One Way

Friends, fam, countrymen - lend me your ears! ;) It's been a while since I've blogged, much less updated the folks back home on what I've been up to here in the Sight & Sound Conservatory. I can hardly believe I'm in my eighth month of being here! There's been so many good days, some really bad days, a lot of challenging days, and several plain old "meh" days. It really took till about May to get into the routine of classes, shows, and working in the extraordinary! And though I know I've grown a lot since I've gotten here, part of what this year has shown me is how much more I have to learn!  One of my biggest growth points thus far is probably my voice - I used to struggle just doing two weeks of rehearsals and shows at my old theatre (and honestly thought I'd have a lot more vocal strain here). But now, with voice lessons, and my voice growing stronger with the sheer fact of doing 7-9 shows a week, months on end, I hardly ever str

This is only the second Father’s Day I’ve been away from my dad. The last time was three years ago when I was in Africa. I left for church that morning with an itch in my throat. My teammate was down with some nasty virus—we thought it might be malaria. I would’ve stayed with her, but we were supposed to work on a play with the children after the service, so I went anyway.             The sun was well up in the sky by the time I climbed into the bright orange van with the pastor and his family. Church couldn’t start without us, or so I thought. When we got there, they were already worshiping. Loudly. And in Africa, that means blaring every instrument and microphone as loud as they will go.             I don’t remember what the sermon was about, but I do remember that every minute that passed in that wobbly, red plastic chair, my throat was closing up and my head was pounding. Maybe because it was Father’s Day and I was on the other side of the world from my family. “Make sur

My heart is SO incredibly full right now, I just had to sit down and write about it!!! Me and my roomies!! (L-R) Kinsey, Emma This week has been AMAZING! On January 5th, I got in the car with family and friends and had the easiest drive up to PA I'd ever had, and started getting settled in my new apartment! In the following days I've met Kinsey and Emma - my wonderful, fabulous, beautiful, kindred-spirit roommates - along with the rest of the Sight & Sound Conservatory class of 2017! They are fantastic young people and we have all connected so much in just one week already! And I've probably laughed more in the last week than I have for the previous four weeks combined!  Thank you, Lord, for your joy! Note: for a photo journey of my year at Sight & Sound, search the hashtag #elventures17 on Facebook and Instagram! It took me a while to get my sleep and appetite back (I'm just SO stinkin' excited for this year), but I'm finally startin