on the eve of my birthday

Tomorrow I finish up the last of my finals.
Tomorrow I complete my undergrad classes.
Tomorrow is my 22nd birthday.
Tomorrow's date is also 12.12.12.
Guess what that means?
Tomorrow is going to be EPIC.
And I, my friends, will be the Princess.

However, I am one really lucky girl
because my friends and family are all
spread out throughout the country now
but soon they will all start to trickle home.
And when they do we will continue to
celebrate my birthday - over and over again!
Can you say birthday month?!! :)
I am one happy and excited princess!

miss pouty face

Today marks the end quite a bittersweet week.

No more undergraduate classes for this girl.

No more working for Admissions every week.
No more homeschooling precious littles either.
My life has completely changed over night...

[Freeze: I feel like these years just flew by!

so the fact that I have to admit that I'm old

enough to be leaving college is absurd to me.]

But this means that now I get to go out and

apply everything my wise and caring professors

have taught me over the past 3.5 years next semester.

I am not graduating (that is officially on May 18!),

but I won't be coming to my beautiful campus everyday.

I will drive to a new school and be the teacher

to a bunch of littles that are all looking at me now!

And to best honest... I. Cannot. Wait!!!

But today I'm a little sad because even though I'm 

running on less than four hours of sleep I am still

able to acknowledge great education when I see it. 

And I have received a great education! I can feel it too.

My professors and peers have changed every fiber in me.

Whaattt?! I know it sounds crazy but I'm truly a better

person because of the education that I received here.

So tonight as I crawl into bed nice and early,

I will say an extra thanks to God for allowing me

to study under some of the most incredible people.

And I will thank Him for bringing me to a school that

has completely transformed my life and heart through

the wonderful people He brought into my life.

ten am

For over three years I have spent the ten o'clock hour of

every single Monday, Wednesday and Friday surrounded
by my closest friends, classmates, professors, visitors, and
the other wonderful people who keep my school ticking.
We stand and sit around a decent sized room for an hour.
We laugh, cry, sing, talk, pray, rejoice, and come together.
We are one community of believers around these parts and
we support one another in astonishing ways during this hour.

I have seen my professors at their lowest points in life.
I have seen my friends glow at their highest points in life.
I have been a part of hundreds of voices crying out "why?"
I have been a part of hundreds of prayers saying "thanks."

I have taken this hour three times a week for granted.
This opportunity is one that I will never experience again
in quite the same way after this week is over.
I will move off campus and begin the next chapter of life.
I will begin to teach in various classrooms, and instead
of walking into a chapel at ten am I will most likely
be teaching children something incredibly interesting and fun.

But a part of me will always be in that chapel at ten am because
that is where I really got to know my professors and peers.
We were completely transparent and raw with one another.
We came together in a way that is so rare in life.


Today I prepare to hear our President talk to us for the final
time this semester about how to be a cairn in someone else's life
or how to look back in life and see the cairns built by others.
I will sing, pray, laugh, and listen with everyone around me.
I'll leave the chapel different (in a good way) from when I walked in
because that is the impact that it has on me - every single time.

And I'm so grateful for the lessons I have soaked in over the years.

They have truly changed my life in more ways than I can list.