Blog #2

    Hey friends, I'm back in writing. I apologize for taking so long to publish my second post. Quite honestly, my life has been pretty uneventful lately, so I haven't had much to write about. I'm still enjoying working at the library and finding weird titles, my latest being "The Best Thing About my Ass is That it's right behind me." However, today I had to complete probably the most foul task I have ever been asked to do at the Library. Basically , I had to reach under the book shelves to see if there were any books stuck under there that could be marked as "missing" in the system. This may not sound bad at all. But I was not prepared for just what was under those shelves. There was all kinds of garbage, dust and lots of dead bugs. It was so nasty! But I did find seven books and even an old teen magazine from 2010!! Crazy, I know!!

Anyway, you probably didn't come here to read about dead bugs and decade old magazines. So let's get back to my life. I still love attending bible study every Monday night and seeing all my friends, especially Jojo.  Even though, we have only been friends a year, Jojo is definitely one of my biggest supporters and one of the greatest gifts God has ever blessed me with. I seriously can not imagine what my life would be like today if God hadn't allowed us to connect last year. Here is how it all began.

Before Jojo and I became friends, we were in high school together ten years ago. Jojo always came off to me as a socially confident and outgoing girl who was fairly popular because of her many talents and accomplishments. She was editor of the school newspaper,  a member of the show choir, had the lead role in the Fall Play, was a morning announcement anchor and even got to give a speech at our graduation. In other a words, Jojo was a girl who seemed to be good at almost everything and everyone liked her. I, on the other hand, was the complete opposite. While I had my share of accomplishments in high school, such as being a member of Tri-M music honorary, I was a very shy and introverted individual who was never confident in social situations. I rarely interacted with my classmates in high school and only really had one good friend. So I never thought I could be friends with someone as outgoing and confident as Jojo. However, God had other plans.

A few years later,  I began seeing Jojo at my church.  She was hired as the youth minister and was a member of the church worship band.  I will admit that this was a bit surprising to me. Back in high school, Jojo had such a bright future ahead of her as a writer or filmaker. But instead she ended up becoming the youth minister at a small Lutheran church. However, there was no denying that Jojo was fantastic at her job. She was incredibly strong in her faith in God and was such a positive role model to all the children and teens she was teaching. Everyone at church seemed to really like her and she became one of the most well known members of our congregation. Meanwhile, I was still an introvert who was often uncomfortable in social situations. So Jojo still seemed like an unlikely friend for me. However, little did I know that this would all change in a few years.

To be continued...

My First Entry 2/18/20

                                         
          Well, this is it!! I can't believe I am finally starting my own blog! I have wanted to do this for a while. But just could never find a good time to sit down and get started. However, since we are getting new carpeting in two bedrooms today and I am stuck downstairs with nothing better to do, I thought today would be the perfect day to finally get this party started!!

First let me start out with a little background information about myself.  My name is Colleen and I am a typical young woman who just happens to have high functioning autism. Autism is usually characterized as a disorder that affects social and communication skills. However, I don't like to view my autism as a "disorder" or "disability." Instead I see it as a different kind of wiring. In other words, I feel like I am the same kind of person as everyone else. I am just slow to warm up in social situations and often have difficulty starting and maintaining conversations with others. I am also incredibly sensitive to loud noises and become frightened whenever I hear something strident such as a popping balloon or even the vacuum cleaner. In addition, I also find motor skills such as cutting with a knife and pouring a drink challenging because of the hand-eye coordination required to complete these tasks. However, I do not let my challenges bring me down or get in the way of my dreams because they make me unique and are a big part of who I am. And I wouldn't change that for anything!!

Currently, I work part time as a library page. My tasks include shelving books, pulling books that people request and setting up for programs. My absolute favorite thing about my job is all the weird book titles I come across while shelving and pulling everyday. I keep a list of these titles on my phone and update it weekly. I now have well over 100 titles on that list! My favorites include, "You're a Bad Ass Everyday", "How to Date Men When You Hate Men" and of course, "Crazy Sexy Juice."
Aside from working, I enjoy music of all kinds and love to play the piano and sing. Last Christmas , I even got to play and sing "Breath of Heaven" by Amy Grant in front of my church congregation. It was an incredible experience that I will never forget and according to my friend Jojo, it blessed a lot of people!!

But my most favorite thing to do is attend College and Career Bible Study every Monday night at Jojo's house. I began attending last summer because I needed some new friends and decided that I wanted to grow deeper in my faith in God. And that ended up being one of the best decisions I have ever made! I enjoy walking through the front door every week, seeing all my friends and getting to catch up on life. I also love to make personalized crafts for all of my friends and hand them out every week. My most recent art project was Valentine's day cards decorated with stickers and clip art I found online. (I think my friend Tyler liked that one the most!) but the best part is being able to connect through God's word in the laid back environment of the women's group upstairs and to get to share how God has worked in our lives and has helped us grow into the remarkable individuals we are today!

Last night at Study was women's appreciation night. The guys group that usually meets in the basement, cooked dinner for all of us women and it went way beyond my expectations!! There were two long tables set out with table cloths, plates, silverware, candles and even a menu at each place with choices of meat and sauce for our pasta dishes! There was even wine and champagne! The guys also dressed up and a few of them acted as waiters and took our "orders", while others brought out the food to us! It was a very well planned and fun experience and the guys really went all out to make us women feel appreciated.  My favorite thing I ate was the cinnamon coffee cake (courtesy of my friend Joe).  However, my favorite part of the night was when Jojo's husband Bryce played the guitar and we sang along to two different worship songs. I could really feel God's presence as we were seated in a circle together in the middle of the living room and singing "How He Loves Us All." It really made me feel like I was part of something really special and I felt more connected with the group than I had ever felt in the past seven months I have been attending. The night ended with a final prayer and group hug!

* I am going to try to make it a commitment to update this blog weekly!! Hope you enjoy!

Colleen <3