MY FAMILY
I just adore my family. They have provided me with many years of side-splitting laughter, countless shoulders to cry on, unwavering support and awesome life experiences. My dad has given me an amazing earthy picture of what my heavenly Father will be like – selfless, strong, fair, compassionate, loving, a great provider and good humored! My mom is an animated fireball of energy and a prayer warrior with a huge heart. I have the world’s best sissy! From the days of pink sponge rollers and fluffy tutus to rocking out at ACL fests and learning the steps to our favorite SYTYCD routine, I truly could not have asked for a better life partner.
MY FAITH
I have been blessed with an amazingly supportive Christian family and I am so thankful to have grown up in the church. I would not be who I am today without accepting Christ at an early age. I am eternally grateful for the support and guidance from my parents, aunts and uncles and the myriad of Sunday School teachers, Disciple Now host families and Bible study leaders that I’ve met along the way. I’ve not always made the right decisions and I sure have blown it on occasion, but I have always grasped tightly to the fact that I am saved by the grace of God and I have so much to learn in this wonderful process of sanctification.
WHY THIS TRIP
I ask myself this question nearly every day. Along with versions of “Couldn’t I go on a shorter mission trip? Do I really have it in me to live out of a backpack and sleep in a tent? Am I seriously quitting my job and leaving my friends, family, everything to spend 11 months loving on the unloved?”
I visited a friend’s church in Colorado at the very beginning of this World Race process and I felt the pastor’s message was directed right at me. He spoke about living an all out cannonball life – a life where you push all fears and trepidation aside with every step up the high dive ladder. Some people will climb back down and some will cling tightly to the rung they’ve already made it to and not go any further. Yet others will persevere and make it to the top, walk out to the end of the platform and jump, experiencing adventure and life like never imagined.
Friends, I’m about to jump off that high dive and I’m scared, nervous, thrilled and excited. I’ve been grasping tightly to the same rung for far too long. I can’t ignore the tugging on my heart to cannonball into an active, transforming, fired up faith.
I never imagined that the Lord would send me out to share His love with the nations. It’s going to undoubtedly be the most challenging and rewarding year of my life. So yes, I’m going to spend 11 months shining the love of Christ loving on the unloved in 11 different countries and I hope you’ll join me in this journey. Sign up now to get updates!
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”� 1 Peter 5:6-7.
SOME RANDOM FACTS
* I LOVE to dance.
* I’m a little obsessed with Broadway musicals and Glee!
* I was not blessed with an indoor voice.
* I HATE tall grass, olives and licorice.
* I HATE cancer and spent the last two and a half years working for an amazing children’s research hospital and will forever carry the stories of the heroic little kiddos in my heart.
* I sometimes get way too excited about things.
* I can sleep through just about anything and I can snooze an alarm clock for hours and hours.
* I’m an extreme overpacker so this whole living out of one backpack for a year is going to be interesting.
* I love the smell of Bounce dryer sheets.
* I was born in Lewisville, TX and grew up in Collierville, TN. I went to SMU in Dallas and then lived in Austin, TX before moving to Phoenix, AZ nearly three years ago.
* I could live off Tex-Mex – Maudie’s and Trudy’s queso in particular.
* I’m a little clumsy. I broke my leg tripping down some stairs leaving a Shakespeare class in college and I’ve torn both my ACLs.
* I am a two-time triathlete. (yes, even after two ACL reconstruction surgeries!)
* I love to travel with family and friends.
