It's been almost three months since I've been here it feels so good to be back!
Incredible things happened this summer, the biggest I suppose being my month long stay in Italy.
I spent the end of June and most of July in the beautiful Country, with wonderful host families and other participants in the Lions Youth Exchange Program (YEP). It was incredible! (Next couple photos are from the trip):
I finished my Junior year (backtracking a little bit) with ease, and while I was in Italy I found out that I had passed both my AP Finals with 4's, which was way better than I had been anticipating-that Psychology one was a killer. It was a blessing to finally find out and be able to check one more thing off my never-ending list of information I'm just dying to find out-haha.
Life seemed to speed up the second I stepped off the plane in Chicago, suddenly I had to work within the next few days, and then I was whisked away up north (Minocqua, represent) for a 5 day vacay with the family, and then it was more work and needing to finish my AP Literature books (one down, one to go!).
Now there are meetings to attend, senior pictures to be done (thankfully my incredible friend Christine helped me out-I can't wait to see the final products!) and of course meetings for myself to organize as well.
An update on myself specifically: I'm not exactly sure what accent I have now, but I'm pretty sure it's somewhere between Minnesotan and borderline Canadian, with Ya'll twisted in there-I'm not sure, but with my braces being adjusted again my lisp has gotten out of control! My hair is still short, just yesterday I got it cut the shortest it's been and I think it looks fabulous-it's very freeing, and besides-my mop had to undergo some sort of intervention. I'm also eating Vegetarian now. With the lactose-Intolerance however, I am 80% Vegan-but if you know me (which you obviously do, haha) then you know I don't like to make something official until I'm absolutely sure-none of this lukewarm halfsies stuff. Vegetarian for sure-Vegan, working on it. I feel incredible, and I have lost some weight (Italy did not help with that-oh man), but that's not the goal and that's certainly not my reasoning. I've been able to cook like nobody's business and I love it!
I'm feeling comfortable and confident with myself, and I'm trying to remember some advice a great senior friend of mine said, "No one else knows what the hell they're doing, so don't worry about it", good stuff-and great advice.
Right now I am feeling like I have a good plan for my life (don't jinx it now), I think I know where I want to go to college,and what I want to do. I've had a hard time this summer with my faith, it's no easy-and especially being in a foreign country didn't allow for any devotional time-and I wasn't exactly trying to organize some anyways. I'm trying to make my way back, slowly, to the heart of worship. Church on Sunday was incredible-I hadn't worshiped like that in years. It was a reminder that there's always hope, you just have to open your eyes (and your heart!) and let God do the rest.
"It's not a trivial pursuit, [My] dream is you"-The dream, Sanctus Real.
Godbless,
DFTBA,
Stay classy,
Liz B
p.s. I absolutely love Elisabeth Elliot! <3
