Update!

A quick update on the fundraising! God has been at work in his miraculous ways and friends and family have stepped up to help cover HALF of what I need to start the internship in January! I am moved to tears and get overwhelmed when I cross paths with those who joyfully want to give. Taking a non paid internship has been one of the most incredible, and difficult things for me to do. It's a very vulnerable position to be in when you are asking other people to support you. Letting go of the reins of controlling my own paycheck has been a tremendous leap of faith. I know the time is tough given Christmas and the economy and I've been wrestling with the skeptic who sits on my shoulder and whispers discouraging things in my ear. But when I speak to people who are excited for me and excited to help me out and believe in what I'm doing, all that doubt goes away and I get even more fired up to start this internship! I can't even begin to express my excitement-- when I think about it it just turns to tears because my heart yearns to please God and follow Christ. This internship is going to equip me with the skills and knowledge in how to better further the Kingdom of God. I want to thank all of you for your prayers and support during this step in my life. I am SO thankful for you!!

On a different note, I am trying to find ways to reduce my financial need. Three ways I am looking into doing that are as follows. 1) I am going to get rid of my iPhone that I currently have (I purchased it before I came to this crossroads). It is going to cost me to break the contract and purchase a different one, but I don't need the phone for this internship and it will help cut down on my costs. If anyone has ANY advice on cheap good cell phone plans that are available right now, please let me know. Leave a comment or email me. 2) Looking into getting rid of my car. I LOVE my car, but this is something that would cut back significantly on my monthly bills. I keep it in fantastic shape as I am a clean freak with it. Looks brand new and the ride is so smooth. But, I am looking into purchasing a very cheap/reliable car. I might be opening up a can of worms with that idea, but if that's what it takes to start this internship I'm up for the challenge. 3) I won't be flying back to Iowa for Christmas. Tickets are expensive to fly for the dates that I have off and I just simply don't have the money for it. I'd rather take the money for a plane ticket and apply it to my internship. This will be my first Christmas where I am not with any family-- so that will be SO strange and I'm sure I'll be sad and shed tears. But we have a fantastic Christmas service here at church that I can come to and I am going to look into finding something to keep myself busy on Christmas day, like volunteering somewhere. If anyone has any suggestions for that as well, I'd love to hear them!

So there is an update on the fundraising! I've spoken with several of you, but left voice mails with several others as well. I'm hoping to hear back from most of you in the next two days so I can turn in my two weeks at work!!!!

Please continue to pray for me during this process. Specifically for boldness and that God will open up doors to allow me to start in January.

LOVE. LOVE. LOVE! EM:)