Human Contact! Pay attention now!

whew! i am ready for a break!....spring break, that is! (yes, miriam, i know.) ;) Tuesday I had class at 8:30AM, then went straight to the hospital afterwards, didn't get home until 8PM, ate dinner and dropped into bed. Wednesday I was up and at the hospital by 6:45AM, got home at 3:30PM, took a quick nap, showered, dashed off to class at 7:00PM, then had to work (finally, work i get paid for! as opposed to the hosp.!) got off home at 11:00PM, then was up until 2:00AM working on homework for my 8:30AM class today. Then, of course, after that class it was off to the hospital again. Home at 3:30PM to cram for an exam tomorrow, then back to work tonight from 7:30PM-11:00pm, and up again for my 8:30AM tomorrow. I tell ya what, I am BUSHED! But no one ever said college was easy, eh?
Here's a few quick pointers for all of you planning to go to college. Two bits of wisdom I GUARANTEE no one has ever shared with you before. Ready? Okay:

What has college taught me?

1. Krispy Kremes can count for a whole meal.
2. There are benefits to on-campus jobs.
3. Sometimes it's a good thing to learn from watching rather than doing. i.e. Sem Pond Jumps through a hole in the ice when it is only 20 degrees outside. Yes. Really.
   
4. When a prof tells you that you are the first class that he has taught in 30 years......believe him!
5. Boiling noodles really can burn mouths.
6. Squirrels can move faster than humans.
7. God can and does do miracles.
8. There's a good reason for goggles in lab.
9. Nothing matches a midnight dash to BR 31 w/ a roomie for cheering a girl up.
10. Things could always be worse...than, i don't know, say... a hornet infestation lasting over 5 days with a Kill Count of over 50, in your apartment where they're crawling out your heating and cooling ducts...(right?)

And here's 2 Bonus Ones:

1) When you live in a dorm (as I did my first 2 years) your own SPACE constitutes only the floor you are standing, and sometimes not even that. Believe me when I tell you that now is the time where you and your automobile, be it 17 years old with a cassette player, over 200,000mile, no AC, ( anything else "cool" for that matter) will become bosom buddies. Your car belongs to YOU (or your parents). It becomes a sanctuary as you never knew it to be before. Yes. It does.
2) There really is something to the idea of the importance of Human Contact. When I was a mere freshman, I unknowingly started an experiment to see how long I could go without the touch of another human being. I had no family around, my friends and I had just met, and really...who was I going to hug? Let me tell ya, THREE MONTHS is waaaay too long to go without a hug, a pat on the back, a kiss on the cheek, or anything else. Think about it, really. How long could you go? I found out a person can be lonely even while living in the most compact quarters I had ever known. I was starving for human contact. That, of course, had the potential to lead to trouble in and of itself, but I should have known better.

Thankfully, that time only lasted a short (yet severe) time before God blessed me with some really awesome relationships, including refreshing an old one. But I've always remembered that, and tried to be sure that if I know someone is new to the area (or the CHURCH) I try to welcome them warmly....even if only a handshake! You may not know how long it has been since they have been touched, or felt acceptance and love in human contact! Why not touch them with a sample of God's love?

Today was a good day. Busy, but good. I suppose I could tell you how one of my post-op patients and I celebrated when he finally went pee, but I'm going to guess you don't really want to hear it. ha ha. Yeah. But you would celebrate too if you found out now you didn't need to have a catheter put in. Funny how the thought of a catheter can just scare the pee right out of some people... (i know, i know, look at how sick nursing has twisted my sense of humor! AHHHHHHH!)
Actually, it was a good day at the hospital. All of my patients are friendly, and so far no major complications. If you don't know, I'm working 2-3 days a week on an orthopedic rehab unit at Metro Hospital in Grand Rapids. It's part of finishing up my last semester. I have to be back at the hosp. tomorrow by 6:30am. And I didn't even get home today until 8pm! grrr...
Anyway, life's good, so that's that. Be blessed and thank God that you have the use of your legs today!!

ahem*

So let's be frank.
Most of my friends are all getting married within the year: Kristin, Beth, Stephanie, Lisa, Kari, Andrea, Caitlin, Allison, Jason, Jess, to name a few. Sadly, I could go on...really, there's more...but I'd rather not. Apparently, a lot of people attend Calvin to get their MRS degree. (Which is "Mrs." marriage degree for those who don't know.) The tension is mounting.
-the pressure to look, act, and BE desirable
-the race to get married
-the fear of being unlovable

It's no fun, really. Since I haven't met him yet and am enjoying my life as it is right now, I have no great longing to get married this moment. EXCEPT...for the longing everyone else assumes I feel, therefore they force it on me. Does that make sense? I don't feel I'm missing anything until others TELL me I certainly am. I'm not that old, am I? Only 22 yrs. I mean, it would be different if he were here now and I was just stalling, or something. When I say I'm ok....I am. God has been so good to me and filled my life with so many people and activities right now that I don't really feel like I'm being left out. Right now, I'm good. I'm not saying there's no potential out there, but I'm not dying to get it accomplished. And those fun little secret crushes..ahh...well, we'll see, won't we? [Won't we, Kate? :) ]

Unflattering, though it may be, I just had to put up a "Sister" photo since Thune did. This was a while ago, as you can see by Miriam's braces and Charis' hair.

Ahh...the good ol' days of all living at home... Sharing a bathroom, bedrooms, CLOTHES, phone, internet (our neat-o dial-up...grrr) the CAR, but we shared the love...oh yes we did. Some a bit too enthusiastically for my taste, i.e. M----- and the shower....yes....she did. I know. That's what I thought too. ;) Yes, those were the years.... 

celebration on grand

celebration on grand
Originally uploaded by cindy solomon.

I need to get some more photos of me, but for now, this is a fun one. That's me, the blond in the brown shirt on the R side. Beth and Miriam came up to visit me this weekend. We're on a bridge, just about to watch fireworks over the Grand River (you can see the water's reflection in the background.) It was a fun time!

Today was so beautiful. I think I sense God's presence in His creative handiwork most of all. The forest trees out my back window were blanketed with snow as large fluffy flakes continued to float down. Birds were flocking to my feeders, perhaps trying to seek shelter on my patio as much as seeking food. Downy woodpeckers, goldfinches, nuthatches, mourning doves, cardinals, dark-eyed juncos, chickadees....trust me, you can learn a lot of things about God when you bird-watch. It's an enjoyable hobby I discovered up here. Let me share the following, for example, and you can see what I mean:

I was grumbling about the birds one day when God and I had a conversation. Imagine you're listening in, because it went something like this: [Disclaimer: Yes, I realize that grumbling about how birds will naturally act, is a bit ridiculous, but I blame it on the cold of that day. :) ]

Me: (grumble, grumble) "Stupid birds. Here I am helping them survive the winter and they don't even care."

[It was a particularly cooold day but I had to go out and refill the feeders because they were empty.]

Me: "...They fly away in panic every time I open the back door. I buy their food and set-up the feeders and they don't even know I exist. I'm glad to see them enjoy what I have provided. I do it because I like seeing them happy. But they don't even recognize that I do it..."

Holy Spirit (HS): "Cindy..."

Me: "...I watch them from my window and they pretend to ignore that I'm there. I know how they act, I know which birds like which feeders, I know everything about them! Week after week I never stop taking care of them but they're not even thankful..."

Holy Spirit (HS): "Hmm...who else does that remind you of? I love My people. I created them and I know everything about them. I want to help them, but they ignore me. They try and make me only a spectator in their lives. They scatter when I come near. I provide for their needs; I rejoice in their joys and cry with their pain, yet they still do not let me close. You want to see ungrateful? Look around...maybe even look in the mirror..."

Okay, so that was a little harsh I felt. But after pouting a few moments, humility set in and I realized how it must hurt the Lord every time we try and keep Him at a distance to part of our lives. So that's it. Just a reminder to be grateful to God today and how wonderfully He has provided for you.

Getting Started

Hey Everyone. I was getting so drawn up in everyone else's blogs that I decided I just really needed to start my own. So....let's get it started.

For my first topic, I want to talk about church. It seems to be the popular thing to do, and what can I say? I want to be popular too.
How about this? All these people saying they don't know whether to leave or stay. Yeah, I was in that boat too. But for me it was because of a reason I mentioned earlier this week to another person who had also grown up in our church: it is WAY HARD to grow up in a church where everyone knows everything (well, think they do anyway) about you. I mean, c'mon, I was practically born into this church. I'm a Solomon sister. Can't really get anymore "CFC churchy" than that, can you? At least, this was what it felt like when I was in a bad mood. But now, let me say this: I love my church. absolutely. positively. I have so many ideas for things I want to do in our church. And as hard as Satan is shoving me and others, it's a dead give away that something big is happening! No, you don't think so? Try this. Go visit about 10 other churches...OUTSIDE of re-net. Sometimes we don't know a good thing when we have it. It's like taking your parents' marriage for granted. Ya hate the way they bug you when you're a teenager, and all you want is to make them go away. But now having seen what it's like through the eyes of my less fortunate friends who have parents who abuse them or each other and are out every weekend sleeping with a new partner, my God, how grateful I am for the loving parents He gave me. In other words, you get out and see more churches, you will come back dying of thirst to where that Living Water is flowing. Okay, I'll admit maybe our church isn't where God wants you right now. Maybe not. But a true family sticks together...even when they think can't stand each other.

Believe me, it's about to get real good...