Ready? "No." Set? "No." OH..Well Here We Go Anyway!

First day of class at Memphis! Oh my word, I love it so far! My first class is Intro to Theatre and I adore my professor! He was talking about what to expect this upcoming semester and I am so pumped about what I am going to learn in this class. My second class is Cultural Anthropology which I am also excited about. I have about 15 minutes between those two classes to get down three streets, around the corner, across another street and up two flights of stairs in 10 minutes - carrying a 6 pound backpack. But I LOVE IT! One of the highlights of today was: L-U-N-C-H! I have about a 1 1/2  hour break between my second and last class so that's wonderful. I went to the Tiger Den and wasn't surprised to find it swamped! Looking around to find a familiar face, and seeing none, I got in line for my Subway. I'm not uncomfortable about going up to a new group or sitting by myself at lunch so I was going to get my food and find somewhere to sit. Then my best friend's sister comes up behind me and hugs me. Ah! Someone I know. Finally. So I sat with Gracie and one of her friends. Then my friend Jonathan and Jake came and sat with me for about the entire lunch hour haha. After lunch, I have Psychology for about 2 hours, so I walked over to the psyc building. This class seems fun and I can't wait to get started on the material!

After class, there was a ceremony for the freshmen in one of the theaters so I met up with my friends Jacob, Jonathan and Joel (whoa three "J's") and we listened to the Memphis Tiger's coach Pastner speak, we got free shirts, food and then we took a Class of 2014 picture. WHEW. Long day but I had soo much fun. I hardly have any homework, and from looking at the syllabus, it's gonna stay that way for at least these 3 classes! :) Tomorrow I have 2 classes so hopefully the homework will all even out into a comfortable load. ANND I need to work a job in all of the chaos of life :P Thank you God for an awesome first day! :)

It's the Little Moments That We Remember

Today was probably one of the best days I've had in awhile even though nothing really happened :) haha. To start the day off, I had a really good quiet time in 2 Timothy. Then for breakfast I chopped up a banana, apple and put some blueberries, yogurt and cranberry juice in the blender and BAM!: breakfast :) ANND I colored my hair and now it has a reddish tint to the top layer and I think it looks pretty awesome! Tonight my mom, sister and I made dinner while singing in the kitchen. We made a garden salad, chicken, boiled potatoes, fresh green beans and chocolate chip cookies for dessert! Yum! Then after supper, my friend Tori came over and we watched the Last Song - which actually was really good even though I don't care for Miley Cyrus ;P - and we had so much fun just talking and laughing for hours :) It's been awhile since I've laughed that hard for such a long time. God has blessed me so much with amazing friends and I am so excited to start school next week and begin more friendships! Yesterday, me and two of my friends, Erin and Jake, went to Memphis to figure out where our classes were and just hang out around campus for awhile. It's kind of surreal knowing that I start college in 4 days! :)

The Silence Before the Storm aka College :P

Goodness, I've been up to my neck with random odds and ins such as buying school books, job hunting and going to Destin. :) It's hard to believe that next week I start my classes at Memphis! I'm very excited but I realize that I will be swamped. This past week, I was in Destin with my mom, my sister, Amy Murk, Donna Park and her daughter Emma. We had a blast! I think one of the my favorite things on this trip was sitting outside every night and looking at the moon and stars over the ocean :) I actually wrote a short poem about it, so I thought I'd share it:

Everything seems simpler at night.
All the noise and chaos of the world seem
to go to sleep with the sun. The sound of
the ocean drowns out all of the confusions
and questions, leaving your ears filled with
the music of the waves fighting over the shore.
Then - then the magic happens: the moon
wakes up. The reflection of the moon lights
up the ocean and the sand. There's a fairytail
feeling in the air - like something extraordinary
will happen at any moment. It's a sight that no picture
can capture and a feeling that no human can possibly
describe.  There's an unsettling peace that floods your
heart, mind and soul - this happens all at once
when the moonlight is reflected in the ocean.

When I got back from my trip to Destin, I went over to my best friend's house. My friend Kendall left for Mississippi College and saying goodbye to her was one of the hardest things I've ever done. If you've had to let someone you love go for a time you understand but if you haven't, you cannot imagine how hard it is. I've had friends tell me "she's coming back," and "it's not like she's dead," but it's much more than just a friend leaving for school: it's knowing that your best friend who you've spent countless hours, days, weeks and months talking to, laughing and crying with, sharing secrets with, singing in the car with and just randomly calling to say "hey, let's go to Sonic..Now!" is more than 30 minutes away. Priorities are changing and life is rearranging - and it's starting with sitting in her room with a bunch of tissues just hugging her and realizing that this is it. Gosh I start crying just thinking about it. Kendall has been and will be one of the few people who have made such a difference in my life. Without her.. I wouldn't be me. God has wonderful plans for me and my friends and I can't wait to see what He has planned :) it's just hard sometimes to trust that everything will be alright, especially when this part of the bigger picture has to be so painful.

"I'm Here. Trust Me." - God

Falling into the unknown if one of the scariest things in the world - especially when no one else knows. Who do you turn to for help and guidance? It seems that God keeps putting me in the middle of these situations and I have no choice but to turn to Him first - which is what should happen anyway. It's amazing what happens when you admit that everything is out of your control and totally give it to God. :) I'm going to Destin next Saturday!! :) I'm so excited but it's kind of bittersweet because two of my friends will be leaving while I'm away :( My best friend is leaving for college and the other is going off to bootcamp for the navy. I also applied for about 5 jobs today! :) Including Starbucks, JCrew, Outdoors Store and Anthropolgie... :) My position as a nanny will end this Friday and a new job will take its place!

God is God & I am not

Well this past weekend I was in St. Louis with Faith's college group and made some amazing new friends. When I got up this morning my mom told me that my dog was having trouble walking. I went outside and he wasn't eating or drinking and his breathing was really off, so I picked him up and carried him inside. I ended up staying home from church to take care of him. As the day went on, he seemed to be getting better. I spent most of the day cuddling with him and trying to get him to drink. My friend Jeff came over to rehearse a song with me that we were going to sing tonight - after he left Jody started to cough and I went and sat next to him and started talking to him and petting him, telling him it was gonna be okay. Then he went stiff and I freaked out. I've never experienced losing a pet or seeing life leave 'someone' who was close to me and it was probably the worst feeling in the world. And 30 minutes later, I had to go to church and sing about praising God while trying not to cry - not easy.