First Day

Yesterday I started my internship at Cottage Cove. It wasn't a "normal day," since regular programming doesn't occur on school holidays. Instead, we took some kids on a field trip to a Belmont basketball game. Belmont won. The kids I met were infinitely fun and sassy. 
Today should be a more typical day, so I'm excited to meet more kids and jump into this program!

Is this real life?

I've never lived more than an hour away from my parents. I've never lived more than an hour from Atlanta (save for a few years of elementary school in New Orleans).  But now I'm moving to Nashville, Tennessee!

I'm a semester ahead in my schooling, so Agnes Scott is allowing me to take this spring away from classes and pursue an internship instead! January through May, I'll be interning with Cottage Cove. I'm super psyched.

I've had this whole "internship in lieu of school" idea swirling around in my head for over a year, and it's unreal that I'm only a few days from it becoming a reality. I'm moving up there on Sunday.  Sunday? Sunday. Everything fell into place seamlessly: finding this internship, finding a place to live, convincing authority figures to give me permission, and convincing authority figures to help me get a certain grant that I'll be living off of.

It's been eerily smooth sailing, which makes it so clear that this is where I'm sent to be. It seems like for once my plan lined up with God's plan. Or maybe it was never my own plan to begin with.

Time

There was a time in my life when I only bought clothing from American Eagle.

There was a time in my life when I didn't understand negative numbers.

There was a time in my life when I was afraid of vacuum cleaners.

Thank goodness time passes slowly enough to let me grow up.

Thank goodness 2012 has arrived.

I've heard it said that the New Year doesn't really mean anything. You know, 2011 and 2012 are just labels we put on our days, but there's really no difference between December 31st and January 1st. It's no "new beginning." But really, just the label itself is what makes it so special. And so important.

Until recently, I had a certain watch that I literally loved to pieces. This watch attached itself to my wrist the first month I started school at Agnes Scott and never came off. (I even wore it to formal events and in family photos. Sorry I'm not sorry.) It had yellow paint on it from my first Black Cat week, a melted spot from cooking barbeque at camp, and scratches galore from who knows what.

I loved it so much that it stayed on my desk in its broken state for over a month before I took this picture and tossed it out.

Its replacement is the most similar one I could find. Of course it was disappointing that I could not find an identical one, but as a consolation I set it two minutes fast, just like I had set my old one. I wasn't really loving the idea of my new watch until I discovered that my best friend Anna also bought that same watch, and we miraculously set them only two seconds apart from each other. Such a far-fetched coincidence makes me feel closer to Anna. She and I are living our lives on the same timeline, with the same thing strapped to our wrists.

Seriously a cool coincidence. Two seconds apart!

So, y'know what?  Time is pretty cool. New Year's is pretty cool. People whom I've never met were cheering at the same moment I was. Your favorite movie star was celebrating at the same exact moment you were (give or take a few time zones). Even if the moment itself isn't much worth celebrating, the celebration itself is the kind of thing I'll cheer for. If an instant is called a new beginning, then by golly I'm all for beginning new.

Sometimes this same idea gives me a huge reality check. I'll think to myself, "Say, I wonder if Miley Cyrus is eating breakfast right now." And then I'll realize my thoughts should be, "Wow, a small child just died of malnutrition just now, while I just finished a bowl of Cheerios." It's all on one timeline. The world just got a little bit smaller.

And that one timeline was created, designed, engineered, by God. There was an existence before time and before space. God existed and he thought of time and space. Seriously, who thinks of that?! Time didn't exist, space didn't exist, and then He made it exist, and he gave me a time and a place and sometimes it matches up with other people's times and spaces. And I'm thankful for it. I'm thankful for the time and space I've been through. I'm thankful for the time and space I'll be. I'm thankful for 2012. 

Happy new year.

Maybe she's born with it...

I've never worn makeup. It's something I really like about myself, but sometimes is confusing and surprising to others. Let me explain. Ages 0-13, I was too young. Ages 14-16, I had no interest. Ages 17-present, I developed actual reasons to go bare-faced.

You've heard Proverbs 31:30,  Song of Solomon 4:7, and Isaiah 43:4. Each of these declares the immeasurable beauty and value in each of us. I've spent enough time (as a camp counselor & math tutor) with insecure 6th grade girls to know that many of us find these verses hard to believe. It's hard to believe because our culture has bombarded us with only one image of beauty. And literally not a single person on this planet is naturally fully qualified to fulfill the checklist of "American femininity."

I wholeheartedly believe that God sculpted me the way I am. He placed every pigment on my face, planted each hair on my brow, and painted every color on my irises. He is proud of this creation. He made no mistakes. This is not a remark on how special I am, but instead a remark on how powerfully detailed our God is. It is my job to respect this temple He's given me. It's my job to keep my lips unchapped and my hair clean. It is not my job to cover up what He's created. To be in awe of His work is to worship Him. 

Who am I to tell God that instead of looking like His creation, I'd rather look like the photoshopped pictures in magazines?

Because I fear God, I'm called to be counter-cultural. "Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect." Romans 12:2. I will not copy what is "supposed" to be more attractive. Instead, I strive to value the way God created me to look. Covering up my face would be disguising what the Lord created as beauty. God's will for me is to look the way I look. I will be content and I will be confident.

Since I so fervently oppose makeup, I banned it amongst my campers. (It's only a six-day camp, so they can survive my one strict rule.) To the ones who opposed, I recited over and over: "Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious." 1 Peter 3:3-4. For each girl who threw a tantrum, there were three others who were relieved by the rule. My girls didn't have to compare themselves, didn't try to impress the boys with their eyeliner, and by the end of the week they didn't worry about not wearing makeup.  For at least six days, they were forced to see themselves in the mirror- what they were born to look like- and by day six, they were usually pretty happy with it.

The moment a woman puts on makeup, plucks her eyebrows, dyes her hair, etc., her appearance is then her own doing. If she receives praise, it adds to her own vanity. But a woman who goes "au naturale" knows that her appearance is not her own to toy with. Her natural appearance is a gift to be respected.

Semester's End

I'm not going to start off this post like, "Sorry guys, I haven't updated in a while!" Because I'm going to assume you are not anxiously waiting my your computer hoping to read a new post.

Anyway, here are cool things that have happened recently:

The Civil Wars came to Agnes Scott! I know- I find it hard to believe, too. Seriously, The Civil Wars, nominated for two Grammys, playing on the same stage I've suffered through midnight rehearsal and earned my place in the Black Ring Mafia.  

Joy Williams and John Paul White in real life.

The opener, Milo Greene, was pretty alright. I mean pretty good.

When Joy played piano, the entire auditorium went crazy.

They're just the best.

These are the friends I went with. We had to fight to get five consecutive seats. Fans were getting fierce, at least by Agnes standards.

Yeah, cool. So in the next two day I finished three finals and moved out of my dorm room. I repeat: the next two days I finished three finals and moved out of my dorm room.

It looks so sad and lonely.

I went back home where I've had nothing to do. Feels like I'm in middle school again. Until Thursday, I headed down to Buckhead for Drew Holcomb and the Neighbor's Christmas show! They're so fantastic. And Andrew Ripp played as well. So. Fantastic.

Andrew Ripp, the finest voice in all the land.

Drew Holcomb & the Neighbors, perfect as can be.

Special guest, native Atlantan Micah Dalton.

All together, loving life.

That's a Wrap

It's the end of the semester. I'm almost done with schoolwork. (Only 15 more pages of sociology to write and 6 more geometry proofs!)

Perhaps this explains my lack of recent posts. Perhaps not. Here are photos of the most recent fun thing.

Bible study friendies!

Getting ready for White Elephant gift swap.

Smiles all around.

Hello, Kitty.

Gingerbread house contest!

Team "Christmas Cottage."

Still in the process of building "Kirb Appeal."

Three beautiful gingerbread houses.

Team "Kirb Appeal." First place winners!

December around Agnes Scott is the most stressful and the most fun.

Awkward

This photo is an awkward gem.

Norton Juster, author of The Phantom Tollbooth.