Thankful for...

Hello lovely readers,

Thanksgiving is upon us, I know one of my traditions at Thanksgiving is to say what we are thankful for. There is usually so much it is hard to come up with a short sweet answer. So I am working on my list here.

1.My family... I know its cheesy to say but no matter how far I roam away from home and no matter how long I am away from them they always welcome me back in and love me.

I have a large mixed family so it is lots of fun.

2. My friends... I have some friends that are as close as family to me. They always encourage me and push me to be the best I can be. They listen to me and all my craziness and when I am tired and worn out they relax with me.

3. My faith...sometimes I don't know where I would be with out it.

4. I always have clean water to drink and a warm place to sleep... and I have the resources to try to help people who don't.

5. And soon I will get to watch Christmas movies and sing Christmas songs...



I had to throw in something for laughs.



But in all seriousness I have lots of things to be thankful that I could not list them all.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and we remember why we celebrate this time of year. We have all been given so much and we should take time to celebrate the blessings. 

As we express our gratitude,
we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words,
but to live them.-JFK

Half way there

Nearly 6 months ago I wrote a post called "Newly 25" in which I discuss what I would like to be doing by the time my 26th birthday... here is my update.

1. I said I would like to be a full time student.... Next semester I am enrolled in my first full time semester as a master's student. I will be taking my last two pre reqs in library science and my first archiving class where I will have an internship. YEAH!!!

2. I would like to give 20 minutes of writing every day... this has varied a lot. I was good over the summer but now with school my brain is finding it hard to be inspiring but I am writing this blog so that's good. Also I keep a very active journal. But I am hoping over winter break to write more of my story.

3. Travel more... I went down to Atlanta over Memorial day for the first time that was really nice. But my big travel I hope is me going down to Central America to dig a well with Living Water but that will be after my next birthday but I am still working on the travelling.

Okay that is my checklist so far.

A little Advocacy

Hello lovely readers,


Last night instead of doing my usual homework routine after work I went to a meeting about Living Water International an organization that builds water wells to people in 3rd world countries to provide them fresh clean healthy water. Did you know?

Sorry the bottom part is blurry it "A Child dies every 15 seconds because of the lack of clean water. It costs us an average of $0.96 to to provide clean, safe water to one person for one year every dollar makes a difference."

I am not meaning to sound like I am on a soap box so please forgive me if I do. I have a heart for children with that statistic was not settling with me so I went to this meeting to find out how I could help and maybe a chance to go on a trip with them to help dig a well. I have actually never been on a trip like this so I am not sure what to expect or how to prepare but right now I am praying that if God wants me to go doors will remain open. But in the mean time I have decided to save my money to donate to this cause... in that I am not going to reduce how much drinks I buy when I go out. Like not buying soda, coffee, or other beverages and put that money aside for this cause.

A Living Water well

First, I will say yes that Living Water is a christian organization but rather you practice that or not we all need to address that the water crisis needs to be resolved. We are so lucky to live in America where we have clean water every where. Think about how much water you use from your shower, brushing your teeth, using the restroom, washing your hands, or making that cup of coffee. I know last summer in Boston our water was contaminated by a leak and it pratically shut down our city but we could still go buy bottled water and we survived the few days. But I can't imagine what it is like for people to go find water every day that was contaminated and knowing you had to do drink it but it was going to get you sick and maybe kill you. Also as a girl I would be the one to take the watering can (the orange bucket in picture) to walk 5 or so miles to get water then walk back with it full weighing 40 lbs, I know I am not that strong and if I had to do that every day I would not have time to be getting the education I have. Water is tied to everything.

I am feel so blessed living in America with so many freedoms and purusing the dreams I want to pursue so I am going to try to find a way to take my blessing and give to others. Right now it is with my money, I hope soon it will be with my time, going to Central America for a week and helping dig a well. Also this Christmas with Advent Conspiracy I am going to try to be more thoughtful with my gifts. Even if your not a Christian your presents can be more focused on presence and helping others. We all need to help this world.

Think about how you can help.

Please if you want more information on this please click on the links in this post.

A little road mapping

I will admit I look back at my life a lot. I am sure a lot of us do. Sometimes we look back and we see happy times with family and loved ones. Sometimes we see pain heart breaks and challenges. I think we can all agree that that is the mix of life. I know many times I look back over my life (which hasn't been that long) and see things that didn't make sense in the present but now I know they have made me who I am. For example when I was 10 my Nana passed away. She was the first death I ever really experienced and I wasn't happy that she was gone but with in a year of her passing away my mom moved us out to the west coast. My mom made me repeat the 5th grade, all these events I didn't understand but now I see how shaping they were. If I hadn't moved to the west coast, I don't know if I would have ever been brave enough to move myself to the east coast, and it is here I have found my own little home. And living on the west coast where people didn't know me my whole life most people assumed my pesky speech impediment was an accent, and I no longer got teased for it. After my repeat of the 5th grade my grades got better and I took some time to just get in the flow of it. Also my 5th grade year I had an awesome teacher, Mr. Bacon, who besides my parents encouraged me to write. But in the moment my Nana's death, the move, the repeating 5th grade none of it made sense... but I think how puzzle pieces fit together to make me me.

I don't know about you but sometimes I look back and I can only see the mistakes I have made and I hold on to those tighter than I hold on to my accomplishments. I know there are a lot of motivational quotes that say don't let mistakes define you but it is hard for me. Even when all the world is telling me "I am good" I feel myself criticizing myself ( I am my worst critic). You might be thinking I am in a low place in my life again, and actually that's not true I am just over thinking things and just writing it out helps.

I had a relationship with a guy, over a year ago, but he was the man I thought I was going to get married to. I have a deep desire to be a wife (as you can probably tell from my other blog posts) so when I thought I was going to marry this guy I put all my hope into that relationship. I felt I gave it my all and when it ended I had nothing left. Now of course I had great friends who held on to me and lifted me up. But it took me a really long time to get over him. And I still work on it but there is a deep part of me that knows I need to move on and a really anxious (anxious because I want to be in love again) that is telling me I want to move on. But some how deeper down I worry... I worry about making the same mistakes all over again, I worry about being crushed all over again. I guess those all factors of life.

As I was writing that last part I remembered the quote "if you're not willing to sound stupid, you don't deserve to be in love" so I googled it and found out it was from the movie "A Lot Like Love" but as I was googling the quote google was showing me this other quote "If you're not willing to risk it all, then you don't want it bad enough" - Unknown. So maybe I just need the reminder if I want something bad enough I will have to face the idea I will make mistakes (we all do) but I can't hold on to my mistakes I have made in the past. I just need to let them teach me and not define me. 

I looked up the word "risk" on Pinterest and got some interesting quotes, here are my favorites...

So maybe I shouldn't be so timid by my past mistakes and take a little bit of risk... I know the Lord has blessed me so far and not matter what happens next he will use it to shape my future.