So, I realize that I'm jumping the gun on the Thanksgiving thing, but tomorrow is going to be nut-so, so I wanted to make sure it got done. (I mean... I've been jumping the gun on holiday stuff in general, anyway. I can't list all the Christmas cds that I've already listened to)
1. My family. As crazy as they may be, they always support me and are always there for me.
2. My friends that love me even though I whine and complain and completely embarrass them on a pretty regular basis: namely, Janie (woo, Janet!), Joanna (would NOT survive Hungary without her), and Tiffany (I love our dailies. We should keep that up)
3. My church family. They are amazingggggg. Seriously.
4. Medicine. Which I'm currently loaded on. I'm sick and have been consuming medicine like it's candy. Probably not healthy.
5. Nsync.
6. Christmas.
7. Puppies.
8. Being able to live in Europe.
9. America
10. American troops. Even though I will never get to thank even 1% of them personally, I will never be able to express my gratitude
11. Food
12. Shoes
13. Chocolate
14. Cars
15. The fact that I am blessed every single day no matter how difficult my life seems to be.
I'm so thankful for a God that cares for me and loves me more than I will ever be able to fathom.
I'm really sorry about this post. Like previously mentioned, I'm very out of it with all the medication in my system, but for whatever reason I had to post right NOW. I'll probably read this later with a bit of embarrassment.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Monday, November 21, 2011
CEOOGPFME/New door
CEOOGPFME- CEO Occassional Gathering of Partners and Friends for Mutual Edification.
This weekend we had a retreat with all of the partners of CEO. We got together for a weekend of prayer, worship, edification, and LOTS of fellowship. It was amazing and SO needed. I can't begin to tell you about how many amazing people we have in our company and just how fantastic it is to just hang out, gain wisdom, and be covered in prayer over and over again. It's equally amazing to be able to share wisdom, what God is doing in your life, as well as cover others in prayer. Corporate worship in English was AMAZING and something that I had truly missed. To be in a room with other believers and sing as loud (or because I lost my voice...whisper) as I want was so refreshing. I was so encouraged from this weekend.
As we speak, I have two men literally shattering my old doorframe to make room for my new door. After I was robbed, it nearly happened again, so I put extra pressure on my school to get me a new door and to get one quickly. So, I'm pleased to say that it it actually happening...as loudly as can be, I might add. My new door has a steal core and rumor has it that robbers just look at this door and walk away because they know there is no chance. I pray that this is one rumor that holds true. I'm very, very, very excited. Prayers have been answered! I'll try to get a picture of it up when it's all said and done.
This weekend we had a retreat with all of the partners of CEO. We got together for a weekend of prayer, worship, edification, and LOTS of fellowship. It was amazing and SO needed. I can't begin to tell you about how many amazing people we have in our company and just how fantastic it is to just hang out, gain wisdom, and be covered in prayer over and over again. It's equally amazing to be able to share wisdom, what God is doing in your life, as well as cover others in prayer. Corporate worship in English was AMAZING and something that I had truly missed. To be in a room with other believers and sing as loud (or because I lost my voice...whisper) as I want was so refreshing. I was so encouraged from this weekend.
As we speak, I have two men literally shattering my old doorframe to make room for my new door. After I was robbed, it nearly happened again, so I put extra pressure on my school to get me a new door and to get one quickly. So, I'm pleased to say that it it actually happening...as loudly as can be, I might add. My new door has a steal core and rumor has it that robbers just look at this door and walk away because they know there is no chance. I pray that this is one rumor that holds true. I'm very, very, very excited. Prayers have been answered! I'll try to get a picture of it up when it's all said and done.
Monday, November 14, 2011
I'm back!
Oh, gosh. Guys, I'm so sorry that I haven't been posting. I was robbed (as most of you know already) and then I couldn't remember any of my information to log in for my blog, but I finally figured it out! Woo! So, this post is going to be a brief and super rough recap of my life for the past few months.
1. I was robbed. $5,000 of stuff taken. They broke into my flat while I was at school and I came home to my flat torn apart with my laptop, SLR camera, over 100 DVDs, external hard drive, ipod, and all of my jewelry gone. :( Nothing's been recovered and it's hard to still come home some days and feel safe. BUT I know that God has me here for a purpose.
2. Speaking of being here for a purpose...I got to witness to one of my classes for oer 20 minutes at the end of last week. Oh gosh, it was so amazing. And scary. When there are 12 teenagers staring at you and hanging on your every word, it's a little unnerving. They were asking hard questions too. "Why do people suffer?" "If you say that God love everyone, why does bad stuff happen?" I tried to answer to the best of my ability, but I let them know that I wasn't a scholar and that some of my answers were possibly wrong, but it was just what I felt. When the bell rang, none of them moved. They were all so interested. Some even stayed after class to ask questions and keep talking. Definitely an answer to my question that has been running through my mind for a week or two, "God, why AM i here?"
3. Went to Spain for a week! I got some super cheap tickets and headed there for a week with two American friends for our fall break. It was fantastic. It was sort of a whirlwind tour, but I loved it. We got to see both Barcelona and Madrid. I think I'm a fan of Barcelona a bit more, but Madrid was super awesome too. La Sagrada Familia is so awesome. If you don't know what it is...look it up- it's well worth it.
4. God is working in my life- big time. I've NEVER been so spiritually stretched or challenged in my entire life. Honestly. I'm learning something new everyday. God is breaking me everyday. I've been broken before, but never in such a big way and so often. It's really humbling. But even through this, God is carrying me and giving me the strength to sustain me day by day. He's even molding and changing my concept of what being broken means. What grace means. What loves means. It's honestly the most awesome thing ever, but honestly and truly SO hard. There are days when I just want to cry. There are days when all I do is cry. But if this is what it takes to be more godly and for God to bring me closer to him- bring it on.
I love you all. For all of the people that support me and pray for me- thank you. You are a bigbigbigbig part of this journey and I'm pretty sure that your prayers are the only reasons I make it through some days.
I'm back in the blogging game! I promise that I'll be more on top of it now (and save my log in information!)
1. I was robbed. $5,000 of stuff taken. They broke into my flat while I was at school and I came home to my flat torn apart with my laptop, SLR camera, over 100 DVDs, external hard drive, ipod, and all of my jewelry gone. :( Nothing's been recovered and it's hard to still come home some days and feel safe. BUT I know that God has me here for a purpose.
2. Speaking of being here for a purpose...I got to witness to one of my classes for oer 20 minutes at the end of last week. Oh gosh, it was so amazing. And scary. When there are 12 teenagers staring at you and hanging on your every word, it's a little unnerving. They were asking hard questions too. "Why do people suffer?" "If you say that God love everyone, why does bad stuff happen?" I tried to answer to the best of my ability, but I let them know that I wasn't a scholar and that some of my answers were possibly wrong, but it was just what I felt. When the bell rang, none of them moved. They were all so interested. Some even stayed after class to ask questions and keep talking. Definitely an answer to my question that has been running through my mind for a week or two, "God, why AM i here?"
3. Went to Spain for a week! I got some super cheap tickets and headed there for a week with two American friends for our fall break. It was fantastic. It was sort of a whirlwind tour, but I loved it. We got to see both Barcelona and Madrid. I think I'm a fan of Barcelona a bit more, but Madrid was super awesome too. La Sagrada Familia is so awesome. If you don't know what it is...look it up- it's well worth it.
4. God is working in my life- big time. I've NEVER been so spiritually stretched or challenged in my entire life. Honestly. I'm learning something new everyday. God is breaking me everyday. I've been broken before, but never in such a big way and so often. It's really humbling. But even through this, God is carrying me and giving me the strength to sustain me day by day. He's even molding and changing my concept of what being broken means. What grace means. What loves means. It's honestly the most awesome thing ever, but honestly and truly SO hard. There are days when I just want to cry. There are days when all I do is cry. But if this is what it takes to be more godly and for God to bring me closer to him- bring it on.
I love you all. For all of the people that support me and pray for me- thank you. You are a bigbigbigbig part of this journey and I'm pretty sure that your prayers are the only reasons I make it through some days.
I'm back in the blogging game! I promise that I'll be more on top of it now (and save my log in information!)
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Countdown
So in 3 weeks and 2 days I'll be home!!! I can't wait.
Right now, though, there are a few things that I need everyone to be praying for me in the meantime.
1. I REALLY need a car for the summer. I've been looking up rental prices for a vehicle for the summer and it's near $2,000!!! And that's not even including gas!!! I know that some people can't give necessarily give money, but pray that there is someone that might be willing to support a missionary by lending their car for the summer.
2. That I would be able to get everything done over here in time. Time is coming to a close...fast. And I have a LOT to do. In the next 3 weeks (in which I'm traveling every weekend) I have to finish up with school and the exams, move into my new apartment, introduce and interact with the high school missions team that's coming over, and say goodbye to everyone.
3. That I would be able to balance my life at home well and not stress too much. I already have come to the realization that I'm not going to be able to see everyone that I want to see, but it doesn't make it any easier to deal with. There's so much to do in such little time and I tend to be an overachiever. So, please pray that God will give me the ability to prioritize and to not stress over it all.
Those are the most important ones for right now- so please keep those in your prayers for the next 3 weeks!!
Right now, though, there are a few things that I need everyone to be praying for me in the meantime.
1. I REALLY need a car for the summer. I've been looking up rental prices for a vehicle for the summer and it's near $2,000!!! And that's not even including gas!!! I know that some people can't give necessarily give money, but pray that there is someone that might be willing to support a missionary by lending their car for the summer.
2. That I would be able to get everything done over here in time. Time is coming to a close...fast. And I have a LOT to do. In the next 3 weeks (in which I'm traveling every weekend) I have to finish up with school and the exams, move into my new apartment, introduce and interact with the high school missions team that's coming over, and say goodbye to everyone.
3. That I would be able to balance my life at home well and not stress too much. I already have come to the realization that I'm not going to be able to see everyone that I want to see, but it doesn't make it any easier to deal with. There's so much to do in such little time and I tend to be an overachiever. So, please pray that God will give me the ability to prioritize and to not stress over it all.
Those are the most important ones for right now- so please keep those in your prayers for the next 3 weeks!!
Monday, May 23, 2011
Class Trip
Yikes. Over a month since I blogged.
Well, this past weekend I went on a trip to a city in the north of Hungary with the class that I'm assistant form teacher to. It was fun, but anything except for restful. We stayed in a cabin and just hung out around the campsite and visited the zoo and stuff during the day. It was pretty low key. There was quite a bit of drama and a few hiccups, but that's to be expected when you have 21 high schoolers in a contained area.
It was a great time for me to get to relax and connect with all of my students outside of the classroom. I do that quite a bit with certain students, but there are a few that I'd really like to get to know more. I'm also super thankful for the time that I got to spend with one of my colleagues, Erika. She's an incredible woman who has helped me through so much this past year... I probably wouldn't have survived without her.
All-in-all it was a great trip, but it's definitely going to take me a while to recover from it. There are 3 weeks and 1 day left of school and I have to say that I'm rather pumped about my up and coming trip back to the States!
Well, this past weekend I went on a trip to a city in the north of Hungary with the class that I'm assistant form teacher to. It was fun, but anything except for restful. We stayed in a cabin and just hung out around the campsite and visited the zoo and stuff during the day. It was pretty low key. There was quite a bit of drama and a few hiccups, but that's to be expected when you have 21 high schoolers in a contained area.
It was a great time for me to get to relax and connect with all of my students outside of the classroom. I do that quite a bit with certain students, but there are a few that I'd really like to get to know more. I'm also super thankful for the time that I got to spend with one of my colleagues, Erika. She's an incredible woman who has helped me through so much this past year... I probably wouldn't have survived without her.
All-in-all it was a great trip, but it's definitely going to take me a while to recover from it. There are 3 weeks and 1 day left of school and I have to say that I'm rather pumped about my up and coming trip back to the States!
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Parental Unit Visitation
This past week my dad and his wife, Pam came to visit and they leave tomorrow. It's been a blast so far and I'm going to be very sad to see them leave. Two days before they got here I was hit (HARD) with some sort of flu thing and had a temperature hovering around 100-101 for 2 days (the highest was 101.9). So, I was really scared that I was going to be stuck in bed for most of their visit which would have been a huge bummer all around. Through a lot of prayer, though, I recovered and was only lagging the first full day they were here.
We got to spend time seeing the sites (we spent 5 days sight-seeing and still didn't get even close to all of it) and just had a lot of fun hanging out. Tonight I cooked dinner for everyone and 3 of my students came over to join. My dad had a lot of fun interrogating them, essentially. It was so nice to be able to catch up with people from back home and just spend some quality time with them. I also loved being able to show people from America my new home and showing them what I get to experience everyday.
Now that my dad has spent almost a week here, he's also told me that he's much more comfortable with me being here. Budapest is a lot nicer than what he thought it would be, I suppose. I head off to Amsterdam tomorrow as they head back to America. I'm spending the rest of my break with my friend Esther (the Dutch girl who used to live here) and I'm beyond excited to see her again! I'll make sure to try to post a few pictures of Dad and Pam's visit when I finally get the pictures uploaded.
We got to spend time seeing the sites (we spent 5 days sight-seeing and still didn't get even close to all of it) and just had a lot of fun hanging out. Tonight I cooked dinner for everyone and 3 of my students came over to join. My dad had a lot of fun interrogating them, essentially. It was so nice to be able to catch up with people from back home and just spend some quality time with them. I also loved being able to show people from America my new home and showing them what I get to experience everyday.
Now that my dad has spent almost a week here, he's also told me that he's much more comfortable with me being here. Budapest is a lot nicer than what he thought it would be, I suppose. I head off to Amsterdam tomorrow as they head back to America. I'm spending the rest of my break with my friend Esther (the Dutch girl who used to live here) and I'm beyond excited to see her again! I'll make sure to try to post a few pictures of Dad and Pam's visit when I finally get the pictures uploaded.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Child-like Faith
I love the little reminders that God gives us throughout our lives through the simplest things.
I was sitting on the tram today watching this little girl with her grandparents (who absolutely adored her, of course). This little girl was sitting on her grandmother's lap looking out of the window with so much amusement and awe. It was like she was discovering the world for the first time. She couldn't really talk, so she was squealing with delight at every new sight that came into view.
It reminded me how Jesus called us to have the faith of a child. To sit there in awe of his creation and of Him. That child had no cares in the world other than what was happening right at that moment and she was relishing in the love of her grandparents. She had no worries about what tomorrow holds or even if she was going to be safe. She completely and utterly trusted nanny and papa to protect her.
I pray for that sort of faith. That I would have no cares or concerns and that I would just be able to sit in awe and complete trust every single day.
PS: My dad comes in less than 2 weeks!!!
I was sitting on the tram today watching this little girl with her grandparents (who absolutely adored her, of course). This little girl was sitting on her grandmother's lap looking out of the window with so much amusement and awe. It was like she was discovering the world for the first time. She couldn't really talk, so she was squealing with delight at every new sight that came into view.
It reminded me how Jesus called us to have the faith of a child. To sit there in awe of his creation and of Him. That child had no cares in the world other than what was happening right at that moment and she was relishing in the love of her grandparents. She had no worries about what tomorrow holds or even if she was going to be safe. She completely and utterly trusted nanny and papa to protect her.
I pray for that sort of faith. That I would have no cares or concerns and that I would just be able to sit in awe and complete trust every single day.
PS: My dad comes in less than 2 weeks!!!
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