Departure Day!

We're about 7.5 hours away from leaving at this point. My bags are packed and all of the logistical items are carefully stored (with easy access, of course). I'm keeping the plane-xiety to a minimum, and the cats are sleeping quite happily.

The nine of us (me, Amiee, Juliana, Celia, Kayleigh, Alex, Julie, Matt, and Daniel) will be flying from Memphis to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Kiev, and then bus from Kiev to Poltava. We probably won't get to our beds until close to midnight tomorrow night. We're going to be REALLY tired on Sunday! Starting Monday, we'll be teaching English in university classrooms during the day and then leading English clubs (off-campus) at night. Our first night of English club will be a virtual tour of Union, which will include a little of the following:

Try to contain your laughter. :) Those are pictures from my office, fyi. Hope you enjoyed.

I'll update as soon as I can- hopefully with lots of pictures! Here's hoping for an extremely uneventful trip!

T minus...like, 20-something hours...

I don't know exactly. I don't like math.

But, the point isn't the math, anyway; we leave for Ukraine tomorrow! I've been running around, taking care of details for the trip (like my least favorite one: banking) and trying to tie up loose ends (which reminds me- I need to set up my out-of-office message).

Hm...now that I'm thinking about it, maybe math IS the point (right, Breanne?). Here's a little math for you:

21 = number of school newspapers we're taking to share with Ukrainian students

16 = number of sets of spelling tiles we're taking with us

9 = number of Unionites headed over the Atlantic

8 = number of days we'll be gone

7 = number of checked bags the Unionites are planning on taking

4 = number of days we'll be leading classes in the universities

3 = number of Soularium sets to be used during evening event #3 (thanks for the idea, Matt!)

2 = number of kittens that will be sad and lonely at our house while I'm in Ukraine and MEV is off frolicking with her family

1 = number of Union University president-look-alike bobble heads that will be traveling to Ukraine to have his picture taken (you read that right)

There's much more to tell about how this trip has been coming together, but that should get you started. We've got some fun plans for our evening events (at least, I think they'll be fun). Hopefully, I'll get a little blogging in tomorrow before we head off to the airport. All of you who are of the praying persuasion, please pray for my plane-xiety to calm down. It's in full swing...

For Jaclyn...and whoever else may have been wondering

Answer for Jaclyn's question (that she asked last week and I'm just now answering- I'm sorry!): our church (where we observed Ash Wednesday) isn't Baptist. It's not actually affiliated with any denomination. It's interesting to get used to, having grown up very Baptist. I love the reverent atmosphere, the simple/acoustic music (sometimes there's a violin!), and the straightforward doctrine.

I know that often liturgical forms of worship are regarded with skepticism because of how worship can become "rote." I'm not negating that. However, I've been giving this some thought over the past few months, as it's become a part of my life:

I'm not 100% sure that repetition is a bad thing.

Discipline is a good thing. I don't always like it, though. Often, I have no desire whatsoever to do things that I need to. Some days, I just REALLY don't feel like doing the whole shower/hair/make-up thing. I don't like getting up and going to work every morning. I really don't like going for medical or dental check-ups. Or paying taxes. Sometimes, I don't even feel like doing my quiet time (I know...that's a horrible thing to confess). However, sometimes, for the sake of discipline/integrity/responsibility, I just have to keep pushing through...whether whether I'm feeling it or not.

I've been learning a lot about how my feelings don't really have much bearing on worship. Sometimes, I do feel it and am completely and blissfully emotionally involved. Sometimes, I just have to push through and pray that the Lord speaks to me despite my lack of emotional connection to what's happening. I've discovered that corporate scripture reading, if nothing else, continually grounds me in the truth of God's word. It speaks truth into my life and points me to my Creator. The same thing applies to affirming the doctrine of our faith through the Apostle's Creed. Interestingly enough, I notice something new to think about every time I say it. It gives me reason to stop and think about what it means to be a believer.

It's kind of like language learning: you just have to keep doing the same things over and over sometimes until all of those words and sounds eventually stick in your head. Or, it could be like teaching English: repetition is key to the whole process.

Events like Ash Wednesday and Epiphany and Advent have all served the purpose of causing me to stop and intentionally think about why we celebrate and observe different events in the life of the church. It's so humbling to think that centuries and centuries of believers have done the exact same thing...that we're all a part of "the saints universal."

Anyway...sorry for the ramble and the extreme delay. I actually started this post last week on the 10th but am just now posting. And, it's posting with the 10th as the date, which I realize in deceptive. Sorry, guys.

On Ash Wednesday...and how I will always have Baptist tendencies

Tonight, I observed my first Ash Wednesday. I've always known that it existed, but the churches I've attended have never observed it quite like we did tonight. The church Brad, Amiee, and I attend here in Jackson is very different from all the churches of my past. One element that differentiates is the fact that we observe the Church Calendar.

Confession: I really love it.

I love liturgy and taking Communion weekly (as opposed to quarterly) and practicing a more formal reverence during worship. I'm by no means critiquing other styles of worship; I just prefer this style of worship. I enjoyed celebrating Advent and learning about Epiphany.

And I felt the significance of Ash Wednesday for the first time ever tonight.

I didn't know what to expect, other than the fact that we would have ash on our foreheads at the end...much like our Catholic friends. I'm not sure that I've attended many services (and I've attended A LOT of church services in my lifetime) that have held as much significance for me as the one tonight. One of our elders delivered a devotion that explained why Christians observe Lent and how we can genuinely take the time as an opportunity to draw closer to God. He compared the 40 days of Lent to Jesus' 40 days of fasting...Noah's 40 days of floating...Jonah's warning to Ninevah of 40 days in which to repent...He also taught about fasting (which doesn't have to be food, per se) in such a joyful way. I'm not necessarily looking forward to abstaining from my chosen Lent activity, but I'm praying that I can experience the joy associated with discipline.

Fact I did not previously know about Lent: the Fast lasts for 40 days, but there are actually 46 days in between Ash Wednesday and Easter. You can break the Fast on Sundays!

At the end of the service, we did, in fact, sport ash on our foreheads. I have to say, there is something encouraging...or maybe inspiring...about being "branded" in some way as the body of Christ, who seek to know Him more intimately. Granted, Roommate was a little confused when I got home and had unidentifiable substance all over my head...

How will I always have Baptist tendencies?

Totally took over the very back pew.

Hello, Instant Gratification. When did you become my very best friend?

Ukraine is full of lines and waits. It doesn't really matter what you're trying to do (get a residency permit, buy stamps, or get on a bus), you're going to be in a line and you're going to wait. It's just the way it is. The lines almost never make sense- structurally- to a foreigner, and said foreigner might spend 45 minutes in one line only to find out she needed to be in another line the whole time. On top of that, you're going to have to fight to keep your spot; people like to cut in line or crowd you out, so you have to figure out a way to maintain your space. That's not really my forte, seeing as how I hate confrontation in any format, but I'm pretty good at it now (in fact, I can be a little aggressive when standing in lines at stores in the U.S.; I think I subconsciously feel the need to protect my spot in line. It's embarrassing to my family...).

Anyway, it took me a while to adjust to how long everything takes in Ukraine. I'd make a list of 12 things I needed to get done on any given day and might accomplish one. That was SO frustrating (I would say "frustrating at first," but if I'm being honest, I never really got un-frustrated with that one). It's just a LOT less convenient to do things in Ukraine. Transportation (being at the mercy of a "system") is a pain, lack of space to carry things as you're on public transport or on foot is a pain, language barrier is a pain, lack of automated/automatic things is a pain, having to go to the grocery store daily is a pain, not having a dryer or dishwasher is a pain (I got over that one quickly, but it's still less convenient), converting currency or the metric system is a pain...you get it (if you don't, leave me a comment, and I'll elaborate). It's not convenient. You hand wash things and air dry things and sweep things when you can't vaccuum and you go without water in the pipes or electricity. You wait for things only to find out that you're in the wrong line or that they've run out...

Then, you return to America. The land of Instant Gratification. And of Plenty. And of Customer Service. Things are FABULOUS! People are helpful and tell you which line you should be in. Washing machines, dryers, and dishwashers can all be found under the same roof. You can drive yourself in your own vehicle (given you can afford the ever-increasing cost of gasoline), and you can take that vehicle to the grocery store and fill it up with groceries for a whole week! Toilets, sinks, and paper towel dispensers in bathrooms will do all (well, almost all...) of the work for you. It's awesome. Totally awesome.

Until...

I start forgetting how awesome it is and rather become annoyed that the Normal cycle on my dishwasher takes an hour. Or that my clothes have to go through the dryer twice. Or that I have to find a parking place for my car AND fill it up regularly. Or that buggies full of groceries are just so cumbersome to push allll the way to my car and then allll the way to a buggy return. Or that I have to stand behind FOUR PEOPLE in a check-out line (I mean really- I should just always use self-checkout so I can completely avoid all lines, right??).

When I realize these things, I want to kick myself for allowing Instant Gratification to become my very best friend. She's not a great friend to have; she turns you into a demanding and impatient shell of your former self that learned to do things the hard way if the easy way wasn't working for you. She also threatens to take away my attitude of gratefulness for the abundant blessings that fill my life and make it so full...even when I don't deserve it.

If you get a chance, pat your dryer on the head today and let her (or him) know you're thankful for her/him. You can also lift up a quick prayer on behalf of all of our expats and missionaries around the world who are going without. They might need those prayers when sliding into ridiculously hard and stiff clothing after it's been on the line for a couple of days...

Plane-xiety

I've diagnosed myself. The only thing is, the name of my diagnosis (plane-xiety) is ever so slightly a misnomer. I'm not actually scared of planes or flying. However, I have genuine anxiety about airports. I. Hate. Airports.

I could say I hate traveling (which makes everyone's collective jaw drop because of how much I actually travel), because for me, getting there is not, in fact, half the fun. I like being places. I don't enjoying getting there. I've written quite a lot in the past about my unusual and stressful traveling situations and misadventures, so I have a lot of fodder to fuel my discomfort.

I think the airports themselves are the cause of my stress. I'm totally on-board with security measures; I like to be safe. However, the process of ensuring safety tends to be rather harsh, abrupt, and personally invasive...while you're on the go and in a hurry.

I really hate things like getting stranded in Paris with no where to go and lots of cranky airport workers (stranded in Charles de Gaul- not in fun, cool Paris), being in a shuttle accident between the plane and the airport, running for flights, filling out endless lost baggage forms, being pulled aside all. the. time. to be frisked, taking things off/pulling things out/putting things away continuously (always with people piling up behind you), delays, cancellations, no sleep (and I REALLY don't do well without sleep...like, my body freaks out), food smells that make me vomit, migraines from dehydration and no sleep, arriving in one European stopover city to find out that the flights are messed up and they need to send you back where to came from so you can start over, 3:45 a.m. arrivals, 3:45 a.m. arrivals accompanied by filling out lots of lost baggage forms...

I just don't like it at all. It turns me into the stressed and not-fun version of myself. Aaaand, I'm about to do it again two weeks from today. Prayers would be appreciated...I don't want my travel luck (I doubt that's the right word) to follow me and my sweet team to Ukraine.

Things I'm Liking: March Edition

I sort of feel like when you say you "like" something, people have conflicting mental images: is it something you actually-in-real-life like or is it something on Facebook that you gave a thumbs-up to? I hate that. I get Two Thrifty Sisters' email update everyday, and there's almost always something you can "like" on Facebook and be entered into a drawing to win something. How is anyone ever supposed to know what you actually, truly, in your physical-non-virtual form like?

I rarely almost never "like" something on Facebook, so you can almost completely always trust me when I say I like something. In view of that statement, here are a few things I currently like:

1. Real Simple. The magazine. My mom bought me the Real Simple wedding edition in October, and it came with a free subscription! Yesssss. I've been a Real Simple fan for years, but I've never had a subscription before. My aunt has a genius plan for acquiring Real Simples: she checks the magazine rack at her thrift store. She's kept my addiction going for several years now by stocking up on this piece of wonderfulness in magazine shape. So smart.

2. I've been hesitant to list this one in the past. Here's my build-up, and you can decide yourself what you will choose to do. I discovered this blog ages ago and have been a faithful (if not obsessive) follower ever since. It's a blog by a woman who calls herself "The Very Worst Missionary." I find her inspiring. She and her family are missionaries in Costa Rica, and she writes about their lives and work. She offends a lot of readers, because her word choice is a little unorthodox for most missionaries. She will tell stories that will make you laugh and cry and tilt your head to the side, wondering if she's insane. I love her because she writes things that I often thought but never said while I lived overseas. She writes about the stuff you're not "supposed" to write about- about how you hate being there sometimes and how people make you want to act in an ungodly way and how you miss home so much you could just throw a tantrum. She's so honest. I'll give you the link with a caveat: If you are offended by her writing, please remember that I just mentioned that I like her and did not insist that you read her, too. I would encourage you, though, to look past her rough-around-the-edgesness and look for her heart. I think you'd like it. Here goes: theveryworstmissionary.com.

3. In a COMPLETELY different vein, I read another blog of an expat who also inspires me. She's so consistent in living in a difficult and foreign environment, always trying to find the "bright side" in a place that's so frequently dreary. She's also a great friend. Her blog sometimes reads like a fabulous guide book, complete with pictures and historical background. Check out Breanne's blog. I guarantee you'll learn something fascinating that you never knew you didn't know!

4. I know I've talked about Librivox before, but it's so grand, it bears mentioning again. I've been listening to The Secret Garden currently (which, by the way, I won't count towards my book-a-month goal), and it's just such a good reading to listen to while I'm doing stuff around the house. I haven't read it in forever, so this is a great refresher. It's free, y'all. Free.

5. Speaking of books, I just finished (re)reading Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers (I will be counting that one, which, by the way, puts me ahead of my goal!). It's such a great book about redemption. I love it. It has some heart-wrenching moments and is definitely not for younger readers, but I think it's wonderful. I recommend.

I hope you're all having a great first of March.