The Self-Confessed Blogger Begins

Today is Thanksgiving.

I'm sitting on my sister's couch, having just finished "Bugs Bunny's Thanksgiving Diet," and have decided to start up the blog again. Like you do.

I've usually used this blog as a way to communicate with loved ones when other ways weren't possible:  "I'm in California, in a different time zone, very busily changing the face of our church, so I process and report through this blog" :) ...or, "I'm in another country, unable to call or text, so I communicate with the masses by stealing some Australian man's internet bandwidth and blogging to my church congregation."
So I've had that excuse: "Oh yeah, I have a blog, but I only use it when I'm away and can't talk to people any other way."

Social media is such a tricky thing to handle. It's designed to keep us connected, but so often it ends up disconnecting us from our current surroundings. I don't want to be disconnected, so I often hate some of the labels I seem to acquire. (By the way, Twitter much? Have you checked your Facebook while you're reading this?) :)

I've been thinking of doing this for awhile, and after becoming jealous of how much practice my roommate is getting in her writing with various social networking outlets, I have decided to give in. One of my goals-that-you-want-to-complete-before-you-get-too-old-to-complete-it is that I hope to publish something(s). What I'll publish exactly, I'm not quite sure, but publish I will.

So lately, I've been thinking I needed to write more. Everyone needs an outlet, and one of mine is most definitely writing, but I'm not the typical writer. I own journals, but about five pages in, they get the shelf. Combine the fact that I have no discipline with the fact that I'm often too scared to write, (because putting my thoughts on the page makes whatever I'm dealing with too real) and you get one bottled-up writer.
But after much thought, (and dare I say whining) no more excuses, I think I'm finally going to admit to and embrace the title of "blogger." : )

So, since it's Thanksgiving, I'll say this in advance: thanks. Thanks for reading. Thanks for processing, thinking, and tolerating. I hope this works as an outlet for me, and a source of thought for whoever may read it.
Cheers,
The Blogger

This Actually Didn't Happen

Since I only seem to use this blog when I leave home for extended periods of time, I thought I’d keep blogging this summer about my experience here at camp.

I’m not allowed to use my computer when I have kids during the week, but I’ll have a day off a week as well as weekends off, so I should be able to get an entry or two in a week, so check back regularly!
If I see people are still reading, I’ll keep writing! : )

For the first camp experience, here are a few videos from the ride today to First Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, the church that owns Ligonier:

People sing here a lot.


You have to hold your breath in tunnels.

Living Out Memories

I’m at camp for orientation. I got back from the Ukraine very early on Wednesday morning (after a free international ride in first class and then a very frustrating cancellation with my domestic flight.)

On Wednesday I took a bath (with warm water!), answered a few emails, and then headed for camp orientation. During training I had to mountain board—skateboarding on a mountain—and mountain bike—I literally biked over a pile of logs, rocks, and a teeter-totter. It was intense.
I spent the night and left to be home for H.S. graduation and then the funeral on Friday. It was a wonderful remembrance of my grandma. She was celebrated but the focus was still on her focus: Christ.

Then on Saturday I came back to camp and have been here since. A lot of this has been hard for me to have happen at the same time, but I know that the this is the right place for me to be right now.

For my last Ukraine entry, I thought I’d put what I wrote in my journal after we said goodbye in Vasilcov:

“We just left the orphanage.
Ruth started to pray on the bus and it was really powerful.

I just love these kids. A phrase I’ve heard a lot on this trip is to ‘love on.’ That idea is so awesome. It was so fulfilling to ‘love on’ these kids.
I don’t know quite what to do now. I feel called to love on kids for a lifetime, but where do I start? How do I sustain?

I can picture their faces; I can see them now. In a month will I be able to? In a year?
How can we live a memory?

God has opened my eyes to the world this week.
But now that they’re open, I have to start deciding where to walk.

Everything seems so big and so little at the same time."

A Picture Memoir Will Have To Do

I think I might not have internet access again so I thought I'd put up some of my most memorable pictures so far just in case I can't write again until I get home. : )

Think of it as a mini-memoir. : )

Everything here is beautiful.

Ukraine food is healthy. Very healthy.

Bread is a necessity.

Three kids without a home.

A lot of times we work.

And sometimes we play--long enough to go on walks and find pretty flowers.

...as well as find the new door to Narnia.

...or a woman from a Disney movie.

I love the Faceless team! (Especially when they stand in a room we just redid.)

The Kids

Tonight's our last night in the orphanage. I have loved getting to know these kids.
I got to spend a lot of quality time with the girls today. We went shopping and painted nails and one of the girls gave me a picture of herself at the end of the night to keep and then left trying not to cry.
In addition to the girls I've befriended, I've really valued my relationships with the boys here. Oddly enough I'm pretty close in age to most of them (and they are legally considered men by ours and the Ukrainian standards) but I feel such a motherly connection to them.

I wish this was the type of situation where I could come back and check on them in a few years, but I know they'll all be scattered across the world soon. I hope I left them with something.
What a blessing to know them for even this short a time.

Sacha, the most friendly (and most would agree at times annoying) :) of the boys sang a song for me today when we were our shopping. (Of course, Sacha came with us.)