A Great Day in the Neighborhood

So this is my very first post on my blog! I'm excited to have finally started this, I've thought about it for a long time. I have so much to write about already. As many of you might know, I was supposed to be be in DC right now. My dance with DC has been a long one. It all started my sophomore year of high school. I went there on a trip with other kids from around the country for a week of up close and personal politics. I really got interested in foreign policy and IR after that and when 9/11 rolled around I did a special senior project on terrorism which I presented to the freshmen social studies classes. So then I got to college, declared my Poli Sci major and went on my way. Well then my junior year rolled around and I decided that going abroad wasn't very beneficial for me in terms of academics, but I could do a semester at American University in DC. So my good friend Jessie and I went there for 5 months and loved it. I met some awesome people and got to experience foreign policy happening every single day. As I got to towards the end of my senior year I realized I wanted to apply for jobs and grad school in DC. I did both and was unsuccessful at both. That was a really hard time in my life. I wanted to badly to go to grad school and when I got the "thanks but no thanks" letters in March, I was crushed. I honestly felt like I had nowhere else to go, nothing else to do or offer anyone. Everyone had advice for me and while I appreciated how interested and concerned people were, I couldn't help but just become numb whenever anyone started talking about it. Just when I thought I had moved on, God put DC on my heart one more time. After spending two weeks there in June blitzing the district with info interviews I felt God was calling me to face all my fears, pack it all up and move out there. I felt He was asking me to trust Him to provide. So as I left on Sept 1th no job or place to live, I still felt confident that I was following Him. After getting there I spent time in prayer and in the Word and felt He was calling me back to Portland. It wasn't that I missed my friends, family or amazing boyfriend it was more of a question of Kristen what are you doing here? I prayed alot about it and after listening to an awesome sermon from a pastor I realized that sometimes God brings us to the wrong places in life so we can figure out the right place to be. So I came home. And the best part is that I don't regret any part of it. I faced so many fears and insecurities by trusting Him to provide a place to live, a job, to be my satisfaction away from friends and family. So now as I move toward the next thing in my life (who knows what that is) I am trusting Him more than ever to put me in the right place. I am so thankful for that learning experience and can't wait for what's next. Ok well that's plenty for now....more later