emmakatharine 365: June 2015

Jun 30, 2015

June 30

Today's plans: Routine well visit to get required paperwork signed for college attendance.

Today's events: Fainting in the parking lot after said routine well visit and being carried back into the building in a nearly broken wheelchair. Yeah...that wasn't the greatest. But my mom is the greatest.

June 29

Obviously, we're super productive now that we're both back home!

June 28

The Oklahoma sky is a sight for sore eyes for sure!

June 27

It's Mom's birthday and the whole family gets to celebrate and be together for a whole four hours today!!!

Oh how I have missed my beautiful sister and will continue missing her like crazy as we leave her in her favorite place for the next four weeks.

But seriously. My mom is so beautiful and brave and joyous and loving and funny and magnificent and I am incredibly lucky to have her in my life. Happy Happiest of Birthdays to you, gorgeous lady!

June 26

These past two weeks have been such a whirlwind of an experience and I wouldn't trade it for anything. Yes I was scared out of my mind leading up to this, but I have been given such peace and I am prepared way more than I could have possibly imagined for the fall semester to begin! I have absolutely loved my time here at Lee and am so hopeful for all that God has in store for the future here in Cleveland.

I would not feel as comfortable with the unknown future or with myself had it not been for these wonderful girls! I am so thankful for the time I got to spend getting to know and love every single one of these beautiful ladies. You all are the reason these past two weeks have been so incredible and I thank you for letting me love you and for loving me so honestly.

I miss our community!

June 25

I love laughing with my people :)

June 24

Today's God moment?

Definitely coming outside to go get dinner and seeing the sunset at this beautiful place with some beautiful people! Yes, sunsets are beyond incredible on Oklahoma's giant canvas, but the colors (which this photo does absolutely no justice to, thanks iPhone) brought so much joy and peace on this homework-induced-stressful evening.

June 23

I had an absolute blast photographing these two girlies tonight at our formal! I can only imagine what it must be like to experience all of the craziness that is Summer Honors and then to have to go back to high school, but I know that these best friends have so much to look forward to in their final year at Walker Valley! They are SO funny and they go to school with my cousins and they are all around super awesome and I am incredibly thankful to have had the time to get to know and love such beautiful young women!

June 22

I've crossed this bridge dozens of times, but I'm not exaggerating when I say how thankful I am to get to experience this bridge with these girls. I have never been surrounded by such godly and inspiring women before, and I am so lucky to be able to have these girls as such beautiful sisters!

June 21

Yet another major fear has been conquered thanks to the craziness that is Summer Honors!

I survived Whitewater Rafting down the Ocoee!!

June 20

After our morning of service projects and homework and a night out at the movies (Inside Out was indeed fantastic!),
small group outside with free Menchies (Thanks Dr. Conn!) was a wonderful way to close out our first week of Summer Honors!

June 19

Summer Honors Greek Olympics.

Team intro performance only kinda flopped.
Took a shot of flour and then had to run while gagging and spitting and covered in four.
Sat out of the next game by holding the baton that could not touch the ground, the infamous cow tongue. (Yes it was real and raw and thawing and slightly bleeding)
Dug through a kiddie pool of baked beans to find marbles.
Was assigned the final movement for the obstacle course, the dizzy bat, and proceeded to get extremely dizzy and fall onto a giant tire. (We still won that race! And I have a nice battle scar from that one)
Wrestling against three other people for a giant ball covered with Crisco and mashed potatoes and who knows what else...hand me the cow tongue!
Slip and Slide race to fill a bucket with water from a sponge that took at least seven minutes too long.
Tug of War champions for round one!
My team came in 6th overall out of 17, and we were ecstatic!
Despite the grossness of Greek Olympics, I had so much fun with these awesome people! (Woah! Seriously, what's up with Lee University!?!)

June 18

80's night was totally wicked!

(hot and crowded and sweaty but rad to the max)

;)

June 17

These scheduled evening activities that I was dreading and terrified of have become the highlight of my time here! Tonight's planned event was dinner at the Dixie Stampede, and while cheesy it may have been, I had an absolute blast with my RA group of girls eating dinner with our hands, cheering for the South, and laughing more than I have in a while!

June 16

Let me start this off by saying that I have not been bowling in years. And when I say years, I really mean years. I'm not just trying to make it sound like I can't be good and then wow the crowd with my awesome bowling skills.

No. I'm really bad at bowling. And scared and shy Emma would have been absolutely mortified and miserable with the number of gutter balls I threw, but crazy things must be in the Tennessee air, because I actually had a blast with these people that I barely even knew. I participated in the spontaneous dance party and laughed and cheered and joked around with these really wonderful girls.

(side note: I didn't come in last in either game that I played)

June 15

Day 2:

I took this picture as I left my very first class of these two weeks. It is painfully difficult to be outside of my comfort zone, but there are some pretty awesome people here that have really helped to ease my fear without even realizing it.

There's something incredibly special about this place.

June 14

Real talk.

I was scared today.

Horribly freaked out and frightened for the next two weeks.

Today was the first day of my two weeks at Lee University's Summer Honors Program (a combination of summer school and summer camp for rising high school seniors and rising college freshman)

As things started to come together through registration and getting settled into my dorm room, I found myself no longer scared but determined to start acting more like Bess. On the very first day I met some truly incredible people and I was pushed out of my comfort zone way too often for my scared self to handle, but the desire to lose my fear and embrace the newness took control of my evening.