His Purpose, Not My Plans

Hey y'all. Thanks for reading and sharing and loving on me after my last post. It truly was from the heart. I am so thankful for everyone's support. Seriously. Once again, I'm procrastinating. This is definitely becoming a theme. This time, I should be reading a book for my European History course, but if you know me, you know I will have it done pretty fast. It's Tuesday. And if I was in Florence right now, I'd be heading to East Florence Mission to hang with my kids. I'm in Columbia. But my heart's in Florence. Where it pretty much is every Tuesday around this time. But this post isn't about me. This post is about them. They, we, I, have a need. If you read my blog last year around this time, you probably remember reading about my Christmas at EFM. It's an annual event. And it's pretty spectacular. Every child who has faithfully attended Bible study (only missing up to three times), receives a Christmas present. For the youn...

As per usual, I'm procrastinating tonight. I have a paper due on the European spice trade. But the European spice trade isn't what's on my heart tonight. It's October. The time for pumpkins, scarves, and falling leaves. It's one of my favorite months of the year. It's also Breast Cancer Awareness month. These past few weeks, I have seen so many "survivor video" links on my Facebook. They're awesome. Those ladies (and men), every single one of them is incredible, and I praise God that they were healed. But I didn't want to watch the videos. I didn't want to hear how the doctors saw the cancer cells and were able to get them out through surgery at the nick of time. I didn't want to hear how the chemo worked for them or how the radiation was able to kill the cells. I didn't want to. Because more than anything in this world, I want to be able to click on a link on my Facebook page and see the survivor story for my mom. ...

So far while I've been at college I've learned several things about myself. 1. some days require two cups of coffee, some just one. 2. it's not a good idea to study in bed because I will more than likely fall asleep 3. I walk really REALLY fast. Okay so going to the third thing, I've always been a power walker, but it wasn't until I got here that I realized just how fast I walked. At West Florence, I began walking very fast to get from class to class because my classes were usually pretty far apart….. and I just never stopped fast walking. One afternoon at church I was walking in, and Taiter (aka the best youth worker ever) yelled out after me "Alana, you are walking with a purpose girl!" I had never thought of it like that before, but it totally made sense. I HATE slow walking. If I'm walking, it's because I have somewhere to be, so why in the world would I take my time getting there? I walk with a purpose, I'm headed somewhere to d...

I move to Columbia in less than a week. I start rush week (to join a sorority) one week from today. I start college classes two weeks from today. It's coming fast. Faster than I expected. Everyone kept telling me, the summer will fly by! Start getting dorm stuff together! Enjoy your friends! Spend time with your family! You'll be gone before you know it! And whoa, they were so totally right. My dining room has been taking over by things that I'm taking to USC with me. I have spent countless nights with my friends, especially the ones who won't be going to the same school as me. And believe me, I have spent lots and lots of time with family. I mean, we did spend 14 days together 24/7 at the beginning of the summer. I keep reminding myself of so many things to do. I need to buy this. I have to do this before I go. I really need to go see ___, before I leave. It's stressful and I haven't even gotten there yet! But in all seriousness, I'm worki...

EUROPE. I went to Europe. Well, actually, dad took Austin and I to Europe. And it was awesome. You see, it all started when I was in the fourth grade. Dad made me a deal that if I made good grades through high school and got a scholarship to put me through college that he would take us on a big trip. Well, I suppose my grades were sufficient and my scholarship was rather nice. Fast forward to Christmas 2014. Austin and I are given matching presents on Christmas morning. We open up the wrapping to find a small folded up paper. Then we open the paper. And we found this. Obviously we were super excited. I mean how could we not be?  We were told we were going in June, three days after I graduated.  (Hello busy month.) And we were also informed that we would start in Italy, go up into Switzerland, over to France, and end up in England.  And then lots and lots and lots and lots of life happened. Before we knew it, we were packing for our trip. ...

Helllloooo blogging world. I'm back. It's been quite the month, let me tell you. So much so that it'll probably take me more than one blog post. One thing at a time. A month ago today exactly, I graduated high school. Me. Little Alana Tyler. Graduated high school. Now, I'll be honest. Some days.. I never thought graduation would get here. It felt like forever away. And yet, before I knew it.. BAM it was here. And now I'm an official West Florence High School Alumni. Also, yes, everyone who told me that "it will fly by!" and "it'll be here before you know it!"… You were right. Senior year flew by. Straight over my head. It was full of long days and fun nights, football games and tennis matches, and lots of memories. I can't believe it's over. But really, I can't believe I'm done with school. I mean college, yes that's definitely for sure school for the next four years. But elementary, middle, high.. it...