Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Back to School..

Well I am halfway through my first day of classes. I must say it has been exciting and strange all at the same time. I am so ready to be back to school and get my degree finished, but I never thought I would be one of those returning adults. Honestly, I probably look younger than my fellow students, but I was quickly reminded that I am indeed older AND more mature after a few comments were made by new freshman in my first two classes. This semester I am taking 4 classes, 12 hours. After getting an overview, I really think I will enjoy my first two, especially my psychology class. I am waiting in the hall outside my biology classroom but I can assure you I will NOT enjoy this class. Then I have Christianity. I am very curious to see what that class is like. Overall it has been a very good first day. Keep praying for me and David though, because going back to school will add more stress and busyness to our life. David has been nothing but supportive though, and I am extremely grateful for that.
On another note, we started our scuba training last night! We go this week monday through thursday from 6-10 and then have our open water tests Saturday and Sunday. We are so excited about it! I will be sure to post how it all goes at the end of the week...

Friday, August 14, 2009

Back in the swing of things

As wonderful as it is to be back home, it has been very difficult trying to get back into a normal routine. Being in Latvia for 20 days, we got extremely used to their time. We will be doing fine, but then at certain times we hit a wall. The problem is when it's afternoon here, it is late at night there and when it is early morning here, it is afternoon there. Our bodies are still on Riga time so when it hits about 4/5 am, we are awake and really struggling to fall back asleep.
I loved being over there for so long, but now that we are back, I feel so out of the loop and very behind on things here. That has been the most frustrating thing. And I know me and David miss everyone there so much!! We really got close to all the youth. Plus our team got extremely close so it has been weird to spend 24/7 with these people then come back and not see them. But with as crazy as things have been since getting home, David and I still feel truly blessed that we had the opportunity to go to Riga and serve together. We learned so much about each other.
On another note, we have a very exciting couple weeks coming up. The week of the 24th, I will be going back to school to get a degree in psychology. I am so excited about this next step. I am very ready to get back to school and over the last year, I have felt very strongly that I am called to do some sort of counseling for girl's. It is going to be a challenge trying to juggle school work, a job, and hubby/wife time, but I am up for the challenge. But we would both appreciate your prayers as it is going to be an adjustment. We are used to pretty much being together all day since we work together, so it will be weird to be two different places on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Also during the week of the 24th, we are finally going to do our scuba certification! I am an even mix of terrified and excited. But knowing that we will be able to see so many things excites me. I am looking forward to being able to share this with David.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Last night in Latvia

Well, it is our last night here in Latvia and I have to say this has been an amazing trip. And getting to do it along side my best friend has made it that much more wonderful.

I had wanted to update some while at camp but it didn’t happen, so…this last week we went out to Camp Norkalni and helped run youth camp. The days were very long and very busy but at the end of the day it felt like it flew by. I had the privilege of leading worship every other night. Last year I led every night which was great, but it was also nice to take a break every other day and just enjoy what the Latvian’s had planned. Leading worship over here is so amazing. I love leading at home but there is something different about being over here. I think I just can’t get over how cool it is to be praising the same God through the same songs but just in different languages. There were several times I would just back away from the mic and the room was just filled with voices singing. It is so humbling to be a part of that. To see what I mean, check out all our videos on Youtube under Latvia2009. Today (Sunday), we also got the opportunity to lead a couple songs at Petr’s church, which was just as incredible. I didn’t get a chance to do that last year so that was pretty exciting.

David had the opportunity to speak one night at camp this week and he was given the topic “friends”. It sounds cheesy, but the camp theme was Survivor: Becoming Stronger and so he was supposed to talk about becoming stronger with your friends. He did an amazing job and God definitely spoke through him. So many of these kids, especially the orphans, have had a hard time finding true friends and many of them came up to David afterwards talking about how much his talk meant to them. I was so proud of him.

It is going to be hard to leave. Being here for two weeks gave us a great opportunity to really get to know the kids, especially the youth at Petr’s church. I don’t think I have every met a group of teens with a bigger heart. We will miss them so much and can’t wait to see them again next year!

I could go on and on, we have so many stories to tell. But honestly, the best way to see what we have been up to is to check out the videos on Youtube. We recording a lot of stuff during the week and should have some more videos up soon.