Wow!!!

Let me try to make a long story short...and just get to the HUGE blessing!!

When I came back to Botswana in August, I needed to book my return flight for December 2009, but that was too far off, so I told my mom to just book the flight for April and I would call and move it later. When I called to do that last week, I was told because the flight was only valid for a year, I have to use it before September 1st or lose it. After minorly freaking out a bit, I quickly saw the great blessing in this situation.

Just in my last post, I shared how much I've been missing family and friends lately. Honestly, the past four months have been difficult ones, causing my yearning for family and friends to increase. Often the past few months, I just wished I could get a big hug from my mom and pour out my heart to her. Along with missing other family and friends, I've also missed my friends, Gary and Stacy, so very much. They've left a big hole here in their absence!

So, I have decided to go ahead and use this plane ticket now, especially since my mom already had it booked for the weekend after term ends. Which means I will get to be home and get my huge "Mom-hug" in just over two weeks!!! On top of that, I will get some much-needed time with other family and friends, including Gary and Stacy! I can't tell you how much my spirit is blessed right now. And the blessings just keep coming.....

It's been planned for a while now that my dear friend, Stacy, was going to come and visit me the beginning of May. Well, she still is, but the exciting thing is...now I get to fly with her! I spent a loooong time on the phone to be able to get on the same flights as her, but the time was well worth it because it worked!! This will be such a wonderful blessing for both of us!!

On top of that, today I was talking to my friend, Megan, who is from California and has been teaching at OIS for six months. She moved here with her husband so he could participate in a research project, and she decided to teach while they were here. We've become good friends and I'm so sad to see her leave. I knew she was leaving right after term ended, but I didn't know that she was leaving on the same day as me, at the same time...on the same flight!!! So, it turns out that I will get to fly with a friend back to the States and with a friend back to Botswana. YEA!!! Those 13-18 hour flights are horrible to endure alone!

God has really, really blessed me this weekend. I feel like I can finish off this term well with such a huge gift to look forward to. I love that God knows the desires of our hearts and works in such amazing ways to meet those desires when we are delighting in Him. (Psalm 37:4)

Thank you for your prayers! They obviously worked really, really well! :)