From Tana

I promised many of you in our annual Christmas letter that the long version of my letter (100, even 250 words, are not enough for this wordy girl!) would be posted on our blog. So, this is what I have to say.

At this time last year I had just finished my first semester of college. My last assignment for my favorite class (Rhetoric) was to create a Revision Portfolio, including revised papers from the semester, one new paper and a reflection paper, which focused on what I had learned from the semester. I realized in putting together my portfolio just how much I loved looking back on things that had happened and how I have grown or changed from them. My family says I have changed every time I come home from school. I never think so, of course, but, looking back at my year as a whole shows me how all of the little lessons and insignificant changes have resulted in immense growth over the past year.

Tana&Jojo at Christmas last year

In a normal end-of-the-year update, I would spend this entire paragraph telling everyone how I finished my freshman year at Belmont Abbey, declared my English major, and am loving sophomore year playing soccer for the Conference Carolinas champions (BAC Crusaders) and working in the Admissions office! Or I would focus on my end-of-semester literary road trip of the century to Andalusia, our family vacation to London in the summer where I flipped out over Olympic preparations and then coming home to lifeguard all summer. Or how I potentially set my future career as a Children’s librarian in motion by staffing Camp Read-a-Rama with the Augusta Baker Chair of Children’s Literacy at USC, who is now my friend on Skype. I would mention that I still play flute as part of a small woodwind ensemble at BAC.

But, what I would really rather tell you is: The Heart of Christ is Intensely Beautiful.

Just think about it for a minute. It blows my mind.

On our first day back this January, Dr. Miss had everyone in our Rhetoric class choose a motto for the year. It could be a quote, or something we created ourselves. Mine was “I may not like you, but I love you, which sometimes makes things curiouser and curiouser.” While I was pondering this, instead of making a New Year’s resolution, I was praying “Come, Lord Jesus, bring me nearer to your Heart.” As the year went on my prayer changed to “God, make salvation real to me. Help me recognize the beauty and significance of grace.”

Let me tell you folks. He has. God has answered my prayers in too many ways to count and it has been a crazy, intense journey. I have been filled with laughter and anger, tears and joy. I have learned that sometimes it hurts to love. That I am capable of not liking someone in the least while loving her (or him) fiercely. I have learned to love people I do not even know. I am still blessed to be part of the Imagine magazine staff as an editor. I love the time I spend reading, pondering and editing devotions—by girls I have never met, for girls I have never met.

I have learned that, as a freshman, you think you know everything, but sophomore year reminds you of how much there is to learn. I have discovered the beauty and worth of a liberal arts education and its idealism, while also recognizing that it has its shortcomings. I am learning that I can’t do it all, have it all, or be friends with everyone. I am still working on how to say, “no.” I had to loosen my desperate hold of perfection and take God’s hand instead.

It brings me so much joy to tell you that this semester I have built lasing and meaningful relationships not only with my friends and fellow students, but with faculty and staff at my college. That I am as close with my coaches and my advisor as I am with my family. That, even though we are small, my Bible Study (filled with only girls from the soccer team) is one of the highlights of my week. That a few of my giving, flexible and Christ-centered friends have formed the core of a group that meets weekly for Christian fellowship and prayer. We meet in the dorm room that is the cleanest, usually on the floor. We eat whatever food we can scrounge up, anything from full-blown feasts to just tea and nutella. But we talk, pray and call ourselves the Protestant Club (we love our Catholic friends, but we like to stick together too!). And, even though my heart broke when St. Paul’s (the church I attended for the entire spring semester) folded over the summer, Jesus pieced it back together with hands full of kindness and love. He provided an intimate, passionate group of believers at St. Patrick’s Anglican Mission in Charlotte to worship with. Now I love them dearly too.

So, yes, I have changed. I changed this year by recognizing that I will never realize how incredible grace and mercy are and how freely Jesus gives both to us. I grew this year because, if you ask God for something, be prepared to get it. I learned this year, more than ever, that I am a sinful, broken person who will never be able to fully comprehend the nature of God or how intimately and passionately he pursues our hearts. That I am a person who makes countless mistakes and has hurt too many people, but that somehow, through God’s provision, two incredible women whom I have never met chose some things that I said in an email interview to include in their new devotional book, “Becoming God’s True Woman…While I Still Have a Curfew.” I was shown that the heart of Christ is intensely beautiful.

Christmas this year :)

I will never realize how blessed I am. I will never fully get over my first-world problems. But, I am learning, and growing, and changing.

Our first update in a long time...

I know we promised to update over the summer, but with work and vacation (for Tana) and Totus Tuus (for Jojo) you can see that didn’t happen! And, well, we had grand plans for updating y’all on our Sophomore year too…but it’s kind of been keeping us on our toes ever since August, so that didn’t happen either. So, what you get is us, now, at Christmastime. First semester of Sophomore year is over (thank goodness!) and grades are in (praise Jesus!)—we survived. With four English classes (for Tana) and the (in)famous Churchill class (for Jojo) now behind us, we are sleeping a lot, eating good food and, of course, spending time with our families, and dogs. :)

Please stay tuned for further updates from one or the both of us.

~Tana and Jojo

Summertime

Guess what people--it's summertime! At least, for those of us that go to Belmont Abbey College and finished all of our exams last week! A better update is to come, but for now, it's been one crazy awesome year! 0 weeks down, 13 to go, and we're back in action as Sophomores...can you believe it?

What I'm up to....

Has it really been a month? I guess we've been a little busy. Anyway, I wrote this "mini bio" for a scholarship application, but I liked it and thought I would share. Some of it you may know the grand plan already...it hasn't changed for the past couple of years--say, 10. :)
Read if you wish :)

A friend recently asked me, “What are you doing with your life?” “You know,” I replied, “I ask myself that every day.” And it is true. I have grand plans. I have big goals. I set high standards. But, I have to focus on today in order to achieve them. Eventually, I want to work as a Children’s Librarian in the public library system, get married and have a family. But, before I can do any of that, I have to go to school. I cannot be a librarian without a Master’s in Library Science, which I plan to receive from the University of Texas once I finish my undergraduate degree.  For my Bachelor’s degree I am currently attending Belmont Abbey College, a small, private, liberal arts school in North Carolina. I love to read and write, so I am right at home majoring in English as a student in the Honors Institute. I attend church nearby and participate in Bible Study on-campus. I also edit for a Christian girls’ magazine, Imagine. Primarily, though, I love sports. I play on the Belmont Abbey Women’s Soccer team and am an integral part of the Sport Properly Directed, an on-campus student organization promoting the Abbey’s ideal of sport and virtue. Participating in all of these activities enables me to spend an enormous amount of time with my friends, all of whom I love dearly. Doing so many extra-curriculars has not only been fun, but also taught me to juggle assignments and athletics, to manage my time, and to prioritize. Also, I have realized that a job is not something one attains; one always has a job. Right now, my job is to be a student. Perhaps honing these skills or coming to this realization could be considered my most significant accomplishment. Maybe I could choose improving my writing or getting 10 times better at soccer than when I first set foot on campus. But I do not think so. Instead, I consider my most significant accomplishment growth. It does not sound hard. It sounds like surviving, plus learning a lesson or two. But, as a Freshman in college it is so much more than that. I have learned about rhetoric, philosophy, science, theology, sociology and literature. I have lived with people I have never met. I have built friendships. I have broken down walls. I have forgiven. I have had to ask for forgiveness. I have led. I have followed. I have talked. I have listened. I have had to make hard decisions. I have been uncertain. I have been stretched. Most of all, I have prayed. I have learned to rely on God above all else when I face the challenges life presents.

I am focusing on the journey rather than the destination. I love my grand plan. I most certainly love books and kids and the way I expect my life to go. But, unexpected things happen. So, I am taking life one day at time. I wake up and ask myself, “What am I doing with my life?” Then—I live it.

Quiet

My days aren’t quiet very often. They’re full of friends, laughter, goofiness and homework. They’re busy and I like them that way. Today was quiet. Perfect for getting work done, right? Maybe not. I had grand plans for today and all of the work that I would get done. But, plans change, and mine did. Instead of my usual large and loud mealtimes, I had a quiet breakfast with friends. I had a quiet lunch with friends. I had a quiet dinner with friends. I spent my afternoon in the sunshine in the Quad, just laying there. I didn’t play volleyball, Frisbee or football. I didn't do any hardcore studying. I just sat. I made a few flash cards. And I had a quiet conversation. A conversation about quiet. And stillness. And rest. About how important it is to sit back and rest and recuperate. How our lives are so focused on instantaneous results and efficiency that any time not “doing anything” is looked down on. How that’s really silly, because everyone needs rest. Even God rested. He even said “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Mt. 11:28). Rest is good. Quiet is good. Stillness is good.

I'm realizing that not every day has to be filled with laughter, loudness and busyness. Not every day has to be the same. Today was different. It was quiet, and it was good. :)

Spring Forward

Right now, I am happy. And not just any happy. REALLY happy. Why? Today Spring Break ended and I came back to school. I listened to country music all the way here and arrived to people milling about and playing soccer in the sunshine on the quad. I had dinner with my friends that I haven't seen in a week. It was warm and sunny so I got to wear my new shorts, and we sprang forward today, so it was still bright out at 7pm. Then I walk to the library only to find out that they have shorter hours today so I don't have Study Hall. I can spend my evening seeing my friends and spending time with my beautiful suitemates instead of being cooped up in the library basement! And did I mention that the grass is green here? And the sun is shining? These are all simple things, but they make me happy. They mean that Spring is coming. And I am here to watch it come. It is almost here and I get to spend it at the best college campus I could possibly imagine with some of the best people I know! It is Spring, and I am home. And I am happy. :)

I Miss My Roommate

I miss my roommate, Tana.

We have been on spring break for six days, and I miss her.
Of course its great to be home and relax and eat good food and annoy siblings, but when one gets so accustomed to enjoying the delightful and witty presence of a certain person it is difficult to not not miss her.
I will see her on Sunday! And even though it means going back to speed-reading and late-night writing and extensive note-taking, going through it with Tana makes it better. :)

~Jojo

A Bag Full of Books

Today, home on 'spring break' (the average temperature is 50 degrees), I made a trip to the branch library three blocks away.  I had placed holds on several books and some movies and went to collect them. I did not have the pleasure of pulling books off the shelf -such is the fate of a city library system: lots of little libraries with books spread out across vast distances. The only way to attain a desired book or movie is to request it via hold, unless you get lucky and it happens to be there at the branch you visit at the time you visit.
I still had immense satisfaction in watching the librarian pull book after book from the holdings shelf and hand them to me to put in my voluminous bag. Leaving the library with a bag full of books is so wholesome -so much knowledge! so many other worlds and times and adventures! The weight of so many beautiful books to take home is so pleasing.
Sadly, all these books were for my brothers' school work. Alas, spring break is not long enough for me to catch up or even start ahead on my own school reading, let alone read for pleasure. 
I look forward to that blessed time in the summer. For now, I'll be spending spring break with my homies John Locke and Karl Marx.

~Jojo

Warm Laundry

Today contained one of those moments that makes me step back, pause, realize my blessings, and thank God.

Midmorning, I was sitting at my desk when someone knocked on my room door. It was Kara, who lives across the hallway. 
"Can you do me a favor," she asked Being the helpful person that I am, I got up and followed her into her room where she laid on the floor curled up in a ball. She pointed to her laundry bin full of clothes. 
"Will you dump that on me?" she asked, "They just came out of the dryer."
I just sort of looked at her for a minute. What sort of crazed person would actually do that?! Then I started laughing, delicious laughter. The answer, of course, is only the best kind of crazed people that I get to live with! 
Thank you God for the simple things like laughter, Kara, and warm laundry.
 ~Jojo

Lent

Well, Lent has officially started. Join us on our 40 day journey without meat (for me) or ketchup (for Jojo). We're actually not quite sure which is harder, since we're both a fan of both. It will be 40 days of sacrifice and seeking God, and I can't wait to see where it takes us!
All I can say is that hopefully I will (and I think I will!) be more dedicated to my Lenten journey than I am to cleaning my room. I had a pile of clothes, sheets, books and other miscellaneous other items heaped in the chair at the foot of my bed. Needing a place for my lovely suitemates to sit, I dumped the pile on my bed. Now, realizing that it's 12:30 and I should actually go to bed, I realized that I should also probably put all of it away. Or I could just dump it all back into the chair. So I did. :)
Such is the life of the college student...
~Tana

Mardi Gras

Today is a day of laughter. Who cares about unwritten papers, unread Aeneids, or unformulated lab worksheets?
I do declare that yesterday did not contain enough laughing, so today shall be a day of laughter and general joy. After all, its Mardi Gras! Shrove Tuesday! Fat Tuesday! So eat all of your pancakes, donuts, beignets, and paczkis and be merry. And drink some coffee too, for it is delicious stuff. Find random things to laugh about and rejoice in the day, for each day is beautiful, no matter what the weather, the exams, or the food. It is not that we cannot be happy and full of laughter tomorrow, but tomorrow is a day of reflection, of embarking on a forty day spiritual improvement. Joy should be involved too, but quiet joy in striving for holiness.
But today, be obnoxiously happy. :)
~Jojo

Why can't we just live here and eat free food from the caf and write blogs for the rest of our lives?

Best part of having a blog? An excuse to ignore homework. :) Our parents will forgive us because we are sharing the knowledge that we have learned. Like, what exactly is an essay, and why bloggers are the essayists of the 21st century.
An essay is an inconsistent text, with many digressions, unorganized and wandering, from a personal point of view. It's purpose is to bring pleasure or humor. They are skeptical, anti-academic, anti-Ciceronian and personal. However, they do have a respect for truth.
Basically, an essay is an excuse for people to hear themselves talk. Or, in a blogger's case, type. Not all are like that (read Virginia Woolf or G.K. Chesterton for some examples), but the majority are. We will try to bring pleasure and humor, not digress too much, and respect the truth. We will also try to say some things that may actually be relevant to your lives.
We won't tell you every intimate detail of our daily lives. We won't pass on every funny story. We won't even write about every genius epiphany we have regarding knowledge, God and truth. But, we will post when we can, share what we feel you will enjoy and tell you some things that we're learning on our "Quest for What Lasts." (Thanks to Belmont Abbey Orientation)

~Tana and Jojo

[Insert Witty Post Title Here]

Step One: Create Blog. It only took us three weeks to actually get from deciding to become bloggers to actually making this thing. We were spurred onward by our discussion in Rhetoric class today with the mentioning that bloggers are the essayists of the 21st century.


Step Two: ACTUALLY create blog. That part took about 20 minutes....there are a jillion choices for this template and background and everything else. People underestimate how many colors and fonts and tabs that are involved in this process....don't be surprised if the look changes over the next few weeks.


Step Three: Post. That's what we're doing now. Our main purpose for blogging was to keep us from telling the same story over and over again to everyone. Of course, that will probably still happen, but now we have a way to actually keep the story straight. :) So, for everyone who needs to know (or doesn't) this is Tana and Jojo.You get to read (or not) about our lives, loves and random ramblings. And anything else we may share on our quest for truth. Although we mostly just said that to sound cool. This is just our lives, people.