Simply Summer

Oh hello summer. It's been far too long. I cannot believe summer is already here. My freshman year of college is over! How did this happen?!? I remember driving onto campus in August ready to begin the next stage in my life. As I sat there in the car with my mom every feeling and emotion imaginable was happening inside of me. I was so ready to meet new people and escape from the shell I had been living in for 18 years. Now, as I sit and ponder over these last nine months, I am completely in awe of what God has done.

The first semester was such a rush. I continuously lived on this high, this constant thrill of meeting people and experiencing life as I never had before. I was still getting used to being on my own and the stress of college. It was emotional but worth it. I could already tell God was changing me. He was forming me into the person I am today.

Second semester, on the other hand, was a completely different story. It was so much better than the first semester and I didn't think that was possible! I continued to meet new people and become more involved in UMHB. God has blessed me with so many opportunities over the past four months. First, he blessed me with the opportunity to become involved with SGA. Next, He allowed me to be a part of Student Foundation. Finally, God blessed me to be a part of Miss MHB. I see His wondrous hands at work daily.

I am so excited to see what will happen next year. This year has been a roller coaster, but one that I will forever remember. God has placed the most incredible people in my life, people that I really look up to and admire. I know God has a plan for each individual person and am looking forward to seeing each one unfold.

I pray you each have an incredible summer filled with memories and laughter. Allow God to use you wherever you may be, whether it is at a camp, on the mission field, in another country, or simply in your hometown.

I love you all dearly and cannot wait until next year when we will all be reunited.

Miss MHB

I am so honored and excited to be a contestant in Miss MHB next semester! I will be representing Miss Student Foundation. What makes this experience even more thrilling is the incredible ladies who will be involved as well. One of my roommates, Mary, will be Miss McLane Hall and we cannot wait to go through this adventure together. Who else will be in it? Well I'm glad you asked. Landra, a dear friend of mine, Tracie, my RA this year, Melissa, a beautiful lady and friend, and Cameron, who will also be in my welcome week family. Every year each girl says how much fun she had while being a part of Miss MHB. It's said that you will walk away with true friends. Corbin will be the director and I know she will do a fabulous job. Over the summer each girl is to come up with a talent and platform. I know without a doubt I will be speaking on diabetes awareness but have no earthly idea what my talent will be! But that's ok because November is still six months away :)

Student Foundation

I have recently been asked to be a part of Student Foundation next year. This organization hosts all of the Alumni events. What makes this even more special is that I work at the Alumni Center so already know a lot about what goes into each event and how much the Alumni contribute to the school. One of my bosses is in charge of the organization and a girl I work with is the president. It will be a great experience to get to be more involved with the Alumni and get to know more people through SF.

SGA

Student Government Association

I began thinking about being a part of this organization several months ago but every position I was interested in became filled. So, I quickly forgot about it and decided to try it again next year. Well, God had a different plan. The position for Director of Resources in Exec. Cab. became available. The DOR's main duty is to be in charge of all the secretaries. Basically, I keep SGA organized. What? An excuse to use labels, binders, tabs, and Excel? Hook me up! I, of course, jumped at the opportunity. All of SGA went to the lake on a Sunday afternoon to get to know each other better and just have a good time before finals started. It was wonderful to see how each person truly fit their title. My first official duty begins this summer as I put together the binders for next year. I must say, I am rather excited about this due to the fact I get to use a label maker. Plus this gives me an excuse to be uber-organized...and slightly OCD :) I am really looking forward to seeing what God has in store for SGA next year.

Love

"Once in a while, right in the middle of an ordinary life, love gives us a fairytale." -Anonymous

Formal

There are no words to describe how much fun it was to dance for three hours straight. While I admit to acting like a fool a couple of times (ok the whole time) I have no regrets when it comes to my moves. I'm a white, Baptist girl from the South. What can I say? :) Here is a picture of my future roomz and I at formal.

Where Has The Time Gone?

Oh. My Goodness. Seriously where has the time gone??? I swear everytime I look at my calender two weeks have passed. People have told me my whole life that time flies as you get older but I never fully understood what they meant...until now. As freshman year comes to an end (rather quickly I might add) I continuously find myself thinking about how much I have changed since school started. It's truly incredible to reflect on all the incredible things God has done in my life since August and how He began preparing me for things to come years ago. Never will I understand His plan or ways but they never cease to amaze me.

The past two weeks have been difficult to say the least. I have been filled with feelings of doubt, insecurity, and others along those lines. In return, I am slowly learning the importance of fully relying on God for everything. EVERYTHING. Did you hear me say everything??? God doesn't care how trivial each situation is, they all matter and mean the same in His eyes.

An opportunity has recently become available (and by recently I mean yesterday) for me to take classes at UMHB in May and June. At first I was so excited, and still am, but now have to deal with the logistics, specifically the financial factor. And let me tell you, this is the biggest factor. I so badly want to stay here and get caught up on my classes so I can graduate in four years, but don't know if that's what God wants me to do. I turned down several opportunities in the past couple of days either because the timing didn't work out or because I was not excited enough about them. Maybe God was preparing me for this. Not completely sure yet, but I must decide by tomorrow what I want to do. At this point all I can do is talk to financial aid (lovely) and ask God to make it evident if He wants me to stay here or go home.

Well it's Play Day today. Get excited! Students at UMHB will be participating in games and activites in hopes of releasing stress and anxiety as school comes to an end and finals approach us. I hope to experiment with paintball. Pray for my team. We're playing boys. It seemed like a brilliant idea last night. Then again, it was after midnight and we had just finished laughing histerically while eating pancakes. Oh the joys of college life.

I leave you with a song that has given me hope through everything. Just listen to the words and allow God to speak to you. Have a wonderful week.