modern library… I have already read some of them. But I just love reading and I feel like it can teach you so much and I love entering different worlds, especially the classics. I want a library. I need a book shelf. My 2nd favorite book, Grapes of Wrath, is number 2 on the list… My favorite, Tale of Two Cities, didn't make the list, but that doesn't surprise me. I am surprised, however, that Pride and Prejudice isn't on there. That book is SO much better than "O Pioneers!" or "All the King's Men"… But that is just my personal opinion.

7. I learn quite a bit from my Theatre class… some of what I learn is actually about theatre, and all the rest is about the failure of American public schools. Last week, we were talking about Classical Greek theatre. Our teacher was talking about the common Greek playwrights, like Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes… I LOVE Aeschylus… We read the Oresteia in 8th grade at Coram Deo. My teacher informed us that we didn't actually have to know anything about what Aeschylus wrote, including the actual names of each of his plays in the trilogy, because that is too much to remember. I'm sorry… How hard is it to remember "Agamemnon," "The Libation Bearers," and "The Eumenides"? I feel like it should be a requirement to graduate high school to have read each of these plays. First, they are so good. Second, their stories penetrate so many other parts of culture! I was appalled that barely anyone in there had not read them.
But then today happened. I was sitting in class, and our teacher asked us how many of us had read "Pilgrim's Progress." I think 5 people raised their hands. Maybe. This class has 300 students. Oh my gosh. Yet another book we read at Coram Deo in 6th grade. I can't even talk about this. So upsetting.

8. I have been so restless lately. I just want to be a vagabond and explore the world. I want to drive until I am way out of Texas and explore every little town all the way to Charlottesville, VA. I am so ready to leave Texas for a little while. I want to explore the Northeast, with all its history and culture. I love that everything is so close together. Texas is so big that half way to anywhere is just getting out. I love Texas, I love living here… I am just ready to explore.

9. Homecoming was this weekend! It was so fun! My family came… we went to the bonfire, to the parade, and to the football game… It was Baylor's 100th homecoming! hooray!
10. The roomies took pics the other day. I have added some so you can get a sample! Check out facebook for more…









11. Pine Cove is here this week! Lunch with Adrianne today! whoop!

Posted by hales 10:52:00 AM 0 comments

pictures of my day.
Wednesday, September 23

Hello... I am waiting for my theatre class to start... I got out of social psych early because we had a test... which didn't go as bad as I was expecting...
I was sitting outside for a while, but I got so cold! I have decided that I am going to make this a day-long blog following what I am doing with pictures and commentary... and then other important information inbetween.
Anyway, until just now, I was sitting outside the science building, and it was so quiet and peaceful... All you could really hear were the fountains and the wind blowing...Yup... But then I was getting a little chilly... because it is currently extremely overcast and 66 degrees outside... so I moved inside the science building...
So this is where I am sitting now.
Updates:
Wednesday, I had my theatre exam. I got a 100. And was done in less than 15 minutes. SCORE.
Thursday, instead of having coffee with a friend, who is the social worker for UBC, we went on an adventure with our community pastor and hid David Crowder Band cd release party tickets in the library... they were giving them away on twitter for the partayy that was on Monday. It was fun.
This weekend, I went to camp. I went to the main office and sat in Jason's office while he was in a meeting with Kevin and went to Sonic with Adrianne and talked to Matt and Amanda and a random assortment of forge students who stopped by at different times.
I definitely miss the main office the most from everything this summer. aahhh I love that place. And the people there.
The conference at the Towers this weekend was Mother/Son. aka AWESOME. Those conferences are always so sweet. There were so many little 5 year old boys who couldn't read and they were so cute! I worked at the high ropes course all afternoon and it was so great to get to talk to different moms and sons... I talked to a couple kindergartners about Star Wars... Another precious 2nd grade baylor bear about the differences between an iPod nano and an iTouch... One mom had just started sending her 6th grader to Coram Deo... Well that's convenient, I started going to Coram Deo in 6th grade... We talked about the different pros and cons about CDA and I tried to assure her that if he could stick with it, the school wouldn't kill him and he would probably even leave for college more prepared than most.
My bears lost on Saturday. Lame.
On Sunday, I talked to two moms about abuse and community... It was definitely interesting, because I found these women asking me for advise... I had never thought about the possibility of these middle-aged women looking up to the college students that volunteered for a weekend as spiritual role-models... I'm so glad we were able to provide encouragement and refreshment for them that weekend. The speaker was a Baylor graduate and has a daughter who is a senior at Baylor right now! She was great!
On Sunday, I went to Sarah and Meloni's house... Brittany wasn't there, but I sat in Sarah's room and we talked about life, goals, and dreams...
Now, I am going to walk to class... It is quite dreary outside... But I love it!
Ok, well now I am sitting in class waiting for it to start... I am sitting by two freshmen. Oh freshmen... you bring me such unintentional joy...
Oh, we have a "special" guest... the dean of the theatre department...
Memorable quotes from walking to class this morning:
* "It's ok, because today is Wednesday, which means it's almost Friday..."
* There was another great line but it is slightly offensive so I decided not to write it.
CD review for the week:
Church Music- David Crowder Band
LOVE it. My favorite song is probably Shadows... but I really like Eastern Hymn, and their version of How He Loves too...
Go check it out, yo!
I love the line from Eastern Hymn:

"In His shadow, there is peace.
In His arms, there is rest.
In His word, there is hope.
In His hands, there is grace."
[In The End]

I've decided I don't like the term, "Christian music..." "oohhh I only listen to Christian music, I am such a good Christian..." or "If you don't listen to Christian music, you love Satan..." What does that term even mean!? How can music be a Christian? Does it have to be about Jesus to be Christian, or just honorable lyrics by Christians? Is it the Christian label? Relient K is with a Christian label but most of their songs have nothing to do with Jesus... Does that mean it isn't Christian music and shouldn't be listened to at church, etc.? What about Eisley? The family isn't on a Christian label, doesn't sing all the time about Jesus, but leads worship at a church in Tyler... What about the instrumental pieces by Michael W. Smith and Stephen Curtis Chapman? I'm just going to go out on a limb and say that most "Christian" music is LAME. It's as if all these people want an excuse to be heard on the radio so they pretend they can write music and yell in a mic because they "can do all things through Christ..." Those people might be really nice and love Jesus a lot... But that doesn't mean they should be making music. It's the artists that get past the "Christian" theme and use their amazing talent to create art for God's glory that actually sound good. The other day at church, dcb played the theme song for the NFL because it was opening Sunday... No one was singing, but there were 6 guys and gnome on stage passionately worshiping the God who gave them the ability to make music.

ok, enough of that... After class, I went back to the apt and watched the office.
Me laying on my bed watching the office. This was the freak commercial on hulu while I was watching the office.
Guitar was canceled...
I went to work... only got hit in the face twice by girls doing backflips. Well, it was the same girl twice...
Then I came home and watched last year's sing acts with Lacey and Abbey...
Then watched Heroes... ooohhh man it was intense! And then Nick interrupted me... so I took pictures while talking to him/listening to him and Dan fight over something dumb.
Then I finished Heroes... Oh, hey Milo... You're cute.
And now I am going to finish reading for my BIC class... "The Importance of Living" by Lin Yutang. Bestseller, apparently.
Peace.

Posted by hales 11:38:00 AM 1 comments

Take Control...
Friday, September 11

hey-O!

well I have been meaning to update this thing for quite some time, but always found a reason not to...

I got my macbook pro!! And yesterday I made the most ADORABLE website on iWeb, but I don't want to have to pay for a website... boooo! I saved it just in case. haha.

Update on classes:
Social Psych- Still in the basics... aka not that interesting.
Theatre- Still super easy. And interesting. I have an exam on Wednesday, and it's my goal to get a 100. haha.
Guitar- I HATE the F and G7 chords!! What the heck!? F is just stupid and G7 KILLS my little hand...
Extreme Deviance- We have a group project, and my group is doing white supremacy. haha. ooh man. We are reading Tearoom Trade right now... I'm not going to write what it is about here, but seriously, it's WEIRD.
Intro to Sociology- Still easy. Still fun. Still a slight waste of time. ha.
BIC- Well, we are now into the core part of the class... China... and it's super interesting... Except for the fact that on Tuesday, I was assigned 92 pages of reading for Thursday. Yeah, bombed that quiz.

I had my first home group for UBC last night... it was stellar! I love my leaders... He is a professor in the film department and she is just great! We had taco salad and some great conversations and I really enjoyed it...

Ok so my word for the semester is Freedom... I've said that a few times... Anyway, I was sitting by Judge Baylor the other day between classes, studying for the gre, and this girl who I have never seen before walked by me, smiled, but kept going... I saw her stop, stand in one place for a few seconds, and then came back and was like, "This is going to sound so weird... But I just feel like I should ask you this... Is there anything I can be praying for you about?" I couldn't think of too much, but I shared a little piece of how I sometimes have anxiety attacks, and how I didn't want to get one that weekend with friends and family traveling... So she asked if she could pray for me there, and she did... and the first thing she said was, "Lord, just give her freedom from anxiety and fear..." YEAHH... FREEDOM... :) I wanted to tell her why that was so exciting, but I didn't...

I was reading in 2nd Corinthians the other day... and I just loved it so much! Paul talks so much about confidence, which is something I was really convicted of recently... I need to be confident in the promises God has given me, and I need to encourage others to grow in confidence as well. I love these verses:
* But thank God! He has made us His captives and continues to lead us along in Christ's triumphal procession. Now He uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume.-- I love that the analogy of a captive is used... Because we are free to be captivated... :) I love it.
* But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. For the Lord is the Spirit and wherever the SPirit of the Lord is, there is FREEDOM. So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord- who is the Spirit- makes us more and more like Him as we are changed into His glorious image.

So I started this last night, and was once again interrupted... my amazing friends had a little surprise for my birthday... that was a month ago... haha. And Blair and Allison and Abby and Lindsey came and surprised me! Ohhhh man I have missed them so much... I don't think I realized how much until I saw them... We went to dinner and then watched friends... The waitor, who happened to be a week 8 camper with me and Abby (ha), got me a free drink since it was my birthday... It was pretty good... The only problem I had with it was that it was artificially blue, and I don't eat artificially blue things... But it's ok, it didn't turn my mouth blue. haha.
Anyway, I love all of my roomies and friends so much and they just make my life so much more amazing...

Posted by hales 6:34:00 PM 0 comments

Seniors, 2010... wait, what?
Wednesday, September 2

Hello!
I don't really have a computer right now, which is why I have not posted in quite a while. Well, technically, as of a few hours ago, I have a computer... a freakin sweet brand new macbook pro. However, it is not in my hands right now. It is probably sitting on my dining room table with my siblings and parents drooling over it right now. I'm too happy to let that make me nervous. As badly as I want to drive home after class tomorrow to pick it up, I am going to wait until my brother drives through Waco on Friday. I can wait that long, right?

Well let's see. Life is good. Senior year is REALLY good. Besides worrying about grad school and studying for the GRE, it's a walk in the park, and I'm loving it. Here is a summary of each of my classes, in the order that I have them. Of course.

* Social Psychology- My only psychology class this semester... I love my teacher and I love the subject. People are so interesting. I am an observer, and this class is about what observers observe when they are observing! Thus, I am a fan. Right now we are going over research methods... Something we learn over again in every single psych class... and in case we didn't get it all those times, we had an entire class on it... called Research Methods in Psychology... Needless to say this week hasn't been too difficult.

* Theatre Appreciation- With 300 of my favorite Baylor freshmen. This was when I realized that I loved senior year. It's easy. My teacher is so great. She's like 4 years older than me, ps. And it's interesting. I mean, who doesn't like to take an easy class where you actually learn? I feel like it's helping me become a more well-rounded individual. And helping my GPA while I'm at it.

* Beginning Guitar- Besides the fact that my fingers HURT, I really like this class. My teacher is a little strange, but he knows what he's doing and is very eager to help. There are 14 of us, so it's small enough to make it personal. We haven't learned much yet... Just started chords... And of course we started with the chords that I have the most trouble with... C, G7, and F. Ouch. My fingers aren't long enough! But hopefully I will have them down soon.

* Extreme Deviance- Oh man. This class is so strange. And my professor is the strangest man I have ever experienced in my entire life. He needs to write a book. He tells the greatest stories of big foot hunts and ghost explorations and visiting Westborrow Baptist Church. He is just fascinated by people and their strange beliefs and will follow them around asking questions until they let him see for himself. This class is not hard. I'm not sure how it will apply to the rest of my life, but at least I'm learning something.

* Introduction to Sociology- Another freshman staple. But with my roommate! Hooray! There are 4 seniors in a group of 150 students. Our professor is an incredible woman. She's so nice and really wants everyone to learn. And wants to get to know every single one of us. She says, "Go bears go" after every single sentence. haha.

* BIC- World Cultures V- The class that could possibly ruin my 4.0. Oh well. We have spent the past 2 weeks talking about globalization. And the past couple days talking about how globalization and religion have worked together. Globalization is fascinating, really. Although I have gotten tired of the lectures, it has been interesting for the most part. After tomorrow, we will break into small groups for the rest of the semester, and each group has a different country/worldview that they are studying. My subject is China. I am excited because I am pretty sure China is going to take over the world over the next decade or so. The United States dynasty has ended and I believe China is next. I had my professor sophomore year and he's great. I'm excited to see how it goes.

I chose a word for this semester/year. Freedom. Toward the end of camp God really started drawing my attention to the concept of being free. I love the idea of being free in Christ! What does that look like? What does that even mean? I feel like there are so many levels we don't realize are there. I also love that it goes so well with my word for the summer, surrender. When I surrender, I am free! And when I abide, I am free to surrender! Oh, it works together so well! I cannot wait to see what God will teach me about freedom and my freedom in Him.

I am reading The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I have only read 2 chapters so far but I am really loving it. Here is one of my favorite quotes thus far:
(He is talking about cheap grace and how it's the "deadly enemy of the Church" and how it just involves living in the world and asthe world and being no different from the world...)

Posted by hales 11:30:00 PM 1 comments

Sweet Jesus Christ my Sanity
Saturday, August 22

So.... it's been a while... I really just haven't felt like posting for the past 6 weeks...
This post will be sans pictures, because my precious computer, Bobby, is having brain issues and won't function properly.
Let's go back a few weeks, shall we?
Week 6- good, rather uneventful.
Week 7- fine... nothing huge... sent kids home sick.
Week 8- Boom. I'm not sure if I actually claimed week 4 to be the worst week of all weeks, but if I did, it was premature. Week 8 started out just like any week... I took temperatures, everyone was fine, Monday went smoothly... And then Tuesday. Now, I hate Tuesdays at camp. They are by far always the worst days. I don't know why... Tuesdays are just hard. Tuesday week 4 was when our program director and a senior counselor and a counselor and 2 band members went home with the flu. Tuesdays are when everything starts.
Mk well on this particular Tuesday, a HUGE HUGE HUGE storm decides to come out of nowhere and swamp camp. Club was canceled. We really thought there was going to be a tornado. Finally, the storm calms... ish... and kids go to bed and program staff are setting up the dining hall for breakfast. That's when the power on the entire left side of camp goes out. The dining hall and all the girl cabins. Well, we set up for breakfast in the dark, and then discover that the fever room has been opened. Oooh the fever room. Each camp had to have a backup plan for all of the sick kids to stay to wait for their parents to come pick them up... If they have a fever high enough to get sent home, they get sent to the fever room... Which was the old dining hall. They got to watch movies and do crafts and eat all the dry cereal and fruit they could ever want.
Anyway, fever rooms opens Tuesday night... Counselors are dropping like flies. We had no work crew, every sr counselor guy was in a cabin, and one sr counselor girl was in a cabin, and all the band guys who could be spared were in cabins, and our worship leader and full time guest service staffer were senior counselors... So half of the camp has no power, it's still raining, trees have fallen down inbetween cabins, Doo Dad 2's roof is leaking... And now the fever room is open. The next morning at 7 I was trained on how to make calls from the fever room to let parents know their children were sick and needed to be taken home. Oh joy. Or joy killer, that's what you can call me now.
So from 7AM until midnight every night until Saturday I sat in the fever room... Helping where I could, entertaining children when I could, making bracelets all the other times, and calling parents when clipboards were handed to me. This was without a doubt the hardest part of my summer. I prayed over every single clipboard before I dialed just asking God to let them be understanding... I got some frustrated parents, but never any really mad ones... Every time I got to break free from the fever room, my phone would ring, and I would have to run back... I started saving parents' numbers in my phone with their children's names because I wouldn't know who was calling me... I didn't mind calling parents during the day that much... It was the calls at 11:30 at night... Oh man... I only broke down and cried once... during the week. The weekend is a different story.
It was so so so so hard and I hated every single second of it... But I am SO glad I got to go through it... I learned so much about surrendering my will and my desires and my fears... It wasn't about me... at all... I never want to go through it again and I would never wish it upon anyone, but it was still so good.
Week 9- Towers staff were put on flu medication... We really learned what the power of prayer looked like... Instead of praying and pleading God to just get us through the week, we prayed with anticipation of how He was going to protect us and change lives. We never opened up the fever room for the rest of the summer.
Weeks 10 and 11 were good... I don't remember much... Week 11, I was lonely... But that's ok. Saturday, when I said bye to the Main Office and my job there, I got so upset... I love that place and the people there... Even the hard parts of my job I absolutely loved...
After week 8, I had a breakthrough... Week 4, I had been learning about how God will literally make us rest... One of His promises is to provide peace and rest for us. It came in a physical way week 4. Week 8, the theme of rest was revisited... This time, it was emotional. I was so emotional exhausted, doing things I hated doing... Telling bad news to every single person I talked to, spending more time with sick people than healthy people... I was totally drained. But God provides emotional rest, too! And He doesn't even have to make us rest... He IS rest. When I am abiding in Him, He gives me what I need to find peace and rest. I have it with me! I was sharing this with the camp secretaries one day week 9, and one of them wrote me a note later with this verse in it:

Posted by hales 8:56:00 PM 1 comments

week 6, go hard
Sunday, July 5

Hola! So my shoulders and back are sore from using a computer all day... so this is kind of the last thing I want to be doing right now, but o well...
I'm sitting at Caffe Tazza in Tyler. It's a nice place... I got iced chai tea...

I can't believe first half is already over... the days and sometimes weeks were so long, but the half went so so fast... I didn't post after last week because I was such an emotional wreck, I couldn't bear thinking about it again... So, now that I am feeling better, here it goes... an edited version.

Week 4 was pretty terrible, not gonna lie. It all started with me saying, "I just feel like this is going to be a bad bad day..." on Tuesday morning. oh, Tuesday was the best of the bad days. Wednesday night ended late with most staff not getting much sleep... kids were getting sick and counselors were getting sick and the others were getting tired... just to be clear, there was not a flu outbreak at the towers... it was a virus of some sort... The same kind that any group of children anywhere could get because they lick their hands and eat mulch and touch everything and everyone. Thursday, the storm hit. We had to close down camp, and it was AWFUL. I spent all day with the sick kids, which just killed me emotionally. The next two days were spent cleaning the camp... there's a video on pinecove.com if you want to see what all was cleaned. aka everything. Mulch, trees, the sides of buildings... if a kid could touch it, it was bleached.

It was a pretty terrible week, and I would never wish it upon anyone... But what everyone gained from it was incredible... First of all, that Monday... literally hours before it all started, my Bible study went over Psalm 23... We talked about how He provides rest for us... not only does He provide it, he makes us rest... He leads us through the valley of the shadow of death... Now, it wasn't like we were walking through death... please don't read that that way. haha. But it was still an ultimate low for everyone there... we were tired, sick, and confused... the kids were freaking out and the only reason we weren't freaking out was because we didn't have time to stop and think about it. We were without rest... then all of the kids left. He literally forced us to rest. The whole time it was going on, I kept praying, "You lead us to rest, you lead us beside calm waters..." and then He provided rest...
Another thing that we gained was the fact that we were living out the Bible study that the kids were going over... They learn about Joseph all week, and let's be honest, Joe's life wasn't that great... They were being taught that Joseph remained joyful despite and regardless of his circumstances. All of a sudden, we were in a situation that no one liked and no one had control over and no one understood... But the kids were able to see our joy... We were living out the story of Joseph in front of them...
Finally, we unfortunately got to see a statement that is said to us over and over again during orientation become reality... "Make every moment count, we are not promised tomorrow with these kids..." Welp... we really didn't get tomorrow with those kids... Counselors were so so upset because kids went home without having one-on-ones... The gospel talk was moved to Thursday night this year, so they went home without hearing that... Our mission was broken... I think this really woke the staff up... There is never a moment where your actions and your words should not be showing these kids Jesus... What was really cool was that these kids and parents were able to see Jesus by the way we reacted to the situation...
Week 5 was much better... It went by fast, and now a lot of people are going home, but I don't do goodbyes because I get freaked out by the fact that I might not see some of these people ever again. Totally freaks me out. So I just stand in a corner and let people come say bye to me if they want to... if not, talk to ya on facebook, yo.

Well... I hope week 6 is better than all of the weeks previous... ha.

Posted by hales 8:54:00 AM 2 comments