Graduation down... Paris here I come

This week has been cuh-razy!!! I spent all Monday and Tuesday packing so I could head up to Dallas Wednesday morning to start the rounds of visiting my friends one last time and then graduate!! These were the last things I had left on my 'to-do' list exept pick up my huge freaking mess that I have created this summer all over my parents house. God bless them for not killing me yet! It's bad!

Anyways, this morning I graduated, walked the stage, say PEACE OUT and enjoyed every last second of it! It's a surreal thought because I never pictured myself ever being done with college, with a diploma in hand and off to live life as a grown up. Never. But here I am, diploma to be sent in 6-8 weeks via mail to my US address and 2.5 days from no longer being a resident of the most amazing country ever! :-( .... :-)

I will miss my friends soooooooooooooo much but I am so thankful by their overwhelming support that it makes it a lot easier!

Alyssa and Leya. I will miss Thursday dinners!


Raleigh Caroline


Tay and I

Morale of the story is:: I'M A COLLEGE GRADUATE!!!! WOOO HOOOO

its getting nearer and nearer

These past few days have been taking me on a rollercoaster ride of emotions. Up and down and up and down. I can feel the overwhelming sense of sadness as I have been saying my final goodbyes, packing up my stuff into boxes to leave in storage, and figuring out how to fit a year of my life into a few small suitcases. I have spent the last five years creating a life for myself, making friends, finding a church home, spending time with my family, and now I'm just going to get up and leave it all. It's not an easy thing to digest. To be honest, there is a lot of worry that people aren't going to keep in touch and care and that everything is going to change and I'm not going to be a part of that, but I have to keep my eye on the prize and know that I am doing the right thing and it's going to bring some amazing experiences along the way!

I did however get an email today from my future employers and Rachel (the mom) told me that I do not start work until September 1, so that means I will be living it up Paris style for half a month! Eeeek! Maybe I'll find someone to travel with me in those first few weeks!

PS. I graduate in just 1.5 days! Go MEAN GREEN!!!

Friends husbands are a-mazing

So I have been borderline retarded recently as I could not figure out how to "fix" this blogger once I thought I had broken it. Well, I am in Red Oak visiting my friends Alyssa and Jesse one last time and Jesse is a computer whiz and I asked him to help me...he pressed one button within 20 seconds of looking at the website that fixed everything and I felt a bit stupid. :-/ 

So...We're back in business!!! yay!!!

I leave for France in a matter of days, 6 days to be exact. Yesterday, which was exactly a week before I leave, I had a few "OMGOSH" moments such as...."this time next week I will be at the airport boarding the plane", "this time next week I will be half way through my flight to France" ...it feels like I've been preparing and wanting this so bad for so long that its a bit sureal that its almost here! Finally!

This past weekend was so wonderful! I have been planning a moving/graduation party that my parents were to host for about 4 months and it finally happened this weekend and it was so wonderful to be surrounded by the people I love and cherish the most, who have supported me through it all, all in one room to show their love and support back to me! I am so blessed!!!

Awesome funfetti cupcakes with sprinkles that Sarah helped me make!!!

giving my speech

My amazing parents 

Opening the present Stephany gave me: a photo album with pictures dating back to 8th grade :-)

Ben, Tay, and I 

Sarah and I :: she made my cupcakes so amazing!

Robyn, myself and Amy

Also, this past Thursday was the last MetroLive at HFBC for the summer, but also my last Thursday to go out "dancing" at Wild West. So of coarse I dressed up and brought my camera!!! I will miss you guy so much! Here are a few pictures so sum up the night!

Some of my favorite girls!

I danced three times this night, thats a record!!!!

Glad I finally figured out how to better work this blog thing, post pictures and share what's been going on in my life as I prepare to leave! These last few weeks have been very stressful with packing and preparing, I mean, how do you prepare yourself to leave for a year and try to fit your life in three suitcases? But it has been very rewarding and memorable, and I want to thank everyone who has been there for me, loved me, and been victim to my picture taking obsession (even though I'm not that great) this week! Any new friends I make in France have big shoes to fill as y'all have been the best!!!

Cheers to happy "endings"....

continued...

I wanted to finish telling the story of how this all began so if you haven't read, skip down just one post and catch up. I think this has been an incredible journey thus far and it has barely started so I am beyond excited about what this next year of my life will be like and what the Lord has in store for me.

On my birthday, March 21, Virginie and Christophe took me over to their friends house, who was looking for an au pair, to introduce me. They live about a five minute drive and a ten minute walk from Virginie and Christophe, and I was introduced to the Fraysse's: Vincent, Rachel, Antoine, and Clemence. We spent about two hours at their house that morning talking about various subjects and getting to know one another as the children ran around the house and played. I was given a tour of the house and shown the extra bedroom that would be mine if I were to come live with them and they told me what my life would be like if I were to come be their au pair. Throughout the rest of my time in Paris I was able to meet a few more families and explore a bit more, and was definitely overwhelmed by the amount of information and the large decisions I would soon have to make. Earlier in the week I had met a guy named Andrew who is from the States and was living and working with one of the missionary families in Paris and I had kept in touch with him once we had both gotten back to Paris. He offered to to take me to church on Sunday to show me what a Christian church was like there and also introduce me to some people. I met up with Andrew on Sunday night to attend the Hillsong Church of Paris! What an incredible experience and opportunity to see the work of the Lord in such a dark place. Those people are on fire for the Lord and I cannot wait to get back and make relationships with these people! After we attended church Andrew introduced me to a few friends and then invited them to come out to dinner with us and celebrate as it was my 23rd birthday! It was such a great way to spend a birthday with people I'd never met and barely knew! The rest of my time in Paris flew by as I spent my time being a tourist.
-----This is side information but can be found a bit humorous depending on who you are :: The day before I was to leave to go meet up with the rest of my group in Switzerland (which is where we flew into and where we were going to fly out of), I was looking at train tickets on SCNF website (kind of like Southwest, but a train) and the website said very prominently in French, "going on strike from BLANK to BLANK" which covered the day I needed to travel and I HAD to be in Switzerland to catch my flight or I'd be stuck. How awesome! I then started to prepare myself for the worst day ever of trying to not only figure out what to do in the event of my train going on strike, but also do it in a foreign country where I don't understand the language, written or spoken! So the day comes where I am dropped off at the train station to take the ride to the major train station and my "metro" breaks down and everyone has to exit! For 20 minutes we stand waiting for another metro to come and pick us up. Sweet way to start off a long and most like emotionally exhausting day. So I make it to the train station and I had not printed out my train ticket for whatever reason and so I make my way to the kiosks that are all over the place and you have to insert your credit card for it to find your pass. Well, apparently my credit card has been shut off because I had not had the chance to call the United States BOA credit agency and let them know that my plane had been cancelled and to allow me to use my credit card for a few more days! Oops! (Mistake that will never be repeated) BUT the trains are on strike today so the lines to be helped are very long and there are a lot of angry French and other nationalities because they were unaware of the strike on this day. So I decide to go wait patiently in a line to try and find someone who speaks English to help me, 45 minutes later I am at the front of a line where a young French man who speaks English tries to help me with the kiosk with no such luck and then directs me to another line where they could look up my ticket and print me off one. Tick, tock, tick, tock. I had prepared myself for this, but it doesn't mean that I was not anxious and internally freaking out. AHHHHHHH!!!! I walk over to the line I was told to wait in next and it is forever long, and have I ever mentioned how the French people are not very fast in any way? At this point I had 30 minutes before my train was to depart and I had no ticket and I was in a line behind about 20 people who all had different issues that were taking forever to resolve. I wait. I wait. I wait. After waiting in line for what seemed like forever and after waking up my parents at 4am to tell them my credit card had been shut off (as if they could do anything to help that), I arrive at the counter of a lady who asks for my information, looks up my train ticket, looks at her watch and then gives me a "poor you" face, as my train had left FIVE minutes before! Did I mention the train station was on strike? If it had not been on strike I could have possibly caught the next train a half hour or an hour later but with the strike, there are not as many trains leaving or arriving at the station therefore its a FOUR hour delay before the next train is leaving to Switzerland. My, has the Lord been teaching me patience! The lady takes pitty on me and prints me out of a new ticket to my new scheduled train without charging me anything and I leave to go figure out what am I possibly going to do for the next four hours in a freezing cold, very loud train station.
Fast forward four hours later and I board my train and sit down to relax for the first time this day. The train ride is a few hours long meaning I have a few hours of down time before I arrive in Switzerlandk, only to have to figure out what to do from there!
Once I arrive in Switzerland, I knew I had to get myself from the train station to the hotel that my group was staying at that evening. I had talked to the group leader while I was at the train station and she had given me some address to some hotel and it was on me to figure out what all the scribble meant and to find a way of getting there! Woo hoo!!! Oh, and Switzerland is NOT on the Euro for those of you who are wondering. Sweet! My currency does not work there! The sun is starting to set at this point and I know I have to make a decision before too long or I"ll be stuck in nowheres ville Switzerland without dinner and without knowing where I am. After walking around for a while I finally decided on a place to eat (McDonalds) and I FINALLY decide I"m just going to get a taxi to the hotel. I jump into a taxi, PRAY that GOd would take care of me and watch over me, and hope that the taxi driver can get me to the correct hotel because its dark and late and I have no clue where I am. Oh, and we had to stop off at an ATM so I could get out Suisse Francs for me to pay him in his currency, ugh! He made small talk with me and by the end of the taxi ride had asked me to be his American Pen Pal and if he could come visit me when he's in Texas. I'm going to say, thanks, but no thanks! After a while of driving, we finally pulled up at some creepy hotel (proabably wasn't creepy but it was late and I had no idea where I was!!!) and I paid the taxi driver, sans my contact information, and jump out with my huge hot pink luggage and run inside the lobby!
THANKFULLY it was the correct hotel and my group was only 20 minutes behind me. We reunite and I could not tell you how thankful I was to see that group of people after what seemed like a VERY LONG AND VERY STRESSFUL day of strikes, lack of understanding multiple languages, broken down metros, lots of waiting and lots of Praying!

The Lord has definitely taken care of me and watched over me each step of the way! A day like that would have driven me insane, to the point of a breakdown, had it not been for Him, holding me together and reminding me He's taking care of me! That day was funny pretty soon after it happened, and I was reminded that these could be quite common days if I move to France, as they go on strike pretty frequently!!! haha. Oh, the French!!!


So this story is not even close to being over so I will try and continue to catch everyone up to where I am before I leave for my trip! And there is so much more to talk about, like my moving party that was beyond amazing and the packing experience which is more stressful at times than studying for test in a subject I could care less about! ahhh!

Cheers to almost being done with this waiting period and feeling condident in going where I am going to do what I have been called to do!!!! LOVE!!!

side note

UPDATE:
....AND I am so thankful for friends and family!!!! (had to add that in there)
Mine are freaking fabulous and I realize more and more each day just how blessed I am. Wow! I am going to miss everyone like crazy, but I am trying to cherish all the moments right now! Whoa!







Just a side note to say that bubble baths have become one of my favorite ways to relax after a long day and I am going to miss them dearly! (my new house only has a shower...)

It is now 16 days left and I feel like time is passing way too quickly!

home sweet home

So I have officially moved back to Houston, my original home, and am finally settling in, if that can even happen in the short amount of time I'm going to be here. These last few months have been a roller coaster of a ride with most ups and very few downs, or maybe I'm learning to be more of an optomist and I don't remember the bad times as much as I do the good times. I am finally and officially done with school!!! Woo hoo!!! For good! I will never, ever have to go back to college as long as I am alive and I can't tell you what kind of a weight has been lifted off my shoulders to know that I have accomplished this major goal I set out to do five years ago and now I can move on and start my life...well, start a new chapter! And my new chapter is pretty incredible if I do say so myself!
So lets go back to the beginning and how it all began...
The Lord has blessed my life so incredibly since the day I was born but I won't go that far back! I will just say that I have an amazing family who are so increidbly supportive and I believe I am who I am and I am where I am because of the unconditional love and support of those around me.
For spring break of my 4th year of college (last march) I had the opportunity to go to Paris on vacation with my Aunt Kelly and cousin Jackie! The minute I stepped foot on French ground I knew this was the place for me! I just HAD to move there! I find it crazy how God can instantly give you a dream and a passion, and that he sure did. So fast forward to this year, I have spent the last year and some researching, reading up on, learning about, practicing, etc, everything that has to do with French people, the language, moving there. Everything. I had heard about Au Pair jobs which is a live-in nanny position and I thought that would be a perfect position for me because I was a nanny back in Texas and I enjoyed it and knew I would do well at it in another country. Especially if it afforded me the opportunity to go and learn and grow and enjoy.
This past January I went to the Passion Conference in Atlanta, Georgia and was blessed to meet a sweet lady named Jessica who I spoke with about doing missions and I had told her that I had an opportunity to go on a trip to France where I felt I was being called to go but I knew I didn't have enough money to go but that I needed to make a decision pretty soon. Jessica and I talked some and she told me very directly, "Kara, if thats where the Lord wants you and he has placed the desire in your heart, don't let money stand in the way, HE WILL PROVIDE." Her words stuck close in my heart and my mind and over the next few days I start crunching numbers and praying real hard that the Lord would show me his way in what he wanted me to do. I decided to take the plung and sign up for the trip and trust that the Lord would provide. The Lord is so amazing and he provided when at times I didn't even know how the numbers added up or where the money came from. I was blessed to be on a plane to the French Alps in mid March to spend a week around the French people and serving them while enjoying a nice vacation. During that week I was able to meet a few missionary couples and families who served mostly in the Paris area and I took the time to ask questions and learn more about their ministries and what they do on a regular basis. The Lord was putting a stir in my heart even greater than anything I'd ever felt before. Later in the week we found out that our airline was going on strike and our flight had been cancelled, leaving us "stranded" (haha) in France for a few more days than expected. At that point I knew it was meant to be and I needed to get up to Paris and job search and network and make connections. The rest of my group decided to take a trip down to Italy and go explore and enjoy while I knew I had no desire to be in Italy but I needed to take this open door to go to Paris. I had made a contact with a family who lived in a suburb just outside Paris the year before when I had been there with my aunt and cousin and emailed them and asked if it would be possible for me to come and stay with them for a few days (5 days to be exact) as I was "stranded" in France and had "nowhere to go". haha. They, without hesitation, agreed to host me for the next half a week and gave me directions and phone numbers and told me to give them a call once I got into town. The next step was figuring out how to get from Grenoble, France to Paris, France. I had the option to get on a train but one of the missionaries agreed to let me ride back in their van which was a major blessing as it saved me quite a bit of money. Trains there are like plane fairs here, if you buy them in advance you can get good deals but buying a train ticket 24-48 hours in advance is not very cheap so I was very thankful for the ride and the company.
I was so excited about the opportunity to be back in Paris that I almost couldn't contain myself. I was glad for the opportunity to explore some more, to make sure this is really where I was supposed to be and to know that I could do it, I could call this place home, and to network and hopefully meet a family and get a job. I told you about a family that I had met the previous year on my trip who had agreed to let me stay with them, the Belorgeot Family. They were the biggest blessing EVER, and I know I keep describing everything as a blessing, but I truly feel that way. I know and feel that I don't deserve anything that has been given to me or that I have experienced and I owe it all to the One who has put down this path. The Belorgeot Family took me in as if I were one of their own and treated me to the best of what they had. I have never been served in such a way before and it was very awkward to constantly be given and cared for by people who barely knew me and not be able to truly show my gratitude. They took me into their home, fed me every meal I was there with them, took me to the train station and picked me up every day, let me borrow their cell phone while I was in Paris, sleep on their pull out couch in their game room, use their phone to call the US, use their computer to research and network. They threw me a surprise birthday celebration on my birthday which was amazing and so very generous. I had talked with Viriginie (the mom) about what I was trying to do and she had mentioned that she had some friends who were looking for an Au Pair and if I was interested that she could set up a meeting with them and introduce me and I took her up on her offer and one of the days I was there they took me over to meet this family who was looking for an Au Pair. This is the famiy that I would soon take their job offer and am in 29 short days going to be living with and working for.

I think this is a very long post so I will write some more on this story another day, but the story is just beginning and its so incredibly awesome that I tell everyone who asks and even those who don't. It's dangerous to start asking questions about my move to Paris because its not so simple to answer. I owe everything that I have and have been given to the One who created me and first gave me the dream and desire to move to France and love on the French people. I am so excited about the next and newest chapter in my life and I hope that those who read my blog would keep in touch with me and pray for me as I know in the next 11 plus months I am going to need all the love, support, and prayers that I can get!

So ***cheers*** to faith, new passions, and this new journey I am embarking on...

Hong Kongggg

Meet my Chinese boyfriend, Conan. And Fannie is the Chinese girl above and to the left. They were our transltors while in China and have become some dear people to me! I still keep in touch with Conan on a regular basis.


Our first experience with Dim Sum, one of A LOT, on our first day in Hong Kong. Needless to say, we ate a lot of Chinese food and I do not miss it being back back in the States. :-)

Hello from Hong Kong. If this were any other other country I probably would've said "hello" in that language but I do not know how to say or spell hello in Chinese so I give up. There is only one more day of being in Hong Kong before I am on a plane back to Texas and I can't tell you how happy that makes me. :-D I have had such a great time and experienced SO much and made so many great memories, but girl, I am so ready for a Dr. Pepper and some guacamole. Fatigue hit me TODAY and after I woke up from a two-hour nap I was in a sour mood and ready to be back in my own bed and wash my clothes and drink tap water! Let me tell you though, if anyone reads this, if you have any reservations about Hong Kong or Chinese people, forget it all and go on a vaca to Hong Kong. It's a lot like New York City (so they say) except there are a lot more Asians than any other type of person, but nearly everywhere you go you can find at least one person if not more who speak English. It's really fun to meet the Asians who's have Australian accents because they studied there! haha. Anyways, like I said, I have had a great experience and I will not soon forget anything that has happened while being here! My parents are amazing for giving me such a great opportunity and I couldn't even begin to express my gratitude for everything they have afforded me in this experience.