New Year, New Career

It's been over a year since my last post and too much has happened to give you all the details so I'll hit the high points.

• I moved to Dallas.

• Went to work at a little cupcake bakery that is all the rage, maybe you've heard of it, Sprinkles Cupcakes.
• Decided to go back to school and become a nurse.
• Decided, against my better judgment to get a second job at the Gap.
• Went to Boston with my Family.
• Quit my job at the Gap (I lasted less than two weeks with a trip to Boston in the middle of that).
• Started working at a hole in the wall mexican food restaurant called the Blue Goose Cantina
• Decided I wanted to forget school and become a flight attendant.
  
• Quit my job at Sprinkles to travel the West coast with two friends for two and a half weeks (Crater Lake in Southern Oregon is FANTASTIC, the Redwood forest is pretty awesome as well).
• When I got home from my trip I decided that I wanted to teach middle school social studies (when I say I decided please read: God afforded me so much clarity that I can't think of anything else I would rather do).
• I enrolled in community college and started taking classes that would help me get my teacher certification.
• I discovered how much I love Geography.
• I became an Aunt to Mason Alan Wright. He's a pretty cute kid.
• My parents hooked me up with my sisters old car, a 2002 VW Jetta, and I said goodbye to the Taurus. Man, I miss that car. Good times.
• I went home to Kansas for the first time in a year. Did I ever mention how cold it is there?
• I passed my content test for Texas Social Studies grades 4-8, which means I can start applying for jobs. Yea!!
  

That pretty much sums up that last year of my life. 2008 was definitely an interesting year of change and discovery in my life. Maybe I'll do a better job with updates in 2009...

The way Home

I've been putting off posting a blog for the last week but I figure that it's time for an update. The following blog is what I wrote on the airplane from LA to Houston, Monday, December 3.
**It's really long--sorry.**

It’s 4:20 in the morning Texas Time and I can’t sleep. I’ve been traveling for that last 36 hours. You’d think I’d be exhausted but I’m not…yet. So instead of sleeping like everyone else on the airplane I decided to be that one pretentious person who leaves on the overhead light and busts out the laptop while every one else is sleeping. I left Brisbane, the city that I love, at 8:30 Sunday morning (QLD, Australia time). It was unexpected. Saturday afternoon I got the call that I feared. It was my sister. My Grandma has been fighting Ovarian Cancer for the last 3 years. Just before Thanksgiving she decided to stop taking the Chemo that seemed to only be poisoning her body further. I had been getting periodic updates from my parents and sister as to how she was doing, nervously answering the phone. This update was different. I could hear in my sister’s voice that I couldn’t put off coming home anymore.

For the past several weeks I had just been buying time, putting off the inevitable. Carisse and I were getting ready to go say our goodbyes to our work friends. I was already emotional. I was still unsure when I hung up the phone but in a matter of minutes spent in reflection I knew what I had to do. There was what I wanted to do and what I knew was the right thing. I made my mind up to go home. We said our goodbyes over and over. I was doing alright and then there was Maurice. When I gave him a hug I lost it. He told me to "quit my whining." Carisse and I walked all the way to the train station arm in arm. I cried, and she was there. When I got on the train I just put my head in my hands and sobbed. I wish I could better explain my emotions.

When we got back to the Apartment we went straight to work looking up flights to get me home. I had purchased a ticket by 6:30 pm and was on the plane 14 hours later. I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to all of my friends from church. Andrea drove me, Carisse and Hudson to the airport. I had a hard time saying goodbye to Andrea. She so awesome to be around, so encouraging. Then I had to say goodbye to Carisse. You should understand that we haven’t been apart for the last 4 months. As in we eat most of our meals together, run together, work together, travel together, laugh together, everything together. We have slept in the same room every night since we left Dallas. I really had a hard time leaving her. I’ve been going crazy since I left because I’m so used to sharing everything from food to thoughts to clothes. At my layover in New Zealand I just wondered around and spent money because I felt so lost with out my friend. I miss you bestie! Anyway.

Then my flight out of Auckland, NZ got delayed 12 hours. We were meant to leave at 7:15pm on Sunday night and they changed our flight to 7:15 am on Monday. This means that everyone, including me, missed their original connecting flights. The Airline provided hotels for everyone but that meant that we had to go pick up our luggage and go through customs. Which was a hassle especially since they misplace my bag that had all my toiletries in it. The upside to all of this is that I did wind up getting that New Zealand stamp in my passport after all. So we finally left New Zealand at almost 9 am this morning. Twelve glorious hours of recycled air later and we landed at LAX at 11:30pm on Sunday Night. Basically I traveled back in time. I lived Sunday twice (or was it Monday, I get confused).

When I stepped off the plane I had exactly 1 hour and 20 minutes to go through immigration, collect my bags, get through customs, find the continental check-in, re-check my bags and get through security. It was insane. By the time I got on the plane I was all sweaty and gross. People were pointing and staring. Frankly, it was embarrassing. But I made the flight and that’s all that matters. So as I type all this I’m on my way to Houston and then to Midland where my parents will pick me up and take me to Seminole, where my grandparents live.

**It's been a crazy week since I made it back to Texas. I've had all sorts of mixed emotions. I'm sad. I love my Grandma. It's hard to see her decline daily. She doesn't look the same. She's just waiting for Jesus to take her home. When I got here on Monday I got to ask her if she was excited to see Jesus. I'm so excited for her. She is on her way Home.
It has been good for my whole immediate family to be here. It's cool to be a part of a family that's so close. It's been a heavy thing to come home to. It's been hard to be couped up in the house all day. I miss Carisse and from time to time I wonder where she and Hudson are in their travels around New Zealand. But I still know that it was the right thing for me to come home. It's one of those decisions that is simple to make but at the same time so hard.

The First Australian Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays. Maybe because it's a day that revolves around a massive feast or perhaps it's because it's an excuse to get out of work and school. But my favorite memories of Thanksgiving involve people. I remember our first Thanksgiving in Kansas, we were so sad that we weren't able to be with our extended family in Texas and we hadn't yet made any close friends in Kansas. It was great anyway because the four of us were together and well fed. I remember Thanksgivings with the Smith family when we couldn't make it to Texas. They were our Kansas Family. I remember massive meals with the whole Morris clan. And feasts followed by games of Ninja Uno with the Caffeys. I remember our Thanksgiving meals that we had with our College friends, especially the time I made Jessica laugh and she spit a mouthful of mashed potatoes on my face. I have heaps of memories of all the people I love at Thanksgiving and it is the people that I am truly thankful for. When Carisse and I first started planning our trip to Australia we knew that we were going to have to sacrifice spending Thanksgiving with our families. We were sad about it but we knew that coming home was not an option. We had no idea that God would form an amazing family around us in just three short months. We had been planning on having a Thanksgiving meal with a few friends from church since we got here but we had no idea it would turn into a feast for 20 people. We celebrated last night and tried to explain what Thanksgiving is like in America. There was laugher and fun and WAY too much food. Just before dessert we went around the table and said what we were thankful for. It was definitely a memorable Thanksgiving. As I prepare to leave I am increasingly thankful for the way God is good and sovereign. I love that He saw fit to place us with such wonderful, loving people. I love that I now have family in Australia. I am thankful.

The Beating

So the ocean is really great and beautiful and well, awesome. I love it. The other day we went surfing. It was only my second time out. When you surf the beauty of the ocean turns into a beating. Seriously, if you are in the wrong place when a wave starts breaking it's like getting slapped. At one point I got knocked over and tumbled by a wave and had so much sea water forced up my nose that I'm pretty sure I have salt water in my brain now. I could actually feel it swirling around in there. But did that stop me? No way! So I'm not the world's best surfer, but learning is such a challenge and I love a good challenge. Next surf stop...Stradbroke Island.

Beauty and the Faithfulness of God

It's late here and there is a beautiful Thunderstorm raging outside. I love it. I have always been fascinated with storms. I think most kids who grow up on the plains are. When I was in high school I would sit out on the front porch that faced the west and watch the big thunderheads roll in. I loved the way the warm cement felt beneath my feet and watching the drops of rain fall and slowly cover the ground. That's one of my favorite memories of growing up. The storms have a way of making you feel awe. And for some reason the storms always made me feel peace. Not just the "oh, everything's gonna be alright" kind of peace. I'm talking the kind of peace that you can just feel in your chest. Maybe the peace comes from knowing I have a safe place to go when the storm closes in or perhaps it is a sense of contentment. Whatever it is, it's beautiful.

Growing up in the flat lands of Kansas, where there is no real naturally beautiful landscape, we always looked to the skies to get our eyeful of beauty. Sunrises, sunsets, storms, and some of the most amazing stars you will ever see are in Southwest Kansas. Things are different here in Queensland, Australia. There are different types of landscapes. From lush, green rolling hills to the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen, this place is full of natural beauty. Though the places are different one thing is the same. Both whisper to me of God. From my front porch in Kansas I see God in the storm and in the stars. Who can calculate the vastness of space? And yet God created it. From the my cozy spot on the beach I can watch the waves come and crash on the shore. They are a reminder of God's persistent faithfulness. The waves keep coming, they never stop. Last time Carisse and I were down at the Gold Coast we went for a run on the beach. The waves seemed to me like God breathing. I don't know if God breathes. But breathing has been a consistent thing in my life. I have to breathe. I am a faithful breather. And for some reason the waves related to me like the breath of God. Always faithful.
Beauty is everywhere. And where we find beauty we find a picture of God.

The Recap

So, it's been a long time since my last blog and I'd like to say it's because I've been busy doing lots of cool, adventurous stuff...but it's not. Its just mostly been work and home for me over the last few weeks. But I feel I can hit a few highlights that will satisfy the regular blog readers. Let's go back about three weeks...
Sunday--I heard a really great sermon about how God loves Israel/His people and wants to give them a nose ring.
Monday--I went to the Gold Coast and got my nose pierced.
Tuesday-Friday--Pretty much the usual work stuff. Maurice the Head Chef at the Restaurant (See Carisse's blog for a picture) asked me "Why do pretty girls always put s#@! in their faces?"
Sunday--I woke up and decided my bangs we too long and in need of a trim. Carisse has scissors so I cut my own bangs. Bad idea. I know not to pull my bangs down while cutting but I did it anyway so when I let go my bangs were shorter than I wanted and very uneven. Luckily, I came to my senses before trying to make things better by cutting more. Sometimes you just have to put the scissors down and wait for your hair to grow.
Monday--I managed to tame my bangs well enough to look presentable for my first proper High Tea. That's when they bring snacks out on a three tiered plate. Very cool. And surprisingly filling. Later that same day we went rock climbing at Kangaroo Point it was heaps of fun. This is me at the top.
Tuesday-Saturday--Normal work stuff.
Sunday--We hung out with some friends from Church. They took us to feed Opossums in the Brisbane City Botanical Gardens. It was fun. I actually got to pet one (after our friend confirmed that they don't have rabies over here). They are quite soft. Towards the end they started getting feisty and we started running out of food so we knew it was time to go.
Monday--We went down to the Gold Coast again. The highlight was getting to run on the beach. It is soooo beautiful there. However, running in the wind made Carisse sick (Ear/nose/throat sick not puking sick).
Tuesday-Saturday--Work stuff as usual.
Sunday (today)--I brushed my nose ring (well, really it's more of a stud) while drying off my face. It came out and Carisse and I couldn't get it back in (it was a team effort). So I have now come full circle on the whole having a nose piercing. And now I can tell stories about that one time when I had my nose pierced.
Plans for tomorrow--Kayak the Brisbane River and perhaps another short-term piercing...they make for good stories.

Can't Sleep...Must Blog

It's been a long time since I have actually written anything of substance on here (wait...have I ever written anything of substance on here?). So I figure it's about time. I've resisted writing anything too serious because at some point during last summer I lost the ability to be serious, but I think it's starting to come back now. anywhooo.
It's midnight here and I can't sleep. For some reason my mind just won't shut off tonight. I was just laying in bed, staring at the ceiling and thinking about why and how I ended up in Brisbane, Australia. Now that I think about it, my pathway here started way before I was ever interested in traveling or Australia. It's almost as if God knew that this was where I needed to be ;) So tonight as I was laying in bed I started thinking about walls. Not physical walls that hold up buildings and houses but the kind of walls that we put up to insulate ourselves from other people, pain and the world in general. After I made the decision to uproot my life and move to Australia I started reflecting on what my life has been made of. It seems to me that from the time I became truly conscious of sin and pain and worldliness (which for me was sometime between my freshman and sophomore year of high school), I've been doing everything in my power to keep away from it. To keep my life as neat and clean as possible. Sure it seems like the Christian thing to do but in order to keep my life neat and clean I had to build some walls and relinquish some friendships. Since I first started working I have never had job where I wasn't surrounded by other Christians or in a Christian environment (the only exception being my short-lived career as a softball umpire...good money, but soooo not worth it). In High School I worked in a Christian gift shop and by the time I reached my senior year I had pretty much severed ties with all my friends that weren't Christians. I couldn't afford to be dragged in to sin by my friends. I had to keep my life clean, they made things messy. I left small town Kansas and headed for the college of my choice and of my dreams, Abilene Christian University. The wholesome goodness is baked right into the name. How could I go wrong at a Christian University studying to become a youth minister. That's about as neat and clean as life can get for an 18 year old. If there were wild parties going on I didn't know about them and I didn't really care to know about them. They didn't really fit into my neat, clean, little world. And after University I went straight to work at a church. It was here that things started getting messed up around me. I really started to dig into the gospels and reading crazy books like Blue Like Jazz and The Irresistible Revolution. I started trying to understand Jesus on a personal level. I was encouraging my teens to be missionaries in their schools, trying to help them learn to love people the way Jesus did. Then I started to realize that Jesus didn't have a neat and clean life. It was messy and full of notorious sinners, freaks and loaners. I guess I always knew that was how Jesus was in my head but that truth had finally started making its was to my heart. Cracks started showing up in my protective sin barrier. I started to realize that perhaps my safe little life looked nothing like the messy, grace-filled adventure that Jesus was offering His disciples. I started asking questions...tough ones. Like...What would happen if I let go and really let Jesus have all of my life? Would my life look different if I practiced what I preached? Am I friends with notorious sinners? Do I really believe that His grace in big enough to cover my mistakes? Do I trust God to give me just enough for today?
I needed to test myself. I needed to let the walls of my neat Christian life fall down. So God brought me to Australia. He plopped me down in a house where a church meets weekly to discuss the greatness of God's glory and mercy. A place where the gospel really is good news because we all know that we can never be good enough. He gave me a job working with amazing people that I love, who have messy lives too. And every time I work with them I get to love them more and show them grace and mercy that Jesus has offered me. And God is teaching me that I don't have to be perfect or say the right thing. In fact, it is my imperfections that make me need Him and love Him more. Praise God for the grace and mercy of Jesus. And if that is the only reason that God brought me to the far side of the planet then that is enough.