It's a Stressful time!

I'm currently lying on my bed looking out my window at the sun and a light snowfall thinking "wow, I have so much to do this week, and I'm still putting it off". This week is exam week, the final week of the fall semester. Along with six exams and a jury to keep my music candidacy, I am in charge of checking out 36 girls a they move out of the building for a full month.

I am quite excited for the Christmas break. Normally, it's a full month of laying around and doing nothing but relaxing. But, this break will be very different. On Monday the 13th, I have my first day of jury duty. When I found that out I was quite annoyed, but maybe it will be a good experience? After that, I am hoping to babysit as much as possible. [if you need a sitter for ANYTHING at all, please let me know!] The reason I am going to be babysitting so much is because I have been given the opportunity to go on a mission trip in March. I will be traveling to the Dominican Republic with an organization called Orphanage Outreach. I will be working with orphans most likely teaching English, and leading the music. I just decided to go on the trip this past week. The trip costs $600-800 plus the cost of a plane ticket. Basically, I need to raise almost $1600 before the end of February. Therefore, I need to do as much babysitting or work as possible to raise the money!

When this opportunity was first brought to me I was excited because it I know it is going to be such a good experience. But, then I started freaking out about everything that goes along with it. Raising the money really worried me. Being at school, I don't have the opportunities to raise money if I were at home. I prayed about it a lot and had my parents also pray about it to see if this is what God wanted me to do. Another main issue with the trip is that I am going to miss an entire week of school in the Spring semester. That is a lot of class, and it is especially at a bad time because my spring choir concert is the day I get back from the Dominican. I decided to talk with my choir director because this was going to affect our group the most. At first, she was hesitant but then we talked about why I was going and how important it was to me. God bless her, she said I could go. I promised her I would have all of my music memorized before I left and she said that she hoped it would be a great experience for me. That was basically the green light from God that I should go. That was the main thing that was holding me back from signing up and putting my deposit down. So, after a long conversation with Tom late one night, I paid my deposit and am now signed up to go!

This experience I hope will bring me more clarity in what I am to do with my life. I am hoping to grow closer to God and to help others grow closer in their relationship with God. Working with little kids is a great passion of mine, and I can only hope to do everything through God and really let Him speak through me.

Now, back to this week. Even with so much going on I am trying to not let myself be stressed. Instead of stressing, at night I'll watch an episode of Bones [my new favorite obsession] or continue writing my book. [Yes, I started writing a book, we'll see how it turns out]. Being able to just lounge on my bed for an hour or so and not think about the real world really allows me to take a step back and keep my stress level down. Awesome right? I definitely recommend taking time for yourself each day. Whether it be just driving in the car for 20 minutes at a time by yourself, or praying before you go to bed. It is so key, when there are so many people around to take care of or be there for, that you are taking care of yourself. Because, how can we help people if we ourselves are not ready?

This season is known as the most wonderful time of the year, but also the most stressful. Try to take some time for yourself each day to keep your spirits high and to keep yourself rejuvenated. God bless.