identifying E: Day 3

The end of day 3...already. It's been an interesting and emotional day from the beginning for me, and I know it' not going to be the first before I leave. Wake up call at 6:30am - turned into not getting out of bed until 6:58am to be on the balcony for devotion by 7am (which is normal for Lauren and I). On the way to Hope Home today I was sitting in the backseat between Caitlin and Pastor Tim. We got to talking about something, I think my major, and Pastor Tim looked and me and I knew exactly...exactly...what he was going to say. "You know, I believe that God has His hand on you. I was telling Tony, God has very special plans for you...and if you ever need me to talk I'm here." ---------- honored, yet terrified, yet speechless, yet nervous, and lastly - blessed. If I had a nickel for every time a Pastor of mine has told me that... Including one that told me something similar to this the night before I came on the trip. God definitely is working within my life, but man, that just gives me feelings that I don't even know how to describe. All I can say is, "Thank you so much - and we will see where this all leads me!", but sometimes I wish I had another response. Emotion overflow...

At Hope Home today we continued our construction work. We had a few stressful moments that set us a little behind, but it all worked out in the end. With all of our teamwork we were able to get a lot of the heavy lifting done and most of the structure finished! Caitlin and Katy worked on the mural again today - as if yesterday wasn't enough, today it's looking even better. Pastor Tim and Tony worked inside today sanding, priming, and painting the floor of the boy's dorm. Pat worked with the preschoolers with some more VBS and crafts! Lauren, for those of you who don't know, is majoring in social work. She brought down worksheets for the caretakers here at Hope Home to work with them on ways they can improve the structure and discipline within the orphanage. It made me tear up listening to her talk to these caretakers because it's so incredibly clear that she's in the right major. I'm just really proud of her and the work she's doing and will do in the years to come. We were also given the opportunity to talk to the older/teenage girls when they were home from school during their lunch break. I let Lauren do majority of the talking because she had a written plan for the discussion. It was a great time to discuss teenage girl things with the group and reminisce through my early/mid teenage years. Those girls are beautiful and they have so much going for them. I hope to come back one day and see them again.

Dinner tonight was held at JR's - a burger joint here in town. It was a little taste of America. Then we went to get some ice cream - banana vanilla to be exact. I'm really going to start craving that in the states! We have been back at the hotel for about 3 hours now. Pastor Tim and Tony have been hanging out with Miles, Lauren and I for the past few nights so they can get into our stash of candy (which is now basically gone!). Seriously, some of the funniest people I know. So many great memories have already occurred on this trip and I know we have a ton more to go! We ended our night with a group prayer around me and Lauren's room. I'm just so thankful for this team.

The quote of the night from Pastor Tim - "If y'all see that herd of donkeys go into the ocean, then you know we've done something wrong." (It's a long, long story but it's a funny one!)

Lastly, SHOUT OUT TO MY BOY TJ WARREN FOR RECEIVING ACC PLAYER OF THE YEAR! GOOOO PAAAACKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK and also to my baby kitty, Zoe! She was spayed and declawed today. Bless her...I'm so sorry baby girl!

Once again, there are plenty of pictures to show you a little bit of our day! Goodnight, guys!