My feet hurt. My eyes are tired. I cry a lot. Its very very cold here. I miss my family, and especially my sweet Angel Boy. I miss my dogs, badly. My heart aches. And maybe worst of all, I now live a mere 6 hrs from the Canadian border. I nearly went through the roof (grocery store roof mind you) today when I realized that dreadful fact. Sometimes I think my head will spin right off my shoulders and fly away into the wild blue yonder without me. Wouldn't be a great loss really, with as silly as the old thing seems to be these days! I now know more about cheese and deli meat than I ever dreamed I would. I'v learned that labeling machines are pure magic and that bread slice machines are evil. I don't shop at WalMart anymore (thats a post all for itself. It may be written at a future date depending on popular demand). I now know just how tired a pair of feet can get after 9 hours on concrete. I don't have homework :) :) :) :) :) :) Ya, thats happy! I absolutely love the people that make up my world now! I'm entirely smitten with every single one of Strider's family members that I have met so far. Especially the baby... He has beautiful blond hair and big blue eyes and even though he hasn't even tried yet, or really warmed up to me, he has me wrapped around his little finger! He is only a few months older than Angel Boy and looks very much like him. I tell Strider that his place as leading man in my life just might be in jeopardy. Some times, when I am hanging out with Strider and his 2 bachelor younger brothers I feel just a bit like the girl in the book Seven Brides for Seven Brothers :) I like that a lot! Some days I just need to go and hold Bella. Brother 1 does an amazing job of taking care of her though! She lives over at the guys' place and I am SO grateful to have her here with me in this cold cold world. The land here is all rolling hills and farms and looks like something strait from a picture book. I suppose most people would call it breathtaking, and I think it is really. But its also very very tame. I have yet to find a single wild thing here. There are not even any dew berry vines. Tomorrow is my first real day off since I started working in Strider's family's store and I am super excited about it! I am going to sleep as late as I please and then make food and take lunch up to Strider. Happy :) He also says that next week we are going fishing, so that makes me very happy too! :)
In spite of the rather complaining sounding things you just read, I actually think that my life here is going to be a truly amazing one. I really enjoy all the people I work with! Like I mentioned, Strider's family is wonderful. They are so very very different from mine in some ways, but in some ways they are just the same. They are warm and welcoming and very accepting! And funny... So very funny. I also really like the church people! Its such fun to live close to cousins. I'm excited about that part of living here! I actually really enjoy all the church people, and am very excited about getting to know them all better. I have great house mates!! One of them loves to cook and we have already learned we have a blast cooking together. I work with both of them at the store so that is a cool thing to share. One of them is busy planning her September wedding so that keeps her pretty busy too. And then there is Strider. :) Life is just better with him close by. I miss home, miss my life, my family, and my house. But when I look honestly at where God has me and how He's led me here, and the amazing man He's placed in my life, I know that I would not trade this moment in history for anything in the world, no matter how hard it is some days.
To all my friends and church family at home... I miss you. I am SO excited that I get to come home in July and see everyone!! I am super grateful for a sweet man who will take me home too! When you think of me, please pray for me. Each of you is in my prayers as God lays you on my heart! Don't forget that I do want to know what is happening in your lives as well! :)
Dayna, I envision you in our home town, the place I grew to love. I still get a lump in my throat when I start missing Wisconsin. The beauty there is breath-taking. It actually has FOUR seasons, unlike Mississippi. I loved being close to the river. We lived 12 years up on the ridge. I would love to take you past the farm although I've heard it doesn't look as pretty now. Then we lived 4 years in the valley and again I'd love to show you around. I would take you to all my old haunts, the stores that made me happy. The special places. If Slice of Chicago is still open, you'll have to go eat a pizza for me and Ernie. :) We loved that little place. There were roads that I drove on sometimes just for the sheer joy of their beauty. Incline Road is one. We went on that road all the time going home from Sparta. I loved getting a head start and zooming up the hill until you crested the top and suddenly we could see the lights of home. Or coming down, I would fly down and around the corners. It was great fun. Another road is 108 from Mindoro to West Salem. Take that road sometime. I drove that road when I needed to renew my spirit... took time to meander slowly savoring the great state in which we lived. Another road is ... can't think of the name. maybe 131 that goes from Ontario east up toward the park... can't think of the name of the park either. One thing I miss the most is the change of daylight hours. I MISS the dark snowy nights when it would be dark at 4 pm and I'd drive home from town with snow falling under street lamps. So beautiful. Or the late summer nights when it wouldn't get dark till nearly 10 pm and we'd have many hot dog roasts, watching the fire and share hearts until finally we'd fold up the chairs and go to bed. There simply is no place prettier than LaCrosse/Sparta Wisconsin. I loved it then and still do. I miss the row of bright orange trees that lined the one street in Sparta each fall. Having said that, I am learning to fall in love with Mississippi and it's culture. It's very different that Wisconsin for sure. But oh my, I'm kind of jealous you get to live there. :)
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