The low this winter here in Boone was forty below-below zero......who are they kidding??

This weekend was absolutely maddening. I am surprised I made it through in one piece. I spent the day at Appalachian State Saturday for open house. It was really just basic college stuff like financial aid, registration, etc, all stuff I learned at ICC already. I didn’t really gain any new knowledge, but the experience of just visiting the town and campus was really helpful. It was really crazy how God orchestrated a lot of the events that happened at App. First, my parents and I went to go pay the $100 deposit for registration. As we signed various papers, the lady behind the desk looked at me and said, “Hey! I processed your application!” Out of the probably hundreds of people that process applications each semester, I happened to meet up with the lady that processed mine! She helped settle a lot of questions I had about registration and classes. After, we set off to find a place to live for the fall semester. I am staying in my friend, Brooke’s, apartment during the summer, and was planning on staying in the dorms in the fall. When I called to reserve a spot, the lady in housing said that all the dorm rooms for the fall semester were slam packed! So, I seriously needed to start looking for an apartment since they begin to be few and far between after April or May. Before we began to look, we stopped to eat at a really cool bagel shop right by school. After we ate, we began searching for real estate agents who specialize in finding apartments for students. So here we are, in the middle of the bagel shop, flipping desperately through the yellow pages of the Boone phone book, when these two girls (Joni and Meredith-ironic huh?) come up and start talking to us about App and apartments. It turns out that Meredith was an 8th grade teacher at an elementary (Middle school and elementary school are combined in Boone) school around town, and Joni was a social worker. By the end of the conversation, Joni had given me their phone number and invited me to call them anytime with any questions that I might have and to come stay a night or two with them (“We have a pull out couch!”) I was so surprised! It was weird; they didn’t even know me! When I got home that afternoon, I called Brooke to tell her about my day. It turns out that not only does she know Meredith and Joni, but Joni’s dad own Camp Joy in Hickory, a Christian summer camp for disabled kids! Brooke was like, “Jesus really wants you in Boone, Meredith!” AND (God always always provides!) Brooke told me she not only found an apartment for me in the fall, but she found a great Christian roommate too!! How cool is that? I can’t believe it! I feel so much better about going to school now that I know some people and that I’ve seen what the campus and town is like :) God is awesome!

Until then,

mere