"I'm proud of you"

Those are words that bring a smile to my face and a warmth to my heart. If everyone knew how powerful those words were, they would be said more often for more small accomplishments.

A couple of months ago, I decided to change my major. This came with lots of thinking, lots and lots of prayer, and lots of talks with my friends and family. I was going to school to major in Civil Engineering. After many opportunities working with children, I have changed my major to Secondary Education. I will major in Math and minor in Physics.

While I was home in Memphis, I had an opportunity to visit with previous employers and previous professors at the University of Memphis. While preparing for the reunions, I was nervous to break the news to them about the major change. (ps: I have wanted to be a Civil Engineer since I was 12......) The first person I told was a previous boss who has been a Civil Engineer for more than 50 years. He told me he was shocked, but proud of me.

Then I told one of the professors that made the most impact in my life. He is the one of pushed me harder, made me work harder, and made me question everything so that I could know for sure the truth in all things. He expected the most out of me, and then expected more because he knew the potential that was in me. I was the most nervous in telling him. Once I told him, there was some disappointment in his eyes. He told me that I was one of his grandest students and it kind of felt like I was "giving up". That broke my heart. He saw that I was sad, and then went on to say that I should stick with it, especially on the hard days, and do my best. However....he did not say he was proud of me for following my heart.

Lastly, I made a phone call to one of my best friends. We have known each other for many years. We met in my freshman engineering class at Memphis. I was nervous to talk to him too. We made small talk, and then he asked me about school. I hesitantly told him that I had changed my major. He started laughing and then went on to say that when he first met me, he knew that I would someday be a teacher. He said that I had the right type of personality to teach and change kids' lives for the better. He then said those magic words to me: "I'm proud of you" That meant a whole lot coming from him!

I am soo grateful for those people in my life who care about me as a person, and know that I don't do things without thinking through them, a lot! My parents raised me to be someone who relied on the Lord and who trusted in the Spirit of the Lord to lead me on the path that would be in most harmony with the will of the Lord. I do things in my life that will make both my Heavenly Father, and earthly father say to me: "I'm proud of you!"

Home is Where the Heart Is!!

I'm home....for at least another week....but let me start at the beginning...

I had some awesome plans for this summer. I was coming home from SLC to work at the same place as I did last summer. I really loved the atmosphere. I worked with a really sweet lady, and we listened to Christian music all day while dispatching A/C technicians. I was really excited to come back. It meant spending the whole summer working there, and part-time at Best Buy, and then spending lots of time with my mom and dad, my brother and sister-in-law.

I was all ready to head out on Friday the 3rd of June. I got an email from the A/C place, on TUESDAY the 31st of May, that said that someone else deserved the job more than I did. I was heartbroken!! I really wanted to work there and spend my summer in Memphis. I called my mom and told her the news, and she was almost as stressed as I was in not having a job for the summer. So we both decided that I needed to really pray about it, and try and figure out what to do. Several hours later, my mom called with the idea of working on "the Farm" with Trio #3, in Cortez, CO. She also called Trio #3 and presented the plan to her.

On Wednesday morning, I talked to Trio #3, not knowing that mom had already talked to her, and told her of my jobless predicament. She then told me that I did have a job that summer. It was pretty crazy hours, but with a comfy bed, great food, and super awesome co-workers. I had a job waiting for me on the Farm. I started to cry. She had answered my prayers even before I had realized I was asking them earnestly.

So we came to Memphis. Trio #1 and I drove to Cortez on Friday, right after work got out, and we spent the night with Trio #3. Then we started driving the next day. We were going to spend the night in Fort Smith, AR....but when we got there at about 1:00 am, we wanted to finish driving the Four hours home. So we trudged through on music, and excedrine. Luckily, my brother and his wife have their own house with two extra beds. We called them and let them know that we were going to stop by, sleep for a little bit, and then surprise mom and dad at church. We rolled into Memphis at 5:30 am. We had been on the road for 19 hours...and were sooooo ready for a nap. We got a 2 hour nap, and then got up for church. We snuck into the church building, and then sat in the pews. My mom was the organist for the day and so she was up in the front playing prelude music. She looked up to check how many people were there, and she saw us! She gasped in surprise, and came running off the stand, and gave us huge hugs. Then my dad noticed us and gave us huge squeezes too. It was soo fun being able to surprise them.

On Tuesday we left for an all girls church camp. I will write more about that later. That lasted until Saturday. This week we are playing, and crafting, and swimming, and watching TV, etc. It will be a great week. Trio #1 and I have to head back west on Saturday, to make it back to work on time. I am still sad that there are several things that I will be missing here that I had already made plans for. I am a little nervous to drive the swathers, but I know that there is a reason for everything, and that I am supposed to be in Colorado this summer. (maybe I will meet a super cute cowboy...and fall madly in love....)

So, stay tuned for more adventures to come!