Here is a list of things I've become aware of in the past two weeks:

1. Babysitting is one of my favorite activities in life.

2. Reading will forever and always be the one way I can truly escape from the world around me...

3. As soon as I turn 21 (in exactly 7 months), I'm going to become a beer connoisseur.

4. Working with people who love and seek Jesus is such a rewarding experience.

5. Dance is my favorite form of art.

6. I desperately want to write a book.

7. Country music is my new guilty pleasure.

8. I am quietly passionate about bicycling.

9. My brain is wired to automatically want to accommodate people, even when they really don't deserve it.

10. I am confident I know who my real friends are and am equally confident that my friends know who I really am.

I'm in a list mood...
Next time, I'm listing all the places I want to go in the world before I die...or get too busy...whichever comes first... ;)

Cheers! :)

The Museum Explorer

So, I work at an anthropology museum with my aunt, who is the director. We are located on the Wycliffe center here in Dallas and basically Wycliffe sends missionaries out into the world to translate Bibles into different languages. Really cool Jesus work being done here.

Well, as I was looking at the museum's e-mail this morning, I came across an e-mail from a lady who came here last year with her two younger sisters. She explained how her sister had always had a passion for Africa and wanted to go there to be a teacher. Well, she says after visiting our museum, her sister's passion was even more evident than before. At the end of her e-mail, she said that her sister is finally getting the opportunity to go to Uganda to teach. She was thanking our museum for being so dedicated to spreading knowledge about different countries.

Ok, HOW COOL?!?!?!?!?! I love working at a place that is about kingdom business, but it's always very awesome to see the fruits of that labor. Now, the museum may have only played a small part in this girl's life journey, but we played a part nonetheless.

What an amazing blessing to be working here. I love it. And I'm so thankful to God everyday for just putting it in my lap when I was least expecting it.

I was feeling pretty crappy this morning but that just made things forty thousand times better. How quickly the Lord can change things around.

Cheers :)

Feels good to be home

My heart is just full to the brim right now for so many reasons.

The two people I wanted in the finale of American Idol are in it! That might sound silly and minor, but I don't think there could have been a two better people chosen. I'm so thrilled.

I'm so proud of my sweet best friend, Karla, for getting to go spend the summer in England loving on people. How cool?! I love it. and her. She's the best person I know.

God's ultimate provision and perfect timing has always been something that I thought I understood or had some sort of grasp on. Well, all that was certainly blown away when I realized how small I was and could never really completely conceive His almighty awesomeness. Over the past month and a half, I've just been blindsided with joy, contentment, fulfillment and peace that I really couldn't even begin to explain it properly.

Here's what I know: when I've been faithful to the Spirit's prompting, things I didn't think would ever happen, happened. whenever I've surrendered my plan, to whatever He would have for me, suddenly my plans changed to things I didn't think I wanted. Whenever I started to expect or think I deserved certain blessings, God took those things away...but replaced them with things I'd never even think to label as blessings.

Basically, my state of mind has been altered.
I'm grateful.
Richly blessed.

Cheers :)

A spoonful of sugar....

Even though I'm really enjoying having my hair curly and what not...I have to admit, I'm really super ready to straighten my hair. Haha.

Also, "A friend loves at all times..." (Prov. 17:17). I've been praying and trying to figure out what the friendships in my life really mean to me for a while now. As I was getting ready to write this post, that verse came to mind. So pretty much...God just answered all my prayers and wonderings in those six words.

Today I spent the majority of my day with one of my most favorite people in the whole world. Her and I haven't gotten to really spend time with each other lately because of our crazy schedules so today was MUCH needed. It was just so refreshing to hang out with someone who I know is just enjoying hanging out...no expectations. We just talked, laughed, shared and confessed things that have been going on with us. Huge life experiences were shared and small things that wouldn't seem to matter to anyone else were expressed. The amount of familiarity, contentedness and love between us was just so awesome. Seriously, coolest thing ever.

I'm just so blessed knowing that God has placed those long time friends in my path. For big life moments and for the days of just hanging out at the mall. It puts the biggest feeling of joy in my heart knowing that the Lord has entrusted me with those friendships and that I should be actively pursuing, praying for and trying to grow those bonds.

Loving on and laughing with friends is the best, tangible way God expresses His unrelenting love for me. This summer is just going to be full of all these specials moments with old friends and doing what I can to make and develop new friends.

Lord, be glorified in the way I handle my friendships.

Cheers :)

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

I've really only got one thing to say in this post....but it's a big deal for me....

There is just something so refreshing feeling completely detached from a situation and knowing that it's just okay to feel that way. What a cool thing. God knows what He's doing. Learning to let go of things and people is a hard thing I learned to do a while ago. It's paying off now. Again, God knows what He's doing and has the most perfect timing. There really isn't anything in my life that isn't in place right now.

What a beautiful life I'm living right now.

Cheers :)

Anthropology and Curls

I love my job. It's so fun getting to work with my aunt. I grew up coming to this museum but now I get to be apart of how it runs and that's pretty stinkin' awesome, if you ask me.

Guess who rode THREE miles on her bike the other day?! That's right, me. It was great. Had my headphones in listening to Matt Chandler's sermon series on Habakkuk and just rode away. So fun.

Also, I've been riding in my car lately without any radio or anything. That's been fun to just think and have some quiet while I'm driving.

My second year of college is officially over. *sniff* By this time next year, I'll have to start applying for graduation. Weeeeeird. BUT waaaaaaay exciting.

Today was the first day I used my new curly hair natural hair stuff...stuff...hahaha..yeah. It's awesome though! Best hair day in a looong time. Excited to see how the rest of this curly month plays out.

A buuuuunch of my friends are finally coming home for the summer and I'm really glad about that. Lots of fun and encouraging times are ahead! Yay summer :)

Check out the new link at the bottom of my page!! It'll take you to Compassion International's website and you can learn all about child poverty and how you can be a part of ending it! I get to sponsor the sweetest little girl from Kenya and it has been THE single most rewarding experience of my life. I pray the day comes soon that I get to go and hug her little neck.

Here's a cool quote to leave with:

"Do something for someone everyday."

Cheers :)

April showers bring May....challenges??

For the month of May, I've set three challenges for myself and I'm pretty excited about the potential outcomes!

Numero uno: I'm not going to straighten my hair for this whole month. I straighten it so much and it's just killing my hair right now. Plus, I'd like my hair to grow longer and straightening it just is not helping that process at all. So, I'm in the market for natural hair products to help strengthen my hair again!

Numéro deux: I am going to workout for at least 30 minutes every day this month NO MATTER WHAT. I have my mind so set on doing this that I really feel like there is nooooo way it won't happen. No need to say any more about that!

Il numero tre: 20 minutes of just sitting in my room (or anywhere), digging into God's word. Shouldn't I be doing this already, you say? Well, yes I should be. But to be honest, I have not been as diligent in my quiet times as I should be. Plenty of times I've fallen into this pattern, but I think what's different about my state of mind now, is that I realize the significance of daily walking with the Lord. At times in my life, I have been good about meeting with God in the quiet times of my days and when I look back on those times, they were some of the most joyful and fulfilling times of my life. I want that again.

I'm pumped about the month of May.

Cheers :)