New Kid on the Blog.

Ah, my first post in the blogging community! Creating this work of internet magic has been quite the adventure! I've been having flashbacks to my high school Web Mastering class...and I've found that my amateur knowledge of html actually came in handy when working on my sidebar. Ha! You know, the word "blog" is so strange. I think its origins stem from something like "web log," but "blog" just sounds kind of icky. Like an onomatopoeia for vomiting...I digress. Anywho, hello friends! :) I'm really excited to have this piece of social media at my fingertips now, particularly for the sake of documenting my travels in Russia. But, this is also just to chatter about how Jesus is working in my life and how He guides my steps. Plus some random musings here and there...

Some back story for those of you with whom I haven't talked in a while:
I will be traveling overseas to Moscow, Russia this summer for about a month! Why? I'm going on this awesome thing called a Summer Project, which is run by Campus Crusade for Christ (or Cru for short). I'm involved with Cru here at Tech, and I LOVE it! Cru is an international ministry that focuses on helping college students grow in their relationships with Christ. They have a ministry presence on campuses all over the U.S. as well as around the world. Through Campus Crusade, I will be going with a team of 12 other students to Moscow with the goal of sharing the good news of the Gospel with Russian university students! Less than one percent of the 11-or-so million people in Moscow follow Christ. It's going to be a whirlwind of a trip! I'm excited for the challenges ahead, and I really look forward to growing with the Lord.

A couple of Fridays ago (the 25th), I embarked on a road trip with my two fellow Tech Moscow SP members, McCall Sanderson and Brent Daugherty. Holla! We drove (Well, McCall drove.) up to Norman, Oklahoma to meet the majority of our Moscow team! I must say, I could write a whole blog on our car ride.  Brent provided us with an extremely long road trip playlist, as well as a nice array of his vocal talents. McCall and I became fast friends, and had fun discussing our crazy connection to one another. No, we're not long lost cousins or anything, even though we share a last name. We did, however, go to church together when we were little, back in Wichita Falls. Small world! The three of us had fun swapping stories, and we inadvertently created lots of inside jokes. We arrived to our destination and were greeted with hugs and handshakes from our new friends.  I think I can speak for all of us in saying that the weekend was awesome. Our project director and his wife are wonderful. Our team meshes extremely well. I can't wait to live in a hostel with them for a month! Ha. ;) God did a good job of putting this group together. (Here we are, pictured below. Minus Brian and Rachel. We're a fun bunch! We so excited!)

Anyways, that weekend was great. We're all stoked to see what God has in store for us! McCall and Brent and I headed home on Sunday (the 27th), and made more memories and inside jokes. McCall got pulled over (Don't worry, she did nothing wrong.), Brent sang with more gusto, and I talked incessantly, even though I was losing my voice. There you have it! A little snippet of what is to come. School is super ridiculous for me right now, so I may not post frequently. Congratulations on making it to the bottom of the page! Thanks for reading my first ramble.