Published

At the beginning of this summer my good friend (Hamish) asked me to write an article for his magazine, Soul Purpose, -- a Christian youth magazine based out of New Zealand. Of course I was delighted to write for them and thrilled that Hamish would even consider asking me to contribute to this wonderful magazine. What an honor! Writing the article was both a great challenge and a great joy. But, it's done and now it's published, so you can read up here:

my article

Most, if not all of what I wrote, I learned while I was in Scotland -- either from the direct teaching of Sarah, Joe, and Jayne, or from observing their lives. They have taught me a great deal about relationships, the spiritual transformation of the human soul, and walking with people on the journey from darkness to light.

What's the difference?

When I arrived in Scotland, one of the first things I noticed that marked a difference between me and the Scottish people were their accents. Everyone I talked to, passed on the street, stood next to in line, or interacted with in some other way was different from me -- and it was obvious the moment they started to speak. After a while I was able to distinguish between and English, Irish, and Scottish accents. A desirable skill, yes, but the accents where still there as a constant reminder that we were different. But as time creeped on, and more importantly, as I started establishing relationships and getting to know people, I stopped hearing accents.

Insead, I began to recognize voices. That person sounds just like Naomi. He has the same laugh as Allastair. Martha just walked in the room. Hey, that's Phil....I haven't seen Phil in ages. I can remember the first time I stopped hearing accents. I was sitting on the bus with Naomi, on my way to her universtiy where we were going to work on a video for Radiate together. I can't even remember what we were talking about, but I remember being amazed that I could no longer distinguish between her accent and mine. I just kept thinking to myself, "Do we really sound different?" And trust me, it wasn't because I was speaking with a Scottish accent. She didn't sound Scottish anymore. She just sounded like Naomi.

The same thing has happened with my nieces. Taylor and Chloe have been a part of our family since Christmas when my sister and brother-in-law found out the adoption in Vietnam had been approved. I was in Scotland for the babies' arrival in America, so my first time meeting them was a couple weeks ago after I arrived home.

At first, they looked really asian to me. They probably look asian to you. That's not a bad thing. They are vietnamese, after all. I had the pleasure of spending nearly two solid weeks hugging, kissing, changing diapers, playing with, feeding, and watching them sleep. Somewhere around the 10 day mark I realized they didn't look asian anymore. They looked like Taylor and Chloe. When I look at the one on the left I think, "Aw, Taylor. She has waaay too much attitude for someone who's only 18 inches tall. She just started crawling, doesn't like to take naps or drink her bottle, and she refuses to eat baby food anymore. She'd rather play with my laptop or digital camera than anything you can buy in Toys R Us." And when I see Chloe I think, "She's probably wondering how she can get mommy to give her more rice cakes. She's more concerned with the people who are in the room than the toys she's playing with. And if you put something on her head she'll start laughing hysterically."

The first thing I notice isn't that our skin and eyes are not the same. In fact, I don't notice that at all anymore. Taylor and Chloe are now defined by my relationship with them. I'm not saying that the differences are bad. On the conarary, the array of dissimilarities between me and the rest of the world testify to our magnificently creative God. I've just realized that after I get to know someone who is different than me in one way or another, what defines them is their unique personality and the relationship we have formed. I see what brings us together, not the things that separate and make us unlike each other.

It makes me wonder about racism and predjudice. Illegal immagrants, homosexuals, african-americans, native-americans, the elderly, germans, jews, laywers, policemen.........who do you have a problem with? I wonder what would happen if you actually befriended one of them and got to know the person behind the sterotype.

Coming Home

It's been a little while since I've had time to update this blog. The past couple weeks have been fun but a bit crazy -- jam packed with moving back home and trying to settle back into life in the States. I arrived home in Oregon late Wednesday night (June 6), spent most of Thursday unpacking and running around town with my mom, trying to get everything we needed for a visit from my baby nieces. Friday morning my sister and brother-in-law flew out with their twins for a two week visit in Oregon. This is my first time meeting the girls so it's been awesome to finally hug and kiss them and play with them in person. It took a couple days for them to get used to me, but now I'm definitely Chloe's favorite human. My life feels a little bit scattered right now and I have a feeling it's going to take a while to re-adjust and settle back in. Right now I'm living with my parents in Oregon, looking at a couple job opportunities up in

Washington, and most of my stuff is still in Missouri because that's where I was living before I went to Scotland. I'm looking to get my Masters Degree before I settle into a career, but before I can do that I need to work for about a year and save some money. Finding a job is the first thing on my agenda.....

1. Find a job.

2. Buy a car.

3. Get a cell phone.

4. Fly out to Missouri to get all my stuff.

5. Move to (Washington?) wherever my job is.

6. Find an apartment, a roommate, and other life essentials.

Saying Goodbye

I feel like there are a thousand things I need to pen out right now. My heart is full to the point of breaking with all the thoughts and emotions that come with this transition and the many vital lessons I've learned this year. As my time in Scotland is drawing to a close, these past couple weeks have been full of preparations for returning home - mainly packing and a lot of coffees and meals with people I love as we grasp to make the most of our rapidly disappearing time together.
One such event was last friday night - a surprise going away party that my wonderful colleagues threw for me. It was so much fun! By the end of the night my face hurt from smiling and laughing so much. I really felt so, so loved and appreciated. The high point was probably when they showed a video they'd made of all the students saying goodbye and why they love and will miss me. SO PRECIOUS!
Although it aches to say goodbye, I'm finding a sweetness amongst the bitter parts. The pain we feel in this separation is a testimony to the depth of our relationships and the love that we foster for one another. If we didn't care so much about each other, then it really wouldn't hurt to say goodbye. I've found a great community in Radiate and I'm going to miss these people very much. I'm thankful for the opportunity to share life with them and I feel honored that God would allow me to be a part of their spiritual journey.

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To see all the photos from my party clicky here

My Babies

I have the cutest nieces in the world!!

End of Semester Elation

Sarah and her crazies!

Lots more photos here.
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Last night we had our end of the year party for Radiate - a BBQ and bonfire at the beach. It was a little cold but a lot of fun. There's a really lovely beach right outside of Aberdeen in a small community called Balmeadie. The only draw back was that the barbeques are one side of the sand dunes and the shore is on the other. So we flipped some burgers, scarfed them down, then ran over the sand dunes where we'd built a nice toasty bonfire. We were a little chilly while barbequeing but managed to stay warm by playing tag (a game I'll never outgrow) and taking jumping pictures. It was seriously fun times. I'm really going to miss these people!

Getting ready to barbeque. So much food!

Sarah and her midget.

"Give us food......NOW"

Or maybe everyone was just trying to stay warm?

Joe, Nathan, and Jackie

A few brave souls went in the water even though it was freezing!

Grace turned Christine into a mermaid.

And a bitta rugby of course.

Adios Home Group :o(

Last night was the last of our home group bible studies until next fall. Aww! It's kinda hard to say goodbye for a while to these weekly meeting, a little bittersweet ya know?.........nah, it's mostly just bitter ;o) I did have such a wonderful time being a discipleship leader to these girls this year and last night was no exception. I will miss them all very much. Since it was the last meeting I made them all dinner - chicken tikka and chicken korma curry, rice, and rhubarb crumble for dessert (classic British meal, aye). After consuming a large amount of food we spent some time studying and discussing Romans 12:1-2. We talked about what God requires of us and whether or not He could really change us - change the really rough and bad parts of who we are, and how the fact that He is unconditionally patient and compassionate plays into that whole process. It was a good discussion. Below are posted some photos for your viewing pleasure....

Really silly Sarah, Christine, and Laura.

I know this isn't the most appetizing picture, but seriously people - this rhubard crumble was AH-mazing! Joe and Jessica Hippey (a couple of our student leaders) gave me a bunch of rhubarb this week that they'd grown in their garden. Apparently rhubarb is a totally British thing so they didn't want me to leave with out experiencing it. I'd never eaten or cooked with rhubarb so I was just kinda like, "Uhhh.......thanks, I think." But I found a recipe on the internet and it was brilliant. Who knew rhubarb could taste so scrumptulicious? Not I, said the Anna. Don't worry Mom, I'll be bringing this one home!

Yeah, of course we took jumping pictures in my living room. The people who live below me loved it.