Promise Complete

Today, I got to fulfill a promise that I will never forget as I got to walk across a stage to get a bachelor's degree. 

It was a little over 3 years ago that my dad sat the family down to say his goodbye. I never knew that that conversation would be the last normal conversation we would have together. He proceeded to make me promise two things which I have spoken about before.

 1. Follow Jesus and continue singing and playing the piano in church. 

2. Graduate with a bachelor's degree. 

Today, I got to fulfill a promise that I thought was miles away during this time.

During the graduation ceremony, the speakers spoke about the support that we had from our family members and friends. As I lay here in bed after a long day, I am reminded of how many friends and family that have supported me throughout this journey. I had a day full of love and laughs that I will cherish for a lifetime.

 I can't hardly put into words the amount of support I got during the duration of my college career. I will never be able to express that amount of gratitude I have to my support group. They have not only dealt with the multiple major changes, but also the many projects and tears that came with those projects too. When our family's lives were being changed forever, my support group was there standing by my side showing me to where I am today.  I cannot put into words what I'm feeling but thank you from the bottom of my heart!

I am not only saying thank you to my family, but also to my Dad for pushing me to do more even when he is no longer with us. I also have to especially say thank you to my mom. Although she had just lost the man that she loved, she continued to remind me to continue living life the way my dad would have wanted us to live. 

If there was one thing that I learned from the challenges I faced during this 5 1/2 year college journey, I would say don't let trials and struggles get in the way of dreams and pursuits that you may have. If I would have given up after my father passed away, I would have missed on many jobs and life long friends that I have made because of it.

It Just Got Real!

Today, I hit another milestone in life. I picked up my graduation cap and gown! It feels like yesterday that I was leaving my crying mom in the driveway headed to move into my dorm at MSSU. 

After many ups and downs in life, I am finally graduating college! I know that your probably thinking, "It's about time" or "It took you long enough". My only reply can be "I know! I'm so excited!"

As I sit and look back at my college career, I see so many things that have made me the person I am today. As most of you know, my college career was anything but normal. Changing majors and transferring schools have prolonged my time at school by several years. But, I wouldn't trade anything for my time going to school in West Plains while taking care of my sick dad! 

My dad was always concerned about my education. I think after being married to my mother, he kind of had to be. I remember the last conversation that I had with him before he passed away so vividly. He made me promise two things. First, I had to promise that I would continue to sing and be active in my church. Although I no longer sing in the worship band, I love to fulfill that promise by working the guest services tent and now serve the youth on Wednesday nights. The second thing I promised was to graduate college with a bachelors degree. I am so excited to finally say that I am fulfilling both promises! It's been a crazy and bumpy 6 years but it's been 6 years that has caused me to grow more and more. I can say right now that on December 13th I will not only be excited that I will be a certified teacher, I will be excited to look up and say, "Dad, I did it."

Three Weeks

Three weeks can speak volumes to a person.  The last three weeks, I have learned so much about myself and what God has called me to do. During the last three weeks, I have started student teaching, gotten a job for January, and fallen in love with the profession I was called to do.  My little fourth graders are not only awesome learners but also give me the most giggles.   

Student teaching isn't for the faint of heart. My daily schedule is get up, go to school, teach 4th graders and observe my awesome cooperating teacher, come home, go straight to the restroom (It's true! I get 1 bathroom break at lunch if I'm lucky :)), take a 30 min nap, go to work, come home, take shower, watch Netflix in bed, go to sleep (at or before 10. Yes! I'm an old lady!) and the process begins again the next morning. Somewhere in between that, I have to do my homework for my student teaching classes and do my lesson plans to teach. It's a crazy mess, but I wouldn't trade it for the world!

God has taught me over the past three weeks that choosing his plan over mine will always bring me more joy. I fought for so long against being a teacher. The number of times I changed my major is proof. I was raised in the teaching world and wanted no part of it. There is a reason that God is having me continue the profession my other family members have chosen as well. My kiddos bring me so much joy and I have seen the joy the bring my family. When I am teaching something and I have a student finally get it, it's the best feeling in the world! The education world is where I want to be and where I believe God has placed me. I cannot wait to see what God has in store for the next three weeks and beyond.

Another Chapter

Once again another summer has come to a close and it's time to start a new chapter. After many long weeks with little to no sleep, I am forever grateful of the time I have spent traveling the country with CIY Move! The time spent and the wonderful people I was surrounded by has impacted my life so much. I can't imagine life without them. I know that my life has forever been changed by the experiences that I have gone through because of this internship. 

The next phase in my life will be my teaching career. I am so excited to announce that after student teaching this fall, I will join the Webb City Junior  High team to teach 7th and 8th graders. I'm officially a special education teacher!! My dream is coming true! I will finally be able to join my mom and uncle in the daily education dinner talk!! I can't be more excited to call Webb City my home. 

Long Time No See

Yesterday was a crazy day full of awesome surprises! While here at Lee University, I have had 6 CIY MOVE Event Staff from last year come visit/ help with this week. 1 is Rachel who is another returner like me. Her team is having their off week here in TN with us. 2 are my teammates from last year that are helping and 1 is the emcee this week. 1 is one of my teammates from last year's fiancé. (It's so cute!) The other just decided to come visit yesterday! It was so great to have some familiar faces come visit for the day! It was awesome catching up with them. 

Day 1 Happenings

Yesterday, Team Huff left for our first 2 week tour to Tennessee and Florida. A 14 hr trip to Johnson City, Tn turned into an 17 1/2hr trip very quickly. To start this blog post, we are all safe and laughing about everything now. It was just the craziest day of traveling we have ever had. 

First, we start the day out on a good note. We left around 6 I drove the first shift of about 4 hrs then let my partner in crime aka my only other teammate that can drive with a trailer take the wheel. She drove several hours while I slept. It was all swell until we hit Kentucky. Oh Kentucky! We cross 2 of the most narrowest bridges of our life then it happened. Our trailer decided to fall of our van breaking a chain, fraying the light wires, and bending the thing that lowers the clip around the ball.

Amie was driving and she did a fantastic job of staying calm and getting us to a safe place. I am so proud of her for doing so. It could have happened to me just as easily. We got ahold of our bosses and then called Uhaul. After 2 hours and 2 older men that reminded me so much of my grandpa huff, we got back on the road. We were just so thankful that it didn't happen while on the narrow bridges. It could have been a lot worse! That's experience #1. 

#2. Amie decided she wanted to drive next so that she wouldn't be scared of driving with the trailer. Go Amie!! We get between Nashville and Kentucky when we get to a stand still for an hour and a half. A wreck. We had so much fun during this time singing our hearts out to the frozen and the phantom of the opera sound track. :) 

#3. These next 2 were when I was driving. #3 was just a crazy rain storm that made me not be able to see the lines. It's one thing that I hate and 1 more thing that added to our list. 

#4. To top it all off, we were about 5-10 minutes from Milligan College when we were stopped at a police check point. Let me remind you that this all happened in 1 day. Thank goodness we had Christ In Youth written on our van. He asked us if we had been drinking. We said no and asked us what we were doing. We told him and he told us to look up Abby Anderson on YouTube. It was so funny!

So our day was full of adventure to say the least. I got into bed finally last night at 1:15. I just have to brag on my team for a second. Holy cow! They are and were fantastic. Nobody freaked out. We all stayed calm. It was an awesome day with awesome people. 

To make the day even better, my mom packed us 8 stress relief bags for our summer. Yes yesterday was when we used one of our bags and it was this.. 

Thanks mom!!! 

When we finally made it to Tennessee!

Books Vs. EBooks

Ok, so I'm an avid reader.  I love finding new books that nobody has read before and trying to recommend them to others.  I can be a pretty good salesman :) I hear so many different views on using technology and having an actual book in your hands.  I use both and love both for different reasons! Here's my take on them.

Books:
Pros:

•  I love having an actual book to turn the pages.  Its very easy for me to see where I am in the book and how far I still have to go.
• It is very easy to pass on to my next friend after I've used my fantastic salesman skills. 

Cons:

• I have to wait until my next visit to the bookstore or my next Amazon.com purchase to arrive to get another. (I hate the wait.  I currently have one I'm waiting on and it stinks!)
• If you lose it or can't remember who you lent it to, you have to buy another or spend hours looking for it (Trust me! I know!).

Ebooks:
Pros:

•  It's so easy to click download. I am able to get a new book whenever I want!
• I also get to carry around my IPad mini instead of a huge book which I also like.  It seems to fit into my purse more easily.

Cons:

• I can't share them with my friends.  I have heard that with the Kindle app you can let them borrow it for 2 weeks. Sometimes I get busy though and I'm not done with it in two weeks. :(
• It's so easy to click download is also a huge con for me because my bank account shows!

I think I prefer to have an actual book instead of an EBook because it allows me to share with my friends.  I also tend to go towards a real book because I'm trying to build up my classroom library so that I don't have to do it all at once when I get a teaching job.  But, I love having an EBook when I'm traveling, because I love only having to take my IPad mini and not a book too.  I think this has a lot to do with preference! Either way, I suggest to just go read something!

42 kids!

Today was our second day here at Mission Arlington. Yesterday, we held a church service were only 2 kids came to. It was fun but a little disappointing also. We were hoping for more than just 2. They were the sweetest little boys who also had fantastic dance moves! Yes, we had a dance freeze off and they won (White people can't dance!) 

Today, we went around and delivered and picked up furniture to people. That was so awesome! I also got to practice my summer job by packing a truck (it was a much smaller truck but a truck at least). The 2 ladies we delivered to were so grateful! It was so awesome!

We then did our Rainbow Express which is much like a VBS at an apartment complex. We had 42 kids show up!! We were so excited! Much like any 1st day, there is somethings to change but overall it went so well! Those kids need so much love and our group has so much love to give. I pray that God just loves on those kids and speaks through us. 

Mission trips are one of my favorite things to do!! I love how God just shows us what we need to do and works through everything we do. 

I'm so excited for the rest of the week and to see how God works!

I am Kristin Huff

I am NOT a morning person at all and would rather stay up late than get up early!! So, at night is when I love to do my quiet times with God. Throughout the last month, I have been going through the book of Matthew. I felt like I needed to read and fall in love with Jesus all over again. The miracles he does, so many times, just mesmerize me. He healed so many blind people!! In my opinion, this shows me that he took me from my blindness of being lost and brought me to see again with him in my life. He healed me! I could go on, but this is not what has been on my heart lately. 

A couple of nights ago, I was reading Matthew 21. One of the parables in it is of two sons. This parable hit hard for me! It tells us how wrong our society has it! Go read it! 

(Kristin's paraphrase) A father asked 1 son to go work in the vineyard. He told him no he didn't want to, but later did it anyway. The 2nd son was asked the same thing except he said yes, but didn't do it. 

Jesus asked "which one obeyed his father?" 

 Well, obviously the 1st one obeyed. Jesus went on to say that corrupt tax collectors and prostitutes that know Christ will get into heaven because they believe. But the ones who just act like it, won't because they rufuse to believe and repent. 

I see so many of my friends being the 2nd son. They think it doesn't pertain to them. They are the special ones. Why are we saying that we love Christ but being hypocrites and doing things that are sinful? I physically lose sleep and have had many tears because people in my life are doing this fact thing. Why do people in our society think it is ok to live out our faith casually? They put Jesus on the back burner until something bad happens to them and then blames him for the bad things that happened. Yes, I have many reasons that I could blame Christ BUT I CHOOSE not to. Christ brought these dry bones back to life. He continues to bring opportunities and situations in my life that only he could have made happen. Christ took my father but he taught me so much from that that I get to share to the world. What a blessing that is in itself! 

I thank God everyday for what he has done in my life and I will continue throughout the good and the bad. 

I am Kristin Huff and I will not approach my faith casually!

Where My Heart Is

Tonight, I write this with a heavy heart. Everything that is going on in Ukraine right now is so painful for me to watch. It was just a little less than 2 years ago that I was standing and walking the streets where the riots and strikes are taking place. It's so hard to imagine the peacefulness that I encountered and now it looks like the beginning of a civil war. Where I stayed and where the friends that I made live is only 20 minutes from where this is all taking place. Ukraine is so close to my heart. As I watch the news and read articles, I can't stop picturing the families and children that I know that are stuck in this mess. I can only imagine the friends (who are just kids) being scared of what's going on around them. It almost brings me to tears to watch and to see the pictures.

I ask for you to pray for this country. Pray that they will find peace. Pray that my friends will be safe. 

Kristin

Isaiah 41:10

#PrayforUkraine

Growing Up

     This week, I have realized that I am growing up.  I'm excited but still have those scared emotions going through my head.  One thing that keeps me going is that fact that I can now see the light at the end of the tunnel.  I can see me actually having a job and being able to support myself.  I have many decisions that I have to start to make.
     I went to the Fall 2014 Student Teaching meeting this week.  They talked about everything that we have to do within the month.  Feeling overwhelmed is an understatement!  Not only do I have to fill out my application to Student Teach, I have to fill out my graduation application, meet with my adviser, make sure that everything on my e-portfolio is up to date (its not), write an autobiography, sign up for the Praxis test, and not freakout!  There is so much to do and only a month to do it!  On top of that, I have all my school work that still has to get done!  This is by far my hardest semester yet!  So many class equals so much homework!  My classes are all upper level classes for the most part which means they expect a lot more out of you than the classes from before.  
     I've started realizing that I am about to be an adult and have to get a "big girl" job.  That's what all my friends call it.  So many questions and options are going through my head!  Where am I going to be placed during student teaching?  Where am I going to work after I graduate?  When am I going to move out of my Mom's house?  How am I going to support myself?  Where am I going to go to graduate school?  What am I going to get my master's degree in?  
     I can't even believe that I am starting to think about graduate programs! I really am growing up! Remember all those times that I changed my major (more times than I am willing to admit)?  That will not happen when trying to decide what master's program I want to go for.  I will only stick to one!  You can hold me to that!  I have narrowed it down to two, but I'm more worried about the school!  Graduate programs are expensive!
     God has continued to show me how fortunate I really am right here and right now.  I continues to tell me to live today and not worry about what's going on in the future.  I will guide and take care of me.  It so hard not to worry though.  I have to learn that God is in control.  God is guiding me through this chaos called life and will help me make those life changing decisions when they come up. 

Kristin

And the Chaos Begins... Again

So tomorrow starts the Chaos again. I start back at school but this time with a much heavier load. This semester I will have the heaviest load I have ever taken with a whomping 22 hours! Yes, I am crazy! This semester will be my last semester of class before student teaching!! I can finally see the end of the tunnel!! But because of this, I have to take the rest of my classes in this one semester. You might be thinking well why not summer classes? Well I don't want to have that much pressure while working for CIY this summer! I had so much last semester. I can't even imagine putting an online class on top of that. So, 22 hours of classes + 1 1/2 part time jobs (I'll explain later) + college age leadership team at church + at least 16 hours of observation hours + 7 hours of community service = one chaotic lady! I am going to have my hands full this semester for sure!! My 1 1/2 part time jobs is taking care of my awesome cousin but the other is a sub position at the daycare that I did work at last semester. I decided that working 10 hours at that job a week is a bit too much for me so I am now just a sub. This lets me have the opportunity to say No if I am busy taking care of Trachelle or swamped with homework or have any other plans that I may have to get done. All in all I think it is for the best, but I wouldn't change the chaos in my life or at least not right now! I have something to look forward to. I can see what's ahead and I'm excited! God has started to open doors for me and I cannot wait to get started! This makes me nervous though! This time next year I will either have a big girl job or will be searching for a big girl job. I'm praying for the first option of course! I will officially be an adult that's on my own! How scary!! I'm not sure what God has in store for me but one thing that I pray is that he won't stop the chaos in my life because in the midst of the chaos I can always see the hope of God guiding me through.

Kristin

Announcement

I have some great news! CIY Move has offered me a team leader position for this summer! I'm so excited to begin this new adventure again with a whole new group of people. Last year, I had a fantastic team. I may be biased but I think I had the best team! I cannot wait to see the friendships that I make this summer with my teammates and the other event staff. As team leader, basically that means that I am a second year event staff that will help lead my team to make sure we work together and do everything correctly. I cannot even put into words how excited I am. I'm already eager to meet my team and to see all of the places that I will be going! I can't wait to see what God has in store for my team and I as we start this new adventure together. Last year, he opened so many doors that I wouldn't have gotten if I wasn't in the places or with the people he surrounded me. I got to get to know the leadership in our church better because they were at the weeks I was helping.  I cannot wait for May!
Kristin