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.