One of the highlights of July was a week-long visit from my brother Jordan. He graduated from High School in June, and is planning to attend BYU in the fall. He wanted to get a feel for Provo and I was the lucky one who got to show him the ropes before he moves down here. I had hoped to be around for his first semester at least, but sadly we will just barely miss him as we leave for Illinois the week before he arrives. His Birthday is in November and he has plans to leave for a mission shortly thereafter, so it will be a long time before I see him again. Thus, I was so excited to have him all to myself for a whole week. I don't feel like I know Jordan as much as I would like to, so it was super fun to spend time getting to know him a little better beyond the goofy little boy I remember him as. Jordan is the real deal: He is super smart (Valedictorian of his class, awared MANY scholarships), ridiculously good looking and tan, an accomplished athlete, very dedicated and focused, has a strong testimony of the Savior, is a dang good artist, knows how to have a good time, is pretty darn funny, AND has a pretty cool family if I do say so myself. I dare say he is going to be quite the catch for the girls in Provo.
We didn't have a lot of room for him to sleep, but we found a small space in the storage room where we could just barely fit a twin matress. Luckily, he didn't seem to mind at all and even decided that he likes small enclosed sleeping spaces. We decided that he will adjust to dorm life just fine. My nephews sure liked having him here and when we weren't sitting on the couch playing Wii, or catching grass hoppers in the back yard with Heber, we were off packing our days full of activities until we were exhausted.
We went mountain biking at sundance, played at 7 peaks water park, went to the dollar theater, hit some golf balls at the driving range, spent some time at a family Barbeque, ate at the best food joints in Provo (Zupas, Cafe Rio, Pizza Pie Cafe, Spoon it up), took the tour through timp caves, went to a BYU soccer game, went flying with Isaac (Jordan was a natural), watched a few redbox movies, went to another family party, registered for classes, and of course toured BYU, talked about BYU, and prepared for life at BYU. Jordan hopes to get his undergrad in Mechanical Engineering, then get a masters in Biomechanical engineering (or at least that is the plan now, things change). So, it was fun to have Isaac come meet us on campus one day and show Jordan all of the engineering buildings, help him to meet some professors and give him tips about studying and doing well in classes etc. Naturally, we also talked about girls and dating and had a good time giving him hints and tips etc, hopefully he wasn't too overwhelmed.
Showing Jordan around campus has really caused me to reflect upon my BYU and college experience. I had a wonderful BYU experience, however, there are so many things that I wish that I would have done better while in school. Some of these include: attend devotionals more faithfully, try and focus more on learning and less on "getting the grade", and spend more time looking outside myself to serve others. I just read this really, really wonderful talk called "What I Now Believe About a BYU education" by A. Legrand Richards. It is a wonderful talk which gives such a good perspective of the purpose of education that I believe anyone in school or preparing to attend school (especially byu) should be required to read it. I have a copy if anyone is intersted (JORDAN? hint, hint..).
Here are a few experts from the talk
"sometimes education is viewed as a game, not because learning is unimportant, but because we trivialize the manner in which it is obtained or the reason for which we seek it...[in my education] there were specific rules for winning or loosing, tricky moves you could make to compete more effectively for thos allusive grades...I wish I had placed my education in it's eternal context, which is anything but a game."
"The purpose of education, then, is to assist us as we discover, prepare for, and freely fulfil our divinely ordained missions... don't limit your concept of mission to the notion of a career....fulfilling our life's mission is not a part time project. It can't be something we do only on weekends, or inbetween classes, outside of other assignments or in our spare time. It must dominate our lives. It is far broader than the majors we select; and the resources at BYU to help you prepare for and fulfill your earthly mission are substantial"
And it goes on like that--a wonderful talk to help keep life in an eternal perspective. Something that we all need, right? Oh, and on the topic of BYU, for anyone who did attend, or is currently attending BYU, you need to check out this blog. So great. I kind of stumbled upon it and spent over an hour reading through all the entries. It is done by 2 BYU english majors who basically label all the different types of people at BYU--it is hilarious and so true. I love it. The posts about the types of people who study on which floor of the library are the best.
http://zetuslupetus.blogspot.com/
Your welcome.
We didn't have a lot of room for him to sleep, but we found a small space in the storage room where we could just barely fit a twin matress. Luckily, he didn't seem to mind at all and even decided that he likes small enclosed sleeping spaces. We decided that he will adjust to dorm life just fine. My nephews sure liked having him here and when we weren't sitting on the couch playing Wii, or catching grass hoppers in the back yard with Heber, we were off packing our days full of activities until we were exhausted.
We went mountain biking at sundance, played at 7 peaks water park, went to the dollar theater, hit some golf balls at the driving range, spent some time at a family Barbeque, ate at the best food joints in Provo (Zupas, Cafe Rio, Pizza Pie Cafe, Spoon it up), took the tour through timp caves, went to a BYU soccer game, went flying with Isaac (Jordan was a natural), watched a few redbox movies, went to another family party, registered for classes, and of course toured BYU, talked about BYU, and prepared for life at BYU. Jordan hopes to get his undergrad in Mechanical Engineering, then get a masters in Biomechanical engineering (or at least that is the plan now, things change). So, it was fun to have Isaac come meet us on campus one day and show Jordan all of the engineering buildings, help him to meet some professors and give him tips about studying and doing well in classes etc. Naturally, we also talked about girls and dating and had a good time giving him hints and tips etc, hopefully he wasn't too overwhelmed.
Showing Jordan around campus has really caused me to reflect upon my BYU and college experience. I had a wonderful BYU experience, however, there are so many things that I wish that I would have done better while in school. Some of these include: attend devotionals more faithfully, try and focus more on learning and less on "getting the grade", and spend more time looking outside myself to serve others. I just read this really, really wonderful talk called "What I Now Believe About a BYU education" by A. Legrand Richards. It is a wonderful talk which gives such a good perspective of the purpose of education that I believe anyone in school or preparing to attend school (especially byu) should be required to read it. I have a copy if anyone is intersted (JORDAN? hint, hint..).
Here are a few experts from the talk
"sometimes education is viewed as a game, not because learning is unimportant, but because we trivialize the manner in which it is obtained or the reason for which we seek it...[in my education] there were specific rules for winning or loosing, tricky moves you could make to compete more effectively for thos allusive grades...I wish I had placed my education in it's eternal context, which is anything but a game."
"The purpose of education, then, is to assist us as we discover, prepare for, and freely fulfil our divinely ordained missions... don't limit your concept of mission to the notion of a career....fulfilling our life's mission is not a part time project. It can't be something we do only on weekends, or inbetween classes, outside of other assignments or in our spare time. It must dominate our lives. It is far broader than the majors we select; and the resources at BYU to help you prepare for and fulfill your earthly mission are substantial"
And it goes on like that--a wonderful talk to help keep life in an eternal perspective. Something that we all need, right? Oh, and on the topic of BYU, for anyone who did attend, or is currently attending BYU, you need to check out this blog. So great. I kind of stumbled upon it and spent over an hour reading through all the entries. It is done by 2 BYU english majors who basically label all the different types of people at BYU--it is hilarious and so true. I love it. The posts about the types of people who study on which floor of the library are the best.
http://zetuslupetus.blogspot.com/
Your welcome.
1 comments:
Dad and I have to speak at a fireside on the subject of education next Sunday. Thanks for the insight and the information. You got me thinking.
oh, and that was laying it on pretty thick as you described your brother--I read it to him and got a smile.
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