March was the last time that I posted something. That's about as long as it has been since I've been home. Shall we play a little catch up? Let's just imagine that we're seated at a favorite cozy coffee shop with some nice warm (or iced) caramel macchiatos discussing the past few months we've been apart, just as if we've never left.
.Since my last post, I have been on a camping trip with our youth to Castle Bluff. God brought unity to our kids in a way that we haven't seen yet in the three years I've been there. What an answer to prayer!
.I put together a girls retreat with the amazing Megan Gover as our speaker! (If you're ever in need for a great speaker, you should definitely give her a call!).
.Since I last posted something, I have had the privilege of witnessing God's faithfulness as living situations for next year worked out. Despite the cloud of confusion I had, God was certainly faithful and worked everything out with roommates for the better. And I can't tell you how excited I am!
.I have completed my third year of college, and am still no closer to deciding what the day after May 12, 2011 (Graduation Day) holds. However, I feel that I am at a sweet spot with that decision. I have many decisions to make in the coming months regarding my future, but I have the utmost peace that God holds my future and I am not worried. God has a wonderful way of working things out and I intend to stand back and be utterly amazed.
.I have gotten a tumblr. I'm not sure exactly how it is different from this blog, but new things are fun to me, so I'll explore this for a bit.
.I have turned 21. This was a big one. Actually the day itself wasn't that big. My closest school friends took me out to lunch and then some of our high school girls took me to eat Chinese food for dinner. It was a lovely, uneventful day. But the new age is big. I mean really it's just a number and I get closer to 22 everyday, but the finality of turning 21 hit.
.I attended the Passion 2011 conference! Probably the highlight of my year! God moved in so many ways that if I told you, we'd be here all day. And since I'm meeting a friend for Starbucks later I probably shouldn't. (: God revealed Himself in mighty ways throughout the weekend, and opened my eyes to a love that is so real. It was a beautiful weekend.
.I survived taking 2 Spanish classes! It almost killed me, but somehow I survived and came out hopefully a better Spanish speaker and actually did learn something.
.Upon completion of normal classes, I jumped right in to life science during May. I learned a lot, which was surprising to me. I'm not much of a science person and I thought this class was going to be torture. I was sweetly surprised by being interested in the topics. It was neat to learn about all of the little processes that go on in life. God truly is amazing. I mean the things that go into just a simple act of breathing takes my breath away. If I went complete nerd mode on you, I'd go on and on about how the plant has to go through all this photosynthesis to put the oxygen in the air and and then we breath it in and our cells are so intricate and take....See? I've lost you already. I'll spare you the DNA talk (;
.The best part of Maymester was getting to live with Becca. We've been friends since freshman year and were suitemates last year. She is working at school all summer and so we decided to take the opportunity to get to be roommates. (We both like our roommates too much to leave them or we might have been roommates during school.) (: Becca's boyfriend, Adam, and Trevor were living in an apartment, so we would go over there in the evenings and cook dinner. It was a blast! Let me paint you the picture: We get off from work or school, head to the guys' place, make homemade dinners that were composed of all of our mom's favorite dishes (and some googled meals), have "family time," conversations of things we've learned that day or deeper stuff from God's word or sermons listened to, I'd study cells and plant growth while the boys would play video games or watch Lie to Me. It's our new favorite show. You know that movie with Katherine Heigl, Life As We Know It? Well, the relationship of those four friends sums up the four of us quite well. Not that I hate Trevor, quite the opposite, nor are Becca and Adam dying or married yet, but the way we all relate is pretty close to that movie. So needless to say, it was a blast! We went out to Trevor's grandparent's lake house for Memorial Day. What a perfect day. The lake was perfect for water skiing and jet skis! We ate some great food, had great company, watched some goofy ducks, and enjoyed our friendship. I will dearly miss the conversations and laughter that come from our time together while I'm away this summer.
.I completed life science, thankfully, and ended my time in Arkadelphia with dinner at the Beans' house for some genuine family time and later went star-gazing with Trevor. We talked and laughed for a good while under the most gorgeous sky of twinkling stars I've ever seen. Talk about a perfect ending. I could go into details, but let's just leave it with my high recommendation that every girl should have her first kiss under the stars. It was perfect.
.It was hard to leave the students in Arkadelphia, and my friends, but I'll be back soon enough. Now I'm home and resting and enjoying my family before I'm off to the next adventure.
.Brandon and I leave this coming Sunday for Chile. We will be living with some missionaries for a little over a month. I'm not sure what all we will be doing, but I am so excited to be going. This is an awesome opportunity, and the people we'll be living with are amazing! I would love your prayers as we go and share Jesus with the people of Chile. I plan and hope to keep you posted (way more posted than the past few months) on our adventures and how God is working.
It's sure to be a grand tale!
How is your life? What has God been doing?
That coffee just hit the spot and our talk was lovely. I'm glad we got to share with one another.
Until another day, ¡Chau!
