ive been so occupied with fleeing those ferocious furry beasts that i havent had a chance to take a a break to update.  hehehehe ok thats a lousy excuse if ive ever heard of it.  sorry guys.  it really has been busy around here and i just havent been on top of things like i should be.  classes are almost over.  thank goodness.  one more class for each of my subjects.  i cannot wait for some of the classes to be over.  others im sure i will miss.  but always new and fun classes next semester.  lets see... i guess i have to update all of you.  i finally chose a major.  i am a soc major with minors in spanish and psych.  im seriously thinking about going to costa rica the spring semester of my "junior" year.  really im going to be a junior this next semester b/c of the ap credits i brought in.  i suppose if i wanted to i could push to graduate early but i dont think i want to do that.  im not that excited with the idea of leaving college and starting a career.  there's so much to learn here.  i really want to take some math, history, and english classes-- but we shall see if we see if i have the time to take all of them.  along with a major and a minor i changed advisors.  my new advisor is my prof for two of my classes this semester and two of my classes next semester.  he's one of the main soc profs.  im planning on taking adoloescent development, american cultures, aerobics, humanities 303, social groups, and advanced spanish grammar.  lets see what else?  my classes are all good.  except astronomy.  yeah i know you guys think im crazy.  im not.  it is the worst class i have taken my entire life.  we havent looked at any stars, havent memorize any constellations, or learned anything that would make stargazing any more fun.  i have taken a whole semester of astronomy and couldnt tell you anything more about what stars you see when you look above you.  from my perspective, the class was an utter disappointment.  but it satisfied my science credit.  gah.  anyways.  i have a new roommate and we generally get along.  she is a messy.  im a neat freak.  interesting tensions.  overall things work well.  she has a long distance relationship too so its nice to have someone to talk to about all those interesting struggles.  so yeah.  i guess i have to say something about the good ol' bf.  we've been dating for almost seven months.  crazy how time flies huh?  the longer we date the more i think i happen to have good taste in guys.  single red rose... ahhh... dozen red roses... wow... and today he sent me irises and lilies... just cuz.  *smiles*  you guys have to "meet" him.  he's changed a lot since bbs and you guys didnt know him that well then.  dont worry say the words "sword" or "lotr" and he will be your friend forever.  so we're gonna have to do something big over christmas and some smaller stuff too.  i miss you guys like you wouldnt believe.  we have a lot of catching up to do!  where are all of you guys going to college and all that?  so i was thinking we should see the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe together sometime.  im sure that movie is going to be worth seeing over and over.  anyways... i guess thats about it... not much else has changed.  sorry i missed the grand party for britt and maggie.  wish i could've been there!  well hope your finals good well (ie. good luck) and i cant wait to see ya guys in a couple of weeks.  God bless.

wow.  i cant believe ive only been here for two weeks.  it feels like a lifetime already.  ive eased into my schedule without any difficulties... the course work didnt take any time to pile up.  i can handle it.  im back to working in the brig.  i love working there.  i love all the interaction i get with people on campus.  i have a new roommate... gabbie.  she's a lot of fun.  she has some of the same "bad" habits i do so we get along... "bad" habits being... talking outloud randomly, talking to the computer... breaking out in random song.  you know.  but we get along well.  shes a strong christian and it is inspiring to see her dedication to God.  i love my new dorm too... my room is windowless and in the basement.  our light is broken so we are making do with various desk lamps (and one floor lamp) around the room.  i call the room "the cave" although a couple girls call the basement rooms "the dungeon" or "the closet."  there really isnt much spare room but we have just enough.  i put my dresser in my closet just so id have room to walk around.  but its working out nicely.  our room definitely isnt as tidy as it was last year, but i dont feel the need to keep it perfect since my roommate apparently does not.  besides i cant become too much of a messy b/c theres not enough room.  i like all of my classes.  im taking two sociology classes... one on surveys and writing and such and the other on deviant behavior.  strangely i like the first better but i like the kids in my class significantly more. im also taking the second required humanities course.  its a... less philosophical... western civ.  today we covered grecian art... totally awesome.  ive decided i really am a bit of an art fan.  poor mike got a lesson on renassiance art the other day.  i am also taking advanced spanish conversation.  its hard.  it takes me a while to connect what i know.  its coming back... very slowly.  i have an eight o'clock astronomy class that never fails to lull me to sleep.  i know its bad of me.  ive started chewing gum to keep me awake.  its interesting.  i love the stars and its fun to learn about something i love, but the prof is a bit dry for that early in the morning.  im not a fan of pure lectures and thats what the class is.  an hour and a half.  it kills me.  but i love the stars.  im also taking psych.  i LOVE my psych class...  my prof is just a tad crazy.  she's rather eccentric but in a good way.  but i love reading about it.  ive never loved my reading assignments for other classes.  i would read this book even if i didnt have to.  and its very much a science textbook.  im starting to reconsider declaring sociology as my major.  i didnt realize pysch would really inspire me like it does... and we're just talking about brain chemistry now.  i guess i might just have to look into majoring in psych w/ a soc minor.  that would rock.  that would be a lot of hard work... but thats what im here for.  things are going well w/ the bf too.  we're adjusting to being away.  it got rocky for a bit but i think we're over the initial problems.  im looking forward to when he comes out for homecoming.  woot woot.  well thats about it.  im here and i love it.  i dont see some of my friends from last year as much as i did... but im going to have to compare schedules with them.  well folks id like to hear about whats going on for you... so either drop me an email (laughin_lunatic@yahoo.com) or give me a call. 

so mom and i sit down to a movie... and old favorite... one i hadnt seen in years but remembered loving... return to me.  now at the name most girls just have one thought "oh, what a sweet movie.  it was so sad."  yes.  that it was.  but i was prepared for it.  i wasnt going to cry.  alright.  ive got to admit... i was sorta teary eyed when the dog wouldnt eat b/c he missed her.  but i survived... well not really.  the end hit me... go fig.  you know... i cant figure out why movies like that tug on the heart strings so stronly.  what about them makes them so true...?  how can some dialogue and some actors trigger such strong emotions?  well if i knew that maybe i would be able to sit through a movie like that and not be phased.  yet... the movie started me thinking.  you know one of those heart stopping scenes where the music swells and they share one of those kisses... sigh... right.  well doesnt everybody have "music memories?"  i mean those memories that have music swelling in the background if one is listening closely enough...  for instance... isnt there music made just for you when you see your parents' eyes light up from pride?  or when you see a gorgeous sunset?  and to be honest its a lot easier to hear the music when mike's around.  maybe thats a bit of the truth behind a movie like that... of course... not every movie w/ music has that kind of emotional truth... hehehe.  ive gotta think about heather (from school) at this point.  she calls chick flicks "emotional rape."  they tantalize people with the thought of perfect emotional satisifaction and security with these movies when nothing can give that-- especially relationships. 

well thats my ramblings... not really totally and completely thought out but hopefully you followed.  hope you guys have a good transition back into school life

ok you know laura's gone looney when she checks out the sports section every day before going to work.  yeah i do that.  seeing the boyfriends name in there as often as i do has given me an interest in whats going on in the baseball world lately.  so ive been going to lots of baseball games lates.  as mrs. b. has stated... "laura's addicted to baseball now."  yup.  i guess i am.  last week i went to most (maybe all?) of the playoff games and had the priveledge of seeing paxton win the league championship.  this week is regionals and i only have been able to see todays game.  they won.  woot woot.  mike asked me today if the game seemed really long since it was an extra three innings than normal.  my reply "baseball always seems long" but thats not really true.  the games dont drag like they first did.  i guess i understand the game better. 

you also know when laura's gone looney when she watches aladdin, can remember every line and finds it hilarious when she sees the sign for "crazy hakim's discount fertilizer."  right.  ok.  im messed up.  im watching a cartoon.  although i did watch it once w/ lyndsey and i remember her telling me that aladdin was her first crush.  i guess im not that looney. 

ive been working lots.  blech.  i missed common ground cuz of work.  grr...  well such is life i suppose.   i do have off two days this week which i a nice break.  and im going to my grandma's next week.  thats going to be an appreciated change of scenery.  well thats laura's life right now.  

have a super day. 

sorry guys its been a looong time since i last wrote in here.  its been crazy fun and crazy work here lately.  we went to creation oh a few weeks ago and that was awesome!  we got a much much better campsite than last year.  we did have to wait over five hours in traffic though.  it was really frustrating to be "there" but not really.  mom said it was all worth it b/c we got such a great site, but we missed Relient K and we were too tired to really get into the Switchfoot concert... sigh.  but the rest of week was really oober good.  the concerts were great... toby mac was awesome like always.  michael tait from the dear departed dc talk was there also and during his concert toby mac made a surprise appearance and they sang a fav dc talk song.  it was like seeing dc talk in concert... sorta.  the speakers were really powerful also.  it was just what my fam needed... time away to ourselves.  a totally cool thing happened, though.  one of the last days there mom was talkin to our camping neighbors and she found out that they were from harrisburg and she asked where at and all that fun kind of stuff.  and she found out that their son was going to be in her kindergarten class.  totally awesome. 

i worked for a week.  blech.

then i went to the lake w/ dad and the sibs.  that was so awesome.  dad's been doing a lot of work on our cabin and it looked great.  we relaxed a lot.  we fished and swam and read and slept.  it was an amazing weekend.  it really helped since work seems to pile on stress.  then i came home and hit the ice cream again.  i worked nine hours today.  seems reminicent of last summer...

yesterday was my birthday.  what a special day.  woot woot.  mike took me to breakfast and then i worked and then i went to see charlie and the chocolate factory with britt and rebekah.  it was soo good to see them.  its been hard to coordinate schedules with them.  anywho the movie was really good, funny but creepy.  typical tim burton movie.  johnny depp did an excellent job like always.  im sure lyndsey will be happy.  well im off... maybe ill do more writing later.

so i went to jess's grad party today.  it was so jess.  i think everyone's grad parties reflect their lives and hers was perfect.  towards the end we were all sitting around in a horse shoe shape and just reflecting on what God has been teaching us and on his character... and ive been itching to post this... and i think its sorta appropriate for the day.

the great work of God: rain-- a meditation by john piper

"but as for me, i would seek God, and i would place my cause before God; who does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number.  he gives rain on the earth, and sends water on the fields." job 5: 8-10

if you said to someone: "my God does great and unsearchable things; he does wonders without number," and they responded, "really?  like what?"  would you say, "rain"?

when i read these verses recently i felt like i did when i heard the lyrics to a sonny and cher son in 1969: "i'd live for you.  i'd die for you.  i'd even climb the mountain high for you."  even?  i would die for you.  I would even climb a mountain for you?  the song was good for a joke.  or a good illustration of bad poetry.  not much else.

but job is not joking.  "God doesgreat and unsearchable things, wonders without number.  he gives rain on the earth."  in job's mind rain really is one of the great, unsearchable wonders that God does.  so when i read this a few weeks ago, i resolved not to treat it as meaningless pop musical lyrics.  i decided to have a conversation with myself.

is rain a great and unsearchable wonder wrought by God?  picture yourself as a farmer in the near east, far from any lake or stream.  a few wells keep the family and animals supplied with water.  but if the crops are to grow and the family is to be fed from month to month, water has to come on the fields from another source.  from where?

well, the sky.  the sky?  water will come out of the clear blue sky?  well, not exactly.  water will have to be carried in the sky from the mediterranean sea, over several hundred miles and then be poured out from the sky onto the fields.  carried?  how much does it weigh?  well, if one inch of rain falls on one square mile of farmland during the night, that would be 27,878,400 cubic feet of water, which is 206, 300,160 gallons, which is 1,650,501,280 pounds of water.

that's heavy.  so how does it get up in the sky and stay up there if it's so heavy?  well, it gets up there by evaporation.  really?  that's a nice word.  what's it mean?  it means that the water sort of stops being water for a while so it can go up and not down.  i see.  then how does it get down?  well condensation happens.  what's that?  the water starts becoming water again by gathering around little dust particles between.00001 and .0001 centimeters wide.  that's small.

what about the salt?  salt?  yes, the mediterranean sea is salt water.  that would kill the crops.  what about the salt?  well, the salt has to be taken out.  oh.  so the sky picks up a billion pounds of water from the sea and takes out the salt and then carries it for three hundred miles and then dumps it on the farm?

well it doesn't dump it.  if it dumped a billion pounds of water on the farm, the wheat would be crushed.  so the sky dribbles the billion pounds of water down in little drops.  and they have to be big enough to fall for one mile or so without evaporating, and small enought to keep from crushing the wheat stalks.

how do all these microscopic specks of water that weigh a billion pounds get heavy enough to fall (if that's the way to ask the question)?  well, it's called coalescence.  what's that?  it means the specks of water start bumpting into each other and join up and get bigger.  and when they are big enough, they fall.  just like that?  well, not exactly, because they would just bounce off each other instead of joining up, if there were no electric field present.  what?  never mind.  take my word for it.

i think, instead, i will just take job's word for it.  i still don't see why drops ever get to the ground, because if they start falling as soon as they are heavier than air, they would be too small not to evaporate on the way down, but if they wait to come down, what holds them up till they are big enough not to evaporate?  yes, i am sure there is a name for that too.  but i am satisfied not what, by any name, this is a great and unsearchable thing that God has done.  i think i should be thankful- lots more thankful than i am.

grateful to God for the wonder of rain,
pastor john

guess what?!?  someone got her driver's license...  *smiles*

here is a song that was played during sunday school one sunday... didnt love the music but did love the imagery...

top of the morning --michael kelly blanchard

top of the mroning, top of the trees are shining.
God started His song and nothings gonna stop his dawning.
there, off in the distance, crows singing their chorus early.
doves giving assistance, with the waking hymn.
silently some clouds gather round a sleepy sun,
blushing with the love of early day.
a tiny little crowd in the moment of begun,
waiting for the wind to have its way.

oh, top of the morning, top of the chimneys show it.
now there's a new painting, all the rooftops take a bow.
windows are winking, letting in yellow, hello.
blinds everywhere blinking, by the breakfast bowls.
bathrooms and the kitchens are taken by surprise,
as the yawning troops all stagger in.
coffee cups and shoes and socks and droopy little eyes,
greet the growing day as it begins.

all around, town after town, a choir starts to sing.
many kinds of notes but one accord.
a thousand different "thank you's" as the church bells start to ring.
and their begotten, not forgotten, praise the Lord!

oh, top of the morning, top of the lawn has melted.
feel the warming... i got to smile, i just can't help it.
i want to go dancing... light as a leaf in autumn.
God is romaning, and He stole my heart.
oh, the simple gifts of grace that only cost yourself.
and even-steven swap for who you were.
make teh trade and put all your worries on the shelf.
the blessing is a bargain, that's for sure

 

so i have a boyfriend.  right so how are you supposed to tell this kind of thing to people?  ive had no experiance.  are you supposed to say, "hey mom, by the way, i have a boyfriend"???  well thats basically what i did.  lol.  so some people are easier to tell than others... well shortly after we started dating mom was inviting people to a picnic and the often asked question was: "who will be there?"  mom listed her friends and then haltingly said, "...and laura's... boyfriend."  hehehehe.  she approves of him though... not that i was really scared about that. 

so mike and i have been spending quite a bit of time together... until he left for vacation.  (poor me).  but we've done some movies (star wars--twice--the last samarai, fever pitch...) and he took me to city island for some mini golf... and ive taken him to brusters for ice cream.  although ive been having fun with a certain boy, i have been working... not quite the hours i had last summer but im sure it will get there.  i work four or five days a week making ice cream for brusters.  i enjoy the job but it can be  quite taxing.  a lot of days i get home and take a nap.  but i have been getting stronger... *makes a muscle*  which is a plus side i guess.  although im just as thoroughly addicted to ice cream as when i left for college. 

well thats the newest thing in my life.  i did go to graduation the other night and i got to see a lot of my friends.  and i got to see a lot of friends gradumagate.  woot woot.  congrats to them!  i was surprised to see kids who had dropped out of bbs attend the ceremony.  not what i would call friday night fun (no offense anyone).  woot woot.  im off to bed.  have good lives everybody.

  butterflies...