the crossings and beyond

The other day, I walked into Ace and handed them a bucket of paint. I told them I needed one more gallon exactly like that. I was a little nervous that it wasn't going to be enough, but I definitely didn't want to buy too much because I am becoming more and more aware of the fact that life as a grown-up is sort of expensive.

That one gallon of paint covered my new room at the Crossings - twice. :) It may be tiny, but I think it's my new favorite spot. After two years of dorm living, I finally get to live in an apartment this fall. After the dorms, I'm quite accustomed to making the best of small spaces. The smaller it is, the more creative you have to be. My room is still covered in boxes and in desperate need of organization, but my ideas are just overflowing. You can do so much with a few old jars, some chalkboard paint, old ceiling tiles, wood from a corn crib that is about to be torn down, Craigslist, and a This Old House magazine. I'm really looking forward to seeing what this school year brings, living with some wonderful girls and learning about life.

With that... it's been a wonderful summer, and thanks to all of you who kept up on what was going on in my life and praying! I am so thankful for all of your support. I'll be closing my blog soon, but I can't wait to see all of you and catch up in person this coming year... because it's so much better that way. :)

Rejoice evermore.
Pray without ceasing.
In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
Quench not the Spirit.
Despise not prophesyings.
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
Abstain from all appearance of evil.
And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.
I Thessalonians 5:16-24

Much love and many blessings!
Hannah

salt and light

Matthew 5:13 - 16
Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

I spent Saturday morning volunteering at a ministry in Champaign called Salt & Light. They were having a resource day to distribute school supplies to needy area families, and they needed people who could speak Spanish. I was thrilled for the opportunity to pull out my already-getting-rusty speaking skills and put them to the test, so I signed up.

It was really interesting. I actually ended up walking up and down the line with the Public Health lady. She was asking people if they already had a dentist in the area and I was translating for her for people who didn't speak English (but who did speak Spanish). One girl asked me what I would do if the people spoke Chinese. Um... hadn't gotten that far yet. Anyway, as much as I whine and complain about going to the dentist every six months (or more like once a year now that I schedule my own appointments) I realized that I should actually be thankful that I have reliable medical care.

Tonight at church, we also had a presentation about some work that a ministry called RGGMI is doing in the country of India. Essentially, the ministry provides people with much-needed health care and uses it as an opportunity to show people the love of Christ. For most people in India, the nearest medical care is 20 - 30 miles away. That didn't seem like that far to me until Dr. Parkhe explained that the transportation method is by foot. That changes things.

To make a long story short, we have a lot to be thankful for. There are a lot of people, overseas and right here in our community, that can't afford good medical care and a number of other things. We have been incredibly blessed.

california

I wonder if life ever slows down. A friend told me this week that it actually did for her, after college, but right now I feel like I'm on fast-forward. I go back to school in less than two weeks! Unbelievable. Last week, though, I was on vacation in California with some wonderful girls and I just pretended like August wasn't almost over already. It worked, for a while. Anyway, I was so blessed to be able to spend a week with these girls (from left to right, below - Amy, Joy, myself, Linda, Breana, Kendra, Emily, Michelle, and Alyssa).
We spent the week at the beach, snorkeling, hiking, and just loving the time spent together. All week, God taught us about praise, and how we are called to praise Him and thank Him regardless of circumstance.

Psalm 29
Give unto the Lord, O ye mighty, give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. The voice of the Lord is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth: the Lord is upon many waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty. The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars; yea, the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon. He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn. The voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness; the Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve, and discovereth the forests: and in his temple doth every one speak of his glory. The Lord sitteth upon the flood; yea, the Lord sitteth King for ever. The Lord will give strength unto his people; the Lord will bless his people with peace.

"to everything there is a season..."

We went camping this weekend! I don't remember the last time we went tent-camping all together as a family, so it was quite fun, even if it was a little... rough. We headed over to Clinton Lake after Dad got home from work on Thursday night and we stayed two nights. We had a great campsite with a little path right down to the lake! We also took Grandpa's boat with us and spent most of Friday and Saturday on the water. The fishing isn't that great right now because the water is extremely warm but Seth managed to pull in a bass and I, after much complaining that my line wouldn't catch anything but the bottom of the lake, caught a rather large catfish. So we spent most of our time attempting to ski. The key word here, is attempting. The thing about this boat is that it only has a 40 horsepower motor on it. Dad says that generally, ski boats have 200 horsepower motors. But we were very determined, and we all made it up on skis behind that boat - even Addie! Never mind the fact that my muscles were so sore the next day that I could hardly do much more than sit and hold a fishing pole. It was just great to go camping and spend time together before school starts again.

And today Mom found the cutest little writing desk on Craigslist - for $20! I really hope no one else wants it, because I definitely do. :)

I have quite a few things to get done today, because tomorrow I'm leaving for a trip to California with some girls! I'm really excited about traveling again and getting to know them better. We'll be gone for a week. And pretty soon, I go back to school. Summer is coming to an end far too quickly!

Ecclesiates 3:1 - 11
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace. What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth? I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it. He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

being a kid again

It's amazing how you can go away from home for seven weeks and think you've grown up so much and then come back home and realize that in some ways, things are still very much the same. Time flies.

Yesterday we painted our treehouse. After we re-modeled we had a lot of leftover parts (old siding, windows, etc.) and we always have tons of two-by-fours around here, far more than the average American family I'm sure. So Dad and Seth built a treehouse using the parts and we've been painting it for the last couple days. I must admit that it looks pretty classy now, but as I was standing up there on the extension ladder (hanging onto our "fire-pole", which is the top of a chain-link fence, for dear life) with Addie and a bucket of paint above me, I wasn't so sure that it was really that great of an idea.

I also went out to the mulberry tree to check out this year's crop yesterday afternoon. It brought back so many childhood memories - I could just hear Mom saying "you cannot go out there without shoes on" and "we're eating supper in half an hour!" Indeed, some things never change - I returned back to the house with purple hands and feet. And the best ones are still at the very top of the tree.

I think we're going camping this weekend!
God is good.

home

I'm there! I was blessed with a smooth flight and great trip home, although I did have to pay $40 to check another bag... I thought you could have two carry-ons but they said mine was too full. :( It's good to be back, although it actually has been an adjustment. For example, this morning Addie was telling me a story and I responded to her story in Spanish, completely out of habit. Also, I keep on forgetting that you can actually flush the toilet paper and I keep looking at signs thinking that the prices are in pesos. It's a really interesting transition, actually.

I realized that I never posted a picture with both of my host parents, so here's one (below). They were a wonderful couple to stay with, I enjoyed living with them.

Thanks to all of you who were praying throughout my entire trip... God worked in so many wonderful ways, and I know that prayer is so powerful!

I'm thinking about keeping up my blog, even though it probably won't be nearly as interesting, so we shall see. I'm looking forward to seeing all of you! God is good.

on Christ the solid rock I stand...

We went to "las Grutas de Cacahuamilpa" today - we took a tour of some amazing caves, went zip-lining, rapelling, and did a little rock climbing along this river. It was beautiful, and such a fun way to spend our last day here - and the whole excursion, transportation and all, cost less than $20. It was definitely worth it. I will sleep good tonight.

We used the self-timer to get a quick snapshot of Rachel, Hillary, Chelsea, and I down by the river. It was so neat and we had the place to ourselves - maybe because the sign at the top said "extreme danger of falling rocks". But there weren't any fences! So we took that as our go-ahead... and we're still here. :)

It was a beautiful day. And tomorrow at this time, I will be on a plane halfway to Chicago. It has been a good summer... there is no way to summarize it in words. I guess you just had to be here. God is good.

make the days count

The other day, Seth did his weekly perusal of the Menards ad (like father, like son... it's true) and sent me this "inspirational quote" that he found at the bottom of the page:

"Don't count the days, make the days count."

He went on to tell me that he thought of me and he wanted to make sure I was enjoying every day of my experience and not wishing I could just go home quite yet.

Awww. So after I got over the fact that he got it from the Menards ad and stopped being sentimental that he sent me such a cute email, I realized that the quote actually does hold a lot of merit, if you look past it's cliche-ness. I have been counting the days, admittedly. But I've been making the days count too. Can you do both?

I'm really looking forward to going home. But each day I'm learning more Spanish and most importantly, learning more things that I know God wants to teach me before I leave. And so I'm thankful. Thankful that I've had as many days as I've had... and thankful that tomorrow is Wednesday (which we're definitely going to make count - we have plans to go to some caves and climb some rocks and go zip-lining, and also make it out alive too!) and the next day is Thursday, July 22. God is good. :)

micah 6:8

"He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good: and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God."

At about 8 a.m. this morning, my phone rang, waking me out of a dead sleep and a really good dream. I rolled over and glared at it, admittedly thinking "did I set my ringtone as my alarm?" and then, "all right, who's getting engaged now?" All numbers come up as 'unavailable' here so I didn't know it was actually Leah until I answered. And she had really exciting news - she decided to give her heart to Jesus! Leah, I pray and know that God will bless your walk with Him - a journey that is not always easy but worth every moment. I love you very much! God is so good.

Ya no hay otro poder, nadie puede salvarnos
Solo Cristo, por su sangre, nos libra del mal!
En su cuerpo llevó todos nuestros pecados
Salvación nos ofrece, corona y mansion!
Aleluya, aleluya, alabanzas cantad
Aleluya, exaltad al Cordero de Dios!

(Aleluya a Nuestro Dios!, La Mañana Gloriosa)

guess what?!

This afternoon, I finished my paper!

Ok. So maybe you're not as excited about that as I am. But I thought it was definitely worthy of a blog post. It ended up being seven pages long! (I always worry about meeting page requirements and then I always end up having to take stuff out.) I would have made myself a milkshake to celebrate, but alas, I have no milk. So I had to settle for just chocolate ice cream. Shucks. :)

Anyway, this is how my day went: I got up in semi-decent time, ate some breakfast, worked on my paper, met Emily at a café to work on my paper and eat lunch, went back home and worked on my paper, went to the market for a papaya and some tomatoes, made pico de gallo, worked on my paper, and then punched all my sources into easybib.com and saved the whole thing on a flash drive to print out at school on Monday. Oh, and I almost forgot - somewhere in there I online chatted with a Busey representative (yes, I am completely aware of how nerdy that sounds, but it was the easiest option since I am not in the country) about whether or not they were going to charge me a fee for my -5 dollars that were in my checking account last week, and they said they weren't! So that took a load off my mind.

Now, all that stands between me and a flight out of Mexico City is listening in to services and studying on Sunday, turning in my paper and taking a test on Monday, taking a test and packing on Tuesday, a day trip to some caves on Wednesday, and a bus ride to Mexico City early Thursday morning! :)