A long road to Africa...

A few years ago when I lived in Wilmington, during a late night conversation with Amber, the topic of missions came up. Amber had mission experience while I was just beginning to realize that I was capable of making a difference. She asked me, "where would you go?" With very little thought, I told her, "Africa."

To backtrack to a turning point...a couple years prior to that conversation I messed up my first attempt at college. I didn't know what I wanted yet anyways. The harsh realization hit me all at once and knocked me out of the zombie-like state that I was living in. A awful experience paired with a tragic loss caused my eyes to open ever so slightly...enough to see that everything that I had was a lie. I was pretending to be someone I wasn't. The people who called themselves my friends merely wanted to take advantage of me in some way. This led me to a swift trip back to my parents house in NC and a long conversation. A day later I was taking my dad's van (minus the seats) back to WVU and packing whatever I could carry and fit, and leaving the rest. I left school without turning back. Because I didn't know better, I did so without ever withdrawing from my classes. This then resulted in a nice blob of F's on my transcript. It could have been worse...I could have lost me...

Many things happened when I moved back to NC. To sum it up, healing and restoration began and I started to discover and come to terms with who I was made to be. I remember sitting behind the desk one day just hating the meaninglessness of the papershuffeling I called a job. I remember thinking "I'm done, if I'm going to spend my life working, I'm going to work to make a difference." Of course I somehow always knew I'd become a nurse like my mom...I was born with her ability to really care about people...and of course her twisted sense of humor...and my dad's amazing attention to detail...it was quite simply my calling.

So that's what took me to Wilmington. I was on a quest to makeover my blemished transcript and get into nursing school...and also enjoy the change of scenery.

Two years of working and going to school resulted in what felt like little progress. I was on the wait list for the nursing program-just one of 400 some who wanted into the 30 seats that opened just once a year. Don't get me wrong, Wilmington was an amazing experience. I built priceless friendships and really grew as a person...not to mention I had fun! But things were getting more serious with Philip and I, and I decided to stop planning my life around college. That spring he put a lovely ring on my finger-that summer I received my nurses aid certificate and began to pack my belongings. Upon my arrival back to my parents house, I went to the dentist. A hygienist told me about her sister's amazing experience at some college in Concord...Cabarrus College of Health Sciences.

In September of 2006 we got married and moved back to the Lake Norman area where I continued to take classes at...well a couple of community colleges (I was eager to get my prerequisites for nursing done!) I worked some as a nurses aid while he had his little painting business and began to take classes toward some sort of computer degree. I applied at every nursing school within a 70 mile radius. And I was rejected.

After reviewing my transcript with one counselor, she told me I didn't need to take any classes during the fall of 06-I was finally ready to apply, and judging by my grades-I would get in. She told me to come back at the start of the new year. I went back...she apologized...she had made a mistake. The start of the new year marked the 5th year from when I last took Chemistry...it was that school's policy to have a chemistry once every 5 years. She had led me wrong. I should have taken chemistry that fall...now I couldn't even apply. A few weeks later I received a letter back from another program. I had been denied because of an "incomplete admission packet". Needless to say, I had everything in months before the deadline...I had also called to check on my paperwork...multiple times. That fluke ended up being a mistake on behalf of the college. My file had been split between my married and maiden name. By the time I figured it all out, it was too late for me to enter the program. My hope was fading. By this time Philip had began to do remodeling work and we were getting ready to purchase our first house.

I was getting sick of working as a nurses aid, as it was a ceiling that seemed to be caving in on me. I was beginning to feel like my heart had misled me and I was at a dead end. I cried out to God, "I'm done! I give up!" and I tried not to be bitter and attempted to settle it in my mind that although I was passionate about taking care of people, I was meant for something else......

In the fall of 07, after two weeks off of work with the most horrendous strain of the flu I have ever experienced, I called my mom and asked her to come bake some pies with me. I tried to muster enough energy to roll myself out of bed, be a decent wife, and throw a little birthday gathering for my husband. My mom showed up with a couple of grocery bags in hand, some pie plates and some of the typical mailings that had yet to find it to my new address.

She began to cut apples as I tore through the mail in a hurry to get to my pies. I noted the return address on one of the mailings...somethinganother college...but it didn't spark any excitement in me. I always got mail from colleges, I didn't remember applying anywhere for that semester, and even if I had, it was far smaller than the size of the typical admission packet.

When I read the word, "Congratulations!" I gasped, held it closer to my eyes, looked again and folded in half and shrieked (which was more like a squeak at the time, I barely had a voice). My mom turned around probably thinking I was about to vomit and through the tears and the emotion I couldn't even speak. I waved the letter in front of me and mouthed "I'm in!" So you could say that I was the world's most surprised/grateful person in the world at that point! They had re-submitted my application after the name mess-up...That coming spring I would be attending Cabarrus College of Health Sciences in Concord, NC.

It is impossible to introduce nursing school to a life without completely rearranging it. Especially when that life includes a new spouse, a new house and so on. I got into thinking mode as I committed to the program that would consume the next two years of my life. One night at the table I brought up a topic that we had talked about before: missions. "Philip, wouldn't it be cool if we took a mission trip to Africa together the summer before I graduate?!" He humored me, I was on a month-long acceptance letter high. More or less if the door opened, he definitely supported me...from there things just got too busy to even think of such a thing.

I was barely able to maintain a job with the demanding schedule of nursing school. The stress was felt across the board. The grading scale is tougher than most schools...hey, lives are in our hands right? In the midst of the storm, the house payment, the cars that were breaking down, the husband I barely had time for...Philip was blessed with an awesome job-a computer job-at Integrated Healthcare Solutions. A job that he thoroughly enjoys, takes care of our finances, and allows me to focus on school for this season in my life.

At the conclusion of my first year of nursing school (I love it by the way), just before this past Christmas...I was the last person to leave the room after the nursing final. Lee Anne and Sara were sitting at a table in the front of the student lounge as my frazzled self walked in. They invited me to sit with them. I noted a photo album on the table. Sara nonchalantly said, "So, Cara, do you want to go to Africa?" My face smiled while something much deeper in me did something between crying and laughing. Some may refer to that something as my spirit. I nearly committed immediately. Philip was completely supportive knowing my vision. So I'm going to Africa!

This was the sprouting of a seed God planted years ago..