i'm guilty too

So much for good communication on my part this spring! I even bought new stamps with Christmas money in hopes that I would be a letter writing machine. It's March 19th and I've used two. Of the twenty. So sad...

Things here are going pretty well. I have no idea what I will be doing with myself next year, so that is a little bit intimidating. I need to start looking up some options pronto. And praying a bit more too. Things will work out, but I'm impatient.

Work is pretty busy-- we are now t minus one month from our super big, super cool Earth Day celebration and I have a few projects that I am working on for that. The biggest is making a "green map" of Terre Haute, which will include locations and information about businesses and organizations with eco-friendly goods and services etc. Working on the map allows me to tap into the geography-ness of the last few years and I find that tapping enjoyable. We also are moving into spring which means more garden work and more baby pacas (well, that's month or two away) as well as nicer weather (hallelujah!!!).

I am having an interesting time adjusting to having the two new volunteers that came in Jan. I think there are more personality clashes among the five of us than there were among the three of us that started in August. Still, it is nice to have more people, and they are nice girls. We'll see how it all continues to work out. (I have been a little anti-social lately since I gave up TV for lent, so I've been hanging out with the girls less as often the TV is on in the living room in the evenings and I didn't want to impose on everyone else my choice to not watch. So, it will be exciting to hang out with them a little more and see how that goes). Anyway, conflict provides good chances for me to grow as a person and community member.

I'm going home for Easter, which I think will be a nice change of pace. I'll get to see the fam and just be at home a little bit. If any of you are coming back to Elmhurst from Thurs evening to Mon morning/midday, let me know. I'll be there!

I guess that is all. I hope you all are doing well! Much love!

I'm really sorry to report that we are terrible at maintaining this thing. Here's an update on life in West Lafayette. School is so so. I'm having more fun here this semester than last semester and have even made some new friends. (I was hardly expecting to meet new people in my last semester, but I did.) I'm patiently waiting for the status of my grad school applications to filter in (probably in the next week).

Yesterday I visited Madison as a way for me to get to know the campus and people and also for them to get to know me a little better. It went really well and it will be really hard to turn them down if they do end up accepting me. I'll let you guys know what I end up deciding. Anyway, if I do go there I will be studying environmental toxicology and the two labs that interested me the most dealt with transmission of prions (cause mad cow disease and chronic wasting of deer and elk) and how a common groundwater contaminant, trichloroethylene, causes cardiac problems using chickens.

Katie, I wanted to tell you that Madison has your body double. I never thought I would meet someone that had so many of your mannerisms, it was all I could think about every time I interacted with this girl (which was quite a bit).

Anyway, I'm still playing frisbee, still chugging along in school, and enjoying the end of my undergrad studies. Hope all is well with you guys! I miss you.