:)

So it's official: I have officially started my sophomore year at Mississippi College... again :)
Haha apologies to the faithful for not having written in a few weeks! Life got busy, people got annoying, and I was packing and practicing for school!
It's been incredible so far though: Singers is blowing my socks off, I got asked to be in the musical (Ragtime, come and see it) my roommate is, well, I have not the words to formulate how wonderful she is, and seeing/living with people my own age again is so good!
I was color coding and continually adding things to my planner last night and I realized that I won't have a free weekend until the first weekend in NOVEMBER! So let's forget the fact that I wanted to come back almost every Memphis in October, and multiple heartfelt apologies for everything I'm going to be missing within that month =(
Oh, and let me just tell you: my schedule is chocked full of a million and a half things already, and it's all music. This is excluding all things homework, all things friend/hangout time, and normal life. Ah, the life of a music major; I love it but sometimes...

On a different note, I feel a lot more, well, grown up this year -for lack of a better term- and it's not just because I'm 20 either! For starters, I thought my voice was going to be a process to get back into shape when it came time for those 6 hour rehearsals on Monday and Tuesday and for my voice lesson on Thursday. No no. I wouldn't call it muscle memory, but maybe heart memory? It's remarkable how easy it was/is for my voice and my determination to grow and strengthen my voice to come back but then I remember that this is where my heart is, this is what gets me to my core, and then it makes sense :)
I also realized that my speech has matured a bit, I'm using bigger words (when not using gibberish), speaking in a more eloquent manner (see that big word) and talking to my peers and my professors differently. And it's so fun! I feel like such a big kid!
The biggest thing of all that I realized I had become more of a grownup was last night, there was a dance party for all the new freshmen that were here sprinkled with some upperclassmen (for friendly faces and funky dance moves) and I stopped by for awhile and then I walked to my room to go and write a paper!
A PAPER!!
I don't understand why I had homework on the first week of classes anyway, and I really don't understand why I didn't stay and dance! For those of you who know me, I love dancing. Whether I be good at it or not, dancing is just something I love and have loved and will love. Always always. I didn't even realize what had happened until I was back in my dorm room. It was quite a shocking realization, I had to sit down ;P

Hahaha aside from all of that, *waves hand in direction of previous paragraph* life has been wonderful. The laughs and hugs have been plentiful, the friendships that grew even in this past year have grown even stronger in these past few days, God and I have gotten real REAL fast, and I'm content knowing that this is where He put me and these are the people that I'm living life with.



The feelings of imploding AND exploding with happiness are constant :)

it is time.

It's here, sweet Jesus, it's here!
I got my Singers music packet in the mail today! ASK me how excited I am right now!
Ahhhh!! It's great music to begin with (with an Eric Whitacre AND an African piece!) and knowing that I'll get to learn it, re-learn it, learn it again and PERFORM it with my fellow Singers makes my heart leap out of my chest! I can't believe it's here and this is happening!
It all seems to be rushing now; in 2 1/2 weeks I'll be moving into school, I've got just about everything I need (excluding carpet) for dorm and school, I just got my music to start working on (yes, the IPA madness HAS started), I'm finishing up at work by going back to part time as all of our kids move into their new classes, I'm starting to pack up my room, and it seems it got here so fast! Now granted, it does NOT feel like yesterday when I had come home from school 10 months ago, that was definitely a long time ago, but now that I look back the time has flown and God's blessings have poured out in such an abundance I don't know where to put all of them!
I was talking to a dear friend last week and was telling her about my upcoming school year with my amazing roommate, the classes I'll be taking with a whole group of new students whom I adore, my relationships with my professors being stronger and the deeper and wider friendships I've built up this past year and I realized: this school year is turning out perfectly. Like nothing I could have imagined or created on my own; impossible had I not come home; it's better than last year was. It's better than I could have formulated.
IT'S BETTER.
And I know there were more than a zillion reasons -known and unknown to me- why I came home, but it's almost as if God is saying, "Kendall, if for no other reason, so I could show you what your school experience could look like while I am in control." MY GOSH!
I'm so hackin' excited that I'm annoyed my fingers can't type fast enough and this keyboard can't come up with enough words! My stomach is quivering with excitement, my heart is racing, I want to jump around and yell (more than I already have) and just, just go hug everybody I see!!
dhjgsdioughjksidlfkhdfsnkaljfbdkmlgjbhjnzkl!