in the still of the night

i have decided to force you all to read my blog. why? because it is pretty. and i like it better than facebook notes. so here it is, the attempt. will i succeed..... ?

i thought i would begin by updating you with the great blessings i find crowding around me these days. god has been so good to meet all of my needs in strange and outrageous ways. i have found myself with a beautiful little apartment just down the street from my favorite house i ever lived in, in my favorite part of town. i have a wonderful phone, and the same as the apartment, it is thanks to the lovely leta and her generosity while she is away. i am slowly working back into schedules, meetings, ministry, and beginning to contemplate the idea of working on my actual "work" again. vacation is about over....

tonight, i am sitting here in the kitchen, facing the new burgundy mums that miss kate davis so sweetly gifted me a few days ago. a big bowl of ripe bananas, peaches, and avocados sits next to my jar of teas for the mornings. the windows are open to let in the cool air, and i can hear the crickets chirping outside. even the wind rustling the leaves of the trees registers somewhere in my senses. i am in pajamas, drinking apple juice, thanking god for my wonderful family, my precious community, and the life that is so much more than i could have ever dreamed or asked for.

granted, everything is not perfect. nearly always, there is a point in the day when i long for what i do not have. i want to speak spanish. i can't understand the culture here. i am hungry for a decent papaya. and sometimes i miss the anonymity and solitude of the life i live daily in bolivia. especially when the time flies by here, filled with meeting after meeting, appointment after appointment, and everyone clamors for attention from me, disappointed when they cannot have it all.

but more than anything, i am just relieved. this is my country. this is my home. these are my friends, my chosen family, really. my parents are just a few hours away. i can call my brother and sister on the phone whenever i want. and most of all, i see such beauty and calm settling over a heart that has strained and yearned too long for rest and comfort. it has finally arrived. and i intend to enjoy it to the fullest :)