I MADE IT TO COLORADO

Hullo. I have made it to Colorado and my ywam base in the mountains. It is beautiful and walking out my front door this morning and seeing the mountains like literally in my front yard was kind of surreal. Love it. The people here are also so wonderful. It set all of my worries, fears, and hesitations aside.

So, this is a short update because we just got done with a really long day and I'm about to go play settlers of catan. SETTLERS OF CATAN! With girls. Yeah, I totally picked the best dts school. <3

But here are a few pictures from our road trip to hold you over until I upload them over to Google+.

Miss you all!

Cheers!

I leave bright and early tomorrow morning. . . as in by 5am. The sun won't even be awake by then, which is a miracle. You should right this down in your diary of many secrets and wonders so that one day you may tell your kids and grandkids that Josie K. was up and awake with coffee in hand before the sun ever showed his face. ;) So, I'm driving out with my friend Anna and we're taking four days to drive out to the beautiful Colorado. I am so excited about this road trip! The second night we're staying in this cool place in New Mexico, which I can't say here because I'm keeping it as a surprise for Anna. muhaha. But it looks fabulous and makes me happy.

Our itinerary, if you care to know, is as follows:

Thursday -- leave Starkville, MS around 5am and drive West. Most likely reach Little Rock, AR by lunch and Apache, OK by 6pm. Apache, OK is our destination for the first day, we're staying at a ywam base's hospitality suit for the night.

Friday -- leave Apache by 8am and continue driving West. By this point we will have traveled through MS, AR, OK, and be heading into TX. We're planning to stop at every State sign and take a picture. It's going to be awesome. Ok, continue driving and eventually reach NM where we will spend the night in unsaid location.

Saturday -- leave by 8 or 9am and head North where we will travel through Starkville, CO....completely awesome. Pictures will be taken. Take slight detour to the Great Sand Dunes, which are reported to be really cool. Drive to Colorado Springs and bunk for the night.

Sunday -- Tour around Colorado Springs and just chill and hang out for the day. Hopefully go see the Garden of the Gods which are also reported to be really pretty. Sunday is up for change and fun.

Monday -- drive to Denver and send Anna back home on le airplane to MS. Most likely cry some more. Drive by myself to Arvada, CO where I will know no one and be spending the next 5 months of my life. Eeegads.

I'm freaking out just a little bit, but i'm mostly just getting ridiculously emotional. I was watching what not to wear and started tearing up. I mean...c'mon! These next two weeks are going to be long, weird, exciting, good, scary, and thrilling I do believe. I know I'm going to miss my family and friends immensely. But I also know God is loving and I know that He is good and I know that He has called me to this place at this time and that He will never leave me. And for all of those truths, I am extremely grateful.

So, here's to life more abundant and love without end. . . .to God and God alone be the glory! Psalm 115:1

~Josie

The Three P's

I'm unconsciously freaking myself out, I do believe. I have sixteen days until I depart on my glorious road trip to Denver with Smitty, which leaves me what feels like no time to do all the things on my list. Granted, my list is most likely bigger and more horrifying in my head than in writing, but it still causes slight anxiety in a girl.

1) Get eyes examined and new glasses (i think i'm nearsighted :-o )

2) Send in medical paperwork to get shots

3) Get three shots (yuck)

4) Move back home

5) Figure out packing woes

6) Change over electric and gas bills

7) Send off change of address form

8) Write many much thank you notes

9) Go on a bike ride with Gracie

10) Relax....yes, please? lol

Nothing to panic over...honest. It's nice to know that even though I have all of these things to "do," I don't have to worry. I'd like to worry because it somehow seems to make things more serious and important, but that's really just an illusion. God said not to worry, for a reason, which is often easier said than done... am I right? *sigh

But seriously, all of this is becoming more and more real, especially now that my countdown is in the teens, which is both exciting and nerve-racking. I guess taking leaps of faith will always feel something like this? I'm not sure, but do keep me in mind as I spend the next few weeks panicking, packing, and praying.

~me

Where My Heart Belongs

Hullo! OK, so i have been wandering around the Eastern half of the country for the past week....whew! and have things to share and tell and elaborate on, etc. But I will save that for when i'm not exhausted and have been on the road for 16 hours. Exactly.

BUT...i just wanted to let you know that the Smokey Mountains ARE RIDICULOUSLY GORGEOUS AND YOU SHOULD GO SEE THEM....NOW! i'm really sure that my heart belongs in the mountains, so i guess i'll test this upcoming fall to see if it's the East or West version of mountain that i prefer. In the meantime, however, drive to TN/NC and soak in the beauty because it is glorious.

~me

Discovery Chanel

I currently feel like an old woman. Heat packs, ice packs, pain pills, and naps. What has happened to my body? I think i have begun to fall apart prematurely which does not leave me with a good feeling about what another 20 years will bring. AH! Perhaps my body needs a dose of adventure to cure its aches and pains. Rock climbing? Water rafting? Or would this make it worse? A greater part of me just says "who cares!" My bones can take it; i've never broken one so they have nothing against me and aren't likely to snap on me. So there.

Sometimes school can be dumb. But a lot of the time school can be cool. I guess that would make my relationship with school a love-hate one? Makes sense. I just want to graduate. As a nurse. Is that so much to ask? I didn't think so. Applications are in the process of being filled out and mailed. I know that in this day and age it is respectful and critical that one have a job with a steady income. Totally understandable. Money doesn't grow on trees, etc. BUT SCHOOL?!! Why? Why is it frowned upon if you put off your education or travel amidst the learning for awhile? Why do we feel we must live up to society's expectations and the worlds demands of how we should act, learn, love, behave, or just LIVE? Since when do 'they' get to have a say or thought in what i do.


I want to take a semester off again and travel, go on mission trips, and just explore the world with my own two hands and eyes instead of through someone else's interpretation through a textbook or whatever. Yes, trip[S], as in multiple ones. I want a door to just swing wide and loudly open before me so i can wildly go running through it. Call me crazy, call me dumb, call me ridiculous and naive, i don't care. There are almost SEVEN BILLION people in this world. There are ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY-FIVE countries. There are too many mountains to hike and rivers to ride and roads to explore. I have to go. I have to discover. I want to. I need to.

~Me

Who Knows. . . .

Christmas lights on the highway at night are amazing. For instance, this one house was semi-decked out, just the usual icicle lights and such. BUT they had pine trees next to there house and put santa in his sleigh and four reindeer 50 feet up. It was huge and it was amazing. probably also one of those 'you had to have been there' sights. Also, it is quite dangerous to put out amazing, bright and shiny christmas lights along the highway. Because you want to look and go 'ooooh pretty!' and then you remember that you're on the highway. Dilemma.

My exciting life on tuesday consisted of taking my last final exam. whoop! It was short essay kind of deal...i think i did alright. Then i went to go get my hair trimmed. Finally! I'm trying to grow it out and i knew if i went back too soon that i'd be like 'what the heck, just chop it short!' And so i waited.....FIVE months. That, my friends, is a long time. woah. My hair is happier now. Then i went home, cleaned dishes, washed clothes and then my mother called to ask if i had gone to the doctor.
Uhhh whoops? I forgot that i had been coughing up a lung ALL day....! Yes, i went. I have bronchitis. Again. My lungs have had a hard life. So then i headed to the pharmacy to get my drugs. The pharmacist called me over, he's an old family friend, to inform that this one drug might make me a bit shaky. I said ok. He asked how i was, being sick and all. I replied, 'yea it's just bronchitis.' l-o-l.
Then i did work stuffs, went home and watched the sound of music. love. that. movie.

Also, i had my first cup of coffee tonight since sunday. SUNDAY! I figured i didn't need to mega dehydrate myself while being sickly and all. But now my body is like "caffeine!!" Which is probably the reason this is the most is utterly ridiculous post in every regard. Is there a point, you ask? That would be nice, but alas the answer is a resounding no.

Bible study ended. yes, i'm repeating myself, but don't worry, i'm going places. So, it ended and i'm left with the constant hovering question 'what do i teach on next semester??!' And i panic. But only briefly. And then HE is like 'hey, do this!' I rejoiced. HE knows what's good. So, in the process of studying and preparing for next semester i'm reading like nine kajillion books. Deep thinking books at that. It's fun. I am excited. You should be too.



You can blame the caffeine.






~ME

P.S.

I didn't start out on this journey with a backup plan. I knew where i was headed, i knew exactly what i was going to do and i had a pretty good idea of how i was going to get there. However, one bump came, i rode over it, but what i didn't see was the huge mountain that was waiting around the curve. Nothing has ever pounded me so hard in the face as this has. This one mountain is keeping me from my goals, it's keeping me from reaching my destination and causing me to fret and become disoriented along the way. Perhaps, though, my problem isn't that silly mountain, but instead it is myself. Perhaps i have the ability to move that mountain or even to step over it, but i do nothing about it. I keep expecting that mountain to move on it's own, to get up and walk off my path and set itself down in a field far away. That silly mountain wasn't in my plan, it wasn't part of my journey, or so i believed. Perhaps that mountain is there, not to keep me from reaching my destination but to teach me a lesson on this side, a lesson that i couldn't learn if i were to hastily cross its peak. I like to know the reasons behind things, tell me why this works and how and for what purpose, then i will understand more fully. But here i am, in the dark and in the waiting, left to figure out what to do with this huge mountain at my doorstep.


My sister and i drove back from Nashville today. We drove by the home of the eleventh president and stopped to look and take pictures. Yet another good reason why i dislike taking the highways or interstates; spontaneous stops! Also, i am a fan of road trips. Fun people, good music and a friendly gps. Yes, ma'am! Please can i go on more? Kthanks.

~Me