CU* L8r

*pun intended

It is so hard to wrap my mind around the fact that I am done here, at Corban University. I've been to my last chapel, my last meal at Aramark (our dining hall), my last class. I've run repeats up Schimmel hill and gone to 6am morning weights for the last time. I've worked my last shift at the gym and tutored for the last time. After two great years, God is calling me elsewhere in life. And I sure won't complain! I'm super excited to be the wife of Jason Paul Koemans and to pursue God and ministry together!!

This is what I probably won't miss about being at CU:

- 6am workout classes

- cafeteria food (minus the dessert!!)

- dorm life. not that it's terrible, it's just not my favorite thing, especially when all my friends are off- campus or in different states

- dirty pop music in the bathroom

- laundry only on certain days

- searching everywhere for a private space to make phone call

- not having any space that's truly just mine

- 5hr shifts at the gym, leaving no time for homework and no chance at a good bedtime

- eating alone in the cafeteria for 70% of my meals

- being 18hrs away from the love of my life

- the lonely and sometimes dark walk uphill from dinner to my room at night

- hours and hours and hours and hours of homework and studying

- only seeing my family over skype

- a gross & messy shared kitchen

This is what I probably will miss:

- friendly mail-room ladies, and the excitement of getting mail

- chapel 3 times a week

- rooming with Kate Tracy

- collegiate running

- the team, especially the distance crew...I'm gonna miss them a lot.

- Aramark dessert

- studying at coffee shops, especially Broadway, Ike, and Clockworks

- running at Bush Park

- the sunsets

- the green grass all.year.long

- the rain

- the flowers

- the professors, especially Shannon Simmons and Anne Jeffers

- Trader Joe's & Fred Meyer

- Sweet Papaya's frozen yogurt

- staying at the Fanny House (where Mel and Courtney lived)

- Mel, Courtney, Christi, Amy, and JenJen

- running and talking with the distance girls

- steeplechase

Regardless of missing this and not missing that, I am so looking forward to the next chapter of my life!!!!! Marriage!!

Did you figure out the pun?

Track Record*

*pun intended

"I believe that God made me for a purpose, but He also made me fast.

When I run, I feel His pleasure."

Eric Liddell

Here's the scoop on my track season, since I haven't really blogged much about it!

3/5/2011 Linfield Icebreaker, McMinnville Oregon:

3k steeplechase, 13:00, 2/2

3/17/2011 Charles Bowles Springbreak Classic, Salem Oregon:

5k, 19:52.2, 2/3

*This was the first time I'd ever broke 20 minutes in a 5k!! I've been praying for that since my senior year of high-school. Praise God!

3/26/2011 Club Northwest Invitational, Seattle Washington:

3k steeplechase, 12:40.2, 3/3

4/1/2011 Willamette Invitational (Celebration of Distance), Salem Oregon:

3k steeplechase, 12:13.51, 5/6

*This is a season and career PR for me! I also broke our school record by more than 6 seconds! That race also put me at second in the conference, although now I'm more like 5th. I was really needing a solid steeple race, as my first two of the season had been significantly slower than last year.

4/8/2011 Northwest Relays, Oregon City Oregon:

open 3k (without steeples), 11:20.92, 1/9

*Again, I broke the school record, this time in the open 3k and by only 2 seconds!

4/16/2011 Lewis & Clark Invitational, Portland Oregon:

3k steeplechase, 12:30.2, 3/7

*My dad and two sisters got to see this race!

4/29-30/2011 Pacific Twilight, Forest Grove Oregon:

1500m, 5:18.00 35/44 (3rd in my heat though!)

*Last year I ran 5:19 in 3 times in a row for the 1500m. I really wanted a PR in this race. I got it, but only by one second...........

5k, 19:55.11 33/39

*I was hoping for a PR in the 5k, but I'm still happy that I broke 20 again!

Conference is May 12-14, and I race steeplechase on the 13th! I'm looking forward to this race a lot! My dad, grandparents, and Jason will be there. I have some great goals and plan to go all out! I will keep you posted, and hopefully will get pictures soon!

Did you figure out the pun?

"I Go to College with Lauren"

At the beginning of March I got an email from my mom with this picture:

Josie had packed up her toys and clothes in these bags and went at sat in the suburban, because she was going to college with Lauren! My mom wrote in the email, "She's waiting out in the car now. I'm not sure what to do with her! But it's cute!" Fortunately, I got to go home a few weeks later for spring break!

And just this weekend, Josie, Heidi, and my dad made a visit out to see me (and for Heidi to look at Corban). So Josie did get to go to college with Lauren. But she was disappointed she didn't get to take me home! It was so good to see them! 3 1/2 more weeks!

Roommate Adventure

My roommate Kate and I always try to go on adventures, when we're not too busy that is. Lately though, we've been making adventures a priority. You see, Kate is going to Germany for 2nd semester and I'm gonna be all alone! So we've been trying to do lots of fun things together lately!

Today after my final we went to Mt Hood Skibowl to ski! They have night skiing and on Tuesdays it's only $15 for women! It was a blast! Getting there was a bit tricky because the road was pretty snowy and I couldn't get traction and would slide sometimes, but we made it! The skiing was great! There was lots of powder and it snowed almost the whole time! We skied from about 3:40-7, with a 30 min break to eat dinner in there too. I'm so glad we went, even though it means we're both cramming to study for our finals tomorrow! On the way down the mountain, we decided to put my chains on. They were a bit tricky, and I got the right one on after a struggle and then a guy helped us with the left one. Well guess what? The left one fell off!! Guess girls are better at putting on chains. Also - you'll never believe this. Some guy tricked us into giving him our lift-tickets as we left so that he could go ski with them for free!!!!! I didn't even realize why he wanted them until it was too late. Dumb. Oh well.

Tomorrow night we have one final adventure planned as roommates =( Hopefully I remember to take pictures!

This picture is of us from our dorm Christmas party. So cute.

Deep Breath.

Finals. Are a lot of work. A lot of stress. A lot of coffee. Not a lot of sleep.


But I'll be home soon. And one semester closer to taking a break from school and enjoying my new role as a wife!

My Heart Is Bursting.

(sorry it's another long one!)
My heart is so full of emotions right now. It's incredible! It's exciting! Most of them are wonderful. There is so much God is doing to my heart, I don't know how I'll ever be able to put it all into words! But I'll try.

Today has been a good day. Really good. And it shouldn't have been, because yesterday I was awake for 21 hours! Mondays are long days beginning at 5:50am, including 4 classes, a long run for practice, and meetings from 10-11:30pm. That's just the expected stuff. There's always unexpected things, like a wonderful, deep conversation with your fiancé. Or accidentally reading the wrong homework assignment so having to read twice as much. Or the girl on your XC team who needs someone to talk to and encourage her. You get the picture. I was up until 2am. But it was great. And today has been great.

I'm really excited about the things I learned today in classes. In World Thought we're studying the rise of Buddhism and Christianity. Our textbook is secular, so it's very intriguing to see my "religion" presented from the ears of the critical world. I could go into lots of detail about this. I hope I have time later to post something about it, but we'll see. Also it's just interesting to look at other religions in depth...

In my Bible Study Methods class we talked about "Bible transmission," basically meaning we answered the skeptic question held by many - how can we trust the Bible? I've been asked that before, and I know in my head why I trust the Bible but never had sufficient information to even try to present a solid argument. Now I do! Again, I could spend a whole post breaking this down, and I hope to...sometime!

Even Psychology, which normally is overwhelming and just drowns you in so much information that you can't process or understand any of it, was not that way today! I absorbed a lot of the information presented about motivation and emotion and it made sense! That excites me and makes me happy!!

I've decided that God is definitely calling me to be a small group leader at Morning Star. This is where a bit of the "negative" emotion comes in, because I'm still a bit scared/intimidated and worried about giving up my control of time. But I'm beginning to get really excited and passionate about it! I'm actually looking forward to Wednesday night! And it's been really cool to see God working in all of this. It all started a couple Sundays ago when I went to Morning Star's Sunday service with two other sophomore girls from my hall, Rian and Hannah. In the bulletin were cards you could fill out indicating that you were interesting in helping with youth group. We all filled one out without realizing the other ones were filling them out. That was great, because I don't have a car and Hannah does. Plus it's helpful to have people you know accompany you in new situations. After our first experience with Wednesday's youth group, we all kinda felt the way I described earlier -- intimidated, really wanting to help, but not thinking we'd have time. But God worked it all of our hearts to bring us to the point where we realized that helping was what He had for us! It's crazy. And it gets rid of my excuse of not having a car!

And then there's my boy, my soon-to-be husband, my best friend, who God uses to blow me away every single day. He's decided that Africa is definitely on his heart, but not for this summer, because this summer he wants to spend by my side planning our wedding, going to dance lessons and marriage counseling and falling more in love. I definitely love love love that idea! He wants me to "get used to the idea of him always opening/closing my door for me." Jason wants to put  me second in everything (second to God). He loves me so selflessly and takes such good care of me. He called my roommate a couple weeks ago and asked her to deliver flowers to me, because he wants to be romantic and do special things for me even though he isn't here. Every morning he asks how he can pray for me, and we usually pray together at least once every day. We talk about deep theological things. We talk about being married. We talk about our weaknesses and encourage each other to grow. We support each other's dreams and desires. He makes me smile and laugh every day. Oh, and you should call him sometime just to hear is voicemail thing. Makes.my.heart.flip. My heart is bursting with love for and from him! God is so good! I'm so blessed!

Another one of the "negative" emotions on my bursting heart, is just knowing the painful stories of some of the girls in my life right now, girls from youth-group, my dorm, and my XC team. Life can be brutal. It breaks my heart sometimes. But on the positive side, I feel an overwhelming compassion for them and desire to embrace them and show Jesus to them.

My heart is bursting at the seams! It's overflowing with passion for God and for pursuing this life He has set out for me.

The Corban XC Team Is On Fire!

No literally... Yesterday we just got back to campus after going to a park in Salem for practice. Our bus shut off, and when Coach Brad went to restart it, smoke started coming out of the hood. We thought it was just over-heating, so it was kinda a "oh I guess you'll have to get off the bus here" thing as we took our time getting off, until a couple people got off and saw flames under the hood! We got off much quicker after that! Everyone was off safely, and they even tried using fire extinguishers to put out the fire. That slowed it down a bit, but soon the fire spread into the whole entire bus! Windows were shattering and tires popping. The electric lines it was parked under caught on fire too and a line came down and was sparking against the pavement. Our whole bus was destroyed! God really protected us though, because no one came close to being injured. Our starting-blocks for track and coach's clipboard were the only things that got left on the bus. And the power was out last night for about three hours because of the downed line, which was a bit frustrating because I had two tests to study for! But we survived! And we laugh...because cross-country is never noticed on campus. But now everyone is talking about us! We even made the news!

Disclaimer: this news clip makes it sound more threatening than it was - we had plenty of time to get safely off the bus! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taQrwkOHacQ&feature=player_embedded

I'll post a couple pictures and maybe another video later...

Boys Will Be Boys...

It's called "buck-buck." That's all I know. I'm a girl, I don't get these things. But it does make me laugh!

"What Would Bob Marley Do?"

Hilltop News

(Corban's newspaper)

[Jake Zufelt (the husband of my RA from last year!)
Freelance Writer

I made it a point this summer to become cultured. My plan was simple: listen to NPR, read a New York Times best seller, jam to Bob Marley, hang out with heathens. To carry out this brilliant plan, I picked up a weekend gig at the coffee shop. “Free coffee and culture,” I thought to myself. “Perfect.”

I was eager to reconnect with my colleagues and learn about what’s been happening at our town’s central hub. First there was Amirah, my half Middle Eastern manager who practiced a loose form of Islam and drank boxed wine on the weekends. Next was her sister, Lyla, whose father jokingly tried to sell her in Iran for a herd of camels when she was ten. She was my fellow Bob Marley enthusiast. Then there was Erika, a 6’1 lesbian who always spoke her mind and would have contributed greatly to a sitcom. Finally, there was Taylor, a seventeen year-old rebel who drank heavily and wore men’s shirts and a sign on her forehead that said, “(fill-in-the-blank) off!”

The initial conversations were basic: Joe “Dirt” and Joe “Clean” were still getting their tall Americanos, the building owner is still screwing with the doctor’s wife who works next door, and the Christian camp staff still doesn’t tip, doesn’t smile, and calls the headquarters every day if the “Artist of the Month” hangs a suggestive painting.

As the summer progressed so did my conversations with co-workers, specifically about Christianity. I learned from Erika that she grew up in church, but phased out when she didn’t comply with the teaching anymore. Taylor was content with rebelling against her alcoholic father and passive mother, and preferred drinking away her problems rather than dealing with them. Amirah and Lyla were well liked and goal-oriented; a complete life change seemed unnecessary.

My cause received no help from across the counter. Sunday mornings were filled with people who were upset because they were late for church, a group of conservative twenty-somethings would sit around in exclusivity and read their Bibles to each other, and the Christian camp staff would demand that Bob Marley be turned off whenever they were in the coffee shop. For the first time, I saw the Christian culture from the outside, and I was ashamed.

Erika and I were preparing to close when we noticed that Laura was the only customer left. She hid her face as she hovered over a weathered notebook, writing furiously.

“You think she’s okay?” Erika asked. I shrugged. As my co-worker approached the table, I noticed a steady stream of tears coming down Laura’s face. Erika listened intently for several minutes before giving her a hug and returning to the other side of the counter.

“She’s dying,” Erika said solemnly. “Some rare influenza. The doctor is giving her just under two years to live.”

“One love / one heart / let’s get together and feel all right / hear the children cryin’ / sayin’ give thanks and praise the Lord and I will feel all right / sayin’ lets get together and feel all right.”

I was challenged to evaluate my faith that night. It’s hard not to when a lesbian does the work of a Christian, and Bob Marley sounds a lot like Jesus.]

This article really challenged me too. I'm not sure quite how to respond. Or quite sure what it looks like to be authentic and real. How do we pop this Christian bubble?

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words



On Sunday was Corban's beach party at Bob Straub St. Park in Pacific City. (This is the same beach my family and I have been to several times and Jason got to join us there last Christmas!) It was a great day for being at the beach, until like 5:30pm when the fog rolled in and we had to stand in line for over an hour for dinner! All in all it was enjoyable but I REALLY missed Jason!!

On Saturday Kate and I went to the Portland Market and Voodoo Donuts with some girls. It was a beautifully sunny day and we had a lot of fun! Voodoo Donuts wasn't all that it's cracked up to be though...I wasn't impressed. That night Kate and I joined Alethea for a Catholic Mass at a church in Portland. It was an interesting experience...most of it was in Latin! And there was a beautiful sounding choir that sang Gregorian chants!

Roomies in Portland!



Roomies in Portland!




The last week of August my cross-country team had a retreat/training camp in Sisters, OR.
This is the team at a lake there.



Courtney and I in the lake during the XC retreat



DONE with my freshman year!!

I just took my last of six finals!! It was my anatomy final, and it was supposed to be on three chapters, but our teacher forgot to print out two of the chapters for the test so we ended up only being tested on one! Ya...kinda nice...but also kinda frustrating because I studied all three. This was also the only class from Corban I was really disappointed with, so unfortunately it is fitting that he ended with this screw-up...

I'm Pressing On...

Alright folks, here's my commitment till the end of my finals

(Wednesday the 28th at 11am!)

I am not getting on my blog or using the Internet for anything not related to school! Between studying, final projects, packing, cleaning, interviews, meetings, and track practice I do not need to let myself get distracted by unnecessary things!

So see ya then!

I'm going on a midnight adventure tonight! I'll post pictures!

Psalm Gallery

A couple months ago my hall did an activity where we took these canvas boards and painted or collaged them to represent a favorite Psalm. This is mine. In case you can't read the words on it, they are: "make everyday wonderful," "wired," "enjoy beautiful days of protection," "limitless," and "show the world what you're made of." I chose Psalm 143:8 "Let me hear of Your unfailing love each morning for I am trusting in You. Show me where to walk for I give myself to You."

Prewitt Prom!

Last night our dorm, Prewitt, hosted a girls-only prom for all the girls on campus. It was my FIRST prom ever! At first I was a bit awkward and nervous...cause I've never danced...at all... But then Jen and Courtney came and I was a lot more comfortable with them so I had a lot of fun trying to dance! It was fun to wear my black dress again too! And I was glad there were no boys =) I do wish MY boy could have seen me though! =)

Before the prom I had a track meet at Western Oregon University. I was one of two Corban runners running at that meet, everyone else was in Oregon City at a relay meet. I competed really well and felt awesome about my race (the 1500m), until I saw my time...5:20... I am REALLY hoping for a 5:11! To qualify for conference! But I really think I'm almost there!

Having fun...oh ya and studying...with Monz and Mel!

(Oh ya we went running too!)

[This was last weekend after our track meet...] After running we showered and ate and then headed out to study. First we went to Coffee House Cafe...but it can draw a weird crows that kinda makes me uncomfortable...and so we left after Mel picked up her water bottle from last time we were there. Then we went to Governor's Cup...but like always it was SO crowded! No tables were open. So we got coffees and walked a couple blocks to Riverfront Park. But then it started to get too windy and a bit rainy. So we went to the Public Library. But it closed at 5. Ya it was quite a crazy day of studying! But so much fun!

It's Been A While...

...and I could say a lot... To start with, this has been the perfect time to give up my blog, because I have been overloaded with homework. I've spent many nights up till 2am...and most of the last couple of weekends just doing solid homework. I'm constantly sleepy and struggling to stay awake in class =/ and in chapel...and in church. =/ So that's been a bit discouraging. Also my legs have been so strong for out track workouts Monday - Wednesday, but Thursday and the rest of the week they are burned out!! So I'm trying to figure that one out as well... =/

I have been learning and growing a lot through all this though! I'd love to write it all here but it's a lot and it's hard when you don't know the exact context. I am learning one big thing though: the definition of freedom - is love. I'm learning to bask and rejoice and dwell in the freedom of being loved by God. This is a love that nothing can separate me from! This is a love that works all things for good! Because of this love nothing can harm me. Even when things seem "bad" in my perspective, they are being worked for good. Thus I am more than a conqueror! This is a love that allows me to make mistakes and still be loved. This is a love that pours out grace into my life. This is a love that says sin has no dominion over me. This is a love that gives me the Holy Spirit as a helper. This is a love that brings me freedom! On a smaller scale, the love Jason has for me brings me freedom as well. He has been so gracious and patient and understanding in these weeks of overwhelming homework. These weeks mean I am stressed and more prone to worrying or misunderstanding...but he is patient and steadfast to encourage me and help me grow. These weeks mean shorter conversations and limited skype dates, but he encourages me to get my homework done first. His love gives me the freedom to be me. To be stressed, to be weak, to make mistakes. To be growing, to be happy, to be content. God has been teaching me great things. And He has given me a great blessing named Jason Paul Koemans.

Later tonight I'll write about my track meet from this weekend!

You've Got Mail!

Yesterday I wasn't even going to go to the mail room because I didn't want to be disappointed. Jason had mailed me a Valentines Day package on Monday, but usually stuff takes a LONG time to get from him to me or visa versa, and I'd been crazy excited for this package and didn't want to be bummed when it wasn't here. But on the way to class the girls I was walking with wanted to stop and check their boxes so I stopped with them. I had TWO packages and TWO letters!!! It was so fun and special! One was the package from Jason, with a really sweet devo (Grace for the Moment vol. 1 by Max Lucado) and a journal to accompany it, an FSB (Frontier School of the Bible - his school) sweatshirt [which I really love!!] Some Nike "baller" bands (those rubber bracelets, like the "livestrong" ones) that glow in the dark! and my ESV Study Bible with a really sweet leather cover and some guitar picks! =) It was an awesome present! The other package was from my Grandparents (Crosses). It was full of healthy snacks (granola, peanut-butter crackers, trail mix) and some candies too! One letter was from my other Grandparents as well! =) I felt so special and loved! If that wasn't enough, that night walking back from dinner the girls I was walking with wanted to check their mailboxes (deja vu!) I had another letter!! From Anna! AND a Valentine too! What a day!!

PS: College 101- College students LOVE to get mail! Especially care packages! But even letters are AWESOME!

Pictures From My Life!

Above is the "Bucket List" of things Kate and I want to do before the end of semester...so we'd better get going! In case you can't read them, they are:

* midnight coffee run

*get Kate a boyfriend (maybe...)

*watch a movie on the soccer field

*play pool in the lobby after midnight

*sweets/desserts only on Friday nights and weekends {in process}

*go to be early!

*drive in theater in Dallas, OR

*pierce Kate's nose and Lauren's ear {this might not actually happen...}

*play the stuffed animal arcade thing

*make cookies from scratch

*jump in mud puddles

*pictures in a photo booth {accomplished}

* Coffee House Cafe {accomplished}

* Silver Creek Falls

* Disc Golf

So ya! As if homework and sports practice wasn't enough...we have this whole list to accomplish!

Above is another one of our lists... These are coffee places in Salem that we want to explore and study at. So far we've tried two:

* Blue Pepper Cafe {FAIL - it's closed for good}

* Coffee Corner {FAIL - it's a drive thru!}

So we're not doing too great so far!