Onward ho

Where am I goin'?  I don't know.
Where am I headin'? I ain't certain,
All I know is I am on my way...

 from "I'm on My Way" : Paint Your Wagon

Backs packed.  Last emails (for now) sent.  Stepping on the plan in 20 minutes.

One of my friends asked me yesterday what my hopes are for the summer.  What a quality question.  After this hectic semester, I need some time to contemplate and pray about various things that have been going on.  There are ordinary goals for the summer, like reading as many books as possible, keeping up this blog, writing postcards, and being able to survive in Chinese.  Then there are less tangible hopes, like building up my prayer life very intentionally and being close to God on a day to day basis, clearing my mind and life of clutter, clarifying my calling, and learning to really focus on the things that matter.  Oh, and praying for the future husband - which sounds really silly, but instead of hoping he'll come along someday, I sense it's better to pray that he'll grow closer to God, so once we meet (or if we've already met, once he comes to his senses - haha), then it'll be clear.

Yesterday I had a deep sense of ...  well, just being happy to be alive.  And ready to take on this summer.  I have some trepidations about the language barrier (and people mocking my meager attempts at Chinese, which I know will happen), but hey - I'm not in control, which is a very good thing.

Still on the mind

via the UN / Associated Press

It was over 3 months ago, but the rebuilding continues. I was reminded this weekend to keep praying - not simply for my role within all the scattered efforts, which is such a small piece, but for

the people.
The country.
Healing.
Uplifting.
God's work to be done in Port-au-Prince.

It was written for a different context, but the Irish band Bluetree's song, "God of This City" (later covered by Chris Tomlin - check this out for the story behind its penning) seems very relevant, especially the line:

greater things have yet to come,
greater things are still to be done in this city...

What exactly they are, I'm not sure - but I'm trusting in the One who has all things in the palm of His hand.

For more info about a potential project in Haiti, log into the MIT Global Challenge site and look up Rubble Rousers, formerly Foundations for Haiti. (And vote if you feel compelled!) More on that soon...

money matters!

a bit of a personal update:

money has popped up at the forefront of my thoughts lately, mostly because my financial aid has taken quite a long time to be processed and has made me really antsy about paying the remainder of my tuition for the fall. but good news came today - at least i now know the predicted amount of my loans and don't have to worry so much about how to pay it up front. God is good!

but even so, i'd rather not accumulate so much debt or push it back over time (especially with my projected income on graduation...not exactly big bucks), so i've been trying to find some other sources of income via grad assistantships or hourly positions. there are a couple options i'm looking into, and hopefully one of them will work out so i'll have my tuition covered.