When I grow up...

We have a whole life to live... isn't it exciting being technically at the start of our lives... it's a little scary, of course, knowing that what we do now affects us later, but I still think it's pretty neat. So I've been thinking lately... what do I want my life to be like in a year? Five years? Ten years? Well... I'm not at all sure what it will look like... but here's what I'm thinking:

One year from now: I'll have kissed my teenage years goodbye, I'll be 20! Probably living in Spokane, either finishing up or just having finished my sophomore year of college, getting ready to come back to Beaufort for the summer. I'm sure a lot will happen over the next year... I can't wait to see what's going to take place!

Five years from now: I will be 24. Married, two kids... riiiiight. I don't really expect that to be the case in just five years, but stranger things HAVE happened. I hope that I'll have a job that has something to do with my major and I hope to love it (and if I am married with the two kids, I won't have a job-job... I'll be home and I know I'll love that too!). By the way, the majors I'm thinking about right now are either Missions or Evangelism and Discipleship or Youth Ministry. I really can't even imagine how God will use me so I don't even want to make that guess.

Ten years from now: I will be 29. Wow. Probably sporting gray hair and wrinkles. My mother probably hopes that she will be a mother-in-law and grandmother by that time so I hope that I will have accommodated her... If I'm not married, I would love to be overseas working with teen girls or actually doing anything. I'd really enjoy being a part of a team that plants churches all over the world. There are a ton of places I'd love to go and if I'm on the mission field for an extended part of my life (or even a short time, really), I'd like to spend that time all over the mission field. I do so love to see what God is doing all over the place.

I don't have plans but I have hopes and dreams and ideas. I love coming up with ideas. Brainstorming is just so much fun. No idea what I'll be... or do... but whatever it is, God's not done with me yet.

I wrote this nearly a year ago... along the same lines as the rest of this post:
"I think I'm decided on my plans for next year. I'm staying in Beaufort this year. I'd like to take my freshman year classes online and then reapply to Moody as a transfer student. That's what I would like to do... not necessarily what will happen in my life. Just this year, I've experienced so many twists and turns on this road called the Life With God that I know better than to say that I'm definitely doing one thing or another." May 23,2007.

(pictures, since I'm sure you're interested... are from when I was nine and when I was fourteen... 5 years ago and 10 years ago. I just guessed on the nine-year-old one, I have no clue how old I am but it seemed right...)