My Poor, Abandoned Blog

My poor, abandoned blog. It has been well over a year since I have posted anything. As I prepare for many changes and transitions in the next days, weeks and months, I think I would like to share some of what this last year of absence has held for me.

July 2009:
-July 4th, 2009 God changed my life forever and challenged me to step out in faith and begin dating Venezuelan Cristian Rico.

-July 5th, 2009 I returned to the US, after my second school year in Venezuela working with Campus Crusade for Christ.

-End of July/Beginning of August Along with my brother and sister-in-law, my nearly 60-year-old father, and some other friends, I climbed my first mountain. At 14,494 feet, Mt. Whitney in California is the highest peak in the contiguous United States. *Note: When I say first, I mean first, as I hope to climb many more mountains and have many other adventures in the years to come.

August 2009:
-I traveled to Costa Rica and spent three weeks getting to know the country and the culture better, visiting the Campus Crusade ministry in San Jose, and most noteworthy, getting to know Cristian better. It was a time of really deciding where our relationship was going and deciding our willingness to see what God would do in the next months and years, as for the time being, I had no concrete plans to return to Venezuela soon.

September 2009:
-My training to become a full-time staff member with Campus Crusade began with a 10-day trip to Orlando, Florida.

December 2009:
-December 14-January 5th: I returned to Venezuela to visit my amado (beloved). My parents joined us for Christmas. This was their first visit to Venezuela and more importantly, their first time meeting Cristian. On our last night with my parents, I translated the conversation as Cristian asked my parents' permission to marry me. They said Yes, of course! Boy was it interesting being part of that conversation! As the translator I didn't necessarily participate much, but rather observed and repeated. So lovely to see a wonderful, godly young man nervously explain why he wants to spend the rest of his life with me!

To be continued....