My Second Favorite Thing

So, I haven't shared this tidbit about myself with you yet but those people in that picture are some of the most amazing people in the entire world. After my faith, FCCLA (Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America) is my passion. I had the opportunity to serve as the 2008-2009 Iowa FCCLA President and I absolutely loved every single minute of it. In the picture are my other 6 officers along with our state officer coordinator at our state leadership conference held in March. During my term I learned so much about myself and about life in general and I owe all of those lessons to my fellow officers. They are all wonderful, amazing people with so much dedication for the things they involve themselves in and that is something I truly admire. People always said that we were a great team and I honestly believe that, we all worked so well together and got along perfectly that I couldn't have asked for six other people to work with for a year. We had way too much fun together but at the same time we knew when to buckle down and be productive so we could get home after a long weekend of work and planning.

Since our term ended at the end of March, I have been trying to forget about it and push it aside so I can focus on the things I have coming up in my life (for example, graduation) but it has been so hard! And it should be...it's impossible to forget about something or someone who made a great impact on your life and these people most definitely impacted the person I am. Honestly, it's not easy being done...and that sounds so greedy and selfish but I miss all of them more than anything. We are spread out all across the state and before I could always count on seeing them at our monthly meetings but now we're done and I haven't seen them for a month and it's proving to be quite trying. They are people who kept my life in check over the course of the year and they were always there to listen when I needed to vent and they are still there for me, they will always be there for me, but distance just makes things so much more difficult.

Just for you to get an idea of how much we all loved Iowa FCCLA...Rebeka (third from the right in the picture) texted me last week and said she hadn't unpacked her suitcase yet because she thought that if she didn't unpack then it wouldn't seem like she was really done yet. I laughed at her...because that's how our relationship works...and told her she was a little bit ridiculous but then I went upstairs later that night only to discover that my suitcase is still sitting in the middle of my floor and it's mostly unpacked but there are definitely still several items of clothing and other random supplies in my bag that I haven't even thought of unpacking yet. So apparently I am suffering from the same despression as Rebeka...and I really don't think it's completely hit me yet that it really is over and maybe I really haven't unpacked yet because I don't want to face the fact that I'm done.

I really don't know how to explain my emotions because I really am excited to see what the 2009-2010 officer team can do and all the great places they are going to take the association but at the same time, it sucks to have everything one day and then the next day have it all taken away. It comes with lots of shock, tears, hugs, sadness, joy, and relief...how's that for a mixture of emotions?! It's pretty much impossible to deal with all those emotions at the same time...and that's what I have been trying to do and it's not working because I am still living in denial and I really don't want to admit to the fact that I'm finished serving as president.

But, let's look on the bright side! In just a few short months, 6 of the 7 from our team are going to the National Leadership Conference in Nashville, TN and I am pretty much counting down the days until July 10th! It's going to be one of the best reunions ever and we are going to have a fun-filled, relaxing week with each other and with all the officers from around the country that we met over the course of our year. When I get down thinking about the fact that it's over, I just think about the fact that we are going to be together again soon and it's going to be amazing! It usually helps me get through the sadness and brings a smile to my face :)

Scholarships = Hard Core Thinking

So, Anna (youth minister) found this scholarship for me that's worth a ton of money and it's an awesome scholarship to the college that I'm going to. When I first got it, I looked over it and thought it would be a piece of cake but today while Anna and I were talking about it I realized that I don't think it's going to be as easy as I first suspected. There is no essay part to it and it's all just short answer questions...sounds pretty painless, right? Not so much...there are some pretty deep questions on this application that I don't know if I'm going to be able to give a complete answer in less that 300 words.

For example, one question asks for two ways in which I have brought others closer to Christ. I truly hope that I am bringing people around me to Christ every single day but I don't know that...they do, so this question is making me think quite a bit.I am most definitely going to say something about Theology of the Body because it is my passion and I really think that it is an amazing way for one to become closer to God and realize why He made you just the way you are. I am planning on talking about how we have evangelized with it and taken it to different youth groups and such. So, that's my easy answer but they asked for two...and I really don't know what I'm going to say for the other one because I don't feel like I actually bring anyone closer to Christ. I think that I expose them to His greatness and then they decide for themselves if they want to accept Christ or not. I think the whole process is between that person and Christ and not so much me but I guess I will have to change my style of thinking and come up with another way I have led someone to our Savior.

Another question asks about the depth of my commitment and how I practice my faith. I'm going to kind of approach this like a testimony...but how am I supposed to do that in under 300 words?! I will definitely talk about my Confirmation year which is when I truly took Catholicism as my own and made the decision that I wanted to pursue my faith and I wasn't going to just sit back and watch it happen, I wanted to be a part of it and since then I have been growing in my faith every single day and I learn more about God and how much He loves me constantly. But Theology, and our mission trip to Harlan, Kentucky, and my family, and youth group have all played vital roles in my spiritual journey and to try to put that into words is going to be somewhat difficult I have a feeling. I love to share my story with others and tell people how great of an impact God has had on my life but I've never written about it before so we will see how this all turns out.

So, along with all these questions, my brain has kind of been going crazy just really thinking about God's role in my life and how I can let Him play an even greater role. We can all let God take more control in our lives. And life would be so much easier if we truly gave every part of our life up to Him and didn't worry about controlling anything at all. But we can't actually do that...we are human and we live in society that's all about independence so we all strive to be in control of our lives and have a handle on everything that's going on but I think if we just let it all go and became a society that was dependent on God our lives would be dramatically different! We would be worry-free and careless and God would take perfect care of us...if only we lived in a perfect world...

Rookie

So, I've never done this before and to be honest, I don't really know what I'm doing. I mean, I was planning on starting a blog eventually just in case anyone back home in Iowa wanted to hear about my life in Kansas next year but I guess I just decided to do it now instead. So, if I begin to ramble on about things that make no sense...I apologize.

So, for those of you who don't know...here's a quick snapshot into my life at the moment. I just gave up my red jacket and I wouldn't say I'm handling it all too well. But each day is better and maybe one of these days I will finish unpacking and put my suitcase away. :) Luckily, my focus has began to shift to graduation. I absolutely cannot wait and I am so excited to start the next chapter in my life. Along with graduation comes scholarships, open houses, scholarships, baccalaureate, scholarships, awards night, scholarships, painting the house, and oh right, scholarships. Yeah, seems like it would fill my time pretty well, right? Wrong...I don't actually do any of those things and, more often then not, find myself bored, sitting in front of my TV most of the time...awesome use of your time, Katlin.

Other than graduation, I am currently sick, which is loads of fun, and I am keeping busy managing the girls' track team and hanging out with friends while I still can.

Sorry for the not so exciting blog post...hopefully they will improve over time! :)