Sandy & Me sharing a chair...we had so much fun together :)

I love how God paints a picture for us every day...this is one of my favorites I saw in Virginia.

My parents and I on November 23.

Well my orientation has come to an end. I learned so much and left with some great friendships. My parents were able to come up for a sending out service on Monday. It was great to share my experience with them and helped them see what my life has been like the past two months. The last night we (my friends and I)stayed up until about 2:30am b/c nobody wanted to say "goodbye" for good. Good times. My mind and heart were stretched through this process and I cannot imagine doing any job but this one that God has prepared me for.
I started my trek home on Tuesday at 7:45am, and completed it Saturday at 2:30pm :) Needless to say I had quite a few airline delays that left me stranded in Dallas on Tuesday night. After waiting on standby for 3 hours Wednesday morning, I finally gave up. My family was traveling to Ft. Worth for Thanksgiving on Thursday, so I just called my family and had them pick me up. I was without luggage for 2 1/2 days, but proved that I can survive! Thanksgiving started earlier than I had planned, but I really enjoyed the extended time I got to spent with my family. Friday we took part in a shopping adventure that started at 5 am and lasted until 5:15 pm! I didn't buy much, but enjoyed the time and experience of shopping with my sister-in-laws family! I am now back home in Amarillo until my visa to live in France comes through. So, please continue to pray with me that this will be soon. I have many things to do in the mean time and would love to hear from you!!

Saturday night a group of us took in a minor league "Richmond Riverdogs" game. You will be happy to know they pulled it out 4 to 1, whew! The crowd was complete with mullets, nascar mustaches, and adults yelling "losers" as the opposing team returned to the locker room...a good time was had by all =)

My pics in...Books: "Searching for God knows what" by Donald Miller, "The Story we find ourselves in" by Brian McLaren Movies: "The Incredibles" (so fun, I laughed the whole time), "Napoleon Dynamite" (this is already a classic in my opinion)
Music: "Twentysomething" by Jamie Cullum, Enter the Worship Circle "Third Circle" Magazine: "Relevant" God.Life.Progressive Culture

This past week flew by, and it is crazy that I only have 2 more weeks here...and if all goes as planned will be overseas before the end of the month!!!
I spent some time in D.C. over the weekend. We went on Friday to do a cultural immersions. Then some friends and I went back on Saturday to spend time just chillin in the city. We went to an outdoor market, took in the National gallery of art,ate dinner in the very trendy Georgetown...and best of all got to spend the whole day with dearest loveliest Elizabeth McMahon! :)

How you can be involved...
-This week I started the grieving process over leaving...yep, I cried! This may sound strange but I often consider how I will change in 2 years time, but rarely think about how much each of your lives will change as well. Things just can't stay the same, and that is good...but is just getting hard to say "goodbye". Pray that I will grieve properly and that I will live in the truth that I am "giving up the good to participate in the great" --Elbert Smith (great = what God has called me to do)
-Please pray for my visa to come through in time, I applied for it at the end of September and still have not heard any status or approval. They said it would take about 2 months, but my roommate already got hers approved and I need to have it in hand before my tickets for travel are issued.

James, Elbert & Brandon...Elbert just the greatest guy, we really love him. He is also very expressive and fun to quote...so we made shirts (actually Brandon made them), each with a different Elbert quote. We wore them on Sunday night after he preached in Spanish for our cultural worship service. He loved it. Mine says "I'm always fighting the clock" (I will do the voice for you another time!!)

One night at the Cheesecake factory....so good, though the pumpkin cheesecake still alludes me. This is Reid, Ryan, James, Brandon, Carrie, Me and Eva...good friends that I spend a lot of time with here :)

on Friday we had a class on how to gut fish and kill chickens...while attending this event my friend Jesse said that he would run and scream like a girl if this chicken (pictured above) ran towards us after it's head was removed...and just as he said it that is exactly what happened. Yes, we were chased by a chicken with it's head cut off, ads a whole new meaning to that expression!

Fall is so beautiful...this is just one of the trees on the pond that I can see from my window