Halloween Sunset & Rainbow

Set the World on Fire (Britt Nicole) 2

The song that continues to define my life (to listen, click here: Set the World on Fire). The song I draw inspiration. It speaks to the depths of my heart and soul as I look to Christ for guidance. Where do I go from here? What are your ultimate plans for my life? ...I keep coming back to this song... He asks me..."What is your passion?" For You to take my dreams and give them WINGS. Use me to set the world on fire. With You Lord, there is NOTHING I cannot do. My hands, my feet, my everything, my heart, my life, my love, LORD USE ME to set the world on fire. That is my one true passion for You Lord. I want You to use me to set the world on fire.

Where does that leave me today? As I look to grad school and decide where to go... Do I relocate? Do I stay where I am and take online courses? What do I do? God has finally given me clarity. After tons of prayer of my own and my family and friends all asking for clarity and guidance, God has told me to stay right where I am. Where He has placed me. He can do more with me where I am in the here and now. He has surrounded me with amazing people - family and friends. To leave that for school and money would most likely devastate me. Last night at Bible study, one of the girls received a phone call from her mom saying that her brother almost attempted suicide. He had left home to go to school about an hour and half away. He was stressed beyond belief and had no one to vent to. That hit home real hard for me. That could have been me. Away from my entire support system. Stressed with work and school and no one to turn to or vent to. No shoulder to cry on. I could have been that person wanting to end it all b/c I was so stressed out and far from my support system. I'd like to think I'm stronger than that but at the same time, I've never been in that kind of situation w/o some kind of support system.

God has surrounded me with my new friends in Bible study - (sidenote) S.O.S ROCKS MY WORLD. Be ready for the next one - if you have never done this series - DO IT!!! It's for married, dating and singles alike. We happen to be a group of all singles - guys and girls - but anyone can do it. It will change your life!! It is a series by Tommy Nelson (www.songofsolomon.com). It is amazing. Our entire group is fired up over this. It blows our minds. God never ceases to amaze us. (end sidenote :) ).

God has also surrounded me with my Jamaica family. So many good friendships there. I love my family. Also I have my immediate family nearby. Plus a mission trip or two in the planning for the near future with more friendships and leadership opportunities to be had. Honduras with WaYfm is something I am really looking forward to.

Plus I have my house! I love my cozy house that I'm slowly fixing up and have several projects in the works.

I also have an awesome job and work with amazing people. My managers, coworkers and docs love me. And I love working with them.

To leave all this behind for money - which turned out to not be as great as what I thought - so NOT worth it. Ya'll are stuck with me a bit longer... but for some reason I don't think that will be too much of a problem :p

I have peace. I'm so at peace and relaxed about this decision. To stay home and study online for my masters - total peace. No stress. Just peace. God is good. He has made Michigan my home. My roots are deep. I do have dreams to go elsewhere to be used by God, but my roots are deep here. This is my base. A place where I will always call home. I may come and go from here and there, but I will always come home.

And as for a sign off to this post, let me introduce you to my twins. You may remember hearing a little about them in previous posts (and if you know me, you know they are not "mine"). With permission from their mom to share this, here is their picture debut on my blog... Harrison and Natalie...

Please pray for me...

I wanna post someting new, but I have so much going on right now as far as what to decide for grad school, that I'm just going to ask for prayer for wisdom and insight.

What A Weekend

My first weekend off since Jamaica was an absolute blast. It was so packed with things to do! Saturday entailed going to the mall with my bro for about an hour, then we headed off to apple picking with my friends. My bro decided to go along as he had nothing better planned for the day. Two of my friends, Randi Jo and Alyssa, headed out w/ us to the orchard to meet up w/ Beth and her family. Also at the orchard, we met up w/ Brook and her daughter. A single mom and her son joined us as well. Beth has a total of 5 siblings; add that to the single mom and her son, my brother and me, Beth's parents, Brook and her daughter ~ that's a lot of people! Can you do the math ;) Way too fun!

After apple picking, the Jamaica team (aka family) had a bonfire down in the middle of nowhere at Shane and Brande's home. They have acreage so we had plenty of room to run, explore, hide, carve pumpkins, roast hot dogs and marshmallows, sing and talk about random things around the fire. We started out in traditional Jamaica fam style ~ hugs all around as some of us haven't seen each other in months! Way too long! Then I brought out a football I had bought earlier at Old Navy ~ best $3.75 investment from Old Navy ever! (The last football I bought from Old Navy was $5 and that had stayed at a school in Jamaica ~ those kids at the school loved American football :) ) At the bonfire, we played keep away w/ the football. It started out guys vs. girls... JB, Zach and Bryce vs. Alyssa and me. And yes, the girls held their own! yeah Alyssa! George then joined our team to even it out. Yeah George! We played for at least an hour... till I could run no more, my leg muscles were cramping up and I was so winded I had almost no motivation to move. SO much fun.

After we were worn out, we joined the rest of the group at the fire, roasted a dog and marshmallow or two, hung out with everyone, then got the pumpkin carving going! Granted it was dark, we did it anyway. They turned out great! Fortunately I had a couple flashlights to aid in the carving and avoid anyone losing a finger :O I was done first and it turned out to be one of the best pumpkin designs I have ever done. Then George finished Juice's and put mine to shame :) It was amazing. I had brought lights for them and lit them up. Looked really cool. All the while we were carving, JB and Shane were playing praise & worship songs on their guitars and others were having lively discussions. All in all, it was great bonding time.

After carving pumpkins, I secretly brought out the glow-in-the-dark lotion I had bought at a gas station convenience store before heading down and several of us went off and loaded our faces with it. Then ran out into the dark woods, freaked each other out and managed to get a couple guys to come and check out the commotion. Our faces looked awesome. Reminded me of the scream mask. All that was dark on our faces were our eyes and mouth. After entertaining ourselves with the glow lotion, a bunch of us to played hide and seek in the woods and DARK. That was great! Alyssa, Beth and I were "it' first. Went looking for the guys, but could not find them! We found Dale and he scared the pants off of us. Beth and Alyssa were freaking out the most though! That was funny. George, Juice and Zach still needed to be found. I tried calling George hoping to hear his ringtone... No avail. Tried again. He answered and all I could hear was crinkling leaves. George, where are YOU?! The third time, he ignored me. Kept looking till he jumped out of nowhere with Juice managing to scare the girls once again. Zach was left. We could not find him anywhere. Thought he might have died... JB came out to help us look, but refused to offer any CPR help should Zach have asphyxiated himself... Finally Dale caught wind of Zach and found him alive. Next, Dale, Zach and I hid from JB, Beth and Alyssa. Beth is well known for being scared quite readily. As I hid by a tree w/ the other two guys nearby, JB was entertaining us by scaring Beth every chance he had. I have no idea what he said to her, but I was laughing out loud at listening to her reactions. It was great ...sorry Beth...

After Dale and I were found, Zach was missing still! JB disappeared somewhere while Alyssa, Dale and I con'd looking for Zach. Once Zach was found, I called JB several times thinking he was hiding somewhere in the dark waiting to scare us... he kindly answered w/ his creepy laugh...

What a night as random convos followed at the bonfire. Good times.

Sunday was also packed w/ seeing family from Chicago, San Diego, Iowa and Minnesota. We all went to church together ~ something I haven't done since Jamaica. It was great going to church on Sunday to worship Christ with fellow believers and hear one of my favorite pastors preach ~ Rob Bell.

I also haven't seen my cousin from Cali in years. The first thing she said to me when she saw me, "Your all grown up!" ...if that gives you any idea how long it's been since I've seen her... :) We are both RNs and work in the NICU. We had so much to talk about and catch up on! Plus, I now have her cell number and an invite to visit her! I think a trip to Cali is in store soon :D

What a weekend to have off! Good times all around with family & friends.

Kicked Out of the Boat

Jamaica... I long to go back. Jamaica... So many life lessons learned from one point in time. Jamaica... A place that taught me so many things about life. How to live. How to love. How to receive love. How to receive hugs and touch w/o pulling away or tensing up. How to have confidence in my beliefs, in myself. Even before we left for Jamaica, our original leader, Mike (who was unable to go w/ us last minute) taught our team one valuable lesson that I am currently living out. He taught us about how to get out of the boat. How to step out in faith. How, by stepping out in faith, real living truly begins as you fly by the seat of your pants as you are SO open and ready to be used by God. When you are open and vulnerable, God can use you in ways you never imagined. But in doing so, one needs to remember this one thing... in order to step out of the boat, you have to keep your eyes on Jesus. Take note, when Peter stepped out of the boat, he kept his eyes on Jesus. The moment he took his eyes off Christ, he sunk. When you step out in faith, don't lose faith for if you take your eyes off Him, you will sink. You cannot do it alone. (thank you George, I needed that reminder).


So what's the story...? Recently, as in this past Friday, I gave up my volunteer work at the radio stations. It was time. While I cannot go into the specifics as to why I left, I CAN tell you why God kicked me out of the boat. The only way I was going to leave WCSG was by God kicking me out. He had been nudging me to go back to school for quite some time and I kept saying, "No, not now. No, not now. I'm just starting to really live and You want me to go back to school? already? I want to get married! I want Mr. Right to walk in, sweep me off my feet into the sunset so we can live happily ever after and start a family. I don't want to go back to school! What are you thinking? No No NO!" It's been almost three years since I graduated from nursing school with my BSN. Mr. Right has not shown up yet. I have not started a family. I am single. I have a house, and I have an awesome job. But, God has kept the thought of going back to school in the back of my mind since I graduated. When I was "done" with school, I really didn't feel like I was done. In my mind, whether I chose to acknowledge it or not, I anticipated that I'd be going back. Now that I'm fairly well established in my nursing career in the NICU, I long for more. I know I can do more. I know I am NOT living at my full potential.

So has begun the quest to think about grad school and what I want to go for. I first thought I'd go for my masters to become an NNP (Neonatal Nurse Practitioner) as that is the unit I am currently working in ~ the NICU. When I awoke this morning, God brought to my mind about becoming a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner. He awoke a dream I have had since I first started in the nursing program. My original dream was to become Pediatric Nurse Practitioner which included mission work to orphanages in foreign countries - especially China - to bring medical care to the children. I distinctly remember that poster I made for my very first nursing class of my ultimate dream - a pediatric nurse practitioner - it had pictures of Chinese kids all over it :) That dream still persists to this day and has expanded beyond the borders of the U.S. and China. I long to go anywhere God is leading me. Africa is another place I have a passion to go where the need is so great.

The doors of opportunity will be wide open once I have this degree. I'm SO excited about what God is doing in my life. I am truly loving life again as my dreams are soaring high. This excitement all started when God kicked me out of the boat and I submitted to His will. He has opened my eyes and refurnished the fire to dream BIG again! The world is mine for the taking to GO out and make a difference! ONLY B/C I SAID YES TO HIM. To HIS will. Life gets so much more exciting when you let God take control as He takes you beyond your wildest dreams to fulfill the desires of your heart. Something He alone can do. No one else.

I need to give credit to where credit is due though. First and foremost, to my Heavenly Father for kicking me out of the boat and fanning the flames of the desires of my heart. To Mike... for teaching me such a valuable life lesson. To my friends... Erin, Autumn and Bethany for indirectly motivating me to go back to school. You are all in school or will be going back... so I may as well join ya! To my friend, George for your words of wisdom that you have given me to help keep me grounded in my faith. I love you guys. I couldn't do this without you!

Granted things are always subject to change as I continually seek out His will and come to a full understanding of where He is leading me as I've only been processing this for three days... this is the plan that is going thru my mind right now. I have only just begun the process of searching out where to go for grad school, how to apply, how to get financial help, etc... My goal is to start next fall. I am currently looking at Rush University in Chicago for online courses or U of M and commute as I will continue working in the NICU. In the mean time, I fully intend to live up the life! A couple mission trips, hang out with friends and have just have some FUN!!

God never ceases to amaze me. It's a transition. It's a process. And I'm nervous and I'm scared. But God is good. ...George gave me a gentle reminder... "Keep your eyes on Jesus as you will be amazed at what He does in your life."

Giving Digital SLR's A Run for Their Money!!

Went to a concert two weeks ago and had the opportunity to take some phenomenal pics as we were FRONT ROW, Center Aisle, Seats 1 & 2. It was awesome. It was also at THE best concert venue I have ever been to for taking pics. So good that Mark Schultz even posted two of my photos on his site that I had taken when he performed at this particular venue as we were row 2, seats 1-3 at that show :D I love my camera. My manager at work keeps telling EVERYONE I know and ME that I need a digital SLR. I agree except I don't know that they'd allow them in concert venues too readily. And besides, my Sony Cybershot 5 megapixels has been serving me quite well. So much so that I'd dare say that these last shots give those SLR's a run for their money! Check out some of my best from this last show w/ Bethany Dillon, Santus Real AND my personal favorite, Steven Curtis Chapman...










The rest of my pics from the show can be viewed by clicking here:
My Pics

All rights reserved on all pics.