Life moving on...

This morning I got to visit my friend Tessa, and see her new home. It's a nice duplex on the East side of Pella, just a block from her work friend's house. I'm so excited for her and her husband RJ! The emotions I go through when I hang out with her these days surprise me...
I'm seriously overflowing with joy and happiness for my friend, but I gotta admit, I thought I might have to battle more jealous feelings than I actually have! So, yeah, don't get me wrong, this is a super good thing! It's really beautiful when the lives of your friends keep moving on. Sometimes it's challenging when they're at different points than you on the journey, but I've definitely asked God to help by filling me with peace, patience, joy, and love, and he has most certainly blessed me to overflowing! I almost have to chuckle at myself when I think over my life these past couple years... because I myself was at the point of helping re-paint a house, and then finding a home to move into, and then dreaming about the future, and... all of that good stuff. God had different ideas in mind than I had been trying to plan for myself, and I can honestly say it has definitely worked out for the best and filled me with more joy and peace than going through with my own plans could have... it's just... "funny sometimes how things don't work out," ya know... but (to finish quoting one of my old fav chick flicks): "it's funny how they do!" :)

BIG week! :)

Last week at this time I was playing piano in my college choir room, working out all of the chord changes for Morgan's competition last weekend. OH, what a blast that was to be a part of! :) And she won! OH HAPPY DAY!

Wow, I really wish I would have taken advantage of more opportunities to sing with my sister. I wish I would have taken the time to write more songs. I hope that I'll have the opportunity to sing together with her more in the future. It brings me great joy!! :)

Other FUN happenings of this past week included...

...going with my sister to a college play, Terror Texts (terror stories from the Old Testament!)

...going to an Episcopal church service where I worshiped with college friends and professors and pondered scripture from Matthew 25

...going to Disney on Ice with the most animated Disney friend I have. ;) (It was really cute how excited she was! And the show itself was pretty impressive, I must say. I always have thought watching people do amazing tricks on ice was pretty cool. Oh, and we went out for Blue Bunny afterwards... SO good, and I just LOVE the smell of that place. Seriously! I know I'm a dork, but that JUST ABOUT gets me more excited than the taste of the yummy ice cream.)

...singing with my old college choir. (I absolutely love to slip in during their practice when I'm in the area. This is one of the things I miss most about my NWC days...)

...visiting with some of my favorite NWC friends and professors, and even a few of my classmates back home on their break from seminary

...watching some great movies with friends and family... like The Guardian, The Visitor, Reservation Road, and my all time favorite love story to watch this time of year: Serendipity.

...sending out another wave of update letters about Greece to more friends and family!

...discussing getting a young people's Bible study going in my church with some of my favorite friends in the area! :)

...squaring away even more details for my return to Greece - money things, buying a plane ticket!, etc, etc...

...finishing all of my "reading through the Bible" devotions (I had actually finished reading the Bible straight through a few months ago, but got behind on my supplemental readings I was trying to do with it)

...getting Thanksgiving traditions rolling with the big Rozendaal reunion Wednesday night which involved incredible food and fun games of Skipbo

...visiting great grandma (for the last time in her "airport house") with Mom, Mo, and Charlie for more reminiscing through old pictures, cards, invitations, and programs from special events. :)

...and spending today, THANKSGIVING, with my wonderful mom, dad, bro, and sis. We went to church, ate incredible food (thanks for the good cookin' mom!), watched a good movie, played some games, relaxed, and... made plans for the rest of the weekend together.


I'm so so so blessed. What a fun week! And this week ahead is quite jam packed with good things too. I'll continue to do my best to record the details on this blog. :) Off to sleep now!

Fun days... :)

I drove up to NW IA again yesterday, that's why I didn't have a chance to post. I had such a full day: packing to leave for 4 days, 2 hours of Greek lesson, a visit with an Orthodox priest at a Greek Orthodox church, a visit with one of my students from my high school leadership class last year, a LONG CAR RIDE up north, a practice for NC/DC with my sister Morgan and a bunch of friends, and a LOT of piano playing and music dictation to determine chords (so fun!),...oh, and plus a great late night chat with a friend who let me sleep in her extra bed last night, I heard her neat summer love story. :)

I enjoy marathon days like that. :) :)

Today has been great too. I slept in, showered in the dorm (wow, that brings back old memories, hehe, I don't miss college bathrooms!), and caught up on lots of e-mail communication. Now I'm going to keep practicing and getting ready for a fun re-enactment of the "Oh Happy Day" scene from Sister Act 2. Should be loads of fun! Hopefully I have a chance to catch up on more blogging at some point tomorrow. :) I started to get into a pretty good rhythm this week, I hope to keep it going! :D

More letters!

Tonight I am busy again sending out more and more letters to friends that I haven't shared all of the details about my return to Greece with yet! :)
I've determined today that my departure date will be January 15, give or take a day or two... :)
I'm still busy trying to get all of the details in line, and I'm getting more and more excited!! :)
There's just so much I want to accomplish before I leave! Keep giving me the grace, strength, and wisdom to complete your tasks for me, God! :D

PRAISE the LORD for providing for all of my needs. The money I need to live and work in Athens for a year keeps steadily flowing in, and I am very humbled and grateful. :) And have I not yet mentioned how much of a privilege it is for me to have this "excuse" to stay in contact with so many people who have had such a positive role in my life, be able to share what the Lord is doing through my life, and then be a mutual encouragement for each other. Ah, I am truly loving it and soaking it all in with lots of giddy joy!! :D God, you're awesome. :)

Communicating...

Communication...
It can be so challenging sometimes.
Trying to understand the complexity of thought in your own mind...
and then express it with words - audible or written; pictures - real or abstract; song - traditional or new... or some other creative communication...
AND THEN try to make another complex mind understand the expression of thought you've made...
Yeah, I could say more about this, but my communication skills are failing me tonight...

STUDYING!

Wow...
I am absolutely loving this chance to study before I go back to Greece. :)
I've been reading about Greek history and the Orthodox church.
I've been learning the Greek language... :)
This is all so fun and interesting to me! Yet it's also so overwhelming, because there is so much I want to know and understand, but not enough time to learn it all.

I have so many goals it's ridiculous, lol... This is one thing I both love and hate myself. God, please give me the wisdom and strength to accomplish what of our goals together should be a priority... daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, and indeed, for my entire life. :) HELP me, God. :D
Thanks! :)

More sharing!! :)

This week has already brought me two very special opportunities to share more of what God has taught me...

On Monday night at the end of my "extreme makeover - Body by God" class, I felt compelled to share the words I had memorized from Philippians 3. :) It fit perfectly with the encouragement we'd already heard that night. Thanks for prompting me God... This was the most antsy and tingly I'd felt about the need to share it yet, hehe. I love how you work and move through me, Holy Spirit. :)

Tonight, I got to share my summer story with a special group of high school students in my town. :) I went through 90 pictures to share my stories and experiences and life lessons... and I even taught them a song, and they sang! Yeah, seriously, they did! And they sounded pretty good too! ;) It was a great time... and I'm thankful for their leaders' encouragement and invitation to share.

Thanks for using me, God! :) Let the opportunities keep coming!!!!...

Stuff...

I have more STUFF than I need...
so why is it that when I sift through the stuff in my room... I'm so reluctant to let go of a lot of it?
Well, I know one main reason why...
I tend over-analyze everything to death... like, what if I could use this again one day, or what if my grandkids would stumble across this one day and be able to use it for their history project, or what if I'm just too darn stubborn to "throw away" the special memory I have attached to this object...
Blah, I'm silly...
I so deeply want to purge myself of excess "stuff, clutter, clothes, etc..." and even give a bunch of it away to bless someone else who may really need it! God, help me, please!!!! Help me throw off everything that hinders and distracts... so that I can run more freely and fully after all that you have in store for me. HELP, HELP, HELP! Thanks... :D You already are helping, I know...