It's been nearly a year since my last post, which is pretty indicative of how crazy the last year has been. I'm not going to make an attempt to recap everything that's happened over the last year, but here's where I'm at now:
I'm still in seminary at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. I've changed my degree from an Masters of Divinity in International Church Planting to a Masters of Arts in Christian Studies. If all goes as planned, I'll graduate at the end of the fall semester. Please be praying that I would be faithful in my studies and work hard to complete them. I'm very burnt out on school and ready to be finished. I'm only taking two classes this semester (you'll see why in a second) and am going to try to take two over the summer so that in the fall I only have my 25-page research paper to complete.
Now (well, since June), I live with one of my best friends, Kat. It's been nice to have a friend from Savannah up here. She's helped me to remember a lot of who I am and remind me that I'm a total weirdo. We've been through a lot together and have continued to walk through life. If anything, Kat and I are closer than we've ever been as we continue to struggle and grow. We're helping each other figure out what God has for us and how we can live faithfully to that. Also, we started a business together, Wednesday Amelia. It's been a lot of fun, and also a ton of hard work. We do event, home and personal styling (including floral arranging). We also have a little online shop of curated goods from various artists and makers.
In October, I started working at Brain Balance Achievement Center. I work with children with a variety of disorders and seek to promote brain development through a customized program that helps them to reach their potential. My job is a ton of fun and also can be really emotionally and mentally taxing. But all of the hard work is worth it to see a child's life changed. It's amazing to watch the function of these children change slowly over the weeks and to celebrate their breakthroughs. It's rewarding work. There is so much more I could say about my job and the ups and downs, but I'll leave it here. The Lord is using work to shape me and grow me, to test my patience and to grow me in grace and love.
My third job, after running a blog & online shop and working at Brain Balance is my photography and design business: Paige Laurel! I have been photographing quite a bit between engagements, weddings, family sessions and last month I photographed my first maternity shoot! I've also been designing a lot. I helped my friend brand her business Adonia by Jen. (As an aside: She does hair and make-up styling for various events. She's amazing and if you're getting married soon or need someone to do your hair and make-up for anything, you should hire her. And yes, I'm shameless in promoting my friends). I designed a tattoo and am working on a few more, helped design some wedding invites, a million more things (it seems) and am now creating some repeat patterns for the background of a website.
As if life weren't crazy enough, at the beginning of this year I started dating Ben (let's be real, this is probably why you started reading the blog). I'll do a completely separate post sharing how we met/started dating, etc. which I'll try to post in the next week or two. We met about a year ago through a mutual friend, really enjoyed one another but never thought too much of it and went to our friends' wedding, had an opportunity and went on a date the next week (that's the basic version without all the fun details). But basically, dating Ben has been amazing. You should probably know that he is such a wonderful, godly man. He is a gentleman, goofy and fun (I mean, he not only puts up with my shenanigans, he enjoys them)! He points me to Christ and encourages me in godliness. I am so blessed to get to be with such a handsome, sweet, amazing guy!
So that's the basic outline of the ongoings of my life. There are some more things too: going to church at Imago Dei, small group (still my faves), discipling my high school friend Jasmine, meeting with my mentor, drinking coffee at Jubala, hanging out with my roommate Sam and her boyfriend (one of my dear friends here) Bryant.
I'm sure it's not hard to figure out though, all of these things take up a lot of time. I'm sort of tapped out in that department. I'm tired of telling my friends here, "We need to get coffee," or "Yeah, let's hang out next week!" I've become so flaky. I hate that. I want to spend time with everyone. I want to be able to catch up and do life together, but there's not enough time. There aren't enough hours. I need sleep and my house is kind of messy. And every time someone asks how I am, I begin to run through my ever-growing to-do list and miss out on what's going on with them.
It's not a great place to be. I feel separate from the community in a lot of ways. That's definitely be a struggle since I've got here. At school, I don't work well in study groups and I often feel out of place at the seminary. I'm hoping to continue to press on and finish up so that the time I spend going to class and doing homework will be relieved.
Please be praying for me! Please be praying that God would give me opportunities to have relationships with people who aren't Christians (I miss having a ton of non-Christian friends). Please be praying that I would trust in Him and what He has for me right now. Please pray that I would seek Christ each day and that He would be my prize (not checking thing off my to-do list). Please be praying that I would find comfort in the community that the Lord has provided for me here.
I'm still in seminary at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. I've changed my degree from an Masters of Divinity in International Church Planting to a Masters of Arts in Christian Studies. If all goes as planned, I'll graduate at the end of the fall semester. Please be praying that I would be faithful in my studies and work hard to complete them. I'm very burnt out on school and ready to be finished. I'm only taking two classes this semester (you'll see why in a second) and am going to try to take two over the summer so that in the fall I only have my 25-page research paper to complete.
Now (well, since June), I live with one of my best friends, Kat. It's been nice to have a friend from Savannah up here. She's helped me to remember a lot of who I am and remind me that I'm a total weirdo. We've been through a lot together and have continued to walk through life. If anything, Kat and I are closer than we've ever been as we continue to struggle and grow. We're helping each other figure out what God has for us and how we can live faithfully to that. Also, we started a business together, Wednesday Amelia. It's been a lot of fun, and also a ton of hard work. We do event, home and personal styling (including floral arranging). We also have a little online shop of curated goods from various artists and makers.
In October, I started working at Brain Balance Achievement Center. I work with children with a variety of disorders and seek to promote brain development through a customized program that helps them to reach their potential. My job is a ton of fun and also can be really emotionally and mentally taxing. But all of the hard work is worth it to see a child's life changed. It's amazing to watch the function of these children change slowly over the weeks and to celebrate their breakthroughs. It's rewarding work. There is so much more I could say about my job and the ups and downs, but I'll leave it here. The Lord is using work to shape me and grow me, to test my patience and to grow me in grace and love.
My third job, after running a blog & online shop and working at Brain Balance is my photography and design business: Paige Laurel! I have been photographing quite a bit between engagements, weddings, family sessions and last month I photographed my first maternity shoot! I've also been designing a lot. I helped my friend brand her business Adonia by Jen. (As an aside: She does hair and make-up styling for various events. She's amazing and if you're getting married soon or need someone to do your hair and make-up for anything, you should hire her. And yes, I'm shameless in promoting my friends). I designed a tattoo and am working on a few more, helped design some wedding invites, a million more things (it seems) and am now creating some repeat patterns for the background of a website.
As if life weren't crazy enough, at the beginning of this year I started dating Ben (let's be real, this is probably why you started reading the blog). I'll do a completely separate post sharing how we met/started dating, etc. which I'll try to post in the next week or two. We met about a year ago through a mutual friend, really enjoyed one another but never thought too much of it and went to our friends' wedding, had an opportunity and went on a date the next week (that's the basic version without all the fun details). But basically, dating Ben has been amazing. You should probably know that he is such a wonderful, godly man. He is a gentleman, goofy and fun (I mean, he not only puts up with my shenanigans, he enjoys them)! He points me to Christ and encourages me in godliness. I am so blessed to get to be with such a handsome, sweet, amazing guy!
So that's the basic outline of the ongoings of my life. There are some more things too: going to church at Imago Dei, small group (still my faves), discipling my high school friend Jasmine, meeting with my mentor, drinking coffee at Jubala, hanging out with my roommate Sam and her boyfriend (one of my dear friends here) Bryant.
I'm sure it's not hard to figure out though, all of these things take up a lot of time. I'm sort of tapped out in that department. I'm tired of telling my friends here, "We need to get coffee," or "Yeah, let's hang out next week!" I've become so flaky. I hate that. I want to spend time with everyone. I want to be able to catch up and do life together, but there's not enough time. There aren't enough hours. I need sleep and my house is kind of messy. And every time someone asks how I am, I begin to run through my ever-growing to-do list and miss out on what's going on with them.
It's not a great place to be. I feel separate from the community in a lot of ways. That's definitely be a struggle since I've got here. At school, I don't work well in study groups and I often feel out of place at the seminary. I'm hoping to continue to press on and finish up so that the time I spend going to class and doing homework will be relieved.
Please be praying for me! Please be praying that God would give me opportunities to have relationships with people who aren't Christians (I miss having a ton of non-Christian friends). Please be praying that I would trust in Him and what He has for me right now. Please pray that I would seek Christ each day and that He would be my prize (not checking thing off my to-do list). Please be praying that I would find comfort in the community that the Lord has provided for me here.
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