Hello From Harding

Hello Colorado! (and other parts of the world)

For those of you who don't know, which I'm pretty sure everyone who reads this does, I am now in Searcy, Arkansas attending Harding University. And I love it! I have been here for two and a half weeks now, and things are going pretty well. When I decided to attend Harding this fall, it was already late summer. Because of my late application date, and the fact that Harding has a HUGE freshman class this year, finding housing for me was a little difficult - but it's okay, because that actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise. With the overwhelmingly large number of incoming students this semester, Harding had to find some new(ish) places to house their students. That meant that 26 students were going to be given the opportunity to live at Harding Place. The way I prefer to describe Harding Place is "apartments." In actuality, Harding Place is a retirement home, and I'm honestly okay with that description, too. We've got nice size rooms, our own bathrooms, a living room, and a kitchen. I am actually in a two bedroom apartment, and right now there are three girls living here. We've got a larger room with two closets and an attached bathroom, and a smaller room with one closet and a bathroom right across from it. I am absolutely loving living here! I'm getting the college experience, but with a lot more freedom than those living in the dorms. It is a much more relaxed environment, and since there is a kitchen I don't have to have meal plan! Yippee :)

I love my classes. I am taking Families in Society, Family Relationships, Life of Christ, General Psychology, Family & Consumer Science as a Profession, and Kinesiology. My family classes are my favorite! My professor's name is Dr. Beth Wilson, and she is incredible. I love learning about family relationships, and why they are so important to society. God definitely knew what He was doing when He sent me here this semester. :)

Time has absolutely flown since I've been here. My mom, me, and the Kell family drove out here starting on Tuesday the 16th of August. We drove half the way, spent the night in Kansas, and then left the next morning. We arrived in Searcy and headed to Craig and Carol Jones' house to spend some time with Kreg's family who graciously put us up! We moved into my apartment on Thursday, and I've been living here ever since! My family stayed until Monday after my classes, and then they headed back to Colorado. Since arriving in Arkansas, I have:
1. Moved into my apartment
2. registered for my classes
3. signed up for HUF (for NEXT semester - Spring 2012 - prayers are appreciated as I'm currently on the waiting list! I'm definitely excited for this adventure, Lord willing!)
4. figured out how to navigate Searcy
5. Started a cookies tradition at Lenny's
6. tried out for Harding's women's soccer team - and made it!
7. Started working for Brian Maddox State Farm
8. made the decision between working and playing soccer. Definitely have to work, so hopefully we can work soccer into my schedule some other way. (tough decision, I LOVE SOCCER)
9. visited Heber Springs
10. made new friends
11. gone to walmart about a thousand times
12. hung out with the coolest roommate ever
13. made a TON of cookies
14. figured out how to meet guys  (two foolproof ways - one, wear a jersey of your favorite professional football team - and two, take cookies to the lobby of one of the boys' dorms lol)
15. gone to some incredible devotionals
16. experienced the Racquet ball devo - in case you don't know, those rooms echo/intensify sound, so if you have a hundred kids in their singing their hearts out, it is the most unbelievable sound!
17. had an epic girls night with Ashley, Raquel, and Lauren =)
18. missed my family and friends more than i could possibly say. and colorado too.
19. written a 7 page single-spaced paper, followed by a three page single-spaced paper in one night and got 100s on both
20. hiked up to the nosebleeds section for chapel every morning - good thing I'm from Colorado or the altitude change might affect me ;)
21. grown closer to my Lord and learned to draw nearer to Him when I need strength
22. made a homemade pizza entirely by myself :)
23. met some really great people living at Harding Place
24. done all of my laundry - TWICE
25. started a new journey, a new chapter in life, and enjoyed every second of it - even the ones that are hard.

I'm really excited to see what else God has in store for me here. I miss everyone at home, and I hope that you are all doing well. Thank you all for being in my life! GOD IS SO GOOD.

Kortney Alacyn

Jeremiah 29:11, Joshua 1:9 - these have really helped to get me through the "scary" moments so far.