Blessed and Thankful

It's thanksgiving season... and a few weeks before, I already have thanks to give!


This past week has been overwhelming and tiring-but in a good way!

My academics have demanded my full focus, and I am really pleased with how I am doing. In the week before this, I felt like I had fallen behind due to a lot of other demands on my time, but now that things have settled I am excited to report that I am ahead of schedule!

This week was somewhat stressful because I realized on Monday that my dataset for my econometrics project was not workable, because the data was $125. Although I will definitely need the data for my senior econ project next semester, I am worried that it wouldn't arrive in time, and I'll probably have to ask my advisors about whether this can be funded through the department. In the meantime, I stayed after class and my professor and I altered my hypothesis so that I can use United States' census data instead of German data, and I have a new project.

I'm also excited that next semester I will be doing independent senior research in the politics department, which will allow me to write 25-30 pages either expanding my current research or looking at a new topic. I'm excited about being offered this chance and I really believe it will be helpful as I prepare for graduate school.

Today I went out to replace some things I needed, and purchase my mother's Christmas present. I was successful on all attempts and came back on campus to spend some time with Nada, my first and second year roommate and closest friend. This semester, we have both been overwhelmed with our workload and extracurricular commitments but I consider myself very lucky to have been assigned Nada as a roommate my first year here. She has been my best friend ever since, and between her and Meaghan, my roommate in England last year, I have never had a bad roommate situation! I have been really blessed in that area.


Speaking of being blessed, some truly amazing things have happened for me in the past week. I have been showered with generosity and kindness on many levels, and I don't know that I will ever be able to adequately thank all those who have helped me on the journey to my dreams- both academically and in the Miss America organization. Several people stepped forward offering to help me in my 'pursuit of the crown' and have enabled me to enhance my wardrobe and given of their time and kindness. It has not only helped me on this road to Miss America, but given me greater confidence and helped make this challenging semester a much better one than I anticipated.

I am currently working on my thank you notes for these incredible gifts, although some of them have come anonymously. I wish that I could thank each individual person for what they have done for me and helped me to do- I am incredibly appreciative of these gracious gifts of your donations, time, advice, and kindness! I am so grateful to have so much support as I keep working to accomplish my dream!

I also want to thank each of my Children's Miracle Network donors, who have helped me raise $500 for CMN and Miss America this pageant season! This will allow me to now compete for all the open pageants that I choose!

I also wanted to thank the women at Virginia Baptist Hospital who have more than thanked me for my volunteer work with the I am Woman 5k run a few weeks ago; they have been so kind and I am really look forward to working with them more in the future!



In conclusion, THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR SUPPORT!