Opportunity

In the midst of my summertime jobs and stuggles to complete an internship I was surprised with the opportunity to represent my school at a festival coming up in August. Having never really done anything to support my college in the past I was in awe. I was asked to drive with 19 other North Central students to S. Carolina for a National Fine Arts festival that is held amung the Assemblies of God churches. I will be reviewing the kids who are perform using Sign Language. I will also be scouting to see if there are any kids we want to come and be a part of the program. Several times I will be standing by the NCU booth promoting what the ASL major has to offer.
I am pretty excited about this. Some of the hours will count toward my internship and I will be gaining some great experience from a pheonominal interpreter who I will be with the majority of the time.
In these times of frustration and perserverance.... blessings will rise.

Looking for NCU appearal to bring...

Toni

Mental Heuristics (rule of thumb)

If you can't find a solution, change the rules.
Comment: Remember that there are no no-win scenarios.

If you cannot do anything about something, there is no point in worrying about it.
Comment: Worrying is stressful, and in most situations doesn't accomplish anything - it just wastes energy. Instead of worrying about things, either do something about them or find ways around the problem. One useful idea is to write down your worries on slips of paper, and then put them away in a box. Regularly, once a week or so, you open the box and see what you can do about the worries that are still relevant.

Listen to your intuition, but do not believe it unconditionally
Comments: Intuitive or emotional thinking, analogies, "gut feelings" or "flashes of inspiration" can sometimes give fantastic new insights or show problems from a new direction. Unfortunately such thinking isn't always reliable, and quite often completely wrong! Such insights should never be accepted because you admire their beauty or they are intuitive, only because they fit with reality.

Home Again.

A friend of mine
he is
A friend to me
he was

this moment

My heart is broken for all that is going on in the Philippines and I can not be there to help the Deaf kids figure it out. The emails I get everyday bring me to tears knowing that I must sit back and wait. Not a moment goes by that I am not thinking about them or wondering how they are doing. Often I am doing something and think to myself, those kids will never be able to experience this simple task that has become so easily a part of my everyday life.

Many of them are struggling to maintain respect amoung family members and teachers. They go to school pretty much year round. With all of the things I am involved in here in the states I get so worked up and attached to it all and then i am brought back to the humility of no knowing how they must REALLY be feeling. It isn't one of those, 'oh that must suck, i feel bad for them' things anymore. This is part of MY reality as well as theirs. And I am here... just working and doing my stupid internship. While they are struggling to be identified, not as a teenager going through puberty, but discoverd as an acutally human being who has all the intelligence to succeed as the next guy.

My goal is to help raise money for them to actually be able to rent out a building or room where they Deaf kids can all come together and hang out. They need to have a place of support where they can encourage eachother. That is not a possiblity for them to rent something on thier own.

um... i can't keep typing... i don't know how to explain my feelings and my thoughts are all jumbled.

wishing i was with them...

Toni