"you're gonna find yourself somewhere, somehow..."

this summer has been a long and winding road. cancer, mexico mission, chicago, coldplay, yoga, sickness, clumsiness, foolishness...take the good with the bad. that's often times a difficult statement to abide to. i feel limited. i feel caged. i feel in between. i feel joy and sorrow at the same time, at the same place. i don't know how. i don't know a lot of things...i feel as though i know more than the average 17 year old though, and i don't mean that in a "oh, i am so much smarted than my parents" sort of way. i know i don't know a lot, i know i'm still immature and selfish at times. but i've realized that i am worth so much more than i tend to give myself credit for. and i won't settle for less, not anymore. i want to fly and dance and run around barefoot. i want to learn and succeed. i want everything the world has to offer me, and yet i could settle for nothing and still be content.

words cannot describe how much has happened since school let out, so i'll let the pictures do the talking...

...starting off with a little bit of the mexico mission.

the church we stayed at for a night in el paso before heading to mexico.amen.
in the desert...a complete wasteland. in all honesty, i could not live like this. i don't have the heart.the nicest house i saw there.
please don't throw up your gang signs anywhere in juarez... yonke.
a beautiful yet heartbreaking place.
right after prayer, the workday began.
my kind of people.
leoooo!
chucks shot.
barbed wire everywhere.
my girls.
dancing instead of working...
typical.
let's go to the clubs with the mexican boys.
walking to the community center to use the only plumbing in the town...
sexy ladies.
graciella loves bevin.
isabella wanted a picture with me.
to be continued...