Slighlty dEtAiNeD

Sounds weird I know, but lately I have just been really distracted or maybe just disinterested in the life here.  Don't get me wrong...it is not in regards to my girls are dorm life.  I just feel like I am wanting to do so many things that I don't know how to pick and choose so instead I am not taking action to do any of them.  It is just that time of the year where I want to be everywhere and do everything, but there is only one of me.

So I don't know if you heard the news but my girls toilet papered me!!! It was AWESOME!!! I think I am the only person in the world who would think that was them showing me love.  I juest felt like the knew me well enough to actually think about me and care enough to know I would not get upset.  And then when I can home from my first weekend off they had connected all my underwear together and written all over my mirror and toilet with dry-erase maker!! Once again I laughed hysterically and loved every minute of it.  

Nothing is really going on here...I am teaching gymnastics and tumbling for two weeks for one of the PE classes.  I enjoy it, but it is also hard because I realized that I have lost a lot of what I had spent 14 years of my life doing....so yeah that is hard to handle, but now I am just more motivated to get it back!!!

Thanks again for praying for me!

Back to the Basics....

It is the first day back with all of the girls.  I come back looking forward to what this semester has in store.  I want to be aware of the opportunities that the Lord provides; I don't want to lose sight of girls that need someone to invest in them.  There is so much on my mind, rather than being focused here.  My mind feels cluttered and distracted, which is not how I want to feel as I enter this new stage of relationships with my girls.  I just ask for your prayer.  

But yesterday was probably the longest day of the year....I woke up to join all my fellow staff members at a breakfast.  Before that ended I was taken back to my dorm to receive girls that were already arriving.  I sat in our dorm office from about 11am till, literally, 4 pm, went on a walk with one of my girls, and then went back into the office/kitchen to do a little food prep.  Lets just say it was a long day.  And then even once we had all the girls in bed, we stayed up waiting for two more girls to arrive.  YES, it was a draining day, in a very non-physical way, yet it was sooooo blessed.  These girls just add so much to life here!!! 

vIsItOr FrOm AfAr!!!

My mom has been here for over a week now!!! It has truly been a blessing.  I really do not wish for her to leave, but everything good has to come to an end, right?  We were prancing around London for five days.  We saw Trafalgar Square, the Tower of London, the Globe Theater, St. Paul's Cathedral, Kensington Palace, Buckingham Palace, Les Miserables, a classical concert at St. Martin's-on-the-Green, fireworks on New Year's Eve at the London Eye.  Lets just say we tried to see everything there was to see.  And now we are in Germany, continuing our adventures.

It is odd to have a stranger come and invade my new world.  It is not a bad odd, but it is a different odd.  I have enjoyed sharing this world and been able to enlighten my mom to the routine and surroundings I experience on a daily basis.  She now has a reference point for what I talk about.  

My girls are coming back really soon!!! I have missed them greatly and feel that without them here...it is pointless.  I cherish the joy they bring to my life and the moments that I see God in them.  I was able to see a few of my girls over the break just for a short period of time, but I can't wait to have their noise in the dorm again and feel like I am here for a purpose rather than just sitting around and waiting.

Grace and Peace!!!

AlOnE aT cHrIsTmAs

I wanted to share a moment with you about this Christmas...

Being away from home sounds really frightening around the holidays. Let me tell you it is a little daunting, but this Christmas I was able to enjoy myself despite the distance from family and friends. Today I went running...I made a wrong turn, up this huge hill.  But once I started I would not allow myself to stop.  As I crested the hill the ground was lightly powdered in white flecks of snow.  It was my first white Christmas experience!!! It was such a blessing and a moment that God and I were able to share on Christmas!!  Just wanted to share with you that special moment!

For my Christmas festivities I went over for brunch with fellow RAs and watched a Christmas episode of the office and for supper I went to my supervisors house and we celebrated with fellow single members of the BFA community!!! It truly was a good Christmas.

SnOw OfFeRs A lItTlE wOnDeR!

"Sleigh bells ring, are you listening, in lane snow is glistening.  Its a beautiful sight, I am happy tonight, walking in a winter wonderland. Walking in a Winter Wonderland!" I may seem so fixated on this idea of snow, but I have never had so much snow where I have lived in my entire life.  I woke up this morning and it had begun to snow, so I went running.  I was covered.  Now I look out my window about 4 hours later and I would say that we have about 5 inches.  It has not snowed in Wittlingen more than once a year...it has already snowed for at least 5 days this winter!!! Now I am dreaming of White Christmas!!

Our girls leave on Saturday...sad day, but at the same time I am ready for a little break from the tasks...not the girls...the tasks!!! I also am going to watch a Golden Retriever dog over the break while my mom is here!! I am so excited.  All we will be missing is my dad...and then it would feel like home (let me clarify...my house home, no offense to everyone else who doesn't live in the house).

So until then...Let it Snow, Let is Snow, Let it Snow!!!!

ReAlIzAtIoNs

Smaller is better; less chaos ensues and it better enables us as a staff to function, as well as, provides more intimate relationships with the girls.  I have begun to realize the times we have smaller groups of girls in the dorm we are able to keep better track and even interact better.  I understand why the dorms have to have so many students, but I wish there was a way to enable smaller amounts of students, which helps everyone's sanity.

But on the other hand life is winding down over here.  The semester is almost complete, which means finals, which means papers, which means lack of sleep, which means sickness, which means crabby girls, which means even more homesickness.  At the same time we, as a school, are going to a Christmas market in Freiburg, a city near us.  It will be a fun excursion for everyone!

I hope all is well...

Remember When

Remember when getting ready would literally take hours; remember when you were frightened that you would pin your date when putting on the boutonniere; remember when you feared spilling your drink on yourself and ruining your dress; remember when you would complain because the heels you "just had to have" were hurting so bad; remember when you kept pulling on your dress because it would slip down and you would feel awkward...

O I got to relive those moments tonight.  BFA had their Christmas Banquet.  It is equivalent to high school dances, but there is no dancing... that is "BFA unapproved".  So instead they pay for dinner and a program including Christmas wishes being granted and performances by students.  Kate Jones, a junior in my dorm, was voted on the court.  It was a night of fun times with new friends, but also a time to reminisce on the past.  You will never get to experience high school again and sometimes I truly wish I could go back and embrace everything that I felt back then.  It was a great time in life that I truly appreciate!