Second to Last Semester...

Well I have two semesters to go. This is the beginning of my second to last semester, and I'm already for it to be over...and we're just getting started. Oh well. Honestly, as ready as I am to be done with school, and as much as I'm looking forward to the next chapter in my life, there is still a bit of uncertainty and fear that comes with the future.

I can make plans and apply for jobs and desire to leave the country all I want, but ultimately it's up to God where He takes me next. I'm excited about the prospects and can't wait to see what's in store.

Weddings

This Summer I went to five weddings. Five. Not only did I go to five weddings, I was in three of the five, each of them one week after the other. For three weeks in a row.

Yes, I had to buy three different dresses and be present at three rehearsals, walk down three aisles in three different churches in three different cities carrying three different flower arrangements, three different sets of circumstances, for three different, precious people.

The first wedding I was in was that of one of my most precious friends. Jenn and I met when we were ten years old living in Nicaragua. We had our rough times, times when one of us would disagree with what the other was doing or disapprove of who the other was hanging out with or dating at the time (usually I was the one disapproving or disagreeing). During these times, there would be chapters of silence in our friendship, where we wouldn't talk to one another for days, even weeks at a time.

I remember one time, Jenn's mom called me and told me not to call Jenn again until Jenn was ready to talk to me. I must have been really mean.

I think I was 12 then.

Throughout the years, the past 12 years, Jenn and I have had some rough times. But we have always held our friendship precious, and each chapter of silence in our friendship always brought about growth and a new appreciation for each other. To this day, I know I will be friends with Jenn forever.

It was such an honor and blessing to be able to stand by her as she vowed to love and cherish Robert for the rest of her life.



I love you Jenn!!!

The second wedding I was in was that of my brother and my new sister-in-law. My brother is one of my role models, a Godly man who has been through a lot and ultimately and obviously loves the Lord.

And his new wife is such a precious friend and part of our family. At first, apparently, it seemed that I was not too fond of her, but I liked her from the very beginning.

She is so sweet and easy to talk to, fun to hang out with, shop with, and do projects with. I'm so proud she's my sister-in-law, and I'm proud of my brother for finding her and marrying her.




The third wedding I was in was my sweet roommate Ashley's. She is one of the Godliest women I know, and has such a kind heart.

Ashley is the girl that was planning her wedding probably since she was four years old, and even though she had no prospects, would buy things like tiaras and ring-bearers pillows on clearance.

Her wedding had more than 300 yards of tulle involved in it some way or another, and we spent hours decorating the church.

The wedding was beautiful, all 7 bridesmaids wore matching champagne dresses and gold ballet shoes, which un planned, matched Ashley's white ballet shoes. We should have been on TV...like TLC's "A Wedding Story" or something like that.

Ashley was a precious friend, amazing roommate, Godly woman, and I know that now Chris has the wife that God intended for him.




All of this to say, that weddings are one of the coolest things to go to, and I was so honored to be a part of all three this summer.

So...

So, I've been praying a lot lately. I just need a lot of patience to keep waiting, and even though it's not fun or easy, I know it will be more than worth it.

Life Soundtrack

I know this is a little lame, and that a lot of people have done it, but I am interested to find out how this turns out....

IF YOUR LIFE WAS A MOVIE, WHAT WOULD THE SOUNDTRACK BE?

So, here's how it works:
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend your cool...

Opening Credits:
Some Say-Rascal Flatts

First Day At School:
Fool-Shakira

Falling In Love:
You'll be in My Heart-Phil Collins

Fight Song:
Al Que Me Ciñe-Jesus Adrian Romero

Breaking Up:
His Eye is on the Sparrow-

Prom:
Prisioneros de la Piel-La Ley

Life is good:
That Particular Time-Alanis Morissette

Mental Breakdown:
From My Head to My Heart

Driving:
Manda una Sen-Mana

Flashback:
Inside Us All-Creed

Getting Back Together:
Para tu Amor-Juanes

Wedding:
It Is Well With My Soul-

Birth of Child:
Deliver Us-Prince of Egypt

Final Battle:
A Tu Lado Es Mi Lugar-Jaci Velasquez

Death Scene:
Deep Enough to Dream-Chris Rice

Funeral Song:
One of Your Own-A Knight's Tale

End Credits:
Made My World-Jaci Velasquez

Choices

Over the course of my life, I have encountered situations where I have been forced to make a choice. What to eat for breakfast, for instance, or what to wear to school. Other choices have been more important, such as what college to go to, or what church to join...whether or not to go to church was even a choice I had to make. All in all, choices come every day, important ones, and not so important ones, and we are all forced to make them.

Tonight, as I face the decision of what this year will mean for me, all I can do is look back on the past and assess what the last years have meant for me.

I'll start with my senior year in high school: that year was a big year for decisions. That year, I decided to enter into a relationship with an awesome guy who was in love with Jesus Christ and could not have a conversation without mentioning Him. I also decided that year what college I was going to attend. I thought I had it all figured out....

Freshman year in college meant BIG CHANGE. I was forced to make the choice of what I was going to make of my life in the United States. Was I going to wallow in bitterness at my parents making me "give the States a chance"? Or was I going to make my new life in this new place all that it could be for me? That year, I discovered that some "stupid gringos" (no offense intended, another post will explain this mindset) were not so stupid after all, and decided that some were even nice and worth investing in friendship with. I also made the painful choice to break up with that awesome guy I started dating my senior year in high school, a relationship I had been comfortable with for a year and a half. Freshman year, if i had to give it a theme, was my year of OBEDIENCE. Though I had to make several choices that hurt, I could not have made it without the knowledge that I was being obedient to God's guidance and entrusting Him with knowing what is best for me.

Sophomore year, I think, was my year of trials. My heart needed much healing from having broken off my relationship, and I had blindly dived into a very unhealthy living situation. I was slammed with the reality that everyone is not easy to live with, and that it is important to know what exactly you are getting yourself into when moving in with people. This is not to say that I regret having been in that situation, because I have come out of it a better person, and I hope that the others who were in it also came out of it better people. Persevering through this situation definitely built character in me, and after that situation I reaped the benefits of being placed in a wonderful living situation with the Godliest girls I have ever met in my life.

Junior year, so far, has been a year for me of choosing to believe God. I believe and know that His plans are best for me, and His timing is perfect, but so many times I want to take the control back into my own hands, and when I do, I get disappointed. As the first semester of my senior year/second semester of my junior year unfolds, I will daily have to choose to believe God for His grace.

Care to join me?

Friendship

Yesterday I had the privilege of spending the afternoon and evening with one of the best friends God has ever given me. We've known eachother since we were about two years old, and have been friends ever since. This Christmas break we had a little bit of trouble figuring out where we were going to spend time together, at her house (where it usually happens), or at my house over new years which is the coolest place to be and I wanted her to experience the New Years party in Antigua. Well...neither. We wound up both being stubborn and waiting until the night before she had to go back to the States before we hung out in the capital and just talked and caught up...nothing that hadn't been done over the phone already, but presence is different. The thing about our friendship is that it is sortof a David and Jonathan friendship...we are not afraid to be honest with one another and to admonish eachother. We don't bring one another down, but try and encourage and build eachother up. And we pray for eachother. This is truly probably the best friend I'll ever have, because we've known eachother for 19 years...and will know eachother forever. Can't wait to raise our families together, whether in the same place, or just knowing eachother on certain hoidays and whatnot. My kids will call her Aunt Keeley.

Patience

So, one of my new years resolutions is to read Beth Moore's Praying God's Word Day by Day. On January 3rd, the little paragraph at the top caught my attention MAJORLY and I have been mulling over it ever since I read it. It says,

"Patience to wait does not come from suffering long for what we lack but from sitting long in what we have."

My patience has been drawn so thin some days, that I just want to give up waiting for what I'm waiting for (make sense??) and take things in my own hands. But, this totally gave me a new perspective and a new way to look at what I'm supposed to be being patient for. "Sitting long" in my singleness is something I can do as opposed to "suffering long" for one of the things I desire the most.