Who's That Hailey Girl?

Hello there, and welcome to my blog! I thought I would take a teensy bit of time to introduce myself! To start off, here are the most crucial facts that you must know about me. And I mean crucial: 

• My name is Hailey Smith. 
• I claim Germany as my home. Ich liebe Deutschland!
• I have been married to my absolute best friend for five months and it has been the bee's knees!
• I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Or in other words, I'm a Mormon.
• I love kettle corn and fuzzy blankets!
• Cantaloupe = blech.
• I try my best to be active and healthy....but it's definitely a work in progress.
• Psych and Sherlock are my go to TV shows! Wait for iiiiiiiitttt!
• When in doubt, I nap it out.
• I love my life very much :) 

 I told you, crucial. Now that the essentials are out in the open, let me tell you about why "My Little Agora" was formed.

I never wanted to join the blogger world. I've never been a fan of writing and I have really never been a fan of electronic journal-ing. 

But here we are.

You might be thinking, "so, if you dislike blogging, how did you end up here?" Well friend, the story is long, but I have tacos to make so I'll do the Readers' Digest version.

I am studying Marriage and Family Advocacy and Policy at Brigham Young University-Idaho, basically learning how to strengthen the family through working with the government, as well as other organizations. SUPER FUN!

The process of finding my major was a long one; I started school at Brigham Young University-Idaho during the 2012 Fall semester. I declared photography as my major because, at the time, that was what took up a lot of my free time. My life plan was to eventually start my own photography business, get married, have kids, and enjoy life.

But let me explain how my life plans go.

They don't.

"My" life plans don't ever really work out as I want them to. God always steps in and says: "you silly, silly human. Let me show you the real path you need to take." Then He lovingly nudges me in the right direction, and off I go on my merry way until I start to veer off, after about five steps. Repeat that process about one hundred more times, and there is my life. I absolutely love it!

 During that fall semester, I started to feet strongly that I needed to serve as a missionary for my church. I did NOT want to do that. No way, no how. But alas, the nudging persisted and I eventually went on to serve for one and half fantastic years in and around Pocatello, Idaho. And boy, am I grateful for those 18 potato-filled months. 

I learned many things from my mission. I learned how to teach, how to be open minded, how to get a car out of a pile of snow. But the most important lesson I learned was the priceless value of family and marriage. I knew that I needed to pursue a greater knowledge about this subject so that I could preserve such a special organization.

Fast-forward seven months to the beginning of fall semester after my mission. I sat talking to a friend who told me about the Marriage and Family Advocacy and Policy major. I immediately had a great feeling of urgency to declare this as my major as well;  you might compare it to the urgency that a child would feel when someone is giving out free balloons. Yeah, it was that intense!

 That same semester I got engaged, (woop woop!) and then the family really became important to me, because it became more personal. So, I signed up for the marriage and family major and now, here I am a few months later starting my journey as a marriage and family advocate!

Starting this blog was one of my class assignments. It was originally meant as a way to report my findings in the class at the end of each week. However, I believe this could be a great tool in my learning process. I feel like this is a great opportunity to advocate the family, marriage, and any other worth-while truths I find in this life.

Now you may be thinking, "Oh no. Another crazy, anti-whatever lady is going to force-feed me her yucky cantaloupe-tasting ideas." Well, random cyber-friend, don't you worry. I'm not here to force my ideas on anyone. I am here to share my ideas, and to gain knowledge from the many readers out there, much like the ancient Greeks did in the agoras, or "gathering places" (Does my title make sense now?).

 I'm not quite sure what other plans God has for me. But in the mean time, I will learn and speak out as much as I can. The family is central to life as we know it, so I can’t afford to sit quietly and watch it all fall apart. I must do my part, and am excited for the adventure that this life choice will take me on! 

Now it’s taco time.

incepto ne desistam,

H.K.S