A Little Trip That Wasn't

Right now as we speak I am sitting in LaGuardia in New York City waiting to board a plane back to charleston.
You see I had this great idea about lunch time yesterday that I would go to NYC for the day and once I found out that there was a direct flight from Charleston my mind was made. I listed myself on the flight. Called my friend and we figured out where we would meet up. This morning everything was going smoothly besides the 25 minute delay in charleston. But when we were about 30 minutes away pilot came on the intercom and announced that we were being grounded in DC due to storms and would be there anywhere from one to two hours. My first reaction was panic and get upset because I only had about 4 and a half hours total in the city before I had to head back home. But after we landed I decided I wasn't going to let this detour make me angry. There is nothing anyone could do about it. Weather is weather it's uncontrollable and unpredictable. So for and hour and forty five minutes we sat in the plane. Now you would expect outrage from other passengers but much to my surprise everyone was so calm and no one ever got upset. All the little babies ran up and down the isles, the flight attendants were amazing and gave us endless amounts of peanuts and pretzels, and all us passengers just mingled about this and that. when the pilots came back on and started the engines there was a round of applause from everyone. By the time we landed in NYC it was 1:30. I wasn't able to go into the city because there just wasn't enough time I would have had about 30 or 40 minutes before I would have had to get back on the bus to leave. So now I wait for another delayed flight to take off fighting back the tears of disappointment.
But I am going to choose joy because that's the only thing I can do and on the bright side I was able to mark off "take a spontaneous unplanned trip" from my bucket list!!

Ephesians 3:20

"Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think,

according to the power at work within us"

Ephesians 3:20

it has been a crazy few weeks over here.

I've finished summer school, parents came to visit, 

started training for the Guardian ad Litem program,

and its the first week of school for me.

So needless to say I've been go go go

But its also been such an amazing and encouraging few weeks!

Most of you know that I am going to school to become a social worker.

Well the Lord has really been confirming this for me.

He has opened doors that only He could have opened 

He has continually given me opportunities to grow and learn in this field.

I've always struggled with wondering if this was the plan the Lord had for me

So these opportunities have really encouraged me that I'm in the right place.

I've also begun to see that Charleston is where the Lord wants me to be.

If you had told me that I would be living here and wanting to stay here after college

a few years ago or even 6 months ago I probably would have laughed.

I've always thought I would graduate and serve abroad.

well its funny how the Lord works in your life and completely reroutes your plans

I've developed a love for the kids of Charleston 

I want nothing more than to see them come to know the love of the Lord

and to know what its like to be in a family that loves and cares for them.

The thing is I've only seen their precious faces in pictures and heard their stories,

but they have already become a part of me.

 Its only through God that this love I have for them could have been written in my heart.

Ephesians 3:20 had been a verse that I've repeated to myself over and over again.

The Lord has been faithful to encourage and provide for me 

in way that I never thought possible and in way I would have never imagined.

So I just want to encourage you to ask God to guide you in all you do.

If you already know where He wants you to serve pray that he will give you 

opportunities to grow and wisdom to carry out the task.

  If you don't know ask Him to reveal his mission for you life and
I promise that he will show you His way!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful rest of the week

Where Has the Time Gone?

this time last year I was just settling into a whole new world.

I was starting an adventure that changed my life.

looking back it all seems like a beautiful dream

I remember sitting in the library at my school and crying 

because I was so frustrated with anatomy.

It was in that moment that I knew I needed a break from school.

It had always been a dream of mine to study abroad. 

so the next day I went to our study abroad coordinator and found out the details

and by the end of the week I had a destination picked out and an application in!


from the moment that I arrived in Chile I knew that it was going to 
be an experience unlike anything I had ever experienced.

I've traveled all over through out my life but never for this long and never alone.
I was extremely nervous and scared.
I didn't know what to expect from my host family or the culture.
But my nerves were quickly settled as began to meet other students and settle into my new home.
I was given opportunities to travel all over South America
I saw places I never dreamed I would see like
Machu Picchu and the Patagonia.
I am so grateful that God allowed me these opportunities.
My time in Chile changed me.
I made many memories that I will cherish for the rest of my life.
I made friends who will always hold a special place in my heart
and I meet a group of little ones that impacted my life so much.
It was those weeks of loving on little ones who don't know the love of a family 
that gave me the passion to spend the rest of my life serving 
children who need to be reminded that their loved, cared about and wanted!

        

Childhood Summer Vacations

Hey guys today I have some one super fabulous over for the 20SB blog swap today

hope you enjoy her post and check her out!

Hello friends of Hannah, thank you for having me today. My name is Elle and I blog over at Skylarking. Today I have been invited over here to tell you about a childhood vacation of mine in accordance with the 20SB blog swap.

When I was 12 my family had planned a holiday on the island of Majorca before I was due to start high school. I was very excited, me, my brother, my mum, nan and grandad all packed our bags and off we went to the beautiful sunny island off the Spanish coast. My brother was 13 and this was the first holiday that we were allowed a little more responsibility to play in the pool by ourselves and take a walk to the little store solo.

Excited by this we planned a huge excursion to the end of the road by hired buggy bike. Being typically me, we left late and as we got to the store Michael had to rush back to take the bike back.

Walking out of the store, being the dilly dolly day dream that I am, I turned left instead of right. Yes, I was this dumb. On and on I walked and I could have sworn our hotel was closer. After about 15 minutes I realised I was lost. I was 12, in a foreign country, alone.

I tried to retrace my steps, but couldn't get myself together to figure out where I was. I was starting to panic. All kinds of over dramatic thoughts flooded my brain. I figured I knew my way back to the hotel from the beach, so off to the beach I walked to then in turn find the right path and then I would be on the home straight right?

Well no not right, I had NO idea where I was. I was wearing a bikini and had change from the pocket money my Nana had given me to buy a bag from the store. After about 30 minutes of walking around I started to get overly dramatic again and panicked that I could possibly dehydrate in this heat so bought an ice lolly.

So here I was, on the beach, at 12, in a country where I didn't speak the language, completely on my own for the first time in my life, crying into a little radio active green iced treat.

A light bulb suddenly pinged in my little brain. I toddled off to the bus stop. I saw a bus with the name of my hotel on... yesssssss this was it, I was going home and wouldn't be sold into child slavery!

On the bus I sat, crying, for ages, well in actual fact it was 2 and a half hours.

All in all it was a nightmare journey. I finally found my way back to the hotel FOUR hours later. My poor Mama was out of her MIND! I was lucky to find her just as she was tying to get in touch with the Spanish police. It turns out there was a place 40 miles down the road with the same name as our hotel and that is where I had ended up.

I was the dumbest kid in the world. Seriously, have at these stories.

Thank you for having me over here. It has been fun.

Love Elle xo