Good Morning.

Weird night.
I can barely think to write.

I finally finished my paintings after almost 20 hours of work. They are finished! A+'s don't really exist or something silly at UT, but the fact that my professor specifically wrote A"+" in his gradebook made my day. What a beautiful thing!
 

So much going on lately. Classes are starting to pick up. I'm about to drown myself in schoolwork for a good bit... until the end of the semester. Good idea, right?

I have YOKE today. I volunteer Wednesdays at a middle school in east Knoxville. The kids are some crazy youngsters. But they are kids, and I'd expect nothing less from a group of middle schoolers. I've been working with the club in east Knox for the past two or three weeks. I've been a little bit hesitant about it, but last week I realized that it's where I'm supposed to be serving right now. If I can't commit to serve and share the gospel once a week at YOKE, how do I expect to fully commit to the ten weeks straight I'll be working at a camp this summer?

I know that some of the kids have very few reliable people in their lives. I can't be another one of those people, so I've got to stick with it and really love them the way that I am intended to love them. With so many influences out there, I hope to be a positive one. I know I needed that as a middle schooler. Even if I befriend just one young girl, that's enough. Middle school is so tough. I honestly believe it's the first time kids start to personally decide what kind of people they are going to become.  It's when "the seas split", as my Mom has always said. It's when everyone finds their way into different groups and cliques and when young girls become young women and young boys stay young boys but pretend to be men. There's so much potential and malleability there. I can't forget that.