Its Snowing!

It snowed last night! I don't know if it snowed at all here while I was in Africa, but this is my first snow of the year! I'm not really sure why I am excited, I don't generally like snow, and I am still readjusting to really cold weather, but something about the first snow fall is still exciting.

So, unfortunately I don't have anything more to write about my trip yet. I am about to tell you about my weekend and you will see why I haven't had the time yet. If nothing else, I definitely want to take time on Friday, my day off this week, and really sort through things from the trip, so I would expect a post about the trip then. In the meantime I am trying to get back into the swing of things in Philly...which includes cleaning us the mess I made when I returned and dumped all my stuff everywhere (however, I can't seem to get motivated to do that, so for now my house is a mess!).

This weekend was amazing and I am so glad that I went home to visit my family! Travis and I arrived at my parents' house Friday morning at 6 a.m., right when they were getting up. I wasn't tired at all, so I stayed up and hung out with my mom while Travis took a little nap and then headed to his parents' house for the weekend. I sent all day Friday with my mom, talking about the trip and life in general. I LOVED it! I also made dinner for my family and enjoyed hanging out with my dad when he came home from work.

In the middle of the day my dad called me and asked me if I would be willing to be interviewed by the South Boston newspaper. Apparently my dad had been talking to a reporter about the happenings in South Boston (being the chief of police, he has regular phone calls with the paper to update them on things) and at the end of their interview the reporter asked how my dad was doing and how the family was. He mentioned that he was really excited because I was in town visiting and had just returned from Africa. The reporter asked about my trip and my dad shared what I do, why I went, etc. The reporter was very intrigued and asked if I would be willing to be interviewed for a story! Of course I said yes and we made an appointment for Saturday!

I ended up going to bed at 9 p.m. on Friday (still on Africa time!) and getting up at 7:00 the next morning (I like this schedule). I got some things done and then went to my interview. The reporter was very interested in my life, not just my trip to Africa. We actually talked a lot more about Philly than anything else. I definitely made it a point to mention that I am support raised and that there are tons of ways that people in South Boston can get involved in what is going on in Philly. I don't know what the article will look like, but I'm excited to see what God is going to do with it! In the meantime, my dad also met with a pastor of a church and a guy who is on the missions committee of another church. Both of these meetings were related to his work, but he made sure to tell them about me, what I do, and my support needs. Both guys seemed very interested and said they were going to take the information that my dad had given them back to their church and see if they wanted to be involved. I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but I'm definitely praying that God will do something with all of that!

I spent the rest of Saturday with my family; going to the gym with my dad and my brother and again cooking dinner and talking with my mom and dad. It was the perfect way to come back from a long trip because my parents wanted to hear every detail. I was able to talk through all of it, so when I got back to Philly and people didn't have the time to hear every minute of my 3 week trip, I didn't feel bad about it. It was great!

Travis and I left late on Saturday night and drove back to Philly, getting here around 2:30 in the morning. Oh, I forgot to mention that I took Gizmo with me to my parents' house, haha. (Gizmo is my cat, for those of you who don't know that). He is a VERY affectionate cat, and very people oriented and was a mess after being alone for 3 weeks. So, he traveled with us, spending most of the car ride in my lap. He did not get along with my parents' dog, but survived the 2 days (he is also a BIG cat, so he was a pretty even match for the dog, haha).

Anyway, I went straight to bed and got up on Sunday to go to church. I picked Bonita and Linda up for church and was SO excited to see them! I have never been apart from them that long, and I hope never to be again. We were a little late to Sunday School, and I walked into my class to find tons of girls hiding in the dark to surprise me with a welcome home banner and cookie. It was so great! They were all so excited to see me! We spent all of the Sunday School class talking about my trip and it was awesome to see how excited the girls were about what God was doing, and they even started talking about ways they could help out. I told them about villages that I went to where they people couldn't really afford clothes, and they immediately started talking about ways they could get clothes to Kenya. We also had some good laughs as I shared some of the more...culturally interesting aspects of the trip (sorry, those are saved for personal conversations, hehe).

After Sunday School we headed to church where I was surrounded my kids wanting to be near me. It was awesome! I missed everyone SO much! Paxton came and sat on my lap during part of the service and pretty much made my day. After church, the girls and I, along with little Kearstin and Zuly (Bonita and Linda's older sister) went to lunch. We had a blast and it felt SO good to be back with them. Basketball started on Sunday for the kids, and the girls wanted to participate, so after lunch we went back to the church for basketball. Kearstin was in the younger group and Bonita and Linda were in the older group, so we ended up being at church for 2 hours for basketball. At that point I was exhausted (it was 5 p.m.!). I needed to go to the grocery store, but couldn't seem to find the energy, so after I dropped the kids off, I picked up some milk to get me through to today and then headed home.

I rested for a few hours before heading over to the Hinson's to play "Pop Culture Cranium". They had bought the game for me for Christmas, but I hadn't been able to play it yet. We actually ended up talking about my trip for a long time before playing, but we did get one quick game in. I want to play again though! It was a blast hanging out over there, and I have decided I am definitely going to do that more often. (American Idol is starting up, so that should hopefully provide some good opportunities). :)

After the game, Frank and Carisa headed to bed and I actually stayed for over an hour talking to Kirsten, the teenage girl that lives with them. She has been struggling a lot recently and we haven't had much of a chance to talk. It was an awesome conversation and I am so glad that God opened the door for us to have it. We just talked about the Lord, and how He is the only one that can come in and heal our hearts, no matter how desperately we want someone else to do it. A story that I had shared earlier in the night that had happened in Africa really applied to a lot of what she is going through and it was so great to be able to talk about it. She is young, and hurting, so there is a lot that the Lord needs to do...but I think she is on the road to actually letting Him!

After that conversation I was spent, so I just went home and went to bed. I woke up at 8 a.m. this morning and immediately got to work. I have gotten a lot done, but I still have more to do. I'm not in the least bit stressed about it, though, God is SO good! I probably should actually get to work, though. I have after-school this afternoon and then we have a church dinner tonight...and tomorrow is another pretty full day too. I'm being 100% serious when I say this, it feels SO good to be back! :)