Four years ago, I was preparing to embark on a journey for which, looking back, I could have never prepared. I was anxious, nervous, excited and expectant. I distinctly remember the heaviness in my heart leading up to the day of my departure, feeling significantly less than adequate to uphold the responsibility I was about to embrace. Who was I to take on such a task? Who was I that God would use me?

As she quickly approaches 16, it is hard to believe the young girl who first came to Lighthouse has blossomed into a young woman—a young woman who possesses qualities of kindness and gentility, but also of fire and spunk.