The Last Two Weeks

Condensing my last two weeks into one long post means that people are likely not to read it all and miss some points. On the other hand, there's nothing of vital or critical importance in my life, and especially not in this blog, so here goes:

June 19
Happy Fathers' Day, Dad! I am very blessed to have a Dad that's willing to count last year's father's day gift toward this year too. Guys, don't try that with your mom or girlfriend! :)

June 20-24
The week after the library conference, I spent my evenings helping with WLCC's Vacation Bible School. The week's theme was "Serengeti Trek." There was a different animal and lesson for each night: Monday-Tiger-Know God, Tuesday-Lion-Talk to God, Wednesday-Crane-Talk about God, Thursday-Giraffe-Love God, Friday-Elephant-Work for God. The VBS was held outdoors at the Round Hill park, but we were blessed with beautiful weather and didn't have to cancel any nights due to rain. By most measures, it was a very small VBS; we only had a total of 30-40 different kids attend through the week, but that is as large or larger than any VBS the church has previously done.

I wasn't responsible for anything specific, but did show up each night and help with the crafts. I think my favorite craft was Friday night's--a scrapbook page. Through the week, Pastor had used his digital camera to take individual shots of each kid and a number of group shots. For Friday, each kid had 2-4 pictures of himself and a page of logos/pictures based on the lessons of the week that they could cut, arrange, and glue onto animal/jungle-themed paper.

June 20/June 27
Journalist Hanna Rosin spent extended time at PHC over the course of at least 3 months and published in the New Yorker "GOD AND COUNTRY" (Printed Issue of 2005-06-27; Posted Online 2005-06-20). By spending so much time with the students, she was able to write an article that rather accurately depicts the college, mission, and students. Christy Ross, mentioned in the article, worked as a library student assistant for all four of her years here. She will be very much missed. Of course, I know (to varying degrees) all of the students, faculty, and others mentioned in the article.

June 25
A plea went out for cloggers to be at two performances on Saturday. I hadn't practiced for two weeks, but went ahead and performed. It was a very warm day, but fortunately, the performances were inside. Won't have that luxury performing the weekend of the 4th. Considering I hadn't practiced in two weeks, I thought I did pretty well. As a group, the performances went very well. "Dance Above the Rainbow" has a tricky ending that usually gets smudged, but the group hit the ending perfectly at the second performance. It felt good.

June 28, 30
Attended clogging practice for the first time in three weeks. Having performed on Saturday, the performance songs weren't too bad. The new songs I'm learning had lost some ground. Nothing new had been taught, they'd just been making sure everyone had been taught everything. So, I just had to dredge up from my memory everything that I had learned previously. Thanks to some strong leads from my partners, I managed to stumble through the songs the first time or two and get back to about the point I had been before I missed. One of the songs I HAVE to have up to performance standards before the Ireland trip, as there are only two of us going to Ireland that know that particular part ("Third Boy") and we are both just learning it.

June 29
I was pleasantly surprised when JonM, a family friend, showed up to study in the library Wednesday afternoon. We went to Subway for supper and caught up a bit before we each had Bible Study at 7:00.

June 30
Due to power outage, I didn't go into work today, but stayed at home and read and worked on a few projects. I discovered late in the afternoon that my freezer/refrigerator is not working properly--what should've been ice was ice water and it was easier to pour the ice cream than scoop it.

June 30
In fear of saying more than needed saying, I didn't tell many people the details of what happened when my library assistant of 2 years left last September. I also didn't say much when the letters and lawsuits came out in May. But for anyone interested in what happened, here's the write-up in the Leesburg Today (June 30, 2005) "Patrick Henry College Sues Employee Fired Over Beliefs" by Dan Telvock.

July 1
It's hard to believe that the year is half gone! Other than the swipe key system being down, the library is unaffected by any problems caused by the power outage. There was also work being done on the alarm system in the building today. I've just got 2 weeks until the second Librarian arrives. Two weeks after that, my parents will arrive on Tuesday and we'll head to Ireland on Thursday. The day after we return, new students arrive. Three days after we return and one day after my parents return to KS, I have to do library orientation for all of the new students. At clogging, the comment was made about everyone being glad that school was finally out and summer started. I guess it's a good reminder, though I'm not saying the "finally" part--more of my summer is gone than remains.