No photos? What's up with that?

Well, ya see, my laptop died. On Graduation day. One minute Mom turned it off. The next it wouldn't come back on.

Almost 100 dollars and 5 days of worry later, I found that all of the info in the hard drive is intact... and the 100 dollars bought me an external hard drive that now holds all of that info. The intel came from a very dear friend. Now, I am on the hunt for a job, and then will be on the hunt for a laptop. And I'm going to upload pictures when I get to my mom's house, where I'm living this summer... I'm anxious to see how months of photos from 2 cameras look. And anxious to share them!

Hip hip hooray. It's weird to be 22 and at home. Visits from friends and a job will make sure light remains at the end of the tunnel... when I get an apartment! And a car!

A big week and a bigger calling

I returned Tuesday in the wee sma's from a little over a week spent in the service of God as a sponsor for a high school group of 24 to Los Fresnos, Texas and Matamoros, Mexico. The youth group I sponsored completed their annual week of giving back in a big way with the help of Southwest Good Samaritan Ministries.
We funded the building of a casita, a small, one-room house that is common in the area of Matamoros we worked in, and then 24 youth built the house with as little interference from the 6 sponsors as we could handle. We had Mike, a pastor who has led these groups for years, and Arturo, a Mexican citizen doing all of the interfering for us... by which I really mean the heavier work and instruction on how to make wood into a home.
We also helped on the SWGSM campus stateside- we made a living area more... liveable. We gave a ceiling a makeover and tiled a floor in the common spaces of a warehouse turned bunkhouse-cum-dental clinic. The waiting room for the newly established dental clinic got the same treatment, and I could not be prouder of the work that the kids did.
Their gifts were a HUGE gift to me- I learned watching them work. I grew seeing them grow- the youth I work with are blessed to not know from personal experience what poverty is, and seeing the poorest areas in Matamoros is something they won't forget. It made them experience a call to be the change they wish to see... and helped me see again that I am an agent of change too. The next 4 years will mold me more and more, and as much as I journal and seek other outlets for these thoughts, sometimes they really are too good, too amazing and life-changing not to share.

A degree and a direction

I have my degree, safely passed into the hands of an awesome mother who currently has the frame for it.
I have a direction.

As I may have shared, I begin Seminary in the fall. I will be moving into the Atlanta area and starting a 4-year course toward 2 degrees I hope will equip me to use inborn gifts and better serve God as a chaplain in the military.
I'll be moving into my first apartment and finding a course of study and a routine in a new place. I think, in time, this blog has come to encompass more than sewing, and really will continue to do so more and more... but I will try to post about the things I do sew. I hope that doesn't detract from you reading... and I know if you're family and you read you'll be excited to hear more about life I live not in front of a sewing machine.

I'll probably talk about faith and conversations and the growing I know will happen in the next few years. Hope you'll be along for the ride!