Two of my close friends, Carolina & Melyssa, have a group of amazing women meet at their house each Wednesday night. The Babbling Brookes graciously invited me to join them last Wednesday evening.

I felt honored to be in the presense of such cool people. I loved having the opportunity to share life with them, even if it was just for a couple of hours. As we sat outside and talked, warmed by the fire, it was neat to be able to get a snapshot into each of their lives.

One of the things I love about Orlando is the sense of community. I’m continually impressed and encouraged by how much friends are intentionally creating it in their city.

only the best friends show up at the airport with signs…

I love it!

In 46 hours my best friend’s flight will be landing in JoBerg and I will be patiently (or not so patiently) waiting to greet her.

Life is good!

76 days:

bitter: 9 friends I’ve lived with since January head back to America, I know that I probably won’t see some of them for a long time…

sweet: a few of my favorite people are flying across the ocean to hang out with me in South Africa for two weeks (and that brings a HUGE smile to my face!)

91 days: 

bitter: I’ll leave my American friends in warm and sunny South Africa while they finish their holiday

sweet: I’ll be on my way home to see mi familia! 

94 days: 

bitter: I’ll be leaving my family after just a couple of days for a long weekend (of work…)

sweet: I’m headed to the Sunshine State…I love Florida winters and I’ll get to have an incredible reunion with incredible friends

98 days: 

bitter: I’m flying back to Minneapolis during one of the busiest travel seasons of the year. hello, delayed flights and lost luggage!

sweet: whohoo for a white Christmas! Last year, I worked Christmas Eve and Christmas day (17 hours a day-ish) so I’m really excited to spend it at home.

I love getting mail [and, yes, that's kind of a hint...]. Letter are amazing because they cost 94 cents to mail and its just fun getting a hand written letter. I showed everyone the card from the now notorious Grandma Fluff earlier this week.

And then, one of the girls that was here this summer sent us a package that arrived on Monday. She included something for everyone individually. Yes, it did feel like Christmas! She taught me how to knit while she was here, and unfortunately I haven’t done it since. BUT, thanks to Taryn’s package, I now have knitting needles and an instruction book with patterns for fun stuff like sweaters [okay, the odds of me ever being good enough to knit a sweater are pretty slim!].

We sent her photos of everyone and their present…here’s me pretending I know what I’m doing.

I am determined to learn…I’ll keep you posted on my progress. If nothing else, it will help those 17 hour plane rides back to America go just a little faster…

It’s been a busy week. Which is good, I prefer busyness. Here’s a quick recap of the last few days.

Wednesday: LaunchPad again. We had a few less kids from last week, but it was good. I’m horrible with names, particularly ones that I can’t pronounce. But, I’m making an effort to learn them the best I can. Some are easier to remember than others, for example, Happiness January. I think that might be my favorite…

Thursday & Friday: We had a pastor’s conference in Qwa Qwa. I’m always excited for an excuse to wear my shwe-shwe [my African dress]. It went really well. I’ll post more pictures soon.

This weekend has been relaxing [my obsession with scrabble continues...]. However, as the gulf coasts braces for a hurricane, wild fire season has started here with a vengeance. People have been burning fire breaks for the last couple of months, so hopefully all of the preparation paid off. Last night, the horizon was nearly entirely ablaze. Tonight, the air is full of smoke from nearby fires. Excessive wind doesn’t really help the situation. But, hopefully the season will be as light as the winter cold was, and it will pass soon!

“We can do no great things, only small things with great love.” –Mother Teresa

I felt really crappy today. I felt like I was getting sick yesterday, we were in Qwa Qwa and I slept so much in the car. And then this morning I woke up with a horrible migraine. It was definitely a curl-up-in-bed day.

After work Crystal came to find me with soup. It made my heart smile. It’s the little things in life…

Everyone from Thrive Trip left today. I cried. But I’m so excited that I’ve spent the last 3 weeks making amazing new friends.

Here are some photos, I’ll post more later.

I’m not a very emotional person, but even the thought of this makes me tear up a bit. On Wednesday I will have to say goodbye to 25 people I just met 2 weeks ago and have developed such a passion for, it’s hard to even describe it with words.

So much has happened in all of their hearts, but mine too. It’s amazing how nearly 30 people can grow so much simultaneously. God has done amazing things in all of our lives and strengthened our faith in spectacular ways. This probably will sound like a huge exaggeration, but trust me when I say this may have been one of the best experiences of my life.

BUT, we’re headed on a safari tomorrow…I’m excited to spend 3 more days with my new friends! And I’m not thinking about them leaving again until Wednesday morning…

today was a lazy day. one i’ve been looking forward to all week. although i had plenty i could (and probably should have) done. instead i got to spend a large part of the day with a good friend. it was good.