Hi all! 

I would post this as an announcement but....I don't know. It just didn't feel right to, ya know? 

No, I'm not leaving Wattpad. This is more of an explanation as to why I've been gone for so long.

So, as of today, I took my last exam of my undergraduate career and I have no assignments left to do so I am done! Yay!

This is super significant for me too because I was accepted into graduate school for Library and Information Science within my same university that I'm already at (which is fantastic since I have some great friends I'd hate to say goodbye to just yet). 

But there's an even greater significance to it. 

At the end of January, I was sick with what I thought was a cold. 

But I wound up passing out in the shower and breaking a bunch of bones around my eye and fracturing my cheek bone. 

In the second semester of my last year of undergrad,and I hadn't been accepted into grad school at that point. 

You can imagine the stress and fear that ensued. 

At first, I wasn't even sure that I was going to be able to finish school at first because it was a significant enough injury. I really wasn't sure what was gonna happen. 

But thankfully, my professors were INCREDIBLY kind and gracious to me (especially because hitting my head that hard, I had a concussion which made it super difficult to focus on school work without getting super tired.) and were so willing to work with me which was huge and I'm forever grateful for. 

But there's something that I'm even more grateful for. 

My friends and housemates (I live in a Christian ministry house on the end of frat row here at my school and it's pretty sweet getting to live in a community of believers each and every day) really came around me and loved on me and supported me through this really hard and long journey (which it was.) I'm so thankful for how much they looked out for me and really just were happy to see me. 

Not gonna lie, I was SO awkward when I first came back from being at home for two weeks recovering but I was just super disoriented because I wasn't even sure that I was going to be back at school and so it just seemed surreal. 

Now to clarify, I was not at all on my deathbed or anything like that, the doctors knew I was going to pull through it just fine and they even gave me a clean bill of health despite the broken bones, but I was just happy to be alive and walking and starting to function like a normal human being. 

BUT even though I'm super thankful for my parents, the doctors, and my friends, there's something I'm even MORE thankful for. 

I'm SO THANKFUL for how God has worked and not just in this situation and semester, but through this entire school year. 

Here's another little story. 

I have a bunch of close guy friends here that I really enjoy spending time with but they're all like brothers to me. Not saying I don't catch the occasional feels but they're like the bros, ya know? 

Anyways, I started hanging out with some of them in smaller groups at the end of last school year and I was texting a group of them (ironically, I had a crush on one of them) because we had a group chat over the summer and there would be good conversation and whatever. 

Fast forward to the school year starting and I'm still hanging out with them a bunch. 

BUT, we always move in a week before our classes start and there's tea. (You can ask Nycnewsgirl or nutcracker645. They can tell you that there has been consistent tea this school year even though most of it has probably been not because the guy likes/liked me.) So, one of the new guys who moved in taught me how to swing dance. And friends, we danced for almost an hour. 

Which ya know, it's whatever and chill. It was one time. Sure, it's exciting but like...it was one time. It doesn't mean anything. 

Fast forward two weeks later and one of the guys in that group chat (not the one I had a crush on) asked me out on a date as he was walking me home from work. 

I was so caught off guard that I didn't know what to do so, I said I'd think about it.

Three days later, I said yes because I thought this might be a good thing to try and see where it goes (that sounds way more shallow when I say it that way but know that it's not meant in a shallow way) and just go out on some dates because I thought God was maybe opening a door that I just wasn't seeing through the other side of yet. 

Here's the bad thing. I wasn't attracted to this guy....in the slightest. I had had feels but I tend to think through my feels a lot on my end and I had decided that I wasn't really interested. 

But I decided to try it anyways and just see because maybe there was something I was missing that God was trying to show me. 

God was trying to show me something alright but it wasn't that I needed to like and be with this guy at this stage of life. 

In fact, He showed me how much more I need to learn to trust Him.

Which I had to learn to do when I told this guy no. 

We did go out on one date though before I said no.

In the span of figuring things out though, the swing dance guy danced with me in front of him. Like wanted to show off his swing dancing or something and I was there and he had taught me so we danced and the other guy goes "I think I should learn how to swing dance"

And this is also going to sound shallow but, the guy who liked me and I weren't officially together so please don't take it that way, I was kind of fighting feelings for swing dance guy. 

We've danced two more times since then but I kinda ultimately decided I wasn't really interested. 

Anyways...that's just more tea just for lore purposes. 

SO, I was really good friends with the guy who asked me out and I didn't want to damage the friendship because I really cared about him and respected him as a friend which made it really hard to say no. 

Couple that with the fact that I've never been asked out before and I kinda liked being pursued but that again was NOT a good reason to get together with this guy and it would be incredibly selfish to do that to him. 

So, with a lot of deciding, stress and anxiety over the whole thing, I finally said I just wanted to stay friends. And no harm on either end, we really just weren't on the same page. 

But that was HARD. I'm such a huge people pleaser and I don't like closing a door on an opportunity because I'm an optimist and I think the best of every situation. 

It took a lot of prayer, listening to hymns, reading the Word, and just crying out to God for help. 

And then with my injury....

I've majorly seen God work in this semester. 

He has protected my life in so many ways. He is really showing how He pulls through because I'm done with this semester and I'm still alive and still friends with the guy who originally asked me out. 

And I'm not just saying that because "Oooo. Look at how God worked my life out and it's all peachy."

Sometimes, it doesn't go according to plan (i.e. injury). 

Actually, most of the time it doesn't happen like you think it would. 

God gave me the strength that I needed to do what's in His plan for me. He worked everything out for good and for His purpose and I really just wanted to take some time to just praise His name and just talk about his steadfastness. 

I've been feeling challenged to do this more lately just because I've reading the Psalms and it's something David talks about CONSTANTLY in there. 

He works things out perfectly for His glory and it's a beautiful thing just because of His ultimate sacrifice, dying on the cross for EVERYONE'S sins. 

And yah, my life still isn't absolutely perfect but it's so much better because God has been working in it. 

He really showed up through everything, even in the little ways. 

And I'm forever grateful for it because without Him, I wouldn't be where I am or the person that I am. He has changed me and I'm definitely still working on living up to what He has asked me and called me to do,  but He still works through me regardless because He can do things through me that glorify His name. 

Here's another example of how he worked this year. 

One of my teammates in my capstone senior project got upset with me about something that I had said. We eventually got it sorted out and I got to share some about Jesus with her WHICH WAS AWESOME. She may have not bought into any of it but still, I got to share it with her

Again, that was also a very terrifying experience because I absolutely hate conflict and there was literally nothing I could do to rectify this one so I HATED that and was literally so upset and anxious for a solid day or two. 

God worked through something that I LITERALLY HATE with every fiber of my being and worked to His good and His glory and it was AWESOME. 

Anyways, sure, this school year was really hard but I wanted to share that there was some good that happened in there and if you're not a Christian, that's totally fine. I'm super thankful you even dropped by to read this because it isn't a drabble (but they're coming. Don't you worry. I just need to rest up a bit) or whatever your usually schedule chaos is in this book. If you're not a Christian and you have questions, feel free to reach out to me. I'm happy to answer any that you may have (even if I don't have the answer, I'll do my best to answer it for you or direct you to someone who can). 

So there's a little life update on me and what my life's kinda been like recently. I'm super excited for the future and what's in store for me. 

As for Wattpad stuff, I have fics and maybe some original stuff planned. We'll see what all happens this summer. I am working some but not a ton ton. 

Anyways, thank you SO MUCH for dropping by and for sticking with me to the end (I ramble a lot). It really means a lot to me that you took the time to read this and just see what's been going on recently. I am officially on summer break so hopefully I have some writing to come out soon(?). Thanks so much for just being you guys! I'm so happy I have fun people to write content for like you guys. Thanks so much and if you're still in school, good luck! You're gonna do great and summer will be here before you know it. And if you're not, find something special about today that makes it unique from every other day. Thanks so much for doing all that you do! 

See you around, friends. 

-Aisling