Beautiful Days and Bubble Gum

Beautiful Days. (Sept. 27)

I have been here for, well, about eight weeks now, and I haven't posted any pictures of the school. So, for all who want to see Highland Academy, here you go! We had an amazingly beautiful day a few weeks ago--the temperature was absolutely perfect. The colors were perfect. There was no way I was going to let this day pass without being documented!

(above from left to right) The gym, the boy's dorm, the ad building with the gazebo and flag pole in front, and the girl's dorm.

(above) A closer look at the gym and the girl's dorm. The cafe is on the first floor of the girl's dorm.

(above) The music building/chapel and the field.

Bubble Gum. (Sept. 29)

Alright, so now you know where I am spending my days on duty. What about my days off duty? Well, most of the time, I stick around campus. Other times, Shelly, Nathan and I work on our list. We have a list, kinda like a bucket list, of random things that we want to accomplish before the end of the year. So this particular Tuesday, the three of us headed out to see if we could work on our list at all...

Now, taking an hour to chew the biggest gumballs I've ever seen in my life while standing in a parking lot was not a part of our list but we still had a lot of fun!!

Hello, My Name is Dean Hollie

I sit down at the computer in the deans office with a good mind to begin this overdue blog post but as I begin to formulate my thoughts to write them down, I am interrupted by the pounding of feet coming up the stairs. I turn around in time to see two girls scramble into the office while screeching something to the affect that they need the TV room open immediately. All I heard was

"OMG!!!! AARON CARTER AARON CARTER-AARON-CARTERAARONCARTERAARONCARTERAARONCARTERDANCINGWITHTHESTARSNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

(the above phrase is spoken as one word and at full lung capacity)

So after unlocking the TV room, I sit back down to begin my writings and the dean's cell phone rings. At this point all I can do is laugh because, well--how should I put this... I have had a lot of alone time in the office today, just me and my book but when I finally decide to do something constructive... oh, hold on, I need to shut the TV room door because I can't focus with the ARRONCARTER-fan-club-cheering-at-high-loud-pitches-like-he-can-really-hear-you noise coming from that room.

My name is Dean Hollie. Welcome to my life.

Now, as sarcastic as this might sound, don't get the wrong idea--I love it here! I am at Highland Academy in Portland, Tennessee for those who don't know. There are 22 girls ranging from age 14-18 in this dorm. We are just now starting our 6th week of school (approximately). Time is flying by and yet it feels like I've been here forever.

My job includes giving dorm worship, listening to the latest relationship drama on campus, handing out tissues, confiscating cell phones and ipods, doing room check, sit in on faculty lunches and coming up with new ideas to fill my time while on duty as well as off. With some of the girls, I have to work on having them call me "dean" and I smile to myself when the guys say "Miss Hollie". I'm still not used to that.

On my days off, Nathan (the task force guy's dean) and I have had some fun torturing the cafe workers, "stealing" apple juice, and being invited last second to a show at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.

Well, I'm off to put together tonight's worship. And from the sound of things, Arron Carter is about to dance...

Life's Always an Adventure

Here I sit, at my cousin's house in Denver, CO, remembering that only 13 months ago, we were here at this same house for a wedding. That got me thinking... 13 months ago, would I have ever imagined that I would be headed out to be a task force dean at Highland Academy? Not at all. Nor would I have even begin to imagine that I would work at Pine Springs Ranch or that Natalie would be married.

Wow.

Life is an adventure.

I have definitely been reminded about that today....

I don't even want to know how many hours of my life have been spent in a car in the last week. Basically, camp ended Sunday night; Monday a group of us wen to the beach; Tuesday was Disneyland and then Wednesday, Greg and I drove home--home at 6 pm and leaving again the following morning at 11 am. I didn't even get 24 hours at home before Dad and I left for Tennessee.

Well, the car is loaded down but somehow I fit everything in. We made it to Ely, NV the first night. Unfortunately, we noticed that the back right tire had a nail in it. No big deal. This morning we got up, checked out of our hotel room, ate a quick breakfast at a roadside diner, and were at the tire shop right when it opened.

On the road again.

Around 11:30 we stopped for gas and my dad noticed that the back left tire was a little bit low and after filling it up, driving another 100 miles on it and having it loose more air, decided that we had to get this tire fixed as well. We pulled into a small, run down station and an older man in a dirty, blue jump suit and a cigarette hanging from his mouth came out to help us. Sure enough, there was a gigantic screw in the tire. After looking at the back tires, Gary (the guy who was helping us) said that we wouldn't be able to make it to Tennessee with the tires that we had... so new tires? For the back at least, yea.

Why did this all happen? I mean, seriously, how can you get 2 nails in 2 different tires within 24 hours of each other and it just happened to be when I'm trying to get across the country. Well, for one thing, we found out that the back tires were really in a lot worse shape then we thought. Plus, we were able to give this small service station in the middle of nowhere so business. Maybe God had something in mind after all--at least, that's what I'm going to believe.

There's only one last thing... On top of all of this, the windshield-wiper blades decided to disintegrate right in the middle of a rain storm coming over the Rockies. We haven't gotten that fixed yet. I don't think there's a reason for that one either...