All my bags are packed . . .

. . . and I'm ready to go?!

In 5 hours I will leave the US for Austria. Wow! This summer has been a whirlwind of events, people, emotions, research, teaching, sport, cultures, cities, and homes. I cannot fathom that only 3 months and 10 days ago I arrived back from Barbados. It is all surreal, and I have been so busy lately that I haven't begun to process it all. One thing that is overwhelmingly evident is that I have been richly blessed. Here are a few things that I praise God for:

- warm nights
- Wildwood church
- ultimate frisbee
- the Bluesteins and Mrs. Dennis (& their hospitality)
- summer tuesday night bible study
- Colorado and mountains to be climbed
- long phone talks with Bethany
- my students
- the Angolans
- Mee and Por
- tennis
- chats with Zach and future plans to visit!
- Scott Goodspeed and FOCUS ministry
- back to school excitement
- map distribution in Couch tower
- the word of the day (pope on a rope!!? haha)
- parties at lake thunderbird
- sunday night volleyball
- fun times with chris, cameron, and liz
- technical meteo discussions with Dan Dawson
- passing my General Exam!
- my parents (and their love, support, and willingness to be my mailbox!)
- daydreams of Barbados and my friends there
- Florian and his hospitality
- long walks at night
- singing praises to the almighty
- plans to visit Bethany!
- accents
- ceiling fans
- my advisor's flexibility and strong support of my education
- many new friends at OU (not a complete list!): nathan, matt, rakesh, nisha, arpee, hani, danielle, ben, the volleyball guys, barnabas, ashley, ryan, bob, nishan
- my many old friends at OU (meteo & church)
- prayer
- celebrations
- Thai food
- working out at the gym with Matthew
- college football
- world cup 2006
- probably a thousand other things that i forgot

Next post will come to you from Austria, enshaallah. Stay tuned for the transition from "good morning barbados". Peace and love.