Hola

It's amazing what that word did to me today. My dear friend Emily is currently in Peru working at an orphanage as part of a Social Work program for Spring Break.

Today, I got an email from her.

It was short and to the point, it told me that God was working and that she loved me. That one word promises stories and conversations and illuminations. I can't wait to find out all that she has learned on this trip.

When I talk to her next, I will be back at school and so will she. We will be back in our routines, but things will be different. We have both learned a lot and grown a lot on this Spring Break and even though things might seem the same, they won't be. 

I counted up my remaining weeks at school and realized that I only have 8 left (including finals!) before I get to come home for THREE MONTHS! I don't know what will happen in them, or what will happen between now and then, but I know that I want to be there.

(How was that for convoluted)

There is freshness here in the air and the water. (I am going to miss drinking tap water instead of stealing Culligan from academic offices). That's part of what coming home is all about, I think.

This week, I did what I needed to do, you know those things you unconsciously wait until you come home for. I bought  a new pair of jeans, worked on my taxes and caught up with friends I hadn't seen in a while. I find myself sipping tea with my mom in the mornings before she goes to work. It's different than it was before I left, because we would do that before I left for school, or before we would start school in the days where school was home. Now, she's off to work, and I'm up and spending time with God, doing homework, or blogging or taking a shower and starting my day. This is home.

I'm going out tonight with my parents to celebrate my birthday (a month after). We are going to the same restaurant that my parents took my brother and I right before I went away to college and we would not all be together again in the same way. I'm a different person now. They are different people. 

God is the same. 

Adios!