Just a Girl Figuring out Life

Why did I choose this name for my blog?

Because it describes what I'm doing perfectly!

When I started out at college, I had no idea what I wanted to do. At first I thought maybe I could be a teacher, then, after I took a nutrition class, I wanted to be a registered dietitian, until I realized how much chemistry I would have to take. Then I thought about becoming a teacher again before realizing I still had no idea what in the world I wanted to do!

So I decided to finish out my degree and wait to see what God wants me to do.
This summer, like I mentioned in my first blog post, I'm going to be going to Scotland to see if that's something that God might want me to do.

To be perfectly honest, I honestly just wish some magically handsome, romantic (rich would be a plus) guy would come along, sweep me off my feet and marry me. Then we'd just start having kids right away so I didn't have to wander what I'm supposed to do with my life. I'd just take care of kids.

  {What I wish my life looked like}

However, life never looks this way! Life is messy. You have to figure things out through learning from others mistakes and making a few of your own and that's pretty much what I'm doing! 

{What my life really looks like :)}

Graduation!

Last night I graduated with my AS in Natural Sciences and Mathematics (if I get a 'c' in statistics)! At the ceremony they have this tradition where you give a rose to a person who has helped you through your college education. The first person I would have to say made it possible for me to get my college degree would be God. He is the one who "directs my paths" and guides my life where to go. But it's hard to give a rose to God, so my rose is now sitting on the dining room table for my whole family to enjoy!

Otherwise the ceremony, as most graduation ceremonies are, was pretty boring. The two student speakers said all the normal gushy stuff about education. Then the keynote speaker got up and told her whole life-story. She went on and on about all the things that she accomplished in her life and then thanked all her family and professors for their support (Remember, this isn't one of the graduates speaking!) and then she went on to list all the things her sons, daughters, nieces and nephews have accomplished. I think she meant to inspire us, but I was just left feeling like I'm never going to accomplish anything. Thankfully one of my friends pointed out that because of our faith in Christ we don't have to pursue education until we can't get another degree to feel like we've accomplished something. That's not where our security is. We're secure in Christ. As long as we "do all to the glory of God" we have accomplished everything we need to accomplish here on earth. That being said, it's extremely easy to say this, but so hard to do!!

After the ceremony ended, I greeted my friends and family and got pictures taken. My two best friends, one who I've been best friends with since we were 10 (Laura) and the other who I've been close to since fall semester 2011 (Ilian) met for the first time and there was an explosion of personality! I think we're all going to have some good times this summer. :D Then, my sister (Kirsten) and another friend who I graduated with (Tez) went to hang out at our friend Anna's  house (She graduated with us too) where we played games and ate pizza. At first I kind of wished we could have gone somewhere "grown up" like this Irish Pub in a nearby town, but I think we had just as much fun, if not more, at Anna's house!

That's pretty much it! It was a fun, amazing night filled with friends who are special to me!

About Me

I still haven't been able to figure out how to figure out the "About Me" section of my blog, so I'm going to cover that in this post.

I'm the oldest daughter of 8 children, still living at home at age 22. (I do have a job, though!) I'm also a Christian and by that I don't mean what so many other people mean. It seems like a lot of other people mean "I'm a pretty good person, I go to church." or "Yeah I make mistakes, but God accepts and loves everyone."  I'm neither of those. I'm a sinner with plenty of problems. On the outside I probably look like a great girl. I've been called a "goody-two-shoes" more than once. But the only reason I can do good is because God's changed my heart, not because I am a good person myself.
I work part time at my local public library as a page (I mainly check-in and shelve books and sometimes do some shelf reading) and I've been a part-time student until now (I graduate with my AS in two days!).
A couple of my favorite activities are photography and watching British Television.

This is me on a country road by my house :)

First Post

A lot of changes are going to be happening in my life soon, so I thought I'd blog about it.

This week I'm graduating from a local community college with my AS in Natural Sciences and Mathmatics. This is a degree I never thought I would ever be getting. I've hated math ever since the first day it was formally introduced to me, and I never really thought of my self as a "science person", but here I am.

Another thing I never thought I'd ever be doing is going to Scotland; however, I'm actually going to be flying to Edinburgh in July! I'm not going to be doing a lot of sight-seeing, though. I'm going with a group from my church to work in the Schemes (we would call them housing projects in the States) with an organization called 20 Schemes. Their goal is to plant churches in various housing schemes around Scotland. The people living in these schemes often struggle with drug and alcohol abuse. (To get an idea of what I'm talking about, youtube search "The Scheme BBC" and watch the documentary that follows a few families for a year). Many of these people have never even heard of Jesus and have no idea that the only thing that will satisfy them is him.
I think of the time Jesus met the woman at the well and she had had several husbands, but the man she was currently with wasn't her husband. She was looking in other places for satisfaction. Jesus showed her that he, the Messiah was the only one who could help her. When she says she knows about the Messiah he says, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." (John 4:10) Jesus is the only person who can satisfy all our needs, and there are so many people in Scotland to tell.

  

So, those are the two main things that are happening. I doesn't seem like anything major is happening like marriage or something huge like that, but you never know where this trip to Scotland will lead. I may decide to move there because of the work that's going on.

Anyway, I should probably end here for tonight. It's a quarter after 10 and one of my two sisters is reprimanding me for not making an effort to get to bed earlier so we can get up earlier to work out.