Lucky...

I know that I get behind on my blog and don't update it enough, and sometimes I don't think I'm so eloquent. I know what I want to say and it's all there in my head, but when I got to write it down it never sounds quite as good...I just needed to get that out there. It doesn't actually have anything to do with what I want to write about...so with that being said and out of the way...

I was just thinking the other day how luck I ended up when I came down here to good ol' Springfield for college. Yes, I was homesick for a good amount of my time Freshmen year, but it didn't really take long for me to make good friends who I could depend on. I knew pretty much right away that we would probably take care of each other for the next four years. My roommate situation wasn't always ideal, but I quickly made friends with the girls across the hall and spent a lot of time with them and I still laugh about some of the things I remember...sorry that was a little cheesy...

Then I also got plugged in right away to a Bible study. My leader was an RA in my building and instantly took us under her wing, and still still to this day calls us her babies and we call her "mama." Allison made us be friends and it was a good thing even though we thought it was dumb at the time. She was always in our business and making sure we were making good decisions and not doing anything too crazy. She always asked us about her lives and I always knew she genuinely cared about us and really wanted to know what was going on. To this day I still see her on a regular basis and she still asks me all about my life.

That Bible study was where I also met the rest of my best friends down here at school. They were strong, Christian girls and we were all going through the same stuff and created an awesome support system for each other, that included sleeping on each other's dorm room floors when things weren't so great. That still is intact 4 years later. I don't think I would have made it through that freshmen year without Mama Allison, Jody, Dana, or Gena. They are how I met the rest of my friends and what set the stage for the rest of my college career.

I just feel really blessed because I know that without any of them I would've ended up miserable and maybe made bad decisions about what I wanted to do with my time while here. God's smart like that and it is obvious to me He was looking out for me the whole time, not that I didn't know that before, but it was sometimes we need Him to just make it painstakingly obvious and He did.

Wishing...

So for the last week or so we have been talking about inner city schools in my education class. We are reading a book called Ordinary Resurrections by Jonathan Kozol and in it he talks about the time he spent with the students in an elementary school in the South Bronx. It is not full of statistics or lecturing about how the public school system in disrepair, which it is and needs help desperately, but it is full og the precious encouters he has with the students and their innocent insight into life and the things they deal with in their everyday lives. I love it and it is certainly not a book I will be selling back to the bookstore.

The main thing, though, is it takes me back to this summer. The particular kids I got to spend time with were not from the Bronx, but from Washington Heights in upper Manhattan, and contrary to popular belief Manhattan is not a place entirely made up of wealth and tourist attractions. I also see the kids at one of our ministries called Father's Heart, where we served dinner to them and their families and hung out with the kids. Sitting in class is hard because I want to be anywhere but in that classroom talking about these kids...I want to be out there with them.

I don't know where it started or why, but it is a fire that started and I can't extinguish...sorry for the cheesy metaphor, but I don't what God is going to do with this passion but I know He has a plan.

Familia...

This is going to seem random and out of nowhere, but I really love my family and the way we do things and I wouldn't change any of it for anything : )

Roomies...

This past weekend my roommates and I took "family" pictures so we'd have something to hang on our wall...here are some of my favorites... Us and our dogs...Jazz and Lily...

We can't take a normal looking picture every time...The neighbor boys come hang out with us a lot and wanted to be in the pictures too..

Probably couldn't find three better roommates if I tried...

and just in case we ever form a band... : )

Ugh...

Ok, I'll just say it...I'm bored...I'm tired of school...I don't feel motivated...I don't have a clue what I'm supposed to be doing...or if what I am doing is what I should be doing...I'm feeling restless...and I don't know what to do about any of it...

Tasia...

I'm going to miss that silly, old dog...

Ridiculous...

It's funny how one minute I can feel grown up and kind of, half way, sort of an adult...

And then the next second I feel like I'm in high school again and I'm reminded that I'm still young and have a lot to learn...