Young Adult Life: Graduation, the turnip patch, and bumps

This is week six of “My Young Adult Years,” guest hosted by Ginny Marie over at Lemon Drop Pie. Each Monday or Tuesday, I will be posting on my Young Adult Life edition of Mommy's Piggy Tales. 


Well, did you come today to find out what happened to Ooo-la-lah guy?  I'll write about him first, if you'll really try to make it through the whole post today. Deal? 


Ooo-la-lah guy: By the end of the Spring Semester, Ooo-la-lah guy and I were sending and receiving letters (you know, it's what we did before email and the www) twice a week.  I think they must have passed each other somewhere in Fayetteville or Tulsa. Every time I got his letter, I couldn't help but inhale the musky smell of Old Spice before ripping it open.  Sometimes he sent comics, Hershey Kisses wrappers (I used to put these in his mail box at the campus house),  or just a lonely letter. He was now an area supervisor for a propane company in Ft. Smith and in charge of three states, one of which I lived in.  I loved hearing his experiences and humorous encounters. He never came out and asked me to date him, but we continued to build on our friendship until we were talking about Forever.

School:  Rounding out the fall of my senior year (i squeezed 4 yrs into 5 yrs. to complete my degree), I began my student teaching was set for 3rd grade in Independence, KS.  I found Mrs. Fahler to be an inspiring teacher who cared not only for the materials she taught, but great concern for her students. During my time there, we studied addition adding by bowling, science and temperature with live crickets, and books to inspire and expand her students' world. After this was over, I continued to sub in that school until I graduated in May 1990, just after my 24th birthday.

Unexpected bumps in the road: Before I began my student teaching, I had to get a physical, so I went to a physician that I went to church with. It was during this routine exam that he asked if I could possibly be pregnant.  I was so indignant, that I couldn't only muster.  "Only if you can get pregnant by kissing! My mom raised me different that that!"  Whatever was "hiding" in my stomach was the size of me being 6 months pregnant. Immediately I was sent to a specialist, Dr. Miller and a CT scan which revealed 3 tumors in my lower abdomen. During surgery, they discovered seven benign tumors in my ovaries (the largest was the size of a football). I have a wonderful 6" scar on my tummy that gave my belly button a "great" new shape. I had to obtain special permission to delay my student teaching until 2 weeks after my surgery. I was so sore it, that I carried a pillow around to hold on my stomach. I was told that they were not sure if I would be able to have any children and I dreaded telling Ooo-la-lah guy. "Honey, I'm marrying you so you can have my children, we can always adopt." Oh, I just love this guy! If you would like to read more of how hard God worked to orchestrate our love, head over to A Little Love Story. I predict a happy ending.

Turnip weekend

Turnip Patch  By the summer of '89, we had fallen in love and were discussing marriage. My family really liked him and mom went through great efforts to encourage our relationship.  Many times she would have a wiener roast when he was there, so we could sit by the fire and talk. My estranged father had just been arrested for molesting little girls and pornography, so Dave knew he had to talk to my mom and brother before he could ask me to marry him. While visiting me at my mom's that October, my brother and family came up from Bartlesville, he and my brother headed out to pick turnips, and surprise!  If you would like to read how he proposed to me, you can find it at   He married me out of revenge.   The picture by Monte was taken at our wedding and is one of our favorites, now hangs in our family room.

photo by Monte Boulanger

Losing a job and new blessings: Less than 30 days before we married, Dave told me that the company he worked for was making nationwide cut backs.  His boss was kind enough to tell him to take his vacation days he was going to use for our honeymoon in the Colorado mountains, to search for a new job. A week later, Dave was hired as a Service Advisor for a local Ford dealership and  has held that position for a little more than 20 years. The blessing?  He was now home every night instead of spending 4 days on the road, with his previous job.  We've been able to look back many times over our marriage to see how God took something we couldn't make sense of and shown us the hidden blessings of those trials.

Children: Well, as you can tell, we have three children.  We struggled with fertility issues, I took fertility drugs to conceive our first.  During that pregnancy they found yet another tumor in my ovary, and two months after Oldest's arrival, it was removed along with massive scar tissue that caused our difficulties. Oldest was a mere four months old when we found ourselves pregnant again and we cried.  We didn't know quite how we were going to do it, but 13 months to the day and hour after Oldest, Only made her appearance at 10 lbs.  Youngest complete our trio in 1998.


Thank you so much for sticking with me through six weeks of Piggy Tales concerning My Young Adult Life. I appreciated your comments, as they have been a HUGE blessing during this journey.  I hope you got a few giggles and not many tears, or possibly some inspiration. I hope your memory was jostled in the process of reading my memories. If you feel inspired or nudged to write down your own Piggy Tales, hit the keyboard or pick up a pen and restart those memories!

If you would like to read more Piggy Tales from other ladies, hope on Over to Mommy's Piggy Tales.   If you would like to join in and start recording your own Piggy Tales, contact Jana at Mommy's Piggy Tales to find out how  (jannajoy25 (at) hotmail.com). she has a second session starting up in October.  If for some reason you missed any of my previous posts, you can find them here.

Young Adult Life: Moving out, hard losses, and dating

This is week five of “My Young Adult Years,” guest hosted by Ginny Marie over at Lemon Drop Pie. Each Monday or Tuesday, I will be posting on my Young Adult Life edition of Mommy's Piggy Tales.

First Real Job -I needed a job to help pay expenses, and somehow I ended up at Sutherland's Lumber.  I didn't care for the manager nor his two younger (versions of him) sons.  He smoked a cigar, was  loud, like to brown-nose, and had a huge ego. I was one of the check-out girls and most of the time I really didn't mind it because there were other people there that made it bearable.   Winters were hard because hardly anyone came in - too cold to do building jobs, so that meant dusting the endless shelves and products.  Each time I visit Ace Hardware, I think back to those days and am thankful I'm no longer there. To this day, I will not set foot in a Sutherlands store.

After a year at Sutherlands, I was able to get a job on campus in the Curriculum Library and Resource Center, just a few blocks from our apartment.  It wasn't a terribly busy job, but afforded time to get my projects and homework finished for classes and get to know other students in my program.

Photography model

Moving Out and moving on  Through Campus Christian, I became friends with Shari, a graphic Artist major from Diamond Bar, CA, We lived close to each other, so I would pick her up on Sunday mornings on my way to church, sometimes we would stop downtown at a mom and pop diner for breakfast.We both struggled with our desire to attend the church where most of our friends did. The sermons and Sunday school lessons had us doing mental notes and thinking of other things and wishing we were somewhere else.  We just felt there was something missing and before long, we found ourselves driving up to Fort Scott to a Christian Church that my former College minister from Tyro ministered at. It was there we were challenged, welcome, and we loved the Sunday School class. During that Spring semester, she needed a roommate to share expenses with, so she asked me to move into her two room apartment (2nd floor of a 3 story house) with her.  What an answer to prayer!  Late night bike rides, long talks, aerobic class, endless fun, tee-peeing friends vehicles (I was the queen of that), and just a very relaxed time in my life.  Once she needed a model for some pictures for class, so I was elected and it was fun.  She was a messy and I was a neaty, and really enjoyed the year we roomed together. That summer she traveled to Paris, France for a summer study and I found myself a bit lonely, so I tried to keep busy that best I could, it stayed clean, I painted our entire apartment, and I worked at Sutherlands.

Picture by Strayer

After she returned, Shari and I thought we each needed a cat - so we visited the Humane Society and we each found one we loved.  Mine was a sweet fluffy gray kitten that I named Jesse and hers was a silly long haired tabby. Shari came home from work 2 weeks after we got them to find Jesse dying, in a coma under the couch, and he was gone before I could get off work.  We never knew what was wrong with him, but the vet said it was probably something from the shelter. Fearing her cat would be lonely (what were we thinking!), I looked in the ads for a new kitten and found this overweight short haired  black and white, 6 wk old kitten that I named Wesley, after the hero from Princess Bride. The lady I got him from fed him cottage cheese and goat milk - his poor belly touched the floor when he attempted to walk.  He quickly went on a diet, Shari's cat hated the Jesse!  It took about two months before they finally became friends.

It was during my time there, that I learned a one of the ladies from Camden that Mont and I called Mom Rivera, had died from diabetes and dialysis complications and it was very sad time in life. We had actually stayed with her family our first year there and grew close to them and their precious daughter. It was a great loss.


School:  Nearing the end of my college career, I was in my practicum - spending time observing in different classrooms, preparing lessons, being evaluated, and preparing for my student teaching.  One of my favorite classes was at the pre-school house on campus.  I think each of us looked forward to some "play time" with those kids, observing them interacting at each learning station, reading them books, taking them outside to play, and seeing what worked and didn't work.  They provided us with many hours of entertainment.  It was there that I first heard the Robert Munsch book "Love You Forever" and many years later, when I had children of my own, I would rock them and sing the very same song.

Remember last week when I wrote about the ooo-la-lah guy  that was really good friends with?  I must confess I probably flirted with him shamelessly and he teased me right back. We always seemed to end up by each other at lunches or other activities. I really liked him, but we were scared to take our friendship to the dating level because we had such a wonderful friendship. So that's where we stayed - good friends.  He never asked me out, and soon a friend of his asked me out and we began a year-long relationship. We had similar interest - journalism and he was on the yearbook staff, so I got my picture in the yearbook a lot that year. All his friends said they had not seen him that happy before, I met his parents, and it seemed life was heading toward something more,  Meanwhile, Ooo-la-lah guy graduated and moved to Memphis. No more night watchman, no more late night talks, and I felt as if I lost my best friend, even though I was dating this other guy.  Needless to say, we called it quits, and I moped briefly, but one day a mysterious letter appeared in our mail box - from the Ooo-la-lah guy.  His best friend lived at the campus house and let him know that I was no longer dating and he didn't waste anytime writing...

If you would like to read more Piggy Tales from other ladies, hope on Over to Mommy's Piggy Tales.   If you would like to join in and start recording your own Piggy Tales, contact Jana at Mommy's Piggy Tales to find out how  (jannajoy25 (at) hotmail.com). she has a second session starting up in October.  If for some reason you missed any of my previous posts, you can find them here.

Young Adult Memories: Co-ed dorms, loneliness, and ooo-la-la!

This is week four of “My Young Adult Years,” guest hosted by Ginny Marie over at Lemon Drop Pie. Each Monday or Tuesday, I will be posting on my Young Adult Life edition of Mommy's Piggy Tales.

Ah, the taste of independence.... Coming off a second summer of working at Camp Hope, an inner-city summer program, I had a taste of independence, close friendships, and a sense of purpose.  I was comfortable with where I was, but changes were coming.

After spending a year at Bible college, I made the decision to transfer to Pittsburg State in Pittsburg, KS to pursue a degree in elementary ed. It was hard leaving Montica and the safe environment I had, the students I knew, the teacher who cared, the roommate I loved like a sister.

I left that morning with my '72 Chevy Malibu packed with stuff I thought I would need.  I had no idea that, what I needed most was my spare tire for that blow-out I would have 30 miles from PSU.  I was on a dusty side road unloading my crammed trunk in search for the tire iron underneath EVERYTHING, crying and ready to home. I tried in vain to get the lug nuts off that tire, but it wouldn't budge.  God sent a fatherly looking farmer who had a gazillion more muscles than I to wrestle them off, change my tire, and send me on my way.

Because expenses were tight, I opted to move into a co-ed dorm and was supposed to have a room to myself, but when I arrived I found things much different.  I circled the block, about went down a one-way street, just to find the dorm I was to move into. I was very intimidated, felt out-of-place, and scared.  I couldn't even walk up those steps.  I had never felt so alone.  I drove around until I found a payphone and called my mom and told her I was coming home. Needless to say, she told me I couldn't come home and I ended up staying to finish my degree.

I soon found Marta, my roommate, was very young, fresh from HS and eager to immerse herself in the sorority life. Earning a degree was the furthest thing from her mind. There were no other single rooms open, so I had to make the best of it.  Coming in late many nights, sometimes drunk, she was not the quietest. Finally after she vomited on the floor after one of the parties, I got her into her bed, cleaned up the mess (I had just mopped our floor that day), and headed down to the study room to cool down.  The next morning, I told her that was never going to happen again, and it didn't.  I spent a LOT of time in that study room because I quickly developed insomnia and a deep loneliness.

Staying in the dorm was an unpleasant experience, but eventually I made a few friends, but had little in common with them.  I was so thankful for Campus Christians, a non-denominational ministry, where I felt most at home.  Montica and I begun visiting there while students at Bible college (30 minutes away) because my brother attended PSU and was part of the ministry group. What a blessing it was!  We went on retreats, had Bible studies, pizza parties, table tennis tourneys, just hung out, talked, and formed tight friendships. It was like a huge family with lots of brothers and sisters. Don, our campus minister, knew right where we were all coming from (he has been there since '78). His easy-going spirit put us at ease, as he guided and encouraged us.

Guys: There were about 6 guys in that group that really stood out - can I say oo-la-la?  They were athletic, easy going, fun, very friendly, and unattached.  I don't remember the first moment I met him, but he was cute, but there is no way a guy like him (former football player) would notice a girl like me...

I sat in the cool, dark study room in an old pair of sweats, listening to the night sounds, waiting for sleep to take hold. A shadow darkened the door way and the light flipped on, blinding me momentarily, as the night watchman stepped into the room. "Hey Lynnet!  Whatcha doing sitting in the dark?" 

Huh?  Oooooo, can you guess who it was?  Yep, it was HIM!!!  From that point on, each time he made his rounds, he would stop by the room and, if I up, we would sit and talk about everything. Before we knew it, we were good friends, buddies...  Sometimes he would slide the comics page under my door with some note written on it.  Once, Marta and I tee-peed his room at the campus house, removed labels from his soup cans , short-sheeted his bed, and more. The next morning, he left the comics, but the note said to beware, because the Big, Bad Wolf (BBW) was on the prowl and was going to retaliate a troublesome sheep...  Soon he started signing the notes with BBW and always addressed them to Sheep.  Did I mention he smelled so good - Gotta love Old Spice Musk!
If you would like to read more Piggy Tales from other ladies, hope on Over to Mommy's Piggy Tales.   If you would like to join in and start recording your own Piggy Tales, contact Jana at Mommy's Piggy Tales to find out how  (jannajoy25 (at) hotmail.com). If for some reason you missed any of my previous posts, you can find them here.

Young Adult Memories: Mischief, home, and disguises

This is week three of “My Young Adult Years,” guest hosted by Ginny Marie over at Lemon Drop Pie. Each Monday or Tuesday, I will be posting on my Young Adult Life edition of Mommy's Piggy Tales.

 We were surrounded by poverty, crime, bigotry, drugs, and kids who were desperate for real love, attention, and a way out. If we chose to dwell on what surrounded us, it would consume us and we would enable the repressed spirit that resided there. Last week I shared my heart in Inner-city, The Pit, and Irreversible impressions   It has been terribly hard to just choose a few memories, but here are a few more.

"Camps are dedicated to providing safe and structured environments where young people can grow academically, socially, emotionally and spiritually. It is the building of a city... One Child at a time."  Urban Promise

Retreat in the Pocono Mountains - 1st year

The neighborhood kids could hardly help themselves. A group of strangers had descended on their block and they not only talked funny, but they didn't have a clue. 

• The first week, a few of the elementary boys broke into our battered blue van and decided to steal it. Lack of experience on their part caused it to roll backward down the drive, across the street and into the neighbor's fence. 
• During camp, the kids tried to escape and run away, and after hours, they tried to break into the building we stayed at.  
• Once, we came home one early evening to find two kids having sex out back under that stairs - the girl was 6 and the boy was 12.  Another late one evening, after our weekly Philly meeting, we found some of the kids had smeared dog poop on EVERY doorknob. 
• We were graciously given head lice, which we didn't discover until we were in standing on Broadway in NY City. 
• One of the older kids brought a golf club onto the grounds and was swinging it (after hours) and hit another child in the mouth. We were sure we were going to be sued over that one. 

From Montica:  The thing I remember most about it (Camp Hope) was Raul. A little 8 year old boy who threw rocks at me but I would not give up on him. He told me he knew nothing about this Jesus I was talking about. We sat on the stoop of a home near the church and I told him about Jesus. I heard later he graduated from school and was helping at the church. 

Ewww!  It was SO gross down there.

Our building had three distinct floors that we shared with the cockroaches: Basement had the kitchen, small stage, and eating area. Mont and I spent almost 2 days cleaning it the 2nd year we returned.  That's what we got for returning a week earlier than everyone.  Second floor had two classrooms, which we used for a boys and girls sleeping quarters with a large closet separating the rooms, plus a questionable toilet. Creaking wooden stairs led to the Third floor which was open with a larger stage, baptistry, and a bathroom with a shower. Can you imagine 12 of us sharing 1 shower? Getting up early to beat everyone else to a cold 5 minute shower was the key. Sometimes we would be sitting on the stairs, half asleep, waiting for someone to get out.  Nightly we would gather upstairs to discuss the day, handle any conflicts, laugh, prepare for the next day, and have devotions.  It was that time that we looked forward to, but it was a time to relax and really talk about real issues and struggles in our personal lives. It was where we bonded.  Sometimes Robert or Frank would bring their guitars and we would sing or just listen, sometimes we cried, sometimes we laughed, but always we listened. The fire escape off that floor led to condemned stairs, just right for catching a breeze in the evenings, watching a hot-air balloon float across the sky, or just waiting for God to speak.

 A teacher's major contribution may pop out anonymously in the life of some ex-student's grandchild.  A teacher, finally, has nothing to go on but faith, a student nothing to offer in return but testimony.  Wendell Berry

Nurse Nadine cares for "baby" Jeff.

Teen Helpers: In efforts to encourage and mentor the teens in that area, we had Teen Helpers at each station and age group.  We tried to do special things with them - taking them to the beach, including them in camp responsibilities, and fun events planned just for them.  It was a learning process for all of us that was not always without some tension, but usually with some fun.  Once, we planned a mall search  with them, but we were met with unexpected resistance.  Each of us dressed in disguise and the helpers were supposed to find us, obtain our signature, and the one who found the most won.  Some were easy, but Jeff and Nadine was the most difficult to find. Yes, Jeff is the one in the baby buggy, complete with pacifier and all! The saddest part of all, is that we were asked to leave because we had kids with us who was not white.

Thank you so much for stopping by and taking their journey with me. If you'd like to check out Camp Hope, it has since grown, and is now called UrbanPromise.  Last year they were featured on Extreme Makeover, Home Edition. Where it started from and where it is now amazes me and I'm thrilled that God has taken this ministry from a meager 12 people to an organization of mega proportions it is today. 

If you would like to read more Piggy Tales from other ladies, hope on Over to Mommy's Piggy Tales.   If you would like to join in and start recording your own Piggy Tales, contact Jana at Mommy's Piggy Tales to find out how  (jannajoy25 (at) hotmail.com). If for some reason you missed any of my previous posts, you can find them here.

Young Adult Years: Inner-city, The Pit, and Irreversible impressions

This is week two of “My Young Adult Years,” guest hosted by Ginny Marie over at Lemon Drop Pie. Each Monday or Tuesday, I will be posting on my Young Adult Life edition of Mommy's Piggy Tales. 

 Today I'm sharing a huge part of my heart and what has tremendously influenced who I am.  I hope you'll bear with me through this. I have so many memories ricocheting around my brain right now, that it will really be hard to choose just a few.

 Mont and I had planned to return to Haiti to work at an orphanage, but the 1986 Haitian revolt against the government and Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, made it unsafe to return and the missionaries we were to work with, withdrew their offer.  We had already begun raising our support and didn't want to but had to look at another option for the summer. 

Me and Mont - ready to go!

EAPE:  We were presented with several options, but the one that really stood out was EAPE.  Our parents were dubious because this meant inner-city - filled with gangs, dangers, and drugs.  Let's face it, two Kansas girls, in the heart of Bible Belt had no idea what they were getting into.  The closest thing we'd ever seen to inner-city was an abandoned building downtown Coffeyville. We requested to be placed in the same group after our acceptance, and before we knew it, we were on a plane heading East for a place called Philadelphia.  I really think it was a good thing that we didn't have the internet at time because if our parents had researched it, they probably wouldn't have let us go. Just sitting here thinking about those two summers there, I will definitely have to break this up and write about it some other time.

We were a rag-tag group of 18-23 yr. old kids, about 75-100 of us from all over the US and some from Canada, meshed together in a program founded by Tony Compolo - EAPE. It would take me a very long time to explain everything and what we did, but basically we were counselors/summer interns living in the midst of youth were economically and spiritually disadvantaged. Mont & I soon learned we were not to stay in Philly but would be part of a satellite group of 12 starting up in Camden, NJ. We were guinea pigs of a sort and how we did would determine if it would continue there. No pressure! 

Hope Memorial

Driving through the dismal streets, Bruce Main, our director told us what we would be experiencing, and it just didn't sink in.  When we drove up to our site, on that one-way street, that big two story yellow building didn't look like much, but it became our home and those other counselors became our family. Hope Memorial Baptist Church, our sponsor church, was right in the heart of where we were working . I'm sure we seemed a little unconventional, but they welcomed us and treated us like family.  The building in the background was where we lived and held many of our summer activities.  The first week we were there, the bank on the corner (1/4 a block away) was robbed, a woman and her child were shot in the park because they were "worth more points", and a body was found less than 1/4 of a mile from us under a pile of rubble (Camden suffered along with Philly with the garbage worker's strike). In 2003-2005, 2009 Camden was been named the nation's most-dangerous city, USA Today. Yes, it was home.

A slice of life of Camden

Each morning we opened the doors to a throng of children from 5-12 years and ushered them up the stairs to the 2nd floor for opening skits that focused on the day's lesson, songs, and announcements.  It was there that Queena Gina, Captain Bruce, and more were "born" as we introduced many of them to Jesus, Moses, Esther, Ruth, Joseph, and more, weaving the stories into Bible lessons, crafts (that was my department), games, and music. The names have long escaped my memory, but the faces are there. I can hear them singing, each verse getting louder until the divided room was shouting:

"There ain't no flies on us. There ain't no flies on us!
There might be flies on some of you guys, but ain't no flies on us!"  

Our task:  There were two counselors per age group (there were 3 or 4 groups), one counselor per area (art, music, Bible, music, PE) and we had our work cut out for us. Montica was with an age group both summers, Karen (who now works for the GMA and Dove Awards) did a Psalty musical, and I did crafts. My job was to plan and teach a craft each day of camp and it was stretch for me.  When I first arrived and walked into the basement that would become my Art Pit for 2 summers, I was overwhelmed.  The stage area was PILED with supplies the congregation had been collecting just for us.  I was supposed to do something with ALL that stuff and this was before the internet.  I had a very small budget and it was difficult to stick with it. Let me tell you, there was not a WalMart just around the corner, it was all K Mart, but it was sparse. 

 The bad parts of Camden make the bad parts of Philly look like a playground

Teaching in the Pit

If I said it was all about just telling them about Jesus, I would be lying.  It was really about showing those kids who He was and building relationships with them.  Most of the kids we worked with had no hope of graduating from HS, making it out without a child to support, staying off drugs, or a staying out of gangs.  They sometimes walked 2-5 miles just to be there, sometimes through the worst drug area imaginable. Bruce  encouraged us to form close relationship with a few of the kids and in the process, they invited us into their lives, their homes, their hearts.  The kids who were there were desperate for hope and it still brings me to tears thinking about them. Many times after camp, we would walk them home, and sit outside on the porch or sidewalk waiting for their door to be unlocked because their parents were busy (prostitution, drugs, sleeping... you make a guess).  Many of those kids thought McDonald's was a FANCY restaurant, had never seen the ocean, or realized that KS and OK were not the Wild West that they believed.  They thought Mont and I rode around in covered wagons!  But in all of that, those kids were not the only ones who had misconceptions, and God took us to the most dangerous city in the nation to open our hearts.


Oh, this has been so tough, because once I started the memories came flooding back.  If you'll come back next week, I'll try my hardest to tell some lighter, memorable moments, but I'm not making any promises.

If you'd like to check out Camp Hope, it has since grown, and is now called UrbanPromise.  Last year they were featured on Extreme Makeover, Home Edition. Where it started from and where it is now amazes me and I'm thrilled that God has taken this ministry from a meager 12 to an organization of mega proportions it is today. 

 

If you would like to read more Piggy Tales from other ladies, hope on Over to Mommy's Piggy Tales.   If you would like to join in and start recording your own Piggy Tales, contact Jana at Mommy's Piggy Tales to find out how  (jannajoy25 (at) hotmail.com). If for some reason you missed any of my previous posts, you can find them here.

Young Adult Years: Christian college experience

This is week one of “My Young Adult Years,” guest hosted by Ginny Marie over at Lemon Drop Pie.  I'm really late in getting this out, and I missed my Monday deadline, but I hope next week will not so mentally and physically taxing.  Each Monday, I will be posting on my Young Adult Life. 





 Dreams:  I think we always had them - animals I mean, but they lead to dreams. Horses, rabbits, cats, dogs, cows, a snake, fish, sea monkeys (who has not had them?), birds -  was set out to learn what it would take to become a veterinarian, began researching colleges and programs. The further I researched, the more I realized that I would not be able to follow this dream - I struggled too much with math.  It was not as huge a disappointment as you might think.  I still love animals, but I really see now that it would not have been the right area for me.  Instead I began to search for purpose through different experiences with missions trips to Haiti and a summer spent in the inner-city (I'll have to write about that another time), God opened my heart to missions and working with kids.

After graduating with my Assoc. of Arts, I attended one year at Ozark Christian College (sometimes referred fondly to as Ozark Bridal College, before the name change from Bible), but I wasn't there to get my MRS.  Instead I focused on Mission and Elementary Education classes and it was there that I started to figure out who I was.

Classes:  It was a shock being at OCC,  as each professor gave us a syllabus at the beginning of the semester, when each paper, project, assignment was due and I was overwhelmed.  I was far from home, it felt, and I was having second thoughts.  I even called my mom and asked her to let me come home, but she said no, stick it out. I think she practiced some tough love on me! What I found there were professors that cared, knew their students, and not only taught what we had to study, but they taught how to care with our hearts.  Most of my classes I loved: Acts with Mark Scott, Missions and Elementary Ed. with Harvey Bacus, Worship Class, Missionary Womanhood (lead by the missionary on Campus - Rhonda Hayward), but one the one I dreaded was 7 a.m. O.T. History with Wilbur Fields.  He was a much older professor, I think he came with the college, but a slide show of his archaeological digs was too much for me and the rest of the class.  As soon as the lights went out, the slides came on, the heads would go down.  I had a terrible time trying to memorize all the maps, people groups, time lines, and lineages.  It's a wonder I didn't get worse than a "C" in that class!

Mont., Ann, Me, Amy, Connie

Dorm Life:  Montica, who I had been on 3 mission experiences with, was my roommate and we soon found a common friendship with the other girls on 2nd floor of "Dateless" Dennis Dorm.  Our room became the mecca of late night talks, fixing popcorn in our illegal microwave (yes, we were prohibited from TVs and microwaves in our rooms), study sessions, and even water fights in the hall. Sometimes, when it was close to curfew (9 on weekdays and 10 on weekends), Mont. & I would tell the dorm mom we were thinking of getting some TCBY yogurt and offered to bring back a treat for her... I'm sure she knew exactly what we were doing, but let us go anyway.

Activities: OCC always encouraged their student body to be involved in the campus, church, community and world around them, and mostly Mont and I did everything together. Prison ministry to the only male, all 7 levels of incarceration medical prison in MO was certainly an interesting experience, but what I really loved was being involved with the worship band for chapel and performing in the Living Christmas Tree.   That was the last year the last year a live infant was used for awhile after it threw up during a live performance. Mont. and I volunteered at CIY (Christ in Youth) doing odd jobs, registrations, mailings, errands, cleaning, and helping at local conventions.  They called us the Silly Sisters and promised a date with Tom Selleck when the year was over, but all we got were paper cuts and wonderful memories.  

Christmas in our dorm (that's sparkling grape juice)

Jobs:  Montica and I applied for on campus jobs to help pay tuition and soon found ourselves serving up malts, burgers, patty melts, and more at the campus grill.  We loved working with each other and many times found ourselves doing closing and clean ups.  Did you know that cockroaches can survive walking across a hot grill?  TMI I know... Sometimes we would get in food fights with the team downstairs - they would stop the elevator mid-way between floors, gather their ammo of week old Jello.  Sometimes we won, but most of the time time they did, but someone had to use that horrid jello!  I also supplemented spending money by typing papers for a few people.  I loved typing, but that was back in the day before computers, and the only typewriter available was a late '70's IBM electric model with correction tape.  I really learned to hone my skills and accuracy because I hated typing a WHOLE page over if I made a mistake. I also learn quickly which writer really cared about what he wrote and how much he put himself into his work.  I usually would go out of my way to make sure I did my best, but there was one student who just wrote down anything - it didn't always make sense.  I usually typed it exactly as he wrote it.

Second semester we would give Nonato Silvia - student from Brazil, a ride back to Tyro, where his sponsor family was.  There were always interesting conversations filled with stories of Brazil, that made us more curious about life there - most of the time they were humorous, sometimes they were about different customs and life in the US.  Once he asked us to stop at a cemetery because he had not been to one and they looked different than the ones in Brazil.


If you would like to read more Piggy Tales from other ladies, hope on Over to Mommy's Piggy Tales.   If you would like to join in and start recording your own Piggy Tales, contact Jana at Mommy's Piggy Tales to find out how  (jannajoy25 (at) hotmail.com). If for some reason you missed any of my previous posts, you can find them here.