Africa

For those of you who don't know, my boyfriend, Nick Will, will be serving in Africa as a Student Missionary this coming school year. He is leaving the 22nd of August and will be returning next May. Please keep him in your prayers as he has a lot to do before he leaves. Also, please continue the prayers while he is away. He will be the Outer Clinics Director for Gimbie Adventist Hospital in Gimbie, Ethiopia. As of yet, he would still like to raise some more money for while he is over there.

He has created a website for his mission year. Visit: www.NickinAfrica.com. He has put a lot of work into making the site and it has a ton of information about where he is going. Check out the videos, the pictures, and especially his blog. Sign the guestbook if you wish! :)

I am so excited for Nick!!! :) I know God will do amazing things with his work in Ethiopia. :) Continue the prayers, and check back on the website for updates while he is away.

(Photo: By Nick-Boise, Idaho; December 2008)

Sad Goodbyes...

In the past two weeks, I have said goodbye to more people than I ever wanted to or planned on. Last night, I added one to my list. This morning, another wrote her own name down and promptly told me goodbye. If I have to say that word one more time today, I think I might crack. Goodbye is something I dread. I hate standing in front of someone, not knowing when I will see them again, or if I ever will.

"Goodbye's the saddest word I'll ever hear.
Goodbye's the last time I will hold you near.
Someday you'll say that word and I will cry.
It'll break my heart to hear you say goodbye.
Til' we meet again, until then....goodbye."
("Goodbye's the Saddest Word" by Celine Dion)













Goodbye.
2 syllables.
Tells of sadness.
And I want you back.
Goodbye.
Don't want this now.
Don't want to need you.
And maybe I don't.
But I feel it.
In my heart.
Goodbye.
Trying to pry me away.
From you.
And I don't want to go.
Don't want to be alone.
Goodbye.
Feel like weeping.
No tears come.
I've already spent them all.
Goodbye.
Indebted to myself.
My tears need a refill.
Don't want to fill them up.
Just means they'll spill over.
Again.
Goodbye.
Hug me, Love.
Don't let me let you go.
Wanting you to stay.
Knowing you must leave.
Goodbye.
Trying.
Trying.
Trying.
Goodbye.
One more tear falls.
Thought they were gone.
But maybe not.
Just found another outlet.
Another place where tears reside.
Or perhaps just another reason to cry.
Goodbye.
I'm still here.
You walk away.
And I stay here.
You turn around.
Don't look back.
Goodbye.
Don't want to say hello.
It always ends in goodbye.
Goodbye.
















"Goodbye to you,
Goodbye to everything that I knew.
You were the one I loved,
The one thing that I tried to hold onto.
The one thing that I tried to hold onto."
("Goodbye to You" by Michelle Branch)

I think at first, it's ok to feel sad when someone in your life takes a different road. But, then again, you cannot feel that way forever. There comes a time when you must set the sadness behind and put the future in God's hands and trust Him to take care of those you have said goodbye to.

I have been thinking more and more about goodbyes in the past few months, mostly because I have a lot of friends either going overseas as student missionaries, or staying within the U.S. to be task force, and there are even those who have traveled home to take a break from college. Life changes. It's a known fact. But, change isn't necessarily a bad thing. It can turn out to be the best thing to happen and even if it's not, the lessons learned are vital to the growth of your faith in God. That alone can make the sad goodbyes worth the pain you feel.

So, take hold of the hope that you profess and when you start to feel the sadness come rushing in, grasp onto God's hand. He's waiting to dry your tears and lead you home. :)

(Photos: 1) Tree in our backyard, edited-Boise, Idaho; 2) Me with my Teddy, edited.)

When I Was Little

When I was little, seeing the man in the moon seemed easy. His eyes, his nose, his mouth. They might have only existed in my imagination, but he was real to me, and he peered down at me from his permanent place on the moon.

When I was little, the ceiling light in my bedroom had 16...24...36...squares; the combination of lines, angles, edges, moved my eyes to find more and more squares than what first seemed to exist.

(Photo: Morgan and Jason at the Boise Zoo; March 2009)

When I was little, I never really remember learning how to tie my shoes. I just did it. It makes me wonder what second nature allows us to do in our lives, and what it is we learn by being taught.

When I was little, I learned the name of all the colors of the rainbow - in Spanish. My cheeks were roja, my hair was amarilla, I finger-painted with azul and verde. My heart was blanca - pure, spotless. I fell in love with Spanish colors.

When I was little...

(Note: If I misspelled any of the Spanish colors or used them in the wrong way, please forgive me...it's been about 13 years since I learned them. =p Thanks!)

During Art Class

Meet Mr. Smith

I give my life to You:
My desires, my joys, my fears,
In the faith that You will lead me
To my own unnamed compliment.
The one who will fulfill my dreams,
Complete my desires,
Share in my joys,
Extinguish my fears--
With the help of You.
I know that Your plans
- Your ways -
Are higher than mine,
Are better than my expectations,
Are more than I could ever hope for.
I know You love me with an undying love--
A love that will vanquish all else,
A love that will envelope me in warmth,
A love that covers over all wrongs.
I love You because You first loved me.
Please show me the one
You have planned for me.
Introduce me to the blueprint of my life--
Let me sink into the
Love You have for me.
Open my eyes to the man
Who loves You with all his heart,
All his strength,
All his mind,
All his soul.
Who puts you first in everything
He does,
In everything he says.
Show me how to love him,
How to comfort him,
How to respect him.
Teach me how to walk beside him,
And be his compliment.
Please share with me
How I should treat him--
How to honor him above myself.
Lead me to the future
You have laid out for me,
Help me to rely on Your will in my life.
Always.
Take my hand, Lord, and
Lead me down the road--
The one that guides me
Closer to you,
Closer to him,
Closer to eternal life.
Take my hand, Lord.
Please put it in his--
Introduce me to him, Lord:
"Meet Mr. Smith."



(Photos: Top--Looking out from Deception Pass Bridge, near Rosario, Washington; Bottom--Rosario Marine Laboratory, near Anacortes, Washington)

Bunch o' Quotes

"Truth was found
In the Word."

"I was irrevocably betrothed to laughter, the sound of which has always seemed to me the most civilized music in the world."

"Happiness, I do not know where to turn to discover you on earth, in the air or in the sky; yet I know you exist and are no futile dream."

"It is in deep solitude that I find the gentleness with which I can truly love my brothers. The more solitary I am the more affection I have for them . . . Solitude and silence teach me to love my brothers for what they are, not for what they say."

"If you live to be 100, I hope I live to be 100 minus one day, so I never have to live without you."

"We need to bridge the gap between the medical libraries and the hospital rooms; take the information out there already, add to it, focus it, harness it - and bring it to the patient who was just diagnosed today."

"We say we love flowers, yet we pluck them. We say we love trees, yet we cut them down. And people still wonder why some are afraid when told they are loved."

(Photo: In my dorm room-College Place, WA, February 2008)