I took the day off on Friday. I have 4 doctor's appointments to complete before moving, and I have 10 sick days, and my kids had a long test to take - so I scheduled 2 appointments for Friday and left the sub with the test. Can't wait to see how it turned out. :)
What a wonderful day! I just felt like a person, with a life, who could drive around during a workday. I interacted with adults. I ate when I wanted to. I went shopping. It was good for my soul.
This is how I started my perfect Friday . . . on the porch, with a perfect breakfast.
And the day progressed from there, wonderful all the way.
On a photographic note, I'm pretty sure that picture is overexposed and the histogram would show a lot of bars on the white side of the graph . . . but I didn't think about that until way after I was taking the picture, and I can't edit, so there it is. Feel free to edit it for me and email it back. :)
It's official . . . according to my calculations - I'm 100% at both outgoing and monthly pledges! Whoa!
I just feel really blessed right now. On top of the news that I'm completely funded, I got an email from a friend at RVA with pictures of furniture . . . furniture for me! A teacher is leaving and is blessing me with many pieces of furniture. It's just amazing how the Lord provides. Just this week I've been mentally tallying the furniture there that I am giving away/selling, and starting to imagine how I would furnish a house of my own . . . in Africa! And then, just like that, an answer - before I could even get properly worked up about it.
But that's just how He does it.
As a side note, if you were still planning to support me but hadn't gotten around to it yet - any extra money goes into my 'work funds,' which can be used for ministry-related expenses. It will also keep my monthly salary consistent if there are months when monthly giving falls short. Also, friends of mine are struggling to get support raised for their family of 4 to go to RVA in June. Let me know if you are interested in that giving opportunity.
AND . . . if you want to watch, here's a good video of RVA. I know one of the kids featured - we lived with his family for a week when I had my semester in Tanzania. Connections!
I feel like it's getting so close! While there are still many 'unknowns' in my life, I'd like to focus on what I do know:
I'm moving to Kenya June 27th. AIM sent me an email last week with my flight itinerary - 40 other AIMers on that flight over! 40 new friends. :) We will meet in New York on the 25th to check out and then be on our merry way to Nairobi.
My support raising is going well! I am at 100% of my outgoing funds!
I am at 91% of my monthly funds. This means I only need $163 more in monthly giving. Sooo . . . that's 8 people giving 20/month. Or rather, 3 giving 50/month + 1 giving 13. Or 5 giving $10, 2 giving 25, and 3 giving 15. Or something like that. Anyway, I'm thrilled to be at this point. Back in October, raising all of this seemed insurmountable. I knew it was going to be an exercise in faith and God has proved more than faithful! (I should have known - when I started getting checks a month before my letters we postmarked!)
So, I'm happy to be here. I'm not going to say it's 100% carefree-happy. I've moved predictably from denial to acceptance, and that reality check has brought a lot of grief as the calendar marks surprisingly few days until the end of school - and leaving Charlotte, leaving Oklahoma, leaving the familiar. (Swallowing down that lump in my throat!) But more powerful than that is the deep-rooted assurance that this is where I'm supposed to be. This is not my own doing! I did not conjure up thousands of dollars and a teaching position and a plan for my life. No, the great Author wrote these pages before I was even born. And that's why I rest in this joy of anticipation, of being in the center of His will.
These are from last weekend at the Memorial Gardens in Concord. I had my trusty assistant/subject Erin by my side, who has gotten quite adept at holding the extra lens as I fuddle around trying to get things situated. It started to sprinkle a bit, but that just sent us indoors to Ellie's Coffehouse, run by an Argentinian family with a very loquacious 5-year-old cashier. Favorite part of the conversation:
Me: You're five, huh? Are you going to kindergarten next year? Little Girl: You know that, too?
The garden:
So I tried to stretch myself with this new lens but I'm not sure I'm using to to its full capacity. I am amazed at how quickly my camera can auto focus on a flower blowing in and out of view . . . but also at how difficult it can be to eyeball if it's in focus or not. By the end I was getting some eye strain. Also I've realized that I'm really inept at Photoshop. I can't figure anything out! So I don't know how to edit anything yet. Thus, these photos are in their original state (except I did finally get one cropped). Isn't that red rather brilliant?
I'm going back to my college days here come Wednesday, April 16th. Dave Barnes is coming to the Neighborhood Theatre! And to make it even better . . . just now I was checking for ticket info and I discovered that who should be opening for him but . . . Andy Davis!
Suddenly I'm a junior again, sitting on the hill behind English Hall on a blanket, catching some sun between class. Spring - the grass is green and the Indiana sky is huge and bright. And we're rocking out to my buds Andy and Dave. Life is good.
A little trip down memory lane . . .
I'll definitely be there, probably grabbing dinner at my favorite Cabo Fish Taco beforehand. If you live in Charlotte, you should come.
When it came to planning Spring Break 2008, we had a few important criteria to meet: warm, preferably tropical, perhaps third worldish, accessible, and not too expensive. The logical conclusion - Puerto Rico! Ole!
I had been on the island for about 5 minutes when I decided I needed to move here - or any island, whatever, I don't care. I forget that I grew up on the beach - 10 straight years only a block from the ocean. And four of those years were actually on an island. (Trivia fact of the day - Abu Dhabi (city) is an island.) So I think it's in my blood, the whole warm-culture thing, the sun, the sand, the blue of the sea, the waves crashing at night, the whole summer wardrobe . . . it's where I feel at home. I must've said thirty times, "This reminds me of being a kid! Camping on the beach! Jumeirah Beach hotel!" I actually mourned the loss of the ocean when we returned to Charlotte. So, all this to conclude - I believe someday I will live on the coast again. On the beach, in Africa, I can make that happen. Or I could just live in this house in Old San Juan:
Old San Juan was amazing. Beautiful crooked streets and bright houses, plazas, statues, balconies, forts dating back to the 1500's:
Of course a spring break trip with 5 girls is not without its humorous anecdotes. Public transportation is rather expensive, so after Manny the taxi driver offered to drive us around for the low price of $100/day - EACH - we rented a car. Of course that brings about a whole set of freedoms and stresses. The second day we had it, we loaded up for a trip to El Yunqe, the rainforest. As Amanda backed the car out of our parking spot, we heard a horrific screech and the unsettling noise of something dragging on the ground . . . Christine popped out and jumped under the car to check out the situation. Fortunately it was some 'random plastic piece' that we could just 'stick back in there' - just no more reversing over large objects after this. Here's a picture of a mini-falls from the really amazing rainforest adventure. We actually jumped in a big waterfall, but you'll have to check facebook for those pics. :)
We spent a fair amount of time at our hotel, at the beach: love, love, love the beach!
One last story to share. I've had a lot of traveling adventures - losing luggage, flight trouble, missed flights, overnights, craziness . . . I've done it all. Or so I had thought - until this trip, when I added "miss a flight and BUY a new one" to the list. 6:30 AM found us groggily pulling out of our hotel for the 25 minute trip to San Juan. 6:35 had us sitting in stand-still traffic in Dorado. 7:00 Sitting on the highway. 7:30 Sitting on the highway. 8:00 Sitting on the highway. 8:15 Looking for the rental car place. 8:30 Dropping car off. 8:40 Shuttle gets us to the airport. 8:41 Running around looking for the Northwest desk. 8:45 "I'm sorry, you've missed your flight. Here's a 1-800 to call." 9:00 "Sorry, ma'am, there are no more flights leaving today. The next day I can get you out is . . . Wednesday." "But I have commitments!" "Don't we all?"
So we canvassed the other airlines and ended up on a lovely non-stop flight to Charlotte on US Air. I must add that Julia and I sat in this amazing exit row that was so wide, I couldn't touch the seat in front of me. And we watched a movie. And had great conversation with the flight attendant. I tried to get every extra dollar out of that flight!!! But, in the end, it couldn't taint the fun trip we had . . . although I think I'll work extra hard to get to the airport in time.
And the day progressed from there, wonderful all the way.
