Whatever you're doing inside of me
It feels like chaos somehow there's peace
It's hard to surrender to what I can't see
but I'm giving in to something heavenly

Chaos and Peace

     I am finally leaving. I will be flying out on September 26th. It is so hard to believe after 3 years of waiting. It is bittersweet and a little overwhelming, but I know that the One that is leading me is going to take care of me every step of the way.
    Life has been crazy as I work to finish up paperwork and last minute details and as I begin condensing my life into three to four suitcases (and they can only weigh 50 pounds each).
 
 Here is a glimpse of what my life looks like right now: CHAOS!



Within the chaos, God has graciously provided me with moments and days of rest and peace!

                                     Playing in the stream behind our house with my niece and nephew.

Going camping with my family at the ocean. 

Rest - what a beautiful thing! Now I am ready to attack the chaos that is taking over my room.



Fun Times at PILAT

I had a great two weeks at PILAT in Colorado. It was so encouraging to meet others who are at the same place in life as I am. I spent the evening playing games as chatting with them and during the day we were stretching our brains together. We spent lots of time doing phonetics drills. We learned how to sharpen our ears to hear foreign sounds and how to get our mouth and tongue to make the right shape to produce the sound. Here is a video of one of our instructors and some learners. It was take a few years ago, but you can get a feel for what I spent the week doing.

We also spent a lot of time learning some practical ways to learn a new language. To do this we actually began learning a language. My group learned Mandarin. At first I couldn't even hear a difference between the word for airport and church. But after a while my ears got pretty good at it. If our teacher said "Last night we took the bus to the park" I could put all of my picture flash cards in the right spot. It was pretty exciting to see myself begin to understand Mandarin. I am very encouraged and excited about using the skills I learned to learn my new language very soon! 

Here is a rap that a student made last year. He put all the different things we learned into his song.

Spider Webs and support

Yup, I love being able to see my support. Thought you might enjoy seeing it too. The orange represents a group of people - like college friends, a small group, church, etc. The green is for what is being given by individuals/couples/ families and in a few cases a small group. The blue is the total for that group. My favorite part is where one green circle leads to another green circle. Thanks to those of you who have shared my story with your friends or hosted a tea party!

81%

The green numbers all have a supporter, but the black ones are still looking for someone!

80%

I've hit the 80% mark and I am hoping to leave by the end of August! Look at all of the GREEN!

69.8%