Sleepless Meditation

Hopelessly exhausted. That's how I'm feeling right about now. It's 1:30 AM...and I. CANNOT. SLEEP.

I have been having trouble sleeping for the past several nights. I can feel that I'm tired, but whatever I do, I can't get myself to fall asleep. And when I do, I only sleep for a few hours, and then wake up again. It's really just starting to get frustrating at this point.

After about four hours of trying to fall asleep, I have decided to give up for a little while and write a blog post. I just have so many thoughts on my mind, and I just need to get my mind off of those thoughts because I know that they are contributing to my temporary insomnia.

So, as many of you know, I went to the beach this past weekend with some friends. This can be summed up in just a few sentences. Huge waves are pretty much the funnest thing I have ever experienced. I love friends. I have beads in my hair. Good devotionals are good for the soul. I can actually sleep at the beach. Sometimes people are grumpy.

I'm gonna expand on those last three.

(1) Good devotionals are good for the soul - at lunch and dinner we would have a devotional and discuss it with each other. This was really good fellowship. Even better, on Sunday we watched a video called Walk as Jesus Walked. It pretty much walks you through the history of the Jews. Something that really stood out to me in the video: Timothy was a mamzer, which is something that I was unaware of before. Because he was an illegitimate child, he was not allowed to participate in the religious practices of the Jews, including circumcision.  He was a complete outcast. Until Paul came along. Even though Timothy was completely neglected in his own city of Lystra, Paul took him in with open arms and refers to Timothy as his son. Does this story sound familiar? We were outcasts. Witheld by sin. Until Jesus came along and died for us. He took us in with open arms and refers to us as His children. Paul's letter to Timothy makes so much more sense to me now. The way Paul says, "Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. - 1 Timothy 4:12. To sum it up, the video was very thought provoking. I strongly recommend it.

(2) I can actually sleep at the beach - I sleep so well at the beach. Every single time I go. It must be the swimming and staying out all day in the sun everyday, but I always have the best sleeps en la playa.

(3) Sometimes people are grumpy - And by people I mean the driver of the boat when we went on La Bestia. This ride is one of the funnest things ever invented. Unfortunately, with our luck, when we first started going, the dang thing tipped over and we all fell out. Which is definitely not supposed to happen. So, me, naturally thinking that the tipping over was absolutely beyond hilarious, I was laughing. While trying to get back on the boat. Which was equally as funny because I could not get back on. Cue more laughter. Our driver wasn't having it. He just kept saying "No te rías. No te rías." Which, for all you spanish noobs, means "Don't laugh. Don't laugh." Okay, dude. Sorry for laughing at a funny situation. So, after finally getting back on, we start again. Naturally, because the ride is fun, and scary, we scream. Just as we would on any other ride. Can you guess what happened next? "Shhhh. Shhhh," says the man. WE CAN'T EVEN HAVE A GOOD TIME ON A RIDE THAT WAS MEANT FOR A GOOD TIME? NOT TO MENTION A RIDE THAT WE ARE PAYING YOU FOR?
Oh, well. All in all, it was a good experience. I'll just give the man the benefit of the doubt and assume that he was just having a bad day. I mean, hey, life can get the best of all of us sometimes.

Travel Time...Again

Heading out to Ecuador again! Just sitting here in the Denver International Airport and waiting for our flight to board. Pretty sure it's supposed to board at 7:30, which means we got about a 20 minute wait.
I can't believe we are leaving again. Time is such a funny thing sometimes. I feel like I just got back from Ecuador, but at the same time it feels like it has been a long time. It's just weird. I don't know how I'm feeling right now. I'm actually really peaceful about everything. Yeah, it's sad to leave, but God has made it so much easier than I would have ever expected. His love is so comforting!

The plan for when I get to Ecuador: I'm actually supposed to be going to the beach tomorrow with some friends, but it will depend on the health of one of the people taking us. If we can't go to the beach, then I will probably go to Ibarra (a city that is about a two hour drive from Quito) with my friend Anabel who recently moved there.

I have no idea when we will get internet at our house there. Last time it took a couple of weeks, but it could come faster or even take longer than that. You never know with Ecuador. I will try to post something when it's available.

Prayers are most definitely appreciated as my family and I continue traveling today. So far everything has gone very smoothly. We checked in all of our bags and went through security much quicker than we expected. I actually had to go through one of those x-ray machines. What can I say...I'm suspicious looking. They are announcing something about our flight now, so I should probably go. Just pray that everything keeps running smoothly and that we will arrive in Quito safely around 7:10 tonight (6:10 Colorado time).

Deuces.

I Will Adore You

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGgX_oqdib4

I can't even get over how beautifully she sings this song.

So beautiful. Jesus is so beautiful.

Mis Pensamientos

It's official. I'm loving Summer 2011. I'm pretty sure Summer in Colorado beats out any other state. It's hot during the day, but it cools down in the evening. There is plenty of rain to cool things down. Humidity is not a problem here. And there are no mosquitos. 

I also haven't even had a chance to be bored yet this summer. 

I will give a more detailed update later on. Not sure when that will be though because at this point the internet at my house has been going on and off. The internet in Ecuador is  better than the internet here!  

But, uh, one more thing...can I live in this house? Please?

Updaaaate

Yup. Back in the good ol' USA. Lemme just tell you all what I have been up to.

1. I have been getting into the routine of things. Not that I have much of a routine since it is summer vacation and all, but I have unpacked, organized my things, and started driving again after a while of not doing any driving.

2. I have been hanging out with my friends some. It's so good seeing all of them again. :)

3. I just started piano lessons again last week. I love it. I have actually been playing a lot.

5. I got a nanny job as well. It's only two days a week - every Thursday and Friday, from 8:30 to 5:00. I get paid 50 dollars a day which means I get 100 dollars a week. I guess it isn't bad for a first job. Plus, I have a lot of fun with the two boys I nanny. They are ages 5 and 7.

6. I have been spending lots of time in the sun too. I love summer.

7. I have been doing lots of reading. Surprise, surprise.

So, that's my exciting life.

May Mania and Airplane Excursions

I’m writing this blog post on an airplane. 

I know, I know…I’ve been slacking on the whole blog writing thing lately. And it’s not even that I have been slacking. I haven’t even been forgetting about it. In fact, there have been several days where I have thought to myself “Wow…I should really write in my blog sometime.” It’s more that I have just been incredibly busy and I haven’t had any time.

This was my schedule for May:

- Pack

- Finish up school

- Study

- Take AP Lang Exam

- Sunday school teaching

- Soccer

- Orphanage

- Visitors

- Getting passports renewed

- Going to Papallacta for a night

- Going to the beach for five nights

- Going to Otavalo

- Packing some more

- Furniture moving

- Saying some last goodbyes

It was busy. But, now I am here, so have no fear (that totally just rhymed), I will now write  down some of my deep and insightful thoughts for you to enjoy. ;) 

So, as I said before, I’m on the plane. To Denver, Colorado.

It’s weird. I can’t believe that the journey that I started 9 ½ months ago is now, for a lack of a better word, over. It’s not even that it’s over…I still have an exciting journey ahead of me, but it’s kind of like a milestone in my life. I finished the 9 ½ months in Ecuador that I was originally scared of experiencing. I’m now heading back to my friends and family in Colorado Springs. It all went by so fast. Like, I can’t even believe that it’s over. And no, I’m not gonna lie…saying goodbye was hard. I cried. My heart hurt and still does hurt for what I left behind. I just hate goodbyes in general, but I just gotta deal with them and move on with life because without the sad goodbyes in my life, I wouldn’t have the experience of the joyous hellos in my life, and honestly, the hellos have been some of the happiest moments of my life. So in the end, the happiness of the hellos outweighs the sadness of the goodbyes…even though goodbyes are hard. Really hard.

Time to note down just little observations that I experienced on the plane and in the airport, my first thoughts as I stepped into the United States for the first time in nearly a year, and just little snit bits of my day in general.

- On the plane to Miami, the movie was Old Dogs. I had seen it before, but I watched it anyway. I have to admit that I laughed really hard at some parts, but most of the movie was pretty boring. I just finished watching The Tourist on this plane ride. It was good at some parts, but it didn’t really make sense to me.

- I’m so tired of sitting. It just makes me exhausted for some reason. I kinda just wanna jump up and do jumping jacks in the middle of the aisle right now. Too bad the seat belt sign is turned on.

- A guy just like zoomed past me in the aisle. It was weird.

- My thought as I went to the bathroom for the first time in US territory in the Miami aiport: “Whoa, there’s toilet paper in here!”

- My thought as I ordered Burger King for lunch: “Whoa, free re-fills and self serve soda? Whaaaaa?

- My thought as I saw people in the Miami airport: “Whoa, you people are tall!”

- The guy just zoomed past me again.

Oh, and I think I’m in Nebraska right now.

Peace.

^^ I was supposed to post the above a while ago, but I just hadn't gotten to it until now. 

I will be posting an update on my life en los Estados Unidos muy pronto.  

Running Out of Time...

I know, I know....half of my blog posts are posts composed into lists. This is going to be another one of those posts. What can I say...I'm a sucker for organization...and lists easily arrange my thoughts in a canny and tactful manner.

With only 33 full days left in Ecuador, here's a compiled list of the pros and cons of leaving my beautiful country.

Reasons why I love Ecuador:

• The benefit of being able to find at least one tienda on basically every street corner. They're all so cheap. If I'm hungry, I can just walk about 10 feet from anywhere I am, go into a tienda, and get a bag of chips for 10 centaroos. It's pure bliss.
• I am continually amazed by two food items here - fruit and bread. Not only can you find tiendas everywhere you go in Ecuador, but you can also find fresh and cheap fruit being sold anywhere you go, and I'm telling you...it's 10x better than the fruit in the states. The same is true with the bread. Oh, boy....I'm gonna miss it. 
• I don't know what it is, but I walk so much more here than I do in the states. It think it must be that everything is closer together. There are actually places to walk to. I can walk to church, to tiendas, to the peluqueria, and even to soccer if I wanted to.
• The language. I just love it. 
• $1.50 movies. I know, they are pirated DVDs. But, I buy them. 
• Seeing people out walking. It's so much more common here.  
• The beach. I don't think I'm going to be seeing anything that closely resembles an ocean in the CO, unless it has gone through a major change since I was last there in August. 
• The culture. Not gonna lie, there are things in the Ecuadorian culture that I absolutely cannot stand. For one, they aren't very specific or very good on communicating things. But, I can also see the  good things about them not getting too stressed out over minor misunderstandings and keeping no track of time. The culture has really taught me a lot and has increased my ability to be patient. 
• The opportunities. I'm going to miss all of the amazing opportunities to serve Jesus here. I have met so many amazing people during these experiences. I will always remember the kids that I have had the benefit of spending time with here. 
• The people. Like, I said...I have met some amazing people here. I'm gonna miss 'em. 

Obviously, there are many more things that I will miss about Ecuador, but if I complied a list of every single thing, I assure you, you wouldn't be able to read it all in one night. 

Things I'm looking forward to back in Colorado: 

• My friends and the rest of my family. Oh boy, oh boy. I'm so looking forward to seeing the amazing people that I have missed oh so dearly over the last 9 months. This is definitely my number 1.
• Driving. 
• My church. It will be fun to be back. 
• Being able to leave the house without being cautious of the people around you trying to mug you.  
• More English speaking people (although I'm still not sure if this is a benefit).  
• I'm just looking forward to summer in general. I'm so ready to be done with school, and just to hang out with friends, swim in the pool, work (maybe), take in the beautiful summer evenings, read, and just do pretty much whatever I want. 

Again, there are several other things I'm most definitely looking forward to in the states, but this is what comes to mind.

I'm glad there's always at least something to look forward to in life. PTL.