The American Flag

Greetings, loved ones. Tomorrow afternoon I will depart my home, bound for Dulles airport and, eventually, the great Down Under. As I was driving around completing last minute errands earlier this evening, I realized I needed gas, so I pulled into the nearest Turkey Hill. After running inside and telling the cashier "15 on 3, please", I went out into the windy cold and started my race to fill the car as fast as possible. Why, you might ask? Because- it was cold out, it was dark out, it was windy, my hair was in my eyes and face, and only heaven knows how many people had touched the gas handle before me. (Ha.) The reason I'm telling you all this is just to illustrate the state of mind I was in at the time. All of a sudden, as I'm waiting for the painstakingly slow pump, I realized this was my last night in the United States of America. As that hit me, I forgot about the cold and the wind and the germs and I raised my head to look up. Directly across the street from me was an American flag, glowing in the dark night sky above an in-ground spotlight.

The Lord has been putting it on my heart and mind recently (in the last year) that I shouldn't be in such a rush in life. Ever since I entered in middle school my mindset has been that I HAVE to get on to the next thing. It CAN'T wait. I'm SO bored with whatever everyone is doing right now that I HAVE to move on to the next chapter in life. Life moves slow sometimes. If you rush through everything, my guess is that one day you'll wish you hadn't. I will miss my home country, this next half-year. I will miss my home, and I will miss my family and friends. I probably shouldn't have been in a rush to get into Australia these past months. I am praying the Lord will teach me to enjoy and utilize well the time He has given me in each place He puts me in.

That being said, I do leave tomorrow, and I couldn't be more ready. Thank you to everyone who has supported me, both financially and through prayer and encouragement. I loved seeing some of you at my commissioning yesterday! Please pray that I have safe and smooth travels tomorrow (and the next day!). Thank you again, and you will all hear from me soon!

Random fact of the post:

The luggage weight limit for my airline is 50 lbs. I'm bringing a hikers backpack, due to the nature of both my family and the journey I'm about to embark on. I had quite a bit of stuff I needed to bring, ranging from dresses to sporks and from clotheslines to water filters. My father, who is notorious for being an immaculate planner and packer, was able to fit EVERYTHING I had laid out PLUS the pile of clothes I had set out that were "desired but unnecessary" into the backpack. Now, that is an incredible feat on its own. The news that brought me and my mother to laughing awe was this: when he weighed the pack, it was exactly 50 lbs and 0 oz.