Chriiiiiiiistmas, Chriiiistmas tiiiiime is heeeeeeeeeere

Ok not really. But almost.

Hmmmm updates from the last blog:

In case you hadn't seen on facebook...as many of you HAVE, turns out my car was totaled....which was really just a HUGE blessing in disguise! The new car I got has power locks, and power windows, and cruise control! I should have hit a bus earlier and I might have enjoyed these amenities sooner! ;) It's a newer Corolla, and it is dark-ish red, so of course I named him Hemo The Magnificent, after a movie about the circulatory system I had as a kid. (blood being red, and all)

A few weeks ago I spoke at our large group Chi Alpha meeting on Friday night...the first time since my high school graduation I actually stood up in front of a group of people and talked for that long...I basically spent the whole week before stressing out over what I was going to talk about and how I was going to talk about it, but it ended up going well. (thanks mostly to spending an hour on Wednesday talking over it with Matt where he helped me put it into a structure) I spoke about a lesson that I have learned multiple times in my college career, and I'm sure will learn many more times in my life- about waiting on and for God.

We need to have patience and wait for God, doing things in His timing and not jumping the gun on Him...and we also need to wait on Him- actively submitting ourselves to His will and being alert attentive to His desires and His will so we can do it at a moment's notice.

I didn't make a fool of myself in the venture so that was good. I still haven't heard the audio but I don't think I want to. :-D

The rest of the semester has gone by SO FAST! I cannot believe there's only one week of classes left at Cornell! We're planning the Christmas Party for next Saturday and I am quiiiite excited for it! It's always a good time and one final chance to hang out and say goodbye to people. It's my second "last" Christmas party, but this time I'm really going to be leaving.

The other day I was driving in Ithaca and I saw a street sign, and thought to myself "Oh, I didn't know that was the name of that street. File that one away in my head" And then I realized that I was leaving in 2 weeks, and that information didn't really need to be filed away since it wouldn't be useful to me shortly.

that was WEIRD, because I've never been this close to leaving Ithaca before...I've never lived somewhere any significant amount of time, gotten to know it, my way around it (some of you know just how HUGE of a feat that is for me! :-P) built connections there, gotten a feel for the town...and then left. I've never moved before, so this is a strange idea for me. A little piece of me will always be there I guess. straaaaaaaaaaange.

I go through this weird thing every time I leave Ithaca too...as soon as I leave, I wish I was back in Ithaca because I know there's still fun things going on there, people I'd love to spending time with. But when I'm home I also loooove being with my family, and especially this time of year when we have so many family gatherings and fun things to do planned. Whenever I am in one place and enjoying it I feel like I'm sort of betraying the other place. I guess my life is going to be full of things like that, as long as I keep going places and enjoying myself there.

AFRICA IS COMING SOON!

I'm leaving JANUARY TWELFTH!

My passport has been sent out for my Visa...now all I need to do really is get my shots and pack my suitcase! :)

But first...the first ever (and according to Mom, LAST) D'Ambrosio family cruise is coming up- leaving NYC Christmas Day and sailing to the Bahamas, I can't wait for that either. :-D

Life is Good!

I know, I know, I'm slacking...

So it's been over a month since I last wrote!

Partly because I have been doing lots of things...but a partly because I don't really feel like the things I am doing make for really exciting stories, especially reading Heidi's Uganda blog and hearing about grasshopper sandwiches, rescuing cows from drowning, sleeping in mosquito net tubes, etc. So my life wouldn't make a great thriller or adventure story, but some pretty cool things have been happening nonetheless.

So what have I been up to??

Highlights/updates

So as I expected, we did a muuuuch better job of keeping people around after the first week this year than we have in the past. Most of the freshmen who we saw several times over the first week and came to XA the first night are still committed to the group, which is awesome. Small groups are going really well.

The second week we had seventeen people show up!!! but that number has settled down to about 8-10 each week. The first couple weeks we spent mostly getting to know each other, and had most people share their testimonies. I've never heard such a great group of them- story after story of amazing things God did in peoples lives and families, of how he pursued after hearts until people found true unconditional love in him. It was encouraging for me to hear, and I was especially thankful that a couple girls who didn't have much of a church background and are interested in seeking God got to hear such awesome personal stories about him.

My group is going through Luke, looking at Jesus' teachings/parables. It's been really great so far, we've had a lot of really good discussions, and I've been impressed with everyone's willingness to open up and share their thoughts...which has been a struggle in small groups at times. We've really been encouraging them to read the section beforehand and come to small group with questions and their own thoughts and things to discuss.

Chi Alpha started doing this thing on Saturdays where we play pickup soccer on one of the fields on campus, as a way for us to hang out with each other, but also meet new people. There's serveral non-XA people who've been playing regularly with us, which is pretty cool.

It was interesting for me because I haven't played soccer basically at all since the Kent Rec team in 3rd and 4th grade...and I missed half the year in 3rd grade because I was recovering from open heart surgery. But I've had more fun than I was expecting to have once I got over the "I don't want to play because I'm not actually good at this" thing...which is something I'm (unfortunately late in my life) starting to learn...I'm a perfectionist and I don't like to do things when people can see me unless I've established some level of mediocrity at it. Sooooo I'm trying to learn to suck it up and put myself out there and try new things and realize that nobody actually cares if you make a fool of yourself, at least you tried and maybe learned something.

This weekend is our Fall Retreat and i'm sooo excited because 1. EMMY is coming to be a nanny for Matt and Tracy's almost-2 year old daughter, so I get to see her little self and 2. I just always love retreats, good things always happen when we set aside a whole weekend to pay close attention to God and what he's doing. There's about 20 students from Cornell going, and about 50 people total, and Jim Bradford, the Assemblies of God general secretary is going to be the speaker. I've heard him before and he's great, so I'm looking forward to it. :)

I STILL haven't heard anything from medical schools...but I don't know when I'm supposed to hear anything from them...so I don't even know if that's fine or bad (as in, i'm missing paperwork or something) So I should probably do something about that...

I was home the other weekend for fall break and went into Manhattan with my parents to talk to an Air Force recruiter. DON'T think I'm crazy! People keep telling me "I can't see you running around with a gun or flying planes" and I say "Well good, because I can't see that either, and that isn't what I'm going to be doing!!'

There is a scholarship program where the Air Force will pay all your tuition, books, small equipment fees, plus a stipend, for medical school. In turn you work in an AF hospital, as a doctor, in whatever specialty you want, for 4 years. At the end of 4 years you can decide if you want to stick with the Air Force or go into the civilian system. Chance of deployment overseas in the first 3 years: no guarantees, but basically zero.

so I am applying to this program, so I can go to med school and be a doctor in the Air Force instead of a doctor in a civilian hospital, not fly planes. :-P

Here's a funny story to end this very long overdue post:

Monday, I was driving through campus to take my giant laptop, which decided to stop working, to Best Buy so they could look at it, when I stopped at a stop sign. I was in a significantly agitated mood since I had just had an agitating conversation with my sister, which resulted in me hanging up on her (anyone surprised?) (it wasn't illegal she was on speakerphone, I had both hands on the wheel the whole time!!) Anyways. so I was at the stop sign, and there was a crosswalk after it, so there was a good amount of road between where I was and where I would need to be to see if there were cars coming. So in my agitation I ...forgot?...to actually pull forward enough to see what was coming at me, and made the right turn. Turns out a TCAT bus was coming my way. (here's a tcat bus:http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.sustainablecampus.cornell.edu/gettingaround/images/tcat.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.sustainablecampus.cornell.edu/gettingaround/buses.cfm&usg=__tpZbBt0RsayAcDgbw_j_rNkcu5Y=&h=157&w=210&sz=38&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=ZTsFWZ3PjGZwyM:&tbnh=107&tbnw=143&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dtcat%2Bbus%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1014%26bih%3D487%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=149&vpy=98&dur=1142&hovh=125&hovw=168&tx=136&ty=75&ei=8azATP_2MML58AbnhIDlBA&oei=8azATP_2MML58AbnhIDlBA&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0

We made contact.

The Bumper ended up on the sidewalk

The driver's side headlight was smashed

The driver was perfectly fine, not a bump, not a scratch, not a whiplash

The entire driver's side of the car was perfectly fine

The car was even drivable!...though it made funny rattling noises because the hood wasn't sitting well on the frame.

So the car is at the doctor's for now and I'm just peachy. :-D

Lesson learned? Emmy put it well in her facebook status: "Don't yell at me, you'll hit a bus"

Thanks, sister.

oh! and a reminder...if you want to comment, just "sign in" anonymously so you don't have to make a google account, just remember to sign your name so I know who you are. :-D

Yet Another Facelift

Feel free to ignore any and ALL posts below this one, as there is a great chance that only one of them are interesting to any given person, and it simply won't be worth your time to read the other 15 or so posts. Unless you're really bored. Or stalking me. And if the latter is the case I'd prefer you not read them anyways.

Anywhoo.

Once again I have revamped the blog...changed the title and the background and the layout, in preparation for an onslaught of new visitors (my high school English teachers would be so proud of my use of and ability to recognize hyperbole there!) (And I'm assuming you didn't even notice, since you just got here anyways, but since you're behaving and not reading all the old posts, I had to give you SOME history, right? :-D )

So I sent/am sending/will send letters or some other form of contact (wahoo facebook) to lots of people in my life telling them all about my plans for the next year...I will copy and paste the official answer to the question "What is Danielle going to be doing for the next year?" riiiiiiiiight here:

Last winter, I attended the World Missions Summit - a conference where thousands of college students

and young adults were challenged to give a year of their lives to missions, and pray about doing so for a

lifetime. Before I even arrived, I knew that I wanted to give a year, and the summit was a great time for me

to see what opportunities God might have out there for me. On the last night, I signed a card pledging to

spend a year doing missions after college, before my post-graduation plans to attend medical school.

As you may already know, I recently graduated from Cornell University with a degree in Biology.

While in college, I got involved with a Christian organization called Chi Alpha, which is a ministry that

gives students the opportunity to grow and serve God during their college years, reaching out to others on

campus and allowing students to encourage each other and enjoy fellowshipping together. Joining Chi Alpha

was the best decision I could have made; it is the place where I found an amazing group of friends who

helped me to grow as a person and in my relationship with God. Because of the huge blessing Chi Alpha

and its pastors, Matt and Tracy Herman, have been to me, I have decided to spend the next six months

working with them in Cornell's chapter of Chi Alpha through the Assemblies of God U.S. Missions program.

My responsibilities will include meeting weekly with several girls individually for discipleship, leading a

small group Bible study, participating in a mentorship program, and doing various administrative activities.

I am ecstatic to be able to go back to Cornell for a semester and have no classes, but more importantly, to be

able to spend my time investing in the lives of other young adults and giving back to the ministry that has

given so much to me! I feel that I have grown so much deeper in my relationship with God during my time

at Cornell and have learned so much more about life, and so I am excited to be able to share that with the

students who are still there!

Additionally, in January, I am planning to go to Kenya, East Africa for six months working with the

Assemblies of God World Missions. While there, I will be travelling to various free clinics in the Nairobi

area, and one in the rural northeast area of Kenya. These clinics are run and staffed by missionaries. I will

be directly involved in the medical care of the patients in any capacity that I am able. This will be my third

trip to Kenya, and by far the longest of the three, and I cannot wait to go back! The last time I was there,

after driving around the city of Nairobi, I told my dad, “The more I see, the more I love this place…I just

want to lie down on the ground and give Kenya a hug!” Medical missions is one of the best ways to minister

to people, because it provides a fantastic opportunity to talk with them while showing them the love of God

in a very real and tangible way. It seems fitting that we should use meeting their great physical need as a

way to help to meet their great spiritual need.

So there you have it. That's my life plan until juuuust about exactly one year from today.