Faith, Hope, and Love

So just before I left for this mission trip, I re-read and finished the Gallagher Girl series by Ally Carter (awesome author, by the way). So... I'm going to take a page out of Cammie Morgan's book and create a pro and con list for everything I've experienced so far and what I've been taking away from this mission trip (also the amazing sisterhood I've seen among the daughters of As Our Own kind of reminds me of the GG sisterhood... only this one is real and a lot more life-changing, in my opinion). While the approach might be a little tounge-in-check/silly, there are two things I want to point out: There are infinitely more pros than cons. Many of the cons are actually just pros in disguise. Writing both out is in a way recording the little and big joys and gifts of this trip. Whether pro or con, I've learned so much about me, God, my relationships with Him and others. I'm still processing, and I don't feel radically different right now, but I a...

Anyone who knows me knows that I love kids. They are such a joy to be around. And everything in their world is so cute and whimsical! And anyone who knows me also knows that I love whimsical. :) I'm quite a ways away from being a mom myself, but I think about it all the time. Not in a weird "my eggs are rotting" way, but just in a blithesome anticipation of how much fun it'll be. Or at least how much fun I can have being a mom (don't worry, I'm under no delusions that it's easy). Occasionally I've come across some extremely cute "Mommy Blogs" that have made me go... "I want to do something like that..." Here are two of my most recent findings. (And even if you're not interested, I'm posting them here so I can always come back to this post when I do have kids one day.) 1. Another Lunch: This mom has a blast making her kids lunches as fun as possible. Some of them just look too cute to even eat! She also offers how-to...

Earlier today I decided to be a bit more productive than I usually am after my 4-hour stint at my part-time job and made my way to the bookstore hoping to find some "direction." Ever since I lost my magazine job (and to be honest, even a few months before then), I've been feeling a bit jaded and confused. I'm suddenly wondering if what I always wanted to do with my life is what I'm supposed  to be doing, and asking myself if the profession I've always dreamed of pursing since I was about five-years-old is really for me. What if I'm honestly just no good at it? What if I just thought  I was? I had one day left on my "birthday gift" from Borders (I got a free raspberry-lemony iced tea!), so it seemed like the place to be. In the reference section, I grabbed a Writer's Market hoping to discover a few new avenues and alleys I never thought to walk down before. In the job section, I found "Fired to Hired," which I embarrassingly picked ...