It really IS a small world...

Walt Disney was correct when he said it is a small world after all! I am continually amazed by how many connections there are with people. I would not be surprised if it is true that everyone is separated by 7 degrees. This weekend I had another small world experience and I'm very excited about it.

So I was on Facebook on Friday going to leave my friend Kai a message. Kai is a sweet friend that I met at new staff training in the summer of '06. We bonded over the 6 weeks we spent in Orlando and realized that we were both from Minnesota. During support raising we were able to spend some time together and encourage one another. I was leaving her a message to see if she was going to be home at Christmas time. I was hoping that we would be able to find some time to get together. Well as I was leaving her a message I noticed that the person that left a message below me was from someone in the Dallas/Fort Worth network. It said something about Kai coming to visit her. As I looked closer I realized that this was the wife of Chris the missions pastor at my church, the pastor that I had just met, the pastor that I'm going to Thailand with in March! It was crazy! I saw Chris at church yesterday and had some questions about Thailand. I then told him about our connection. He said that Kai was infact coming to visit and that he and his wife would love to have me over for supper one night. What a fun connection!

I am constantly amazed at how small the world is after all. It seems that we always have a fun story of meeting so and so who knows so and so. I do love the moment of Ah-ha I know that person too! I'm excited to spend time with a sweet friend this week, someone who will be in town due to this fun connection.

On a similar note within the next two weeks I will be seeing so many of my dear friends from back home and I am EXCITED! I'm flying out next Thursday to Kansas City, from there I will drive with Bob and Natalie to Des Monies to pick up Melissa and then on our way Minneapolis. I'm excited to see so many of the people so dear to my heart! It's crazy how much a person can miss people!

My family...

So in one of my classes the othe day we were talking about the defination of family. We decided that it is not limited to those related to you by blood or marriage. I just sat there thinking how very true that was. I sat there and thought of those I consider my family and only two people who are related to me would be on that list. When I tell people that I'm going home for Christmas to spend time with my family, that family is actually Emily, Les and the rest of that crew. They have become much more of a family to me than then my "real" family ever did.

I consider so many of my sweet friends my family. I will repeat what I said in my last blog, I am so very blessed to have AMAZING friends! Those people who love me know me and love me for who I am.

Well with all this said... I was sitting at On the Border Tuesday with the girls, it was right after we had talked about families in class, and my phone rings. The number on it is a number from my home town Vero Beach, fl. I don't answer it becasue I think it's rude to talk on the phone when your with people. So anyhow I check the message a little while later, it's my brother. Now it's been almost a year since I've talked to him so I pretty much know something is wrong. Anyhow I call him back, and we chat for awhile (and for those of you who know anything about Marc the update is he sounds SO good! He's been sober for 3 weeks now. He has 10 months to serve which he will do after Christmas). And then he tells me that mom has been diagonsed with breast cancer. I don't really know what to say to that. He continues to tell me what is gonna happen (surgery etc...) Then she comes out to where he is and begins saying all kinds of stuff about it. She is obvisouly drunk and she is repeating everything she says like 5 times. She goes on for awhile about me going in to get checked out yada yada yada... Then she says "Tell her I love her even though she doesn't want me to" This statement made me SO mad. All I have ever wanted was for her to love me and she may say the words but her actions always show elsewise. So anyhow thats that. I don't know what to do with the info. I made a decision to not be a part of her life until she stops choosing her addictions over me (which she hasn't) and so I know for the protection of my heart I can't be there for her in this. It was so weird though cause it was the first time I've heard her voice in almost 3 years. It reminded me that I've made the right decision.

So I thank you all who are reading this whom I consider I family. You know who you are and I love you!

Willie and Friends...

Yes I know it has been awhile since I've been on here. I must admit that the last few weeks have been crazy in my life. Things are on the up and up and I have realized one thing, I am truely blessed by the people in my life. These last few weeks/months have been hard and it's been amazing to see how my friends have rallied around me. It has been so good to see people whom I love and spend time just being with them. Here are a few of the highlights from the past few weeks...

A few weeks back my roommate and I ventured our way over to Little Rock. She was going to record with Sean Michel (You may remember him from American Idol this past season). And I was excited to spend a little time with Les and Jonathon (my sister in spirit and her husband) We really didn't do much, but it was so good to just be with people so dear to my heart. It was a fun weekend. Arianne and I laughed a lot with (and often times at) Sean. We had some good conservations and it was just all around a good weekend.

Every Tuesday night we have girls night in Mansfield. This is always a highlight of my week. We go to On the Border and order margaritas and appitizers. It is our time for the 6 of us (my roommates plus Sarah and Theresa) to catch up and to laugh and to enjoy our time together. We often go back to Sarah and Theresa's and hang out. It is always such a sweet time.

Last weekend my dear friend Melissa came down to visit. It was my first visitor from home and it was so good to see her. While she was here we went to go see Willie Nelson and Pat Green (and a bunch of others) in concert. I now offically feel like I am a Texan. There was about 11 of us who went, we sat on the lawn, played games and listened to good (and some not so good) music. It was a fun day and night!

So those are a few of the fun things going on in my life. Novemeber is going to fly by. I have a LOT of stuff due in the next few weeks. So a majority of my time will be spent writing papers and putting together presentations. I look forward to this semester being over. After my last final I am planning on getting into my Jeep and heading north. I'm coming home for a month. I will hopfully be up in Minnesota by December 14th. I'm looking forward to spending time with so many people dear to my heart. I'm sad to be leaving my roomies and friends down here but I'm so excited about being back in Minnesota!

SO that's my update... I'm gonna try to be on here more often.