Revealing Grace

What a week. I cannot believe that just 7 days ago I was settling into my new home in Pinetop, Arizona. I thought it would take a while to get settled in, to feel right and at place here, but in truth it feels like I have been here for months. I jumped right in and already love everything about being here. This first week was definitely tiring, but rewarding. Each day I tried my hardest to be cool even though I am "old" (a student's word for me!) and although I probably tried a little to hard (ex. "Hey dog, what's up g?") I managed to make some friends among our students and begin to connect. In addition, I have also begun to build relationships with key people around the reservation, thanks to the networking skills of my fearless leader at AYM. It will take a while to truly know this place, but this week has been a great start. I have to say, I love spending my afternoons at the Kennel, goofing around, hanging out with students, and getting to know t...

My new neighborhood smells like Christmas and toasted marshmallows. Just one whiff and you are drawn into a world of winter, bonfires, and a deep sense of comfort. I think I may have found my dream home. Today I woke up to the smell of a fall breeze coming through my window and then just moments later the rain started to pour. Rain, hail, the chill in the air. . . I was thrilled. I threw on my rain outfit and headed into town. I was getting a lot of extra long stares in the grocery store and was priding myself in looking extra cute today, but then realized that they were probably just wondering who the new girl in the bright yellow rain jacket and red boots was. I'll take it. Then this afternoon I took some time to walk around the neighborhood loop, listening to the rustle of the pine trees and the quiet that only seems to exist in the mountains. All day I have been struck by the comfort that I feel here. Though transitions are not easy, as I have settled in these last few day...

2 years I began a blog with adventure in mind. God had changed a lot in a little amount of time, and this was the place to record all that came to be. As the months passed and the blog continued, it seemed that, in a way, this site had become a record of departures. In 2011 I left for  India  and then a month later left for  California . What followed was a significant departure for  Arizona  and finally, leaving the place I had arrived at just two years ago, I returned to Georgia . In just two short years I embarked on a moving train of change four separate times. Each departure was significant, life-changing, and not without its difficulties. Each led to adventure, discovery, passion, and growth, but brought their own share of challenges and baggage. And as I reflect back, I can see that what has been beautiful about all of these departures is that they have led to places and journeys that have formed me. Every chapter has helped to lead me to the station...

Dilemmas, a key component of life. Today I have two, or three, and they are basically all insignificant. But read on my friends, read on. 1. Having finally finished the "student" phase of my life (20 years baby!) I am now faced with a new conundrum- the doctor's office paperwork. In the convenient little box named "occupation" I always got to bypass any silly questions about ambition or relevance and simply put "student" but alas, now that is not an option. A new dilemma has arisen for the first time in 24 years! It is has been pretty hard to decide what my perfect new title shall be. Youth mentor was my latest pick, but I feel like I can do better, you know? I considered "holistic development practitioner" but that wouldn't fit in the box, and "youth minister" or "missionary" don't sound quite right either (although both of those options did get me a discount on my future dental work. woot woot!). The latest i...

But take heart, He has overcome the world.  Today marks the anniversary of one of the most significant memories of my childhood. As a 7th grader I stood behind the wall in our little hallway, secretly watching the television as people dropped from the burning buildings. In that moment I knew that I was witnessing history. What I did not realize at such a young age was that this was just one atrocity among thousands that happen every year all over the world. It is one of the hard parts of growing up I suppose. One suddenly realizes the extent to which the world is full of evil and death. My heart becomes quickly overwhelmed with the suffering of people I would consider brothers and sisters around the world. I try my best not to support these evils, working to buy fair trade, avoiding companies that I know have connections to slave labor, but I know that each little movement is just a small drop in a much larger ocean of injustice. Recently I have been reading a fantastic group ...

If you asked me where I have been for the past week it would be easy to describe. It has been a porch-sitting kind of week, where the breeze or the rain drop in to say hello, enveloping you in a familiar sense of peace and provision. It has been a week where every moment makes it seem like, at least in this little corner, all is right and well. This past week I have traveled from North Carolina to Northern Kentucky and every moment has been treasured. I have been falling in love with tomato and goat cheese sandwiches, buying local cheese curds from a roadside stand, and breathing in fresh mountain air. I have been sitting on a porch swing in the Carolina mountains swapping stories of international adventures and memories of younger days with my grandparents, my mother, and my brother. I have been retracing my family roots as we discovered old pictures of bearded ancestors, the weddings of my grandparents, bell-bottomed pants, and trips around the world or simply around the farm. I...