Dancing with God

When I meditated on the word Guidance, I kept seeing 'dance' at the end of the word. And I remember reading that doing God's will is a lot like dancing. When two people try to lead, nothing feels right. The movement doesn't flow with the music, and everything is quite uncomfortable and jerky. When one person realizes that, and lets the other lead, both bodies begin to flow with the music. One gives gentle cues, perhaps with a nudge to the back or by pressing lightly in one direction or another. It's as if two become one body, moving beautifully. The dance takes surrender, willingness, and attentiveness from one person and gentle guidance and skill from the other. My eyes drew back to the word Guidance. When I saw 'G': I thought of God, followed by 'u' and 'i'. 'God, 'u' and 'i' dance.' God, you, and I dance.

As I lowered my head, I became willing to trust that I would get guidance about my life and once again, I became willing to let God lead. My prayer for you today is that God's blessings and mercies are upon you on this day and everyday. May you abide in God, as God abides in you. Dance together with God, trusting God to lead and to guide you through each season of your life.

And I Hope You Dance!

"HERE I AM....

.....ROCK YOU LIKE A HURRICANE!"

It's been about 3 weeks since hurricane Ike hit Galveston and Houston and all the excitement, life is slowly starting to be back to normal...

First, let me just say it has been quite an adventure. I don't know if anyone was prepared on how serious a storm it was going to be. I, fortunately (or unfortunately, whatever your perspective might be) missed all the excitement. I flew home that Thursday before to help my mom pack up their house and move to Maryland.

That Saturday, as we were cleaning and packing we had the news on so we could hear what was going on with the storm. The footage they showed was incredible! Galveston was destroyed! Watching the devastation of Galveston made me begin to wonder about Houston. How were things? How were my friends that lived there? How was my apartment? And my car that I left at the car park at the airport? Well, praise the Lord! that my car was alright when I arrived home! And well, my apartment? Well, here are the pictures of what happened to it... Praise the Lord nothing happened to any my stuff.




So naturally, I had to move out. My friend Christa, who lived in the same complex, lost her roof. So the apartment complex moved us into this beautiful spacious townhome together. It is GREAT! We both feel like we got this amazing upgrade! And it is such a blessing to have a roommate again! So through this storm, God has showered us abundantly with blessings and protection!

Sciopero

Sciopero. The Italian word for "strike". As in, the workers went on strike because they wanted higher wages. And that is just what happened today. It was my first day of class and there was a strike for all the busses and trains, so I had to take a taxi to get to school...but you know, that's part of the adventure, right? Strikes. Scioperi. So normal for Italy.

The class was great and there are alot of fun people taking the course with me...everyone is mostly from America, one from Canada, and one from Croatia. This course is very informative, alot of work, but a lot of fun! (think of a semester long master's course crammed into 4 weeks)

And I am already seeing how I can apply a lot of this information into my ESL classes this coming school year. And definitely see how this will help me create better English lessons when I go down in teach in Ecuador next summer.

Stay tuned for more....Next Wednesday I start my first day of student teaching!

Ale Viola!!! Forza Fiorentina!

This morning Nicole and I went to the outdoor market by the stadium so I can do a little grocery shopping for vegetables and fruit and such. I LOVE shopping for groceries this way! Anyways, on our way back, we saw all these people wearing purple (the AC Fiorentina color) lined up at the stadium entrance. Naturally, we wanted to find out what was going on, so we walked over there and asked an old man what the commotion was about and we found out that a new player was signing on to join the team and they had this huge ceremony to welcome him...SO fun! I don't know exactly who he was, but he sure was a very handsome Italian soccer player, and that's what matters, right? Ha ha.

Too bad I didn't have my camera with me....

The Italian Adventure begins....

My journey to Florence, Italy, has been a long and eventful one so far, and I am not even in Italy yet! I am sitting at a diner in the London Gatwick airport right now. Just finished lunch - burgers and fries (of course, those of you know about my quest for the world's greatest burger...so far no one has topped Rusty's...but that's another story) - note: now I know why the Brits are not known for their hamburgers. But I am getting ahead of myself and getting off track here. How did I get to this point you may ask? I SHOULD be on a plane halfway to Florence by now, but I'm not.....

Yesterday I departed from Houston and arrived in Atlanta with no problems. Boarded my British Airways flight with ease and settled into my seat, preparing for the long voyage to London. Shortly after, I fell asleep, fully knowing that we would be taking off at any minute. Well, 30 minutes pass by and I awake to the fact that were still sitting on the runway. We hadn't moved one inch! Fantastic. From then on I knew that this journey was going to be an adventure! As expected, we arrived 40 minutes late this morning. Customs was just a sea of people! And now, instead of 2 hrs of a connection time, I was now down to 1 hr 20 min to clear customs, collect my bag from baggage claim, take the train to the international terminal, re-check my bag and get my ticket, go through security - all to make my flight to Florence. Yeah, that didn't happen. By the time I got to the international terminal, I had missed my flight. Praise the Lord! I was able to get on the 3pm flight!! Hence the reason why I am writing to you from a diner in the London airport and not from the air....

Stay tuned for more! This Italian Adventure has only just begun!!!

ps - yes, I DO have my laptop with me this time around!

Ecuador....mi pais

"In His hands are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to Him...Come let us bow down and worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker." Psalm 95:5-6

At the end of spring, before the beginning of summer...I was so torn about what do and where to go - Ecuador or Italy? I wrote it all down, my desires for each, and gave them all to God. He is was so faithful to answer by blessing me with BOTH trips this summer!!! How great is our God!! And loving is He! I just got back from an amazing trip to Ecuador where I spent 16 days serving the Lord at the same school I was at last year with Fundacion Amor y Esperanza. It was so great to see the faces of the children I love so dearly and work along side the teachers there. My heart came alive during my time there! I was overflowing with joy!!

Since I have been back I have been able to spend some good quality time processing my trip with the Lord with all that He had shown me during my time there. I do believe that the Lord may be changing my vision from that of serving Him in Italy to serving in Ecuador! I am excited about the possibilities that lay ahead and excited to see where God will lead me within this next year.

There is so much to write and to say! I can't wait to see each of you in person and tell you all about it!!

**NOTE: I wish I could have written more about Ecuador during my time there, but alas, I didn't bring my computer. Note to self, ALWAYS bring my laptop with me on International journeys!!!

And I can't believe that I leave for Italy in about a week!!!

Ecuador here I come!!

Last summer I spent three and a half amazing weeks in Quito, Ecuador. And in about a week, I will returning back there! This time, with a group from my church. I can't wait to be back there and see all my friends, like Pancho and Pity and their family, as well as Cristina, and Johnny, and all the sweet little children at the school!

There will be 11 of us total going to Quito this June. 9 of them will be there for a week, while Brittany (one of my high school girls from church) and I will be there for two weeks. We will be leading workshops for the teachers at Carmen Bajo as well as doing a soccer camp for the children, teaching them the skills, discipline and character building as athletes, and most importantly how this all applies to your life as followers of Christ. It will definitely be an exciting time and I can't wait to tell everyone of you all about it!!

Stay tuned for the updates...stories and pictures coming to you soon.....

Hasta luego in Ecuador!!