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 :)
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