Monday Ramblings

The last few weeks have been pretty crazy around here. I finished up my junior year of college with 2 exams, 1 paper, a comprehensive lighting project, and the design/presentation of a model home in High Point. Whew I'm glad that's over with! It was an incredible school year and definitely my favorite one thus far. It was a time of growth and healing for me in so many ways. My friendships strengthened, I gained confidence in myself and in my work, I learned from past mistakes, and I faced battles that once held me down. I began learning how to forgive, my relationship with the Lord got stronger, and I learned what it means to love yourself and others in ways I never knew before. I hadn't realized how much was missing in my life until this year. The Lord, my family, and my friends have been an incredible support to me and I'm so thankful for every single one of them!

Since the summer started I've been up to all kinds of things:

- I had hoped to work at a design firm here in Durham for the first few weeks but things unfortunately ended up not working out. However, I do still get to practice my design skills on my cousin Adam's room! He's ready to go from little boy themed room to a grown up teenage room. I helped organize his sister's room a few months back, and am really excited to help him do his next! We're going with a grey and blue scheme and it's going to look great! Before and after pictures to come later!

-I also just started my summer course. Now let me just say I'm not at all happy that I have to take a summer class, BUT in order to graduate on time, it's a sacrifice I must make. It's only a 5 week online course though so it shouldn't be too bad. This has been a highly stressful topic over the last semester but thank the good Lord, things worked out (He's good at that :D). I'll give you the full story of how good God's timing and will was in this situation tomorrow.

-I have also been working away at kids camp stuff these last two weeks. I'm trying to get all the craft scheduling/preparation squared away so I can begin planning lessons for K-1. As the Early Childhood Development Director this year at camp, I will be in charge of planning and teaching their bible lessons. I'm a little nervous because I've never had to plan and teach this many lessons before, but I'm also excited for the challenge. I know the Lord will use me how he sees fit and it will all be great in the end! My favorite part of camp preparation though, is shopping for all the supplies! Even better, after I finish shopping, I get to go in and organize everything. I love it! It's a very therapeutic process for me :)

-We are also in the throws of wedding preparation. This week was all about invitations. Erin and I spent about an hour putting them together the other night. That part was fast and pretty easy. Addressing the envelopes however, was a whole different story. Once we figured out the "proper" way to address them, we had to decide which pens looked the best. We used 3 different kinds and after trying them, we both agreed none of them really looked good. That was when we got our bright idea to print on the envelopes. Sounds easy right? WRONG! It took us about 3 hours of multiple failed attempts to finally figure out how to make it work. So we typed them all up and went to print. That's when her printer decided to run out of ink. Needless to say, we got more ink and I'm proud to say that the invitations are addressed and look marvelous! It was well worth the 3 hours of trial and error.

-Last but not least, I have spent these last two weeks relaxing and catching up on some much needed sleep. Oh how I've missed sleeping in!

What does the rest of the summer hold you might ask? Well:

• Completion of my online class
• Kids Camp begins in June
• Painting/Decorating of Erin and Stephen's apartment
• Painting/Decorating Adam's room
• A trip to DC to visit my amazing friends Meredith, Jessica, and Jodi!
• Erin's bachelorette party/weekend
• Erin's Wedding!
• and much, much, more!