Quakers, Providence, and Beaches, oh my!

Here it goes. I cast my show today and am really excited about who I got! I somehow lucked out and have both of my first choices! For my program I am in a musical directing class for which we direct little 20 minute cuttings from a show. Coming here I didn't realize that they were such a big deal to the school. It is a showcase of the talent currently at the school and the undergrad BFA students feel very strongly about it. I felt really badly that so many of my favorite girls who came to auditions didn't get cast in any part.

I can't believe how civilly everything went in the casting process! I really enjoy the people that I am working with in that class and I think we were all surprised that with a few exceptions, we all ended up with what we were wanting!

I start work later this week at my new job and rehearsals next week for this, so life is about to get a little more hectic. Knowing this I drove up to the coast of Maine with my new friend, Rachel for a breath of fresh salt water air before the storm. We drove up through the back roads to enjoy the leaves turning colors, made it to Providence (a very darling place!), and then went out to Cape Elizabeth to see the lighthouse and Fort on the rocky coast. We were there just in time for sunset. With temperatures in the 80s, we kept the convertible top down the whole way. It was great!

Monday, I packed up my textbooks and drove out to the beach only 30 minutes from my house. I sat in the sun and have been desperately drinking up what sun and heat I can get! I love the ocean! I love being able to look out and see nothing but that blue/gray glassy look that lets you see to the end of the world!

On Sunday we had the priviledge of holding our church meetings with the Quakers and enjoying lunch on the lawn between our meetinghouses. What an inspiring group of individuals they were! We got to learn about how they worship and participate in a meditative silence, focusing us on the people around us. I am still processing a lot of what I learned from them!

Much love to all!
Jennie

Blessed beyond worthiness

I feel very much overwhelmed right now by how amazing God, our Heavenly Father, is. Since moving out here I have been going through a lot and though I desperately need a job, looking for one has taken a back burner. I still don't know how it is possible, but I have been blessed beyond any measure that I am worthy of today. I got a job offer and will be working with the Boston Architectural College in Admissions for undergraduate and professional development programs. If I wasn't already insanely busy as a full time grad student, I would have the opportunity to take free classes in design and architecture! How cool is that! (Maybe in the summer)

Change is hard for me. Though I take a lot of things in life in stride, major changes are things that still struggle with. I can feel helpless and sad when facing big changes. This last month has brought a major overhaul in my life. I have spent all my energy on my relationship with God. School (and everything else) has fit nicely in as I have kept that my focus. It has been an incredible blessing and pleasure to get to focus all my energy in this direction. He has taken care of the rest for me.

I am reminded that we have been promised not to be tried with more than we can bear. Sometimes that means that things go well for us, more often, it means we are strengthened so that we can handle all of the seemingly insurmountable challenges handed to us!

Some of you may not be particularly religious. I started to write this in an apologetic way to you, but I can't! I will not be ashamed of that which has brought me much joy. I hope you will understand this, and if you don't, please talk to me about it!

"The soul desires to dwell with the body because without the members of that body it can neither act nor feel."
-Leonardo Da Vinci

There are days that I just feel grateful and happy to be alive. Today is one of them. This weekend I went kayaking on the Charles River with some friends from church. While trying to avoid the rowing teams gearing up for their big race in three weeks, we were able to enjoy stepping from the city into nature. One of the things I remember learning the Boston Harbor cruise I did a few weeks ago is that both Boston and Cambridge felt pride in how beautiful the cities are naturally, so instead of building, developing, and planting to create city parks (like like New York did with Central Park), they decided to just leave the land alone. They have built paths and benches, but the rest of the work is natural. When you go out into the river, you leave behind the city and are surrounded by trees that have been there for much longer than people.

I wish I could say it was quiet. It wasn't. There was a 5K being run on the river trail, but still, pushing away from that land was like taking a breathe of stillness in. I got home and threw a blanket around me to warm up and realized how grateful I am to have a body. Sometimes I take simple things for granted. I fall into the trap of complaining how tired I am, or how much I hate my restless leg syndrome, or even that it hurts when I fall (which is often). I just need a reminder to be grateful that I feel at all! I can car dance my heart out, I can jump into a pool and feel the water slap my skin, and I can cuddle up with people that I love and care about and feel that warmth.

This weekend was a conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints that I was privileged to watch. I loved it and am sure there will be more on it later, but for the sake of keeping this to a readable length,

Goodnight for now.

Jennie

A Little Perspective Please

So we know that every individual has the power to make choices in their life as to how they are going to act. I believe the scriptures say that God gave unto man to be an agent unto himself.

I found a quote from Bruce R McConkie stating, "Agents represent their principle. They have no power of their own. They act in someone else's name. They do what they are told to do. They say what they are authorized to say- nothing more- nothing less."

So if we are agents unto ourselves, we hold the right to represent our own principles, act in our own name, and speak for our selves, but it is never said that agents have full control. There are a lot of choices that we make in our life, but we can't always choose the consequences.

Moving here was not a difficult decision to make. I am in a program that will take me where I want to go academically, but sometimes, things seem beyond my control. There is no guaranteed job that I will be handed at the end of this. There are however, guaranteed bills that will find their way to me. The thing that can change is perspective. This weekend, I went to New Hampshire to go camping with some people from church. I took a kayak out by myself for a while to clear my mind and when I got out to the middle of the lake and looked around me, I thought about everything I had been stressing about the last few weeks and realized, I hadn't just taken the time to breathe in a while. We may not get to choose our consequences, and sometimes, circumstances are beyond our control; but we are agents unto our ownselves always. We choose what principles we represent and what kind of person we are going to be.

And by the way, if you ever want to go camping...New Hampshire's fall is beautiful.

Here I am; three weeks into a new adventure, having stepped completely into the dark, and still waiting for my eyes to adjust!

Boston is a funny little city. People here are so nice- until they are in their cars; the weather has gone through every personality disorder in DSM-4 since I have been here; and anything west of Ohio is practically considered a foreign country. But I love it. I really do. From the old cemeteries to the Charles River, there is so much history here to breathe in.

My school, is beautiful. The pictures above is our theatre for school productions, not the professional company productions, but for the student shows. Sometimes I have to remind myself that this is all really here around me so that I drink it in.

One of my classes explores how theatre can be used as a tool of social justice. It is fascinating and I feel myself anxiously engaged in my schooling. It is just right. This post has been very scattered, but now that the ice is broken, I am excited to share my journey with any who care to listen!