To Home and Back

Well, I made it back to Portland and was able to enjoy a relaxing Christmas with my family and then was able to head up to Seattle to spend time with more family and friends. It felt so wonderful to be back in the northwest and to see real mountains again - family and old friends were nice to see too. Unfortunately I did not see as many friends as I had hoped to see. I apologize to everyone that I missed! I found that because of all the stress of just getting home, I had very little energy to plan my time carefully enough so I could see everyone. I wish I could have seen more of you! The weather was also a slight hindrance - although I'm not entirely complaining about that. It was amazing to have so much snow! And I got my first white Christmas ever (Portland hadn't had one for forty years!).

While it was great to have a few weeks off - time off that was very necessary - it also feels great to be back and to have something a little more purposeful to do with my time. I have officially been back in Kentucky for about five days. Thankfully, the trip out here was less eventful than my last trip. I made all of my flights and had very little stress concerning my trip. I had decided to fly into Nashville because I could save money that way and Jenny had offered to pick me up on her way back to Kentucky - although it didn't work out that way; I had a nice surprise waiting for me at the airport. Flying into Nashville did mean that I was able to see a little more of Tennessee, but not very much of it since it was dark and raining.

Coming back has brought a few other surprises, and, unfortunately, not all of them are pleasant. The biggest surprise was that Janet, one of my co-teachers, fell on Christmas day and broke her arm near the shoulder. They are unable to perform surgery and she is not allowed to use her arm or put it in a sling yet, so she is on medical leave until (potentially) mid-February. If you can spare a moment to pray for her safe and speedy recovery, that would be greatly appreciated. And if you can spare two moments, please pray for all of us at the learning center who are left trying to fill her shoes! I am especially nervous; not only does this mean that I will have more responsibility, but Janet has typically been the person I would harass with all of my questions, and whenever I would not know what to do with a student, I'd go to Janet for the rescue. It could potentially be a long six weeks...

Another situation that I would appreciate prayer in, regards students and a domestic situation. I can't really say more, but prayer would be awesome.

There were, however, a few good surprises when I came back. I knew that we were going to get a new housemate, but we ended up getting two! Shannon is from Indiana and will be here for a year, working with FLAC (the abuse shelter). Louis is a former volunteer who is back for the month of January helping at the preschool. His mom is actually the one who interviewed me and kept in contact with me all through the summer. It has been fun to have a few new faces and friends around the house - although I must say I was a little disappointed in Shannon and Louis. Both of them failed the "Parson Brown" test. Sigh...

As this week comes to a close, I am getting very excited for tonight. Tonight, we are hosting "The Trifecta of Birthdays" party. Basically Kim, Jenny, and I all had our birthdays in the last two weeks, so we decided to celebrate together and invited all of our CAP friends to come too. Tonight we are headed to Lexington to go to a line dancing bar. I have never been line dancing before, and, much to my chagrin, I just found out there is not a caller for line dancing, so I am fully prepared to make a fool of myself tonight - but at least I'll be with friends. We'll see how it goes!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and that everyone made it home safely. Thank you for your friendship, prayers, and support. Happy New Year!

Blessings.