Unique Birds

 How do you catch a unique bird? (Keep reading to find out)

Well, I am in Mahomet once again! I have finished the semester (and passed... woo hoo!!) and have made it back safely and relatively unscathed from the snowboarding adventures in Utah. After six days of riding, I am grateful to say that I have no broken bones nor concussions, just a lot of sore muscles.

KC, myslef, and Amanda in the gondola at SnowBasin

It is amazing to me how beautiful God's creation is. I have never seen anything like these snow covered mountains before. I have been to Utah in the summer, and it is great, but seeing that blue sky and white snow and recognizing the fact that He made our bodies so that we can strap a piece of plastic to our feet and hurdle ourselves down a steep mountain is absolutely ridiculous! It was an excellent week of riding at Powder Mountain, SnowBasin, and Brighton. I think it is safe to say that my skills have improved greatly and that I can successfully dig my self out of almost any 6 foot snow drift (even if it takes a while...)

Day 2: At SnowBasin

Day 4: Long, beautiful drive to Brighton

Pretty gorgeous, eh?!

On the way home to Mahomet, I stopped in Kankakee for family Christmas. It is always an interesting and funny time when you put more than two Schaaps in a room together. My family is funny, strange, and again - just plain funny. My brother told me the joke above. Answer: Unique up on it... yup, gotta love that stuff.

This got me thinking about how much I love the clever, witty, smart, hilarious, and unique birds I know. I am so thankful that I have people who can make me laugh. I am a sucker for a good (or bad) joke.

Classic

In other news, I will be leaving in ONE MONTH for Kenya. My placement was switched to an elementary school and I am quite excited about this! I realize that as things change and come up, I just have to go with the flow and make sure that I keep the most important things first in my mind. I am blessed to have gone to a wonderful school, have great professors, and been well equipped to teach kiddos regardless of age, level or location.

Oh, and 2 days till Christmas!!!! My parents anniversary was yesterday (28 years!) and in just two days all six of us Schaaps will be together to celebrate what an awesome God we have and His birth. Merry Christmas y'all!

We're Going on an Adventure, Charlie!

Well, it is December 9th and I am 22 years old and one month. I think this calls for a time of reflection as well as a time for some thought to go into the future. In the next nine(ish) months, I will be embarking on many adventures that will be crazy. Hopefully they will all be crazy awesome... so far they seem to be heading that way.

Adventure #1:
In the next week, I will be completing my finals and my second to last semester here at Trinity Christian College. This might not sound very adventurous, but it has been an amazing four years and quite the ride itself. Getting through this week will be an accomplishment and I look forward to spending time with my dear friends when we have not one thought of papers, projects, studying, homework, or anything school-related on our minds.

Adventure #2:
In seven days from today, my friend KC and I will be flying out to Utah for a week of snowboarding bliss. We will be riding the beautiful slopes of Powder Mountain while staying with some friends of KC's. I am incredibly excited to get to spend some time with that awesome girl and to ride some real mountains. (No offense Wisconsin and Michigan... you're still cool)

Adventure #3:
In six weeks, I will be taking off again and going a little farther from home than Utah. I will be flying with six other Trinity students to Kenya. Yes, as in Kenya, Africa. I will be staying there for eight weeks and teaching at a school not far from the college where I will be staying. This is part of my student teaching. I will be getting prepared not only for adjusting to a completely different culture, but also getting ready to teach high schoolers. (I have spent the last three years aiding in classrooms with children no older than nine years old... This will definitely take some getting used to...)

Adventure #4:
When I return from Kenya, I will be student teaching somewhere in the state of Illinois (location: tbd). I have spent my college career preparing to be a teacher, and most of the time I am extremely excited about educating the little ones of America. There are still times when my dreams of doing different or crazier things cross my mind, but I am truly looking forward to giving teaching a try and seeing how it goes.

Adventure #5:
This is perhaps my most exciting and newest development in my life. Starting on June 1st, I will be getting out the ol' Cannondale and pedaling it across the whole entire US of A. Yes, this means that I will be riding my bike about 70 miles each day for 60 days. The organization I am doing this with is called Bike the US for MS. It is an incredible organization founded by people who are excited about being active and raising money for people living with MS.

Here is a link to their website and my personal little page: http://www.biketheusforms.org/cyclists/detail.asp?cid=286 

This is a lot to think about, and honestly I am not sure how any of these adventures will turn out. One thing I do know is that I have people who will support me through all of these things, which is one of the biggest blessings in my life. With people like that behind me and a God who knows what's going on, it is guaranteed to be an incredible and ridiculously awesome adventure :)