readers?

Hello all!
So, after months of neglect, I've wondered (to myself) if anyone reads this anymore.

If you do, then email me and tell me, because otherwise.....

September Musings

Hey everybody!
I hope your summer has gone wonderfully -- I've thouroughly enjoyed my time at home and on holidays during the last couple of months. It took a bit, but I'm glad that I'm home. I'll give you the quick rundown -- we camped a lot, I re-met my family, I spent lots of time being cold and roasting marshmallow, we laughed a lot, my heart caught up with the rest of my body. (i think.)

So, September promises new adventures and crazy happenings for me -- I'll be attending university and moving in with my brother, which might be an adventure all to itself. I think it will be a good one. I still can't believe that I'll be stuck at school for 4 full years to get my teaching degree, but I'm trusting that God wants me here.
I've also started to help out on the worship bands at my church, which has been wonderful! It's neat to see how God is the same around the world.

It's been amazing to see how God continues to remain the same, even though I am always changing. It's amazing to see that he still works without me -- I love hearing how he's still changing lives at school in Thailand, and it's neat to see how he's worked in the lives of my family and in the lives of my friends.

I hope your summer has been equally as good. Email me sometime and tell me some of your stories. :)

a lapse

I am almost shuddering at the amount of time that has passed since I was last on here updating this. I could list off a plethera of reasons, but I won't bore you.
That said, I still don't have anything remarkable to share. (maybe the reason that I haven't typed anything of significance in 3 weeks...)

Life goes on here -- it's very strange to have things continue on as they were before. It's very strange to realize that things continue on in Thailand without me. I guess that's inevitable.

well...

travel speed experiments

Alright - again, I have nothing specatular or amazingly wonderful to say except that I'm getting married.
OK. that's a lie.
It's not even close. Just thought I should throw in a shock statement for kicks and giggles.
I WENT to a wedding last weekend though. A big huge congratulations, a big round of applause and one more toonie to Kenn and Cora.

Since coming home, I've discovered a profound truth of life and travel. YOUR HEART DOES NOT MOVE AT THE SAME SPEED AS THE REST OF YOUR BODY. You may think that you are prepared to move back home, and you may even be excited about it. No matter how much you tell yourself this, it sometimes is not the case. I think that when you travel, your heart takes a few months to catch up with the rest of your body. You may be physically in Canada, but your heart is somewhere over the ocean. You're pretty sure that it departed Thailand, but apparently it forgot to arrive with your luggage on the other side. Right now, you're pretty sure that your heart's in a paddle boat, slowly making its way across the ocean, and it may take a while to catch up with you. Until then, you're closer to the Thai side of the ocean, and that's where all your thoughts are....
oh well.

Anyway, even though that may be true, I'm doing well. I've been working as a babysitter for my cousins for the past two weeks, and it's a good way to ease into society. (except for the potty training part, and the tantrum part...) It's been good to get to know my family again, and learn what everyone has changed to be like now. I've semi-moved out of home; I'm home on the weekends and occasionally during the week, driving my brother's old truck. Strange to get into a groove again.

Anyway, nothing earth shattering has happened here.
I should carry on. Have a marvellous week. Hope to hear from you soon!
r

for the lack of anything better...

As many of you have figured out, I'm not in Thailand anymore!! Wow. How strange is that? The strange part is not that I'm home, but more that I'm not going back. I've been sitting in front of my computer/university calendar trying to figure out courses and pre-req's, and all of the ins and outs of applying to university. I'm mostly just bored and decided to update this blog for lack of anything better to do....

The last 2 weeks have been really good (wow - 2 weeks already!!). I arrived here last Monday, and on Wednesday, the older brother of one of my students came to vist. Rit, who is 9, came to visit for a little over a week. It was really neat to show him things he doesn't usually see. We shot a .22, and a bow, visited my uncle & aunt's sheep (thx uncle sam!!), played on the playground, watched Steven's baseball game, visted the library, learned how to ride a bike, and did a whole shwack of other things. It was good! He left on Thursday night, and now I feel like I have nothing to do. Good, and yet, strange! (I guess it's a small pre-taste of parenting.)

It's curious - how I feel about being home right now. Everyone expects you to be jubilant that you're home, but really, I don't feel that. It's a strange mix - I'm happy to be home, yet it's frustrating to be home. I'm sad that I'm away from Thailand because I love it so much, and yet, I'm glad that I'm here. I want to be there, I want to be here. It's unfortunate that I can't always have what I want. It's good to know that God will always give me what I need, and what is best for me, even though I don't want it right now, or see how it's good. Until I see it, he'll remain the same. How wonderful! It's good to know that it doesn't all rest on me, especially with jet-lag and culture shock hanging around my head!

Have a wonderful week! I'm going to go make some coffee and decide what my major's going to be.

r