Word of the day: Unconventional

Word of the day: Unconventional =)

A big "Hello" to all of you!! Wow, you do not know how wonderful it has been to hear about the "going-ons" of your days. COURT - atta girl on your 5 zillion posts! Each one of you bloggers have provided me with a good amount of chuckling... as I sit all by myself in the Corban mini van, of course.

It's crazy to think we're all doing the same [unique] job: we're out in the same big wide world, sharing about the same amazing school. But each of us has completely different experiences awaiting us just around the corner of the high school hallway. Oh, and completely different reactions to those experiences. Actually, I think it'd be aaawesome to have something like a national admissions counselor bizarre experiences travel season blog page. Yes please. We'll work on the title later (but honestly it can't get much better than "Admissions Adventures")... =)

We're traveling by car, plane, ferry, bike (that's me!)... Okay not actually to school visits... yet... (I have to be able to tell Jordan SOMETHING unconventional I did during my travels by the time I get back!) If not a bike ride visit, I guess I'll just have to stand on a lunch table during a presentation or something VERY cool like that... (just kidding Jordan!!)

Okay enough chit chat. Obviously I'm not a seasoned blogger.
So onto my travel season so far (all 4 days of them!)
Unconventional. And by unconventional I do not mean I have been standing on top of tables. I mean "not by the book"... and by "book," I mean my planner.
I'll tell you that this girl has had to do a lot of "rolling with it" - schools mixing up the visit date, schools asking to reschedule last minute, schools asking to change the type of visit, schools asking me to stay twice as long for an extra presentation, schools asking me to wait 30 minutes before meeting with students... you get the idea. And "rolling with it" is not how I would describe a typical day in the life of Callie. But for travel season, I guess it's the brand new me!

So my first mini-trip was on the Oregon Coast and I now find myself in Western Washington (Gig Harbor to be exact... Wahoo!)
As for the visits themselves - I LOVE MY JOB!!! Cara, I finally understand all your hype about going back to the same schools with the same counselors! The little things like knowing where to turn without Googlemaps, knowing where Starbucks is, knowing where the Career Center is, knowing who the hs counselor is, or knowing that a lunch visit at the 5A high school means you get to talk about yourself into a microphone from your table (front and center of course!). A year of learning and learning some more has brought me up to a new level of "ecstatic" mixed with confidence... Even in the unconventional situations. Praise You LORD!

Now I will tell you one story that I probably won't tell a tenth as entertaing-ly as any of you would, but nonetheless, hopefully you'll catch the drift...;) Oh, and Heidi, I think this falls under my attempt at "best high school counselor and/or youth pastor encounter"...

First, did you know there is a Seaside HS located both in Oregon as well as California? I did! Well, as of last Wednesday I did. Before that: no clue.
So for the past month I have had a Career Center visit confirmed with Kaylynn from Seaside HS, OR, for 10:30am on Thursday, Sept 13. One day before leaving for my trip to the Coast, I received a call from Seaside HS (a different counselor - Angela), saying that she was very sorry for not calling back for the past month, but would love to have me at 10:30am on Wednesday, Sept 12. "No worries! A different counselor already got back to me and we are all scheduled for the next day," I told her. She didn't see me on the calendar, apologized again, and asked if I could arrive on Wed. instead. "Also," she said, "Would you mind if we changed that Career Center to a Presentation visit? We'll set you up in the cafeteria instead, I'll make 3 classes (a minimum of 60 kids) attend, and you talked to them for the whole 75 minute period?? We've never done it before at our public high school, but this will be a great test run!! I'll try to get MANY more students if possible..."

Okay, so you know when I said I had confidence this travel season? In that moment... NONE. It would be my first presentation, and I really was looking forward to easing my way in - not acting as a guinea pig for in a high school cafeteria. For 75 whole minutes.
So I prayed. And prayed and prayed and prayed, and little by little, the Lord replaced fear with His truth, and the fact that THIS ISN'T ABOUT ME!
So I woke up Wednesday morning, kind of nervous but [unconventionally?] excited, bought a bunch of donut holes (they looked like the perfect "please like me real fast big scary high schoolers" donut holes), and showed up to the career center with enough Fast Facts for an army.
But guess what (I'm sure you already did as I tend to give the punch line BEFORE the story)... My name was still on the sheet as arriving at 10:30 the next morning - in the Career Center. Surprisingly it took me only 20ish seconds and 3 "you are crazy" looks from those in the office before putting two and two together.
OH NO!!
I just bought donut holes for the wrong Seaside HS.

Sweet Kaylynn helped me feel a little better about myself regarding the blond moment, I told her I'd return tomorrow, jetted out of there, and quickly looked up the counselor's number who had called me just a few days prior.
"California" - that's what it said when I Googled the words "Seaside High School." I punched in the number I found, pressed send, got ahold of Angela, asked her right away if she was located in CA, apologized, and we chatted for a good 10 minutes as she told me stories of things that had happened in the past with people leaving voicemails for their school when they meant to reach the Oregon high school. I hate you Google. I liked Angela. I think I'll bring her donut holes if I'm ever in the Seaside, CA, area.
Needless to say, I didn't get my experience in that moment presenting to a bunch of public high schoolers, but I did about 3 hours later... I was so thankful for our God's goodness. Honestly, it is the times that I forget about myself, potential awkwardness with off-the-wall questions/responses, and focus on being not only an ambassador for Corban but one for Jesus Christ that I find success at schools. It is my goal to have that attitude at every single visit this year - all for HIM!!

So speaking of, my days on the Coast could not have been a better timed getaway. In the (super) early mornings, afternoons and evenings, it was sunny and cloudless and my little hotel on the beach at Seaside made for a picture-perfect retreat full of... Well, saltwater and sand.
I was on the beach literally (that word is for you Sars!) every second possible for walks and runs and prayer and journaling and reading and Skype Bible studies with Tyler and watching the sunset with a salmon dinner (bought not caught) and an ice cream cone as an appetizer. Like I said.. Picture perfect. And a little unconventional, too. :)

As for my trip to Gig Harbor, my weekends and late afternoons consist of mowing the lawn, going shooting with an Assault Rifle 15 and Magnum 35 up in the mountains outside Olympia with Dad (NOT unconventional), going on a 10 mile bikeride with Matt (you would think he'd take it easy on his sister!), chores, buying Go-gurt and ice cream and pudding for Matt (bye bye wisdom teeth), going on boat rides for some last minute sun, Farmers Market with old friends, and watching the show Jericho with my mom (she hopes to have me beyond addicted before I leave this house).

Again, I'm a rambler, not a blogger. Hope you got through this, and if not, ask me for the Spark Note version once we're back.:) Miss you guys - I feel as though we're a family that's out doing their own thing when we should be together! Honestly, some of the most encouraging things have been seeing pictures from Cara, getting txts from Jared, getting everything from Courtney (Amazing), a phone call with Ash (a voice means so much!), hilarious posts from Jordan, email convos with Heidi, big fat hug from Sars. You guys are great. It's been an awesome time, I'm so ready for more, but you will each continue to be in individual prayer. Let's continuously remember why Christ has us doing what we do. See you.:)

Callie