here i am

So, I'm kind of new at this whole blogging thing. I started off writing "notes" on Facebook and MySpace...and somehow along the way, it has morphed into me starting this little blog. I have a love for writing, yet I am NEVER consistent. I'm hoping this will provide for me some sort of accountability. (That's what you guys are there for...you didn't know you had a role to play in all of this did you?) We'll see how this goes. :)

Along with beginning a new blog, I am beginning a new journey in life--a job in a new city, in a new state, halfway across the country! I am excited about this new phase in life, but have no idea how this transition is going to pan out. I am just a country girl that has always grown up in rural Tennessee. I love the mountains and lazy summer days, the sound of the cicadas at night outside of my window and the sweet smell of honeysuckle on the vine. What will I do in a land of snowy winters and blistery winds? Grasslands and skyscrapers? And not to mention the fact that I am going to be scrutinized whenever I say the words "ya'll" or "fixin' to!" Hmm...it should be very interesting! However, I am really excited to see what is in store for me along this journey. I know that there are new people to meet and lots of lessons to learn along the way.

Before I received the job offer, I read a book called "Through Painted Deserts" by Donald Miller. I am a huge Donald Miller fan (here's the shameless plug for all things that he has written) but had never read this particular book. It was the first one he ever published and is more of a memoir of a road trip he took as a young adult. I had lots of free time on my hands since I had no job and decided to check it out. Needless to say, it has stuck with me ever since. There wasn't anything enormously profound that gripped me through his writing. Rather it was exactly what I needed for the season that I was in....the time of transition that I was facing around the corner. Donald says something in the introduction to his book that haunted me from the moment I read it. After sharing some of his thoughts he concludes by telling his readers to "Go!." He commands them to experience life, to take a step and leave what is comfortable and familiar. So, two months later, here I am. I put a lot of prayer and thought into this decision. It was no easy one! I decided to accept the offer to start over somewhere else--not because it was an income or a gret job, although those things are definitely beneficial--but because I felt like it was the right thing. Now I have a chance to "go," to have new experiences and new opportunities that I may have never encountered if I had stayed. Things will be difficult and I know there will be rough patches along the journey, but its the unfamiliar path that heightens our senses. We are forced to be diligent and see the things we never saw before or feel the things we have never felt. So, here goes! I strap on my boots and head out for this new adventure. I start this blog as a way to share my stories and experiences along the way...and invite all of you to journey with me! I can't wait to see what's around the corner...