So, it's been quite awhile since i've last written anything at all. Ever since starting school, this little blog has disappeared. - & honestly, the only reason I'm writing right now is because I'm at a coffee shop in Nashville and my Chai Tea is cold now and I don't want to do my homework - . These last few months have been an adventure to say the least. I've enjoyed the change in scenery and have learned a lot by pulling myself completely away from my comfort zone. I've made some great new friends, and I definitely miss my friends back home

(back home also includes the good ol' burg).

Change was never something I was fond of.

Which is exactly why I decided to bring about this change.

It's given me:

new perspectives

fresh appreciation...

and a greater sense of self.

"Each morning when I open my eyes I say to myself; I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy with it."

-Groucho Marx

"Learn to do good.

Seek justice.

Help the oppressed.

Defend the cause of orphans.

Fight for the rights of widows."

-Isaiah 1:17

This verse is a piece of my motivation for becoming a social worker. A speaker shared it in chapel one week at Liberty and it just hit home for me in that moment.

Was it love or fear of the cold?...

...& my head told my heart

"Let love grow"

But my heart told my head

"This time no

This time no."

Oh, The Places You'll Go.

rem·i·nisce/ˌreməˈnis/

Verb: Indulge in enjoyable recollection of past events.

Mississippi Bound

This weekend I took a little trip to Jackson, Mississippi to attend transfer orientation for Belhaven. It was my first time flying alone, kinda exciting…til you realize how unenjoyable two hour layovers are by yourself. But up until my little alone time, it was something I looked forward to.

As I was waiting to board my first flight I picked out the two people who would be my top picks for seat buddies. Haha. It was a tough one between the cute young guy or the cute old man. Did I get either? Of course not. But that was alright, I sat with two men, probably in their 40s. One looked EXACTLY like Dwayne Carson, the campus pastor at LU. The other talked about how he had gone backpacking across Europe in the 70’s and about his skydiving experience. How awesome would it be to backpack through Europe?! & I’m not opposed to skydiving either.

Atlanta layover.

Now the second flight in a little bitty plane.

I accidentally sat in row 8 instead of being in row 7. Didn’t realize it for the longest time. & when I found out who I was supposed to be sitting by….of course! Of course he was one of the most attractive guys I had seen that day. Just splendid.

Eventually I arrived in Jackson! And it was a wonderful weekend getting to know my future roomie, Callie, and learning more about my future home. I couldn’t have asked for a more welcoming family to live with for my time there. So now I have one more month at home & then my family will be making the trip back down into a little road trip with a stop through Tennessee. I’m so ready for everything to begin!

And NOW for the flight home…oh what an adventure it was. And still is, as I am writing this waiting for my flight. (although had everything worked out as planned, I would be home right now & getting ready to see John Mayer!)

Everything’s going well, didn’t even get patted down at the airport this time haha, & I board the plane to Atlanta. Plane gets delayed for weather & we sit for an hour waiting. Thankfully, my connecting flight was also delayed & I made it just in time to board…til they cancelled it. Everyone was so very excited about that.

I got lucky though & got put on a plane to Newport News a few hours later…better than the option of staying overnight. However, no John Mayer for me tonight.

I did get a meal voucher though, for six bucks. Tell me…what airport meal costs six dollars…haha…maybe a drink is more like it.

& now I can’t wait to get home & spend a week with my brother, Aaron, who got a little luckier with his flight today.

All Things New

No one here to believe but You

Everyone else is bound to leave but You

When they swear their love is real

They mean 'I like the way you make me feel'.

-mewithoutyou

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you,

He will never leave you nor forsake you."

-Deuteronomy 31:6

God's love satisfies something so deep within a person that man's love can never compare to.

His love is absolutely Unconditional. It is always Consistent. Never Failing. Forgiving time & time again. Patient. Understanding. Unrelenting. Sacrificial. Completely Fulfilling, beyond what we even knew we longed for.

& I am constantly learning more about this love. Constantly feeling it more & more with each bit of my life i place into His hands. If i've learned one major thing this past year it is that when you hold things from God's control (for me i did this because deep down i knew that what i was holding back truly should not have been in my life anymore, yet i was selfish & wanted to hold on) , they will not flourish - they will only make a gradual downward spiral until your left without that "special" thing that was somehow just way too important for you to give to God.

But, when He gets ahold of every little piece of you, it is a wonderful thing.

God is Love.

Laughing With...

"No one laughs at God in a hospital

No one laughs at God in a war

No one's laughing at God when they're starving or freezing or so very poor"

-Regina Spektor

Summer Skin

So i had a date with my piano...

my piano bench is where i relax. where i let everything out. where i can play & release all of my emotions.

& i think i fall more in love every time ♥.

Wednesday I went up to D.C. to visit a friend before he left for bootcamp. It was a fun time just walking around the area, eating lunch, going to the zoo, and hitting up the Washington Nationals baseball game that night (a very good game at that, of which they won!).

P.S. - D.C. is a wonderful place for people watching, haha.

& when i woke up in the morning to go home, he informed that we had made it on TV!

Nonfiction Love:

"Used to want time to run so quickly
Now crawling is fine
Cause the older I get the more
I see I need every moment
To let my roots grow down deep"

-Jillian Edwards

Throughout the years i've gone through many different: places, friends, phases, loves, goals, desires.

I remember, I think it was my freshman year of high school..I wanted so badly for time to just stop and not make me grow up yet. My "Peter Pan mode" if you will. I quickly got over that & wished that high school would just hurry up and get over with so I could move on to college where I could study what I wanted, where I wanted, surrounded by all different types of people. However, and i'm sure it's the same for thousands of people, now that my freshman year of college is said and done with & so much has and is still changing..I would be absolutely okay with time crawling by one second at a time.

You wear your religion like a war sweater.

The Jasmine Plantation

While working at a catering event this weekend just outside of Williamsburg, I fell in love ♥.

The venue was absolutely gorgeous. It was a little bed & breakfast inn called The Jasmine Plantation. With cute little gazebos, antique settings, an old piano, a huge lighted tent, tons of land with little fountains & ponds

...it was perfect.

I am a little pencil in the hands of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world ♥.
-Mother Teresa

Today was a good day.
First day actually working at Bath & Body Works was splendid. I can tell i'm gonna enjoy this job!
Dinner with the fam.
Then my cousin Christian, who's visiting with us for 2 weeks, & i headed down to the beach to meet up with Nolin & Brittany.
Little kids are just SO cute! One little boy in spiderman swimming trunks kept climbing up the sand hill we were sitting on & talking to us. He was telling us how he doesn't like the water because it's really scary. There's scary monsters in it apparently, he said that's how it is in movies. He was absolutely adorable! & a very good talker for only 2 years old.
Yesterday night Christian & I went down to the beach to watch my dad baptize a friend. We were standing on the shore fully clothed wishing we had brought our bathing suits. However, that didn't last too much longer. There we went, just jumped into the water in pants & top..& it was absolutely wonderful.

People were exceptionally friendly today, it was nice.

Lake Gaston holds my heart...

I would very much like to be here...





doing this...





& especially this!...





while spending an amazing week (or two) here...again ♥.

Before Sunset

"I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together." -Marilyn Monroe




I watched this movie, Before Sunset, a little while ago & fell in love. It's a very simple movie. Yet, it's absolutely beautiful. The entire movie is about how these two people meet again years after falling in love on a single night & being split apart until now. They randomly run into one another as the guy is promoting his book in Paris, where she is living. The whole movie plays out as they are just walking around Paris carrying on a conversation about life and love and relationships.
Of course I didn't know until a few minutes ago that there was a movie that precedes this one called Before Sunrise that takes you through that very first night they spent together. So it looks as if I will be watching that one tonight!

Frightened Rabbit

"If I get old, old fashioned
Would you get old, old fashioned with me?"

St. Francis of Assisi

My desires and drive to become a social worker can be expressed through the words of a Catholic preacher, St. Francis of Assisi, who prayed...

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

Where there is injury, pardon.

Where there is doubt, faith.

Where there is despair, hope.

Where there is darkness, light.

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love;

for it is in giving that we receive,

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

& it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen.

Throughout my life I have randomly noticed a passion for adoption. Everything about the process and outcome just fascinates me. Family is such an important aspect of our lives and can ultimately shape the person we all become. There is no child on this earth that deserves to have anything less than a supportive, compassionate, loving family. I want nothing more than to have a hand in creating these families.

Also, recently, I have been more and more interested in the problems created by poverty today and the effects it has on children & youth. The world we live in seems to say to those who grow up in poverty that they can't achieve anything great. That they can't go on to become anything they desire to become. The world is completely wrong! & I want to show these kids that they have every ounce of potential in them to turn their circumstances upside down and to accomplish something great!

It comes and goes in waves...

Oh Greg Laswell, you do the heart some good.

"This is for the ones who stand

For the ones who try again
For the ones who need a hand
For the ones who think they can"

Living just minutes away from a beautiful ocean is a wonderful thing. However, experiencing a brilliant sunrise while lying amongst millions of teeny tiny grains of sand is simply a necessity.

Wake up what feels like minutes after falling asleep. Throw on some clothes, doesn't matter if they match, let alone are clean. Grab a blanket. Find the car keys. Pay the parking meter.

& Finally, you've made it.

The Atlantic Ocean.

Waves crashing on the unscathed shore...

well, what we in Virginia Beach like to pretend are waves, but that's besides the point.

Watching the sunrise over the ocean has to be one of my absolute favorite things in life. I feel God's presence the most as I watch this magnificent piece of His creation.

"It comes and goes in waves"... I really like this lyric for some reason. When I think about waves, each new wave is completely unique and brings new substance in its crash and carries the old away into the sea. Just as each chapter in life does. At this point I'm preparing myself for another new chapter in my life, one I never knew I was going to come across until just a few months back. Jackson, Mississippi. Yep, that's right...Kelli's moving all the way to Mississippi to attend Belhaven University. Never did I ever think about visiting Mississippi, let alone moving there. However, I am so excited! & along with that excitement comes nervousness, curiosity, sadness, anticipation and readiness. I know transferring schools is what's best for me. No doubt about it. I am very excited to embark on this new adventure, meet new people and challenge myself. "Knowing" (I have met a few people there already, but don't truly "know" anyone) absolutely no one is exhilarating! ...yet makes me nervous all the same. I am so sad to leave behind many good friends & my best friend. I await many thrilling skype dates and Liberty visits though!

So heres to a new wave and the wonders it holds for me!

& to the old waves for all that they have given me and brought me through.