Count down to Summer vacation

with only 5 more weeks of school left I have been plagued with the end of the school year I don't want to do anything plague. The more I think about school and all the work that it entails the more I just want to throw the flag up and quit!! But I do have the constant reminder that summer is just a few weeks away!

some things I look forward to doing this summer

1. reading books

this is probably one of my personal favorite ways to spend the summer. Ill admit it I am a nerd I love to read. So this is one think I am looking most forward to

2. Spending the summer with Jenna and Jake:

I have know these kidos for going on 5 years now and Ill have to admit it there like little niece or nephew. I spoil them like it and I look forward to spending a few week during the summer with them swimming, playing, seeing free movies, and watching them at summer camps.

3. Vacations

this summer I am going to get to go on the best vacation ever like I talked about in my last blog to China.

4. just being lazy

doing nothing all day. staying in my pjs all day and just doing what I want to do what ever that is.

5. spending time with my friends

I am away from all my good friends all year so the summer time is our time to catch up. Hang out do all the silly girl stuff that we do!

China on my Mind

I recently watched Eat Pray Love again. I just love this movie it just make me want to get out into the world, Discover new things, meet people from all walks of life. Well as I sat and watched this movie i started thinking about the months to come and all the extremely exciting things that I am going to get to do.

My freshman year of high school I meet a girl named Wei from China. We became instant friends. I couldn't help but gravitate towards her and love her. She is such a sweet girl and loves everyone she meets. She reminds me what love should be like.To love everyone and to love unconditional. So we got to spend one year in America becoming friends learning about each other and the different cultures we live. After a fun year in America Wei had to return home and finish her schooling. But we still continued to keep in touch through email the past 4 or so years. Well this past August Wei started school at University of Michigan and we were finally able to communicate through the phone I think I may have shed a few tears when she first called me I was so excited to actually hear her voice. This past Christmas she came back to Hiram and spent the holiday with her host family from high school I was able to finally after 5 years see Wei and spend the day catching up with her!! It was such a fun day and really kinda of surreal day I never actually thought I would get to see her again but I did.

This summer I am getting the most incredible opportunity to go and spend time with Wei and her family in China. I will get to see a place that I have only ever dreamed of visiting and I get to do it with one of my most dear friends. I am so excited to get to see her home and meet her family and it will all be happening in just a few short months!

Spring Break 2011

SO this past week I got the opportunity to go to Orlando Fl with my school to serve a church. It was such a wonderful time for me. Since being in Charleston I have hardly meet any new people and that was a goal of mine. I wanted to branch out from my shy self and get to actually know some new people. Well when I heard about this trip i automatically knew i was going go. I would be the perfect opportunity to meet people and serve our Lord.

I'm not gonna lie I was a tad nervous because I didn't know anyone but the nerves quickly went away. there were 8 students that went on the trip so that made for an even better setting to get to know people. I quickly got to know the girls in my room and I quickly grew to love them they were so fun!!

At the church we did a sort of spring cleaning for the church we cleaned out toys and washed walls, painted, and rearranged rooms. everything turned out so good compared to the blahh brown walls to the bright and fun colors on the walls now.

on our last day there we got to go to Universal studios and Islands of Adventures. What a fun day I finally got to see Harry Potter land it was pretty awesome!! and i got to spend the day with two fun girls. Literally all we did was eat (all you can eat bracelet), Laugh (a whole lot!), and ride some rides.

This trip, although totally different than the other mission trip I went on a few years ago, was such a successful Trip. We could all see how grateful that the church was to have us do something for them!! I will always Cherish the past week and the awesome memories i was able to make!

So the past few weeks I just been completely in love with Psalms 139. It just such a wonderful reminder that God knows everything about me even the stuff I don't know about myself! so I challenge you to read this Psalm sometime this weekend!!

Here are some pictures from the past few weeks here in Charleston

WinterJam such a fun night with tones of awesome bands

Hockey Game!!

this picture is completely awful of me but the

epicness of the kids behind us was awesome

cant have a hockey game without a fight

Francesca Battistelli - Free To Be Me

Last night Kelsey and I went to WinterJam down here in Charleston. It was such an awesome concert/worship service!! all 10 of the bands were incredible but the thing I looked most forward to was hearing Francesca Battistelli I have been a huge fan of hers since i first heard her songs on the radio.

She sang the song Free to Be Me last and as I stood and listened to this so it occurred to me that this song is my life right now!!

"At twenty years of age

I'm still looking for a dream
A war is already waged for my destiny
But You've already won the battle
And You've got great plans for me
Though I can't always see, 'cause..."

First of all I am 20 years old right now and like the song say I am still looking for my dream. Its so weird to think that I am 20 years old. For that dream part I find my biggest worry comes from what am I going to do with this degree or is this even what I want or what God wants me to be doing? I find myself seriously stressing about this at night. I have to constantly remind myself that God already has his plan for my life that is so perfect that I could never come up with it! The second half of those lyrics talk about my battle already being won for me. I may not know what tomorrow brings for myself but what I do know is that God will be there right beside me no matter what!!

"I got a couple dents in my fender
Got a couple rips in my jeans
Try to fit the pieces together
But perfection is my enemy
And on my own I'm so clumsy
But on Your shoulders I can see
I'm free to be me"

I find myself trying to fix all my problems on my own sometime. I get frustrated easily when things don't go exactly as I plan them to or something falls apart. I get so busy with this world that I forget that I have perfect Savior who will help me put my life back together.

"When I was just a girl

I thought I had it figured out
See my life will turn out right
And I'll make it here somehow
But things don't always come that easy
And sometimes I would doubt, 'cause..."

I can remember when I was a little girl I would imagine my future. I would see myself with lots of babies and married to some cute man that had a airplane. I'm not gona lie i still would like to find someone with a plane but really that's not to big of a deal. But my life has been far from fairy tales and airplanes, I have faced some huge challenges in my life some causing me to doubt and other drawling me near to my savior. I'm not going to lie and say I look back on those times and see how they have strengthened me but what I do know is that God never left me during those times. He brought amazing people into my life that helped me no matter what!!

"Sometimes I believe
That I can do anything
Yet other times I think
I've got nothing good to bring

But You look at my heart and you tell me
That I've got all You seek

And it's easy to believe, even though.."

Gosh this statement says it all. I have days even weeks where I know where I'm going and I am so confident in what I'm doing. But then i have those days that i am so discouraged and out of it that I just want to crawl into a hole and sleep. But God is greater than all the good and bad days I have. He knows my life and he knows where I'm going and will take care of me the whole way through life!

Life as of now..

So lately i have felt a call on my heart to serve people. Now this is something i have always wanted to do but now it seems to something more than just serving people here and there. I fell like God is leading me to serve fell time. I don't know how, where, when or why yet but this is something I have really been called to do lately. Now with that being said where do I go from here? This is something I have really been struggling with lately. I have been so discouraged and burnout with school lately all I can think about is time off. So for next semester something that has really been catching my eye is a volunteer/study abroad program in South or Central America. I would be able to serve the people in the community's I travel to while also undergoing Spanish training with a tutor for the semester and get college credit. Now this is new idea I still need to really pray and seek guidance from the Lord as to what to do. I am also meeting with the study abroad professor tomorrow to discuss my options for the future.
I just ask that you all pray for me that I am able to discern what God wants me to do and that I will be willing to go!!
Love you all!!