in him is the fullness of all things

Oh Love That Will Not Let Me Go -Ascend the Hill

Sometimes, making one friend makes all the difference. This girl is one of the first girls that I connected with at my church in Chicago. I don't know if you can ever fully understand the importance of reaching out to new people at church until you yourself are a new person at church. Michelle and I connected initially because we were both fellow suburbanites who commuted to church every week. Not only did she express interest in hanging out with me, but she followed through! After she got my number, she called me within a week and invited me over and so it started! From the beginning of our friendship, I have been exceedingly blessed by Michelle's heart for Jesus. She loves to talk about what he is showing her, what he is doing in her life, and she truly has a desire to grow in deeper knowledge of him.  God used this girl powerfully in my life during my first year of school. It was terribly difficult being so far away from so many friend and family back home, ...

Hello! I know it has been a while since I've updated this blog. Sometimes life just gets in the way, ya know? In the last couple of weeks I've: Completed my first year of pharmacy school Moved off of campus Moved (temporarily) back home for the summer Changed my hair Become employed Got back in touch with my country dancing roots Got a list of books to read for the summer Upgraded from the Crackberry to something Steve Jobs would approve of Seen Josh Garrels perform in Portland Finally experienced some sunshine Long story short, it's been a wonderful, relaxing time back in the Willamette Valley. But strangely, it doesn't quite feel complete. As much as I love Oregon and all that it has to offer, I find myself longing to share it with the people that I've had the immense pleasure of doing life with in Chicago these past several months. When ever I gaze at the horizon interrupted by mountains and trees, I find myself wishing that my Chicago friends w...

One foot in and one foot back But it don't pay to live like that So I cut the cords and I jumped the track For never to return -The Avett Brothers This summer will be a pivotal one because I think it will officially mark the end of an old season and the beginning of a new one. Even though I have been living in Chicago for the last 7 months, I realized that I haven't really been here. I missed Oregon so intensely that it was hard for me to be fully invested here when all I really wanted to do was go back home. I think that I needed this transitionary period to adjust to moving to a completely different place where I literally knew no one. But the winds of change are blowing and I feel like my Captain is steering me in a new direction which is both exciting and scary. If anyone would have asked me even a month ago what my plans where after graduating from pharmacy school I would have told them that as soon as I swung my tassel from one side to the other, I wo...

Today ought to go down in history as the first day that I have ever consumed a monster energy drink. I procrastinated the entire day when I should have been studying and lo and behold, I didn't really start studying until 7:00...whoops! So I decided to try a monster drink because I knew that I would need to be up early...long story short, it is 1 in the morning and I am just now beginning to get a little sleepy. Moral of the story: Monster energy drinks are probably all kinds of bad for you...but do they get the job done? indeed. I recorded this video yesterday but didn't get around to uploading it until today. Enjoy! xoxo

So I have reached the two week mark here in Chicagoland and I've made a few observations that I feel are worth noting: Everyone and their mom wears Sperry boat shoes. (many)People from the midwest cannot pronounce Oregon correctly. They prounounce it like "Or-eee-GONE". Chicago sure looks a lot like Oregon when it rains. Gas is flippin' expensive here. What do you know, even in grad school Pinterest can still serve as quite the impressive distraction!  Did you know that you can pay ~$35,000 a year in tuition and your school can't even afford a decent gym? Well now you know. No one knows where Corvallis is. All these things have only made my love for Oregon grow exponentially! I am counting down the days until I get to return to the luscious, green northwest. But in the meantime... Pharmacy school isn't too bad! (I'll probably look back at this and want to kick myself in the face for ever uttering these words...) Everyone said that I would h...

So it's been a full 8 days since I've been here and I'm trying to soak up every last minute of freedom before school begins. TOMORROW. Aside from orientation, which was obviously the highlight (not) of my week, I can't say that I've done much. I did however, take a trip into THE CITY which ended up being a bit of a self-discovery experience for me as well. You see, as most of you know, I grew up in Corvallis, a small (ish) town that can hardly be considered a city. In fact let's be honest, it's kind of a farm town! I've been kind of torn as to whether or not I am a city person or a country person. What I can say without any hesitation is that I AM NOT A SUBURB person. As soon as I stepped off the train and was greeted by the tall buildings and bustling people, I felt as if someone had poured cool water on my soul. I love this city! I only wish that I lived closer to/in it. With that being said, I think my ideal living situation would probably be on a ...

For all you Corvallis/Albany natives: Have you ever gotten on highway 34 or highway 20 and thought to yourself "Gee, this highway is so deplorable, I really wish that I was charged a small fee every time I got on it so that the city could 'maintain' it!" ? What's that you say? That's what our tax dollars are for? Yeah, I am aching to give a good kick in the rear to whoever deemed that to be a good idea. However, that is one of the many ways that I've noticed that the Chicago area is different than Oregon. Aside from that there are the other small details of sales tax, pumping my own gas, HIGH gas prices, and SIDEWALKS( or the lack thereof)! And bike lanes. But this whole experience has really opened my eyes up to how blessed I was to be living in Oregon...the rest of the U.S. has to deal with this stuff on a fairly regular basis! Oregonians are spoiled!* *But I would say we make up for it with the amount of rain we get, yeah? On Tuesday and Wednesd...

Well, it has been nearly 24 hours since I touched down in the windy city and let me tell you, it has been NOTHING like what I expected it to be. First off, the rain I encountered upon arriving would have seriously given Oregon rain a run for it's wet money. I kid you not, there was seriously a flash flood advisory for the evening! However, unlike Oregon, the weather was probably 75 degrees--something I was NOT used to. Luckily, I didn't have to spend too much time in the rain because my shuttle driver had arrived on time and was ready to whisk me off to my hotel in the 'burbs. *here is some free advice: when traveling to somewhere you are not familiar with like, say, CHICAGO, check to see if the airport has a shuttle service--that way you do not have to pay up the wazoo in taxi fares.  After a somewhat awkward ride in the shuttle bus,(while taking a shuttle may be the cheaper option, keep in mind that you get what you pay for. In my case, since the driver was not expect...