Home Stretch

So here I am at the end of my sophomore year of college. Finals are next week and I am doing everything I can to procrastinate and keep from studying, including updating my blog. It has been a crazy semester and somehow I made it through. So excited to be finished with semester and to have summer waiting around the corner for me.

What have I been up to recently? Honestly I have no idea. I guess a few of my activities have included getting a pre-summer tan (the first one in a long time), hanging out with high school kids, spending lots of nights at the Sloan house, and trying to watch all six seasons of the ABC TV show LOST. Oh and I guess going to school (don't worry Mom and Dad, I didn't miss too many classes). There has been alot more going on than that but those are the things that actually stick out in my mind.

Next week I head back to Boerne, TX for the first time since Christmas break. Super excited to see my family, our new house, and eat far too much greasy and delicious Mexican Food. But going to Texas means walking back into memories. It will be the beginning of me going home and never giving my brother John anymore awkward hugs or begging him to borrow the truck. Hopefully it will be good to go back and have some real closure with moving to a new house and all but that also means closing the door on the old. It has been almost six months and I am no closer to understanding as to why my brother would want to take his own life. The pain is still fresh but I am learning to take hold of Christ and let his love smother me more and more each day and letting his love be enough, something I've always known in my head but now must take hold of in every fiber of my being.

This semester was one gigantic whirlwind of activity. I feel like I blinked and it passed me right by. This summer should be an interesting one. The first part of it will spent in my favorite place in the world, Colorado. I will be spending 3 weeks volunteering at Young Life camp called Frontier Ranch outside of Buena Vista, Colorado. It is nestled right at the base of a 14,000 foot peak, Mt. Princeton. I am so excited to be able to go this summer. After a short trip to northern Colorado to visit my mother at another Young Life camp, I will be returning to Asheville for the most of the rest of the summer. It is the first summer that I can remember that I have not been going and doing everything all summer long. I'm planning on getting a job and hanging out around the area. I am so excited to be in one place. Hopefully I can go into the next school year well rested and ready to jump back into things.

Next year I will be a Junior at UNC Asheville. It is so crazy how fast these last two years have gone by. I know it will only get faster from here. So thankful for where I am and the relationships that I have and will continue to grow here in Asheville, NC. Cannot think of anywhere else I'd rather be at the moment.