Blessings of Appalachia

I made it to ASP land safe and sound, and it is SO good to be here. After a wonderful weekend of catching up with friends and celebrating a beautiful marriage I took the day to get to Johnson City!  I am very thankful for the women at the airline counter who overlooked my 55 lbs of luggage and put the heavy tag on with a smile.  I am thankful for the opportunity to volunteer to have my very heavy 30 lbs of carry on checked to my final destination free of charge.  I arrived in JC about 10 and was picked up from the airport and promptly spoiled with ASP hospitality.  In my first hour of employment there were milkshakes, my new staff shirts, and a set of keys to Stella Blue my car for the next few days.

It still amazes me how special the relationships I have built with my ASP family are even after a year of not seeing them, we quickly fall back into easy conversation and bantering.  I have started doing a bit of training- much less intense then the usual two weeks in Jonesville.  I'm learning a lot on my own and watching some quality YOUtube videos about OpenProj and reading through the staff manual.  Plus I had time to eat Chick-fil-a for lunch (it's been too long since my last visit to this yummy place).

Tomorrow will bring more training and preparations for the summer AND the arrival in Mitchell County my new home.  This week my center director in crime who has been taking the best care of Mitchell County and I will be working together to transition things and hopefully prepare for a smooth week three.  Plus while we are at it we can enjoy the benefits of being on a five person staff and have ALL the productivity and fun!

I am feeling equally nervous and excited about moving to Mitchell and what the next 8 weeks of summer have in store.  I am praying for God to help me overcome all of the expectations I have for myself and that I perceive that others have of me.  I am excited to see where the summer takes me and hopefully leads to a drawing into some sort of calling for the next year holds.

I won't deny that I LOVE getting mail in the summer and I usually work daily stops at the post office into our busy days to seek the joy of ripping open an envelope full of love and of course you can expect mail back too!

Send love notes, words of encouragement, things that will make me smile, and really anything you want :)

ASP Mitchell County
Attn: Caitlin Closs
General Delivery
Spruce Pine, NC 28777

Lots of Love from Johnson City!

World Adventures, Packing, and Mountain Dreamin'

As I sit in the middle of my grandparents family room and watch the rain drizzling down, I am overcome by a longing to be a part of my Mitchell County family even though we don’t even know each other very well (unless of course you count my time facebook creeping).  In just 6 short days I’ll be heading back to ASPland for another summer of overalls, early mornings, and joy-filled days with volunteers.  For most staffers with the Appalachia Service Project their summer has already begun and the first group of volunteers are out on the worksites starting to serve the families.  I am positive that my staff in Mitchell County is already having lots of great adventures. 

I am so blessed to be able to have the opportunity to be working with the Appalachia Service Project for a third summer in North Carolina.  I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to be serving again, but God had other plans for my summer and I couldn’t be more ecstatic.  I am thankful for the patience of my friends in Johnson City while I worked though summer plans and options and for working with me so I could come back this summer! 

You may be thinking why in the world am I not already there and the short answer is I spent the spring after graduation as a world traveler of sorts.  In April I celebrated a lot of lasts and the end of a wonderful 4 years at Alma.  I wrapped up student teaching and then enjoyed all of the graduation festivities.  My mom and dad flew in for the weekend to celebrate the big day.  Just about a week later I hopped on a plane with my spring term class and headed to Peru.  I spent the month in Peru being immersed in the culture and seeing another county.  I had an incredible time and learned so much.  Below are a few pictures from some of my favorite moments of the trip

 




 For the first part of our trip we lived with host families in Cusco and went to school and volunteered. Then we traveled all around Peru seeing all different communities and so much beauty.  I loved the slow pace of life in Peru and the love they have for their culture and simplistic life style.  It reminded me a lot of Appalachia.  I hope that someday I will be able to go back to Peru and enjoy it all again.

After a crazy few days of travel full of cancelled flights, five star hotels, and a lot of plane riding we returned to MI.  I managed to squeeze in a trip to the Highland Festival in Alma and a few other visits with friends and a whole lot of unpacking and repacking all before Monday morning when I headed back to the airport en route to Ireland.

My aunt decided to graciously take my cousins and I on a little Irish Adventure.  We spent 8 days seeing the southern part of Ireland and learning about the history and culture.  I loved spending so much time with my cousins and my aunt and enjoyed the opportunity to see another country.  I think a few pictures will better describe my time in Ireland.

 

I made it home after all of these world adventures and was ready for a little time to rejuvenate and prepare for the summer.  I am so thankful for the opportunity to have seen more of the world and travel with some awesome people.  

I keep thinking that maybe if I wait long enough maybe all the packing I need to do for ASP will do itself.  Unfortunately I can't avoid it much longer.  I did spend time sorting through t-shirts and am happy to say it seems I could wear ASP shirts for 3 weeks and not need to do any laundry (not sure if that is a good or bad thing).  I can't wait to get to ASP land but I am also nervous for the new challenges this summer will bring.  I'm hoping to have more blogs this summer since I hopefully will have better internet then last summer but I make no promises!  

Much love and many prayers friends :)  

Graduation Joys

I had a lot of intentions of blogging more this semester.  That didn't work out so hot.  But here is one super long post about college and friends and thanks and blessings.

As graduation rapidly approaches I think back over the people who have influenced these past four years and am truly grateful for each of the blessings and joy they brought to my journey!  In no particular order here are some of those people who have helped me become who I am today!

To every roommate or suitemate I have had the pleasure of living with, thanks for listening for sharing and for being a part of the everyday journey. For many of us we were strangers before living together, but we life chatted and we learned and we laughed, we left as better friends and with memories I’ll hold onto forever.  I am stronger and probably cleaner because of your gentle reminders to shower and eat and take each day on with a smile.

To all of my sisters I am blessed by each of your beautiful and unique personalities, I always know that phi sig will hold a dear place in my heart for helping me become a leader, a sister, and possibly most importantly a pretty awesome puffy painter. And especially to the callas thank you for pizza rolls, family nights, life chats, mad straw skills, and late night princess battles, you are the best fam jam and continue to be a support and a bundle of joy and laughter. 

To my community of faith, wow.  I am not who I was when I came to college because of each of you.  I admire each one of you who I worship with, who I have studied the bible with, who I have spent many late nights singing with, who did ACCL with me the first and second time, the brothers and sisters who served as SMCs with me.  This community has been a constant body of strength for me to run too and what holds all of these other pieces together.  Because of all of you I fell more deeply in love with god and his heart for this world and I pray that this community will continue to grow in the coming years and be a place of refuge, strength and joy for all those who encounter it.

To my student life people, ra staffs, hall directors, and everyone in between. I am more confident and wiser because Of your leadership.  I have learned to love deeper and to accept each of you and your vivid personalities as friends, I would not be as motivated or as diligent without each of you.  To all the hooligans who I call residents thanks for eating my snacks and being patient to have work orders put in, I cherished living with all of you in each of our communities.

To my cohorts in the world of Panhellenic I can't imagine working with any other group of incredible women.  I am lucky to have been a part of the growth of our Greek community and to have done it with all of you.  I'll never enjoy late night paper sorting, or the millions of recruitment pictures as much as I did with all of you.

To the wonderful women who served as presidents with me, thank you for your patience as I treaded the waters of leading us through changes and growth, I am blessed to have spent Wednesdays dining with each of you, and getting to know you as leaders and friends.

To my alternative breakers, I still cherish each of the weeks we spent together across the country humbling ourselves and using our gifts to serve others.  From dry walling a laundry room, playing the fish game, learning how to use a nail gun, and watching as the concrete foundation for a house was poured, I wouldn't have wanted to do it with anyone but each of you.  I am glad we got dirty and tired together and that we became better stewards of our world.

To my CLW family, I never imagined what an amazing summer would ensue when I met all of you for the first time as I hoped off that plane and walked into a sea of USA lei wearing friends! I am grateful for your friendships and for the chance to grow among you, I am glad the we worshipped together, crafted together, got messy together, and especially that we petted cows together.  I will always hold our summer together as one of many firsts and new adventures.  I am even more blessed by relationships that I still share with you years later, especially to my joy counting friend and the ways that God has interwoven our stories together :)

To my ASP family because of each of you I understand love, and overalls, and PXL.  I am thankful for the late nights we spent planning and making hardware lists, for the early morning adventures to the hardware stores, and for each and everyday we had the opportunity to adventure together and just talk about life.  Thanks for reminding me to shower and loving me even when I didn't, for eating Nutella and ice cream and reminding me that happiness is more important then fatiness, for patiently answering my questions and letting me answer yours, and for eating countless peanut butter sandwiches while wishing we had taco salad.  And most of all for letting me see the work of God through each of you, each volunteer, every family, and all the community members we had the chance of working with.  I am forever blessed by the extended family of staffers that I laughed with, cried with, learned with, and snuggled with.  I pray that the relationships we share will last long into the future and that our phone calls will continue to connect us and the new memories that we each are experiencing on our journey.

To the breakfast club I am not quite sure how we became a thing, but I ate more pancakes and sausage in just one year compared to the rest of my time at alma, thanks for being early morning motivation and a reason to get up and for letting me wash dishes on a regular basis.  I am happy that we didn't just share breakfast but study time, milkshakes, and hugs too.  I miss our breakfast adventures especially pumpkin pancakes!

To my kiltie band family I am so happy that we marched together, sweated together, and made music together.  Five pm will forever be the time that I associate with band practice, you were my first impression of Alma and even though I was homesick at first you quickly welcomed be to the family.  Some of you have become my best friends, my sisters, and my residents.  Wherever we go we will always share the love of a good performance, kilts, true scots, blue ribbons, bagels, and so much more. I am thankful for my baritone family I will always think of you through indoor show paper airplanes, purple shorts and many McDonald's breakfast trips! 

To every person who has been a study buddy, helped me survive a class, worked on math with me, or been in class with me.  You helped me become a critical thinker and understand new and old concepts.  I’ll always cherish late night library dates and study sessions before tests. 

To the Thursday friends, I became a better euchre player and a better fruit snack eater from all of our Thursday nights.  It was wonderful playing and laughing and walking the halls with you.  To my partner thanks for wearing hats and belts and never being focused.  It was a joy to know that I would have the chance to unwind every week with all of you!

To my new family at Alma High School getting to work with all of you has been quite the adventure.  I am so glad to have learned and grown as a teacher, a person and a friend with all of you.  I’ll always have a little panther blood in me!

To my incredible family who has been there though all of these journeys, thanks.  They let me explore and find out who I was and never stopped loving me.  Thanks for plane tickets and visits and phone calls whenever I needed them!

It has been an incredible and life changing four years. I know that God placed each one of you in my story for a reason and I am glad that he did!  I am excited to start the next chapter of life and for each of you to continue on your journey :)

 

Reflecting on 2012

I love reading friends facebook posts about reflecting on the year that we have all had.  I was going to attempt to compose a super great status about 2012... but it was really hard summing up a year in just a few sentences, so I thought I have a blog that I never use maybe it would be fun to post about my year there....

So here we are in 2013, I am posting a blog on January 1.  Maybe that means I'll think about blogging somewhat more then I ever have before (which wouldn't be much to do) , but I make no promises.

A friend asked what my top memories were from the year and I came up with a list of ten... so in no particular order this is what made my 2012 a great year fu1l of Joy and blessings!

1.  I worked for a second summer with ASP serving as a center director in Cocke CO TN.  I could probably list all 10 memories from the summer as favorites from this year because it was so wonderful... but just to name a few favs!  My staff who indulged me in crazy antics not limited to mattress stealing, fort building, and wearing clothes backwards.  A beautiful place to live and work and a mountain to climb and see God's beauty.  An amazing community who welcomed us with open arms.  Volunteers who spent countless hours caring for us, our families, our community, and doing projects I never dreamed we would accomplish!  Families who smiles would make any day better, and of course an amazing support system from JC and especially a boss who helped me grow as a leader and in confidence.  I wouldn't trade anything for that adventure.

2.  Two wonderful alternative break trips.  Habitat for humanity in FL and WV.  New friends, nail guns, new skills.  Sunshine, waterfalls, and even broken windows when the keys get locked in the car!

3. A wonderful friend from Alma coming to visit me in CO.  Not only was in wonderful to show someone what CO is like, but we also enjoyed sprinklers at the zoo, waterfall adventures in the Maroon Bells and trips to museums and IKEA.

4. A whole lot of weddings.  This year I celebrated new beginnings with four wonderful couples.  From cousin time in Washington DC to dancing the night away, cookie frosting, trying new things, driving adventures, and even ice sculptures the wedding scene of 2012 was pretty awesome!

5.  In September I spoke in chapel.  One senior a month is selected to do the message it was both an honor and a challenge to write and share with my peers and I am so grateful for the opportunity to share my heart and my God with me peers.

6. A friend of mine was spending the year volunteering in Buffalo, NY.  For Easter weekend I drove all the way to buffalo alone ( made it through Canada barely) and spent the weekend seeing her life there.  One of the most special Easters I have ever celebrated!

7. I completed my last season of marching band ever.  And it was a good one.  I never would have thought that I would have dedicated eight years to being a part of a group or hardworking and talented individuals.  From the wolverines to the Scots, being a member of all of those groups was an honor and I wouldn't have wanted to spend any less time running, sweating, practicing, and preforming.

8. I spent the last year serving as the panhellenic president.  It was both the most rewarding and challenging leadership position I have ever served in.  I am thankful for presidential lunches, awesome committee, wednesday night, and an incredible eboard who let me be silly and take a bazillion pictures of them when we wore matching clothing.  I am also so proud of my kid who has grown into an incredible leader and will be a wonderful new president this year.

9.  ACCL week.  I worked with two other amazing women training other students on our campus to be christian leaders.  The week seemed to fit together perfectly after lots of planing and scheduling.  I saw God's spirit move in big ways in our group and on our campus.

10.  Last but certainly not least,  I spent the year seeking joy with a wonderful friend!  Although we had some slow bouts we finished the year srtong counting gifts and joys in our lives!  A huge joy of our year was passing off the journal in person for the first time since we starting counting more then a year ago.  God is so good.

I am positive that a lot of other wonderful things happen in 2012!  I mean really awesome blessings happen everyday!  But  here is to 2013 may it be a year of grace and love and new challenges!  Tomorrow is the beginning of my last term at Alma and I'll be student teaching so that is sure to prove exciting and challenging!!!

Much love and many prayers friends!  Happy 2013!

Ditches and Tomato Soup

Hello From Cocke County!  We have somewhat officially moved into our home for the summer!  By that I mean everything is out of the vans and in the office/cafeteria/supply area.  It does not mean that we are organized or can find what were looking for when we need it… But none the less we are rocking and rolling.

We left the porch on Thursday afternoon after going to the commissioning service and taking lots of pictures.  We also enjoyed a great lunch.  And did our chores of course!  Our set up week adventures started off with a senic drive and a whole lot of switchbacks…we were following the GPS but I’m not sure that it was really the best way.  Along the way Sevier County caught up to us and so we all caravanned together.  I wish I could have taken a picture of the eight of us making a u-turn when we realized the bridge we needed to cross was closed.  Apart from our senic tour of TN we made it safely to Carson Springs Baptist Retreat Center.  We met some new friends who will be living with us this summer, they work at the camp and helped us move all of our stuff in!

We found a delicious mexican restaurant to have for dinner and filled up on chips before our food even came.  We also celebrated Corin's birthday with presents and candles!  

The week is already flying by. A little too quickly since we've been here in my opinion.  We have been to the bank, hardware store, walmart, gas stations, and grocery stores as well as located an ice cream store and a dump.  We have also been on the lookout for projects and are finding them all over the county.  We are slowly learning to fend for ourselves... and eating a LOT of tomato soup too :) 

We have seen our fair share of hills but overall we're making it through all right with some love and guidance from our PM!  

If you want to meet my staff and see some pictures as well as updates from this summer you should like out facebook page!  http://www.facebook.com/ASPCockeTN  ( this is also a shameless plug because at the end of the summer we want to be the center with the most likes :))

And if you want to send me mail...

ASP General Delivery

Attn: Caitlin Closs

Newport, TN 37821

much love and many prayers from Newport TN!!

Training!

Well...so far the goal of blogging once a week seems to have been a failure... but only because I have been so engrossed in spending time and being present while I've been on the porch!

So some highlights so far of this adventure!

- CD hangout time!  Hanging out with all the other center directors has been such a blessing.  They are wonderful people who I am excited that I have become better friends with.  We have a lot of fun being silly and serious all in the same day.  I feel a really great sense of community this year, something that I didn't find til the end of last summer.  So many friends to talk to and spend time sharing our joys!

-General Things that happen on the Porch: Singing, praying, writing silly intro songs, candy being passed around at construction sessions, milkshakes from happy mart, 120 friends, conversations about anything.

-Special Training things: Slumber Parties, Square Dancing, Late Night Snacks, IHVs, Walmart Trips, Team Building Day

-STAFF REVEAL!!!! MY STAFF IS AWESOME!!!!!  Thankfully you are going to get to hear about them all summer long :)  Soon I will post pictures detailing our meeting and how great they all are.  There are four of us who will be living and serving in Cocke County and we are all girls.  Also we love Jesus.  And we can't wait to grow and adventure together!

-County Visit Day... I was supernervous about this ( in previous years CDs have gone out by themselves and ventured around their county.  This year I had a partner and a PM (program manager)  the three of us had an awesome trip and it was so nice to get away from the porch and see our homes!  My center is sort of like disney world... swimming pool, laundry, indoor showers, and a nice space for Evening Gatherings!  Pictures soon!

Training is getting ready to come to a close, and I have mixed emotions.  I can't wait to get to my county and  get to know my staff and families and volunteers, but I will miss getting to be surrounded by wonderful friends everyday.  I'm looking forward to load up day and getting ready to head out fro the summer!

To all of the friends who have sent me mail...Thanks!!  Starting this Thursday (5/31) you can send me mail at
ASP General Delivery- Cocke County
Attn: Caitlin Closs
Newport, TN 37821

Much love and many prayers from the porch!

less then one week til ASP!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In less then one week I will be sitting on the porch doing a little bit of this:

singing, seeing friends, learning, and most importantly preparing for an incredible summer!

I might be a little bit excited!  Before I go I have a lot to do. Such as pack. pack. pack. And let me tell you packing is not the easiest thing.  I am planning what I might want or need for an entire summer of adventure and it all needs to fit into one nice bag so I can take it on the plane.  My room is serving as a staging room while I sort through and decide what I might be able to fit.

I also am spending time hanging out with the fam and seeing friends while I am home.  Loving having dinner and lunch with the people who inspire me most and being reminded of the wonderful support system I have even after being gone.

After training is over, I'll be moving to Newport TN, and serving as a center director in Cocke County. I am looking forward to meeting my staff, and learning  the joys and challenges of a new center and a new staff!

I am sure there will be much more to tell in the coming weeks!  But for know if you want to think about sending me mail :)

My address from May 17- May 30 will be:

ASP Jonesville Center
Attn: Caitlin Closs
P.O. Box 250
Jonesville, VA 24263

I'll have a different address for the rest of the summer, but I'll have to get back to you on that!

Love and Hugs from Colorado!