It is now 12:30am in Flagstaff, Arizona. Yes, I have arrived safely home after about 36 hours of travel. It’s rather chilly and I can’t sleep. What better to do in the midst of jetlag than snuggle up with a nice cup of tea and some of my mom’s amazing English toffee and update the blog?
Today, the last 36 hours, has been full of God’s provision. Now, when it comes to travel, especially travel abroad, I have the tendency to panic with worry about something…or everything going wrong. The night before departure, I sat at the kitchen table going over every “worst-case-scenario” that could possibly happen. Appropriately enough, my dad had sent me an email that morning by Max Lucado about worrying only about the problems that today holds because the strength for tomorrow’s issues will come tomorrow. How appropriate. All that worrying did nothing but increase my stress level and made it easier to forget how he has provided in the past. Emily and I left Bandung at 4:00am on Friday for Jakarta. My flight was to leave at 9:15am and hers around 11. We arrived at the airport at about 6:30am. There was no line at the ticket counter and no problem with my reservation. I made my way to the immigration counter where there was a man whose sole purpose in life is to make worry-wart bules nervous by taking two extra minutes to check her passport and visa. He let me by, and I spent about fort five minutes chillin’ in a rather empty airport until my flight for Hong Kong was to leave. The flight to Hong Kong went very smoothly. Got to spend some time reflecting on the past semester and dreaming about what God has planned for next semester. I arrived in Hong Kong, went straight to Starbucks, got a little lost, but eventually found my way to an excellent people watching spot near my gate. The stretch from Hong Kong to L.A. is the longest of my journey- 12 hours. Those 12 hours are rather torturous when the in-flight entertainment system is down. Without any movies or television to pass the time, I spent the majority of the 12 hours sleeping and reading. It was pretty rough, but praise God that I had a little more leg room because of an empty seat next to me. I made it through the long flight and in the end the crew felt so badly about the technical difficulties that we got about $50 worth of vouchers out of it. We landed in L.A. at about 1:30pm, and my flight to Phoenix, leaving from Terminal 1 on the other side of the airport, was to leave at 4:00pm. While I stood in the customs line watching the one attendant work slowly through the 30 people in front of me, I figured it was about time to tap into that strength for the issues of the day. From what I could see it was going to be a miracle if I made my flight to Phoenix. About 2:30, I had made my way through customs, had successfully collected my luggage and was on my way to the final leg of the journey. It was a rather perilous trek through parking garages and dodging some scary L.A. drivers, but I made it to the ticket counter for Southwest. Because I had a luggage cart I was able to get into a shorter line and avoid a little bit of Christmas travel craziness. God was so good, he provided the strength I needed exactly at the moment I needed it. The remainder of the trip went well until I arrived in Phoenix and couldn’t find my family. Without a cell phone or way to contact them I wandered through the arrival gate looking for them. They had gone to the wrong arrival gate and ended up running into me on their way to the pager thing. Not exactly that Hollywood arrival with hugs and tears, but that’s the Evans Family for ya.
I am so happy to be home…or at least I will be when the jetlag/unconsciousness wears off:) Tomorrow is already a full day: I have to get my visa stuff sent off asap (be praying for that when you get a chance), I am getting my hair cut, and meeting up with my roommates.
I am sure more updates are to come from the Evans Family Christmas 2007:)
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Happiness is...
...a little bit of rain, Ella Fitzgerald singing "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," a Peppermint Mocha, and laughter with good friends.
Have you ever experienced anything you wish you could just bottle up and keep forever? I have had the privilege of experiencing many times like that: long chats with good friends at Campus Coffee Bean, walking across Cottey Campus on a fall morning, road trips to Denny's with Sara Groves in the background, worship at sunset up at the peaks. Moments like that help put life back into perspective. Life can be chaotic, stressful and even painful at times, but praise God that he provides moments of complete contentment. This afternoon was one of those moments.
I have been done with student teaching for about a week now. My days have been filled with various odd jobs around the school. I have sat in on the ESL classes, getting a taste of what next semester holds. I visited third grade yesterday, spent some time in the high school Spanish class this morning and helped with the first grade Ancient Egypt play this afternoon. Tomorrow and Friday I am helping with the Christmas program. Although the odd jobs have been fun, it has been hard phasing out of the fifth grade. That's been my place for the past three months, and now I have to work on moving out of there. On top of the transition with that, the homesickness and stress with the return home fast approaching has resulted in a rather worn out Molly in need of some chill time.
Some of the elementary teachers have made it a weekly ritual to go to Starbucks after the staff meeting on Wednesdays. The plan is to go and work, but it usually ends up with all of us chatting. With all of the stress that the end of a semester can bring the Starbucks crew has dwindled to two or three. I have only gone a couple times, but this afternoon I knew that I was in desperate need of some new scenery and a Peppermint Mocha. In fact, I don't think I have ever looked forward to a Peppermint Mocha more (oh the joys of culture stress) :) Lindsey and I had to ride through the rain and some crazy traffic to get there, but the end result was well worth it. We splurged and got a cheese bagel and a piece of Oreo cheesecake to share along with a peppermint mocha and a hot chocolate. The other teachers who had come were Becky and Donna (Kindergarten and Preschool teachers). We had all brought something to work on, but ended up chatting for about two hours. We laughed about the funny things our kids had said that week, spoke with excitement about our plans for Christmas break, and soaked up the festive atmosphere that this Indonesian Starbucks provided. It was a little slice of heaven:) The combination of the air conditioning inside and the rain outside made it feel a little like winter time. The Christmas music and Peppermint Mocha made me feel for a second like I was back in the states. I have traveled to some pretty spectacular places and been rendered speechless by God's creation, but nothing compares to a good cup of coffee and good conversation with people you love.
Christmas is my favorite time of year. I love the music, I love the traditions, I love the Peppermint Mocha, and I love the memories, stories and laughs that I associate with this holiday season. As I look forward to returning home in two weeks to add some more memories to this time of year that I cherish so much, I am also thankful for the people God has placed in my life here in Indonesia.
Have you ever experienced anything you wish you could just bottle up and keep forever? I have had the privilege of experiencing many times like that: long chats with good friends at Campus Coffee Bean, walking across Cottey Campus on a fall morning, road trips to Denny's with Sara Groves in the background, worship at sunset up at the peaks. Moments like that help put life back into perspective. Life can be chaotic, stressful and even painful at times, but praise God that he provides moments of complete contentment. This afternoon was one of those moments.
I have been done with student teaching for about a week now. My days have been filled with various odd jobs around the school. I have sat in on the ESL classes, getting a taste of what next semester holds. I visited third grade yesterday, spent some time in the high school Spanish class this morning and helped with the first grade Ancient Egypt play this afternoon. Tomorrow and Friday I am helping with the Christmas program. Although the odd jobs have been fun, it has been hard phasing out of the fifth grade. That's been my place for the past three months, and now I have to work on moving out of there. On top of the transition with that, the homesickness and stress with the return home fast approaching has resulted in a rather worn out Molly in need of some chill time.
Some of the elementary teachers have made it a weekly ritual to go to Starbucks after the staff meeting on Wednesdays. The plan is to go and work, but it usually ends up with all of us chatting. With all of the stress that the end of a semester can bring the Starbucks crew has dwindled to two or three. I have only gone a couple times, but this afternoon I knew that I was in desperate need of some new scenery and a Peppermint Mocha. In fact, I don't think I have ever looked forward to a Peppermint Mocha more (oh the joys of culture stress) :) Lindsey and I had to ride through the rain and some crazy traffic to get there, but the end result was well worth it. We splurged and got a cheese bagel and a piece of Oreo cheesecake to share along with a peppermint mocha and a hot chocolate. The other teachers who had come were Becky and Donna (Kindergarten and Preschool teachers). We had all brought something to work on, but ended up chatting for about two hours. We laughed about the funny things our kids had said that week, spoke with excitement about our plans for Christmas break, and soaked up the festive atmosphere that this Indonesian Starbucks provided. It was a little slice of heaven:) The combination of the air conditioning inside and the rain outside made it feel a little like winter time. The Christmas music and Peppermint Mocha made me feel for a second like I was back in the states. I have traveled to some pretty spectacular places and been rendered speechless by God's creation, but nothing compares to a good cup of coffee and good conversation with people you love.
Christmas is my favorite time of year. I love the music, I love the traditions, I love the Peppermint Mocha, and I love the memories, stories and laughs that I associate with this holiday season. As I look forward to returning home in two weeks to add some more memories to this time of year that I cherish so much, I am also thankful for the people God has placed in my life here in Indonesia.
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