This has been a really big week for Alex and me, and I have been doing a lot of reflecting. Oct. 23, 2023 began one of the hardest years of my life. I was diagnosed with Adult Onset Still’s Disease, lost my job and moved away from a community we loved very dearly. On Wednesday, exactly one year later to the day, we signed the papers to sell our first home — our house in Waco, Texas. We closed one chapter of our lives and are ready to start writing a new one. This week we also closed on our new house back home in Conway, Arkansas. If you want to know more details on what the past year of life has looked like for us, I resurrected my old blog from college as a way to continue to heal and process through writing. To every person who helped us and prayed for us through this last year, I will never be able to thank you enough.
Read MoreOn Friday, Dec. 1, 2017, after a scavenger hunt visiting important memories and places in our relationship, my best friend asked me to marry him. Needless to say, I said yes, and I am still a little bit in shock even over a week later. Now that finals are finally over, I am allowed to put my focus back on this and tell you all the story. Disclaimer, this is the long version.
Read MoreMy life is a little crazy right now to say the least. This semester, I am a junior journalism and marketing student taking 19 hours, four of which are for honors credit. I am taking classes on business statistics, business law, world missions and business communication. My favorite classes this semester though are feature writing, in which I am working on a 2,000-word story that I will pitch for publication, and social media strategies, in which I am working on two different social media campaigns (one for the Waldron Center and one for Harding University).
Read MoreSummers home from college are not like any other. Even though this is my second, I still cannot completely grasp it. After you readjust to living in your own home, you have to find a job or internship, keep up with friends far away, catch up with friends from home and take an online class or two. Personally, I also launched a new website, pushed myself to increase marketing for my photography business, began planning for Harding's next Petit Jean Yearbook and took the typical summer trips (a beach trip and a church camp). If that's not enough, I decided to drive to Little Rock five days a week for eight weeks. Crazy, right? Yes.
Read MoreAs some of you may have noticed from my inactivity in the past couple months, my life has been a little busy to say the least. My sophomore year of college is now complete, and I have continued to learn a lot about life, about myself and maybe even a little about the real world to which I am headed.
Read MoreAs I was researching current Broadway plays and playing Sudoku on my phone trying to pass the time as we drove from Washington D.C. to New York City, I was interrupted by an anxious professor, describing to us the first time he caught a glimpse of the New York skyline and challenging us to create our own special experience with the sights of New York City. Meanwhile, he was partially interrupted by another anxiously excited professor singing karaoke style to Taylor Swift's "Welcome to New York." All of a sudden, my New York experience had begun.
Read MoreThere is just something about walking around a big city at night only half-way knowing where you are going that raises a college student's confidence level and self-awareness.
Read MoreA couple week ago my family and I went on a big weekend trip (yes, all 12 of us), which we had never really done before, at least to this extreme. It was my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary, and we decided to celebrate the right way! It was labor day weekend, and we all caravanned up to Branson, Missouri, which is only about three hours from where we live. We went to the Dixie Stampede, the Sights and Sounds Theatre where Moses was currently playing and, of course, made a few stops at the mall.
Read MoreUpon entering college a year ago, the common questions I was asked was always about my major and my hometown and my plans for the year, but upon returning back to school for my sophomore year I seem to be getting asked about my summer more than anything else. Don't get me wrong, this is not a bad thing! I, personally, have asked many people this as a way of catching up with people I haven't seen in three months. Nonetheless, I began thinking about what to tell people about my summer, and it got me thinking about and reflecting upon my first summer as a college student.
Read More Part of going to college is finding "your people," the people who become your closest friends in school, the people you eat dinner with more days than not and the people who you miss the most when you go home for the summer.
Read MoreAs my freshman year of college is about to come to a close, I feel like I have the responsibility to document what has happened over the past year. I read so many blog posts like this before I started college, so this is me returning the favor.As my freshman year of college is about to come to a close, I feel like I have the responsibility to document what has happened over the past year. I read so many blog posts like this before I started college, so this is me returning the favor.
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