Foreigner

So, I've been a couple months living in Belfast, and i have to say that being foreign hasn't been what I'd expected it to be. I suppose that I came prepared for the worst: culture shock, feeling alienated, etc. It hasn't really happened. A good bit of the reason for that is because making the move from America to N. Ireland is far  less drastic than making the move to, say, Saudi Arabia or something. But I also just don't mind being or feeling foreign.

Some people have a problem with that feeling, and I think that the people who do are probably the ones who feel really at home and involved in the culture of where they're from. Like the sort of person who runs for local political office would have trouble being a foreigner. Personally, I think that there's a lot less pressure that comes with being one. You don't have all of those funny cultural expectations that you have everywhere else. Here, people don't expect me to have certain political affiliations or enjoy wearing pink and lime green polka dots (which is a fine trend for many people, it's just not something that I enjoy), or be that "sweet" southern girl that I so often just don't feel like. I'm sure that there are expectations of me here, but I don't know them. Besides, the biggest American stereotypes that I've heard are that Americans are loud and obnoxious, fat, and sexually promiscuous.But I sorta break all of those pretty quickly.

I guess that what I'm saying is that I enjoy having people expect me to be different, whereas at home I feel like they have to discover that.

I think that the more that we assume about people (and we all do it) the less we actually know about them and understand them. But I guess that that's a challenge for all of us: we shouldn't assume that people are like us, we should just try to understand them where they're at.

Here's a pic. of my school for the blog!

~Lindsay

You are wonderful...

I wrote an entry that I planned on posting yesterday, but as I sat down to post it tonight (oops) I felt led to venture on a different path. I erased the three paragraphs that I previously poured time into and now, here I am.

So, hello. Long time, no blog.

To be honest, I don't know what to say. For me, words either seem to flow or halt and right now, they are at a stand still. But, you know what? That's ok. There are times in our lives when the words just don't come. Sometimes you're not sure what to think, say, pray. In these times, I'm incredibly thankful for a God who knows every word before it is on my tongue (Psalm 139).

I hope when you read this, you realize how wonderfully you are made and how very deeply you are loved by our precious Savior.

-Kendra



"You have searched me, LORD, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely... If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." (Psalm 139: 1-14)

Learning

I am learning lately. Not just from classes and books, but about life in general and about myself. It is a lot like excercise. I have made a list of similarities I see:

•  You must do both in order to be healthy.
• Sometimes you hate it while its happening because it hurts so much.
• They both make you exhausted. 
• They both make you stronger.
• They both make you more aware of what you allow to enter you body/mind.
• They teach you what you can and cannot handle.
• If you give either one too much focus, they distort your reality about life.
• Their results are ongoing, and clearly show you why what you are doing is not only beneficial, but necessary.
• The both make you want to eat more; one because you are more hungry, the other because you are so tired of thinking.

Currently, I am facing a new change in my thinking. I am being challenged to see myself and my decisions separated from those of others. Because of this, I am also being forced to recognize that other people's decisions are not my fault and that I must make choices for myself that insure my health and sanity, even when other people are not happy with me.

Any comments?
~Nicole