Freedom. Sweet, sweet freedom.

At 3:06 pm today, I emailed in my second and final paper for the semester. (One more semester until I have my Master's. AH!)

I AM DONE!

And with my internship secured, plus all the Ph.D. applications done, I have absolutely no work to do for the next month.

Last Christmas break, I had all of those big papers weighing on me to make up from my shoulder surgery delaying everything.

Now here's just hoping I don't get sick and kill a bunch of time that way.

I shouldn't get sick, though. Because last year was so awful I ended up in the hospital, I'm just automatically going to Mommom's house and living at her house for the break. We're also going to Myrtle Beach for a week between Christmas and New Year's, so that will be fun.

The downside to being at her house is that she has no wifi. First world problems, I know. I could blog from my phone, but it's such a pain, plus that would use a lot of data, PLUS I cracked my screen a few days ago and am not sure when over break I'll get it replaced. So my blogging will be very scarce over the next few weeks, unless the place we stay at in Myrtle Beach has wifi. But I plan on keeping a journal and will come back and post anything blog-worthy once I'm back in the world of the internet.

I'm so ready to go home. Holly got to go back for a week this summer, but I haven't been back since last Christmas. I'm ready to see Mom again, and Blake! I can't wait to see how big he is now. I'm a little nervous about spending 3.5 weeks with that crazy crowd, but getting to Campbell is my light at the end of the tunnel.

Don't tell my family, but I think I'm more excited to see my people at Campbell than I am to see them.

Okay. Shave. Shower. Chill until my hair dries some. Sleep. That is the rest of my night.

I'm so happy.

Coming Home

I woke up at 5:45 Central this morning.  Ate the one snack I had left in my bag, and got ready and headed down.  My taxi guy was due to be there at 6:30, but he actually showed up early, which was surprising to me because Kyla had warned me that this service often runs late.  So at 6:30 we were already on our way to the airport.  I was a bit nervous because my flight was due to leave at 7:45 and I was raised under the "must get to the airport at least 2 hours ahead of departure!!!!" mentality.  I didn't realize just how similar to Mom and Mommom I am until I was standing there in the security lane freaking out internally about how slow it was moving.

But everything went off without a hitch, and I had time to buy something else for breakfast and make it to my gate and eat it before boarding even started.  Once I got on the plane, I then realized why Bruno said a 6:30 pickup would be plenty of time...We didn't get off the ground until 8:21.

This is my "it's very, very early and I haven't slept well in four days and I would just like to go home now, please" face.

The one upside to the Nashville-Atlanta flight, as well as the Atlanta-Nashville flight on the way there, was that I was in the window seat of a 3-person row and the middle seat was empty, giving me more space.  I have no idea why I couldn't sleep!  I guess, subconsciously, I didn't see the point since the actual flight was about 35 minutes.

I snapped this a couple minutes after we took off.  Watching the city disappear reminded me of the very first thing that Brennan said when we prayed together on Saturday night - he thanked God for what a special place Nashville has become for me.  And he was absolutely right; this city has a piece of my heart.  Now that I've been, I can't imagine not ever going back again.

I arrived in Atlanta just after 10:00 Eastern, but it took what felt like a sweet forever for us to actually get off the plane, so I huffed and puffed my way from the far, far end of one terminal to close to the other end of the next terminal and managed to get to my Atlanta gate just as boarding was starting.  My only row-mate was this elderly gentleman who initially seemed like the poster child for "grumpy old man", but soon enough we got to talking, and it was really cool.  He's traveled all over the world, and his stories were fascinating.  He turned out to be very nice, which made the plane ride so much fun that I didn't even think about how tired I was.  :)

Holly picked me up, and we went to Smithfield's for lunch.  Mmm mmm mmm.  Smithfield's barbecue sandwiches are one of my favorite things about NC.  It was a great welcome home.  I firmly believe that everyone should visit NC just to go to Smithfield's.  What cracked me up was that I put those last two sentences on Twitter and the Smithfield's Twitter wrote back "Welcome home!"  It's not the first time they've tweeted me, but that reply in particular made me laugh.

After that, we headed back to Campbell.  We had a great time talking the whole way, and she was nice enough to bring me a bottle of shampoo.  I had extra body wash and conditioner in my dorm, but gave up my last bottle of shampoo when the airport confiscated it.  Lesson learned!

I don't remember what else I did today besides getting all my laundry clean and sorting through all my pictures from the trip and getting them uploaded to Facebook.  I honestly don't think I did much else, and I'm totally okay with that.  The super early morning and the traveling were exhausting!

Today, I'm thankful to be home.  Nashville does indeed have a piece of my heart, and it probably always will, but it feels really good to be back with so many friends who love me so much.  I got several texts from people today asking if I made it back okay.  This is where I belong.  Campbell is home, at least for now.  And I'm very, very grateful to be back here in my room.

Oh, and my big soft bed.  I'm also thankful for that.  (It's going to feel like heaven after four nights on that hard hotel couch!)

Unexpected Answers

I ended up getting stuck in Nashville for an extra night tonight.  There are tornadoes all over the Midwest, and my Nashville-Atlanta flight that was supposed to leave at 6:45 got delayed until 9:54, meaning I would have missed my Atlanta-Raleigh flight entirely because they don't have any middle of the night flights, so my only option was to reschedule everything for tomorrow morning.  Thank the Lord I have the most amazing friends.  Caitie and Bruno turned right around after dropping me off at the airport tonight to pick me back up.  Caitie texted Taylor (while on their honeymoon!), and Kyla called in a favor and got me a free night at the hotel and gave me information about a taxi service that would take me to the airport since I would need to leave long before the free hotel shuttle opens.  And then Caitie gave me money for the taxi because I needed to have money to eat tomorrow morning.

But anyway, what happened today?!

I got up and got ready in the only clothes I had left, because I wasn't expecting to go to church while on this trip.  (Thankfully the church is super casual.)  I packed all my stuff up and went down and checked out and then ate breakfast.  I waited for Bruno to come pick me up, and then we went back to get Caitie, and then we headed to church.

Strong Tower is a church that I've been listening to for several months online at Taylor's recommendation, so I was very excited to actually get to attend a service.

I laughed because the second song we sang included these words.

And I instantly remembered the Scripture that Calah had told me about on Thursday.  It felt like a little message from God, so I took a picture to make sure that I wouldn't forget it.  The church greeted all the new people, and everyone who said hello to me immediately made me feel very welcome.  Danny Gokey (yes, the guy from American Idol) was there to speak a little about his Nashville-based charity, and he sang a song that gave me chills.

I don't remember what else happened after that, because things got a little rough...I ended up having a seizure up in the balcony.  I think it was triggered from how warm it was up there.  You know what's awesome, though?  Apparently Bruno had Caitie go tell one of the security guys that was nearby, and he radioed all the other security guys, who then got all the medical professionals in the building up to help me.  So when I woke up, I had EMTs, nurses, and I don't even know who else helping me.  It's church policy to call 911, so the paramedics had to come check me out.  As we were waiting for them, I heard Pastor Chris (a different one, haha!) get a woman up there to pray for me, and hearing a huge church full of people who didn't know me shouting with prayer for me was...so humbling.  I don't even know how to accurately describe it.

I initially didn't want to go to the hospital, because I figured there wasn't much point, but the EMTs sort of insisted (and I was still too out of it to argue with them) and sort of convinced me that it would be dangerous to get on a plane that night without getting properly checked out.  So off we went.  Bruno and Caitie followed behind the ambulance.

The ER of the hospital we went to was pretty slammed, so it took quite some time for me to see anyone.  And by "quite some time" I mean close to two hours.  These two sweet friends of mine were so patient, though; they wouldn't even go get something to eat, despite not having eaten at all that day, until the doctor came in to see me.

When the doctor came in, they left, and the doctor talked to me and checked me out.  He checked out my shunt and said he didn't like how it felt, so he ordered a shunt series (X-rays from my head to my abdomen, the whole length of the shunt) on top of the usual CT scan.  The nice man also ordered me some Dilaudid and Zofran.  I went to X-ray, Bruno and Caitie came back, and then I went off to CT.  Then, I just had to wait for the results.

This is where the title of today's post comes in.  The doctor walked in the room and told me that shunt/brain-wise I was fine, but that I have a mass on my thyroid.  I reminded him I didn't have a thyroid, since I'd had it removed for tumors in halves in 1999 and 2007.  That was when I learned that if my surgeon left any tissue cells in after the second half removal, that it could regenerate, and with my history of thyroid tumors, easily grow another tumor.  No one had ever told me that before.  So yeah, I get to go back to the ENT I haven't seen in several years (the one who did the second half removal) and see if this doctor was right.  I'm scheduling that for the day after I leave Campbell for Christmas break.  If it is indeed correct that I have another thyroid tumor, it looks like I'll be spending my Christmas break dealing with thyroid surgery.

I'm...I don't know...a bit irritated, I guess.  I had enough health stuff going on, so finding out that I not only had an organ that I thought was gone as of 6.5 years ago but that it also has a new tumor on it wasn't exactly what I was looking for.  I don't want to have another surgery.  But I'm so much more thankful than I am upset.  The tumors I had at the past two surgeries were the same non-cancerous kind, so chances are high that if this is a new tumor, that it will also be non-cancerous and thus the only obstacle is getting it out.  By going to the hospital when I thought I didn't need to, by seeing this one particular doctor who didn't like how my shunt felt, I found a problem that I wouldn't have otherwise known about until it became serious (like when I was 6 and we didn't know I had a tumor until you could see it sticking out of my throat).

So today, I'm thankful that the Lord led me to answers.  Even though, to me, it felt like we accidentally found them, I know that this was never an accident to him.  He's got it all planned out.  And His protection is definitely something to be thankful for.

Inspiration

Love, love, love, love, love, love.

Wedding day!

I jumped up when my alarm went off at 8.  I'm not sure the last time I woke up at 8:00 on a Saturday, but today, I couldn't have been happier to do it.  I ate breakfast, and then lunch, and then came back and got ready for the wedding!  Caitie picked me up about 1:45.

The venue was this old car factory called Marathon Music Works.  Apparently it now hosts church services on Sundays and is otherwise rented out for events, just like this!  I've heard from Kyla for months that she knew that this place was perfect from the very first time she visited.  The only thing I wasn't a fan of was the walking up four flights of stairs to get into it, but I managed.  Ha!

One thing that I thought was so cool was that Kyla and Taylor managed to have everything in this one room.  It took some reorganizing everything in between the ceremony and reception, but it worked, and it was a little funny.  The whole room was so beautiful, relaxing, and very them.  With the brick walls, the wood floors, the lace and burlap curtains and their fall decorations, it all felt southern without being "country".  I loved it.  This was probably my favorite part of the whole room.  (And that cake?  Handmade by one of her bridesmaids and absolutely AMAZING.  Delicious.)

This was the center of the room, where they stood for the ceremony.  I could not get enough of how stunning the backdrop was in all of its simplicity.

An onslaught of ceremony pictures...from when the pastor, Taylor, and his groomsmen first got in there to after it was all official and everyone was cheering.  I took way more than this, but I figured you didn't need to see them all. :)  Everything that the pastor said, the vows, his words beforehand, it was all so sweet and felt so right for them.  I loved it.  It gave me a new perspective on love and how I want my future marriage to be.

With this one, I could see tears in Kyla's eyes all the way from my seat.

The kiss!

Woo hoo!  This one wasn't meant to be centered on Taylor, haha, but I was not focusing on my camera angle.  Kyla's face cracks me up!

This is Adam, from the Sanctuary band.  He did a beautiful job at all the service music.  I got to speak to him at the reception, and surprisingly, he remembered who I was from last year, even though I only got to speak to him for a few seconds at Sanctuary last year!

Reception pictures!  Bruno!  Yes, he is actually this weird on occasion.  This picture cracks me up every time I see it.

While guests were eating, the bridal party and family were taking pictures.  I love them under the light.  Kyla looked like a princess.

Brother love!  It's been such an honor and a joy to watch these two grow up into even stronger men over the past couple years.

I actually met this guy only today.  His name is Rick.  And I wanted a picture with him because I've heard a lot about him from Taylor, and his mustache/beard combo was just awesome.

Our pretty centerpiece.

Caitie!

My one chance to see the girls this trip.  Callie!  Thankfully, after all this time, they're used to my penchant for pictures. ;)

Joseph..aka Waffles!  It was wonderful to see and talk to him again.  The funny thing is, Joe's wife Anna, who I only spoke to briefly at Waffle House after the CD release show last year, remembered me as "the girl who named Joe Waffles".  Yep!

Phoebe :)

Taylor...yes, he put on a bandana pretty much as soon as the ceremony was over.  It's even in their "couple pictures" right after the ceremony.  It's very Taylor, anyone who knows him knows it.  One of the things I admire in people is the ability to be themselves.

Oh, dear sweet Kyla.  I adore this girl.  I actually didn't even come close to crying until I was talking to her at the end of the night.  I'm so blessed that she stepped into the role of my "surrogate big sister" so quickly and willingly.

Then came what was hands down the most beautiful and incredible part of the night.  Kyla and Taylor ended their wedding celebration in a way that I've never heard of anyone ever do before.  This was also mentioned in their ceremony, but "worship" is a word that is pretty much automatically associated with these two, largely because Kyla is in the Sanctuary band and Taylor has frequented it for so long.  And they are so in love with God that instead of running off right after the reception, they had the Sanctuary band boys hold a time of worship for anyone who wanted to stay and be a part of it.

This is a picture from right before the worship started, Taylor explaining it to everyone.  Through these songs, I was inspired to love my God more, worship better, make Him more of my heart and my life so that He can have full control of me.  It was heart-wrenching in the most amazing and beautiful way.

After that ended and virtually everyone left, people started taking decorations and the band started packing up.  I was able to talk to the Sanctuary boys.  I reminded them that I had given Brooks a card and gift for all of them on Thursday, so that they knew to make sure to get it from him.  But it was just great to be able to talk to them and tell them a little bit about why I am so grateful for them and to encourage them to keep doing what they do for the people of Nashville.

Oh, and I snapped this hilarious picture.  Bromance!  I didn't notice Kyla over there sticking her tongue out until much later, which just makes it even more awesome.

This is my new Facebook cover photo.  I'm so thankful for these five.  They are a gift.

Everything moved a lot faster than I think anyone was planning on or expecting, so I was actually back at my hotel about 6:30.  Not long after that came the icing on the cake.  I got to see Brennan.  Several months ago, he had said we could see each other at some point while I was in town for this weekend, so I texted him when I got into town on Thursday and just told him to let me know when was good for him.  He had told me that it would be tonight or tomorrow because he was out of town for a trip, so I texted him tonight when I was back at the hotel to see if he had a plan.  Not long before 8:00, he showed up in my hotel lobby.

We just sat there for about 45 minutes talking, but it was so great.  It felt like two old friends just reconnecting.  I'll admit, I was a little nervous when I headed down the stairs to the lobby, but I shook it off as excitement.  But we just talked, and it felt natural.  We talked about school, life after graduation, all the health stuff going on, family, where I am in my faith, everything.  When he had to go, we prayed together.  And then he drove me to Logan's so I could get a late dinner, opening and closing the door of his truck for me when I got in and out, which was just sweet.

I know a lot of my friends have been particularly concerned for me in the choices I've made with him, through all the ups and downs and drama, and I know exactly why they were upset every time I gave our friendship another chance, because it seemed like such a terrible idea.  But tonight, seeing him in person again and getting to hang out and talk without any barriers or awkwardness, I was so thankful that I didn't listen to them.  We both had a lot of growing up to do when we first met, and we still do, but I think everything that happened last year taught us both a lot, and now we can just be friends.  Which is all I ever wanted in the first place.

Today, I'm thankful for the inspiration that filled my day.  The inspiration to wait for a love that's real and deep and a relationship that will further my walk with Christ, that I saw in Kyla and Taylor.  The inspiration to know God deeper and love God more that I found in the worship time.  The inspiration to be a better friend, and also to listen to my gut even when the people who love me tell me I'm being stupid, that I was reminded of in the time I got to talk to Brennan tonight.

I am a blessed girl.

Laughter

Friday, I slept in because I did not sleep well on the hard hotel couch.  I kept waking up feeling like someone was breaking my kneecaps.  It was fun.  And I didn't have anywhere else to be that morning, so why not?

I finally managed to wake myself up about 2:00 that afternoon.  I ate some of the snacks I had in my bookbag and basically just chilled out until Michal came to pick me up just before 4:00.  I mentioned her several times last year.  She is a sweet girl that I met very briefly at Sanctuary, but we stayed in contact and from the first phone conversation we had, we were instant sisters.  We are so much alike that I knew spending the whole evening with her was going to be grand.  What I didn't expect was how it would give us the chance to connect on a completely new level.

She picked me up, and we went to Starbucks for happy hour.  She got some latte, and since I hate coffee, I got peppermint hot chocolate, and it was delicious.  We were sitting there talking about all sorts of random stuff, but mostly how fascinated Michal is with all the different languages of Siri.  Then, she was texting her Nashville dad, Wade, and he invited us over to his house for his youngest son's birthday party.  I was up for whatever Michal wanted to do, so we headed over.

Their house was SO MUCH FUN.  Funnily enough, Wade's family's last name is also Jones.  They had three families that they are friends with over, and I had a blast with all of them.  They were loud and fun and seemed to enjoy asking me a  bunch of questions and hearing me tell them about myself and my story.  One woman in particular and I spent a lot of time sitting in the study and talking until she had to go.  I also got to hear a lot about Michal's love and the people she spends a lot of her time with.  I sort of didn't want to leave.  I asked Wade if he could adopt me.  Ha!

This is Wade.  Ignore the fact that my eyes are closed...I didn't realize it until late that night when I was already back in my hotel room.

And this is beautiful, dear, sweet Michal.  Wade took this picture for us.  I love it.  It's my new profile picture on Facebook.  :)

We left Wade's house sometime not long after 7:00, and we went back to Michal's place for dinner.  She made me this amazing chicken fettucini alfredo with ginger and nutmeg, and we just talked.  About her love, about my family, about her family, school, relationships, God, friends, sex, SO MUCH.  And I don't think we stopped laughing the entire time.  I really didn't want to leave, but at about 9:30, she took me back to the hotel.  She was exhausted from getting very little sleep the night before, and I knew I needed to be well-rested and up early for Saturday.  But before we left, she made me this for dessert.

Vanilla ice cream with dark chocolate syrup and chocolate crunch toppings.  YUM.

Once back at the hotel, I did the usual getting ready for bed, shower, blah blah blah, and laid down on the couch once again with another huge smile on my face.  How could I not?  Between the joy of having an evening that wonderful with Michal and the anticipation of Saturday, I didn't know how I was ever going to get to sleep, but I eventually did.

My Return to Sanctuary.

I got less than 3.5 hours of sleep before my alarm went off at the oh-so-lovely hour of 5:30 am.  I didn't even care though.  I jumped straight out of bed, practically bursting with excitement that the day was finally here!  I ate a little bit, got ready, and packed my last-minute stuff.  Summer arrived at 6:30, and in the balmy 27 degree temperatures (ha!) we grabbed breakfast at McDonald's and headed up to Raleigh.  God bless Summer.  And her seat warmers.  Those lovely seat warmers.

The flights went off without a hitch.  Well, except for the part where I forgot that my hotel would have shampoo and soap and thus tried to bring that stuff on the plane with me (because why pay a $25 checked bag fee when you don't have to?) and the TSA people confiscated.  But other than that, just peachy.  And that one hiccup was my own stupidity.  

But the actual flights went off so smoothly.  On my Atlanta-Nashville flight, there was no one in the middle seat of my row, so I got to stretch out some!  It was grand.  I took this picture just minutes before we landed.  I said this last time, but nothing makes me feel smaller or understand the magnitude of God's creation than looking out the window of a plane and seeing land stretch for miles and miles.  How cool is it that there is so much creation out there that you can't even see, yet God still knows you intimately and personally?

Caitie and Kyla picked me up from the airport (clue number 1 you've landed in Nashville? The airport is playing Taylor Swift. Ha!) and we headed off to lunch.  I was pretty much giddy that I finally got to meet and hug this sweet girl after 16 months of knowing her only through phone calls, texts, Twitter, and the occasional email.  She was talking to Caitie on the ride to Panera, and I took a picture.  This is Kyla's "Really?  You're taking a picture now?" face.  My response?  "Yep.  I'm documenting everything."  Good thing she loves me! 

Lunch was delicious, and I had a great time just sitting and talking to them.  Then, we headed over to (what is now) Taylor & Kyla's house so they could sort through wedding stuff.  That took a couple hours, and then Kyla had to go meet her family, so I decided to go to the hotel with her, get checked in and settled, and take a nap.  (She works at this hotel, so everyone who came in for the wedding was staying there.)  But I had to get pictures before we left!  This is beautiful Kyla.  She's even prettier than pictures let on. :)

And Caitie!  I know I've said it a million times before, but she really is rad.

The nap felt great.  Only that night would I remember that pretty much all hotel bedding is down (duck feathers/products) and I am terribly allergic to down, and thus I spent the whole night after the nap sneezing like crazy.  And for some bizarre reason, this is the first hotel I've ever been to that didn't have some kind of alternative bedding on hand for people like me with this allergy.  But I wasn't about to let that get me down!  Otherwise, this hotel was pretty great.  The Best Western near Opryland.  (See, I told you I was documenting everything.)

Another plus about this hotel?  It was right across a tiny little street from Logan's Roadhouse.  Logan's is awesome, but I rarely ever get to go there because the only one I've ever been to is down near Mom's house, and they have a big bucket of peanuts at every table, and thus we can't ever go there because of Chelsea's deathly allergy (yes, even to the smell).  So since I woke up at 6:15, and my ride to Sanctuary was due to be there at 8:15, and I was still pretty tired, I decided to just stick there for dinner.

I had the most amazing New York Strip I think I've ever had that night for dinner.  Its seasoning was amazing, it was cooked right, and it cut like butter.  I was in food heaven.  When I headed back to go get ready for Sanctuary, I was so excited I was literally dancing to Katy Perry's "Firework", which Logan's was playing on its speaker system, in the middle of the parking lot.

My ride was just a girl who responded to a post I put in the Sanctuary Facebook group about needing a ride.  It was so sweet of her!  The reality of what was about to happen didn't really set in until she got there (finally, she got lost so she was running a little late) and we headed off to the church.  As soon as I stepped foot in Woodmont Hills, though, I was taken right back to the night of my baptism.  Everywhere I walked throughout the next couple hours, snapshots of that night flashed in my mind.  It simultaneously felt like it was yesterday and a whole lifetime ago.

The service was...incredible.  Easily the fastest hour of my life.  Heather and I sat right in the front row, like I always do.  I started crying in the middle of the set, partially because I was so humbled and thrilled to be back there again and partially because I was so moved.  There is nothing like standing in a room with hundreds of other people and hearing you all sing out in unison, praising the God each of you loves.  It brought chills, in the best possible way.

After the service was over, I went up to the stage to talk to Brooks, the only person playing that night who also played the night I got baptized.  Luckily, we've talked on Facebook a few times, so it wasn't totally weird.  I gave him my gift for the band, a thank you card with $30 and a letter explaining why I am so grateful for them and the role they played in the biggest night of my life.  He was great.

This is Calah (pronounced like Kayla).  She, Brooks, and this other guy named Warren were the ones leading worship.  I originally got her attention just to tell her what a stunning voice she has, and we ended up getting totally caught up in conversation.  It was so strange - no actually, it was so God; we had only been talking for a few minutes when she asked if she could pray for me because God had put something on her heart for me.  And in that prayer, she hit so many things that I've been dealing with that I couldn't ignore that God had orchestrated this whole thing.  She said she needed the encouragement that I had walked up to give her, but she ended up encouraging me in a huge way, as well.  I was so blessed by her!  She introduced me to this verse that I'd never heard before, Revelation 12:11 - "They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony."  We only spoke for about ten minutes, if that, so to see her pray for me and encourage me so wholeheartedly was incredibly touching.

I stood around talking to Taylor and Kyla, who surprisingly came that night, and various other people for a bit, but then I got tired and Heather looked bored with me talking to so many other people and she had stuff to do, so we decided to go.  Before we headed out, though, since the lobby was now pretty much empty, I decided to get a picture with the pool.

For sentimental purposes, I stood in pretty much the same place as last year. :)

 The water...don't ask me why I took a picture of the actual water.  I was pretty delirious with joy at this point.  But that's literally the place where I got baptized. :p

One last picture before we left...I don't know how I didn't cry saying goodbye to that church all over again.  It was so surreal being there again.  I can't describe it properly.  With all the health stuff that had been going on in the past few weeks, I had really gotten off track and lost and confused about who God is and where He was in all of it.  But coming back here, to the place where my whole world changed in the span of a few hours, it was a crystal clear reminder of why I gave myself to God and of the life that was given to me that night by His grace.

This is Heather.  She is sweet.

I headed back up to my room and basically just sat around thinking about how amazing that night was before deciding to finally get up and take a shower.  I finally laid down about 1 am and tried to get some sleep.

Thursday, I was thankful for my return to Sanctuary.  For the gifts God gave me throughout the night.  For the reminders of who I became when I surrendered to Him and how He loves me more than I could ever imagine.  For Calah, whom I think He placed in my path for the encouragement and lessons that came with our talk.  The whole night, it was the kind of beautiful that only God could pull off.  As we sang that night, Hallelujah to You, God of the redeemed.  Hallelujah, You've opened blinded eyes to see.  And we will praise You.  You are the everlasting light.  Hallelujah to You, God of the redeemed.