Lidia, Kate, Britt, and HP

I write this post with a heavy heart.

In two days, I will leave Logan for the summer. This should be an exciting thing, I am out of school, I get to live at home with my family. We get to boat, camp, run, and be out in the sun. But right now, my heart is stuck on Logan.

Last year, the second I moved out on my own for the first time, it didn't necessarily feel right. I moved in with a bunch of girls that didn't understand me. They didn't know what I was going through. None of them were my age, and none of us were on the same page.

Last year, I was alone with a broken heart, in an apartment full of girls that didn't care for me.

I told myself coming into this year to not set low expectations on roommates. I went into a random apartment with hopes that they wouldn't be worse than the ones before.

I will never forget walking into the landlord's office to grab the keys to our apartment. I ran into a girl named Hannah. Little did I know, I would travel across the world with this girl 6 months later.

I wake up to loud obnoxious singing coming from the room across from me on the first day of school, and I remember saying "This is going to be a long year."

They worked their way into my heart, and now each and every one of them are family.

They took this broken heart and made it full again.

Many times during this school year, on the brink of tears, and we asked each other how we all got put in the same apartment at the same time. The five of us were a match made in heaven.

I have had many friends throughout my life, many close friends from high school. But I lost a lot of my closest friends in high school, and never did I think I'd ever find friends as close as the ones I had.

But these girls gave me the piece of high school that I missed out on.

Most of my three years of high school were spent obsessing over a boy. To this day, I actually don't remember spending any quality time with my friends. But, this entire year, I felt like a 16 year old again. These four girls reminded me what is was like to have four best friends again. Four people that care about me just as much as my parents do.

We threw sleepovers on the front room floor, had dance lessons in the kitchen, put together dinners and invited the entire ward, laid in the hall at 3 AM and had deep conversations about life, we even took a service trip to Guatemala.

Who needs a guy in their life when you have friends like these?

This is a life I feel I could live forever.

They know my darkest secrets, they've heard my hardest stories, and they've seen me and my best, and my worst. I hope that one day we will all sit down when we have families of our own and laugh about the crazy times we had these past nine months.

I'm lucky enough to have two of them next year, but the other two are moving on to bigger and better.

I love you guys so much!
Here's to having four forever friends.

Guatemala

As most of the people who would read this would know, I recently spent my spring break in Antigua, Guatemala. It was easily one of the most life-altering times of my life.

Back in November, I was sitting in my office when Hannah burst in my doors to tell me about a trip to Guatemala she just got accepted into. She asked me to apply, and I looked her like she was crazy. A foreign country?  All by myself?

Next thing I know I am hugging my mom in Ogden airport, chocked up, boarding the plane to LAX for the first time on my own.

I flew into LAX and thankfully had Hannah with me to board my next flight to Guatemala. We got to Guatemala City, where a large amount of uncertainty set in real quick. That first day came a huge wave of shock that I wasn't in Utah anymore. I was really apprehensive if I wanted to stay all ten days or not.

Being to a foreign country really changes your perspective on the world.

You hear all the time about the kids in Africa that are going hungry. You see their dirty faces on a lit screen, with people voicing over how a donation could help them. But nothing could have prepared me for this.

What they don't tell you on TV is the happiness that these people just carry with them. How smart these people are, how innovative they are, and how much they love life.

Many in the U.S. will be quick to say that these people need help, they don't. They need change.

I watched a kid lift his shirt, and his back was covered with scars from a parasite. I watched waste get thrown in the middle of a road. An old woman tried to sell me a scarf for less than a dollar so that she could feed herself. A mother feed her child under cooked chicken, and parents feed their children before they fed themselves.

I thought to myself "How are these people happy? They have nothing compared to what I have."

They find happiness in the smallest of things.

I sorted beans with a woman that sang the entire time, joked with me about boys, and we laughed until we cried. What was she doing again? Sorting coffee beans.

A 14 year old boy named Amos told me that he enjoyed working on a coffee plantation. He looked forward to it daily.  How old was he? 14 years old.

I laid in bed at night, and for the first time in my life I could see the millions of little reasons that I could be happy.

You don't have to have it all to have it all.

Having each other was all these people needed.

The day I had to leave Guatemala was miserable. I had slowly been shoving my bag full in preparation, but when I had to zip it up I lost it. I contemplated extending my flight.

I wanted to live in this world a little longer. Take it all in 15 more times. I wanted to play soccer with the little boys on the street for one more game. Learn how to throw tops in the market with the little boys. Pick coffee beans with Amos. Run up Pacaya with the locals. Sort coffee beans with Karina. Tour with the infamous Carlos. I wanted to hear Jose's rusty laugh one last time followed by his crooked grin.

I wanted to live with all the people that were grateful for everything they had just a little bit longer.

I thought I wouldn't miss the cold "electric" showers. The beans, rice, and tortillas we ate twice a day. The smell of raw sewage. But right now, I'd go back in a heart beat.

Guatemala will always have a special place in my heart.


To the Guatemalans that changed my life,

I promise I won't forget about you.

Sincerely,

The Blonde Gringo

My Journey:

Arms are Open

Right now I am sitting in my bed, finishing up some homework. This song came on (in my random shuffle on Spotify), and I lost it.


Arms Open
By: The Script

I can't unfeel your pain
I can't undo what's done
I can't send back the rain
But if I could I would
My love, my arms are open

So when you feel like you can't take another round of being broken
My arms are open
And when you're losing faith and every door around you keeps on closing
My arms are open

I can't uncry your tears
I can't rewind the time
I can't unsay what's said
In your crazy life
My love, my arms are open

Oh, and when you're cursing at the sky
And thinking, "lord, you must be joking"
My arms are open
And, and when you're looking in the mirror
Thinking that, "my life is over"
My arms are open.

Lately, I have gotten on this blog to vent and to help myself recover. I've wrote about finding strength in hard times and standing up when I feel broken. I've been the weak one in the sense, because I've struggled for a little while.

But today, today I'm the strong one. 

For a long time I have wanted to take it all back. I've wanted to go back in time to change everything so that maybe my life would be easier. This was how I felt for a prolonged period of time. That maybe I would wake up and it would all be a dream. But today, I wouldn't change a thing. 

Today, I shine brighter than all of those people that tried to dull me.

Those nights of laying in a bed of tears, feeling broken, and climbing the constant uphill have molded me into someone I would have never imagined for myself. It's crazy how fast you can go from feeling that you have the world behind you, to standing on your own with no one in sight. Being lost allowed me to run into people that I will idolize for the rest of my life.

Someone asked me the other day if I would relive my high school years again.

Then I asked right back, "Would there be the slightest chance that I would forget the people that I have now?"

I've said it many times, and I'll say it again. I have it all. There are people that drifted away when I was struggling, but they were people that needed to leave. I have quickly realized that the people that make my life most beautiful are the ones that never cared how it looked in the first place.

There were people that judged me based on how I worshiped to something as superficial as the income of my parents. If they can't see the beauty within my life, why would I want to continue to share it with them?

Today I will cherish the people who love me for who I am, not who they think I should be. The ones that opened their arms out to me when I wasn't even strong enough to lift my own.

So here's to the people that held their arms open through it all:

(brace yourselves for the long mushy gushy)

God. It's self explanatory. You answer my prayers without saying a word. You have given me these people to hold close, and you hold the others even closer up there. I feel like you've been unfair to the people here, because you've given me the best set-up. One day I will hug you, embrace you, and I tell you how I made it. How I pushed through, and enjoyed every second. I'll tell you about people that entered my life that moved me. You are never overlooked.

My Mommy and Shane.  I will never be able to repay the two of you, but I hope that I can pay it forward to my kids one day. I dream of  being half the parents that you both are to me.The two of you could hold higher hopes for myself than I could at times in my life. You're both good at seeing all the positive aspects about anyone. You taught me to hold my head high in complete darkness or when you can't see what's ahead. To be happy even when you feel your world is ending. To love your life and embrace every second we get whether good or bad. Dad calls me every once in a while and sometimes before he hangs up he says "SMILE", and I can just see the smirk on the other end of the phone. Happiness in it's most raw form.

Ham Bam, Ethan, and Katie. The three of you didn't need to know that my world was crashing down to hold me together. From Ethan's singing in the passenger side of my car, Hannah handing me a fresh baked cookie, or Katie teaching me how to saw pallets. You three complete me in so many ways. You diversify me and give me examples to strive towards. The three of you make me realize that I always have a best friend in this world. I have someone to tell all my secrets too, someone to tease, and someone to teach me the ropes of life. When we are 90 and grey, I hope that we all love each other as much as we do now.

Willard. I hate you so much dog, but you make me laugh.

Grandma Nessa, Nannie, Grandpa Griz, Grandma & Grandpa Fowers. All of your lives were full of some type of trial. From losing the love of your life, to losing your son, or losing your mom at a young age. You five are living, breathing examples that life keeps rolling. We can find happiness in the hardest of times. You all picked up your pieces and made something of them. You raised the amazing people that would bring me here.

Aunt Nicki and Uncle Jess. I don't see the two of you that much, but I see you through my mom. Our whole lives she has taught us kids to love each other, "from birth to grave". She gets it from you two. You have been an example to my family of what a "forever family" looks like. I have dreams of one day being able to talk to my sisters and brother every day like the three of you do. You taught me the importance of family when hard times arise. You three are a reminder of what I will always have, family.

Brittany, Hannah, Lidia, and Katie. It's easy to feel far from home in a place like Logan (the four of you know all to well that my family is my comfort zone). You all taught me to live in the moment. To dance in the middle of the street, make crepes at midnight, have sleepovers in the front room, hold fashion shows at two in the morning, and ask out cute boys that I don't know well. You all bring out the kid in me, you make me feel brave.

Reni, Justin, Ann, Steph, and Michelle. I have had three jobs before working at the Center, but I have never felt like any of them made a difference. Everyday I'm at the center, I feel like I am paying it forward.The Center healed me, it made me look at my world differently. Not only that, but you all are family to me. You know some of the deepest details of my life, and you all give me wise advice, the kind I would ask my mom for. The five of you are a part of my Logan family.

Inadequate

This blog I feel like is a place where I can embrace my struggles. I'm far from perfect, in fact, I am probably closer to imperfect that perfect.

I feel inadequate, every where I go.

I don't feel like I am good enough to have the job I do. To receive the score I do on a paper. Have the amazing parents I do. Even date the guy I think is cute.

Not feeling good enough, is as real as it gets.

I'm not a 4.0 college student, although I wish I was. My parents have been helping me get through school, and I feel like I owe it to them. They deserve to sponsor a child that gets better grades than I do.

While I'm at work, I screw up a lot. I put down the wrong dates on designs, I forget to do tasks every once in a while. I work with such amazing people, and I feel like they deserve better.

I hate talking to guys I'm not good enough for. It's like preparing yourself for what's destined to happen. That one day, they will realize who I really am, and that will be the end of it all.

I try not to fall for the good things in life, to get my hopes up. Because 9 times out of 10, I'll get let down.

One day these guys will realize that I am horrible at dressing up. That I hate doing my hair, wearing make-up, and Nike's are my favorite accessory. They'll realize that I cry.....a lot. I'm cranky in the morning, and  I'm not the best at studying. They will see that I spend more time with my family than my friends.

When I start talking with a guy I like, I just want to tell them "Are you sure you want this? I am far from ever being good enough for someone like you." I would feel as if I was cheating them for dating them.

I dated someone for three years, and I left feeling like I did something wrong. That there had to have been something I could've done better. Maybe I really wasn't good enough for him.

If I were to pick anything I fear the most in this world right now, it would be feeling completely inadequate.

For most of my blog posts, I have this call to action. I have a way that I will resolve my life's challenges. But this one has me stumped.

I'm not sure how I will get through this. But I want to document it all. I want to remember my struggles, so that I can look back on them as learning experiences.

One day, I will figure this out, and look back on this moment with a brighter ending.

Fans

Today has been a rough one.

Numerous times today, I have looked up into  to the sky in a flood of tears and asked,

"Why can't you just give me a chance."

Last night, I finally built up the courage to ask my crush out....and was (basically) rejected.
This morning I didn't pass my teaching test for the second time.
And just 10 days before my big race, I had pneumonia and a partially collapsed lung.

God.........Why?

All I have done is good in this world. I say my prayers every night, I talk to you every day. I reach out to everyone around me. I am not mean to anyone. You put me through enough

Why can't just one thing work out for me?

Why can't I feel worthy enough to date this guy?
Why can't I be smart enough to pass my test the first time?
Why can't I do good in this race?

Just once.

As I was walking around campus, in the pouring rain, I hit breaking point.

I am walking around USU with mascara streaming down my face, with posters falling out of my hands, crying to my mom over the phone.

There comes a point in your life, when your sick of everyone telling you that "It will work out". Because for so long.....it hasn't felt like it.

I feel like I'll die before I make it through this teaching program, and I worry that I'll die alone.

After talking for 20 minutes, my mom and I  began laughing together over the phone about my crappy day. Somehow daily trials can become something that you can just shake off, and laugh.

I think that God was ready show me what I do have.

Immediately after hang up with my mom, I run into Hannah (my roommate) at my work. As soon as she saw me, she ran up and gave me a huge hug, not even knowing what I had been through. She asks how my day was, hands me a bag of food and walks with me up to work.

I walk into work, and there's Justin singing along to his music, and I try my best not to laugh at him. My manager hands us both money to go down and get her a drink, and a "treat". Next thing I know, we're hardcore hysterically laughing in our office trying to fit Bugles on our fingers and Snapchat at the same time.

Having no idea of my hard day, Justin is walking out the door and he says "The right guy is going to come around and he will love you so much."

I have everything I ever need.

I have so much more to learn, so much room to grow, two more years of school, and much more maturity on its way.  But in the end, when I lay in bed at night, I don't want to fall asleep. I could do my days all over again.

Life is so dang hard, it's full of so many reasons to quit. So many reasons to call your mom crying. But when I step back, I realize that I have so many people rooting for me.

So here's to not settling with a guy just because I think he's cute. Here's to not giving up on college because it's hard. And here's to not quitting running because I have pneumonia and a broken lung.

Because each of fans lining the path to my finish line have high hopes for me to finish strong.

Come and Go

As we speak, I am currently helping two of my friends get through and incredibly hard break up.

This is hard for me, because I feel that in ways, I haven't gotten over my own. Break ups plain and simply, are tough. The aspect that hits you the hardest is watching someone walk away, knowing that you may never see them again...for a long time.

The person that you spent almost every living moment with is gone.

They may never speak to the voice that they fell in love with, or recognize the face they kissed countless times ever again.

When I broke up with my first boyfriend, I remember feeling as if he died, I felt that if I was mourning a loss.

When we visualize a break-up I think that often times we think of the whole "forget you" stage. That when you break up, you go burn everything in a fire, and push every memory of them out of your mind.

I spent three years with my boyfriend. So the "forget you" stage wasn't quite that easy, in fact, I haven't gotten past it yet. I don't think I ever will.

(I know....what am I thinking?)

In all honesty, I say omit the "forget you stage," gosh darn it, that was three years of your life.

How do you forget three years of your life?
You don't.

At three years old, a child should be able to say their name, catch and throw a ball, name colors, dress and undress themselves, and they are even able to use scissors.

Can you imagine, if you woke up one day, and couldn't do any of this?

You'd be lost.

Whether you were together for a week or 10 years, that person was meant to be in your life. God put them there for a reason. We commonly say that when two break up that they "weren't meant to be". This has never been so false.

They were meant to teach you something you couldn't learn on your own.

Our relationship wasn't a mistake, it was a miracle. I got to spend three years of my life loving an amazing human being. Our little infinity was perfect.

We weren't meant to work, but we were meant to be.

He hurt me, shattered my heart, and made me feel broken. But for the sake of every good memory before that, I will not forget him.

There was a time in my life, when I would run into things that reminded me of him, and I would break down into tears.

But why? When you look at childhood pictures, you don't cry.

Those objects were GOOD memories. This was such a happy time in my life. I now look at these same things and smile. I take a second to soak up the good memories, and move onward to even better.

I will never forget him. I think about him everyday even if it's just for a second. I even pray for him like I would my own friends. Knowing that he is happy, made the healing process easier.

Our lives were bettered by being together for the short time we were

People come and go, but they were always meant to be.


Here's some old pictures for fun.....good memories :)

Logan

Disappointment. It’s gone on my entire life. 

The downhill slope of things not working out....one after another.
It puts you in this hole where you feel trapped. You can’t get over feeling like a loser all the time. The feeling that in this life, you’ll never add up to anything. Days where I'd look at myself and wonder if I'd ever add up to be anything spectacular, and I'd deny it. It’s easy to see all the bad moments in your life when that’s all you are getting a taste of.

So one day, I wrote it all down.

Lined up my biggest highs and lowest lows like a cat lines up its mice after it kills them.

And somehow... they fit together.

It was like running a half marathon (I’d be the one to make this comparison). While you’re running , you realize that every uphill you run up, means that there is a downhill that same length on its way. Which makes the half marathon seem easier, because you know that after you push through an uphill, a downhill is coming. 

 I made the quick realization that this is how my life fit into this world.

God would throw these downs at me, then pull me right back up again. He rejected all these moments the first time, to put me somewhere else the next and I didn't realize it.

I hit a dark time in my life not too long ago. One that had me running uphill. I picked up everything I had known and loved, all to make my mark on something new. Leaving behind my team, friends, job, family, home, and school, with a broken heart.

I couldn’t imagine what was going through God’s head. Why me? I had done so much good, I had decided to go to college, I was working so hard and doing everything I was supposed to. I began doubting every decision I made. Why did I choose to break up with the man I thought I loved, or to move an hour away from all I’d ever known?

My answer?.....my downhill run?

Logan.

No it’s not a boy. (nice try) But an establishment. That during the lowest part of my life, is where I was closest to what I was truly meant to do. My ex boyfriend lived a block away, my family seemed a million miles away, I lived with roommates I didn't necessarily like, but that was when Logan became my safe place. God gave me Logan to write a new chapter but in my own words this time.

The first 3 weeks of living in Logan was raw. Where I was truly…..Jerra. I’d never felt so close to God in my life. It’s like I spent every day with him through that rough transition. He was right there every moment from then on. I’d get these weird feelings in my heart that allowed me to make all these huge decisions easily, like he was telling me the game plan all along. He made this plan where I was going to be pushed down to my lowest, to be sent here. 

Not even a month into living in Logan, I found myself sobbing as I hung the shirts of domestic violence victims on a wall.

God never told me how I would heal from falling, however, he gave me experiences that made me stand up what once hurt me. It was like he was patting me on the back this entire time, reminding me that this was my piece I was adding to this world. Although Logan was a place that took me farthest from my comfort zone, it quickly became my piece of heaven. 

Logan offered me so many aspects that filled my empty spots.

When I felt heart broken, I’d work in the center to bring awareness for those who felt the same. When I was upset, I had the ARC to run at. I had a family at the center, people I could go to for just about anything. I began playing soccer again, and gained a who new friend group.  When I just needed to get away, I was only a 10 minute run from the mountains.

I wasn’t leaving everything behind after all. I was finding a family of my own, friends of my own, and I made my own team. Here I wasn’t trying to impress anyone, or make my story perfect for someone else, I assembled this world all on my own.

Far from all of the troubles in my world was a safe haven.

Welcome to Logan.