"O God, you are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you,
my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land
where there is no water.

I have seen you in the sanctuary
and beheld your power and your
glory.
Because your love in better than
life,
my lips will glorify you.
I will praise you as long as I live,
and in your name I will lift up my
hands.
My soul will be satisfied as with the
richest of foods;
with singing lips my mouth will
praise you.

On my bed I remember you;
I think of you through the watches
of the night.
Because you are my help,
I sing in the shadow of your
wings.
My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me."

Psalm 63:1-8

-- Amen.

So, hello to all and I'm sorry it's been another almost two weeks since I've posted. I guess the newest thing, since we last talked, is that I turned 23! Sounds so old, and yet, still so young at the same time... :) No great differences from 22, as of yet... but we'll see as the year unfolds...

I had a great time celebrating my birthday in Berlin, Germany! (Link to pictures in my previous post). I went with Michelle, the girl I teach with and her roommate Kara. Things were off to a rocky start when I missed the train and they had to leave my ticket hidden behind a trash can on the platform :) but it ended up being a great time and experience. We actually met up with some "friends of a friend" who play in a worship band for the Jesus Freaks group in Berlin. We went with them for a few hours on Saturday to a 24-hr. prayer room, like IHOP or CHOP. It was really neat. They also showed us around the city for a big part of the time as well.

I was actually a bit homesick coming back from the trip - it was nice being familiar with things again, like the public transportation, but it felt like I should have been coming home home... it was hard being reminded again that I wont be doing that for quite a while still. I also felt like I had a TON of stuff that needed to be done/taken care of, and you know, just had a bit of the overwhelmed/hard to breathe feeling. :) God of course took care of all those things, down to the last detail, though. So I got through those first few days and the rest of the week has been great.

Teaching is still going well, and I actually started this week with some new tutoring lessons! I will be working with 3 fourth grade students - 2 boys and 1 girl, who are all fluent English speakers. They've lived for a few years in the States and their parents were wanting them to work with someone outside of the English class that the rest of their class is in. So I will be doing that on Mondays and Fridays, working on their writing and grammar. I was only able to meet with the girl this week, but she is the sweetest thing, and I am really excited about it!!

Another thing I am super excited about is that a friend from CCU is coming next week to visit! She's been in Europe for the past couple of months, and she's coming with her friend to visit Prague, and THEN the three of us are going to ROME for the weekend!! I shouldn't have too many more travel plans for a while after that :).

Anyway, I do need to get going... today is Talitha's birthday, and we are having a joint celebration tonight! We're having a few friends over for some bread, cheese and wine (all of which are a NEW FAVORITE of mine!) and then chocolate cake and pumpkin pie for dessert! :) I actually have to go BAKE the pie first, so wish me luck...

I love you all!!!