Ellieeeeeeeeee on Xanga

Ellieeeeeeeeee
read my profile sign my guestbook Name: Ellie Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States Gender: Female Expertise: staying in bed at least a half hour after waking up. only packing a backpack for a 3 week trip (and i'm a girl!) Occupation: Student Industry: Education/Research Message: message meEmail: email me Member Since: 2/19/2005

SubscriptionsSites I Read
Subscribe to Ellieeeeeeeeee Get trial subscription Anna_Carlyon carolekm cdadich Cercopes ConnieVFCC ECgoin emubeast fatNfriendly FlamezZ gentlemoonkisses Haller4307 harvestlaborer Hello_Nurse06 jeffivcf jlf_05 JogproofAnne jooohnn jopan Journey4myHeart Kandula makerm7 miguelreno neellok PasiaOni rachdm Rahnae22 SaturnLeia simply_ally smore_parfait spideymouse unapparentdeep willma07 zxg

Groups Blogrings
IV @ EMU previous - random - next HHBC Huron Hills Baptist Church previous - random - next InterVarsity Christian Fellowship previous - random - next

Posting Calendar

\|<< oldest \| newest >>\|
view all weblog archives

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Wow I can't believe how long it's been since I've updated this thing. True, I am more of a "bullet point" type of thinker and writer so most of my updates suffice through facebook statuses. I have enough outlet through there. But! I thought I'd say hello to xanga once again and see if this starts up a regular habit or not. Here are some extended bullet points that are too long for a facebook status update ;)

Generally, I think of myself as a pessimisic, "o, woe is me" kind of person. However, there are so many blessings in this past month that I need to praise God and express my thankfulness to him and for the good things he's given me. Wintertime

So, from this past month, NOT in greatness order:

1. I got an AMAZING 90 minute deep tissue masage. I have so much less back pain now just doing everyday things. so worth the $ spent.

2. got my bike fixed finally from Two Wheel Tango and I got to test ride it. Been waiting 2 years for this. Seriously, after being pregnant for pretty much a year, and then holding a small baby for pretty much another year makes biking feel like i'm flying around. invigorating.

3. Got my eyebrows threaded for the first time. it was interesting. only annoying thing about it was that it was a white girl straight out of highschool who, afterward I asked how long she had been doing it and said, "about a month". next time, i need to get it done by the knows-how-to-do-it-right indian lady.

4. Got my first skinny jeans from my sister.... we'll see if that's "great" or not. I'm so not up to the times i guess. I'll probably end up wearing the "wrong" shirts for it all the time but I may surprise myself.

5. Norah has stopped waking up literally 10 times a night.

6. John's last day of his current job is today, he gets to enjoy the long Memorial Day weekend and then start a new one on Tuesday! This makes us both ecstatic! wonderful answer to prayer in many ways.

7. Norah learned how to give kisses (and consequently knows the word, "kiss"), dance by bouncing up and down on her feet, stand by herself, and aaaaaalmost knows how to take steps without holding on to furniture, and now imitates sounds!!!!! so amazed by this!

8. Our new friends from this year, Chris and Karen decided to live with us for this upcoming year and I am thrilled!! They move in next month and we're all really looking forward to it!

9. apparently we overpaid a hospital bill last year and an audit caught it and so we got $50 in the mail. And the same week we got a $400 check in the mail from Norah's pediatrician's office because of an overpayment last year too!

10. I had to get a mouth guard because I grind my teeth when I sleep. a couple weeks ago I lost it!!! the dentist says usually insurance pays for it just once in a lifetime. :( it's like $550. John's work has a special dental reimbursement plan and the dentist said they may not pay for it a second time so I was really disheartened. Then John asked his work what the policy is and they said they'd pay for it again, no problem!!!!! And my appointment for a new one was ONE DAY BEFORE the insurance runs out so we made it in the nick of time. wonderful provision from God!

many more, i'll think of more later. Praise God for his blessings!

8:00 PM - 8 views - add eprops - add comments - email it

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Anklets.

I have several cool necklaces from Uganda. They are lightweight and delicate. I have a couple that don't fit as well as necklaces though so I was thinking about giving some away. I also had an idea.......what if I spun them around on my ankles and make an anklet?!
I tried it and it looks (in my opinion), cool.

I think the last time I wore an anklet was in like 3rd grade. so now i have a question. are anklets fashionable at all these days?
I looked it up online to see what i could see. I found this little article (my necklace looks a lot like the one in that picture except with more clear space between each rock/shell thing!):

http://www.indiculture.com/fashion/2008/01/31/never-fading-charm-of-anklet/

Basically, it says they are classic fashion and it never goes out of style. But..... the website is all about indi. So...... can indi fashion ever be "classic"? hm.

9:34 PM - 27 views - 2 eprops - 1 comment - email it

Monday, March 24, 2008

yay xanga! since I've been in Africa, the internet has encouraged me to read as little webpages as possible. That's why I haven't updated this--we (well, mostly john) has been updating our gmail blog regularly. So, you should check it out:

http://collmanuganda.blogspot.com/

I haven't updated about our awesome dinner at Katie and Liz's. They are here in uganda for short terms (Liz is a year, Katie is 18 months I think) doing different things though.

var strTrackPath = "http://images.review.com/track/tprtracking.gif?" var strUserID = "" var strTimestamp = "" Katie graduated two years ago from California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo. It was great talking with her because she grew up on Catalina Island. Apparently that is where (or near where) Campus by the Sea, IV's West Coast camp is. She worked there during high school and went to her uni's IV for a while. She talked about how the Los Angeles Urban Plunge helped her know more about what she wanted to do in the future, and even helped her get to New Hope right now. It's so fun to hear people's stories. And I'm grateful for InterVarsity's work on campuses all over the place. Urban Plunges are pretty awesome.

2:46 PM - 27 views - add eprops - add comments - email it

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

take off!

Today is the day! we're leaving tonight at 9:30. crazy exciting! i've become much more excited now that we've been packing.

some facts/advice i've been given so far that i wouldn't need in Michigan:

Uganda only takes debit, not credit
wash all fresh produce in bleach water before eating it
put moth balls in all drains and cabinets/cupboards --it will keep cockroaches away
don't bring a lot with you from the US to donate, instead, buy stuff there; it gives locals business and it's better suited for the people you're giving it to anyway.
raisins are few and far between in Uganda
the concept of "personal privacy" is on a whole new level. Be ready to redefine it
don't accept anything, especially candy from anyone on public transportation; it could very well be poisoned (which also leads me to stay awake at all times while traveling on bus/taxi!)
don't clutch your purse/wallet close to you while walking around potentially hazardous areas for pickpocketing; the closer you carry it to your person, the more tempting you are to steal from
be flexible in everything, with everything.

On a side note, I had yet ANOTHER dream with Dave Collins in it the other night. I think between John and me over the years, we've probably had about 100. ok maybe not, but a lot. This time he was in a lab coat and a small group of us were in his cubicle and he said, "OK, since none of you are excited about this procedure we have to do, I decided that the one who volunteers first will get a free piercing wherever they want on their body". And then I volunteered. So I guess DC is now a specialist in nose piercing. Pretty cool.

Goodbye everyone! have great semesters wherever you are!

9:32 AM - 24 views - 2 eprops - 1 comment - email it

Thursday, January 10, 2008

It's a long one! haven't done this in a long time

i love england. it's hard to believe i'll be going back there in 5 days! i've never been to John's grandma's house but apparently it's what used to be the parsonage of the church it's connected to. The church is 900 years old! if only the house was too. that would be awesome, but probably drafty.

After a week there we're headed off to Uganda and then take a 10 hour bus ride to Rwanda.... I'm the most nervous about this transport of all the travels of this whole trip. i won't go into details because it will make me even more nervous, but the bus trip can be dangerous to say the least if the driver is not careful. My missionary friends in Uganda say it's good to do it though because it will "do wonders for my prayer life"! AH! not sure how i think about that!

i also don't feel prepared to go to Africa, physically (because of all these stupid meds/vacs i need that are messing with my system) but also spiritually. i feel a little better than I did a month ago, or even a week ago, but i don't feel at all like i did the first time i went --thrilled, prepared, God speaking to me, developing overwhelming love for the people there, anticipating diving into the new community/team I was going to spend my time with, practicing the gospel points, learning how to deal with cross-cultural conflict with vigor, learning how to deepen conversations with people in that culture, etc.

Now, I don't feel those things very strongly as I did in 2003 when I went the first time. I wish i would have done a "refresher" MAC course or something to help me out. i feel like i am just making some progress with my community here and really don't feel like cutting it off and starting from scratch with another one, and strangely, over the past couple years i feel like socializing and talking to people one-on-one is not my strong suit anymore at all. This is the weirdest part because i used to be quite good at talking to people and being open with them--at least transparent if not vulnerable. I was looking at some old emails of a friend who I met in Uganda and he said I was really good at connecting with people socially and emotionally and he wished he could do that himself but he felt like he built up too many "walls" around himself that didn't let people in his life easily. Now I am feeling like he did. I think this is tragic. And I feel like i haven't used my spiritual gifts in such a long time, i feel at a complete loss to do use them successfully without months of practice and re-training.

I feel like an athlete who stopped working out for 3 years and then thrown into the Olympics from the couch. How do I expect to win at anything?!

But, good thing is that I know 100% that God wants us to go here. I have had many doubts since the time I suggested the idea but it was extremely clear that God had said, "GO. IT IS TIME". So I am leaning on that word right now. Also, I was looking back at my journal that I wrote in while in Uganda and post-Uganda in 2003. WOW was I immature. I look back practically embarrassed at what I thought and said as a Freshman in this other country. I had a lot to learn. This is actually a comfort for me because I now see that God can use even a small, immature, ignorant Freshman like me for his purposes, even bless others. I have grown up a lot since then so even though I do not feel spiritually "ready" (who is ever anyway?) I know God can still use me and teach me his ways even though I may be stubborn and weak.

It also reminds me of my friend's story. She felt called to the ministry in Africa and her dream was crushed with breast cancer. She felt weak and tired and then in the middle of it all, God told her that her calling was still there and "now was the time". So she went almost dead to Mozambique because she felt called. And once she got there, she was called to the ministry because the ministry there prayed over her and she was healed 100% of her cancer immediately and still lives cancer free today. She became a living testimony to the Mozambicans and to her community at home. Then she came home! That's an example of physical healing to the place we feel called, which gives me joy and hope to know that God can call me to Africa right now, not just to minister, but hopefully be healed in whatever way I need it. So, I go with hope and anticipation, knowing God has a plan.

I could expound on this a lot more, but this is way longer than any post I've written in a long time. If you've made it this far, thanks for reading. It was from my "bowels" as the Bible would say!

10:29 AM - 31 views - 4 eprops - 2 comments - email it

Next 5 >>