Faith, Hope, and Love

This summer, I have the opportunity to go to India and serve with As Our Own , an organization that rescues young girls from the sex trafficking industry and raises each of them as their own daughters. The provide for all their needs and they remain a part of their family even after they go to college, get married and have daughters (or sons) of their own. As part of our preparation for the trip, each of us going had to share "our story." What pivotal milestones had led us to where we are now? How had God prepared us for this time and this place? I was very hesitant to do this, and struggled for a week and a half, trying to decide what to share. I've been a Christian more or less my whole life. And yes, I do know that you aren't born  a Christian. At some point each person has to answer God's call on their own. I just don't remember exactly  when I did that. My dad is a clergyman and started a church the year I was born. I was always involved in things ...

Dating is was my idol. Since I was at least six or seven, I've been obsessed with the idea of being someone's girlfriend. And not in a frivolous sort of way. I was always quite serious about my love life. Every guy I dated, I thought I would marry. And I treated each relationship with that level of seriousness (or with as much seriousness as a 12-, 16-, or even 18-year-old can). And I can't even say that I've dated a whole lot (although I have had my fair share of crushes), but when I did begin dating, very rarely was I single for long or not obsessing with my singleness. My first "serious" relationship started when I was 15. I had liked him for two years before that (along with some mini-crushes on a few other boys) and so when he finally noticed me and asked me out, it was amazing. Although it lasted for a little over a year, that relationship ended because frankly, we were young. And I probably scared him with how serious I was about the whole thing,...

... in the words of Jaime Grace (who was totally reading my mind). Absolutely hilarious and perfect video. In general, I feel a lot of pressure to be in a relationship. Part of it comes down to the fact that my unofficial part-time job is "wedding attender." There is at least five weddings a year in my life. And there was the year I went to 10 (and had been invited to more). And at every wedding, I sigh with a lot of happiness for the couple, but also a little bit of longing for myself. But a huge part of it is that every Nigerian auntie wants to question me at every event possible (especially weddings) and during their questioning I get this niggling feeling that I'm not meeting expectations. That it doesn't matter that I have two degrees, or that I'm working my butt off teaching 6th graders, or that overall I think I'm growing into a wonderful woman. What matters is that I'm still single. And that makes me a failure. I don't truly believe t...

It never fails that within a given week someone   seemingly has to ask me, "So... do you have a boyfriend?", "So who's the lucky man?" or something along that lines. It doesn't matter if we've been friends for ages and just haven't seen each other in a while, or you've just met me a few months, days or hours ago. It somehow always creeps up. And when I say, "No... No one..." with a sweet smile on my face, the answer is always a variation of three things: 1. "Don't worry, your own time will come soon." (Really? I wasn't worried until you said that , now I'm worried that something is the matter since "my time" hasn't come yet. Thanks.) 2. "Oh, why are you being picky? Or are you just waiting until you're sure ? (Actually, no one is even remotely interested in me. Or at least no one I'm aware of. Thanks for reminding me of that fact.) 3. "We've got to find someone for you!...

So maybe I should reconsider my decision to leave the journalism world. After all, accroding to this Common Ground post , it's the #1 Sexiest job for women. Followed by teachers... but only if they are Teach for America. Which I am not. So I am apparently not a sexy teacher (sigh). Photographer is #3... so maybe if I take my hobby more seriously I could still be seen as sexy. I lack a sexy career. Which is sad, considering that the top three are kind of within my reach. It'd explain why I'm still single, perhaps. I kid. Although, I have been thinking a lot about my singleness over the last 2-3 months. I promise, I'm not one of those crazy girls who is psychotically planning her wedding and just needs to put a groom in the mix and she'll be happy. Generally, I'm very content with my life. But... I do want to find "the one." And I am kind of tired of waiting around for him. Yet, I don't know how to find him. About six weeks ago, I ran into o...

I've always liked you. I want to make sure you know this, just cause I have a lot of friends who feel the opposite. For them, you bring heartache, feelings of loneliness and inadequacy. And I'll admit, there were some years where I felt a twinge of that, too. But, mostly, especially lately, I've really enjoyed you. Like last year, how you brought me a fun-filled girl weekend. A sleep-over, the girlie movies, cookies and candy. There was so much laughter and love . It was better than having a guy buy me roses or chocolate, or take me on a romantic dinner. Not the cookies I baked, but mine were heart-shaped!  And this year, we had a baking party! Desserts galore! Chocolate cake and cupcakes, blondies (brownies sans the chocolate), lemon-line mousse, strawberries with some sort of white chocolate, cinnamon creme. Oh, and I made cookies from scratch ( fulfilling one of my new year's resolutions )! We watched the obligatory girlie movies, and had the obligatory conv...

So, I'm a "Bachelor" junkie.I was disgusted by the Jason-Melissa-Molly situation (You would have thought Melissa was my best friend! Although I do hope Jason and Molly true bliss), I was horrified by Jake picking Vienna and wasn't surprised at their very public break up. Ali and Roberto are cute, and I hope they are the next Trista and Ryan.  To be honest, I've been planning to quit the show for years, and there have been seasons that I've skipped out of it. But somehow I've continued to watch all seasons from Jason up to this current one with Brad. Personally, I think "The Bachelor" is absolutely ridiculous (maybe that's why I am so addicted). While I think that you can be pretty sure about wanting to spend your life with someone after like 6 weeks, I've always found the engagement thing a bit extreme. Especially with the fact that there's 25 to 30 women (or men) clouding your judgement. I've never understood how people can ...