better together

Soooo, yesterday I wrote a blog post and it didnt get published. BOOOO!
Basically, I just went on and on about how TOTALLY grateful I was to have this trip...

But, lets re-cap:

I'm in Dunedin now. Its totally normal really. In fact, ever now and then I have to pinch myself ( figuratively of course)to remind myself that this "isnt normal" and that its actually some sort of a miracle that I'm sitting here in the Burn's computer lab typing this blog...something I did so often in years past...

One of the things that has truly blown my mind thus far is the matter of friendships.
On Tuesday night I found myself sitting on Lydia's bed across from Thida as she told me a long, involved story ( she is a FABULOUS story teller by the by)...and as I sat there, I took myself out of the story for a moment to think upon how totally beautiful she has become. Oh, dont get me wrong, she's always been beautiful. But this trip has truly shown me even MORE of my friend's beauty.
Today, I sat across from Mel having breakfast and once again I was blown away by her beauty.

I have BEAUTIFUL friends!

I realized that one of the pitfalls of having long distance friendships is that while you may still be in contact with the person, and you still love them as much as ever...it almost becomes a habit after a while, new reasons for loving them are harder to come by-and you just stick with the old reasons. But the last few days I've been RE-falling in love with my friends. I am once again overwhelmed by the honor I've been given to have friends that mirror the love of God in their lives, who's struggles help to support my OWN struggles, who's lives parallel my life-even from across the world. Yes, this is an honor.

I've been to 1pm prayer-yay! Truly praying with people is the quickest insight into their life. I think that's one reason why I love prayer so very very much. In fact, God has already answered so much of my hearts desire for this trip-getting to pray with my friend...either one-on-one or in a group...its something I've missed more than ANYTHING...it is like water to my soul.

So, in other news: I keep seeing people that I "kind of" know...and NONE of them recognize me...its kinda sad really...apparently my hair color and the shortness of it REALLY makes a difference! meh! I didnt know i looked so different :-(
I also met a fellow blogger that I had never met before yesterday, Pierre. Bless his heart, I think I may have scared him with my enthusiasm. But, that's the problem with blogs...you have a false sense of KNOWING someone. hehehe....ooops.

We were thinking about having a little get together on Saturday night-but I think its probably not going to happen....which, is fine by me really, its probably best to continue to let God guide my days and order my nights. I've found endless delight in catching up with dear ones and I look forward to more in the coming days.

As a side note if your reading this and your in Dunedin or elsewhere, you can reach me on Lydia's old cell number ( in fact, I'll have it the rest of my trip probably) or, if you dont have that number or you arent sure...at the moment I'm pretty much being passed back and forth between Lydia and Emma...so texting them works too.