And thus begins...

the longest summer holiday in life. Hooray!

brief

Would you walk that path with me? I'd like for you to.

I am registered now to take some classes. Third year. That's odd. I'll be learning, among other things of course, how to rest and relax. Hooray for hps.

I am also about to leave for a month of travel away from Maastricht, farther away from you than I've been yet. A small group of us will travel to Bucharest, Romania via Budapest, Hungary this Friday after exams. We'll be spending time with 'His Little Ones,' which is a ministry encompasing four Romanian orphanages. I am praying that we'll be an encouragement to the workers who are spending their lives to love the least of these, to love Jesus, and also that we'll be able to love the little ones well. From Romania we'll train to Athens where we'll spend a few days before ferrying to southern Italy. We hope to visit Naples, Rome, Florence, and Venice before continuing on to Barcelona.

Then we'll go home. Then we'll go home. Then, someday, we'll go Home. You know? Maastricht first, then Texas, then Home. All three will be sweet.

It's been good to see some of your faces over the past week. Oh, sweet skype.

confident that He who began a good work
will be faithful to complete it:

Audrey

"For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren." (Hebrews 2:11) Really? Incredible.

skiing? no.

paragliding? yes.

I'm back from the land of the switzer without any idea what a switzer is. It's a bit embarrasing, really.

Papers due this week. Exams next week. Finals are over in 10 days.

What classes should I take? That's the question of the day. I register tomorrow.

There are indeed other things on my mind besides school work. I know it doesn't seem so.

More to come...

love

hello

I really enjoy rainy and sunny days and bicycles. especially fury.

light up, light up
as if you had a choice
even when you cannot hear my voice
i'll be right beside you, dear - Run, Snow Patrol

I spent last weekend in Edinburgh with Courtney Micksch. It looked like this.
She taught me to say 'quite,' 'kisses,' 'cheers,' and such. English and Scottish folks are quite fun. Her company was refreshing and I really enjoyed talking with a friend about friends and about life. It was good. Arthur's seat was good. Mostly indescribable, but it was windy, had plush grass, and had clear views of the sea and the city. Geez Louise. (Funny..I met a Louise this weekend.) God is beautiful. Silly things this weekend were unexpectedly educational. I like that. So, thank you Courtney Micksch.

I prayed for a new idea and had one. I'm inspired to write the 18 pages that are due next week in the form of one Comparative European Literature paper and one Comparative European Politics Essay. I haven't started. But I'm inspired.

I miss you people in Juarez this week and pray and hope for you often. I pray and hope for all of you Wacos and family often.

Leaving for Switzerland on Thursday. Alps here I come. Skiing? We'll see. The Bollywood Dance Workout video made my week and I haven't even seen it. But I will.

a quick adendum

I am learning so much because I am here.

I am so grateful to God that I am here. I am so grateful for the sacrifices mom and dad and others have made to allow me to be here and learn and see what I am learning and seeing. I didn't mean to downplay how much I love being here by that last post. Thank you dad. Thank you mom. I love being here this semester.

'Tracy is my favorite person ever in life no questions asked'

I realized the other day I could get Alzheimer's. I could get old, it's almost guaranteed that I will in fact (barring some weird Tuck Everlasting-esque experience), and forget what I've seen here. I could forget Prague's Old Town Square and how the Estates Theatre looks and how I felt in prayer to the Father during the Czech church service. I could lose every bit of memorabilia I've accumulated- the pictures, the material evidence of a trip to europe. I could forget and I could lose and somehow it doesn't make me frantic to see more, frantic to remember. I'm grateful for what I'm seeing. I'll be glad to see more over the next month and a half. But it won't last. And it's okay.

'But store up for yourself treasures in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy, and where theives do not break in and steal.' matthew6:20

The prayers, the acts of kindness, the resolve to live in humility will last because He's faithful and rewards those who earnestly seek Him.

Seek Him.

p.s. I went to the Czech Stop's mother country. And I didn't eat a single kolache.