Whoah

How is it already the end of May?! That's pretty much what my life has been like lately.

"Whoah! How is already _______?!" Fill in the blank with a date, day of the week, time of day. It all sums it up perfectly.

These last few months have absolutely flown by which is why I haven't blogged since February. It's almost to the point where I don't even know what to blog about because SO much has happened!

So here it goes. Since the last time I blogged:

• I started a new job. At the time of my last post, I was stressing out about finding a job. I was anxious, worried, and insecure about not having a job. However, God provided (surprise surprise!) and I'm now the Community Coordinator at NewLife Alliance. This is a non profit that is based out of Austin but has sites all across the state. I work at an apartment complex that has low income families of all ages and I'm in charge of all of the social services. This includes the after school program, summer program, educational classes, monthly birthday parties, and just about anything that my residents need! I'm the only employee at the Waco site so I stay super busy but I really love it! There are days where I get in my car to drive home and just cry because the kids were so crazy and I'm so overwhelmed. But there are also days where my heart is so full because the kids bring me so much joy. Due to the demographics of the apartment complex, I have a lot of kids that have experienced things that I couldn't even imagine. They have parents in jail, open CPS cases, next to no money. But you know what? They're still kids that need love. I get to be the person that they see first thing after school. I get to be the one to give a hug when they get off the bus crying. I get to be the person that hangs out with them 3 hours every single day. Sometimes between the tantrums and tears, I forget how lucky I am to know my kiddos. 

• I finished my first semester at Truett!  This first semester was sooooo much fun for me. Even when I thought my head was going to literally explode from Christian Theology, I still thoroughly enjoyed my classes. I find it so cool that every single day, I would leave classes wanting to dig deeper and know more about what was discussed in class. I wanted to talk to people about what I was learning. I wanted to read more Scripture and look at more commentaries about what I was learning in class. I also met a lot of awesome people in my classes. One of my favorite things about seminary is that I'm meeting such a broad range of people. In my undergrad, I was around people my age that had very similar lives as I did. However, my classes at Truett are filled with people of different ages, backgrounds, spiritual journeys, and career goals. This adds sooooo much to classes. It brings about different perspectives and different views of scripture which makes it all so much more interesting. I'm so excited for the rest of my time at Truett!

• I went to Washington, DC for the first time! It feels weird to include this on here because it seems like so long ago. During Spring Break, me, my sister, and my brother in law all went to DC for my graduation present from my parents. One day in January (or somewhere around there), my sister texted me and said that they were having a sale on airline tickets to DC. We randomly decided to go because lets be real, when is airfare ever cheap?? Since most of the stuff in DC is free and we could stay with my sister's sister in law (thanks Emily!!), the trip ended up being pretty cheap! We saw just about everything there was to see in 3 days and by the end of the trip, I was pretty sure I wasn't going to be able to walk anymore. Seriously, my feet and legs have NEVER hurt as bad as they did on that trip. But it was so worth it!! I loved getting to see all the monuments, the museums, the White House, and just being in the city. I'm such a small town girl so experiencing a "big city" was completely new to me. I started off being completely incompetent about the metro to becoming a professional metro rider. I also loved getting to spend some quality time with Courtney and Justin. I'm so lucky to have a sister who is my best friend and a brother in law that puts up with us and actually likes hanging out with us! 

 Those were the three main things that took up my time this semester. For the majority of the semester, I was gone all day and would get home around 7, work on homework, then go to sleep. Despite being incredibly busy, stressed, and overwhelmed with things, I absolutely LOVED it. I got incredibly close two of my friends in Waco and I really don't know how I could have survived the semester without them. I learned things about myself including some of my strengths but also some of my weaknesses. I learned that it's okay not to have everything under control at all times. I learned that I can survive completely independent from my parents (due to the fact that I had really awesome parents to be dependent on for the first 22 years of my life). I learned that God can take our flaws and use them to connect us with other people for His glory. I learned that without Christ at the center of things, they fail regardless of how much you want to accomplish things on your own. Most importantly, I learned that God is faithful and present in every single aspect of my life. 

As for now, I'm in summer mode! This means lots of sunshine (if it ever stops raining and storming), summer camp, wedding planning (not mine, for the record!), reading books that aren't for class, and hopefully lots of sleeping!  

Lastly, please keep all of the flood victims in your prayers. I can't even begin to imagine what they're going through. Hearing the stories is absolutely heartbreaking.