Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Endings Become Beginnings

Ahh, the smell of summer is in the air. Today is the last day of many of my classes and that, my friends, is the highlight of college life. But with the last days of classes come the first days of exams...

While no one enjoys exams, I am not as horrified by them as I was last semester seeing as last semester I was unexpectedly plagued with mono the week prior to exams. Somehow I still managed a 4.0. If I don't do well on exams this semester I will literally have no excuse.

But as long as I can tackle my exams I will be on my way to a classless/examless summer!! woo hoo!

But please don't be deceived and think that my summer will be away from campus. & don't be deceived that this summer for me would even possibly mean sleeping in. No, no, no. This summer will in fact be one of the busiest in my life. Why? Because I have the incredibly important and equally exhausting job of Orientation Counselor for the University of North Carolina at Charlotte!! yay...

6 A.M. mornings until extremely late nights, Monday through Friday, May through August...

I really am excited about this position, though-yes, maybe I won't be able to tan at the pool and the tan I do get will be one of knee-length shorts and a collard shirt, and yes, maybe while all of my friends can go on spontaneous beach trips and vacations I will have to carefully schedule my get-a-ways during one of the three weeks I do have free. But despite these minor downsides, I get to do a job that I was made for! One in which I get to be around people, utilize my strength of Positivity, and counsel/guide incoming students. It's also a huge leadership role on campus and I am truly honored to have been chosen for this position.

I'm sitting in Earth Science right now.. not my favorite course. As I take notes on my computer, I tend to do others things like Facebook, or Blogging, or writing. I also tend to make To-Do lists and brainstorm different novel ideas. I want to write a novel... eventually.

There is so much I want to do. Like write a novel. Be a disney princess. Get a motorcycle and tattoo license. Own an English Bulldog. Hold a Sloth. Change the World. You know, just the typical things on a teenage girl's agenda. Actually, here's a copy of my current bucket list:


Bucket List:

learn guitar*
record a cd
paint a mural
make someone's wedding cake*
be a street performer
live out of the country*
go to California
see a Broadway musical*
hold a sloth
save a panda
go back to Cuba
go to Africa
draw a comic book*
give blood*
fill out my song book
be a part of a flash mob
be in a book*
publish a personal work
go to Europe
run a mile in under 6 minutes
visit the sloth sanctuary in Costa Rica
write a book
run a marathon/half marathon
complete a Spartan race
learn a third language
give someone a tattoo
own a bulldog (or St. Bernard) & name it Samson
become a licensed tattoo artist
get my motorcycle license
audition at Disney to be a princess
learn sign language
visit the Holy land
be in a band*

(the * are things that have so far been completed)

Oh one thing that I also hope to do, which for some reason I haven't yet put on my bucket list, is become famous... of course. :p



The journey to fame has begun on my humble YouTube Channel which currently has a wopping SEVENTEEN subscribers! I know, i know, i'm pretty much famous already ;). Last night, my youngest brother, Gideon, who is 10, and I covered Little Talks by Of Monsters and Men.
Here's the Link:




Class is ending, and so must this blog post. But though class is ending, this blog post is ending, and even this semester is ending, where there is an end, there is a beginning. As Tao Te Ching says,
Remember that the end inevitably reaps a new beginning and that beginnings can become even more glorious than what was left behind. At least this is something I am trying to cling to with all of the endings I have experienced recently and am experiencing now. 

Endings are beautiful because they are the pathway into what will be.

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28
God even works endings into the perfect and good plan He has for those who love Him.

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

4/23/13

I am very excited to be writing my very first blog post on my blog. MY blog <3. I'm surprised I haven't gotten into blogging until now. I honestly wish I would have created a blog before now-my life was pretty exciting last year. I did journal while I lived in Nicaragua but writing with pen and paper takes a lot longer than writing on my Mac & i learned I'm not very patient and don't do too well with commitment... so as the days went by and the entries continuously took hours, I ended up giving up. Ugh the life of a quitter!

But this, I won't give up on. No, not my blog. Not my writing. This one thing has been a constant in my life. The expression of myself through tangible written words is the only thing that hasn't changed about me over the years. I've moved almost 30 times (I had moved 27 times by the time I was 15.). Most people assume I come from a military background but no, that is not the case. I'm a missionary kid who just happened to move all around the world... and I LOVED it! I love change. I love newness. I love beginnings! 

That is probably why I begin a lot of things... but don't always finish them. I am a skilled starter and a passionate creator but not a very persistent partner. Of course, the important things I finish and the commitments I do make I always remain loyal to, it just takes a while for me to find something I am willing to commit to. Probably because I know how loyal I do become and that loyalty scares me a little bit.

As of now my commitment is to college. I guess. 


I love learning. I value education. I even have a 4.0 (but exam week is just around the corner..). And I am committed to getting a degree (in Communications & Journalism, I want to be a writer/journalist ;D ) but so many times I feel like I am simply here by default &  because I am expected to be. 

I want to travel the world! So by staying in Charlotte (where I was born, where I'm familiar with) I feel like I am not reaching my full potential. I feel suppressed, I feel caged. I feel this urge inside of me that I am made for some place bigger than here. I dream of a tomorrow much more glorious than today. I plan for a future far different than the present. And yet, I don't know where that place is, I don't know when that tomorrow will come, and I don't know what that future will hold. 

My dreams drive me, my passion fuels me. My blind optimism eludes me. But my faith, my faith, frees me. The hope that I find in Christ allows me to be content with where I am today. Because, even though I feel like I am made for somewhere else, I know that there is purpose for my present place. And I am reassured this is not my home anyways. I don't belong here, I belong with Christ. But I have purpose here. I'm not sure of that purpose yet--I might never be sure of it. But if I know one thing, I know that God's plan is much better than mine could ever be.

And so I chose to be content in the waiting. Because 'all good things come to those who wait', right? I've been waiting for 19 years--if this saying is not true....