Look who's writing on her xanga! I know that I deserted this pretty little page about pieces of my life but it's interesting how much easier it is to write about your life when there are exciting, strange, hilarious, or uncanny things to share....like those things that come regularly in a distant land. I've checked in on my other friends/colleagues blogs and it must be an epidemic. Not one of us returning has written in months. There are hardly words for times of transition and I think that's why we have little to say. Before we shared of our adventures. Well, those who know where I live know why you have to create it. There's something to be said for small towns, adventure is not one of them. Note: adventure and drama are NOT the same thing at all.

I realized yesterday (snow day number 2) that just about every facet of my life right now can be described in one word: waiting. Whether it's waiting for the snow and ice to melt or waiting on the Lord to return, I'm waiting on something or someone somehow. Have you ever thought about that? We wait ALL the time. While I intercede for others before the Throne, I wait in earnest expectation to see the Lord work. While I'm stuck inside developing severe cabin fever, I'm waiting on the sun to shine and warm the earth to make a way for this caged bird to fly again. While I've sent in my application to LEI (Literacy and Evangelism International), I wait on their decisions to know my next step. When I ask a question, I wait for a reply. When I have an appointment, I wait until it's time to go. I wait for the school to call so that I can sub. I make dinner and wait for it to cook. There's so much waiting!

Scripture tells us to wait on the Lord like in Psalms, "Wait on the Lord: be of good courage and He shall strengthen thine heart," "...rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him..." He's the one that governs all that waiting time. So, obviously we can't get away from waiting. It's necessary. But what am I doing in the waiting? Isn't that when all the action happens? When Flesh Woman arrives and she's ready to conquer. What do I choose?

When I think about Christ waiting, I remember the night in the garden of Gethsemane. He had been waiting for that night a loooong time. What did He do while He waited for Judas to come? What did He ask His disciples to do?

Pray.

He wasn't consumed by the fact that He was waiting. He had purpose in the waiting. He met with His Father while He waited and He was strengthened.

The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

What are you doing while you wait?

I'm reading one of the biographies of Amy Carmichael written by Kathleen White. It's a short book and not incredibly in depth or detailed but it's been a nice easy read. While in this phase I'm in of leaving one thing and starting another I've noticed I catch on to phrases or words that seem to help me express how I feel or summarize my condition. One of the best examples of this came from none other than a missionary herself. So, thanks Amy for writing words in the 19th century that I can completely relate to in the 21st.

Pg 30-31: "It must have been an anxious time for Amy when she was forced to abandon the work in which she had been so wholeheartedly involved. But through it she was learning the inscrutiable ways of God. God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform. Years later, in her book of meditations, Edges of His Ways, she quoted the text from Exodus 13:21:

So, I'm here in Peru (YAY!!) having a fabulous time, and now that my vacation starts today it's just going to get better! It is 12:21PM and I'm still in my pajamas (don't tell my mother).  We just got back last night from a trip to Canta with a large group of International World Changers from the Northwest Association. I wanted to share the two pictures I actually took on the trip. Ha. I didn't take many because I took a ton last year and there wasn't that much more exciting or different this time around. But they had a construction team and I have to share the mode of transportation used to get all the wood beams and tin for the roof from Lima up the Andes Mountains:

Yep, on a school bus. Long beams. Long bus. Makes sense.

Good job, guys!