Long Overdue

Ok, so it's been a while since I updated this thing. I got my car back right when I stopped posting about not having my car. It's great to have it back but I wish I had been able to find a way to work walking into my schedule voluntarily, but so far I haven't.

School has been sooo busy!!!!! The end of the semester totally snuck up on me, and along with it all those end-of-the-semester papers and projects that I thought I had a ton of time to do and therefore haven't started yet. They're all due next week. And in 2 weeks, I move out of my apartment. 4 days after that, freshman year of college is over. That's weird! At the end of every school year I'm surprised by how quickly the school year flew by, but it seems as if this year has gone faster than the speed of light. Seriously. Usually there's a stage that sets in around November-February where that new-year-of-school charm has long worn off but the-end-is-in-sight excitement has not set in. I didn't get anywhere close to that this year. It's just gone from "cool I'm in college" to "hey sweet I'm on winter break" to "ok cool new classes. lots of work" to "holy crap it's almost over!". It kinda freaks me out. I really hope that every year of college doesn't go by this fast, because at this rate I'll be done and out in "the real world" in no time, and I don't feel anywhere even close to approaching prepared for that.

Realizing its the end of the school year has caused me to look back and think about how I've grown and changed since this time last year. A lot has happened: I've moved out of my mom's house, I've grown to love God more and learned the importance of having a community of fellow Christians for support, and I get along better with my family now. I feel like there should be more though, like the change from year to year should be drastic and easily noticeable. It certainly was this time last year, but maybe we only get a few years like that.

The bright side of time getting a jetpack this year: only 40 days until my second Teameffort summer : ) I am glad the wait went by so quickly. I'm excited!

On another note, learning more specific things that are wrong in this world has gotten me feeling like there are a million places I'd like to go and so many different people I'd like to help. For example:

1. In the slums of Brazil, there are so many orphans begging in the streets that shopkeepers will actually have them killed because having children begging outside their shops is bad for business. This is horrifiying. It makes me want to move to Brazil and open and orphanage in the slums so all those children can have a safe home to go to.

2. The female infanticide in India that Meagan has been writing about lately. Again, I want to go open an orphanage for baby girls in India now and just say "If you don't want them, give them to me!!!"

3. Africa. I don't know if I need to say more. Most of the diseases causing such damage there are completely preventable. Hundreds of thousands of children are orphaned every year because their parents die of AIDS. Then there are the child soldiers and the many refugees who have now found themselves with no homes. Or the villages that simply don't have access to good food and clean water. You see where I'm going with this.

4. The homeless in our own country. NO ONE SHOULD BE STARVING IN AMERICA!!!

Every time I learn about another group of people that is hurting I want to go to them and do whatever I can to help, but I know I can't do it all, and it's frustrating because I know it's not even my decision. Where I go with my life is God's decision, and I want it to be that way because I know that wherever He sends me is where I'll be able to do the most for Him and that it will be beautiful, I just want to know! This is bothering me more and more as I write this. I need to start praying about this.