hi from KCMO

So. I know that post-grad life is supposed to be hard. Luckily I had some really awesome people shed light on some of the difficulties we experience after leaving the comforts of our college home. Yet I could have never imagined what it would look like.

Directly after graduation (we're talkin' like less than 2 weeks), I packed up my bags and jumped on a plane to Kansas City, Missouri. I remember looking out the plane window at the Kansas River as we approached our destination and feeling SO ecstatic. A new home! So many new things to explore! So many people to meet! So many friends (hopefully) to be made! EEP. I have to learn the lingo, the lay of the land, where I should go to church, where should I get my groceries, all that jazz.

 After my week of Induction in KC, I was completely smitten. I am shocked at how quickly it took me to fall in love with the city, semi-learn my way around through all the different neighborhoods and declare KC my new home. I began to form relationships with the people I would be living and working with for the next two years (at least) and I felt like education was the field I was meant to be in. Learning about the city and the education gap that plagues our country, I was so fired up and ready to jump in.

But first, we had Institute. Five weeks that now seem like a complete blur. Teach For America regions from all over the country meet in their designated Institute location, take up residency at a college and teach summer school to get some hands on experience before returning to our home base. For KC, we were in Tulsa for our Institute along with the Colorado, Indy, Charlotte, Detroit, Milwaukee, Washington and North Carolina Piedmont Triad regions. We all stayed at the University of Tulsa and were split off into different schools in the Tulsa Public Schools to teach summer school. I'll spare the nitty gritty details but I can confidently say those were the most rigorous and challenging five weeks of my life.  Completing Institute feels like my biggest accomplishment so far. Thankful for the experience and even more thankful that I made it through.

After coming back home to KC and moving in my house with my two roomies, I was still interviewing at schools. I assumed that I would get placed before school started and be on my merry way. But, it seems as if that is not what the Lord had planned for me.

Now, after three interviews with different charter schools to no avail and complications with the school board, I have been fighting hard not to completely lose hope. Most days I feel frustrated to the max, no longer believing that the Lord has my situation in his grasp. I feel a bit worthless and have questioned many times whether this is actually the place where I am supposed to be. Stuck in this weird limbo with school starting, I have to know that I TRULY am here for a reason and the Lord DOES have a plan, despite what it feels like to me. I'm a little shocked because I've never been in a place where it is this hard to trust before. I actively have to make the decision to be hopeful and know that the Lord will NOT let me fall.

In the mean time, I've been exploring KC and beyond thankful for the friends I've made and the home I've started to make here in the good ole heart of America. Go royals, y'all.

Blessed is she who believes that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her. // Luke 1:45

the grandest canyon

Ever since returning from France, I've had this insatiable desire to see more of America. I loved being able to see so much of Europe last spring and realized that there is still so much of my own country that I have yet to explore. It is the land of the free and the home of the brave after all, right?

This summer I read Donald Miller's Through Painted Deserts and started dreaming of backpacking in the Grand Canyon. Something about the way Donald described his experience as one of the most challenging and wonderfully rewarding things he has ever accomplished in his life made me want to explore the canyon for myself. So, after a whole semester of planning, preparing and training, three of my gal pals and I set off for a week to conquer the grandest of the canyons. And we were not disappointed.

Everyone loves a good road trip, plus plane tickets can be pricy and binding, so the gals and I decided on an ole fashioned Route 66 drive to the land of the wild, wild, west. We hit Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, made a 10 AM Dairy Queen blizzard stop, met some fellow Aggies at a gas station in New Mexico and ate Sharky's burritos like true Abilenians. We were tempted to take a slight turn to the North and head up to Las Vegas when conditions were looking a bit too cold or icy. Yet, we persevered. We also came to a mutual consensus that Flagstaff is the neatest little town along Main Street America, complete with trendy wall murals, breweries and outdoor surpluses galore.

After a restful night at the Red Feather Lodge motel, we strapped up, secured our crampons and headed down Hermits Rest Trail. First, let it be known that hiking 10 miles downhill is more exhausting than one might think. After descending down the trail and the steep switchbacks of the Cathedral Stairs, we were completely relieved to crawl into Monuments Creek campsite that afternoon. We rewarded ourselves with some backcountry pies (#BCP!!), made a mean sausage stir fry, read some Bill Bryson, and snuggled into our sleeping bags to prepare for day two. And if I didn't learn anything else on day one, I did learn that snow makes an excellent substitute for toilet paper.

Day two consisted of hiking along the rolling hills of Tonto Trail and catching some spectacular views of the Colorado River. We even ran into some friendly mule deer! Okay, actually they just took one look at us and went back to their grazing, but nonetheless I will include them as friends since we did not see a single other human until we reached our campsite on the second afternoon.

At Indian Gardens we met an eccentric college professor from Boston who was very concerned about us disrupting her sleep with our playful banter that night. But, we managed to soften her up a bit and share a few laughs. I preferred to call it Indian Paradise as it was filled with beautiful cottonwood trees, comfy picnic tables, filtered water and actual toilet paper- YIPPEE.

The morning of the third day we woke up prepared to tackle the famous Bright Angel Trail with our bellies full of apple cinnamon oatmeal and our eyes on the prize. That morning before we set off, our buddy who we affectionately referred to as Professor Coco informed us that we might hear her singing opera on the trail because it helps her to steady her breathing while climbing uphill. Pardon me, but I do not think that belting out opera sounds too appealing while ascending 3,000 feet. Nevertheless, we did indeed hear Professor Coco yodeling her opera melodies which seemed to rebound off the canyon walls and visit the ears of many tourists strolling down the trail on day hikes. We met a few other friends along the trail, one being a man who was there on a two day hike to celebrate his 70th birthday. Go John, go!

At the top, we treated ourselves to a meal of cheeseburgers and cherry pie to celebrate our twenty seven completed miles across the canyon. It was undoubtedly the most challenging hike I've ever done, yet fed my passion to get out there and continue exploring.

Thankful thankful for three great pals, new land traveled, and an able body that I can use to honor the Lord.

"Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness." // Psalm 37:3