I want to live like there's no tomorrow..

   WOW.. A week of Project has come and gone - well, not really, as Project hasn't technically started yet because the Students don't arrive until Wednesday (June 1st) - but Pre-Project Prep (nice alliteration, eh?) has been intense :)

   So far it's mostly been training for the Staff, meaning preparation for them as they look toward what they'll be leading the students in as the summer progresses. Out of the last 7 days, there have only been 2 killer days of terping for longer than an hour and 1/2 at a time..  So that is a Praise. Also, I've been pleasantly surprised at the amount of breaks given during our time, on my behalf.. feeling much appreciative of them - for sure!

    The training times have been good too, as I know I'm here to facilitate the information (since that's the terp's role) and in general - when I'm in that role, I personally don't take away much info for myself that is beneficial.. It's that whole processing at 90 mph thing that doesn't really lend itself to anything "sticking" as the information is working it's way through a language translating plant in my mind, and (in a perfect world) it all comes in, and it all goes out. If something does get left behind in this mental factory of mine, it's because it fell off the processing assembly belt, and is being trampled on the floor - not because it was some great piece of information that I wanted to make a copy of while it was en-route of the translating process, and hang on the factory warehouse wall.. :)

*ALLLLLL this to say* - it's been really sweet of Abba (our Father) to take me aside at times, and slow down all these mental processes that are going on, and speak to me directly. I've been reading a few books that I'll leave you with some quotes that I've been mulling over as of late..

  Chris Tomlin's The Way I was Made:Words and Music for an Unusual Life - 

(regarding the irony..) "Well, I guess we always have our own plan in case God's plan doesn't work out."

"I want to give like I have plenty, I want to love like I'm not afraid, I want to be the man I was meant to be, I want to be the way I was made."

  Max Lucado's Safe in the Shepherd's Arms: Hope and Encouragement from Psalm 23 -

(regarding I shall not want) "David has found the Pasture where discontent goes to die. It's as if he is saying, "What I have in God is greater than what I don't have in life."..When God thinks of you, he may see your compassion, your devotion, your tenderness or quick mind, but he doesn't think of your things.."

  God in the Bible -

Habbakkuk 3:2 "Lord, I have heard of your fame: I stand in awe of your deeds, O Lord. Renew them in our day."

Isaiah 26:8 - "Yes, Lord, waling in the ways of your laws, we wait for you: Your name and renown are the desire of our hearts."

   As the Theme for this summer is "Treasuring Jesus. Making Him Known" I will continue to elaborate with things like these as I blog throughout the summer.. But that above is a little snippet of what I've been learning personally about treasuring my Jesus. :)

   It's funny to me - for as much as I don't like sand and the beach - I felt like I was "home" as I was driving to church on Sunday (The Lighthouse Church [TLC], where Auzy and I went last year since they have interpreters already provided).. not home as in ready to move here after the summer, and plant roots - but I was blessed by the Lord's gift of "presence".. of feeling comfort and familiarity in a land far removed from my own stomping grounds :) I went to TLC early, so as to be able to catch up with my host family from last year, and some of the other contacts I had made over last summer. It was fun to see how many familiar faces were still there :)

   Sunday was our Day "off" for the week, so after going to  church, I did some grocery shopping, and had my car filled up with gas - as it's illegal to pump your own gas in Jersey.. (sumthin' in the lines here is more potent then our regular grade gasoline at home, so they have special trainings they go through here - no, not really.. I just always feel funny chillaxin' in my car while they do the "oh, so very hard job" of filling up my tank) ;)

   Later in the day (as it twas quite warm out mid-day), myself and 5 other guys decided to go play soccer on the beach.. I haven't played a pick up game - like a competitive, playing with people who have played and don't just stab at the ball but juke you out as they nutmeg [kicking the ball between your legs as you approach them defensively] you when they score pick up game - in like 4 years! (yes, realizing this was a sad day) BUT it was great fun! An Egyptian guy and another girl joined us, so we played 4 on 4.. I'd like to say that my team won (as I was keeping score, but no one else seemed to pay particular attention to the score, and I think I got off somewhere) but it twas a GLORIOUS DAY. Good times, good company, and I'm DEF still sore today (2 days later).. so good work out! :) As the students arrive on Wednesday, and I'm terping more and more, I don't know if I'll get to "let my hair down" as often, so to speak, but I was glad for the opportunity to play!

   My relief comes Wednesday (my team interpreter).. if I can figure out how to get him from the airport in Philly to Wildwood.. I kind'a double booked myself - thinking we had the Wednesday morning off before the students arrived that afternoon, but we actually have a meeting from 10-12. I tried to cover my terp needs, but the other interpreter in the area isn't available. I've tried to get him a ride, but so far, it's not working out..  If you could join me in praying that these details will be worked out, I would appreciate it. I wrote that last night.. since then, after the Lord graciously whispered the name of a friend in the area that I had forgotten about, He worked out the pick up arraignments peeeerfectly! YAY Adoni!

   I am eagerly anticipating what our Lord, my Adoni has in store for us this Summer. As of now, I am 80 % COVERED for team interpreters! *HUGE GRIN* (80% would mean I have all but 2 weeks of the summer covered, and the project is 10 weeks.. right? - cuz that's what I mean by saying that.. I hope it's mathematically legit) ;)

   However, that means that in order to cover all of these terp needs, I need pretty close to that $9,000 amount for support raised. Right now, I don't know where I am sitting (as all the checks have not been processes/online donations updated to my account, but my last count had me sitting at around $3,000. So, I still have a ways to go. I have been super blessed by those of you who have contributed. If you know anyone who you think would like to join me in this endeavor by becoming a financial supporter, please direct them here (to my blog) or shoot me an e-mail with their name and contact info and I'd love to bring them up to date with what is happening here in these Wild Woods (a.k.a there are no woods, just sand)! :)

   I am planning to update the blog on Mondays.. as it looks like that will be one of my "more free" days (Yes, I realize today is Tuesday.. yesterday was an anomaly) so if you are not on the "follow this blog" list where you get an automatic notification, then stop by on Mondays, and hopefully you'll find an update :)

THANKS so much for your TIME.. till we meet again-

Soli Deo Gloria

:D

"I wanna dance like no one's around.. I wanna love like I'm not afraid.. I wanna be the way I was made.."

"Somekind'a wonderful.."

SOOOO, I've made it!

26hrs total over 3 days of driving = DONE! :)

Spent Sunday in D.C and Northern Virgina (NOVA) catching up with friends, and getting lost - like truly lost - for the first time in my life :(  I've been to DC about 6 times now, and I've been able to find my way *with the help of a map - for sure!* but this was my first time navigating in NOVA and it ate my lunch! After driving in a circle TWICE, (all while using my phone with google maps pulled up to navigate).. I will try to post a screenshot of my route.. it was pretty reeeediculous! ..however, I finally called my friends that I was staying with, and they got me across the bridge from VA into DC and then I was good to go (tho not wanting to get back in the car for quite some time! crazi-traffic/roads/unplanned-city-conflagrations-of-streets-that-make-no-sense!) ;)

Monday morning I headed out around 9am.. and got into Wildwood about 2pm..

It's been great to be back. So many familiar things. So many "hey, remember when's". 

..around 11:30 - two (2) hours into the last leg of the trip (the 4hrs from D.C. to Wildwood), I messaged Auzy (Deaf student from last year that is an intern this summer) to see if he had already gotten to project, or if he was still at his friends house about an hour away. He texted me back saying that he and Boaz (another student intern this summer) had just woken up. So I told him I'd meet up with him where he was staying as it was on my way, and I was about 20 mins from them. Then I could follow them into Wildwood. Unbeknownst to me, Auzy thought this meant I'd pick them up and bring them to Wildwood with me, instead of his friend having to drive into WW and then go back home. *laughs* In all honesty, it made more sense for me to do that, and it wasn't a big deal, but it's not exactly what I had offered.. since Courtney and I had been the only ones driving out there, I just made it where 2 ppl could travel, and had the back seats laying down.. *shrug* no worries tho..however I had packed my car in such a way as to not have things shift as I was driving - so it was all "one level".. hence not many things stacked on top of each other as I use my rear view mirror ALOT, and didn't want it blocked.. annnnd I had an exercise ball that was blown up, as well as a canvas that I am planning on painting on this summer. Soooo, took me about 10 mins to deflate the ball, move the canvas (so it didn't get damaged) and repack everything into the now 3ppl accessible seats, and add both guys things..

good times! :)

..but it really was nice, as I made Auzy drive that last hour (since he had inadvertently miscommunicated to his friend, I felt it only fair that he drive now (without the use of the rear view mirror that was now blocked) good thing he likes to drive) :D

We arrived to Wildwood around 2, and were some of the first ones there. I was the first one to get to the place I'll be living, so I got to choose the single room - which was nice. I know that I will have an "odd" schedule while on project - and while I will be doing things with the Staff, I'll also be doing things with the Students - so I felt it was best to not room with someone for scheduling purposes. I am living with 4 other ladies, all on staff in the Northeast and Great Lakes area. It is a little comical to me that the house that Auzy is living in and the condo that I am in are the furthest away from each other in regard to alllll of the staff housing. I will be getting my exercise this summer for sure! The Project house and the Church where most of our meetings take place are in between these places tho, so it shouldn't be too bad :)

I started working last night at 6 and worked until 9pm.. it was great to be that communication bridge for Auzy to be able to meet all the staff for this summer. I had forgotten how much interpreting it was tho.. it's good to be back, but I'm sure I'll be sleeping well, especially when all the students come and the interpreting needs double.

I think that's all for the update right now. Oh, lastly, I have just received news that one of my interpreters who was planning to come at the end of July first part of August is from Joplin - where the Tornado hit. My understanding is that he is fine, but he lost most all material possessions. If you would join with me in prayer for him, 1) to be able to recover what was lost and 2) to be able to work out the summer plans - be flexible with what the options are, I would appreciate it. Thanks so much for taking your time to read my post! :)

Soli Deo Gloria

(it's the only line I know in the song, but walkin' with Jesus sure is..) "Some kind'a wonderful"

:D

"Head out on the Highway, Lookin' for Adventure.."

The kind of Adventure that comes when I surrender to the Lord and say "Ok, make my schedule what you will.."


The 12 hour+ drive that I thought I had ahead of me yesterday turned out to be only 10 - WHOOOT! Praise the LORD! We (my wonderful Friend Courtney) and I made great time, didn't hit much traffic at all, and stayed within the range of the speed limit (5 over).. (mostly!)


Final departure time: 7:45am
Final arrival time: 5:35pm


sweeeeetness~!


I took some video's yesterday, which I shall update here shortly.. They have some ASL in them, but I won't be adding captions.. sorry.. maybe later.. but now it's too time consuming.. and I'm tired of sitting :)
(I will say that in the first part, when you hear Courtney talking, she says she's interpreting what I am saying.. but she doesn't know any sign language.. just fyi)   ;)


~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~


TODAY the fantabulous taxi cab driver: Courtney Joy and I point our trusty stead North, and head towards Washington D.C.


Google Maps has it listed at 11 hrs and 16 mins.. 
*Sigh*
I'm ready for teleportation to be invented! ;)


In-lieu of Praise's tho, I'm not hurting (back, neck, wrist) as much as I could be. I'm ever so grateful for Courtney's driving expertise! YAY God for working out schedules so she could join me on this endeavor!


I think thatssssss all for now.. 


Soli Deo Gloria
:D



"Born to be wild.."

"Es Por Ti"

As I've been gearing up to head back towards the North East coast, I will be the first to admit, I've not been good at keeping people updated or in the loop. Having just sent out my inaugural "I have a blog" e-mail, it seems necessary to have a post waiting for you (my lovely reader) to expand on what I'm doing this summer.. 

For those of you who have not yet heard, I am going back to New Jersey this summer with Campus Crusade for Christ (Cru or C3) to interpret for Summer Project. This year 2 Deaf students are attending, and I am excited to see what things the Lord has in store for us!

Auzy, (The Deaf student from last summer) is coming back this summer as a "Student/Staff Intern". This means that he will have 3 to 4 students under him, that he will meet with for the first half of the summer, and that he will be at project from May 23rd to July 2nd. On July 2nd, the staff leaves, and his part of the summer will be over. We tried to get Deaf Male Students to join this summer, but sadly there were not any guys who were able to fit it into their summer schedule. This means that Auzy's bible study/small group that he leads will be made up of Hearing students. To my knowledge this is the FIRST time a Deaf student has been in the "Student/Staff Intern" leadership role. I am STOKED to be a part of this summer!

The second student is a girl from Gallaudet (The only Liberal Arts college for Deaf students, located in Washington D.C.). She has been a part of C3 for 2 years on their campus, and  is excited to participate as a student for 10 weeks this summer! I hope to introduce you to her soon!

That being said, I am looking/planning to have a TEAM of interpreters this year. I already have the first 3 weeks of June set up to have a partner interpreter (YAY!!! Praise the LORD for HIS Provision!) and am hoping to flesh out the rest of the summer with a team.. 

In a preliminary e-mail I sent out for support raising purposes, I said I would be needing about $5,000  this year to make it all happen - or so I thought.. (we all know how poorly I interact with numbers tho - right?.. my affinity for numbers is on the -10 scale..) After I sat down with my dad.. and talked over the details, the more accurate budget reflects a number closer to $9,800.. (yeah- did we say I'm bad with numbers? I-know-I-know)

Currently I am sitting at $2,240.. which is enough to start out the summer, but I am definitely going to need more people to come along side and partner with me so that I can provide these 2 Deaf students with an accessible summer!

I head out Friday May 20th (yeah - that's in 5 days!) and start "waving my hands" on May 23rd in New Jersey. 

If you would join me in prayer for safe travels, and to "make good time" as we (my WONDERFUL High School friend Courtney who has graciously agreed to co-pilot with me) have TWO 12 hour days ahead of us, I would appreciate it. 

I think that's all for now.. please PLEASE pLeAsE let me know if you have any questions, or would like more details on how to partner in supporting me this summer (as I don't feel comfortable leaving that information here on the blog)  :)

Soli Deo Gloria
:D

"Es por ti, Jesus.. Solo por ti" 

"Cuz I can't think of anything worth saying"..

Now I remember why I quit blogging back in college.. cuz I'm terrible at figuring out what to say when I don't know my intended audience! I've started, and re-started typing this inaugural blog intro 3 times now.. *sigh*

Ok - Com'on Jenna.. you can do this!

Reasons to join the Blog world are as follows:

1) Last year I only sent updates to those on an e-mail update list.. Only to hear friends comment later "I wish I would have known about your summer".. *note-to-self: maybe a blog would be easier to access than a 100 names on an e-mail address*

2) At different points during the summer, I added people to that 100 name e-mail list, only to FWD them all the previous e-mails they had missed to try to catch them up.. *note-to-self: if you had a blog, they could get caught up alot easier on their own time*

3) I realize I'm long winded when it comes to updates.. and friends have told me that they often read my updates in part.. only to loose the e-mail later in their inbox..   *note-to-self: people seem to prefer perusing blogs, than staring at their inbox all day trying to read your chapter long updates*

4) It's easier to update multiple people with a blog.. and tho I like to be as personal and individual in my responses as possible, it might now be one of those "either/or" situations.. it might work for both.. *note to self.. I hope it is both/and! :)*

So, let the posting BEGIN!

as many of you know, I am going back to Wildwood, NJ as Interpreter/Interpreter Coordinator for the Summer Project there with Campus Crusade for Christ. Here you will find my English musings and blessings. I am linking a secondary Blog base for my ASL version of what goes on here.. 

I think that's all for this round - over and out, ya'll!

Soli Deo Gloria

:D 

"but I know that I owe you my life.."