And so another week begins...

Well my happy readers, how are ya? I know it's been a bit of a spell since I last updated and left y'all hangin' quite a bit by not updating while my darling Ricci was here, but, I'm sorry, we were just having too much fun for me to stop and update :)

We had SO, so much fun, though. I cannot even begin to express to you how wonderful it was to have her bright smiling face here, next to me, in the the FT. It was absolutely wonderful. But seeing her definitely made me miss her, my other Texas loves, and Texas in general, even more. Just a little sting of a reminder that I am missing out on so much being here. But it was totally worth it, even though I lost it Saturday night. I couldn't help it, y'all, I just miss her like none other.

We had a blast though. Here's what we did!

Thursday:
- Collected her from the airport, complete with screams...yup, just like in the movies, it does happen in real life ;)
- Spent some time resting at home...did some laundry
- Went to lunch at Princess Garden Chinese Restaurant (pretty good!!)
- Went to campus...I had class, she played in my cubbie!
- Ran some errands
- Cooked a Mexican Feast!!! Even if it was just Spanish rice and enchiladas...it was still epic
- Shared a lovely evening together on the couch

Friday:
- Went to campus for a lab conference call that didn't happen...sad day.
- Went to Target to make sure there wasn't anything we needed for our event of the afternoon
- Met SW for lunch and went to Mim's. YUM!!
- Ran home to gather our stuffs and hit the road for our mini roadtrip!
- Made it to our destination and met....drum roll, please....MCKMAMA!!!!!! So surreal.
- Hung out with her and her camera for about an hour (I feel like enough of you have stumbled upon these now that I can share them with you here - we had a BLAST!)
- Made the hour or so trek back to the Twin Cities, had some leftover enchiladas and rice, and settled into the couch for another evening of awesome...just chillin' and munchin' on yummies :)

Saturday:
- Went to see Desi at her garage sale...test drove her Subaru...no big deal (<---y'all can start praying about that if you please...)
- Met Miss Megan for lunch at Mickey's Dining Car. Umm, probably one of the most fun experiences ever. I loved watching my best friend here in the FT meet my bestie from TX...so great!
- Miss Ricci and I stopped off at home for a few and made our way to Pine Tree Apple Orchard. I think our discovery of Caribou Coffee and the scenic drive itself were our favorite parts...oh, and the people watching, of course!
- After that we hit up the Mall of America...yuuuup, two weekends in a row for me, kids. Trust me, I am not making this a habit. We had a fun time strolling around. I way enjoyed watching Ricci geek about about the William Sonoma store...priceless.
- We then went home...where she packed, I cried, we ate good food, we enjoyed each others company, and just soaked in the last few hours we had together before I had to send her on home to J-Hump and TX.

Sunday:
- Got up early...got dressed...piled into the car
- Drove to the airport
- Said a quick goodbye so as to not start crying right there on the curb
- She walked to security...I drove home, where I cried some more

Sunday was a rough day for me...I cried a lot that day. I wasn't expecting that at all. I've been extra weepy, in general, since then. I just miss home.

Today marks 2 months of my being here...and not in TX. Really? It's only been two months?? I have 34 more to go?? Oh geesh. Mmmk, time to buckle up and take a deep breath and dive-in to this, I reckon.

On a brighter note, though, I think I have found a church home!!! I think I mentioned it last weekend...I hope I did, but I can't remember right now. Anywho, I went to the same church two weeks in a row! And. It. Was. Awesome! Last night I met a sweet, sweet family who invited me over for dinner - I went tonight!! It was so wonderful! Such a sweet time of fellowship. They sent me home with leftovers!!! I just love their sweet daughter...I'm thinking I may have just adopted a little sister - YAY! She's in 8th grade, and just the sweetest girl. I really enjoyed them and they made me feel right at home. Thank you Jesus for granting me sweet fellowship and renewal through this body of believers.

And with that, my loves, I'm going to close. I need to go finish a reading for class tomorrow and hit the hay.

Love and miss you all. Praying you are growing in the Lord and His love.
Shalom!
~MW

P.S. - B introduced me to this band yesterday: Gungor...they are way good. I highly recommend you check them out.
P.P.S. - I feel like y'all need to see this...it's a little taste of my life here. This is a real commercial that they play on TV here:

So very blessed

Ok kids, this has been kind of a rough week, for those of you who I haven't spoken to via phone, skype, gchat, or in person...oh, wait...about that last one...

Not only has it been a full week in the realm of being a brand new grad student, in a brand new place (where it's already getting chilly!!), starting new classes, and taking on a brand new research project (that will last for a good 3 years...can you say overwhelming?), but I've been thinking about a lot this week. I've been thinking about life and where I am at on that time line that is specific to me. I've been thinking about all of the adjustments am in the middle of. I've been thinking about "home," and what "home" actually means. I've been thinking about friendships and how much they mean and how they change as time passes, etc. I've been thiking about family, and the point at which your friends truly do become your family. I've been thinking about timing and how it can be such a fickle thing. To be completely honest, I've been thinking about quitting. Of course not entirely in seriousness - I didn't move across the country to quit...I'm just tired and I miss Texas and the way of life I knew and came to love there, not to mention my people, and my church. I still don't understand why God has me here. I really don't want to be here...I mean, I want to be here doing what I'm doing, but I don't want to be here. Yes, I have absolutely met wonderful people since I've been here and I think some lasting friendship may be forming, but it's still not the same, and it never will be the same as what I have in Texas. My spirit is tired...I need a hug, or rather a slew of hugs from my best friends. People don't really seem to hug here...it's weird and just the tiniest bit depressing.

But, with all of that said, I have been incredibly, incredibly encouraged this week. God has blown my mind with how He has demonstrated to me that He knows exactly what I'm going through and that He hasn't forgotten about me, and that He's taking care of me through the people He has so richly blessed my life with.

This week I think I have had more phone calls, text messages, emails, facebook comments/messages, etc., etc. than I've had in a while. And they have all been just wonderfully caring and loving and encouraging. One of the things I've been most discouraged about since the move is my church situation, or lack thereof. I got one of the most incredible comments on the blog regarding that this week. Helped me regain my perspective on this whole sort of mission...quest...thing... And then, I make my way over to Katy and Kahler's blog (Who I'm linking-up with!! Never linked-up before. Yay for new adventures in the blogging world!) to catch up with them (sorry for the slacking the last few days, Katy...) and I see God's incredible providence in their life...even in and amongst the TIA moments (and there have been some good ones lately!). And then I get these somewhat out of the blue emails from a number of people, most of whom I do not know super well, and they are all checking up on me, or are just a nice "hello," or what-have-you. God, is so, so good.

Other ways I have been encouraged this week have been through the building-up of new friendships here. MC (the gal who's a Quaker) and I have had some way fun little chats throughout the course of the week, and I really like her. She's playing "mom" to her prof's kiddos the next week or so while he and his wife are off on vaca, so we can't really "play" this weekend or next, but I love getting to visit with her in classes and in passing in Hodson. She is absolutely delightful. Can't wait to start hanging out with her outside of school/work. Also, JW (another gal in my cohort...she came in with her hubs - they are so freaking cute! Got their master's together and now they're getting their PhD's together...way presh.) and I decided that we need to go shopping together to start stocking up on winter clothes. She and her hubs are from the PNW so they know winters and snow like I'm used to from Nor-Cal...it's not the same kind of winter and snow that they have here...at all. So, we are gonna go try to hit-up some sales and check out Plato's Closet and the like. Plus, she's probably the trendiest, cutest little thing I've ever seen, so this is looking good for me - I can always use some help in the fashion world.

God is so good. Life is life. School is school. I. Am. Tired. But overall, when I look at the big picture, thing's are going pretty well. So as I sit here sipping on my chai latte (thanks, Momma!) and typing this to you all, my dear dear readers, I can honestly say that, though still adjusting to this new thing called being a grad student and living in the FT, I am happy and blessed. My heart is uplifted by the love you all and so many others have shown me this week. I pray you are all well and blessed and content in the Lord.

Happy almost weekend!

Shalom & blessings,
~MW

P.S. - Yoshi the Toshiba (and no, he is not named Yoshi because he's a Toshiba...he's named Yoshi, 'cause he was/is my favorite Mario character) will be sent off to the Toshiba doctors next week. His little box, which I like to think of as his very own personal ambulance, should be here to pick him up on Saturday or Monday. Once he has made his way to the Toshiba hospital it should take about a week for them to fix him up and get him back on his way to me. I am so not looking forward to being without him next week...it's gonna suck, that's all there is to it. As mentioned previously, I'll try to stay a little late at the lab and do some blog updating from there...no promises, but I will try my hardest. On the bright side, though, Toshiba is covering Yoshi's medical bills - WHOOP!

P.P.S. - I got my prayer partner from church back home today!!! So pumped :)

P.P.P.S. - In case you missed it earlier in this post, I'm linking-up with Katy over at to the ends of the earth. Check 'em ooout!

I am in love.

Ok readers...don't fall over out of shock from reading my title yet. I'm not in love with someone but, I am in love with something.

What am I in love with??? Well, I need to address something first, so you will have to wait!! Hahaha! Please don't leave!!!!! Just bare with me for a few minutes here. Thanks, you're the best readers, ever!

OK, here is what I need to say: THANK YOU!!! My deepest and most sincere thanks to all of you who so encouragingly responded to my post yesterday. I seriously cannot imagine life without you all to continuously lift me up. God is SO SO good to me. He never stops reminding me how much He loves me through the people He has surrounded me with...even if we aren't near to each other physically. So, thank you all 100 times over for lifting me up - I can't even begin to explain to you how much it means to me to have you by my side.

OK...now for my love interest!! So, as most of you know, either from talking to me or from yesterday's post, I had the amazing opportunity to spend time with a Boy Scout troop last night, teaching them about the wonderful world of bugs. I had the time of my life, kids. The absolute time of my life! I have certainly found my calling. I am, without a doubt, a teacher. It's so funny, because all through my life I've had people tell me I should be a teacher, but I always thought they were crazy - like, certifiable! But, as most of you know, about two years ago I started falling in love with science outreach education...say, what?? Well, as much as I enjoyed my times with the kids in CS, I never lead something on my own - I was never the actual teacher. I've only ever been like, oh what would you call it...? An engager, maybe?? Basically, I did all the fun stuff - playing with the bugs with the kids, flipping through picture books with them, looking through microscopes with them, stuff like that. I never stood in front of them and actually taught a lesson.

Well, last night, that's what I did - ALL BY MYSELF!!! {And some wonderful advice and suggestions from KReddick, of course...not to mention prayers that I'm certain went up to the Lord for me, because I definitely felt His hand in it.} It went wonderfully well, I am very happy to say. It was definitely a task, putting together a presentation for the kids and coming up with something (on the fly...yeah, I didn't get to prepare an actual talk...yikes!) that would be interesting and engaging for the kids. Well, I'm going to go ahead and say that I did a decent job, because those kids had question after question, after question!! It was so great!! One thing I am going to have to figure out though, is how to get around answering some of those questions...maybe I should show them boring pictures of insects instead of cool ones...kidding! But, I had slides for a 20min, 30min tops, presentation...it took almost an hour!! They had soooo many questions! Even the parents were asking questions. They loved getting to look at the specimens I brought and Tevye and Little Bubba, my darling MHC (Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches), were a big hit. Like I told my mom: there were 3 categories of reactions to my MHCs, 1) CAN I HOLD ONE?!?! Please?!?! 2) Uuuhh.....I want to touch it...but I'm reeeeally kinda nervous...ok, I'll at least pet it 3) I'm just going to peer over everyone, catch a glimpse and not get any closer, thanks. Haha, it was great. I couldn't get any of the parents to touch them...I was kind of bummed about that. Ah, I had so much fun!! I loved it. I was definitely born to do this. I cannot wait to do it again. This was definitely a "merry adventure."

Oh, I think at some point I'm going to go on a collecting trip with the Boy Scouts and maybe have a merit badge day were we work on some of the projects they have to do for their insect merit badge.

On a side note, last night gave me the confidence I was lacking for my first day of subbing coming up on Friday. I'm subbing at my high school...weird...for the art teacher. I was, and still am a little, really nervous about it, since I haven't ever been in that teacher/authority position. Now, I know, I know, subs get the short end of the stick a lot when it comes to respect and stuff like that, but after last night going so well, I'm much more confident and excited about Friday. Wish me luck! I'll take prayers too :)

Well, that's about all I have to report - I am definitely in much higher spirits than I was when I wrote my last post. Funny, how and hour, or less, of something joyful is sometimes all it takes to lift you out of your slump. I'm off to make myself presentable for the day and go galevanting around with The Mamma.

Blessings to all. Shalom!
~MW