A Year In Review: Senior Year

Welcome to my first blog post written in the "Compose" section instead of the "HTML" section. This just means it's a lot less complicated for me to write and make posts which could potentially mean I will blog more often! I really have been having an awesome time in St. Louis so far and will eventually get to posts about that, but right now I want to do a list of the concerts I saw in the past year...I've been reflecting on my Senior year of college quite a bit and want to document all the cool things I got to do.

Concerts since last July:
-Waka Flocka Flame (Kansas City)
-Mat Kearney (St. Louis)
-Chris Brown (St. Louis)
-Ben Rector (Columbia)
-Dr. Dog (Columbia)

I think that is all the concerts I went to...Maybe it felt like more than it actually was...but it was an amazing range of music!

Places I went:
-Chicago for my birthday weekend, got to stay with my cousins Rima and Kira at their cool apartment. We went to Second City comedy (hilarious) and did lots of shopping! (my cousins surprised me with a wallet i said i loved from Urban!)
-L.A. and San Diego with my dad where I got to go on a bus tour of L.A., meet RYAN GOSLING, and relax in the beautiful San Diego.
-Honduras!! Rounding out college with the best experience of my LIFE was the best decision I ever made. I only decided to go about 2 months before the trip! Now when I look back on the trip, all I can say is "WAS THAT REAL?! did I really go there? Did I really meet all those people?" It just doesn't seem real. I hope I get to go back one day...
-Minnesota. Okay not exciting but it really was considering my best friend was pregnant throughout these months and every time I went home, I got to see her belly grow.  AND over New Year's, I experienced my first "going out in the cities"....it was pretty fun!!

In the next year I plan to go back to Austin to visit my sister and hopefully squeeze a trip in to Colorado! My parents and I have been meaning to go for awhile.

All in all, Senior year was a fabulous year--the best year yet in fact. I got to live in an amazing house with amazing roommates who taught me sooo much and became like sisters to me. I got to take only 12 hours each semester where 2nd semester I only had classes on Mondays and Wednesdays.

Oh yeah! and to update you on my "Senior year goal"...I challenged myself to read the Harry Potter series (7 books) during Senior year. I had to extend the deadline to an actual year (so i have this summer to finish the 6th and 7th)....but basically I am workin through it..still goin strong and proud of myself. My next goal is to learn the Ukelele. Having "goals" or hobbies to fall back on when you're bored is always a good thing.

So that's my senior year in a nutshell. I'd say I'm pretty blessed.

xoxo Katie

THE TRANSLATORS!

I think God's "Cherry On Top" of the trip was that going into the trip I was completely misunderstanding that our translators would in fact be awesome and outgoing Honduran college students who would become part of our team and work alongside us in every way shape and form during the week. That I would fall in love with five crazy Catrachos and get to know their culture, lives, and hearts. That in ten days time I would gain 5 amazing friends! Who live in Honduras! Yes this was the best surprise of the whole trip. They are definitely the Cherry On Top.

Grace is very soft-spoken, but her warm personality went further than any other I'd seen when talking to the Hondurans. As a doctor, Grace has a natural ability to care for others and I could just see how some of the women she talked to were so captivated by her loving spirit. Talking to Grace is like talking to your mother. No judgement, just love. You can just see the care in her eyes--that she genuinely wants the best for whoever she is talking to.


Alejandra is this amazing extrovert who is super outgoing, gets everybody's attention, gains their affection immediately, and infects them with her fun spirit. On the other hand though, she is this extremely introspective thinker who so openly shares the lessons God is teaching her daily. She has a true passion for sharing God's love whether it be through her personal stories, lessons, or making people laugh--her personality is just infectious!


Paola is very beautiful. Duh. But what is so great about her is the way that she connects with people. She just exudes this confidence that you are just drawn to. She is so confident, yet so humble--exactly like Christ. She remains very true to herself and probably doesn't know it, but makes every girl around her feel beautiful. Just by giving them the slightest attention. She is just a very captivating person.


Juan is this laid back, hipster guy. You think he doesn't talk much, just takes pictures with his super nice camera. Nope. I had the awesome opportunity of getting to really talk to Juan and he has so much going on beneath the surface. He is extremely creative and talented. Through his photos, he gets to express and share with the world his appreciation for God's creation. He also just surprises you with what he says. You expect an 18 year old to say 18 year old guy things. Juan says C.S. Lewis-type things. Always looks for the deeper meaning or how he can be a better person. Truly inspiring.


Criz is this craaaazy character who I fell in love with as soon as I saw him wearing a hipster cardigan the first day at the airport ;). From day 1, talking to him, his honesty is just so refreshing! He's the type of person to ask how you're doing and really want to know! Every detail of how you're doing! And really truly care! Criz has overcome a lot in his life and yet still manages to be one of the most positive people I've ever met. His craziness, humor, energy is highly contagious. Beware. ;)


Anyway, I think I am so stuck on thinking about and missing these translators because they were so WONDERFULLY UNEXPECTED! I am just in awe that I went into the trip so blindly about this. Nobody told me I would leave saying I had FRIENDS in HONDURAS! Ahh I just love them and they have taught me soooooo much! It was so interesting to me to get to talk to them not only about their lives, but how their culture affects and influences their lives. Like looking into a mirror if I had been born in Honduras. So cool. Okay translators, love you. Other people reading, I hope you got a good glimpse of this part of my trip!:)

Adios
Katie

Here I go....

It is about 21 hours before I'll be at the St. Louis airport checking my bag, going through security, and kissing America goodbye as I leave for Honduras. Tonight, I decided to look up some C.S. Lewis quotes for inspiration and comfort because his quotes are the best. This one really spoke to me. It's just an awesome reminder of how far God takes you out of your comfort zone, molds you, and rebuilds you to be more like him. It's never what you expect it to be, but in the end it is always worth it.


“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”
― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity


Here I go!!!!!

What's new with me.

Hate to do the bullet points but I've got nothing to write about so I figure I'd do a quick update about what's goin on in my life.

-I am going to Honduras in exactly a week and am channeling all the positive thoughts I could possibly have into that....writing positive messages to myself and such to read while I'm there and want to quit during the first night when I can't flush my toilet paper, bugs are everywhere, and I feel like there's crime happening outside the door of the house I'll be staying at. BUT I CAN DO IT!

-I have joined a friday night volleyball league at my church for fun. Our team name is Some Spike It Hot. We are not very good. I feel like I'm personally getting a little better at the sport though! Hey it's not about winning right??

-I have applied for like umm a few internships and a few jobs. Since getting a job is going to be much harder than I expected it to be, my old sights set high on Denver are now set high on Kansas City where I can get a cool apartment in a cool central location with my cool friend Abby and have a much cooler/more social experience with that city than I had last summer...

-It is warm out. Which means many porch parties are happening at my house and down the street at our friends' house and the guys down the street put up a basketball hoop on a telephone pole so that is fun. I played there tonight after our volleyball game.

-This past month I led two retreats for the student ministry at my church and geez did I learn a lot. I struggled big time at the first one which was 3 days for high schoolers. The middle school one was just one overnight and it felt a little more like babysitting than anything. It was exciting for me though to be able to really make connections with the students and the other leaders. I really love being a part of that ministry because everyone is just so welcoming and nice---and the best part is that I am actually getting the opportunity to find out what kind of leadership skills I have or don't have.

-I went to a Dr. Dog concert on Tuesday night with my best concert friend, Eden! Someone came up to us and gave us a ticket so we got into the show for half price! :) The opening band was called Givers and they were soooo good. Like I would even argue they were better than Dr. Dog. I've been listening to their music since! Here is their main single that I love:



Well I think that's all for now!
xoxo Katie

When it clicks.

I've had this feeling once before. I was thinking how Fall weather is so beautiful and I wanted to go to coffee shops downtown and enjoy them and listen to great music at them and write honest blog posts at them. Then it clicked.

I can be that person.

All too often we envision our lives to be something better than they currently are. I dream of mine to be inspiring, insanely creative, adventurous, and powerful.

A little over a week ago I watched this TED Talk and once again, it clicked.



It's about a guy named Dan Eldon who essentially was a humanitarian in Africa throughout his teenage years, became a photojournalist and was murdered while photographing a bombing in Somalia at the young age of 22. 22!!!!! That is how old I am. Man, it was just so crazy to see someone SO young who had done SOOO much with his life to help the world. It made me think "What in the world am I waiting for?!" When is the future ever going to be the present? When are my hopes and dreams for my life going to become reality?! It all clicked.

I can be that person.

It has always been a desire of mine to go on a mission trip, but I never thought it was something that me, katie hayes, would be able to handle. I mean, if anyone loves the comforts of America, it's me. I admired everyone who went on them, but never thought I'd have the strength. Well God doesn't put something on your heart for no reason. If it's on your heart, and it's good, then it's from Him and He will make a way.

I thought about what opportunities I had to help another country. I knew I had my spring break covered with a trip to Colorado with my parents to vacation and scope out different advertising agencies. I thought about doing something during the summer but the uncertainty of if I would have a job by then made it complicated. As I sat there feeling hopeless, I realized my spring break was not set in stone. No plane tickets were bought. I knew my friend Chuck Wagon (his real name is Kyle) and my other friend Joey along with 18 other students were going on a mission trip to Honduras for Spring Break. I was so excited about the prospect of going that I called Chuck Wagon at 2 in the morning just to get more information.

For the next 5 days I was up and down, definitely yes, definitely no, about going. I was unsure about bringing it up to my parents because I only wanted to bring it up to them if I was 100% sure I wanted to go. Looking back, it is funny how God would not let me be satisfied with turning down the trip. On the days that I had decided I definitely wasn't going, I found myself rationalizing. I found myself making excuses. I found myself unsatisfied. I still kept thinking about the trip because that "no" didn't sit right in my heart.

Ultimately, it took a conversation with Chuck Wagon for me to realize that the trip was going to be challenging, but that I would have trusting friends there with me to help me through it. I also started thinking less about the logistics of the trip and more about my personal reasons for wanting to go. It's not about anything other than showing God's love to the people of Honduras. Serving them and serving Him. Any struggle I face will last 10 days. 10 measly days. I am so grateful for that.

Bottom line is, anytime you find yourself admiring a good trait in someone or something, anytime you crave a change in your lifestyle, know that you CAN be that person. Once it clicks, it's powerful and exciting to see where the change will take you and what you'll learn along the way.

Typing vs. Pen to Paper

why pen to paper is better for your creative writing. (in my humble opinion).

you can't edit them as you go. all your thoughts are forced to be exposed on the page for you to reflect upon and analyze. That is the best though because seeing every ounce of what you're feeling in front of you directs you to the best conclusion.

no distractions. all your attention is focused directly on the page in front of you. the white blank page staring at you almost begs you to write on it. you want to fill it up. you are not distracted by "oh what's this new feature?" or an advertisement or even tempted to check facebook or twitter. (the horror!)

the sound. the sound of typing is so yuck. it's so 21st century technology. it is a sound that fills our loooong daaaaaays with school work, business work etc. pen to paper just flows. its silence allows you to hear your thoughts clearly.

it is out of your comfort zone. we spend so much time on the computer that to be creative on it is just bleeech. not possible. the internet is like an entirely separate world from the real world. when we take ourselves away from the internet, we are that much more forced to be focused on the real. the now. the uncomfortable.

thoughts on: Glory and Freedom

The concept of glorifying God has been on my heart this past week. I think it was last week when it really hit me what glorifying God is. It's one of those phrases that is tossed around "Glory be to God"....but WHY. Why should we glorify Him? Doesn't that seem a bit selfish that God made us for Him? That we shouldn't glorify anything BUT Him? I think this is where the flawed view of God comes into play if we are thinking this way. Because as I learned last week:

"When God gets his glory. We get our joy."

It was like boom! "oooh God is good and love and all of those things so by glorifying Him, in return, we are made happy!" It is not selfish of Him at all if WE are the ones reaping the benefits of glorifying him. I think there is the misconception that God is some like evil tax keeper and when we glorify him we are giving him all our money and he just keeps it all in a bank and leaves us miserable. In reality though, when we praise God and honor him with our hearts and actions, He blesses us like 100x more than we could imagine. (proven many times in my own life). Bottom line: it is easy to forget that God is literally the image of everything that is good in the universe. He IS love. so only good can come out of glorifying something of that nature.

The other misconception that I struggle with as I'm sure many others do is imagining God to be this rule keeper. That he RESTRICTS us. That he PREVENTS us from living fun-filled, wild, adventurous, risky lives. God completely spoke to me in my moment of thinking this. "He gives us the FREEDOM to live fun-filled, wild, adventurous, and risky lives!" Because of Him, we have the roadmap for how to live this life to the fullest. (He knows because He created it.) Our lives can be filled with those crazy traits, but with God, they will have purpose behind them. Taking big risks and trusting God will provide. Traveling the world and seeing His creation. Fun-filled adventures with genuine friends. I guess what i'm getting at is things don't have to be sinful to be fun.

"I run in the path of your commands for you have set my heart free." -Psalm 119:32

"Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free." -John 8:32

"You my brothers were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature, rather, serve one another in love." -Galatians 5:13

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." -Galatians 5:22-23


xoxo Katie

Today Is A Very Scary Day

Today is a very scary day.
Even the black cats are not out to play.
The wind blows the rain in my face.
So I am forced to walk at a very fast pace.

Today I was going to bike.
But then I was forced to hike.
Hike to class 15 minutes away.
Today is a very scary day.

Umbrellas flipping inside-out.
Embarrassing their owners without a doubt.
Fingers without mittens go numb as ice.
When you are unprepared, you pay the price.

All I want is my warm, cuddly room.
The cold and rain can only bring doom.
No sun in sight, not a single ray.
Today was a very scary day.



thank you.

The Lows.

I went to Christian Chapel this morning after a few weeks doing The Crossing. It was soooo amazing. I want to share a little about the message and what I was thinking about. The new series starting today is called "Miracles". This sermon was about how God prepares you for miracles to happen. So why God brings lows into our lives. These numbered points are directly from the sermon.

When God brings you low...

1. The lesson is not about you.

Pastor John brought up the book of Job in the bible. How he had everything taken away from him and he still glorified God. This book is not about Job, but is about God getting glory. That is what everything is about. It is never about us.

This point opened my eyes to the fact that through the low times God brings you closest to him, so even the low times are good. I've always known the low times bring a person closest to God, I am just now realizing that that is what makes them good. Pastor John said when we're down, we should stay down if that's what it takes for us to be close to God and learning about him. When everything is perfect in life, when we are full of hope and joy and thriving relationships, THAT'S when we reject and forget about God. We think we have solved everything on our own, that we are deserving of all the amazing things in our life...that we don't need him anymore.


2. To test your heart.

This point rang clear as a bell. God puts so many low points in our lives to test the state of our heart. Where does it lie... Where does it find it's hope, worth, security.... It made me think of a couple weekends ago when my car was dented by a stranger and how that was a true test of my heart. It opened my eyes to my insane materialism. Sometimes God has to give us lows to open our eyes to the condition of our hearts because we alone cannot see them! Another low that God gives me is lonely nights. Sometimes all of my friends are busy and I am so annoyed that I have no plans. I fel lonely and start over thinking things. In those times, God is testing my heart. He is showing me that I find my worth in my friendships and not Him. It all ties together with another post I wrote about God giving you those lonely nights so that you do have a chance to open your bible, listen to worship music and be brought closer to Him. In our eyes, these things are lows, but it is really God seeking after us.

3. To show you the person you can become.
We should see ourselves as God sees us. His daughters and sons. Lovable. Perfect in his eyes. When we are experiencing a low, we yearn for a change. This gives us the opportunity to evaluate what kind of people we want to be and the bible provides us the perfect example to follow: Jesus.

4. To do a miracle.

Other awesome notes from the message...

--Our sin affects other people. (gossip, greed, pride, insecurities, complaining,) are a few that popped into my mind for me personally. While my sin affects other people, I also can't let others' sin affect me and drag me down. I have to be aware of this two way street and it's definitely something I have not been so aware of.


---If we do not have Gods peace, we begin to fear God in an unhealthy way. We have a flawed view of who he is. We need to figure out what our idol is, what are we finding our hope and worth in, instead of God that is leaving us disappointed and, therefore, fearful.

I just thought this was a great message and had to share it! Thoughts??
xoxo Katie

my weekend.

This past weekend my car was backed into and dented on its driver side. It was parked on the street and I'm about 99% sure I know who did it, but the person is convinced he didn't do it sooo it won't be fixed.



At first when I saw the dent, I was so mad. I had to play detective for the next 24 hours trying to figure out who did it and if it would be fixed. The thing that pissed me off the most though, wasn't the physical dent in the car, but the fact that someone didn't have to take responsibility for it and that they were getting away with it. There was no justice.

Through this experience though, it has forced me to look at what I find value in and what I take for granted. I took my car for granted and only realized how great it is after it was dented. More importantly though, I found that I do find my value in materialistic things. I have known this for a long time (or why would I find the need to buy new cute clothes every few months). I think a ton of people find their value mistakenly in materialistic things. My car getting dented though, was an actual TEST of that value. I just kept repeating to myself "it is only a car. it is only a car. it still works. be thankful it wasn't damaged worse." I mean, it is just a piece of metal that moves me from one place to another. It is a tool. It says nothing about who I am, and it certainly won't last forever. It was overall a good wakeup call to show me that materialistic things are of little importance and I should try my hardest everyday not to be defined by these things.

So my car was dented on Friday night. The next morning, I coached my 1-3 grade girls soccer team. They had a game at 9am. I have been meaning to blog about them, but this weekend I particularly learned from them. So after I was so frustrated about my car...I went to coach the game and there standing, excited, ready to play were a bunch of little girls with smiling faces excited to see me. Coaching upward is such an escape from my problems--it's such a blessing! I get to leave the college campus, problems, homework, drama for 2 hours each week to hang out with little girls who find so much joy in an acorn, or the playground slide... (below: Grace, Molly, and Eliana).



That same day I babysat two little girls (2nd grade Emily and 7th grade Rebecca) for 5 hours. I coached the 7th grader last year. Again, it was just so refreshing to hang out with kids who just like to have fun and are happy all the time! I've found that hanging out with kids has really changed and grown my perspective on what joy is. I feel like they rejuvenate my cranky old soul and unknowingly remind me of the important things in life.

Here are a few hairstyles Emily (2nd grade) did on my hair:)




xoxo Katie