Blessings of Appalachia

I made it to ASP land safe and sound, and it is SO good to be here. After a wonderful weekend of catching up with friends and celebrating a beautiful marriage I took the day to get to Johnson City!  I am very thankful for the women at the airline counter who overlooked my 55 lbs of luggage and put the heavy tag on with a smile.  I am thankful for the opportunity to volunteer to have my very heavy 30 lbs of carry on checked to my final destination free of charge.  I arrived in JC about 10 and was picked up from the airport and promptly spoiled with ASP hospitality.  In my first hour of employment there were milkshakes, my new staff shirts, and a set of keys to Stella Blue my car for the next few days.

It still amazes me how special the relationships I have built with my ASP family are even after a year of not seeing them, we quickly fall back into easy conversation and bantering.  I have started doing a bit of training- much less intense then the usual two weeks in Jonesville.  I'm learning a lot on my own and watching some quality YOUtube videos about OpenProj and reading through the staff manual.  Plus I had time to eat Chick-fil-a for lunch (it's been too long since my last visit to this yummy place).

Tomorrow will bring more training and preparations for the summer AND the arrival in Mitchell County my new home.  This week my center director in crime who has been taking the best care of Mitchell County and I will be working together to transition things and hopefully prepare for a smooth week three.  Plus while we are at it we can enjoy the benefits of being on a five person staff and have ALL the productivity and fun!

I am feeling equally nervous and excited about moving to Mitchell and what the next 8 weeks of summer have in store.  I am praying for God to help me overcome all of the expectations I have for myself and that I perceive that others have of me.  I am excited to see where the summer takes me and hopefully leads to a drawing into some sort of calling for the next year holds.

I won't deny that I LOVE getting mail in the summer and I usually work daily stops at the post office into our busy days to seek the joy of ripping open an envelope full of love and of course you can expect mail back too!

Send love notes, words of encouragement, things that will make me smile, and really anything you want :)

ASP Mitchell County
Attn: Caitlin Closs
General Delivery
Spruce Pine, NC 28777

Lots of Love from Johnson City!

World Adventures, Packing, and Mountain Dreamin'

As I sit in the middle of my grandparents family room and watch the rain drizzling down, I am overcome by a longing to be a part of my Mitchell County family even though we don’t even know each other very well (unless of course you count my time facebook creeping).  In just 6 short days I’ll be heading back to ASPland for another summer of overalls, early mornings, and joy-filled days with volunteers.  For most staffers with the Appalachia Service Project their summer has already begun and the first group of volunteers are out on the worksites starting to serve the families.  I am positive that my staff in Mitchell County is already having lots of great adventures. 

I am so blessed to be able to have the opportunity to be working with the Appalachia Service Project for a third summer in North Carolina.  I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to be serving again, but God had other plans for my summer and I couldn’t be more ecstatic.  I am thankful for the patience of my friends in Johnson City while I worked though summer plans and options and for working with me so I could come back this summer! 

You may be thinking why in the world am I not already there and the short answer is I spent the spring after graduation as a world traveler of sorts.  In April I celebrated a lot of lasts and the end of a wonderful 4 years at Alma.  I wrapped up student teaching and then enjoyed all of the graduation festivities.  My mom and dad flew in for the weekend to celebrate the big day.  Just about a week later I hopped on a plane with my spring term class and headed to Peru.  I spent the month in Peru being immersed in the culture and seeing another county.  I had an incredible time and learned so much.  Below are a few pictures from some of my favorite moments of the trip

 




 For the first part of our trip we lived with host families in Cusco and went to school and volunteered. Then we traveled all around Peru seeing all different communities and so much beauty.  I loved the slow pace of life in Peru and the love they have for their culture and simplistic life style.  It reminded me a lot of Appalachia.  I hope that someday I will be able to go back to Peru and enjoy it all again.

After a crazy few days of travel full of cancelled flights, five star hotels, and a lot of plane riding we returned to MI.  I managed to squeeze in a trip to the Highland Festival in Alma and a few other visits with friends and a whole lot of unpacking and repacking all before Monday morning when I headed back to the airport en route to Ireland.

My aunt decided to graciously take my cousins and I on a little Irish Adventure.  We spent 8 days seeing the southern part of Ireland and learning about the history and culture.  I loved spending so much time with my cousins and my aunt and enjoyed the opportunity to see another country.  I think a few pictures will better describe my time in Ireland.

 

I made it home after all of these world adventures and was ready for a little time to rejuvenate and prepare for the summer.  I am so thankful for the opportunity to have seen more of the world and travel with some awesome people.  

I keep thinking that maybe if I wait long enough maybe all the packing I need to do for ASP will do itself.  Unfortunately I can't avoid it much longer.  I did spend time sorting through t-shirts and am happy to say it seems I could wear ASP shirts for 3 weeks and not need to do any laundry (not sure if that is a good or bad thing).  I can't wait to get to ASP land but I am also nervous for the new challenges this summer will bring.  I'm hoping to have more blogs this summer since I hopefully will have better internet then last summer but I make no promises!  

Much love and many prayers friends :)