I'm a GRADUATE!!! wait... what?!?!

Hello beautiful people who read my blog!

Hope this beautiful spring/summer weather is treating you well!  It sure treated me well last Friday when I graduated from college!  It was indeed a beautiful day.  In fact, the weekend in general was fabulous.  The rents and I drove up to Chicago while Jared & Gina flew in on Thursday evening in order to make it to my Honors Convocation that night.  Now that I think of it, the honors ceremony was a bit more fun, in my opinion, than graduation.  a) I didn't have to wear that awkward, yet infamous hat and b) that was the first time I walked across that stage and thus more exciting than the second time less than twenty-four hours later.  Anyways, after the honors thing, we all went out for a bite to eat at a place called Bat 17 in Evanston with wonderful sliders and sandwiches.  Fun times... although we were out a little too late considering what time we all had to get up the next morning for my 10am graduation (you know the drill... be there by 9am but with traffic leave at 8am...)

But it was a beautiful day, making graduation all the more enjoyable.  Like I said, the ceremony was a little anti-climatic but the reception by the lake was quite nice.  (They provided Diet Coke... a much needed beverage at that point in the game.)  Followed by a mini-tour of campus, considering there are seemingly dozens of new buildings popping up all over Loyola's compact campus.  Anywhoo, about an hour later, Gina and I's feet were screaming for mercy and a break from our heals so we settled in for a nice lunch on a patio somewhere in Evanston.  After afternoon naps and a change into more comfortable clothes, we headed out to one of my favorite places to eat in Chicago - Cafe Ba Ba Reeba, a Spanish tapas bar in Old Town.  So much fun and indeed a celebration!!!

And the crazy graduation weekend did not stop there... On Saturday we got up early and headed to Anne Sather's, in Andersonville, a Swedish bakery with cinnamon rolls that are out-of-this-world.  (You may think our weekend revolved around eating... and it kinda did, but to my defense, I was simply making sure my family was able to experience Chicago in all her glory... Chicago is the food capital of the United States you know.)  Afterwards, we thought we would meander through the Shedd Aquarium since it was rainy and overcast.  To our surprise, before we could do any such thing, we had to stand in line for two hours to even get in!  (I should have known, the Shedd is one of the coolest places to go.)  However, the Jelly Exhibit made it all worth it :) 

In the end, it was a fantastic weekend!  Being with family, reconnecting with friends I hadn't seen since last spring before I left for Chile, good eats along with sawfish, stingrays, and penguins.  Oh yeah, and there was that thing we call graduating from COLLEGE!!!  Still hasn't phased me...  I figured it probably won't for at least a few years, or until I'm thirty, the age when I am officially an "adult" and have to think about "marriage and all that stuff," says the twelve-year-old I nannied for last week.  My thoughts:  Thank goodness I still have eight more years until that point!!!  In the meantime, I feel like I am in that awkward "pre-teen" stage, where you don't want to consider yourself a "kid" but you aren't quite a "teen."  For me, I'm not a college student anymore but not quite an adult yet either...  Until then, in the words of some famous jazz/R&B singer,  let the good times roll :)

April in a Nutshell

Well, I guess I haven't been too good at keeping y'all updated now have I?  Whoops, it must have "slipped" my mind with the whirlwind of events that was April.  So now I have the weight of April on my shoulders as I attempt to "update" you on what my life looks like post-Chile and (almost) post-graduation.  (Yes, that's right, the big day is next Friday, the 11th!!)


The obvious news... I was (finally) accepted to intern with Campus Crusade for Christ (Cru) next year on Loyola's campus in Chicago.  As many of you know, I was involved with Cru all four years of college at Loyola and loved every minute of it.  I am so thankful for my involvement because it was through Cru that I learned what it means to truly have a relationship with Jesus and to follow Him.  It was years ago, when I was eight, that I accepted Jesus Christ into my life.  I knew I was a sinner in need of a Savior, but I honestly didn't know much more than that.  Oh yeah, I was a good person and all, but it wasn't until my freshman year of college that I truly got the Gospel and what it was all about.


So, what is it all about?  Well, for the sake of trying to stick to one topic per post, I will save that for a future post, so please stay tuned because that one will definitely be a game-changer.  However, for now, I'd like to keep going on why I chose to spend this next year being a missionary in Chicago.


Four years ago I never would have imagined that this is what I would be doing the year after I graduated.  I thought maybe grad school or the Peace Corps or perhaps I'd be working for some non-profit trying to "save the world."  But I soon realized that the world can't be "saved" by human efforts no matter how altruistic those efforts may be.  We are in over our heads, which got me thinking about the "bigger picture."  What is life really about?  What is the purpose of all of this?  And as I kept digging deeper and looking for answers, Jesus kept showing up and reinforcing what I learned when I was eight - we all are in need of a Savior and that Savior is Jesus Christ, the Son of God.


As I was coming to a better understanding of what the Gospel is all about, God kept putting full-time ministry on my heart.  As I look back on my four years at Loyola, I am inexplicably grateful for the wise women God put in my life to help encourage me in my pursuit of God.  One woman on staff with Cru, Barbara, was (and still is) an amazing influence in my life.  She showed me what it was like to have a real and personal relationship with God through Jesus and how that relationship brings freedom, joy, love, and satisfaction.  John Piper in his book Don't Waste Your Life says this:  It may not be loving to chose comfort and security when something great may be achieved for the cause of Christ and the good of others.  Reading that made me think, "What if Barbara had chosen comfort and security instead of going on staff with Cru?  Where would I be?"  Answer:  I know that there is a very good chance that without the encouragement and guidance of women like Barbara in my life I would not be where I am today.  Thus, I had to ask myself, "What if I chose comfort and security (i.e. a "normal job" or grad school) instead of doing what I know the Lord has called me to do?  What about the men and women at Loyola who do not know Jesus?"


God has given me such a deep desire to see students find true fulfillment and satisfaction in Jesus Christ.  He alone can satisfy.  Not success.  Not popularity.  Not money.  Not drinking.  Not finding "the one."  Not even the American Dream.  Knowing that nothing else will matter at the end of my life except Jesus has made following Him the undeniable choice.


Notice that I didn't say "easy choice" because this road won't bring "easy" very often.  In fact, I am already getting a little taste of that as I have begun to support raise for next year. Yup, you guessed it.  Like many missions organizations, Cru has no central funds to pay its staff.  So I, like so many others, will be depending on the consistent financial support of people who get the Gospel and have a passion to see others come to know Christ.  Thus, this summer I will be taking a large step of faith and trusting God to bring together a team of people who want to support my ministry in Chicago.


Sound scary?  It is, but I know without a doubt that this is what God wants me to do and thus I know that He will get me there.  Scary, yes, but this is also a very exciting time:  I'm young.  I just graduated college.  I have the world at my feet and the Lord at my side.  So stay tuned because this is definitely going to be quite the adventure as La Aventura Infinita rolls on... 

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in?  And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?  And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?  And how can they preach unless they are sent?  As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"

Romans 10:14-15