Day 24: Crunch Time

Today when we got up we expected to have two days to finish up our final presentations. At 8:30am we were told we have 24 hours to be completely finished…with everything. Crap. So we have been working straight from then until now. That’s fifteen hours straight; with meal and bathroom breaks thrown in the mix. I still have at least a couple hours of work left before I can even think about going to bed. Everything has come together quite nicely. It has been such a long day but so much has gotten done. Everyone has been working hard all day and it’s cool to watch everything come together. Everyone was working on a small part and seeing it come together to the whole is a lot of fun. Today I edited all of the images for around the reception area and I also have done quite a bit of work on the App. All of the images are done; the app is still in the works. I designed some of the app and I’ve been working on making it interactive for most of the day. Jay, one of my housemates this upcoming year, is working on tweaking the pages and once he’s done he’ll give them to me so I can put them all together and make everything work. The interactivity isn’t super impressive. I’m just linking all the pages and making sure all of the buttons in the app work and do what they’re supposed to do.

One thing that has been so cool is the youth ministry students. There were a couple of them around today and they were nothing but encouraging. Every time we saw them today they would ask if we needed anything. They kept coming into our workspace and asking if we wanted tea or coffee. They even brought us some candy tonight. I am so glad that they came on this trip. I’ve been so blessed by them and have loved getting to know them, especially the guys. The second night we were here it felt like I’d known them for a lifetime. They are encouraging in everything they do. Even just listening to their stories of what God has been doing in them while they’ve been here has been a blessing.

Today was so mentally draining and stressful. There were several points where I was on the brink of going crazy. It was five-minute breaks of throwing a disc around that kept me sane. When I was younger my mom had me and my siblings memorize scripture. The passage that has stuck with me the most comes from James, the first chapter of James to be exact. “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” This passage has stuck with me through my entire life. Sometimes I really don’t like James. It’s a very good passage to think about though. I could use some extra patience for long days like today. It’s funny how God works. Right at the point when I was most frustrated that passage popped into my head. I just repeated, “count it all joy” over and over in my head. He definitely gave me an attitude check. Today has been pretty exciting. I’ve been able to see what an actual design firm is like the day before a proposal, pretty freaking crazy.

Well, I’m going to see if there’s anything else I can be getting done. I’ve taken enough of a break to write this. I think I’ll make myself some tea. I hope you all have a wonderful day and that God teaches you something today; cause it’s pretty cool when He does.