Hello! My name is Mary and I am 24 years old. I graduated from North Carolina State University in December of 2010 with a B.A. in Criminology and a minor in Social Work. One of the highlights of college was studying abroad in Ghana, West Africa the spring semester of 2010. It was amazing and there are so many experiences that prepared me for the World Race – and I am so thankful for that because living in Ghana was not the easiest thing in the world to do. I took classes at the University of Ghana and I volunteered at Mawuvio’s Outreach Programme, a nonprofit elementary school for children who cannot afford to go to school; MOP has a special place in my heart.
After college I continued to work at Side Street Restaurant in Raleigh, NC until I moved to Charlotte, NC about 10 months ago when I got a job at BB&T in the fraud department. I started going to Forest Hill Church in Charlotte at the end of last year and I absolutely love it more than I could ever express. I also have the most awesome life group ever! Right now I am working, preparing for the race, and learning and growing in my relationship with Christ very intensely.
I would also like to note that many people who meet me for the first time think I am shy and that I don’t talk much, but if you get to know me and are a good friend you will see that the opposite is also very characteristic of me. I can talk and really can go off on tangents when I am telling stories sometimes (and when writing).
Now here are a few things I love and/or close to my heart:
1. green (and just color in general – what is life without color?)
2. maps and globes (aka the world)
3. Africa!!!
4. the bleeding heart plant
5. my cat Hezi (he is sitting right beside me now, as always)
6. Hebrews 12:1-3
7. scrapbooking and making collages out of magazine clippings
7. scrapbooking and making collages out of magazine clippings
8. the songs, “Come Thou Fount,” “Hosanna,” "Lead Me to the Cross," "He Reigns," "I'll Fly Away," and “Here I Am, Lord”
9. chocolate, ice cream, and chocolate ice cream (more than anyone you know, I am sure)
10. reading nonfiction
11. photography
10. reading nonfiction
11. photography
12. NCIS, NCIS: LA, Bones, Unforgettable, Rizzoli & Isles, The Mentalist…
13. writing quotes and verses on note cards everywhere
15. collecting pictures of amazing places that I consider to be “paradise” and trying to imagine that the new heaven and earth God will create is even better
16. The Sound of Music, White Christmas, and Avatar (I bet you didn’t guess that one)
17. journaling/writing – sometimes
18. what I like to call “weeping willow tree fireworks”
my verse for the upcoming year:
"For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline."
2 Timothy 1:7
