Holding out Hope

It was a rough week this week. I was on crutches for most of it, had doctor's appointments, drove 5 and a half hours to watch my teams play soccer and rode 5 and half hours back to return to Dordt at 3 a.m. I had to get up 3 hours later to student teach in the morning. I barely got all my homework done, but did get it done nonetheless. My knee is progressing but I still haven't been able to schedule my MRI yet because it's taking forever to go through insurance so I don't know what the diagnosis is yet. But I'm walking with a brace and a sweet stocking. My calf and ankle filled with fluid and looked like giant balloons. But that has now gone down significantly. I rode the bike today for 10 minutes and even tried an eliptical for 5 minutes. I'm working on strengthening my leg now so if I do get the ok to play, I'm one step ahead of the game. : )

Volleyball had their first home game last night and they won in 3 games. They are so good! It makes me miss volleyball a little : ). And Scott's parents are here again for the weekend so we went out for supper. I have a game today where I get to be bench encourager/defensive coach : ) I get so frustrated not being able to play. Our defense is struggling and I can't do anything about it... except talk to them from the sideline. I'm still holding out hope that I'll be able to play again this season, but only the MRI will tell. Hopefully that will get scheduled this week sometime.

Today my joy was getting to sleep in. After a rough week, I needed some extra rest. I slept in and then went and did my excercises. And now I'm going to do some laundry and cleaning. I love relaxing Saturday mornings : )

Keep praying for patience with my knee and that the insurance comes through so I can have my MRI this week!

LOVE ALWAYS!
Aubrey

Knees

This week was a good week... until it ended...

Teaching went well this week and I think I finally fell into a good routine where I found time for student teaching, soccer, work, homework, sleep, eating, and still manage to keep my sanity. I was busy yes, but I was finding time for all the important things and even found time for myself this week for a little afternoon nap before practice one day. Student teaching went well. I got to teach two more lessons on my own and they went better. I had one day where one girl was particularly defiant, but come to find out, she had peed her pants and didn't want to get up from her chair :(. Poor Rashana. But she cleaned up and finished the day on a good note. Classes are all going well too, and I am enjoying most of them so far :) And, we had our first roomie meal this week. It was good to actually all be in the room together at one time for once. (Actually we were missing one rommie for the picture but she did make it to the meal : )

Aubrey - Mary - Kaitlyn - Merissa - Ally

Then Friday...
The first of two soccer games this weekend occurred and I got hit trying to cut a girl off from a breakaway and "POP" went my knee. It was my left knee and "good" knee. To cut to the chase, nothing is hurt too badly, my ACL and other parts are all attached, except for my MCL. They have me on crutches for at least the weekend until they can get me into the specialist Monday to see if my MCL is torn or just strained. I don't think it's torn, because the pain is quite tolerable and comes in waves depending on what I'm doing with it. But I missed the game on Saturday and probably won't play this week either :'( I'm trying to lay it at the feet of the Great Healer, but I'm getting very anxious to know what it really is, and getting back to things as "normal" again. I'm hoping it is only tweaked and will require small amounts of therapy for me me to finish my senior year strong. We have about 6 girls out with injuries on our team now and are our record is showing it since we are now 0-1-3.

Please pray for quick healing, patience, and strength as I figure out what it is and what to do now.



LOVE ALWAYS!
Aubrey Lynn

Lifelight and Roomies

Yesterday was the last day of the Lifelight Christian Music Festival. Me and Merissa have gone every year we have been here at Dordt. This year was their 15th anniversary and we made it our 4th by going last night to see Tenth Avenue North. They were also here our freshman year. They are one of my favorites. He is so good live and such a good speaker as well as musician and singer. He had us all pumped up for Christ. His songs always speak to my heart. So that was my joy yesterday.

Today my joy was an informal roomate dinner. Danae offered to make us pancakes for supper tonight. Nobody had syrup though so we improvised. We put yogurt on our pancakes with peanut butter and berries (for those who like berries :). It sounds odd, but it was actually quite delicious! And more healthy : ) It was good to finally get together with all of us. We are all so busy this year, that we are all usually in and out and don't get to chat much, so it was fun to finally catch up with everyone. Also, because of Labor Day Rock Valley Christian didn't have school today so I had a wonderfully lazy morning of no teaching. I got a ton of homework done yesterday and today so I am ready to face the week ahead of me.

Scott's whole family was here this past weekend and we had so much fun! I was so happy to see all of them. It's so nice to have visitors out here. Scott and I had two soccer games each, one Friday and one Saturday. Friday my game went into double overtime and we still tied 3-3. And Saturday we ended up losing 4-1. Not our best game... We have another double header this coming weekend so hopefully we can take some things away from our games and learn from them so they don't happen again in games so come.

I'm trying to get better at putting pictures back up again. Here are a few from lifelight and of my apartment this year. It is a mess so I will put more pics up once we get it all clean and organized : )

Goals

Hi!

Wow! This year is off to a running start! I have been student teaching since last week Tuesday, but I gave my first "lesson" alone today! Mrs. Van't Hul took half of the class to a separate room and I had half of the class for a 20 minute reading station. We worked on their word wall words with a game and some poetry. My class is a very lively bunch and are going to be very chatty this year, but I already LOVE them all! They are so cute. 

TODAY I had my last first day of school! As a student that is : ) I started my Dordt classes today. I am in the process of writing two independent study proposals for classes that I need in order to graduate that didn't fit in my schedule, as well as making time for homework, soccer practice, work, and lesson prep. Whew! I am going to need lots of prayers.

My JOY for the day was working a voluntary shift at the library tonight. I volunteered to fill a shift before my supervisor gets the schedule out. I thought this would be a good time to get my schedules and my thoughts together since the library is not very busy just yet. I had a great chat with a friend I haven't talked to in a while, and I wrote out my bucket list for my LAST YEAR AT DORDT! as well as a goal list for the year. This was my favorite. I was already starting to feel like I was drowning today and it is only the first day. I need to remember to keep things in perspective. Things on my goal list include smiling : ), writing on my blog, doing devotions: personal, with Scott, and with my team, staying positive, always trying to look on the bright side, don't complain!, and making time for relationships in the midst of my busy life. Another big one on my list is remembering that it is NOT about me! This year I am going to work on seeking God's will for my life more consistently rather than demanding to always be in control. This also includes putting others' needs before my own when it is going to be really easy to only stay focused on me and my life and my schedule. This is going to be a crazy year, but I want to have open ears, eyes, heart, and mind for what God is going to show me this year.

BRING IT ON!!

 

Continue to keep me in your prayers as the days and weeks go on, and I will continue to keep you updated on my crazy, blessed, joyous life!

Back At It

I'm still trying to organize my 365 pics from the summer so they might be coming, or they might not ;) but I AM going to get back to blogging regularly, whether or not I continue posting my 365.

I moved into my new apartment at Dordt Tuesday, to jump right into a full schedule of 4 practices a day and student teaching meetings all starting Wednesday. The soccer team looks like we'll be pretty good this year. The incoming freshmen have been doing really well, and the team chemistry is phenomenal. We have already had so much fun getting to know each other. We are going to Culver's tonight to celebrate completing our first week of practice, and will enjoy a much needed day of rest tomorrow after going to church together.

I also started my student teaching meetings. We had a co-teaching workshop Wednesday and I had a staff meeting at Rock Valley Christian yesterday. I love the teacher I was paired with! Her name is Taryn Van't Hul. She is so energetic and fun to be with, and I think we will get along very well. We have our open house Monday night where the students come in and meet us, put their stuff away in their desks, and pick up some beginning of the year papers. I am SO excited to get started! I am eager to get to know the students, and really be a teacher :) I know it is going to be difficult and time consuming, but I am very ready to be in the classroom each day and learn more about what goes into being a real teacher.

I will get a picture up of my room once I get it all organized and looking pretty :)

I love and MISS you all!
Aubs

Hello Again!

Hello again!

I know it has been WAY TOO LONG since I have updated this. My internet at home has been having trouble uploading pictures so I am still working on my Project 365, but not posting much of it. HOWEVER... I am leaving on a trip to Haiti this Friday and I want everyone to be able to hear from me while I am there. I will have limited access to the internet but I wanted to send out a heads up to be on the lookout for posts from my journey in Haiti. I am beyond excited for this experience to show God's love to those in another country. My service for the Lord has been very local and I am thrilled for the opportunity to go to a third world country and share my joy and passion for life and for God with them. Please pray for safe travels, and that God may be able to use me for His honor and glory as I serve the people of Haiti. Also pray that lives will be changed not only in Haiti but also in those of us who are going on this trip.

Love always,
Aubrey

365 Day 115

April 24-

Today I made a giant pancake for supper :) I was really hungry and running out of food. Lol.