What has happened in the past two weeks:

• Meet some new friends who will be working at CSU this year with me.
• Worked a lot!
• Went shopping for some new clothes with my birthday money!
• Definitely saw GI Joe with Lee and Clint…ooooohhh Channing Tatum!
• Did a couple of photoshoots (two previous posts) for Kait & Justin and Baxley.
• Had lunch with my mentor, Lynette! (That’s a rare occasion for us!)
• Got to spend some time with Savannah after she returned from Honduras.
• Spoke to all of the Rez Life staff about PLACE
• Went on the Charleston Thriller boat ride today with Katie and Savvy. You gotta check it out some time!
• My roommate, PT (aka Party Time), is back in the APT with me!
• Survived Orientation!

Sounds like a lot of fun, huh? Well, for the most part it has been! These are the times when someone wired like me can get bogged down in life. You want to make sure that you have everything done just perfectly so you over exert yourself to the point of exhaustion and in-effectiveness. You also tend to dwell on things that aren’t reality or possibly exaggerate the things that are somewhat real. What does this mean?

First thing that comes to mind would be this guy who I recently tried befriend. At the beginning it seemed to be a fun time to have a guy to hang out with. Quickly it turned to a microscopic crush, but knowing that my heart could not handle any more games like I had been through in the past I decided I was going to slowly approach it. After inviting him to come along to some of the events that I was attending and being shut down I decided to back away again. Mind you I had like four people who were reminding me to be careful and a couple of them just didn’t have a good feeling about this guy from the get-go! I did heed their advice, but I was in a weird place where I still wanted to play the game. Turns out the game was just dumb. After inviting him to an event on-campus where we both work I got a response from this guy telling me I acted better than him because I went out and did things, and that I was too intent on changing him. So needless to say… I am done with that one. I don’t have any fight in me to try to rekindle anything there. Is this wrong? I choose to think that I am not giving up on him as a person, but it is my responsibility to guard my heart from any discouragement or evil doing because it is the well-spring of life. If I would continue on fighting that lost cause I would become even more drained and would walk into the wilderness. Do you think this is one of those cases where I might have exaggerated the situation?

I have also been a little overwhelmed with the fact that so often I apologize or become a wimp when it comes to boldly proclaiming that I am called to do ministry for the Lord and that I am happy with doing that! I find myself tip-toeing around the TRUTH. But WHY? Is it because I don’t want to be confronted with conflict of beliefs? Is it because I am lazy? Do I just want to be accepted by all people? Do I really understand why I am doing it? What did I think it was going to be like? These are some of the questions that pass through my head as I am talking to people that don’t know me and I am trying to make a lasting impression. Don’t they know who I am? I love the serve and to give and to organize and to shoot pictures and to influence people and to love and to help and….well you get the point, right? I am hoping to find some more community with some of the people I am now working with because I want to walk boldly on and off-campus to tell people I am called to be a servant of the Lord. I believe this community will answer what Hebrews 10:24 says, “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.”

Any who – that’s been some of the major things running through my head these past couple of weeks. I’m trying to get my life back into the daily routine of writing. I will try to post a Top Ten Thursday later today.

1. Women’s ministry is within reaching distance and I still don’t have things coming together on how to accomplish the goals. Wait – do I even have goals laid out for the ministry yet? Whew! Lots of work to be done. I think once I get rolling on it then it will be more easy going than I think. Lessons to be learned on how to meet people’s needs and to engage with all people to share the love of Christ.

2. Orientation is only 2 months away and we have so much to develop. I have to plan a week of work for the OTLs, plan time for them to work with the RAs on several things AND I have to figure out the whole tv show script. I have decided on the theme for OTLs and already have design going for the tshirts. This should be fun! I know its going to take lots of work, little amounts of sleep and many hands. We will survive — because we always do! Always an Orientation season…and a new season begins for these freshmen so we try to make it a great experience. There is also a reason I get the privelege to do these two weeks of events.

3. Portfolio for my Photography has been pushed along so many years now. I am hoping to tackle that this upcoming month.  I will try to have an online version and a print version too. The reason behind doing this is to bring my photography to a professional level.

4. Elevate should be a good time this year. My mission in the next week is to really be in prayer over the people leading, the approach to reach people, and how to creatively engage people through music, image and words. We do have a planning meeting coming up on June 23rd. That might be a couple of hours. Again, a lesson to be learned from other people.

Upcoming fun things I am on mission to do…

Mom is coming on Thursday with Hunter, Glo and Hannah on the train. It should be a fun couple of days.

I leave next week to see Melissa and her family. And hope to get my meeting worked out with Nicole before I board my plane back to SC.

July 4th celebration @ my mom’s house is going to be a blast and Bethany is coming too!

I just thought I would look back over the past year and look at where we have come from. Yes – WE not ME or I, because you have been right there beside me or behind me as we accomplished a lot of it.

Coming off a hard, but great summer! I went to St. Maarten’s Island with my Aunt and Dallas/Abilene, TX. I got the PRIVILEGE to mentor Kelsey and meet Kelsey’s family. I took three MBA classes and worked the rest of the summer.

Then it all begins with 2 weeks of Orientation! We had the best time this year preparing for OTLs from Party Walks to Team Contests to showing up the RAs in the lobby at the Orientation meeting. How about when we played the Magic Shoe game at the OTL retreat and it took three times to get everyone across the river but we did it (right nick!)! I remember the night after move-in day when I stayed up all night in the Brewer Center and Michael brought me SONIC at midnight (like I usually do) to make the video for the Saturday morning meeting to keep everyone engaged in the boring tradition of blah blah blah!

Freshman Week went off well and the OTLs loved each other….always a NICE goal to accomplish!

Once we get into the routine of classes then people’s schedules get crowded and they tend to go their own way. I know for most of my days in the Fall semester I did the work in the office thing during the day and the evenings I tended to find myself in the library working on that 80 page business plan for my photography and videography company! Yes, 80 pages! And YES, I did make an A!

A major thing that sticks out in my mind was the blessing of such a wonderful Elevate leadership team. Dustin and Kristen were the head-honchos for Elevate workers and the logistics. Deeter was the worship leader for all of our services. Their hearts to serve and learning to lead were such an inspiration. I can honestly say that when you put the right people in the right place with their gifting then you have a more dynamic and passionate team. You know the saying…”Great minds think alike!…” It is so true!

We had a great semester at Elevate. There were many other events that I took many pictures at…Jocelyn Culver won Homecoming Queen 2008! Aimee Connor won Miss CSU 2009 as a freshman! Fall Fest was a hit and I got to introduce the Men’s and Women’s BBALL teams to the student body! I got to speak to the Volleyball team a couple of times and fell in love with those girls! (GO LADY BUCS!) Midnight Breakfast in the CAF is always a big hit too! I remember the goofballs who busted into the walls and ate cereal during the Exam Study session in the CAF (which lost that privilege for everyone else!) How about Soccer was rocking it as they beat Coastal at BlackBaud stadium! The Blue Patrol emerged from the ground at the end of the Fall semester!

So I finished the semester and everyone was counting down for that semester to be over with…mainly because I think they were ready for me to be finished with complaining about school. haha! Ami made me a countdown chain for the office and we all enjoyed removing rings each day! It was fun to sit through that graduation because me and my home slice Tuesday sat there textin’ and playing solitaire on her iPod touch. It was amazing! We laughed a bunch!

It was not until the end of January when we went to Converge at Myrtle Beach that the Lord truly grabbed on to my heart and really opened my eyes to see what He had been doing through me and IN me too! At the beginning of the Fall semester I had talked with Clark about my intentions after Graduation from the MBA program which was in December. That was to fulfill the school year and then decide if this is where I would stay or if it was time to move on to the next season in life. So as people began to hear of this they began to pray (apparently)!

I tried to think about some of the things that took place in the Spring semester: Obama was elected into presidency and the party in the CAF (or the chaos that took place the night of the election???)! March Madness was a good time despite the rain and W. Soccer won the Ladies Intramural BBall Championship! We had an official Greek Week with an Ultimate Soccer game! Downtown Elevate had the most people we’ve ever had downtown in Marion Square Park! Spring Break Mission Trip to Baltimore was a great time especially on the Silver Bullet! Watched new relationships blossom like they usually do with those April Showers (its in the water)! SGA held an outdoor movie on our new big inflatable screen that Carolena did NOT help setup (j/k)! I took probably 6,000 pictures just in this semester!

God definitely taught me some great things about Himself and His love that He wants to show to His children! I have decided to stay for one more year at CSU and from what I can tell people are okay with that. I believe that there are a couple of students who God really used to speak to my heart on the issue of “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” (kinda sounds like someone’s been playing Rock Band too much!) Just to name a few that I know for sure God has used…Allison, Kristen B, Koryn, Meghan, Casey, Savannah, Clair, Kylee, Amber, Kaitlyn, and Carolena. Yes – these are all females…because I believe that the Lord is calling me to focus more time on loving, leading and learning from the women on this campus.

I ask for you all to continue to pray for me as I seek the Lord on HOW He would have me accomplish these acts of service and love. I am excited to be here to witness the good things that will come through relationships and worship! Thank you for all of you who have opened your heart and lives up to me! I love you all dearly….

Have a great summer and be thinking of how we will blow this school year out of the water with more FUN and OUTRAGEOUS EVENTS!