That picture was taken a year ago today.
One year ago what I was wearing in this picture was perfectly acceptable. A couple hours later, in Frankfurt, I began to realize that it wasn’t quite as fashionable as I thought…and by the time we landed in NYC, I stood out like a sore thumb.
It completely blows my mind that I’ve been back in the States for a year. I’ve adjusted to life, held two jobs, and continue to figure out God’s plan for my future!
Milestones from the last year:
Milestones from the last year:
- Moved into an apartment with some friends.
- Worked as the youth ministry associate at the church for 11 months, going on several trips and getting to invest in lives and help out the youth minister.
- Got a job at a local coffee shop/bakery, getting all learned up to someday soon open my own shop!
- Both of my dogs died.
- My brother came home twice from England.
- I celebrated Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Easter, my 26th Birthday, AND the 4th of July in the USA!
- God continues to absolutely blow me away, sometimes in just the little things.
- My grandmother passed, and I got some excellent family time with her and since.
- Shaun, my teammate, got married, and we had a mini S-Squad reunion.
- Stephani, my teammate, has flown to Omaha twice to see me! Someday I’ll get to Ohio!
- I signed up and got matched with a Little Sister through Big Brothers Big Sisters. Her family is from Nigeria. I love her already, and I’ve known her less than a month.
- I FINISHED MY WORLD RACE SCRAPBOOK! It took me ALMOST the entire year, but it’s done!
Things that have changed since the Race:
- I’m a much less picky eater, will try most everything at least once, and crave salsa and pico de gallo a lot.
- I still appreciate every hot shower I take, and every real bed I sleep in.
- I make more of an effort to have alone time with God…sometimes I do better than others…but the desire is there.
- I have a vague inclination of a direction for my life…details are still being processed and figured out.
- Everytime my back hurts or I feel ill, my first response is “malaria.”
- I have been much more interested in what’s going on in the World, and cheered for way more countries in the Olympics.
Sometimes I’ll just scroll through pictures on Facebook, or flip through my scrapbook, and just be amazed that I did the World Race. Even now, it’s so unlike anything I would do, but I did. I shake my head in disbelief and am reminded over and over how much God it took get me through that year, and how much more I rely on Him now. I have to remind myself that I did that. I traveled the world, loving people in Jesus’ Name, sleeping in tents with bugs, eating meat that had been hanging outside, and deepening my relationship with my God and Father. That was a great year. It’s been a great year since, and I’m so excited to see what God continues to do in my life!
