KSU or bust!!

I got home from Montana Wednesday night and was met in the airport by most of my best friends!! It was wonderful, thank y'all for being there!! I was literally shaking because I was so glad to see everyone!! I miss my Montana mountains and rivers, but it's so good to be home. Last night was the first night since I've been home that I've slept in one bed TWICE!
I moved into my cousin Angie's house on Saturday night, and things are going pretty well so far!! Sunday morning I drove two hours to my dad's house to go to church with him, and it was so great! Besides the sleep deprivation, I got to see my daddy!! And go to church for the first time in two months!! woohoo!!!

So here I stand in the Sturgis Library on the KSU campus waiting for my first class! I've been on campus since 10:30 this morning, and my first class is at 2!! I wanted to attempt to change my schedule, but no such luck... almost all of the classes are closed... But that's alright!! I realized earlier how much books cost! I spent $370!! OUCH!! Thank goodness for scholarships... I'm not as nervous about my classes as I was a few days ago, but I think that's because the ball is rolling now... you know, I'm moved it, I'm getting used to the roads, etc. So I'll be sure to let y'all know how my classes go today!! :)

The next few weeks promise to be exciting!! This weekend is the One Thing conference in Atlanta with Dave, Erich, Allison, and Ms Rita! So that's awesome!! And then the NEXT weekend Natalie and Summer and Jimmy come back to Georgia to go SKYDIVING and to SIX FLAGS and just to hang out for the whole weekend!! SOOOO exciting!! I simply canNOT wait!!! *hugs to y'all... can't wait to see ya!!*

Alright! So that's it for now! Talk to y'all later!!
*more hugs*
*morgan

Severed Fingers??? What?!?

Saturday was my long day, meaning that Sunday we had free to do anything! Natalie and I had ORIGINALLY planned to hike Hawley that day, but after much consideration of time restrictions and of OURSELVES, we decided that hiking Hawley was probably not the best of ideas... so we hiked the Speculator trail instead!! We had planned to hike up to the West Boulder Plateau, but, intelligent as we are, we didn’t look at the topo map before going! We hiked STRAIGHT up about 2000 feet and were pretty exhausted. We enjoyed our Clif bar lunch and were quite disgusted by the dried peaches (or “old people ears” as David so lovingly dubbed them) so we threw them in the river. (they smelled AWFUL!!!!!!!!) On our way back down we came to a clearing and decided to sit and look out over the mountains. Natalie would journal and I would read... great idea!! Until, of course, about 5 minutes later when we felt the foretelling raindrops!! As we looked up, we saw none other than a HUGE BLACK CLOUD!!! We pretty much raced down the mountain to avoid getting stuck in the thunderstorm miles from camp, praying the whole way “Please Lord, let us get out of the mountains before that cloud pops!” After a few slightly rolled ankles and a couple last minute pictures, two very jarred girls emerged from the mountains!! RIGHT as the rain started!! Our mile walk back to the camp was a very WET one!! Apparently God thought we smelled bad... He gave us a shower... :) Natalie and I had a blast!!

My other update will, I’m sure, make several of you mad at me!! Yesterday was a short day, and the four of us in the kitchen were preparing taco salads for lunch!! I was cutting the lettuce (a bad idea for the women in my family, apparently...) when all of the sudden my knife bit my left thumb!!! I think I must have been in shock, because I realized that I had cut myself, took off my gloves, said, “Alright, guys, I just cut myself... sorry...” and proceeded to walk around the kitchen aimlessly for a few seconds while blood was dripping everywhere... Ms. Judy to save the day!!! She immediately went into “First Aid” mode and told me to run it under cold water and got me a rag to put pressure on it. I forced myself to be tough and SOMEHOW didn’t cry! I paced for a few minutes getting myself together and then attempted to call Kent or Jenny over our radio which I soon found to be dead! It was only about 40 minutes until lunch, and almost everything was done, so upon Natalie’s suggestion I went to find Kent. When I got there and told him that I had cut myself and showed it to him (and looked at it MYSELF for the first time) I realized that I had cut THROUGH my left thumbnail and didn’t know how deep below the nail the cut was. Kent suggested that I go to the clinic in Big Timber just in case, and then we all stood around for about 10 minutes... I’m not really sure why... I started asking if he wanted me to do anything like fill out paperwork and that’s when I think he realized that I was still standing there bleeding! I DID fill out my workman’s comp stuff as the person who brought me to the clinic got ready, and then we were off! We arrived at the Pioneer Clinic in Big Timber, filled out all of the same forms again, and then the doctor saw me. You’ll never believe this part. When the doctor entered the room and said “hello” I knew IMMEDIATELY that he wasn’t from Montana... he HAD to be from the south!! I asked where he was from and he said GEORGIA!!! This man, Dr. Kirby Somethingorother interned in THOMSON with DR. WILLS’ SON!! That’s right, the doctor from Washington! He had been to the Tour of Homes several times and was raised in Calhoun. It was the wildest thing! We talked about things that we missed from the south... fried okra... mashed potatoes... sweet tea... fried chicken... it was a great moment. ANYWAYS! They just cleaned me up and the cut hadn’t gone too deep below my nail, so they didn’t even have to take it off! Horray!! I did, however, get a really big thumb-sling! It was interesting... and interesting to shower with!! Gotta love trash bags and hairties!! So yeah!! For those of you who are beginning to wonder if I’m coming home in one piece, YES!! I am STILL in one piece!! And I only have 6 more days to survive!! :)

I love y’all a ton, and I’m gonna go have some more adventures!! :)

*morgan

This week has been a BLUR!

SO!! Another update!!

My last post was when I was in Livingston with Jill... The next day we all got up and went tubing (or “floating”) down the Yellowstone River. That was quite an adventure!! We went over a rapid, and my tube got a hole in it (“I’m bubbling!! Jill!! What’s going on?! I’m bubbling!! I’M SINKING!!!” J) So then Jill and I doubled up on one of the bigger tubes until we went over ANOTHER rapid further down and flipped our raft! No one knows exactly how we did it... not even the people who WATCHED us flip!! I guess we just lost balance or something... SO! Instead of getting BACK in the raft, I gave up, and me and one of the other girls floated about two miles of the Yellowstone River in our lifejackets!! It was LOTS of fun!! Until it was time to take out!! The current suddenly got really strong, and I could NOT stand up!! The other girl is bigger than me, so after about five tries she FINALLY was able to get out of the river. I, meanwhile, was trying my best, but could not even stop myself to attempt to stand up!! (My legs are all beat up to prove it!! LOTS of bruises!!) I finally just gave up and floated down the river toward a bridge and grabbed on to one of the legs of it (I’m sure there’s a technical term for the “leg of the bridge,” but that’s what I’m calling it!!). At this point I started to wonder if I should be panicking, seeing as there was NO way that I could help myself... The water was pulling me down, but I managed to hold on for a while until someone finally noticed me there (I had visions of helicopters from rescue TV shows...). This guy came running toward me Baywatch style (he was stripping his shirt off as he ran at me!! I didn’t know what to think!!), and when he stepped in the deep part of the river he almost lost his balance and went down with the current, too!! He told me to grab onto his shirt and he would pull me out. As I was turning to say “Are you sure?” the current pulled me and I lost my balance again! I reached out and grabbed his shirt and he pulled me out of the river!! He had to steady me the entire way back to shore, even in the shallow parts, because my legs were so shaky. So! I have now been rescued from the Yellowstone River!!

Last week we had a cancer camp here... They were lots of fun! It was really hard, though. One lady was pretty much on her death bed, but she wanted to see her kids have fun and celebrate their birthdays at camp, so they all came out anyway... (She has a 27 year old son, an 11 year old daughter, and two 8 year old daughters... all of the girls have the same birthday.) About half way through the camp, she came out onto the deck (her first time out of her room) to watch her kids play, and several of us had an intense urge to pray for her, but no one said anything. Upon later discussion, we all decided to ask her if she would let us come and pray with her in her room, but she denied the request. That was REALLY hard. What’s worse, later that day we heard talk of them trying to Life Flight her out of camp because she was having a hard time breathing and couldn’t sit up on her own. We contacted Life Flight, but they said that they couldn’t come and get her, so we had an ambulance come from Big Timber. It is an hour to Big Timber, and the ambulance got here in 15 minutes... pretty crazy. Anyways, we were all really upset, and I was crying. (It was weird; it was kinda like crying TO God FOR her...) It was really pretty traumatic for our ministry team. Right before the kids left, I walked out of the kitchen and told them that we were praying for them, and I hugged the 11-year-old girl. I cried throughout the rest of the morning, and as they loaded the lady up in the ambulance I stood outside the back of the kitchen and prayed as I watched them. Later, after they had all left, the camp honcho came up to me and said, “I have a gift for you. A little girl saw you standing down here and asked me to give this to you.” I asked her if it was the 11 year old, and she said yes. I took the delicate tissue that she offered me and opened it up. Inside lay two young pinecones. It broke my heart. That was one of those gifts that you never forget, you know? *sigh* it broke my heart...

One more update!! Today was a fun day! I got to drive the tractor and the weird lawn mower, which was lots of fun! I thought I was gonna die, but luckily didn’t! Our managers and their family left camp today to go into town, which left their house WIDE OPEN for a prank!! Justin and I wrapped caution tape all around their house and put up lots of signs! We made a cardboard dead guy and threw him in the driveway and put more caution tape around him (they have a gravel driveway, so a chalk outline was impossible...)! We had a blast! They JUST drove up to their house, so I guess we’ll see what they say tomorrow!!

That’s all for now!!!
1 week and 6 days (13 days) until mama gets here, and 2 weeks and 1 day (15 days) until I get home!!

People keep saying that these next two weeks are gonna fly, but I have a feeling that they will be the longest two weeks of my life! Because I MISS Y'ALL!!

I love y’all a TON and hope to talk to you soon!!!

*hugs*

*morgan