Hello, all! I know it’s been awhile since I last blogged, so here’s the quick rundown of my summer:

• Lots more babysitting
• Lots more SEEP
• Lots of internationals living at our house

For real! My family has been hosting exchange students for several years, and this summer we had a girl from Germany with us for a month, as well as several U.K. football (“soccer”) coaches with us for a week here and there. It’s been absolutely wonderful to have the sound of German in the house again–we hosted a German girl for 5 months a few years ago, and now the accent feels like home to me. And of course we all enjoyed the amazing Brits we got to spend time with. We had a girl and a guy that were both from the north of England, up near Manchester. I was pretty excited to identify and understand that accent, and kept hearing Christopher Eccleston in my head: “Lots of planets have a north.” Our third coach was from Scotland, and it was great to hear him and our English guy argue about the proper way to make tea. I kid you not, it was pretty iconically surreal.

Anyway, I finished my classes on Friday, August 9, and hit the road on Saturday, August 10. That whole last week was busy, beautiful, and bittersweet. I will miss my family. I’ll be home for Christmas, but God only knows when or if I will ever properly live there again. My family is wonderful. I will never forget them all laying hands on me and praying for me to give me a proper send-off.

Yesterday I drove an hour and a half from Rancho out to the desert to have lunch with my grandma on the way to Arizona, realised I forgot my laptop, drove halfway home to meet my gracious brother to pick it up, and then finally made it to Phoenix. I met my friend at her apartment around 6, and then was whisked off to a birthday party at a local outdoor diner to meet all her friends! Seriously, this community here is so beautiful. It’s a whole bunch of intellectual, open-hearted, organic-lovin’ hipsters who go grocery shopping together, hang out on each other’s couches as much as their own, and make friends with all the local small business owners. I love it. I’m so glad God brought this amazing group of people into my friend’s life. This is the kind of closely knit community I’m hoping to find in KC.

So after spending all day Sunday soaking up the eclectic Phoenix atmosphere (and 105° heat!), I’ll be leaving tomorrow morning for Roswell, NM to spend a night with another friend’s family. It’s about a nine hour drive, but that’s completely okay with me. I use the time for listening to cds I never get to hear all the way through, trying new harmonies, singing my own songs, and of course praying. Driving is my favourite time to pray out loud. And maybe go on long rants about the Bible and/or Doctor Who to my imaginary friend in the passenger seat. I just can’t get away with doing that when I’m carpooling, y’know?

So anyway. This journey has been amazing. I can’t believe I’m actually doing this. God is faithful. Kansas City, here I come!