I'm back in Chiang Mai... back at the books! We're just getting into classes today and I'm so excited about learning, growing and changing--all things I know will happen while sitting under all this quality teaching. I'm here for three weeks of classes and then, if things work out as planned, will be moving out to a native Bible School a few hours from here.

This is also a shout out to those of you who are not on my email update/prayer list and would like to be--please let me know by emailing me or else messaging me on here or FB (and include your email address so i don't have to go hunt that up :p). I will probably not be posting much of  my activities in detail on xanga or FB.
Thanks!

I've been perfectly awful at staying up to date with xanga! No excuses... just haven't taken the time!

Life/God have been really good to me. School is going well... can't believe I only have nine weeks left. These past 6 months have really truly disappeared. And it makes me wonder how much I've done, whether or not I've wasted what God gave me, if I've accomplished what He brought me here to do?? I hope so.  For those of you who are wondering, no I'm not teaching again next year. God's been opening doors else where... details are still being worked out with all of that... so we'll see what happens.  Sometimes I get a little tired of this--it seems like I put my roots down somewhere, make so many new friends and stay there for awhile, only to tear away from all of it and move on again, to make more friends.... in some ways it would be so nice to be able to just settle for awhile... but then again, maybe I'll never do that until I go Home. And on the positive side, I absolutely love the new experiences, ever-widening circles of friends, and unfamiliar worlds it opens up to me!

So here's to the unexplored places, life changing adventures, never ending frontiers of following God where ever He leads!!

I find this statement extremely fascinating...   "It is vitally important what you laugh at. It is vitally important what you weep at.  What breaks your heart tells God who you are. And what makes you laugh tells God who you are." --Ravi Zacharias

 I'm living here in SC now! I just moved down yesterday and I'm living with Paul and Amber until my apartment is ready. An excerpt from my prayer journal describes my feelings perfectly:
"There’s so much required of me that I’m not. There’s so much I should be and am not. There’s a job out there that’s bigger then me. There’s responsibilities that are placed on my shoulders that I don’t have the wisdom or strength for. There’s lives out there that are looking to me for what I don’t have to give. I can’t do it, God... on my own. You’ve called me to teach; I’m not doubting that. But the only way i can teach is if you teach me and if you fill in what I lack so desperately...  I’m clinging to the fact that in my weakness I can be confident and strong because of your strength, Jesus!"

I was at school all day today and just being there, preparing for this next year made me realize how excited I am about this new adventure! I can't wait to meet my five little kids and get to know them well. I already love working with Connie (we got to spend a week together up at FB) and I'm sure I'll enjoy working with Steve too.

And now for some random pics from the last few months:

Picnic at the park with some kids from waynesboro...

                  A good hang out time with the three of my best friends 
              ~Rachelle, Evie, Sherri, Me~

A weekend with family... good times as always!

     
         Patrick and Heidi                                                                Kylan and Megan

                        Brianna and Kristan

 Each child is living the only life he has—the only one he will ever have. The least we can do is not diminish it.
--Bill Page

I love, love, love this weather! Its so invigorating and the color that's splashed everywhere is so vibrant--blue, blue skies, greenblue mountains, dark brown earth, teeny green plants pushing through the soil, daisies popping up everywhere on the edges of the fields, freshly mown hay, the smell of honeysuckle, driving with the windows down and the wind in your face... the other evening we were coming home and I got dad to drop me off at the end of our lane so I could walk in (our lane is nearly a mile long and I love walking it). It was such a beautiful evening with the smell of freshly mown hay mingled with honeysuckle, a light breeze, and that perfect mysterious half-light between sunset and night...talk about feeling so close to God I could've almost reached out and touched Him! Something about being out in nature always does that for me. Its almost as if it cries out, "He's alive! He's real! And He's right here!"

Things that have transpired since I last updated:
  ~ Kev and MaryAnna came down for a weekend. Good family times
  ~ Went on tour with my youth group's choir. Late nights, good music, loooonnnnnggg bus rides, fiercely      competitive Rook games, stiff necks from sleeping in cramped positions, quality bonding times!
  ~ Visited the Creation Museum while we were on tour. I wanna go back because I didn't nearly have enough time to take it all in to my satisfaction due to having to give a program that evening at a church four hours away. Its an amazing place and it was so refreshing to be in a Christian museum and not have to filter out 75% of what I read and saw!
  ~ Sewed the skirt on my new dress backwards and had to rip it all out and do it over.
  ~ Almost finished scrapbooking my pictures up to Asia! Can't wait to start on those.
  ~ Agreed to be the first grade teacher for a school in South Carolina. No, I'm not kidding you. I really am going to be moving to SC in August to teach school!  I'll be living close to Paul and Amber and I'm really excited about that. The turns life takes sometimes can be so far from what you imagined they might be....I think God loves surprises.  
 ~Got a new cell phone (very necessary!!!). 
 ~ Found out that Kelly really truly is coming to spend a week with me in less then two weeks!!!! We'll be teaching at a local VBS. Its gonna be so fun to live with you again Kelly!
 ~ Realized how soon one of my best friends is leaving me... Our youth group just had a farewell for Rachelle (she's going to be working at Penn Valley for a year) and yeah, I've known for a long time that she was leaving but it kinda became reality that night... does anybody realize how much I'm gonna miss her?!?!
 ~ Mowed hay, mowed hay, mowed hay (a job i really do enjoy)
 ~ Had a flat tire on my truck!  And got bit by a dog in the same day! Gotta love that.
 ~ And (this one hasn't happened yet and I can't waaaaiiiiitttt for it) Diane and Rachelle and I are gonna get a cabin for a night next week! Its been awhile since the three of us have done something together. So that's gonna be good!
...And too many other things to mention. May has been an extremely busy month.. not sure really where all it went to. June is...well, lets just say I hope nothing else is going to be planned for the month of June!

I'll leave you all with a verse that a friend of mine text me. For some reason I've been thinking about it a lot, probably because I was so convicted by it!
"He that covereth a transgression seeketh love. But he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends. " Proverbs 17:9.
And how many times have I been guilty of doing just that...!

Later ya'll!