As I think of going back to US, to my home, I'm filled with so much happiness and excitement! But it doesn't compare to the joy I will experience to be in my real home, in the presence of my Heavenly Father, with my brothers and sisters, forever basking in love, intimacy, beauty and adventure.

 From The Sacred Romance:

 In his wonderful book The Eclipse of Heaven , A. J. Conyers put it quite simply: “ We live in a world no longer under heaven. “ All the crises of the human soul flow from there. All our addictions and depressions, the rage that simmers just beneath  the surface of our Christian facade, and the deadness that characterizes so much of our lives has a common root:  We think this is as good as it gets. Take away the hope of arrival and our journey becomes that Battan death march. The best human life is unspeakably sad. Even if we manage to escape some of the bigger tragedies (and few of us do), life rarely matches our  expectations. When we do get a taste of what we really long for, it never lasts. Every vacation eventually comes to an end. Friends move away. Our careers don't quite pan out. Sadly, we feel guilty about our disappointment, as though we ought to be more grateful. Of course we're disappointed --- we're made for so much  more. "He has also set eternity in the hearts," (Eccl. 3:11). Our longing for heaven whispers to us in our disappointments and screams through our agony. " If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy," C.S Lewis wrote, " the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world."

........

For now, our life is a journey of high stakes and frequent danger. But we have turned the corner; the long years in exile are winding down and we are approaching home. There is no longer any question as to whether we will make it and if it will be good when we get there. "I am going there to prepare a place for you, " Jesus promised. " And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me" (John 14: 2-3).

One day soon we will round a bend in the road and our dreams will come true. We really will live happily ever after. The long years in exile will be swept away in the joyful tears of our arrival home. Every day when we rise, we can tell ourselves, My journey today will bring me closer to home; it may be just around the bend. All we long for we shall have; all we long to be, we will be. All that has hurt us so deeply--- the dragons and nits, the Arrows and our false lovers, and Satan himself--- they will all be swept away.

                   And then real life begins.

I stole this from Whit and Dawn... :)

FIRSTS

1.Who was your first prom date?
8th Grade Prom - Justin Roberts
High School Prom - David Stokes

2. Do you still talk to your first love?
I've never been in love with a guy, i've really liked them...but not loved

3. What was your first alcoholic drink?
Wine

4. What was your first job?
Hostessing at Country Cottage :)

5. What was your first car?
1994 White Saturn

6. Who was the first person to text you today?
no one, and i'm glad  because texts here in Spain are SOOO expensive, be glad ya'll have unlimited  texting for a few bucks a month ;)

7. Who is the first person you thought of this morning?
Jesus, I was praying He would make it not be so early in the morning :)

8. Who was your first grade teacher?
I have no idea

9. Where did you go on your first ride on an airplane?
The US of A :)

10. When you snuck out of your house for the first time, who was it with?                                                                         

I've never snuck out of the house, but I remember the first time I skipped class. I was dating Kyle Cisper and we decided to skip our Biology class (Mr. Wolf) and spend some more time together :) SO we go and sit on one of the benches outside....hahaha, as we're sitting there Mr. Wolf walks RIGHT PAST US, he just had a smirk on his face and asked what we were doing....I was SOOO embarrased!!! :) I don't think we ever did that again.

11. Who was your FIRST best friend and are you still friends with them?
That I remember..... Shylah Glass. I haven't seen or talked to her in a while. But we're definitely still friends!

12. Where was your first sleep over?
I have no idea

13. Who was the first person you talked to this morning?
Jesus, read #7

14. Whose wedding were you in the first time?
I was a flower girl for one of my mom's friends, but i can't remember her name

15. What was the first thing you did this morning?
Turn off my alarm

16. What was the first concert you ever went to?
40 days, haha.  ;)...i dont' remember!

17. First tattoo or piercing?
Piercing - I was 4 months old

18. First foreign country you went to?
The US of A

19. Who was your first kiss?
my first kiss was not the best experience, lol, and was over 8 years ago

20. When was your first detention?
I think I got detention once for skipping band class...we "accidentally  missed the bus" from the middle school, lol. I'm telling ya I was not the most responsible kid in middle school. But my first pink slip (w/out detention) was in 4th grade....Just like Dawn....I was just talking to Rachel Colvin , well i guess we were "arguing" and so our teacher sent us to the office, but by the time we went in to see the principal we had made up, but it didn't matter....we still got a pink slip!

21. What was the first state you lived in?
Oooooooooooooooooooooooook - lahoma.

22. Who was the first person to really break your heart?
Gosh well I had to think back on if I cried, to really consider it a "broken heart" but then again that time it was a mutual ending of the relationship, so i dunno.

23. Who was your first roommate?
Melodi Smith