Hey guys, this is a great opportunity to do a small thing and make a huge difference. I have been a Compassion International sponsor since my freshman year of college, and it's been so rewarding. I keep in regular contact with my little Lena in Indonesia. Now it's your chance to jump in. I was given the task of finding the child shown above a sponsor this Christmas. It's 32 dollars a month, and the money goes directly to supporting the children. You can check out their website at www.compassion.com . Seriously, think about it, pray about it. See what you can do. Even if you don't want to commit full-time, they take donations at Christmas time and divide the donations up equally among the children to buy them Christmas gifts. You can donate easily and quickly online. Many of my friends are sponsors as well, and I know musicians such as Andrew Peterson and Bebo Norman are huge supporters. In fact, I think both of them have actually gone overseas to visit their Compassion children. Let me know what God lays on your heart!

God has really been challenging me lately. Namely, I experienced a real spiritual gut-check yesterday. Just in my thoughts I came to the question of, "Is my perception of God's best for me God's idea of His best for me?" I don't know that I can answer yes to that question. I expect to process His will and His plan like other areas of life, such as here's what I've observed from past experience, here's the precedent that's been set, here's what I can expect. But how limited is that? It's safe, yes, that's what I cling to. But how small is my view of God in that line of thought? I'm for real about agreeing with John Piper in being a Christian hedonist. I believe Jesus in John 10:10 that He really did come to give me a full life and to show me what living is all about. But I think God's calling me to accept the fact that He may not always give me the vision of what's to come before He asks me to make the step of faith. That's not comfortable for me. I like well-calculated risk and rational decision-making. That's not so much the standard in utter dependence and obedience in Christ.

Most of this thought process has resulted from the realizations that in a year and a half, I will not be in school anymore. I can honestly say I have no idea what's next. I'll probably have loans to pay off, so directly to the missionfield may not be an option. Do I want to do a residency? Do I want to give away one year of my life to a hospital for the practice experience and meager pay? That will only help me get ahead if I plan on being a clinical pharmacist in a hospital. Do I? I have no idea.

And now back to Memphis...things are crazy busy, as always. I've recently joined Facebook and MySpace, and I'm absolutely addicted. I miss Brittany, my roommate and best friend who is currently in her hometown of Dallas to do a one-month residency there. We were like a married couple: live in the same room, share a bathroom, debrief about our day, laugh about ridiculous things at midnight that would not be funny during the day, etc.


Things with ASP are hectic, and they will pretty much stay that way until I'm out of office in April. Sure is growing my prayer life. Church is great. I've gotten more involved with the youth group this past week, and it's really been a blessing. I went to see some of my girls in a cheerleading competition on Saturday, and they were awesome! I was so proud. It really made me miss cheering. Yeah, I said it. It was fun, though.

Friday night, Huntingdon played George Carver High School in Memphis at Whitehaven. So Justin and Zach went with me, Mom, and Lee to the game. It was so good. The boys did great. It was close, too: 6 all at halftime. Then H'don kicked it up a notch and brought it home. This pic is of Kellen, my little bro, and me. He's # 16 on the football team, a sophomore. Oh, and did I mention this kid's a gem? Has a heart of gold. I love my fam!

I spent the weekend in Birmingham, AL. Our APhA-ASP chapter made the trip for our Midyear Regional Meeting (MRM). Region 3, composed of the southeastern portion of the US plus Puerto Rico, is very strong when it comes to ASP. I always have a good time, and the people are the best. I was able to hang out with all my friends that I made during the Summer Leadership Institute in DC this summer. It's funny that we only got to spend about 30 hours total with each other, but great friendships were formed. I'll take a moment to send a shout-out to all my homies in Region 3:

• my girl Sadie from Campbell University over in NC
• my buddy Daniel from UGA
• Shelly from USC, South Carolina, not Southern Cali
• Lisa from Ole Miss
• Wheeler, also from Campbell, met her for the first time
• I'm sure there are a few more that I'm failing to mention, but all of Region 3 is great.

Our chapter also ran a candidate for regional member-at-large. Deryk, one of our chapter's first year Members-at-large ran and did an awesome job. He was elected! I was so proud.

All in all we had fun. Then I got home Sunday afternoon and decided to play sports at the ROC (recreation outreach center) at GBC...

great idea...or so I thought. I'm not much of a b-baller, so when they offered wallyball (volleyball in a racquetball court where you can use the side walls), I definitely volunteered. I was having fun until I jumped up and came down on my ankle instead of the bottom of my foot. Word to the wise: go with the foot, ankles don't work. I definitely thought I had broken it because I had a similar injury a couple of years ago. And it was my whole body weight coming down on the joint. So my anxious curiosity got me to the ER, and the X-ray said no break. I was pumped.

So crutches for two days, the whole RICE treatment, and then easy on it for two weeks. I left Nat out to dry because we won't be running at 5:30. I figured I will gain a few pounds, but I'm hoping for the best.

I know this is a direct result of prayer. This happened last time. I prayed for humility and God let my leg break. It definitely slows me down, grows compassion, and centers me. I've been praying for a growth spurt lately, and I guess this is it. I don't want to take life and health and communication and transportation for granted. I'm hoping this will grow some resourcefulness that will come in handy on the missionfield and in all aspects of life. I was definitely ticked at first. My first thought was, "I don't have time for a broken leg." That definitely showed a lot of humility. (Please note the exaggerated sarcasm.) Whether it's the easy way or the hard one, I want God to keep teaching me. As long as I never become un-teachable, life will be full. (John 10:10)

It's been a great week. I had a huge test on Monday, went to work for a bit, then worked at GBC's Pumpkin Party. There were so many parents and kids in the Faith Building. Brittany and I ran one of the games. Some of the kids were absolutely precious! I wished I would have had my camera. The rest of the week has been pretty laid back. I went to the Memphis game against UAB on Tuesday night. There were a lot of people there from Career I. We had a big time cutting up and dancing with the Memphis band. They're so ghettro-fabulous; I love it! And it was great to see Daryl Hackney, UAB's QB, up close. He's the bomb. He's one of the tightest QB's I've ever seen in college football. I know my experience isn't that extensive, but he impresses me. Tennessee sure could use him. That's a sore subject...I'll move on. Then Wednesday night I got to see Shaq play in the Grizzlie's opening game! It was great. I was about 20 rows up from the floor! Those kids are huge!!! I knew they were big, but seeing them for real was mind-boggling.

I've also got to talk to some of my friends from back in the day this week, whether via email or phone conversation. McLean, Josh, Jess, Wendy, all kinds of peeps. It's good to catch up and always interesting the changes God has brought us through.

I leave for Birmingham tomorrow. It's the Midyear Regional Meeting for Region 3 of APha-ASP. That doesn't mean much to anyone but me, but it's the organization that I'm the president of at our local chapter level. We get to meet up with our friends in the southeast and discuss ideas, opportunities, and policy. I like the legislative stuff. It gets kinda heated at times. It's always a good time. As pharmacy people, we always make time for social gatherings. And Birmingham's nice, so it'll be fun.

I apologize for the lack of exciting content in this post. But life is good right now. God is really answering prayer in revealing Himself and drawing me to Him. I'm not any "better" as a person, but He's never expected me to be. I'm learning that. He just asks that I love and follow Him. I'm learning how to respond in the same simplicity with which He pursues. Life is good.