This is the kind of stuff I missed doing while overseas...


After hanging out on the cliffs in North Carolina I drove back to TN and was thrown back into my little home town life by a '95 Class reunion and Rival High School football game...It was different...and I felt weird. One instance you feel fine, then you feel weird, fine, weird, fine, weird, sigh...

Edit: 

You know you live in a small town in TN if:
-by 11PM on a Saturday night 4 out of the 6 stop lights in town are blinking yellow...
-you laugh at Jeff Foxworthy jokes because you can relate.
-on a Friday night you find half the population at THE High School football game
-while driving down the road you run a white tailed deer and her bambi off the road

This week I have been visiting my 8th grade best friend, Amy, in the mountains of North Carolina. Driving over here from TN I was once again reminded of how beautiful America is...I must have had my head in a hole before I left for India as I am constantly blown away by the beauty of this country...so often before I would dream of foriegn places and wonder about how beautiful they must be...now I can drive...even through my old home town...and realize that this place is just as beautiful as the many far off places I dream of...

God has been using His nature to speak to me this week...from the bubbling stream to the raging (ok, so it was not SO raging...but anyway) river, He has lessons for us to learn...His peace, His direction, His love...

It was good.

Ahhhh. I am back home from my trip to Virginia and just awoke from a nice nap.

The purpose of my trip was to go through a debriefing to help with the transition to life back in America after spending two years in India. I must say I worked for an AMAZING company...and I am not sure I will ever work for one that will treat me as well as this one did. All you Lottie Moon supporters out there...you have NO idea how blessed you make a M's life...

My favorite line from our counseling sessions:

"You have a wealth of knowledge without any use." NICE.

It was a good time to catch up with some friends I made 2 years ago as this process began, and even make some new ones. It was good to see just HOW MUCH God taught me or maybe even began to teach me during my two year journey. It was good to talk about the good times and the bad times. It was good to laugh at ACov's "oh." It was good to meet some great young couples and see once again how great things can be when you are with the one you are supposed to be with, encouragement not to settle and LET GOD work it out. It was good to play soccer again and realize just how out of shape I am after 2 years. It was good to see an engagement ring on the hand of a friend. It was good to lay on REAL green grass with some friends in the middle of the mall without a real care in the world. It was good to really laugh again. It was good to watch the fog roll in as I sat outside under a full moon. It was good to swing on the swings with JH just chatting about life. 

It was good to get home and realize that my heart is not finished with overseas, because honestly, up until today I was afraid it was...

Tonight I had a practical stranger, or a "friend by association" as my friend said tonight, treat me better in a 1 hour time period than a certian someone in my life, who professed to care about me, did during a 5 day visit this past week. I can honestly say I am really blessed by the quailty of friends I have in my life.

And the time spent with my one stinky friend made me realize that to an even greater degree. Boo on you Mr. AG.

I am really enjoying getting to be a part of my friend's lives again after my two year absence. It is nice to walk where they walk and see where their hearts are...to see what God is doing with them...to just BE with them. I do have the best friends in the world. I can not thank the Lord enough for them.

Tomorrow we are doing 6 Flags. I am excited. I even have a designated "ride partner," as it was put to me tonight. I guess guys just prefer to ride with a girl than another guy. Go figure.

I am just about half way through my road trip. Not a horn has been heard. I have been enjoying being able to drive on open roads with green grass clad lawns/fields passing me by...driving through the early morning watching the sun move its way up from behind the mountains, glowing bright red through the mist, and being aware that I have a left hand and it is totally OK to use it.

No one has given me a look of distain due to left apendage interaction...it is shocking. All time stops for me, like it can on TV, when I look down to realize I have handed someone money or some object with my left hand...and then it jump starts right back when I realize it has caused not even a flutter of oddness or wrongness to the other. Today I shocked myself when I realized I was holding my burger with BOTH hands...gone are the days of RIGHT HAND ONLY...and it feels a little weird.

The verses I read today that made me want to buck up and allow myself to relax, I know that sounds funny, but anyway, were these:

"But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit." Jer17:10-11
I am 27 and have no car, no house, no job, and no direction for the next step in my life. It feels really weird, this time of transition from the mission field back to life in America. Weird b/c according to American standards I would be considered a loser to be 27 and at this point...but I am in full confidence I am right where God wants me. Trusting Him for the next adventure in my life. It is weird to be content and yet according to American standards have nothing. I guess that is why my Kingdom is Heaven. His ways are higher than our ways.  

As far as life around here, it is so quiet that the other day when I was running I could hear a dog panting from 2 blocks away, and today while sitting out by the pool I could hear the horses neighing(I have NO idea how to spell that) down in the field. I barely see anyone for days.

SO different than life in India...here are a few things on my mind that are different:
People don't stare at me here. (OK, so a few but not nearly as many as in South Asia)
I can turn on the tap and burn the junk out of my hand b/c hot water comes out.
I can drink straight from the tap and even have ice.
I don't have to prepare for my shower half an hour in advance b/c hot water is all ready there waiting for me to turn on the shower.
I can wash AND dry my clothes, ALL of them in one day.
I can go to baseball games.
I can wear shorts, in public even, and tank tops.
I can complain about being cold inside b/c there is AC.
I can make phone calls from my house to other houses in the area and don't have to pay for every pulse.
I can talk to guys, or even just look them in the eye, and it doesn't mean I am sleeping with them.
The grass is SO green and I can walk in it barefoot.
OH GOSH, and how could I forget the fact that I can eat beef and it is not a sacrilege!
Anyway. That is life at the moment. Appreciating the freedoms I grew up taking for granted. America may be expensive but at least I have been able to relax a bit.