Update

So I was picking on Jenni today about updating her blog and she came back with the fact that I haven't updated mine since February! So, I'm updating now.

I've found that I always stop updating this blog when I have news that I can't tell everyone.

So these past 3 months in Colorado have been insane! I went to all my grad school interviews and got accepted in Yale, John's Hopkins, Duke, UNC and Colorado. I got an extra diversity fellowship at Duke and was awarded the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship for grad school.

However, in March I was also offered a full time ministry position in Denver Colorado. The intern who was working with the Metro campus ministry moved home and they asked me to consider the position.

So after a ton of prayer, and advice, and some tears involved in trying to figure out what my heart really wanted... I decided to defer grad school for a year to give the full time ministry a shot! I unofficially deferred at Duke which means if I reapply they'll accept me and I officially deferred at Colorado. So I have an east coast and a colorado option after I try out the ministry for a while.

I am super excited about this opportunity because I've wanted to work in the ministry my entire life. The more exciting part is that I'll actually be leading with my new boyfriend, Brian Campbell. I would write more about that on here but most people who read this know about him already!

My last day of work will be the 30th of June and then I'll be home to see everyone for two weeks and I'll start full time in the ministry on the 16th of July!! We have ICMC West at Estes park out here this summer which I'm super stoked about! Brian and I are in charge of the logistics committee so there's a lot of work that will go into hosting this event but it's going to be incredible!

I'll update again soon with new details of my crazy life in CO!

I have a huge decision to make...

So I have no gone through 3 weeks of interviews for grad school and I have officially been accepted to two of the schools!

Yale (despite the food poisoning, getting stuck in detroit and getting stuck in an elevator) was definitely a great experience! I didn't get to spend a ton of time there but I connected with a lot of people. As honored as I felt though, I'm not sure how happy I would be there. New Haven isn't exactly the place I see myself living. I really liked all the people there though, my recruiting class, the faculty and the students already in the grad program. I officially got my acceptance to Yale this past weekend and it's something I never though would happen. Even if I say know I feel like I can have some great confidence having been accepted to Yale. Growing up I never even saw that as a possibility. It was always something that seemed out of my reach but I'm so grateful for the open door there right now!

Duke on the other hand I really connected with! The faculty were incredible and seemed to really like me and see things on the same page as me! The campus is gorgeous and I think I could live in Durham if I wanted to make it work! The sad part is that I wasn't super excited about my recruiting class. I liked the students who were a couple years older than me but I wasn't really excited about the students I would be in classes with. And one of the only students I did hit it off with probably isn't going to Duke. That being said, I don't make my whole decision based on that....

And then there was Hopkins.... not a huge fan there actually. I got to interview with a lot of women in science which was very cool and very helpful but I just didn't feel a connection with the school or the people really. I had the most fun so far with my recruiting class but I'm not sure if in the end that would persuade me to go there. I had some ok interviews but really didn't click with anything. And I decided I would love to visit the Harbor and Fells Point in Baltimore but I really don't think I'm be excited about living there.

So that's three out of the 6 schools.....

Yale is an honor, Duke was pretty much awesome, and Hopkins was a good experience....

So now I have 3 more schools to visit. UNC I'm sure I'll like and I have realized that I really need my interview at Colorado because I just don't know that much about the actual graduate program and I think that'll be really important to help me make my decision.

We'll have to see how all of this pans out...

Prep

So these past two and a half weeks have been incredible.

Difficult at times adjusting to living in Boulder and working full time and not being in school in incredible none the less.

The ministry here is awesome. Chris and Becky Clawson have been so helpful in helping me transition and I'm so grateful for how much the trust me and want to use me in this ministry. They are truly doing a great job of leading. The whole ministry is working on unity and prayer right now which has been awesome. The women of the ministry include Becky, Lauren and Laine who are sisters, Miyoko and Amber and Dianna (my roommate) are both studying the Bible. It's been really cool getting to know all of these women because I feel like I can be great friends with each of them!

The guys are awesome too! There's Chris, Paul who getting his masters, Josh who's a senior, Max and Nate who are the freshman and Jamel and Kyle who don't live in Boulder. It's a really cool bunch.

So sadly I won't see a whole lot of these people over the next couple weeks because of grad school interviews. I'm very excited about going to see all these different schools but it's also kind of lonely to think about not having anyone I know around.

I have to walk into each school like it's definitely the school I want to go to so hopefully God's light can shine through me in the process.

Colorado

This place is really incredible. I was walking to work this morning and realized that I am constantly in awe of the scenery here. It so faith building to walk and see the flatirons every morning. I spent the night at Miyoko's house on Saturday so we drove into Boulder for church on Sunday morning. The view driving into Boulder, of the flat irons and snow covered rockies in the back with snow still falling on them took my breathe away. Literally. I stop talking just so I could look at them for a while. It's incredible. I definitely think it's the perfect place to spend the next 6 months just experiencing what life and God have to offer here in CO.

We had a leadership mini-retreat saturday for all the leaders in the Denver region and it was great. I'm definitely learning a lot about my relationship with God here and about how my relationship plays into action in the lives of the people around me. It's great. We talked about being called, empowered, united and focused and it definitely help me focus on some things I think I had forgotten for a while. And then Sunday Chris Clawson preached on prayer... he's doing a serious on prayer now and I'm really looking forward to it! It's going to be absolutely incredible!!

In the mean time, I've finally got a project in the lab so I can start working now. Beacause soon I'll be flying out to interviews every thursday and not returning again til sunday...

Moving on your own makes you notice things

It's humbling not to have a car... very humbling. It means you walk a lot of places until you get a bus pass and you rely on other people for rides. I'm used to giving rides... I know how to do that but always asking for one I'm not used to yet.... this will definitely be an experience.

I've noticed recently how awesome my family is. Yes we are crazy (love you all) but awesome still. Mick is living out her life in the freezing cold so she gets the cold factor that I'm going through. My parents will do anything to make my life easier including always being on craigslist and sending a ridiculous number of papers through fax and email.

And I think I have the two coolest high school sisters ever. No doubt. I was just reading through the girl's blogs and I can't explain how grateful I am to have high school aged sisters who are cool and fun and in love with God! So great.

And then there's the other part of the family. I was looking at pictures of Vara yesterday and I'm so grateful to have her in my life for all the smiles and laughs. And talking to Em even through text yesterday made me realized how much even a few words from her can calm so many things for me.

I love it!

And I see that God has given me all this the craziness and the awesomeness so that I can come here and give my heart to this group.

Too cool.

So Far... SO Boulder.... take two!

So things have been a little crazy since I moved here. I guess I should have expected that really...

I had a ridiculous amount of paperwork to do for my job and would not have made it through it without Tom's secretary Joanne. She's incredible. and Now I'm waiting for all the paperwork to clear for my apartment so that I can officially be living here. Surprisingly enough those two things shook me nerves some. If I didn't get my ss card in the mail in time there could have been a lot of problems with my employment and if these apartment papers don't clear I don't have anywhere to live. Obviously, God has a plan and things will all work out but it did make me nervous not having everything run super smoothly.

Now for some funny things... My first night here, Miyoko dropped me off at my new apartment and I went to the wrong building. I stuck my key in the door and tried to open it and a lady looked through the blinds to say I was at the wrong apartment. I apologized and tried to get my key out of the door and it was stuck.... I had to knock and apologize and have the lady get it out for me. Embarrassing. Also, I went down to get the mail wednesday and the mail man looked at me and asked if I was new! (I'm really hoping I don't look that new to Boulder!) And yesterday I walked home from campus (a 22 minute walk) in the snow... pouring down! Crazy but beautiful and surprisingly not too cold unless the wind was blowing. And by the end of the night it snow about 4 inches... so I'm not leaving the apartment today unless I have to!

My time here has been interesting so far! But I should be ready for interesting with my life!!

I'm moving to Boulder

That's beginning to set in now. I'm at less than two weeks before I move and that's kinda crazy. Jacob and Emily are coming to Charlotte today and Stacey and DJ will be here Thursday!! Every time I see someone from Clemson it reminds me how much I'm going to miss living there.

My time in Clemson provided some of the most challenging things I've ever been through so it was by no means easy but looking back on things now I'm so grateful for everything I learned there. I'm grateful fro what I got to watch God do in the two years that I was living in Clemson and I'm so grateful that I got to graduate from Clemson so that I will always have one more connection to the mission team there.

I've been thinking about all the people that will be staying in Clemson to continue building the church and I'm so proud of what I got to be a part of starting. Anytime you have a mission team, you will end up with a very young church. Baby Christians and a lot of underclassmen and I think the group in Clemson has so much potential to do great things all over the world!

I watched the video Jarrod made for me again last night and I believe that everything I talked about (which last forever now that I watch it!) will be continually carried out by the church in Clemson. I truly believe that the church will become a hub for sending strong disciples out all over the world to help lead and serve. I was talking to two brothers who are serving on the LSU mission team over break and was telling them how incredible Clemson is. For such a young church it is filled with inspiring people and stories that could convict anyone!

It's hard to think that this next semester I won't be on that campus with the people I've fought next to for the last two years but I know God will continue to work in Clemson and continue to work in me in Boulder. I can't wait to share the stories of the things I saw God do in Clemson and to come home and share similar stories about things in Boulder!

And then it'll be on to grad school.... the next stepping stone in my path. But for now I still have to get to Boulder!

New Year

I chaperoned teen Bash this year and loved the opportunity to serve. It also allowed me some time to think about what I want to do in the new year. December was incredible but a lot of things changed drastically in my life. I graduated from Clemson, the first on the mission team to graduate with my undergrad degree from Clemson, I moved back to Charlotte, I applied to grad school as my next step, and not to mention got BRAND New eyes for my graduation gift. December allowed me to wrap some things up from 2010 and I've found that 2011 allows me the opportunity to work on a lot of things in my life and to fully follow the path that God is leading me in!

I have developed a plan for my new year... the 3 R's.

Regroup, Restore, Renew...

Regroup will be the last two weeks in Charlotte and probably my first two weeks in Boulder, so January really... It's a chance for me to regroup and reflect on 2011, decided truly what my goals and visions are for 2011 and focus my prayer on following God's will for my life.

Restore will be my time in Boulder. A time to restore the joy I find in my walk with God, and the things that I love about my life with Him. A time to restore my visions and dreams for my life and figure out plans for grad school.

Renew will be my time in starting in August that will allow me to start a new life in Grad school. A time for me to start a new journey in my life, in a new place, with a new goal.

So starts the 3 R's of 2011.

Let's see how this goes.