I know, I know...I owe you all a blog or 4 on my trip to Africa- I PROMISE it's coming. First, I wanted to talk about the "full circles" that kicked off in November and which I feel has set a tone for more of these instances to happen. Dare I say it...God's perfect timing
As you all know in November I got laid off from Tooth & Nail Records...it was an almost 6 year ride and I enjoyed most of it :). The funny thing about this (which in essence kicked things off), the office that I was occupying in the EMI building was in fact the same office that I interviewed in a little over 6 years prior. I met Mark Adkison at a festival in WA through my friend Emily Gary...we hit it off and he offered me a job in Nashville. When I went to visit Nashville & Emily a month or so later...I felt like Nashville was going to be home at some point. Through a course of events & my brother getting malenoma I decided now was not the time to move away. Through another course of events and my friend Dane Wirsing introduced me to Tyson Paoletti from T&N who a couple weeks later became my boss and friend. 3+ yrs ago I moved to Nashville for the label...and my second move in the EMI building ended up being the office where I had my first interview to get into the music industry. I chuckled when I got the call from Tyson that day because in essence my career in the music label side of the house started and ended on the same place. Full Circle.
Then go back to I think the end of summer, I was at youth group talking with my small group of girls when they started talking about their trip to Kenya coming up in April. I loved their excitement and their heart for it. (long story short - I worked at World Vision for 3.5 years on a program that focused on AIDS orphans in Africa - I never was able to go on a trip to Africa, but since that time I have been dying to go - not feeling the "clearance" to go yet when other opportunities arose)so when the girls were like "Annie, you should go!!" I kinda chuckled it off thinking its probably still not time...inside kind of shaking my fist at God telling Him it wasn't fair...even my brother has gotten to go to Africa. A few days later (if I recall right), I saw one of my youth gal's mom and she had told me that her daughter told her about my interest and that I am supposed to go. I was like...wait, God....wait...is it FINALLY TIME?! Is it FINALLY time that I get to go?!?! I prayed for a couple weeks and I felt at peace about it and then started the fundraising. I am beyond thankful and grateful for all the LOVE and Support that I got from so many and I know that a lot of you who have known me for years were almost as giddy about this dream coming true as I was. This dream to go to Africa started almost 10 yrs ago and I FINALLY got to go last month. Full Cirlce.
In the current job I am working now, I am able to bring light to an RFP we are responding to for WV..a program I worked closely with. Not only that, but I am pretty much rewriting some stuff that I presented to WV before I left almost 10 yrs ago...the "cradle to grave" way - how to engage youth in a way to get them to understand the cause and them to stick with it until...well...the grave. Haha. Again, Full Circle.
There are other full circle situations that have taken place in which there has been such a sense of complete freedom. There are other full circles that I can't help but feel are on the horizon. It's truly an amazing season of life...I cannot express the excitement that I have. And through ALL OF IT God is showing that HIS perfect timing is best. Go figure, God knowing best..who woulda thunk?! ;)
I share this to encourage you all...when we don't understand, we get frustrated cause it's not what we think it should look like, or it's not happening in our timeframe... Be encouraged. He does in fact knows best. He does in fact have our best interest in mind. He does in fact hear us when we cry out. He does in fact know when is the best time to allow dreams to come true - when we are prepared to receive it in the right way.
I got to go to Africa y'all and you better believe I'll be going back next year!! Mark it off the bucket list...next, this girl needs to figure out a way to go swim with dolphins ;) haha
Sidenote: currently flying to Seattle...yes, I am beyond stoked to see my family, but the primary reason I am going at this point and time is because both my grandma's are pretty much on their last leg - DAMN cancer! I want one more solid visit before I get the call. All about making sweet memories this Memorial Day weekend. that being said, please pray for swiftness and that this is not a long process in which there is a lot of suffering. One gma can go of a heart attack (for other reasons) at any time and the other was told when I was in Africa that she had 2-4 months. Also, keep my parents and family in prayer... It's a rough season and sometimes hardships like this can bring out the ugly in people...we saw this when my grandfathers died 7 yrs ago (yes, they passed within 2 weeks of wah other). I know and TRUST that God is in control....
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