A Little Piece of Me Back

I think I'm finally starting to feel like myself again. For sure I'm still in transition, but today I had an experience that told me I may actually be returning to normal. I was on campus to study all afternoon and into the evening. At about 5:30 I wondered up to the commuter lounge where I'd left my “lunch” in the fridge. After a few minutes two ladies came in working on a text together. One was reading aloud while the other made coffee. Tomorrow is the last day of finals for regular day students. We exchanged niceties and they carried on with their work and I with my supper.

As I was leaving I decided to test my cultural guessing abilities. (I think I'm rather good at it when it comes to Africans. Though, I made a mistake earlier on campus today mistaking a tall and very dark man dressed in a tie dye outfit for a Sudanese when he was actually Ethiopian.) When I got up to go, I about how their topic of discussion seemed interesting but I had to get back to the library. Though I could her no accent I thought the one gal was Ethiopian based on her features. I asked her name and it sounded Ethiopian, so I offered, “Are you from Ethiopia?”

“Yes! How did you know?” I explained that I had lived in East Africa and our bond with cemented. She pointed in the direction of her office and told me to come sometime and see her. I smiled as I left thinking of the prospect of a new African friend.

But the real joy of the story is that I felt that I was totally uninhibited, like I used to feel. I felt like myself, not like I'm on hold and I need to figure out how to navigate through this thing called life back in America. I was so happy that to finally feel like it was me inside again, and not some stranger I'm getting used to being.

Thank you, God, for a little piece of normalcy for a change.  

Winds of Change

I started this year of blogging with a bang! But unfortunately I have not keep up very well. It's not that life isn't full of interesting adventures. And I sincerely hope that being in a communications degree will help me blog more in the future. But for now, I still have a limping long computer, a ton of homework and some more transition ahead.

I will be moving back into my home on 12th Avenue as of June 1st. As of now I don't have any housemates lined up. I will need one or two but not before July 1st. I am looking forward to a little bit of a personal retreat at home. I've been in transition so incredibly long that I am really looking forward to settling in some ways. This does not mean being a hermit for me. On the contrary, being settled means entertaining and having a base to flourish from. Perhaps, I'll even have to plan a big house warming for the middle of summer.

When it comes to housemates I am hoping and praying for some real community. I would like to live with a couple of gals who care about living together in harmony. (I've lived communally long enough to know that there are always a few bumps along the way no matter how great the housemates are.) I would like to live as adults in the 'hood. And I hope to have the energy to be a little more neighborly that I've been.

Thanks for sticking it out with me here and through the transitions. Being settled doesn't mean my heart isn't still in East Africa. But for me, being able to minister in any kind of way means I have somewhere to start from that feels like it's my space, it's home.

Dear Readers,

Thank you for your faithful attendance to my blog. I have had some huge setbacks over the past several weeks.

I finished up my Math for Liberal Arts class and managed an A with the help of my very gracious teacher. But starting school introduced a virus to my computer. A team effort worked to recover my files and restore my computer, but in reality, I'm barely limping along. I do email, but I don't even have a functioning copy of Micro Soft Word working. Since I just started my Research Writing class, this presents a problem. If I don't solve it soon I don't know what I will do; the writing class has homework deadlines ever 3-4 days for 7 weeks. I don't want to get behind.

My housemates are gracious in letting me use their computer too, but with 5 kids and home school going on, I can usually think better out of the house. Still I'm grateful for the assistance it gives through all this crashing. On top of all this my phone started acting up and this morning also presented a blue screen that wouldn't allow me ever to power it down. Alas, I got it restarted by taking the battery out and putting it back in.

All this is to say, besides being rather preoccupied with school, I have been technically impaired the past ten or so days. I'd appreciate your prayers over all this. And I'd take any advice you are handing out too.

I've been enjoying the kids I live with - the 5-year-old and only boy in the house just stopped in my room to ask advice about how to ask his mom on a date. I kept a straight face as I advised him and off he went with his Elmer Fudd accent to ask mama. I smiled at the thought. I wish I had more presence to enjoy all this.

Thanks again for your faithfulness in my very sporadic writing.

conversations about real life
recounting the events that shaped the last week of Christ’s life
my diverse neighborhood

more thanks

decorating for a new season
the greening of outdoors
good kind of tired for physical exertion
fresh air in the house

Holy Week

realizing afresh what Jesus has done for me personally on the cross
reading through the events of the last week in Christ’s life (Justin Taylor is posting these happenings each day this week. Here’s the first one.)
helping others

A Serious Note for April Fool's Day

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” –Jim Elliot