Washington vs Colorado

Aaron's graduation

I had the awesome blessing of lots of traveling this month...we went out to be at my brother's commissioning and graduation from Moody's Aviation program in Spokane, Washington towards the end of May.  From there we had a bit of a family vacation combined with some stops my dad needed to make checking for work across the state.  We wandered around Mt Rainier and the coast of WA, which is an absolutely beautiful part of this country.  We even stayed a couple nights in a certain Forks, Washington...hahaha!  If you don't know why that's funny, just ignore the last sentence. :)

It was really cool to be with my whole family again and soak up the togetherness.  I think we're all getting better at enjoying the time we have together and ignoring eachother's annoying parts.  I for one have a better understanding of what it means to be very far away from them for a very long time.  The hard part is remembering that feeling when the more present feeling is something like claustrophobia.  I'm such an introvert-being around people, even my own family, for long periods of time with no privacy is exhausting to me.  At least I know that about myself now so it's not some big mystery why I get cranky and lethargic after a while.  It doesn't exempt me from responsibility for my words and actions, but it helps me understand myself and battle my flesh a little better.

View from Bear Creek Falls, CO

From the family vacation, I met up with the Engels in Colorado.  They're the awesome family that helped me while I was living with the Somali refugee family in Minneapolis.  They opened their home to me, let me get some of that solitude I craved, encouraged and helped me with the Somalis, and just made me feel loved and supported.  They invited me to go with them to this incredible place by Telluride, Colorado for a week.  It was...amazing there!  Mountains everywhere, not a ton of tourists around, clear and warm weather, and more adventures than we could take advantage of in a week.  I had a ton of fun and love their family even more than before, which I didn't think was possible. :)

Hiking in CO

Now I'm back in good ol' Michigan, compiling to-do lists and psyching myself up for the next few months.  My goal is to be headed to Kenya in August or September, which means I have a LOT of details to work out and funds to raise in the next 3 months!  Please pray that I will find that delicate balance every day between work and faith; I want to be diligently preparing but I don't want to fall into the pitfall of worry and striving to create security that God never intended for me.  I'm not sure if that makes sense.  It's easier to worry about finances and do all sorts of things on my own effort and wisdom than it is to pray, do what God leads me to, then fully trust Him to provide.  It's easier to buy lots of gadgets, pack every possible thing I might remotely need and have all my lists in order, than to spend that time praying and dealing with my spiritual preparedness-the latter is much less comfortable, not as easily checked off a list, but is immeasurably more important.  My flesh wants to do the token quiet time in the morning, then move on to something more tangible, ie my to-do lists.  God save me from those lists!



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