God Bless Italy.

[[sorry my words are so jumbled. My mind is kind of all over the place tonight!]]

I absolutely love America. I really am quite obsessed with just about every aspect of our country. But the past week or so I have been feeling an overwhelming amount of American pride. I miss the stars & stripes. If I could wear red, white, and blue every day for the rest of my life – I would!!! I thoroughly enjoy southern accents and prefer them to Italian accents any day. My heart seriously races when I see an American flag over here. It might just be the south that I’m obsessed with, but either way, I feel so fortunate to live in America. Thank you Jesus for a country founded on biblical truths and a history of leaders who turned to God & His word for guidance.

Although I do love America with my whole heart, traveling is something I also really love. I like meeting new people, seeing the different architectural structures & scenery that isn’t available in the states. Italy is not the only other country and culture I’ve visited, but it’s the first culture I’ve actually had to fully submerse myself into. I’ve had to become a part of the culture – not just get by for a week or two. By trying to fit in to the Italian culture, my eyes have been opened to multiple aspects that I do not like, or necessarily agree with. Those specific parts of their culture were really starting to weigh me down. With each passing day, I found myself praising the Lord more and more for allowing me to call the states my home.

After realizing that I would make myself miserable by allowing those things to eat at me, I began praying for new perspective about their culture. I desperately wanted my heart to have a better outlook on living in Italy. For goodness sakes – IT’S ITALY! I’m pretty good at putting my girl pants on, mentally talking myself thorough situations, and dealing with it. But that was the last thing I wanted for this trip, to just “get through it”. This weekend was exactly what I needed. My soul feels incredibly refreshed, like I’m back in the ‘honeymoon’ phase of being in Italy, but it’s not a phase any more.

We took a field trip with our art history to class to Siena. We traveled by bus, allowing us to be still for over an hour and completely take in the absolutely breath taking and captivating country we live in. it was the Tuscany we’ve all seen in movies and dreamt of coming to see. The reality of God’s presence in every nation and every corner of the Earth became all the more evident. I arrived to Siena with an extremely happy heart after listening to music of God’s goodness and viewing His strikingly beautiful creation.

While in Siena, these two boys walked into the same museum as our class and joined on with our lecture. At first you can imagine the confusion we were all experiencing as we saw these boys intently listening to Kirk bestow immense amounts of knowledge on us, but I they were just eager for guidance through the museum – especially in English! The boys were from Georgia and one of them asked me where I was from. Needless to say, “Denton” was the key word and his immediate response was “have you heard of Matt Chandler?” It was quite possibly the closest to home I’ve felt the entire trip. I’m half way across the world, in Siena, in a museum, & met a boy from the states who listens to Matt! I felt like it was kind of the Lord’s way of reminding me He is with me every step of the way, He knew exactly when I needed encouragement. Praise Jesus for sweet reminders of His love for me & His people.

After Siena, we spent our weekend in Rome. Oh my landddsss -- absolutely astonishing city! There really is no way my words could ever do it justice. Walking through the Sistine chapel, Vatican Museum, and St. Peter’s Basilica as a believer in Jesus Christ truly was life changing. Being able to see the exact spot that Peter was crucified made the reality and weight of Christ being a human being, once living on the same earth we do, a thousand times more real. It was kind of mind blowing to think how many hundreds of thousands of people visit the Vatican every year, perhaps they don’t believe in Jesus – but there’s no way to walk through those buildings and just simply see art -- all created about the same man, Jesus. Multiple artists created those works of art for God’s glory without receiving any payment. Simply Amazing.

My love for Jesus grows deeper and deeper with every day & experience we have. Even though Italy is no America– it’s definitely stirring my heart for the Lord. There’s something unique about being taken back in history and knowing that that's the same God we serve today. Can't help but Praise Jesus every step of the way!

My new perspective is also teaching me to enjoy eating gelato with my best friends, treasure long talks on the train getting to know other OU students, embrace being a college student by staying in hostels & receiving discounts, and fully feel the presence of the Lord every step of our journey here in Italia.

lovin' Italy more each day,

callyn.

Hope For The Cure.

[[This post has nothing to do with Italy]]

I know that anyone who reads this blog cares about my life and wants to know what’s going on. A huge part of my life, as almost anyone knows, is supporting breast cancer awareness.

This past November, my dream of walking in the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer 3-Day for the Cure came true!!!! Toni and I raised $4,800 and walked side by side for 60 miles. This event surpassed every expectation I had and truly was the single best weekend of my entire life. During the first day, we asked these sweet women to take our photo and had no idea that we would soon be great friends with all of them. They were apart of the team called “The Hopefuls” and welcomed us to their team with open arms. One of the women, Stephanie, was a two-time breast cancer survivor and the epitome of a fighter.

Stephanie completely amazed me every step of the way. She was nothing less than bold and beautiful. Her trust, faith, and hope in our Savior was so evident – she didn’t even have to say she loved Jesus without us knowing there was something very striking about her life. She's one of those people you're automatically drawn to. She never once complained about the pain of walking, always had a smile on her face, and was proud to be a survivor. She has been an incredible inspiration to my life and I can only pray that if I am ever faced with a trial as great as hers, that I would handle it with such grace and dignity as she has.

A couple days ago Stephanie went in for a biopsy and found out her breast cancer has returned. Of course she has been incredibly positive about the situation. She said “I know this is just another time in my life for God to continue His work in me. His ways are so much greater than mine and I will look to Him for a continued healing! It’s time to pick up those pink boxing gloves again”

I am writing this on behalf of Stephanie and her sweet family. Please pray for a miraculous healing, sustainable joy during this hardship, unshakable peace, and for her to feel our sweet Saviors arms wrapped tightly around her. Can’t wait for her to be a 3x survivor !!!!!

hope for the cure,

callyn.

praying for the cure, always.

Transformed Heart.

Okay, so I have a confession. I haven’t updated in forever because I haven’t exactly been able to process the past week very well. My heart was really heavy & I wasn’t able to identify the cause. It wasn’t necessarily that I was home sick or desperately missed anything specific from the states – I was just being shaken to the core about my life. At first I just tried to push it aside, look for the positive in every situation and know that the Lord had me here for a purpose. Once that didn’t really work, I moved to step b -- pro-actively trying to figure out what was wrong instead of ignoring it.

With all of that said, we traveled to Venice this weekend [incredible weekend / beautiful beyond words city], so I had a lot of time to think about what was going on during our travels…

I feel like this decision to study abroad is extremely selfish and it is absolutely driving me crazy. This entire semester is about me. My parents are paying thousands of dollars to ship me off to explore Europe / further my education. They don’t get to see all the pretty buildings, churches, or experience these once in a lifetime adventures – just me.

I know that my parents want nothing me than for me to be here and are very excited I have this opportunity, but at the same time, it makes me sick to think of their sacrifices for this little self-centered trip. Most of the time I would rather be at home raising awareness for breast cancer / LOVE146 or spending time with my Make A Wish kids. My heart desires to make a difference in people’s lives, I want to be apart of history in the making and know that I’m not an ignorant American that didn’t help make the world a better place. I want my life to be a bold statement of trust and faith in our Savior. I’ve discovered one of my favorite things about Susan G Komen, LOVE146, Make A Wish and any non-profit organization is that they prove there is still goodness in the world. It is easy to get swallowed up by the natural disasters, broken lives, and evil that surrounds us without taking a stand against it.

We’ve been in Italy for 17 days and the reality of how quickly time will pass is setting in. For the most part, regretfully, this trip has been exactly what it sounds like, “all about callyn”, and I’m not going to live like that any longer. The Lord has convicted me that my days are extremely fleeting and I’m in Italy with these 32 other OU students to make a difference. Although I’m not in the states able to pour my time into non-profit organizations – I have the opportunity to boldly love 32 other people who are my “family” for the next few months. I came into this situation knowing this was my calling for the semester, but I never thought about how I would be stripped of every other thing I typically spread my time between. This trip isn’t about traveling to beautiful cities, seeing historical art, and it’s definitely not about learning the Italian language (thankfully!)--- because if it was, I would be nothing less than miserable. Those things don’t make my heart happy – but fiercely loving God’s people for exactly who they are & where they are is one of my greatest joys. My desire is to be a light in this country and show people the life changing love & mercy of my perfect Savior.

My heavy heart originated from the fact that I felt like I wasn’t changing the world – I was just being of the world. My heart’s desire is to entirely invest myself into something / someone greater than myself. I want to leave Italy with a transformed life and not because of some phenomenal art I saw – but because I saw the hand of Christ work in mighty ways.

I’m thankful that Jesus has opened my eyes and ears to my selfish ways. He loves me enough to restore my heart. I’m grateful that He makes all things new and daily gives me a new perspective on my life. He hasn’t forgotten about my heart’s desire while I’m in Italy. His purpose and ways are higher than mine and I cannot even wait to see where He takes me this semester.

transformed by His love,

callyn.

Psalm 107:8 – “Let them give thanks to the Lord for His lovingkindness.”

PS: don't forget to be reading Nat & Toni's blogs! :) I'm so thankful for their incredible abilities to document this trip so perfectly. They, by far, have been the biggest blessings of this semester and I'm so thankful we are able to walk down this spiritual / emotional journey together while in Italy. Praise Jesus for their faithfulness, love, and selflessness as friends to me. I'm insanely lucky.

Thankful Hearts.

Yikes. So I am already absolutely terrible at updating my blog and we’ve only been here 3 days. Ha. I will definitely try to improve but pretty PLEASE read Toni and Natalie’s blogs because they’ve already made some incredible / funny posts! I bet you'd love them :)

http://pink-yellow.tumblr.com - Toni

http://ihateitalianfood.tumblr.com - Natalie

Needless to say, I am feeling extremely blessed beyond belief to be in such a beautiful place with two of my very best friends. Our time here in Italy has already been a life changing experience and I know things will only get better with each day.

Most important:: I just wanted to start by saying THANK YOU for all the prayers, support, love, & encouragement as I prepared for this journey of a lifetime. For awhile there I really was so nervous / anxious and uneasy about the whole trip, that I started to second guess my decision to even come – but luckily I have wonderful family and friends that kept filling me with hope & promises of God’s protection along the way! I’m not sure I could have made it here without each and everyone of you.

Since Toni, Natalie and I are all documenting our trip with our blogs – I figured I should make mine a little bit different than theirs. Especially because their posts are quite funny – I just can’t compete with that!

I’m just going to give y’all some of the highlights of our journey so far and hopefully express what God is doing in each of our lives while we are here. We can't wait to see where He takes us!

Praise God for Blessings:

1.) From the start, Charlotte & Kirk have been considered our “parents” away from home and have arranged everything for us here in Italy. They’ve lived here for 10 years, but are originally from Ohio. They have gone to extreme measures to “baby” us through this whole process and I don’t know how we would survive without them.

2.) We successfully arrived at our new hometown – Arezzo, Italy – safe and sound. The Lord definitely had His hand over every situation & prepared the way for us.

3.) Toni’s bag was left in London. Seems quite tragic, but actually was an enormous blessing. None of us honestly think we could have made it on & off two trains and up 3 flights of stairs with all of our 25 lb backpacks, Natalie’s bag, my two 50 lb bags, & Toni’s 66 lb bag! Toni handled the situation like a superstar, of course && never once even complained. Praise God for blessings in disguise & Toni’s selfless heart. Luckily it arrived today, Wednesday. Yay!

4.) Our apartment is absolutely perfect. We love it. Toni, Natalie and I live with another student from OU, Sarah. We are located outside the historic walls super close to Pam (grocery store) & a Chinese junk store (comparable to Sam Moon- I know, you’re jealous). We are about 15 minutes from campus and 15 minutes from Charlotte & Kirk’s house. Toni & Sarah have their own bedrooms, Natalie and I share a room, a spacious living room / kitchen / laundry room, and a fancy bathroom. We have great insulation, precious landlord, are on the 3^rd floor & couldn’t feel safer.

5.) Everything in Italy is absolutely gorgeous. We have been blown away at the Lord’s sweet handiwork in creating this country. We’re left in awe at His ability to capture our hearts over and over again with His beauty.

6.) We have already been stretched and pushed out of our comfort zone, probably more than we all imagined, and it has been good for our souls. We knew that coming to Italy, not knowing one bit of Italian would be hard, but it’s been quite the challenge. We literally feel helpless and extremely co-dependent on anyone who can help us. We are being forced to put ourselves out there and make the best of it. Which is much needed for 3 girls who live a very safe and complacent lifestyle where we know everything & most everyone.

7.) We have borderline successfully conquered learning directions around Arezzo. We were kind of just thrown in there, with a map and no visible street signs to help us. Jesus has definitely guided our footsteps and paths beyond what we could imagine. We have never once felt lost or overwhelmed and have ran into other students from our program at the exact moment when we needed to see a familiar face and be reassured we were walking the right direction.

The Lord has definitely been nothing but faithful in every aspect of the trip so far. We are all sitting at our kitchen table right now talking about the past few days, and in every situation the Lord has proved Himself and His sovereignty above all else. Obviously there are thousands upon thousands of other reasons to give Him the glory for our trip, but those are some of our favorites.

Thank you for taking the time to read this blog, pray for us, and enjoy this journey with us. I think we’ve got some of the greatest friends in the world.

With a blessed heart,

Callyn