My Summer Adventures...White Water Rafting!

The second exciting and very scary part of my summer was going white water rafting with the college group from Morningside.  Originally, I hadn’t planned on going.  I really didn’t even know that they were going before school started, because usually we take this trip after Labor Day.  So, I ended up deciding to go at the very last minute. 

We arrived in Tennessee on Friday afternoon, at the camp that we always stay at.  As is tradition, we played a night game of Ultimate Frisbee, with glow-sticks (as bracelets to know who was on your team and to be able to see where they were) and a glow in the dark Frisbee.  A few people always seem to come away from that game with some sort of minor injury, because you can’t really see who’s around you sometimes that may plow into you by accident LOL (myself included in that group). 

This year we ended up rafting down a different river than the one we usually raft in.  This river was a little calmer than the one we rafted down the past two years.  Also, we were given the option of rafting without a guide in smaller inflatable boats (called “duckies”), which were a little bit bigger than kayaks.  Most of the girls wanted to be in the bigger boat with a guide, but I was torn as to what I really wanted to do.  I ended up being coaxed into riding in a smaller boat with one of the guys in our group.  I figured that since it was a calmer river, that I wouldn’t be thrown out of the boat by the rapids…

We all got our boats into the water, which was freezing (probably around 50 degrees).  The rapids really weren’t bad at all; the only bad thing was the cold water.  We had fun for about 45 minutes or so, watching a guy in our group (Marcus) be tipped out of his boat by another guy (Ross), and also watching as Kyle deflated Marcus’ duckie and started sinking (HILARIOUS!); we all had to wait while the guide re-inflated his boat. 

In river rapids, you constantly have to be watching out for rocks that are sticking out of the water, or even are just under the surface of the water.  If you go over one of those rocks, you will either be stuck there or your boat will capsize.

Here’s my story…We were coming up on a smaller rapid, while trying to avoid running into a rock that was sticking out of the water.  I was in the front of the boat, trying to steer away from the rock, while at the same time trying not to fall into the water.  We ended up falling in, with the boat landing right on top of me.  I don’t like things being on top of me when I’m under water, so that was what started me panicking a little bit.  I got the boat off of me, and immediately I realized that my oar wasn’t in my hand anymore; they always stress to us about not losing our oar.  So, by the time I found and grabbed my oar, the rapid had already taken me from within reach of the boat.  Thankfully, the guy that I rode with was able to pull himself back in the boat.  I was not so fortunate.  They always tell you that if you fall out of the boat while in a rapid, to go belly-up (keeping your feet, head and arms above the water), so that you can ride to the end of the rapid to be able to get back in the boat.  That was the first thing I tried, but the water was rushing so hard that it was coming on top of me, making it almost impossible to breathe.  That was when I started to panic a little more, because all I wanted to do was stop, but I couldn’t.  I started trying to get my footing on some rocks underneath the water, because it’s very shallow (which is what you shouldn’t try to do, because your feet could get stuck in the rocks).  I tried using my oar to stop me, but that wasn’t working and I ended up losing my oar anyway in the process.  I finally was able to get my footing on two rocks for a few seconds, but again the water was rushing so fast and hard that I knew I wasn’t going to be able to stay there long.  After the water pulled me back down was when I hit a huge rock, which sent me under the water for a few seconds.  By that time, I was so scared for my life that I figured I would never come out of this.  The water eventually shot me away from the rock and onto a rock that I was able to step up on and swim over the river bank, away from the rapid.  By then, knowing that it was all over, I was crying and hyperventilating.  It all lasted around 30-45 second, but felt like forever.  The guide with our group, that had directed the girls’ boat, came over and walked me back to their boat.  I didn’t realize until after I was in the boat that I had lost a shoe and had gained cuts, bruises, and scrapes all over my hand, arm and knee.  I sat in the bottom of the boat for the remainder of the trip down the river and shook for about an hour and a half.  Even though the water was cold, I was shaking because I was in so much shock.  I was so thankful when we exited the boat onto dry land. 

That was definitely the scariest experience that I’ve ever been through.  I don’t plan on going white water rafting any time soon, but I’m not saying I’ll never go again.  Despite everything that happened on the river, I had a pretty good time on the trip with our group.

My Summer Adventures...New York City!

A lot has happened this summer that I need to catch you up on!  Since I had decided that I wasn’t going to be taking any classes for the summer, I figured that my summer would be fairly dull.  The first part of the summer was as I expected, but the last part ended up becoming very busy and adventuresome.  Morningside Baptist, my church in Tallahassee, was taking a group to New York City to help a pastor who was starting a new church in a part of New York.  There were a few empty slots open for people to come, so I decided to go… Our group teamed up with Olive Baptist Church in Pensecola, so we had a big group of about 30 or so.

We left on Friday, August 5, and drove to Jacksonville, which is where we flew out of on Saturday morning.  We arrived in NYC around 10:00am on Saturday and were taken to our home for the next week.  I was able to see firsthand the driving and traffic atmosphere in New York, while we all feared for our lives, being driven around by the shuttle service we hired.  I don’t think it would have made much difference, had I closed my eyes.  We arrived at the MNYBA (Metropolitan New York Baptist Association), and became instantly acquainted with the 81 stairs (one way) up to the floor in which we were staying.  Yes, the building did have an elevator, but since it was built in the 1920’s, the elevator was manual and could only be run by certain people in the building.  So, we all came away from the trip with a lot more leg muscle than we went in with. 

After we all claimed our beds and laid our bags down, we went down to the Subway station, which was at the corner of our block, thank goodness, and purchased our Subway cards for the week.  After that, we split up, ate lunch and came back to the MNYBA building for our orientation with the couple who runs the building.  Once that was over, we had free time for sight-seeing for the rest of the day.  I was glad that my Dad went on this trip, because we spent all of our sight-seeing time together, which was fun and adventuresome at times.  I had so many things that I wanted to see and take pictures of, so he just let me take him wherever I wanted to go, which was pretty much all over NYC.  We ended up in Times Square that evening, which is beautiful at night with all the lights. 

The next day, which was Sunday, we had a worship service at the MNYBA building.  After lunch, we packed 2000 honey buns and juice boxes into bags, which we were to be handing out on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings to those getting on the Subway and heading to work.  In the bags were flyers and information about the new church in Inwood (a part of New York City), that was starting up. 

Each of those three mornings, after we handed out all of our bags for the day, we had a worship service at a Spanish church in Inwood, where the pastor of the new church spoke to us.  After lunch, we all split up into three different groups.  Some stayed in Inwood.  This involved cleaning up the park, playing and ministering with the kids who visited the park.  Another group went to Harlem to minister to the West African Muslims.  Something that I thought was interesting is that the second largest West African Muslim tribe is in NYC.  The last group, which is the group that I chose to be a part of, went back to the MNYBA building and helped with construction, painting, or whatever needed to be done with the building. 

Thursday night, we all helped set up for a Christian rap concert at a church in Inwood, which was mainly held to publicize the new church.  When we weren’t involved in any of the missional activities, we were free to sight-see.  I wanted to see as many things as I could in the short amount of time that we had.  We rode the Staten Island Ferry past the Statue of Liberty, saw Ground Zero, Times Square, Madison Square Garden, Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Bryant Park, and Parson’s School of Design (Project Runway!!), Julliard School of the Arts, and a couple of other things.  There were still MANY other things that we didn’t get to see, but I hope to go back someday soon.  One of my favorite things that my Dad and I were able to do was ride bikes through Central Park.  I never realized how big Central Park really is.  We didn’t get to see everything in the park, but what we did see was beautiful. 

We must have walked 50 miles throughout the entire week.  Just walking around NYC is awesome…it’s definitely an entire different atmosphere than what I live in.  Overall, we had an awesome trip and I can’t wait to go back one day.

Home Sweet Apartment

Shannon and I moved into our new abode last Thursday, May 26!  We moved from Tampa to Clearwater, and I’m so excited to be this close to the beach!  It was more of a transition for Shannon than it was for me though.  Shannon’s lived in the same part of Tampa since she moved here about 3 years ago, and since Tampa is a much bigger city than Clearwater is, we aren’t as close to everything (mall, stores, etc...) like we used to be.  Since being in Clearwater, whenever Shannon or I are planning on going into Tampa for something, we ask the other if we need anything while we’re in town, which I think is pretty funny, since we’re talking like we live out in the country now, away from the rest of society, but we’re still really close to downtown Tampa and St. Petersburg.  Plus, we’re right across the street from Super-Target (which Shannon and I both agree is really dangerous), Publix and many other places.

Our parents came and helped us move, which was very nice.  My Dad got the job – as always – of putting things (furniture) together, as well as hanging everything on the walls.  Love you Daddy!!  One piece of furniture in particular that was literally a “beast” to put together was my desk.  We have forever nicknamed my desk as “the beast”.  It really is a big piece of furniture, but my argument was that it wasn’t that big in the store J.  It has A LOT of storage space though, which is a must for me. 

Thankfully though, we hired a moving company to help us move from a 3^rd floor to a 3^rd floor.  We were all tired enough after taking everything that was packed in all 3 of our cars up the stairs and down the stairs and up the stairs and down the stairs.  I can’t image how we would have felt, had we moved all of our furniture too, as well as whatever else was on the moving truck.  I’m not certain on this, and Shannon agrees with me, but I really think that there are more steps going to the 3^rd floor in this apartment building, or the steps are steeper somehow.  I just feel more tired after I’ve climbed the who knows how many steps there are to get to the 3^rd floor in this building.

I had all of my new bedroom furniture delivered the day after we moved, and I LOVE it!!  It’s so gorgeous and very antique looking.  The color of the comforter set that I picked out goes perfectly with the furniture.  After setting everything up and decorating it -as well as my bathroom- the way I wanted it, I’m so happy with how everything turned out!  Plus, my closet is HUGE!  As I started to arrange and organize all my clothes to where I wanted them, I didn’t know what to do with all the space.  I’m really good at organizing in small spaces, but I have a harder time, believe it or not, with larger spaces.  I don’t think I’ll have a very difficult time adjusting though

Packing Up and Moving Out...Again

I can't believe that it's been almost 8 months already! In just a week and a half, me and Shannon will be moving to our new apartment! I've been counting down the days since February and we have just 10 days left! For the past 8 months, Shannon and I have been sharing a 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom apartment. And yes, there was only 1 closet as well. We've never had to share a bedroom before now, so you can imagine how big a change it was for both of us. The closet that we share is pretty large, but I have ALOT of clothes, so not all of my clothes would fit in the closet. Half of my clothes are in the closet and the other half is on a rack and in drawers in the living room. I never thought I'd be so glad to have all of my clothes in the same room again.

So, I've had to start packing up my belongings once again to move. As you've read from a previous blog, you know how much I love to pack, because packing means organizing. I also love to unpack and figure out where I want everything to go. That's probably my favorite part of the whole process. Setting my stuff back up, and decorating! For the past couple of months, I've been accumulating everything for my new bedroom and bathroom. It took me 4 or 5 months just to find and decide on the perfect shower curtain, comforter and sheet set. When it comes to decorating, I'm very particular, and I wont settle for just anything, as you can probably already tell.

Updates from the new apartment are soon to follow!

School, School and More School!

WOW! It’s been way too long since my last post!  I would’ve posted a lot sooner than this, but there really hasn’t been a whole lot going on in my life besides school.  But since school is the primary reason for my move to Tampa, I’ll fill you in on what’s been going on!

I’m just finishing up my second quarter at IADT, and I’m loving it more and more every week!  I don’t necessarily love every assignment or project that I’m given, but I’m learning so much and I’ve seen such a big improvement in my photography since I started 5 months ago!  It also helps to get encouragement from my teachers.  It’s so awesome to hear from a pro that I’ve got a real talent in this.

A lot of people have asked me, “What type of photography are you going to do?”  I’ve decided that I’m not going to focus on just one type.  I have too many types that I like, so I’m going to focus on as many as I can.  Portrait, wedding, food, landscape, fashion, and still life are just a few.