Always On An Adventure...

Yesterday I graduated from college with a degree in Middle Grades Education.


(Pictures would be inserted but I have absolutely no idea where my camera cord is at the moment)


However, I'm staying here another week for a last week at work before going to my mother's home where I'll be until The World Race.


A few nights at a friend's apartment until they have to move out, then at another friend's until Friday.


Today, in the very early morning I had to move out of my apartment.


I can't move into my friend's place until later in the afternoon


Which means, that at the moment, I'm completely homeless.


All my belongings in the back of the car. 


One grocery bag full of food.


Aslan in the passenger seat.


Two goldfish swimming in a Ziploc bag until we can establish their new home.


Me stealing wifi in a parking lot until I become too suspicious.


This is going to be quite an interesting week.

Always On The Move

Packing up to go back to school in less than a week.

I love it there. So many adventures with great people, living in a tight-knit community with others and always going, going, going.

But I love it here too. Life is slower, less complicated. There's community here too, smaller yet more intimate.

Divided between two families.

This is my fourth year doing this and you would think it would get easier but I don't think it ever will until we get to heaven.

Then, I can't wait for the epic potluck and family reunion that will happen.

But until then, I'll keep searching for a place to call home.

My favorite spot in my current home:

Sleeping in a hammock because my bed is cluttered with college things,

surrounded by books and art.

O Christmas Tree

This past weekend I waged an epic battle with fake Christmas trees. There's nothing I enjoy better than having 7 foot Majestic pines fall on me. (And that happened a lot).

Then, on Monday I went to the shelter and they were setting up Christmas trees.

Oh joy, more trees to fall on me

We were setting up this beautiful fake fir, trying to figure out which fake branch goes where, making sure the tree didn't topple over and laughing at our pathetic Charlie Brown tree.

Then, one of the ladies from the shelter looked at us with eyes that were trying to hold back a waterfall, and had to excuse herself.

Later when she returned, she told us that it had been 5 years since she had last set up a Christmas tree

Five years since she had last had a place to stay

Five years since she last had a home

A Christmas tree doesn't just symbolize Christmas and winter joy; it symbolizes home

One must have a home to set up a tree

And for all my complaining about setting up stupid trees

I'll think about it differently next time

Home

(I meant to put this up a few weeks ago but then my computer freaked out on me)

Home

[hohm]

noun

a house, apartment, or other shelter that is the usual residence of a person, family, or household.

I live in a house.

We moved there almost two years ago.

It lies in a picture-perfect subdivision with children always playing outside and an overbearing homeowners association.

It's a spacious, four bedroom house with 2.5 bathrooms, a gorgeous kitchen and a lot of square footage.

I have my own room painted neon green and a blue ceiling with glow-in-the-dark stars placed in their constellations. A hammock lies next to the window and I sleep in it whenever I come back from school. The window leads to the outside and a small roof juts out from it so I can climb out and see the stars on beautiful nights.

Yet, I still cannot think of that place as home.

It is just a house.

No matter how hard I try, that house is not home. Let’s not get me wrong, I absolutely love my family but it’s just not where my heart belongs.

For the longest time, home was my church, mainly my youth group. I remember being squished in the back of a church van during an eight-hour trip and realizing that this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I truly loved being in the presence of my Jesus family. Summer nights playing on the volleyball courts felt like home.

Then I came to college. College was where, somehow, strangers became family and I finally felt like I was accepted without having to follow society’s standards. Starlite retreats and mud football never felt so much like home.

This summer I went to camp. Where, having no one else to be around, we were always around each other. Where staring at shooting stars and fishing became a way of life. And during those peaceful nights, I felt like I was at home.

These past two weeks, I’ve gone from camp, to my house, to my church home, to college.

And I’ve never felt so confused as to where home is.

Where does my heart belong?

Maybe these are simply glimpses of a better place.

If I find in myself desires nothing in this world can satisfy,
I can only conclude that I was not made for here. --Brooke Fraser "C.S. Lewis Song"