finals and juries and coffee, oh my!

Yes, finals and juries and coffee have been my life for the past week. Vom. But I only have tomorrow and then I'm DONE!
Haha and don't even get me started on this semester as a whole: so crazily wonderful. To think about everything God has done and rocked my world with since walking back onto MC's campus on August 21st, well, I could write a book. One thing that's blown me away has been the friendships made and the friendships rekindled. God has gotten my attention and made my mindset very intentional about who to draw close to and who to share life with. And lemme tell ya, some of these people are NOT people I would have picked out for myself, not even to be funny, but the impact they've had and the way God is using them continues to leave me speechless. Errytime.

The 27th Annual Festival of Lights happened a week and half ago and oh my word.. I don't know if I have the proper words to describe this but I'm sure as heck gonna try. First of all, it was the 27th. Favorite number. Second of all, it was surreal knowing that I was back and singing music and belonging in a tradition I never thought I'd be in again! The pieces, the procession, the readings, those stupid candles, trying not to fall, never tearing your gaze away from Dr. Meaders, doing your best to sing all the words to that hymn you never memorized, it was everything! It was overwhelming and at the same time felt completely natural, as if I was made to be a part of it. I got chill bumps every night. Friday night kicked rear though. We were all in our zone, and we locked our harmonies and sang into those notes like we never have before. Whew. Crazy good.

Finals have approached.. and they're the devil. Well, they're not absolutely terrible but they're not just breezy either. My voice jury rocked this semester. Not trying to brag on myself either! Mary Catherine (my accompanist for the semester) tore it up and I picked one of my easy songs and they picked the other easy song I had! And being in that recital where your voice carries just makes you want to sing into it even more! No words forgotten, no breath lost, and no rushing or lagging. Praise, praise Him.

As a closing subject for this post (which I plan on posting more over Christmas break than I did this past month..!), God has done a tremendous amount of work this past year. And it's all coming full circle, in good ways and bad. My life, as I'm living it now, has seen more blessings and overflow than it ever has. I don't know if it's because I feel more tuned into God or the relationship between Him and I has continued to grow and deepen. Everything being "fixed" when I came back didn't exactly happen, and that's okay. Mainly because they were fixed in His way and not the way I wanted them to be fixed, and He's slowly revealing them to me =)

Christmas break will be wonderfulllllllllllllllllllll, I hope! Being home after being gone for three and half months after living at home for a year makes everything weird haha but I'm bringing one of my closest friends, Robby, home with me for the weekend and I plan on visiting a few of my friends over break. Then spring semester starts with observing at schools in Jackson. Ah! Life is moving so fast!