Um, writer's block about a blog entry?

My blog-entry-per-week goal is being missed. It looks like I'm averaging closer to one entry every other week.

The weekend was mostly nice. The work week was over all nice. I'm hoping to start college again July 1. :) I have math requirements to look forward too. Yes, that has excited me (though yes, I wish they were already met). There are some kinds of math (kinds I can do fairly easily) that I like.

So for now, I'm enjoying time... for a little longer...

2 Cor 4:17. My happiness over the week and today gets challenged. But reading John Piper's Let the Nations Be Glad and reading/remembering related verses has encouraged me to counter my discouragement with hope from God. I don't mean that you or I have to be perpetually happy. Crying has certain benifits. But rejoicing (which doesn't always conflict with tears), that's biblical. :)

Grandpa

My Granddad went to be with God when I was four, but my Grandpa was around for more of my life. He and Grandma visited us in the West sometimes. I remember he would play with my younger sister and chant a rhyme about her name that he made up. He had really cool watches. He was fairly quiet. He was smart.

At his funeral, I learned more about his work supporting missionaries. This was something my grandpa did, and did well. It makes me feel like my mission work is carrying on something he had begun doing before I was around. It is neat to discover more of the bigger picture that what I do fits into, and it is an encouragement.

The day I heard my grandpa had gone to be with God, I knew wanted to go back to visit. It changed my perspective of what's really important. I'm so thankful I could go to the funeral. I'm thankful for that time with my relatives. It was short and intense and priceless.

views from travel

It was the shortest long-distance trip of my life, if my memory holds accurate. Six flights, beautiful views, and a very special time with family. But I've decided to put the trip into two blog entries, and this is the views-from-travel part.

Canyons, from the air.

The Grand Canyon?

The sky, so beautiful.

Mt. St. Helens, I think

Mt. Adams, I think. We flew more or less right over it!

Mt. Spokane (the mountain with the big, right-now-snowy bald spot), one of my favorite mountains. Okay, so I'm partial.

I like seeing Mt. Spokane from the Western side where you can see the bald spot.

The time has come and passed for a weekly blog update. So here is a late blog update.

I am sick. I finally actually went to the doctor. Risk of bronchitis wasn't enough (waited and eventually reached feeling tolerable), but for possible pink eye, I finally went. Pink eye and a sinus infection. So now that I've been told I'm sick, I feel free-er to feel sick (for a few hours). And I'm questioning my just-keep-going method of the past few months. Maybe I'd better slow down. Maybe being really healthy instead of just tolerable is an attainable goal. But am I willing to rest? Maybe I'd better be at least somewhat willing.

I'm hoping to go back to Puerto Rico, but for now am looking at another year and a half or two-ish in my current location. I hope to start college classes in June or July online (which leads back to the over-achiever issue of how much should I really try to do all at once, which leads me to think with my tired thoughts that July might be the better start date).

My grandpa's funeral is this week.

Once upon a time, almost two years ago (only two years ago? Wow) I moved back to the States. But I took pictures/got pictures taken by others first. Like these two pictures. Yeah, they're from almost two years ago.

The thing is, it seems that my heart didn't really completely leave Puerto Rico.

That first week back in the States, I remember telling Nicole that I was trying not to compare my life in the States to that in Puerto Rico. Ha, I might have been crying while I said that, at least sometime in the conversation.

Working at camp, I liked the water of the lake. It somehow was a tie to Puerto Rico. Somebody understood. Remembered her former island home a bit like I remembered mine.

That fall, I started college. But I still missed Puerto Rico. I remember that fall thinking that I was pretty sure God wanted me to continue going to college for the spring semester. Then I figured out that if I did it right, I could graduate by the end of the following fall semester. It seemed foolish to quit after the spring semester if I could finish an Associate degree in the fall. Over Christmas break, I got my wisdom teeth out. That was on my list of things to do before I returned for more than a short visit to Puerto Rico.

Spring break, I visited Puerto Rico. I wondered if I'd idealized it. I knew I didn't like change and wondered if the pull back to Puerto Rico was significantly because I didn't want to change. When I went to ESD, it was like going home. At first, I'd cry at night, how can it feel so much like home when I'm supposed to leave so soon? But then, a miracle occured, and the ache/burden I'd struggled with since leaving Puerto Rico went away, at least for a time. At the end of my spring break, I headed home to finish my semester. I finished my Associate degree last fall semester.

I found a church that I wanted to be my home church in the States. I've joined, and it really is my home church now.

I have been going through my church's process to pursue being a missionary, and I still have a ways to go. I appreciate prayers for God's guidance and provision and for Him to open the doors He wants open when He wants them open.

the sun has returned

It's amazing what alot of sunshine can do. I actually considered that I might almost enjoy excersizing - later.

I'm happy for the work week coming again. I enjoy my job. (And yes, I had that sort of weekend that leaves one thinking the work week is really a good thing.)

Isn't it pretty? I love how pretty this mountain can be, especially with sunrises and sunsets.

Note the road. Yes, I prefer to drive this way. Yes, I got stuck once trying to come home this winter on this road. I was driving and then the car started sliding and pretty soon I got the car perpendicular to the one lane plowed out on the road. My dad and a brother came and helped dig me out. Yes, it was in the dark. Of course. But this picture is from today! And I didn't get stuck today (though I did miss a turn onto a different road because I tried to slow down, but should have started sooner, because it was icy and the car started slipping, so I went on straight and turned around a little farther on).
Here is a picture to try to show how much snow we have left. Not really too helpful, because some of the snow is from shoveling off the driveway. Recently it has snowed a little, which is why the driveway and the road above are so white.

Ah, beautiful. Sunset time.

I have taken my mid-term exam for my missions class! That is very nice to have finished. Now I think I will do fine test-wise for this class (though I don't have the results back yet from the exam). The remaining wild card for my grade is the paper I need to work on (but not today!).