And so it is...

Hello there, world!

I apologize for my lack of blogging over the past few months. Currently, I'm in the middle of my second semester here at ORU in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Life here is a bit different from life in North Carolina...one thing being the lack of trees. I never knew how much I loved the trees in my home state. However, I guess you really never know how much you like something until it's gone.
Although there's a lack of trees and other beautiful things/ people that make Charlotte home, I have gained many fantastic friends to make up for the loss.

I'm excited for the new seasons approaching. For the first time since I was 5, I won't be going to Texas this summer to be a part of a children's ministry that I volunteer with every year. Although I'm super disappointed that I won't be able to participate, I know that God has some amazing things planned for me in North Carolina this summer. Children's ministry has always been my comfort zone (especially with this particular organization), and I've been really struggling to give it up. However, I can't move into a new season if I'm still hanging onto the old one for dear life! Through this process, God has been revealing to me some other things that I've been holding onto that are holding me back.

I guess the best way to describe where I am right now is that I'm in the season of letting go of past seasons. We naturally want to hold onto the things that have made us thrive in the past, but by doing this, we're binding ourselves to our past, and before you know it, you're stuck there.

Anyway, I'm quite excited for what God has in store for this summer...even if I'm flying blind at the moment.

Yep.

I did it. I made it to college.
After four years of continuous studying and work to try and get here, I've finally made it. Now that I think about, the thing that I've been working towards...is more work. We go through high school with the goal of being accepted to a good college, and we work hard in college so that we can get a good job. Then, we work hard at the said job so that we can be promoted and have even more work. It's in thinking about this that I've finally realized something. Most of the fun in life isn't just about the rewards we get at the end of each task, but the adventures that you have while growing and being challenged to excel.

These next 4 years are going to be challenging...but they're definitely going to be an adventure.

To be honest, the only reason I'm blogging at the moment is because I'm procrastinating all of the unpacking that I have leftover. Dislike.

An Update

I've officially been living in Texas for 53 days. However, it feels like I just got here yesterday. It's quite amazing how fast time can fly when you're busy. Trying to explain my experiences over the past month and a half is extremely difficult. Although I've been constantly doing things, when someone asks me what I've been up to, I have problems trying to find words. This isn't too surprising though. I mean, I've never been one to use words correctly anyway. Thankfully, I've been finding time to rest and just breathe. This doesn't sound like much, but considering that I hadn't had much time to myself since the beginning of junior year, I've been enjoying every second of it. It's quite amazing what a little rest can do. After being in a creative rut for over a year, I'm finally beginning to think of new ideas and I'm actually putting them to good use. Usually, when I'd get an idea in my head, I'd write it down in one of my numerous notebooks and never think of it again. Or, if I actually took the time to look through some of the said notebooks, the inspiration that went along with the idea would be gone. I guess you sometimes just have to stop waiting on inspiration to find you, and you need to get out there and find your own.

insert brilliant segway here.

Convention was last week! However, it doesn't feel like it's even begun. In past years, convention has always gone by pretty fast, but never this fast. I wish there were a way to just do this for a living. Children's ministry is quite possibly one of my favorite things. Although every single kid is different, I absolutely love seeing their love for God and their openness to learning. (Not to mention some of the awesome things they say say and do - ie. This one girl had an awesome Justin Bieber hairflip. No lie.)

As I was speed walking through the streets of Fort Worth last week during one of the super fast lunch breaks, something occurred to me. I'm happy here. Truly happy.
It's not that I've been extremely unhappy in the past. But there was always something that seemed to be nagging at me. Whether it be past insecurities or a tad bit of homesickness, I broke free of it all last week and I'm feeling fantastic.

Tomorrow, I'm moving out of this house in Saginaw and back to my old stomping grounds, North Richland Hills. For those of you who don't know, I've decided to stay here in Texas for the rest of the summer. The original plan was that I was going to fly home yesterday (right after convention). However, I'm still here in the land of no trees (which I actually say with quite a bit of joy...considering trees make me sneeze uncontrollably).

Yep. These next 3 weeks are going to be quite fantastic.
(Oh..did I forget to mention that I move to Tulsa in 24 days? Um. It's kind of crazy. The nerves are beginning to settle in. AHH!)

Sweet Home, Fort Worth.

Well, I'm here. I'm in Texas. Living on my own.

In fact, I've been here for over three weeks. Sorry for the lack of updates since arriving! Most of that is due to the complete lack of a working internet connection.

My first two weeks were pretty uneventful. I explored my old hometown and just relaxed (spending most of my time at a fantastic coffee shop that my mom told me to check out). After about four or five days of doing that, I got pretty bored. Last week, however, was anything but boring. This summer, I'm working with a children's ministry for a one week conference that I've been doing for the past 7 years. Last week was the week where the team gets together and builds sets, has band practices, works on any media projects, and so much more. So basically, I was getting up at 5:30 am every day and going to bed at about 1 am. As much as I loved it, it got quite tiring to only be getting a little less than 5 hours of sleep every day for a week.

So now I'm back at my favorite little coffee shop, enjoying some dinner and just waiting to see someone I know walk through the door (it always happens). And somehow, I've been put to work writing a skit for my old youth group (that I never even planned on attending again). However, every idea I get seems to fail miserably. I really hate working on these things by myself...it's way more fun to go back and forth with ideas. But it's all good.

I've felt like I've been creatively drained lately. Good ideas have decided to play hide and seek with me...and I'm terrible at playing hide and seek. It's not cool. At all. You would think that moving to a new state away from your parents would help with writers block, but apparently not.

If anyone happens to find the creative side of my brain, please let me know. That would be awesome.

I got to babysit some of my favorite little girls a few days after I got here.

From the first day of band practice. This year, I'm singing AND playing guitar. We'll see how this goes...

Got to hang out with my friend Katie that I haven't seen since I was about 6 or 7 :)

Got to hang out with my best friend for the first time in years.

I missed her bunches.

Okay dudes. I'm done.

-Shareese.

Today Consists Of...

• Introducing my soon-to-be-neighbor (she's in the room next to me this fall...woot!) to Chick-Fil-A. How has she survived this long without an icedream cone? Good lord.


• Another thrifting adventure (by myself this time...boo) to find the last pieces for my 80's outfit for the party on thursday.


• I'm going to make one more attempt to get through the weirdness of my old youth group. Everyone is so young.

So basically, today is going to be an interesting day...and I only have a quarter tank of gas left. I'm not seeing much air conditioning in my near future.

Thrifting Haul - 5/30/2011

Today, my friend Sarah showed me a couple of new thrift stores...here's what I found :)

Item one - red dress with black patterns

 Item two - Navy blue dress with white patterns

 

Item three - large, ugly, comfy sweater. (because everyone needs one of these handy)



Item four - oversized jacket with gold patterns and shoulder pads (a part of an outfit I'm putting together for an 80's party on thursday...holler!)

 

Grand total for the day - $3 (or, as I would like to call it, an EPIC WIN.)

Tejas.

Well, I'm finally in Texas. However, I'm quite unsure of why I'm here. The timing seems a bit weird, but I know it's where I'm supposed to be.

Let's see where this adventure takes us, shall we?