On this day of the year, I always
like to take time and look back at what all happened in my life over the past
year. It's hard to believe that a whole
year has passed and we are now standing in the doorway of a new one...but we
are and I now reflect on my year....THIS IS A LONG POST...BEWARE :)
School - Graduate School Edition
It's hard to believe that one year
ago I graduated from college. 2011 began
my new path as a college graduate, but did that mean I had given up on any more
schooling....who me?? No way, José! :) January 2011 began my first adventure into
the world of grad school! If you
remember my ramblings from last year, I have felt God's call to delve deeper
into my quest of educating children, but desired to do so from a Christian
education perspective. I enrolled in
Liberty University Baptist Theological Seminary's online program, originally
seeking their Master of Arts in Children's Ministry. Over the course of a year, I have definitely
learned A LOT! From Theology classes to
Baptist History class to an Intro to Missions to Discipleship teaching classes....the
knowledge I have gained as a result of grad school has been so helpful and
useful. Seminary has also helped deepen
my relationship with God as I have grown closer to Him through the insights,
knowledge, and encouragement from professors and classmates that I have gained
from my online classes. I had plans to do school online in the Spring of 2011
and move to Lynchburg to complete the program on campus in the Fall of
2011.
**Side-note** A lot of people have
asked me if online school is hard. Here's
my answer: It's challenging. You have to take into account the fact that it is grad school and it is
online. Grad school, work-wise, is a
definite step up from college...like a ton of reading and writing papers. I remember the first couple of weeks I was
really bogged down in how much I had to read.
Then my dad reminded me and said, "Don't forget, this is GRADUATE
school." Oh, yeah. I forgot.
Since then I've really been able to learn how to speed read and get
assignments done, so it hasn't been too bad.
Also, thankfully, I've been blessed with great English teachers over the years who gave
me guidance in writing and so writing papers hasn't been as hard for me as I
feel that it might have been for some of my classmates. Now, granted, I have been doing the
"accelerated version" of grad school, which I wouldn't recommend for
someone who has a full-time job.
"Accelerated" means that I am taking 4 classes a
semester. Most people online just take
2. Thankfully, my job(s) have been
flexible with my schedule and allowed me to be on this accelerated
schedule. I take 2 classes for 8 weeks
and then take another 2 classes for the last 8 weeks.
Personally, I like the online
atmosphere. Some people need that
one-on-one interaction with people, but I am thankful that I am able to learn both
ways. Online school allows me to work on
my own timetable and Liberty Online really has it down with how to run online
classes. The professors are encouraging
and are really flexible with their students.
It's crazy, though, to think of your classmates being all over the world. I know in my first semester, I had a
classmate who was deployed overseas!!
This past semester, one of my professors taught us while he was on a
mission trip to the Ivory Coast.
***Side-note is completed*** :)
At the beginning of the Summer of
2011, I found out that the school eliminated the Children's Ministry program
due to lack of interest. I must admit, I
was heartbroken and downtrodden. I even
thought about just quitting and finding a job.
But God reminded me of Paul's words in Philippians 3:14 - "I press
on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in
Christ Jesus." God was like,
"Ummm....Allison...giving up is not in your nature...press on...for me." When God speaks, you listen...so I did, and I
decided to change my major to a Master of Arts in Discipleship Ministries. The school has been gracious enough to let me
have a concentration in Children's Ministry classes (the classes weren't
eliminated, just the degree program)...and for that I am grateful. I know that in all things God works together
for the good so I know all this happened for a reason, and am excited to see
God provide a job in 2012 that allows me to use what I have learned in college
and grad school. I will graduate with my
Masters of Arts in Discipleship Ministries in May of 2012...and I am walking at
Liberty's graduation in Lynchburg...with a billion other people...I'm really excited :)
Work
So this year I was asked to be the
part-time graphic designer and multimedia coordinator at my church. Basically, it was everything I did volunteer-wise before plus being in charge of the other printed publications of
the church (like the bulletin and newsletter).
I love this job and it has been very rewarding and helpful in my desire
to work with church ministries in the future.
Work has provided a lot of exciting experiences and honors for me this
year. I really have enjoyed serving my
church in this capacity. It has also been great getting back into the graphic design groove. I missed that in 2010 and have enjoyed being able to use my creative side again :) I know this job
isn't a forever job for me, but I have learned a lot and have gotten to be
involved with some pretty awesome things this year as a result of my job. The church has been very gracious to work with
my school schedule and I have been able to do school-work and do my job in a
timely and efficient manner.
One of the newsletters I designed this year...these were a couple of my favorite :)
I also continued working for Megan's
Corner Catering this year. As always, it
is a blast! :) Catering experiences are definitely
never boring! I got to be a part of
events like huge dinners, weddings, parties, food shows, and Megan's Corner's
10th Anniversary celebration! It was
definitely a big & FUN year. Megan's
Corner opened a new avenue of business this year as they now run the Campus
Cafe at the local community college (Walter's State). The cafe is open to everyone, students and
the public. The food is awesome and
there are a variety of food choices from - burgers to salads to daily specials
to yumm-o desserts. I got the chance to
help out during the first week and I really enjoyed it. If you live in Morristown, you should
definitely check the Campus Cafe out!
 |
| The girl kneeling with the white shirt, that's me!! We were getting ready for the 10th Anniversary party! |
Church
My church has most definitely, for-sure,
totally gone under a dramatic physical transformation this year. We broke ground for our new Children's
building in September and demolished our 1913 building just this past Monday. Although I know it's hard to let go of
something so precious to so many people, I think this opens up great potential
and new possibilities for First Baptist and I look forward to the future of
this church. The children's building
opens up so many doors for us to reach kids for Christ's kingdom...and that's
something I definitely love :) To think
that by this time next year we will have a new children's building is so exciting!
I got to be involved with a new ministry this year: Takin' It to the Streets. It's like a backyard Bible club. Lauren & I were the music leaders for the month of October. We also got to do music for the most recent Christmas party. We had a lot of fun getting to know the kids and teaching them about Jesus through music. I think I wrote a blog post about the importance of music...it's worth re-reading.
 |
| The AWESOME kids that attended our backyard Bible club...Love 'em! :) |
I continued this year as Children's
Missions Leader for the church...this also brought on some new responsibilities
too. One responsibility involved
teaching missions to the AWANA's once a month..this is always fun and enjoy
coming up with creative lessons and ways to teach them about different missions
opportunities (global and national). This
year, I got to be the VBS Missions leader for the church...I was also the VBS
Mission's Associational Leader, too. Teaching
VBS Missions was so much fun this year.
The theme really made it easy to come up with missions educational opportunities
for the kids. We got to help our local
food pantry and kitchen and we got to meet missionaries (via SKYPE) that were
discussed in the VBS literature. It was
pretty awesome!
 |
| The awesome FBC Morristown VBS team :) |
Secondly, I was the
Children in Action Missions leader for the summer. This was a fun aspect of my summer as I got
to have a whole hour with the kids and delve deeper into missions education
with them. I let the kids come up with a
missions project for the summer and they came up with collecting stuffed
animals for children who are in disasters.
We collected 970 stuffed animals!!! I certainly did not expect that
number when we started out. First
Baptist is definitely a giving church.
The kids learned a lot from this missions project and it was a success. If I could find a job where I
could incorporate my love for children and missions, I would be a very happy
person! :) Just seeing the kids do
missions projects and hearing them tell me how they can't wait to be
missionaries one day just warms my heart and lets me know how important it is
that they continue being educated about missions.
Family
I guess the biggest family news this
year is that my mom graduated from the LPN program! A few weeks after she took and passed her
nursing exam, she got a job at a local day facility for adults. It's not a nursing home, but more like a
place where families can drop off their loved ones who have medical issues while
they go to work or run errands. It's a 9
to 5 job and she LOVES it! We are so
happy! God has definitely blessed her
with a great job and we are so thankful for his provisions in guiding her
through nursing school (even with a broken foot at the beginning of 2011!!)
:) My dad is as busy as ever working at
the church - I am so proud of the work he does here. My grandpa is now at a new assisted living
facility in town. He was in a nursing
home at the beginning of this year and there were a couple of times we didn't
think he was even going to make it, but God provided and he is still with us
doing quite well...at 94! :) Lauren is a
JUNIOR in high school...that doesn't even seem right...and is loving life! Meredith is a junior at Liberty University
majoring in accounting and minoring in missions...she has a pretty cool 2012
planned...but I won't steal her thunder...be on the look-out, though! :)
Fun Adventures
Although I wanted to go to Hong Kong
again this past summer, it just wasn't in God's Will for me to do so this
year. I did however, have the opportunity
to go to Phoenix & Washington, D.C.
The Southern Baptist Convention's
annual meeting was held in Phoenix this year.
For my third year in a row, I was asked to be a page by the recording secretary of the SBC. I flew to Phoenix by myself and had a
fantastic experience. I continued my job
as the stage and copier page. I really
didn't think this year would be very eventful...but I was wrong! I ran a lot and made a ton of copies of motions for the
lawyers, press, and platform...and at one point had to use the recording
secretary's cell phone to get a hold of someone who had made a motion. There was a lot more business this year than
I think people thought there would be (and that's always the **fun** part) :) . I got to meet so many people and was
definitely able to network this year! It
was also nice to be on my own. :) Next
year the convention is in New Orleans...and I've been informed that it will
probably be my last year :( (***crying
uncontrollably***) The pages are really
only supposed to be upper high-school, college-aged students...and considering
I am in grad school, I'm kind-of considered "old." (ouch...) When the page coordinator found out I would
be 25 next year he said, "Maybe we should think about you training your
replacement next year...." (In my head I
went...."NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!")
I guess I will be forced into
page retirement in 2012...hopefully, I will be able to continue serving in some
capacity within the SBC Annual Meetings; I can't imagine not serving my
convention! :)
 |
| Your 2011 SBC pages with the recording secretary and his wife (whom I worked with as a part of my job) |
My thoughts on Phoenix...beautiful,
clean, well-kept city...and hot. :)
My dad had a conference in DC in over
the 4th of July, so my sisters and I accompanied him. My mom couldn't go because of school, but we
had a great time seeing the sights.
Being there on the 4th of July holiday was pretty cool too. It's kind of like being in NYC on New
Year's....crowded and historic. I'm glad
we had that experience. We stayed at the
Gaylord National Harbor. Look it up on
Google...it is gorgeous! National Harbor
is like its own little oasis. It was fun
to walk the streets and see the sights.
 |
| My dad, sisters, & me in Washington DC in front of the capitol (on the roof of the Newseum) |
My thoughts on DC (IN JULY)...historic,
crowded...and hot :)
***Side-note: We also, as a family,
went and visited the grave of famous Southern Baptist missionary, Lottie Moon,
this fall. I wrote a 19 pg. research
paper on this wonderful woman and when I turned it in, we just happened to be
visiting Meredith in Lynchburg and the grave was only an hour away from
Lynchburg. Because I am a Southern
Baptist Convention "crazy-person"...I was really excited to have this
opportunity. There I said it. ***Side-note completed.****
 |
| The grave of Lottie Moon |
I do have some prayer requests for
this coming year. First of all, pray for
God's direction in my life, especially in the form of a job. I really have a heart for children. I really have a heart for missions. And I really have a heart for ministry. I would love to combine them all
together...but I know those kinds of jobs are few and far between. God's in control, though...that I know. Secondly, pray for God to give me peace in
whatever and wherever He leads me. His
sweet peace is so comforting and really helps me to know that I'm in His Will
and doing what He wants me to do. Thirdly,
pray for the opportunity for me to go on another mission trip next summer - my
heart-city of Hong Kong would be awesome, but I am open to wherever God leads. I'm
also going to copy something from last year that I wrote, but I still hold true
as a prayer request: "All I want to do with my life is be a
servant to the King and live with that servant’s heart…pray that God will give
me opportunities this year to continue serving Him. I value your prayers and your friendship. Thank you in advance for them."
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Good grief, if you are still reading
this...I can't believe it! I can't even
believe I've set here for almost 2 hours writing this. I know, I'm nuts...but I really do enjoy
doing this. It makes me very grateful
for all God's done for me over the course of the year. I know I have read my 2010 retrospective
throughout 2011 and am sure I will read the 2011 retrospective throughout 2012.
Last year, I encapsulated 2010 with
one-word...TRUST. I've definitely
carried what I learned in 2010 with me throughout this year. If I had to encapsulate 2011 with a word
(ok..really this is a phrase...) it would be GOD'S PRESENCE. Is that weird? You know Jesus promised us this in Matthew
28:20, "I will be with you
always..." I choose this phrase
because I have felt God's presence this year in my life through what I have
learned in grad school, experiences He's brought me through in 2011, and the
fact that I've grown closer to Him and been able to be in and feel His presence
(PS...this sentence is far from grammatically correct, but I don't know how
else to word it).
I think I already know what word will
encapsulate 2012 - CHANGE. I fully
expect 2012 to be a year of change for me.
I AM GOING TO GET A REAL-PERSON'S JOB in 2012. Beginning in May, there will be no more
school to tie me down...for now :). I
don't have any idea what this "real-person's job" will be. I am open to wherever God leads. He knows the desires of my heart, and I am
going to trust (ooohhhh...2010 word!!) Him to provide the path and way
He wants me to go. I am not only open to
do whatever God calls me to do, but I
am also open to wherever God leads
me. I may even change where I live in 2012...it's all in God's Will. It's like the song says,
"Wherever He leads, I'll go." I
especially like the 4th verse of this song a lot:
"My heart, my life, my all I bring to Christ who loves me so;
He is my Master, Lord, and King, Wherever He leads I'll go.
Wherever He leads, I'll go; Wherever He leads I'll go.
I'll follow my Christ who loves me so, Wherever He leads I'll go."
"Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?' And I said, 'Here am I. Send me!"
- Isaiah 6:8 -
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