Me, as of now!

For some reason, I have had the sudden urge to get back into blogging (not that I ever did it regularly, but we'll see how this attempt goes). After reading my previous posts, I wanted to just start over and make a new blog. Part of this was because reading my old posts is like looking back through a very cloudy mirror. The events are a little muddy in my memory, but more importantly they just don't seem that important. It's funny when you go through life and you hit those times that life just seems incredibly challenging and in a few years you have look back and want to laugh, asking yourself "What in the world was I thinking?" I won't lie, part of me wanted to remove those posts because of embarrassment. They are from a life that no longer exists to me, and I don't want everyone reading them. As I thought about it, though, I realize that it's important to keep the past in the past, but not to forget about it. After all, it's what has brought me to where I am today.

So where am I, today? Currently, I am sitting on my couch with a dog snuggled in beside me and a cat sprawled out next to my head. Apparently, it's naptime and I missed the memo. My cat is named Penny (also goes by 'Penny Lane', 'Penelope', and 'Get down from there, you Mongrel!'). She is roughly 2 years old and was adopted from the New Castle Animal Shelter when she was a kitten. She enjoys naps, eating, chasing invisible things, biting toes, and taunting dogs. The dog that is laying beside me is named Finnigan (but usually goes by Finn unless he is in trouble). He is the newest addition to my little family, and just came to me about two weeks ago. I was at a parade in Cambridge City when I saw this little dog walking in it, and he just tugged at my heartstrings. Two days later, he was mine. He came to me as Artie, but made it well known that he really didn't like it, and I agreed. He has adapted rather well to his new persona as Finn. He is a 2 year old wire-haired terrier. He likes sleeping, snuggling, running, and taunting cats. So, world, meet my little family.



Now, a little bit about my life. I moved at the beginning of August, 2010 to a small town called Dublin. It is a very quiet town, and quite a bit of a change from what I am used to. After living in Muncie for 6 years and having everything I need just minutes away, I now live 20 minutes from the nearest 'normal' grocery store. Sure, a few minutes down the road there is a little family-owned store, but for the sake of my pocketbook I try to stick to the big chain store that is known as Kroger. Anyway, my house is the perfect size for myself, Penny, and Finn.
I work at Connersville High School as the athletic trainer. I spend most of my evenings at school covering practices and games, and so far it has been great. I love the work I do, the athletes are great, and I have a lot of fun doing something that I love. Tonight we have a JV Football game and a soccer game. I generally don't have to be to work until 2ish, so I have plenty of time in the morning for getting other things done that need to be done. Important things, like blogging. And taking Finn for walks. And cleaning. My house is a pretty clean place. I want to start some other projects, one being scrapbooking. I am waiting to receive prints from Snapfish so that I can begin scrapping my Jamaica Mission Trip 2010.



One main reason that I wanted to blog was for this to be an outlet for some of my thoughts on God, my walk with Him, and to bring glory to Him through this. This is something that I have never really been good at (writing about God), but I think I'll give it a shot. I am heading to Liberia, Africa in February to do some work for God. Liberia is a small country in Western Africa, and has a population of near 3.3 million. Recently, a 14 year long civil war ended and has decimated the infrastructure of the country. The unemployment rate is over 80%, and more than 65,000 people die each year due to malaria, dysentery, cholera, and hepatitis due to unclean drinking water. To put it into perspective, 1 out of every 4 kids die due simply to the water they are consuming.

As part of this mission, we will be putting in water systems that will provide clean drinking water to the Liberians. These water systems will basically have a large tank (roughly 10,000 gallons) filled with water that will have a basic purification component added to it that will make the water safe to drink. I know that is a very poor description, so for more details be sure to check out www.hope2liberia.org

We will also be putting on a Vacation Bible School for the Liberian children. The last team to go over and do this had nearly 400 children the first day and each day the number grew. For me, personally, I am thrilled to have the opportunity to show children love. In many countries (including Liberia) children often miss out on the types of love that we so often take for granted. Most of the kids that will come to this VBS won't have a clue about Jesus, but will be coming simply because there will be people paying attention to them. It amazes me that just by simply touching a child, hugging them, or looking at them and smiling can honestly be the most exciting thing for them. From what I learned on two trips to Jamaica, these kids don't treasure material items like we would expect. It's just love, affection, and attention that they crave. I am excited to show them that type of love, while at the same time teaching them about the love of Jesus and how much MORE he loves them than anything else. I cannot wait to share Jesus' love, and to give some hugs :)

We will ALSO (yes, also!) be putting on a womens conference. Honestly, I do not know all that this entails, but I know that part of it will be encouraging Liberian women and reminding them that they are more precious than diamonds to God. I can't imagine living my entire life and never hear someone telling me that I am beautiful, that I am smart, or or even that they enjoy being around me. Liberia is not a country that has equal rights, and I don't just mean that women can't get jobs like men can. During the 14 year long civil war, it was not uncommon for women and girls to become victims of rape, trafficking, female genital mutilation, dowry-related violence, and numerous other crimes. I can only imagine what this has left the Liberian women feeling about themselves. I am humbled to have the opportunity to love these women and bring their dark lives light through a hope in Christ.

This is getting a bit lengthy, so I should stop for now. I will be updating regularly with more of what is going on in my exciting life!