Big Things.

Okay.

Wow. It's been a while since I've really, truly written something here because... I've been scribbling and scratching all my thoughts and ramblings in letters or my journal, (gasp: I'm keeping a journal these days for the first time since I don't even want to think about when,) and the past couple of months have involved a significant bit of filling out applications, (thank you, college, for requiring so much of my brain power prior to admittance,) and writing stupid resumes about myself, (duh, Katie. What else would they be about?) for said college applications and ... other applications.

And yes, Mama, I have been sleeping late too. I like to think of these months as the Last Semester Containing The Freedom To Sleep Late. Or the LSCTFTSL. Whichever you prefer.

And I've been reading. And exercising. (shocking, I know.) Making resolutions. Reading through the Bible chronologically. Getting Red Cross training. (It was quite an experience, let me tell you.) Writing letters again, which feels good. I love mail, whether I'm sending or receiving. There's just something about a nice, plump envelope, preferably sealed with sealing wax, and a trifle battered around the edges after being put through who-knows-what in the multiple post offices of the world.

In other words, i've been Living Life. Not perfectly... in fact, so far from perfectly I don't even like to think about the lack of perfection.



And now for the News. (That was just the introduction, in case you were wondering.)

Most of you know by now, (this is one of those RARE cases when info goes onto the computer after it's communicated by actually speaking,) that I've been applying to work in an AIDS orphanage in Ethiopia. Today, I was accepted, (as long as my FBI background check comes back clear - which, um, it definitely should,) and so Lord willing I'll be moving to Ethiopia April-ish and coming home late July-ish. (The dates are still tentative.)

The reality of this hasn't totally sunk in yet. I've been carefully keeping myself from getting too excited or too nervous, making myself remember that it was so not a done deal. Now, it kinda is.

And I'm excited.

And a wee bit terrified.

There's so much going on in my mind and my heart about this whole thing - about how God led me to this when I really was NOT expecting to be led here, how He's opened door after door for me, how my family has encouraged me, prayed for me, not freaked out at all that I'm going to a third world country by myself, how my heart is already so in love with and so burdened for the children I will be with, (they're all HIV positive,) - and above all, how it all comes back to Christ's faithfulness.

Through the working towards this, the waiting, (that was definitely the hardest part, mostly because I expected the wait to be much longer than it was,) and the uncertainty about what exactly the next few months will hold, (all I really know is: they'll be different from anything I've ever lived before!) Christ has been my Friend, my Helper. He has given me the grace to trust Him, to rest in Him, and oh, how sweet it is to dwell in the shadow of the Most High!



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This is a very broad overview of what all is going on, and you'll hear much more in bits and snippets through out the next weeks and months, but I wanted to tell everyone a little about it, because 1. everyone will know eventually, so they might as well hear it here, and 2. please pray for me. I need prayer right now, I will need prayer every step of the way. I can't tell you how much it means to know that I have friends who love me enough to faithfully bring me before our Father's throne.