Single, three years left, and living at home

When I was in high school I had goals and dreams of where I would be when I hit certain ages. One being twenty, which I am at now! I planned that I would be dating (hopefully in a serious relationship), I would be half way through my undergrad degree, and that I would be living on my own (meaning that I wouldn't be so dependent on my mom).

All three of these goals are not a reality in my life. I am not dating anyone and haven't sense my sophomore year of high school. This is a really hard matter for me to trust God because I have such a strong desire to get married and glorify God through marriage and family, but of various personal circumstances (of self-esteem and also hesitancy to put myself out there)I have been feeling discouraged. I also planned to be half way through college. It seemed easy enough, but in my transfer from schools I lost all of the credits from Bob Jones. I am now just a sophomore in College. I also planned on being independent and away from my mom. This year started out like that, but in October some circumstances arose that forced me to move back home. At the time I was grateful for the move back into a more comfortable living environment, but being an adult and living with my mom has had some major ups and downs.

I had been feeling very down out where my life is and wishing that many this were changed around, but a friend of mine who got married and moved away came back to Wisconsin and reminded me of God and his sovereignty. She told me that I needed to be careful not to wish for things so badly that I would miss out on wonderful this God has in store for me on the "detours" from my will. It caused me to think about my life and how I still can find fullness through Christ, even though things are not working out as I ordained them to.

A long lost photo

I found this photo in a long lost folder in my computer...brings back memories!!

A little over a month away

Last night I went with Joelle and Leise to pick up Julia from the airport in Madison, which is where I will be flying out of to go to Ghana. I basically started to cry thinking about leaving all the ones that I love and that love me. I then thought about how fun and exciting it is going to be to see them again after soo long. I know that I will change and that my views on life in general and my life specifically will be changed, but part of me is scared that I will not fit back into my life anymore.
I know that going to Africa is the right move and that if I didn't go I would always live with the what-if's. I am fearful of all the things that can happen here in the states and to my family that will be out of my control. I know I wouldn't be able to stop anything from happening, but what about not being there when something important is going on. I realize that I shouldn't live in fear, in fact God commands us not to. The emotions are just flooding over me. I am so excited and joyous, yet I am so scarred and hesitant.
I am also seeing some friends that I haven't seen in months tomorrow, and I know that as touchy as our relationships have been, will I be able to hold on to our closeness! I also know that this will be the last time I see them before I go to Africa. I wish I could transplant all those who make me laugh during hard times and allow me to cry on their shoulders to Africa with me. Basically what I am trying to say is that I will miss all my friends, blood family and Christian family so deeply while I am away. **I am starting to cry at this point**
It is also my promise to blog at least weekly starting now! I want you all to feel connected to me while I am away and I want to hear all about you guys!!!! One month...ahhh...I can't believe it!

Here I Come

It is official, I am going to Ghana! I leave on or around August 12 and
I will return on or around December 16! I will be in the capital city
of Accra staying at an international hostel. I am hoping to take a
bunch of classes about Ghana and some courses that will be
towards my major, Communication Studies. I will be sharing my room with
one other girl and will be sharing a bathroom with up to ten people!
Also, there are no such things as hot showers unless I boil the water
myself! I am still working on all the paper work that I need to do to
be able to go ever, but it will all be worth it! Please pray for me as
I make final plans and book all my flights. Also, pray that God will
help me grow closer to him throughout this whole experience.

Going Up North

Today I take my very first over night road trip! Leise and I are going up north to visit the Benish family at their grandma's cabin! This should be a blast...and I will post some pictures of us!

Easter Bible Study Dinner

This was a blast! We all had a wonderful dinner together, dyed Easter eggs and had an egg toss.

Dinner Dilemma

A group of seven girls from my church got together and had a dinner
dilemma night. We had one hour to make a whole breakfast to feed nine
people. On the menu were eggs over easy and scrambled egg's, bacon, sausage, Texas and rye toast, and fruit salad. This ended up being a ton of fun and well needed laughs too!

I Already Want to Pack My Bags

I AM GOING TO AFRICA!!!
I have been placed at the University of
Ghana in Accra, Ghana. There are a couple of formalities that need to
still occur before everything is official,
but for the most part I will be going to Africa! I am very excited to
see God allow me to opportunity to study abroad. I do not know for sure
everything that is in store for me, but I trust that it will cause me
to be drawn closer to my Lord and Savior. So, I am asking prayer that
God will use this to draw me closer to Him, that I will stay faithful
to Him while I am gone from my wonderful Christian support system and that God will use this as a clarification of His purpose and will for my life.

Africa #2

I find out my tomorrow if Edgewood is going to nominate me to go study in Africa. If they do nominate me than it is almost guaranteed that i will be going there to study!!!

Please Pray

Green License Plates???

Currently the Wisconsin government is taking up the issue of having the
most extreme sex offenders have green license plates on their cars. The
logic
behind this is that in elementary schools they teach to stay away from
poison by a little green monster called Mr. Yuk (I was never taught
this inEgderton
or anywhere else for that matter), so when children are going to see
these license plates they are going to put two and two together and not
going by the vehicle.
They want this because these sex offenders use their vehicles to commit
crimes. There are a couple of issues that I see with this:

1. green is universally the symbol of Go in America...this could cause some issues
2. child could be drawn to a fun color on the license plate of the vehicles if they are not taught to stay away
3. Why are these people allowed to drive cars if they are using them to commit their crime?
4. If these people are so bad, why are they not locked up where they can't do this again
5. the logic of the little green monster guy is not very logical because
kids use that symbol not as a dangerous one, but as a fun little
animated guy (I told my Health Communications teacher about this and
she
told me the teachings of Mr.Yuk failed because he was too fun and the
kids didn't view him as dangerous), so the chances of the kids making
the connective is sort of naive.

I think this idea is
generally a good one, but I think that there are major problem areas.
Also, what is to stop the sex offenders from using a relatives car or
stealing the license plates off of another car? Also, what about sex
offenders who did not commit a crime against a child? One of my
brothers good friends was on the sex offenders registry because he was
eighteen and dating a seventeen year old girl and they made a tape of
themselves doing sexual things. I just could not justify him having to
go through this kind of public humiliation anymore than he already has
had to. But, if it is going to save a child from getting attacked,
maybe it is better to take a more stern approach to letting the public
know who these people are.