Dutchmen Defeated - Check

Our meet yesterday went well. We beat Hope! So that is always a good thing. It was a pretty good meet for me personally. I dove well, not quite as well as the day before, but I bombed one dive, so my score was far from close to a Nationals cut. I was "hanging ten" as we like to say (my feet were half off the end of the board) on my reverse dive, so just had to chuck it and hope I didn't fail the dive. It was legal, but it looked horrendous. Oh well. Other than that dive, I was happy with how I did. My fronts weren't as crisp as the day before, but they were fine. My score didn't reflect how I felt about the meet, but thats okay.

I now have one more chance to qualify for diving Nationals. We have our Conference meet in two weeks and I can qualify then. There are several ways I can qualify (kind of). I either need to qualify in an eleven dive meet (get a 395 or higher) or I can qualify for a second time with six dives (255 or higher). I have to do eleven dives at Conference, but if my six dive score in those eleven qualifies, it counts. Or I can do it with all eleven. If I do well in the afternoon (top 8) I'll make it back for the night session. In that case I would do six more dives(optionals, our harder dives) and could qualify there. They also take the five easy dives(voluntary)from the morning and add it to those 6 and could qualify with an eleven dive score. Sorry thats all really confusing. Essentially I have one more day I could qualify, but kind of 4 more ways to qualify. Conference just needs to go well. And if it doesn't, well I don't really want to think about that cause it messes with my brain, but if I don't got to Nationals, I'll be okay. I've had a great season so far and am proud of how I've been diving lately. And God doesn't care about my performance. So all is good.

Classes start tomorrow :( Not really ready for that one. I haven't had to do school in a month and a half. It's been fantastic. I only have one class cause I'm student teaching this semester, so hopefully it won't be too bad. Just have to get back into the mentality of school and being efficient with my time.

God is Good!

Yeah. Thats about all I can say. He is so good, so amazing, and he gets all the glory! My sports have been going really well. As many of you may know, over the past year and a half or so, I've been on a journey with my sports. I've been walking with the Lord trying to figure out what it means to do sports for him and his glory, not for my own. It was quite a journey and struggle last year, and this year, while I'm still learning a lot, I feel like I've been able to apply all that I learned and its been going really well.

I'm not really sure how I should be writing this. I want you to share with me in my successes, but I don't want it to come across as being boastful. It's not about me. It is all about the Lord. It is about the talent that he has given me and he gets all the glory for my performances.

In my senior year, I have done better than I could have ever imagined and I love my sports more than I ever have before. Fridays just seem to be going well. Last Friday I got to go to an indoor track meet! Yay! It was so exciting. It was the first one of the season I was able to go to because my diving meets. Pole Vault practice has been going well. I'm definitely stronger than I was last year because we've been doing more dryland as well as lifting for diving. It makes a huge difference for pole vaulting, which I have to say, I've enjoyed. We had an indoor track meet at Grand Valley and by the grace of God I did really well! I had a personal best of 3.6 meters (11'9 and 3/4 in)and qualified for Indoor Nationals. I was ecstatic. I was able to get on a pole that I wasn't even on at the end of the season last year, which, if you don't know anything about pole vaulting, is a very good thing. It was such an exciting meet for me. I definitely had a lot of adrenaline going and couldn't fall asleep that night. It seemed too good to be true. It still does. It still is. That height initially put me 7th on the list, but since then, I've been bumped down to 10th. (I'm not sure how many people they will end up taking, but the rule book says they have to take a minimum of 11) Because of diving meets there are only two more track meets I can go to before Nationals, so hopefully those will go well. Regardless, I'm really excited about my performance and God definitely gets all the glory. It's still surreal, and honestly was easier than I could have imagined. It's been a deep dream of mine for the past three years and it is so close to coming true. It's all in his hands. We'll have to see what happens.

Today I thought was going to be a struggle. We had our last home dual meet of my life and we have our biggest dual meet tomorrow (against Hope, our rivals). We didn't have class today so I was lazy. All day. I had a phone interview about interning again (which went well and I was essentially offered the job, pending my interview with Chad) and then I just sat around. I was tired and feeling lazy. I got some work on my computer done (resume stuff) but was just a bum all day. I wasn't feeling ready for our meet. Mentally or physically. I just started praying. That God would prepare me. Practice has been going well and my meet last week went well for the most part. I've been close to making it to Nationals for diving before, but it seems to be a scarcity. Last year I was within half a point at one meet and this year I've been as close as a point and a half, which in diving, is not a lot. Well today was my day. I had the meet of my life with a personal best and a Nationals cut. Definitely excited. Definitely the Lord. He is so amazing! Now this actually doesn't really mean anything though. I have to qualify again in order to send in a tape, in which case a panel of judges will watch my dives, score me themselves, and then they have a conference call to discuss who they should invite to the meet or not. All quite complicated. I also don't do three meter, so although its not supposed to affect it, it definitely doesn't help me that I'll only send in one tape, and not two. But like I said earlier, at this point, its just totally up to the Lord. I have a meet tomorrow, and if I dive like I did today, I'll be in good shape. If not, I have one more meet to try and do it in.

I'm definitely proud of myself. I'm excited, and I think thats a good thing, I don't think thats something I need to hide. I just have to continually remind myself that its not about me. I did nothing great. It is all God's power and work through me, through the talent he has given me. These two meets and qualifications, could end up meaning nothing. There is still a chance, and a pretty good chance, that I won't get to go to either Nationals meet. And I need to be okay with that. I am okay with that. It is in the Lord's hands. May his will be done. I am definitely happy with my performances and if others out-perform me in order to get to Nationals, then so be it. May they give him the glory for their talent.

While I get so excited and pumped (I think I had adrenaline going for a couple days after my track meet) it is also extremely humbling. Why me? Why is God pouring these blessings on me? I'm no one special. I am on two teams with people who work just as hard as I do. They put in the same hours as I do. They want it as bad as I do, but sometimes it still doesn't work out for them. Why is it all of a sudden working out for me? At the end of my senior year? There is a part of me that wants to say that the Lord is "rewarding" my attitude and my purpose of doing sports. A lot has changed in my mindset over the last year. But at the same time, just because you do sports for God's glory, doesn't mean your going to make Nationals cuts. I don't know. It's all a bit complicated. It is humbling though. I feel like I don't deserve it. Really because we don't deserve anything. Like my sister used to always say, "if I got what I deserved, I'd be in hell." (we used to joke she only said this because she got to say hell :) but it is oh so true)I don't deserve these blessings. I don't deserve them one bit, but because the Lord has chosen to bless me in this way, I will rejoice! I will rejoice in his name, in his power, in his will! He gets all the glory. We are blessed in order to be a blessing, so I hope and pray that through these experiences I will be a blessing to others. May he become so much greater through my sports, and may I become so much less.

Humans are not meant to live here

Yesterday I was walking outside in the bitter cold. It has been especially freezing the last couple days. As I was walking I overheard a couple people having a conversation about how cold it was and one girl said that it is statistically proven that places with warm weather have stronger communities than places with cold weather. Makes sense. It got me thinking though, that maybe that is why I hate the Michigan winters so much. Everyone hibernates and a lot of community is lost. In Michigan's winter, everyone stays inside, while in places like Hawaii or Puerto Rico, people are out, friendly and community oriented.

So this got me thinking about what it looked like before electricity, lots of buildings and technology. Profound thinking, I know. So I know that you can heat with fire and people did build houses and stuff, but I just came to the conclusion, that humans weren't made to live here. We weren't made for 7 degree weather. That is just too cold to live in for 6 months out of the year.

I never knew how much the weather affected me until I got here. Snow is fun, but it never goes away! Anyway, I will stop complaining now. I have just come to the profound conclusion, that humans were not meant to live in such cold weather.

Winter Break - Puerto Rico Edition!

After the beach in North Carolina, I headed down to Puerto Rico for our diving training trip. Now in year's past, I've dreaded our training trip. We typically go to Florida, which is great and fun, but we die while we're there. It is extremely mentally hard and physically exhausting. And honestly, this year, even though we were going to Puerto Rico, I was still dreading it a little bit. I knew that it would be fun to be there and the weather was awesome and it is a great time with the team, but thinking about the pain, just made it hurt. I wrote earlier about all the complications of the team getting there and everything that happened. It was all crazy, but as a whole, it was by far the best diving training trip I've been on.

We stayed in a five star Marriot hotel that was right on the beach. It was SO nice! They had a big pool outside next to the beach and great service. There were people standing outside next to beach chairs and you would ask them for one and they would carry it over to where you wanted to sit and set it up for you. I didn't even have to lay out in the sand! It was awesome. The beds were really comfortable and everything was so nice.

AAAAMAZING!

The pool we dove at was awesome as well. They had a tower, which is always fun to play on and do drills off of. One of the reasons I think I enjoyed this training trip was because I didn't have to do three meter. I don't do three meter anymore because of track, and that took away so much stress and anxiety. I basically did all of my dives everyday, which was great to get the reps in. We practiced from 6-8ish in the morning and then 4-6 in the afternoon. It was early, but we had all day to hang out, nap, eat and play. It was a ton of fun.



Diver pyramid! (yeah, I used to be at the top of pyramids...)

Nothing like jumping off a ten meter tower at 6 in the morning!

We did a couple team excursions that were lots of fun. Our first one was that we went to the Bio-luminescent Bay. It is this bay where all these little organisms that glow live. When you move the water around, it glows. It was really cool and a lot of fun. We weren't able to go as a whole team because there wasn't enough room, so the majority of the team went one night and all the seniors went the next night. It was really fun to do something with the thirteen of us since we don't really ever get to hang out as a senior class. We went at night and kayaked out to the bay. It was a really fun trip.

All the seniors out to dinner while the rest of the team was at the Bio Bay! So great to all hang out together.

My roommate Gillian!

The next day was Sunday, which we had off, and it was amazing! Most of the team took the local bus into Old San Juan. We split up into groups and walked around. I went with my roommate Gillian and Ross. We went and toured an old castle, walked around and got some lunch. The castle was sweet and had some gorgeous views. It was really hot that day and I got some bad blisters from my shoes, but it was still fun and we enjoyed it.

Me at the castle!

Roomie Picture!

The water was gorgeous!

Our last full day, in between practices, we went as a team to the rain forest. We hiked around and took pictures at a waterfall. It was really pretty and actually reminded me of the hike we went on when I was in Africa. Everything was so green and pretty.

Sam and I on our way to the rain forest, with lovely Brianna behind us :)

Casey and I at the waterfall!

As a whole I had an absolutely amazing time on our training trip. It was awesome to go to Puerto Rico and see San Juan. I got some good training in as well and the Lord walked me through each day. It was all because of him that I was able to mentally get through all of our practices. After a while, it just gets daunting, but by his grace I didn't have a single terrible practice. We had amazing weather and I would definitely recommend a trip to Puerto Rico if you ever have the opportunity!

Winter Break - All Over Edition

After spending some quality days in the city, it was off to Christmas celebrations. I first made an overnight stop to Lake Champion (the camp I worked at this past summer) and got to catch up with some property staffers there. It was so great. It was awesome to be back there and see the changes they've made on the camp. It was so much fun to catch up with everyone and be back. I miss it so much and when I go back it feels like home again. The conversations I've had with some of the wives at camp are some of my favorites. Those women are such great mentors and I look up to them so much. It was great to get back there and catch up.

I then met my mom in New Jersey and we spent the night with my Aunt and cousin, which is always fun. And the next morning we headed down to Richmond. The 5 and half hour drive took over 10 hours because of traffic on 95. Sitting in traffic on a long road trip is like torture to me. But after a long day, we finally made it to my brother's house the day before Christmas Eve.

We did Christmas Eve in Charlottesville and went to Christ Community for the night service. It was great to be back there. It was insane to me how old everyone looked. These little kids that I used to babysit are now in high school and all huge and everything. It made me feel really old. It was good to be back though and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. We did our usual snacks, punch and stockings at my grandparents house and then headed back to Richmond that night.



We did Christmas in Richmond at my brother's house. It was lots of fun and a very relaxing day. Jack was as cute as can be in his Christmas pajamas and was crawling all over presents.


Jack showed off all his new tricks. This one: "Jack what does an Indian say?"


Love this picture! What a great Aunt Janelle!


Three Generations



Two days after Christmas we headed down to the Outer Banks for our Garth/Leach week at the beach. We stayed in an amazing house and just hung out. It's a really relaxing time and it was fun to see the Garth's. There was a new addition to the Tullo family, so we had three little munchkins to fight over. It was lots of fun. And to our surprise, there will be a fourth addition next year! Yay! I get to be an aunt again!

I was only in the Outer Banks for a day and half, which was sad, but it was because I had to go to Puerto Rico. Tough life, I know. More of those adventures to come...

Winter Break - NYC Edition

Backtracking a bit, my winter break was a ton of fun - full of family time, many destinations, Christmas and good laughs. It started out in New Jersey. I finished all of my papers, take homes and exams on Monday (the first day of exams) in order to get out of Grand Rapids early and spend as much time with family as possible. I drove all day Tuesday and spent the night at my Aunt and cousins house in New Jersey so that I didn't have to drive my car into the city. Wednesday I went with my aunt, two cousins, a cousin's boyfriend and a second cousin into the city to visit my parents. They wanted to see the new place and do NYC Christmas stuff.

(Oh yeah. I don't even think I updated about this. It all happened really fast. My dad was offered a job at a hospital in NYC in a management position and took it. He and my mom moved between Thanksgiving and Christmas (talk about crazy timing) to the city. It all happened in the matter of a couple months. It is definitely where God wants them and it turns out that they love it! Definitely to my surprise. Who would have ever thought that the girl who grew up outside the city, but never went to it and the boy who grew up working on a farm would one day end up living in downtown Manhattan?! Not me. So yeah. My parents who are recent empty-nesters now live in New York City.)

On Wednesday we went to Rockefeller Center and saw the tree all decorated and everything. We then went to a park that had an ice skate rink and a bunch of little shops. I went ice skating with my second cousin and it was a lot of fun. It was her first time ice skating and she got better each time around. Despite my face in the picture, I really did have fun! :)




It was very cold while we were there!

The rest of my time in the city was spent with my brother and his family and my parents. We did lots and lots of walking, which is what you do in the city and I loved hanging out with the family! Jack is the cutest thing in the entire world!

One day we went to the FDNY Museum and it was really cool. We walked around and took pictures. They had a Sept 11th memorial as well. It was fun to take pictures of Jack as a firefighter, just like his dad :)









Jack needed a souvenir from our adventures and who better than Curious George the firefighter?! He was quite attached and loves George very much!


My mom and I did some Christmas shopping on 5th Ave (Yeah. Crazy. We walked there.) and we investigated some good local restaurants. My last night there my parents and I discovered a great Japanese restaurant right around the corner. Everything is so convenient in the city. There are restaurants and stores everywhere. Everything is within walking distance and its just a different lifestyle. My parents are loving it and I have to say I loved it a lot more than I was expecting.