adventure.

stephanie: charlie.... i'm so excited we're going on this adventure together {meaning moving to minnesota}

charlie: adVENture?! we are NOT adventurous.

s: i'm adventurous!

c: no, you're not.

s: welllll what do you call going to thailand for a month not knowing anyone? or going to costa rica for a semester without a real plan? or how about moving to louisiana without knowing anyone but you?

c: that's not adventure.

s: what would YOU call it?

c: mmmm... not adventure.

s: wellllll then. what do YOU call adventure?

c: adventure is waking up at 6 in the morning and drinking coffee.

s: so i'm only adventurous on the days we have an early patient at work?

c: noooo... because you also have to work outside.

s: sooo... you have to wake up early, drink coffee, and work outside. THAT'S adventure?

c: well. you could also just be outside.

s: well, i'm glad we have that settled.


{LOVE my husband.}

minnesota.

soon, we will be moving here.




you may ask? welllllllllll
i was accepted into the university of minnesota's masters in public health nutrition (along with the Coordinated Masters program in dietetics) for the fall of 2011!!! orientation starts august 31st, and classes begin september 6th.

i have wanted to do this for SO long... and God has truly opened every door along the way for me. from the time charlie and i decided that i needed to pursue this, i had one month to pull everything together, from finding programs i was qualified for, to taking (and passing) the GRE, to finding ridiculously specific online courses for me to take this spring, references, transcripts, one month to do EVERYTHING. and, at times, i honestly felt like i was doing it for nothing... i had no confidence that i would get in. but i promised God that as He opened doors, i would walk through them.

this program is a really organic fit for me. when i was at the garbage dump community in Nicaragua, the cry of my heart was exactly what this program is doing and teaching. i am SO thankful for supportive family and an AMAZING husband who is willing to leave the only thing he's ever known to go on this adventure with me.

Thank you, God, for giving us the desires of our heart.

(nerd alert)

sooo i'm avoiding my biochemistry homework. i get kind of freaked out thinking about learning it.. maybe just because of its name... or maybe because i couldn't remember any organic chemistry when i tried to hop into organic 2 at lsu. but this one's online, and i'm just SURE the motivation is gonna hit me like a ton of bricks any minute now.

however, i did read the first chapter and had a nice little picture.

so one thing i DO remember from organic chemistry is that carbon is required for life. if you're living, you've got lots and lots of carbon. chains of it. hooked together. (and i know this is super dorky) but it got me thinking. carbon is so perfectly fit for this job because, in its outer shell, it has 4 valence (outermost) electrons. which means it has an innate desire to bond with four other atoms.

God created the basic element of life with a need for... relationship. carbon is incomplete by itself. but when it comes together with other carbons and oxygens and hydrogens... life happens.