My title of my blog proves to be meaningful for me yet again. It seems as though I can't get threw a year without something "big" occuring to alter all expectations for the year/term. Last year around this time I was being asked to fly across the world to Southeast Asia (hence the naming of my blog and the start up of it.. again I proved to fail at keeping up with it.) Now, I am finding myself heading into maybe even more scary and uncharted territory, at least for me. This time next month I will no longer be working in Student Life for the first time in over 6 years. I will be unemployed and living with a family in St. Stephen taking some time to rest and figure out what is next. This is going to be a very scary time for me... I have never been in a place where I have not had "10 things" happening all at once, where i have had to lean on others for support and where I have had to pull away from the usual activity/volunteering/work etc.. That I would normally be a part of. As my dear friend said, this is a year for ME. Sounds super selfish, I know! I hate it. Still trying to wrap my head around it but over and over again I am recieving the message that I need to be taking care of me. It's time to figure out what April wants out of life, how I want to be setting myself up for my future and not making my decisions based off of what I think others expect of me. Now, in saying this (or those of you reading) I am not in any way stating that I regret decisions made. Everything that I have done has prepared me for this moment, prepared me to be ready to take this self reflective time to really know who my God has created me to be and how I can best be used for His glory. Not to mention I do believe He has already used me in both seen and unseen ways and for that I am forever grateful and overwhelmed by the thought. But life is going to be having some unexpected changes....and so here we go! If you want (and if I keep up with it) you can journey with me through this experience of having nothing in particular to do. Journey with me through my self discovery and struggles with dealing with who I am and how I deal. Journey with me as I process what is next...It could be fun, boring, insightful or simply... simple! Either way I know this is probably an essential part of the process and I am going to try to make it a more regular thing.

Blessings.

Here we go again!

Hello all,

Well I am sitting in the main office here at SSU getting some nit picky work done before the students have all arrived and my job is put back into full force. I enter into this semester feeling a little out of the loop or disconnected but I realize that this will quickly change once the reality sets in for everyone that every semester is different. We have some students taking the semester off, some returning who haven't been here for over a year and others who have been here and are now preparing to graduate. We have 27 students graduating for our school this year which is going to leave a big hole. They are a fantastic group of people too. And man, this graduation is going to be a lot different from last years seeing as last years only had 5 Graduates. I tell ya this school is full of crazy dynamics!

And as for me, well I am feeling a lot more hopeful at this moment. Last year was a difficult year for me.. internally? But I feel as though God has granted me, or else I have just become more aware of the peace that is available. I am trying to be more active, more optimistic and intentional in every aspect of my life because of the realization that this is something I have been slacking on. My spiritual life took a turn for the worst during the summer and after talking to some people and coming to new insights of why that might be I feel as though I can now begin to renew that which seemed to have been lost.

So, I want to wish a VERY Happy New Year to one and all. May you be granted a new sense of peace, joy and hope for the year ahead. May you be intentional in your relationships, in the direction of your life and may you not allow fear to overcome you.

Much Love.

April