"...forgetting (or fondly remembering) what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead." Phil. 3:13

The time has arrived...on the eve of my 22nd birthday I find myself packed, prepared for a teary goodbye, and very ready to be in Kazakhstan! I don't know how many people actually look forward to getting to the Atlanta airport, but this is one girl who most certainly is! I can't say that I am looking forward to the next few days and all the goodbyes that are approaching. However, I am so very thankful for all the blessings God has given me!

1) I am so thankful that God has given me a place to live. He has blessed me with the privilege of living with some dear family friends, Tim and Lori Byars, for the past 8 months. They have treated me as their own daughter and I have been so grateful for their love and care of me!

2) I am very thankful for my church. It has challenged me so much! Several months ago our pastor challenged us to pray about moving into an area of downtown Birmingham to be able to better serve the people in that area. One of the girls in my small group was looking for a place at the time and thought, why not? So she moved into East Lake. We have started meeting there once a week for our Bible study, and the past month we have been doing a kids Bible study for the kids in the neighborhood. I've loved getting to spend time with these kids, and I'm sad to leave them, but so excited to hear about all God's gonna do there!

3) I am so thankful for my small group. The girls in that group have become some of my dearest friends. I don't know what I would have done the past few months without them! We have shared so much joy and struggle! We have laughed and laughed with each other, shared awkward moments, and made memories that will last forever!!! I will miss them so much. I am already praying that God will prepare some great relationships in Kazakhstan, because he has blessed me so much with this group...they will be terribly missed!

So...here I am...with so much to be thankful for as I look to what lies ahead!

All my bags are packed, and I'm ready to go!!!

Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine! Isaiah 43:1b

After some wrestling and much prayer I have decided to delay my departure a little. I will be leaving on August 1st to move back to Kazakhstan now. I have my tickets purchased, but I am still waiting on the Letter of Invitation. Please pray that comes in quickly!

I am very thankful that I will have this extra time to spend with some of my girlfriends here in the States, and to make sure I say my goodbyes well. It started hitting me a few days ago...for real...that I will be leaving for a WHOLE year. In the grand scheme of things that's not long at all...merely a flash...but right now, with it glaring at me in the face, it seems like a very long time! God has been so gracious to bless me with some GREAT friends here! I never imagined Him doing all that He has done in the past 6 months...but that does also make leaving harder than it's ever been before.

Someone asked me yesterdayif I was excited or sad or nervous. I told them that it is the strangest mix of emotions. I am so extremely excited, because I know, without a doubt, this is where God has called me to be right now. However, I have never, in the past four years, felt more "at home" in the States than I do now. It will be very hard to, once again (for the millionth and something time in my life) leave....

Yet, I get to have incredible joy in the midst of the pain of parting because I know that my destination falls in the center of God's perfect plan for my life! There is no where else I would rather be, no matter how hard, how uncomfortable, how lonely, I want to be in the center of His will. That's a very scary statement to make...but I mean it, with as much as I can!

And the best part is that Jesus is with me every single step of the way. Holding me and walking with me at all times! At church yesterday, the sermon was about Hosea, and there was a passage that particularly stuck out to me. Reminding me that I am Jesus'. I am His betrothed. He loves me forever. He loves me in spite of my flirtations with the world. And He lets me intimately know Him!!!! That excites me so much!

Hosea 2:19-20

I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in FAITHFULNESS. And you shall KNOW the Lord.

BIG SMILES=+)