Busy Times!

Man, it's been really busy here. I've loved the internship so far. Good, challenging at times, and lots of great people to work with. Earlier this week was the first INN, which seemed to go decently smoothly, minus a glitch in the video I made. The glitch was pretty ugly: no sound for a portion of the clips. Dang.

Tonight we have our Fountain Festival in Red Square on campus. It'll be a great night of music, games, chalking, and all sorts of things. It looks like a nice day out there, so hopefully we won't have to make a run for the VU MPR in case of rain. We'll see though.

Here's a picture of the people that I've spent most my Bellingham hours with over the last four weeks. They're all amazing:

Bellingham is Nice.

It is so nice to be back in Bellingham again. While I miss Alaska quite a bit, things are starting to fall into place here and make it a nice place to be. After moving into my host family's home on tuesday, I took off to Camano Island for the INN staff retreat. The retreat focused mainly on getting to know each other again and that sort of thing. I had a great time, and it was fantastic seeing everyone again and getting to relax a little before the crazy times come. 

After the retreat, I spent some time walking across campus, seeing what's changed and taking a little time to pray for whatever might happen here this year. One of my goals this year is to spend more large sections of time praying for what is going on and for wisdom. As I walked across campus, it had a distinctly different feel for me than what I left behind a short 2.5 months ago at graduation. Instead of a looking at classrooms and thinking back to the classes I had taken there, I could only keep thinking that this is my mission field. It makes me excited and terrified for whatever might come. Actually, more excited than terrified. Pray that I'll be flexible enough that I can see God moving in the quick pace of the year.

To remind me that this is my mission field, I took a few picture that I'm planning on having somewhere around my work area at the INN to look at from time to time. A trip across campus on a beautiful night wouldn't be complete without some pictures taken anyway. They're right here. 

This morning I visited the farmer's market with some friends and met some new ones. Its still a little overwhelming trying to remember who I know and don't know, but I'll get over it. The juggler at the market upped his act a bit this year with some funny jokes and fire. It was actually pretty good!

Home.

It's been a nice few days in Maple Valley, but I've found myself bored. I noted to a friend last night how lonely it is to be in the quiet now, after being surrounded by noise and community for the last 2.5 months. I deeply miss all the other drivers.

What isn't helping all this is that I missed the chance to say goodbye to many of them. With everyone's crazy schedules, I didn't even realize that I wouldn't see everyone within the last few days. On top of that, my flight left 5 hours before the end of season company party. That would have been a great chance to say goodbye. Crap. At the end of a great Alaskan adventure with tons of stories, great memories, and hopefully lasting friendships, I find myself asking the inverse of the same question I asked myself going into the job. For my first few days, all I could wonder was, "What have I gotten myself into?", in almost a funny way. Now I've started to wonder what I've left behind.

On a more comical note, what I've left behind is something I've been pondering on a more physical level too. I came in with 96 pounds of checked and carry on's, and with at least 100lbs on the barge. I left with 75 checked and carry on items, and maybe 50 pounds at most for the barge. Where did all that stuff go? Some of the barge stuff was food... but still. I even brought back some gifts for my family!

There are some items that I'm well aware of now that I've left behind. My tent is in the closet, alongside my wet towel. I would imagine some tips are still inbetween the matresses. To even get cheesy, a little bit of my heart is in Skagway(and liarsville). I long to drive a 1983 MCI motor coach.

This transition time between two great adventures is tough. Tomorrow I embark to Bellingham, to move in with my host family, see friends, and get set up again. On Wednesday, the larger, and I dare to say, greater, adventure begins. Here I go!