The SUN!!!

Wow!! The past month has a been another roller coaster in life it seems... but I'm so thankful that the Lord has brought me to a point such as this. I look back on everything that I was worrying about and the Lord has been faithful to answer prayers and offer hope for the future. About a month ago, I was counting down the days till I would be leaving... counting the days till I could escape from everything. Thankfully, I no longer see this mission trip as escaping anything, I see this where God wants me and He was gracious enough to open my eyes to see that. He parted the clouds of the storm(s) I was going through and now the sun seems to be shining bright! I was having some issues with a dear friend of mine, but the Lord has brought us through that and now our future looks brighter than ever and my heart is as peace. My grampa has gotten wonderful test ressults back and it seems that he is cancer-free at the moment. I've gotten to know a girl I will be spending my summer with and am looking foward to the friendship the Lord is already starting to plant there. The past week was spent hanging out with my friends and family, people the Lord has so abundantly graciously blessed me with! The sun is shining bright!

Let me be clear about one thing though, I'm not anymore in love with my Savior or anymore 'pleased' with Him... that is definately NOT the case! I'm in love with my Savior storm or shine. I rely wholly and entirely upon Him mountain or valley. I praise Him in every situation and give thanks constantly for I am always blessed beyond measure simply by the Christ's death on the cross for my sins, giving me eternal life with God. Every breath beyond that is a blessing that I don't deserve. So please don't misunderstand, my joy is not found in the sunny weather of my life, I'm just sharing that the sun is shining very bright right now.

16 DAYS!!!

So as most of you know, I will be spending my summer in the Philippines working in an orphanage... and it's coming quick! I now leave in only 16 days!!!! I'm soo very excited, but am also understanding how big this trip is going to be. Yesterday I learned alot about the exact orphanage I'll be working in, called Gentle Hands. Most of the children I'll be working with are special needs, much due to neglect and abuse. There are some with physical disabilities as well. I was able to go to the website, gentlehands.org and was able to view all of the children and read a little about their story. Just seeing them broke my heart, I don't know how I'll be able to come home after two months. But I'm getting very excited and ready to go! Hopefully I'll be able to keep up blogging while I'm there, as I expect to have internet access at least once a week.

May...

So this week has been sort of a blur. I finished up all of my final online exams, bringing me to the joyous end of this semester. However, on Wednesday the grandmother of my best friend, Emily, passed away. Grandma Hasty as she was called by many, myself included, was one of the sweetest ladies I've ever known, also with a tremendous amount of spunk that I found refreshingly admirable. This was bittersweet time, as we will miss her, but are thankful that she is now with the Lord. As May comes upon us, marks my last month before I will be leaving to go the Philippines for two months. I'm trying to spend as much time with friends and family as possible during this time, as I know I will be holding dear to the memories I make during this coming month while I'm gone. Fortunately, I should be able to have access to the internet while I'm there. I will try to blog and keep up to date on what's going on, but I'm not sure how well that will work out, we'll just have to wait and see.