It's here! Wait, what?

Well folks, the end of 2011 is upon us. Wasn't I just posting about the end of 2010 like....five minutes ago? Oh wait, that was actually 364 days ago. What the heck. Why is it that when life begins to get super exciting, it speeds up? Time really does fly when you are having fun. Well....here are some highlights from my year! God has blessed me so much.

The King's Academy. Why have you not been in my life before this year? I have been missing out.**

First professional audition: Dollywood. I lied about my name, was sooo nervous, and it really did help me grow as an artist because it gave me some important experience!**

Snow tubing with the dorm!!

New York/Washington D.C trip**

First solo competition-Third place in the classical category!

Sitting in on Knoxville Opera's rehearsal of I Puritini and meeting Rachele Gilmore!!

Choir retreat with Dennis Jernigan, I'm still affect spiritually from what I experienced there.

Rapelling down a mountain at the Eco Trip. What an adventure!

Prooom. :D

Spring break with my dorm sisters!

Lousiana Trip with the family, and first trip with Cyrille

Oh yeah, Cyrille came into our lives this year! Can't forget that!

Photography expedition to Biltmore, and painting in the gardens.

Sooo many wonderful trips to Dollywood. It is my second home.

Getting poison ivy in June. Not something I want to repeat, or wish on anyone....

Midnight premiere of Harry Potter 7 pt. 2. The end of an era....

White water rafting with my cousins!

CHINA. CHINA CHINA CHINA. First time out of the country, changed my life. I don't have the words to describe how much I love China now. And the friends I made there!

My first international gig: singing in front of 3000 people(and being on local Beijjing television!!!)

First semester of my senior year! Football games, homecoming, I actually participated and enjoyed having school spirit and doing all of the typical high school things!

Camping trip with the dorm. And forming my first potentional relationship with a boy.

Talent show-I won first place!! "Taylor the Latte Boy"

All of the many singing gigs I had representing the school

Singing at the Southern Baptist Convention in front of 1500 people.

Fall break with my dorm brothers and sisters!

Florida with my cousins!

Seeing Scott and Arnie perform for the last time in Christmas in the Smokies

Oh, and I got my permit ;)**

Getting a voice teacher! Cecily Nall is awesome. :D **

And...here are all of the things I am looking foward to in 2012!

Audition for Dollywood AGAIN. Yes, I am stubborn. haha

College auditions. Not really looking foward to those...

Guatamala! Leaving the country again, this time for a mission trip!

Senior prom! A date? I have the dress. Let the magic happen....

Graduating! Yeah, I really will be graduating from high school. What the heck.

Summer break! I'm not even going to begin to guess what I'm going to be doing.

Getting my license! Yeah, I need to work on that.

Going to college. Once again, what the heck.

Turning 18. Woah.

Aquiring a boyfriend? That would be cool.

Getting better at my chinese, because I really want to go back to China.

More solo gigs, maybe some that I will get paid?

More magical adventures at Dollywood. I love that place.

Growing as a musician, christian, and person. Can't wait!

How fitting that I would be ending my blog at 11:11. I wish that God will open more doors to me this year, and give me the wisdom I will need to make the right decisions in my life. Because this is the year where the decisions I make will affect the rest of my life. No pressure! For the first time ever, I also wish for love this year. I don't want to be alone and never kissed like Susan Boyle! Ugh. Anyways...

2011, you have been SO good to me. You definitely knocked 2010 out of the water! Thanks friend. :) Dear 2012, I can't wait to see you in a few minutes! We are going to have so much fun. And no, the world is not going to end! Yay!

Goodbye 2011, I still can't believe you are leaving so soon. Hello 2012, time to have fun! :D

I can do all things through Christ, who strenghtens me. Phillipians 4:13. <3

Christmas Eve....

It has been the most amazing week. I feel like I am in another world! My family has been visiting my mom's sister and my cousins all week....in florida. FLORIDA. While is is cold and rainy in Tennessee, it is warm and sunny. Palm trees everywhere, beaches, and the pool! I'm in love. This is exactly the break I needed. Two days ago was my brother's birthday, and to celebrate we went to Barefoot beach on Lover's Key! There was not a cloud in the sky, and the sand and water were warm. I was....in heaven. It was one of those moments that you treasure in your heart forever.
It's 11:11, and right now I'm wishing for love. I'm also thinking about the friendships that God has brought into my life, and my heart is so happy. HE is so good to me, I don't deserve his love at all.
Well, I guess i'm spending Christmas morning with my cousins, and not with my mom and brother. Dad's at work in Tennessee...this is so weird. I mean, they'll be over later in the morning, but the fact that we're not even at home is crazy to me! But we all needed space from each other, that's for sure. So I think this is a good thing? We'll see.
I'm going to go eat chocolate cake/icecream and finish watching Fireproof with my "extended" family. We spent today shopping at thrift stores, then attending their church's candlelight service. I GOT MY DREAM PROM DRESS. Details later. :D
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night! God bless. <3

I have survived.

It is December 16, 2011, and this morning I turned in my senior thesis. Twenty pages. I still can't believe it's finally over. Not only that, but the first half(and my only fall semester at King's)of my senior year is over. I am feeling really melancholy right now. I am so glad that it's break! But as I am typing this, my dorm sisters and brothers are home in South Korea, Rwanda, China, Thailand, Japan, and Nigeria. And I am in Morristown. Well, at least until Sunday....thank goodness! Anyways, it just makes me realize the short amount of time I have with these people I love so much. I only have a few months left to witness to some people who I deeply care for, who are not yet saved. That kills me. Though a good thing is, in January I will officially be a student at King's for an entire year! Where has the time gone, seriously? Where has 2011 gone?! So many emotions are running through my head, and I just want to either scream, or cry.

I'm so tired because of finals, and so frustrated because I feel like a friendship and potential relationship is slipping through my fingers, and everything I'm trying to do to fix it is failing. It's a long story. Does he still like me? He wants to be friends, but does he still care about me? Everyone says that he does.....and I do too. But he doesn't share the same beliefs with me! He does not believe that Jesus is God's son, or that his dying on the cross and resurrection is our only way to heaven and a relationship with God. He believes that Alah and God are the same, and Jesus was just a prophet. He goes to mosque during break, he's read the Qu'ran, and his heritage is Muslim. There's got to be a reason God has allowed me to fall for him. Something good will come out of this....please Lord let story in my life have a happy ending! I don't know what I would do if I parted ways with him, and didn't know whether I would see him in heaven or not. Or if I would see him ever again...period. I have to keep telling myself that I have until May, so many people are praying for his salvation, and we ARE friends. I just miss it when he would IM me just to ask me how my day was. Or when we went camping with the dorm, we walked in the rain, and we didn't have to say anything to each other...we just enjoyed each other's company. I miss him. One day I will force myself to move on, but I still believe that there is hope. I can feel it. So I won't give up....yet.

As of today I am on Christmas break. Christmas is next Sunday. What the heck! I still can't believe it. Sometimes I wish I could just stop time. I know in my heart that every year I get older, and something about me changes. I'm not the same person I was last year. And next year, I probably won't be the person I am now. It's so weird. I look at pictures of myself and know they are me, and yet at the same time I don't recognize myself. I am grateful though of what I know now, and how much I have grown as a person. God has a plan for me, and I am trusting him in all of my decisions. So even though it's not 2012 yet, I'm already excited for the new year, and everything that's going to happen! But I'll save that sappy post for when this year is actually at it's final curtain call. :)

It's almost midnight...therefore I think I need to go to sleep. When I get really tired I get all deep and philosophical and stuff. :P So anyway.......Sunday I'm leaving to spend my break in Florida. This is the first Christmas I haven't been at home. It's so weird. I've just had this really weird feeling all semester. The fact that I live in three places makes me feel so stretched out, that I almost feel like I'm having an identity crisis sometimes. Wo bu jie dao.....ta bu tai hao. I'll be ok though. I only just push through! I pushed through my school, church, and violin Christmas concerts, I pushed through this semester, and I think I'll always be like that. We'll see. All I know now is that I need sleep, tomorrow I'm going to watch Sherlock Holmes II, and then go to Dollywood. It will be a good day.

mmm....goodnight world. Ta bu zi jian.....just goodbye for now. :)