Of Boredom, Final Grades, and Experiences

I'm just going to ignore the fact that I've not posted for over a month, okay?  Thank you.


  At the end of February, I began taking the final class in the Signature Leadership Courses by Dr. Jeff Myers.  This was an eleven week class, set to finish on May 10th.  I was not going to be able to start classes at Thomas Edison until June...so I was excited for that three week break!  Well...long story short, for multiple reasons, I wanted to finish a week early.  However I ended up finishing almost two weeks early.  I was pumped that I would get over a month break!!  That quickly ended -- I believe it lasted only through the night.  I found that I didn't have much to do.  Sure, I could clean, watch movies, or read...but for some reason, that sounded a lot more fun before I was on break.  Typical.

  I kept myself busy by trying to sell books, enrolling in Thomas Edison (yes, that did indeed take a full day), and minimal cleaning.

  Finally, I could start preparing for LIVE's Mother's Day Brunch, which was happening Saturday, May 10th.  See, if I start planning too early, I'll get it all done, and then have nothing to do in the final days' leading up to it.  So I have to wait to plan for bigger events.  Anyway, I started meeting with a few of the planning committees comprised of my older girls.  I made way too many trips to Target...especially for someone who lives twenty minutes away from the nearest one.  I planned for the planning meeting which was happening two days prior to the Brunch.  I stayed up late prepping final touches for the gift that the girls were making for their moms.  I cleaned (sorta).  I painted my nails (which I never do).  We packed three laundry baskets full of food, decorations, and other supplies.  And I stayed up late Friday night relaxing watching TV (that's how I de-stress).

Shopping with the Decoration Committee!

  Even though I felt a little overwhelmed, and a tad-bit nervous for this Mother's Day Brunch, the event went spectacularly!  I can't even begin to describe how well it went and how fun it was!  I was thrilled to find out the moms enjoyed themselves, also!  My girls put a lot of work into helping me plan this event, I'm so proud of them!  They worked hard on decorations, writing a skit, writing their testimonies, singing, and making food.  I wish I could share more pictures, but for the sake of my girls' protection, I won't be able to.  But here are a couple photos to give you a small glimpse of the fun we had!

This young lady, who I have the amazing privilege of mentoring, shared her testimony in front of the moms.  Two other girls did as well - they all did a beautiful job!

  Other things that have been keeping me busy....

Mother's Day, 2014

My friend Ashley had surgery so I've spent a couple days hanging out with her as well as some others from our small group.

 On May 9th, I was given a ticket to Leadercast -- a world-wide, day-long simulcast featuring speakers including Laura Bush, Andy Stanley, Randall Wallace, Malcolm Gladwell, and more.  This was such an incredible opportunity for me, especially arriving on the heel of finishing my leadership class with Dr. Myers!  I learned so much, and would love to go again next year!  If you ever have the opportunity to go, GO! 

  A few great movies have come out recently, and my mom has taken my sister and I to them.  I love that our movie theater has $5 Tuesdays. :)

Watching Disney movies with my sister.  Boy do these bring back memories!

Yesterday, I made red velvet cake pops. (this is as great of a picture as I got)

Reading...

okay, so I've read one book on that list so far.  BUT, I still have 16 days of my break left!  Need to fill it with something besides my Nancy Drew games! :D

  Oh and that course I mentioned at the beginning?

Yep, I passed with 99%!  And...I am now a Senior in college!  Wow.  Finally!  :)  I begin my year at Thomas Edison in June and have ten classes to take with them.  By this time next year, I will be finishing up my very last college course EVER!!!

 There ya go, an update on my exciting life. ;)  And for those of you wondering...no, I do not have any more trips planned.  I wish I did, but I think traveling will have to wait until after I graduate (remember, just one more year!).  Besides, I have a four-month long backpacking trip through Europe to save for!! ;)

Sierra

Leadership Capstone, Colorado

  Last week, I took my second trip to Colorado in three months.  Actually, I just realized I forgot to write about my time at the World-Changers' Summit!  To quickly describe it: it was incredible!

  This trip to Colorado was a four-day leadership intensive for school.  I am currently taking Dr. Jeff Myers' third leadership course, titled Leadership Learning & Execution.  Sixty-one other students and I are in week seven of eleven of this class.  I have taken Dr. Myers' two other leadership classes also: Leadership Theory & Practice and Leadership Management & Communication.  These courses have all been amazing!  This third class has been focusing on mentoring, which has been such a blessing!  I started mentoring two girls last fall and I love it!  But since I have never been mentored, I had no idea how mentoring worked...just that I felt called to do it.  I was so excited to find out mentoring was the focus of this class!  I have a mentoree and a mentor for this class, both of whom have been blessings to me!  When a student completes all three classes of the Signature Leadership Courses, they receive a leadership certification for completing over 360 hours of leadership training!  I'm looking forward to receiving that in about a month!

  The one thing that differentiates this class from the other two is that there is a four day Capstone mid-way through.  Everyone in the class gathered in beautiful Estes Park, Colorado to learn together!  Although I didn't know what to expect and was a bit nervous about meeting my fellow students, I was really excited to hear Dr. Myers speak.  And my nervousness quickly melted away when I met my roommates!

they were the best.

we spent way too long taking these group selfies.

  We stayed in our room the first....two hours....and just talked.  It was never so easy to carry on conversation than with these girls!

"Planning is everything, but plans are nothing."

~Dwight Eisenhower

  The sessions were beyond amazing, in my opinion!  I had heard Dr. Myers speak in person at the World-Changers' Summit in January, but unfortunately he only spoke for one session there.  Last week, we heard him speak for over eight hours, and it was the general consensus that we could have listened for hours more!  All we would have needed were snacks and bathroom breaks, and listening to him for 24/7 would have been welcomed and easy! :)  I learned many principles last week about mentoring and coaching that I cannot wait to apply!

  I also had the opportunity, on the second night, to sit at the dinner table with Dr. Myers along with about eight others (although, by the end, that crowd had grown to about fifteen).  My roommate, also sitting at the table, asked him, "Dr. Myers, what do you love most about your job?".  First, you should know that Dr. Myers is the president of Summit Ministries, a very successful and highly regarded ministry.  And his answer was this, "I love being able to help others succeed at their jobs."  Wow!  I was blown away by his humility and wisdom as he continued to explain.

"I do not believe in a fate that will fall on us no matter what we do. I do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing."

~Ronald Reagan

  Another highlight of the week occurred the first evening.  My CollegePlus coach, Heidi, showed up!!!  She had four students there last week, so she surprised all of us by coming!  Heidi has been my coach since the beginning of CollegePlus...three years ago.  It was so fun to finally meet her in person and get to know her better!

  On the second day, there was about two hours of "unstructured activities" (must be the grown-up way of saying "free time").  I joined a small group of people who were going to spend some time in worship.  In the end, we sang for about two and a half hours!  It was such a blessed time of worshiping our Lord together.

  For a few projects throughout the Capstone, we were split into ten groups.  My group consisted of eight others.  They were so fun to hang out and work with throughout the week!  It was so encouraging to hear the dreams they have to serve the Lord and further His kingdom...I'm excited to see what He does through each of them as we stay in touch!

thanks, Jeanne, for joining our group!  we loved having you with us!

"God doesn't just reveal His plans; He reveals Himself."

  The last night, since we didn't have sessions in the morning, I decided I didn't care how much sleep I got (a common decision the last night of CP gatherings).  One of our roommates was leaving at 3am, so we decided to stay up with her.  Around midnight, some girls across the hall invited us over to watch a movie.  So...seven of us squished on a double bed to watch an action film on an iPad.  It was so fun, and photo-worthy...unfortunately, we were too tired to think of that.  I ended up getting about three hours of sleep that night.  :)

  I had a later flight (5:30pm) on Saturday, as did several others.  We were able to sit at the airport together for about four hours before we all split.

Liz and I at the airport

  And eventually, it was time for me to say goodbye to these beautiful mountains.

  Overall, it was a blessed time where I learned a ton, met a lot of new friends, and had such a fun time!  These classes are awesome and unfortunately, there's only three.  I will be savoring these last few weeks of this class!  Although, I do have to admit that I'm pretty excited for the three week break I get after its done. :)  

 God bless,

   Sierra

The Best Year of My Life...So Far

   2013 has been an amazing year!  I look back at this year and can smile and praise God for all He's done.  There have been some difficult things such as losing my grandpa to cancer at the beginning of this year, and some friendships have not lasted, but God is good and has provided exponentially more things to thank Him for!

  At the beginning of this year, I made a cute little jar to fill throughout the year.  On little slips of paper, I wrote down special times which stood out to me; days I learned a lot, or just had a great time.  It was a super fun thing to do, and looking into the jar now, makes me realize just what an awesome year I had!

  I wanted to type them all out here now.  I have to admit, the main reasons are 1) because I love reading them, and 2) I have a weird need to make lists.  They make me happy. :)  But I also thought maybe some of you would enjoy seeing what happened throughout 2013 in my life.  I'm a pretty sentimental person, so these will be going into an envelope to be kept and I will continue doing this for as long as I can. :)
  So...here goes!

• picking Erica & Gilmar up front he airport (and the car-ride with Terri & Sandi!)
• going through pictures with my dad
• tubing at Wild Mountain with my family, Erica, Gilmar, and the Slacks
• passing Principles of Marketing CLEP
• getting pink roses on my 18th birthday

• the entire day of my 18th birthday :) (and the fact I turned 18)
• started going to Westwood -- I couldn't be more grateful for the people who are there.
• CollegePlus gathering in Virginia

• Bible study on Ephesians (one specific evening was really good)
• Friday night hangout -- Scavenger hunt!
• passed the Biology CLEP (finally!)
• spent the day with Megan & baby Piper

• LIVE's Minute to Win It party
• graduated high school (!)
• passed ALEKS Statistics in 2 weeks -- brought my credit count up to 51
• sleepover with Brooke, Ashley, & Jess
• my high school graduation party

• Christine invited me on the August mission trip to Haiti
• laser tag with my family, Lynda, Daniel, Marcos, and Gislaine
• paintball games with my family, Gislaine, Marcos, Daniel, Blake, and Jenna
• helping Gislaine and Marcos with their English homework
• game night playing Ticket to Ride with my dad, Frankie, Aidan, Blake and Jenna
• Trollhaugen adventure park with my family, Marcos, Daniel, and Gislaine
• River walk in Haiti

• New Jerusalem and climbing mountain in Haiti and going to Power Girls there
• swimming in the Caribbean Sea in Haiti
• alright...the entire trip to Haiti :)
• laser tag and whirly ball with my family, Marcos, Gislaine, and Jônatus
• Valley Fair with Aidan and Jônatus
• became a college Junior!!
• trip to Florida (and Disney World!) with my dad

• Bible study on Mark 8 at community group (Westwood)
• evening with Lindsey: Noodles & Co., Grace Unplugged, and Cold Stone
• LIVE meeting on modesty
• girls' night with Ashley and Jess and helping Jess move

• a late dinner at Applebee's with Lindsey
• CollegePlus Texas gathering (dancing, card games, meeting friends, etc.)
• phone call with Lindsey and making lists :)
• swimming with the manatees in Mexico

• snorkeling in the reef at X-Caret (Sea Turtles!)
• Trainer for a Day at Xel-Ha
• day at Xplor - zip lining, ATVing, and paddling through stalactite caves
• the entire trip to Mexico
• getting 75 credits before Christmas!
• our first Christmas as just our family
• LIVE's Christmas party

 I know, that was a lot. :P  I'm looking forward to 2014 as I will get to travel a bit more this year, continue in school, continue to develop LIVE, as well as develop new friendships.

 God bless you in 2014,

    Sierra

Vacation 2013: Mexico

  From December 12th to December 20th, my family took a vacation to Mexico.  We haven't been on a family vacation in a few years and we've never gone anywhere like Mexico.  So...we all packed our bags and headed down to the wonderfully sunny, warm, and sandy Play del Carmen.  It was a wonderful escape from our cold, snowy, negative temperature Minnesota. :)

  Many of the days were spent by water and since my camera is bigger, I left it at the hut and just took my phone.  So once again, my cell phone photos will have to do most of the time.  Also, not all pictures are mine -- some are my sister, Frankie's.

  Chichen Itza was our first stop on Friday.  It was beautiful there, but my favorite was Ek Balam (below).

Ek Balam is the oldest discovered Mayan civilization.  Ironically, it was the only one of the two (Chichen Itza and Ek Balam) where you could actually climb the buildings.  The bottom photo is the view from the top of the "pyramid" (left-side photo) -- they still haven't finished digging it.  The steps are super narrow and at one point, at the top, my legs literally would not move, but I eventually made it down.  The top photo has been reconstructed.

We also got to spend a little time (only 15 minutes) in a cenote!  It was beautiful...and cold. :)  We only jumped off the "cliff" (~20 feet) twice because it took us so long to get up the nerve since it was so cold.  It was a blast, though!

  On Saturday, Aidan, Frankie, my Mom, and I went to Dolphin Discovery where we spent time with dolphins and manatees (my personal favorite).  It was so much fun!  We were dragged by the dolphins' dorsal fins and also got the foot push.  With the manatees, we got to feed them and when they want food really badly, they'd wrap their fins around your legs and hold on for dear life.  It was awesome!

  After we met up with my dad again, we all headed for a walk on the beach.  It was gorgeous!

can you tell i've found picmonkey.com?  awesome!!

  Sunday was spent at X-Caret.  It was a beautiful day and we got to go snorkeling in a cave and then we took a snorkeling tour in a reef.  That was the highlight of the day -- maybe even the trip.  We all loved seeing life under water...but my personal favorite was the sea turtles.  I saw three and they were so close we got to hold them between our hands!!

 Now, Monday was an interesting day.  It was not my favorite, but I found it very fun and adventurous!  My mom, Frankie, and I were supposed to go spend the day with more dolphins and my dad and Aidan were to go ATVing.  However, there was a mixup of pickup locations for us girls and we didn't end up going.  And the boys' activity was rescheduled for later in the day at the last minute, so we decided to just spend the day as a family instead.  We ended up taking a ferry to Cozumel.  Before we boarded, we were told that we would be able to help release baby sea turtles into the ocean and snorkel since it would be nice on the other side of the island.  So when we got to Cozumel, we rented a car...

...a 35-year-old, falling apart Volkswagen Beetle.  All five of us piled (literally) in and we just couldn't help but laugh.  When we got to the other side of the island, we discovered that we had been taken for a ride as there were no baby sea turtles to release and, by george, it was just as windy as the other side of the island!  We stopped at a beach-side restaurant and then Aidan and I did some body surfing -- at least the waves were still enjoyable for something!

  Tuesday dawned nice and sunny.  We spent the day at Xel-Ha and spent over three hours snorkeling that day.  And although the day started out sunny, it down poured three different times while we snorkeled.  At Xel-Ha they have a large lagoon for snorkeling, a small rope course that Aidan loved, a few small zip lines, and cliff jumping.  Aidan and I decided to try cliff jumping and took a few plunges from 40+ feet -- that was FUN!!!  Although the second time, I lost a strap to my flipper and therefore had to go without flippers for the next hour and a half.  Swimming with no flippers in a windy rainstorm is not easy.  At one point, I was kicking with all my strength and was seriously staring at the same seashell at the bottom for about 20 seconds.

  Wednesday ended up working out for us girls to spend the day with dolphins at the program, 'Trainer for a Day'.  We spent over three hours in the water with them and also got to see a couple trainers training their dolphins.  In the water, we got foot-pushed more, got dorsal-dragged more, participated in training them (I made a dolphin jump! my highlight), and got to snorkel among them.  It was a day well-spent...we all had a blast!

 Our last day of activity was spent at Xplor.  This was definitely a tiring day but it was SO.MUCH.FUN!  We went on over two miles of zip lines, over six miles on ATVs through caves and water, and went paddling through a stalactite cave.  All three activities showed gorgeous proof of God's beautiful creation!  Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of this; it was such an active day that we didn't really have time nor the ability to take pictures.

  Friday morning was beautiful and us girls went out to the beach to take a few last photos before we headed to the airport.

  We all had such a good time, but we were definitely tired!  We all agreed that we should have taken one more day to just sit on the beach.
 
  And now that we're home...there's so much to do!  Christmas is only a few days away...I have a ton of school to do, I have so many opportunities for this coming year my head could explode, and I have a lot of things for LIVE to plan and look forward to.  I'm so excited for 2014...but more on that later. :)

  Sierra