a much needed weekend :)

This past weekend was so much fun! My amazing friend Chelsie braved the drive across the mountains and came to visit me! It was so nice not to worry about class and just relax! And that's just what we did :)

Chelsie got here on Thursday and we were able to chill out before we had to head off to cheerleading practice. I just started coaching kindergartner cheerleaders with Upwards so Chelsie was able to be a part of that. After that we rented one of my favorite movies, Narnia and watched it with my family! The rest of the weekend we spent eating great food, shopping for Christmas presents/presents for ourselves, and lots of crafts!! We ate at the Apple Barn and it was GREAT like always :) I recommend everyone eat there sometime in your life because its really amazing! We also visited Gatlinburg and shopped around Pigeon Forge. Even though it was freezing we had a lot of fun! We also made lots of Christmas treats and crafts that we picked up from Joanne Fabrics. We made some really cute stuff!

It was a wonderful treat to the end of a very stressful semester! I'm so happy that I have such amazing friends :) and I'm very proud of Chelsie for making such a long mountainous drive because it is a hard one to make! You rock!

You are my strength when I am weak

This past week my uncle was in a very bad accident. He was at his home trying to get a fire started outside and decided to pour some type of gasoline into the fire to get it going. When he did that the fire exploded and exploded onto him. He has now been in the hospital for three days and they have found out that 45% of his body has 3rd degree burns on it.
My family and I drove up today to see him. We will be staying for the rest of this week and next so that we can stay with him and his family.
I was able to see him today. He was in so much pain but he looks a lot better than I expected! Even though I am so used to the hospital setting its always so weird to see a family member with tubes and wires on them.

While I was in my uncles hospital room the song All in All kept coming to mind. One part of the song stood out. In the song it says: "You are my strength when I am weak." I started thinking about Gods strength...it says in Psalm 46:1 "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear." My uncle has no physical strength right now but if his strength is in God then thats all he needs.

He has a long road ahead of him but I know God will be with him. My prayer for my uncle is that he will use Gods strength to heal him from the inside out.

first blog

This is my first time blogging and I'm very excited about it! I wanted to have a place to share my stories of Africa, moving and everything else that comes with that.

God has been doing some amazing things in my life over the past few months. He has really open my eyes to things that need to be changed and things that I need to let go of. Change can be such a scary thing at times but I know in the end its going to be worth it.


This is a giant leap of faith
Trusting and trying to embrace

The fear of the unknown
Beyond my comfort zone

I’m letting go
Of the life I planned for me
And my dreams
Losing control
Of my destiny
Feels like I’m falling and that’s what it’s like to believe
So I’m letting go

Giving in to your gravity
Knowing You are holding me
I’m not afraid

Feels like I’m falling and that’s what it’s like to believe
Feels like I’m falling and this is the life for me
-I'm Letting Go by Francesca Battistelli.