Wow! It's been WAY too long since I last posted. So many things have happened, and I just have a little bit of time to write about it, so here goes!

I am staying in Albania this year. That's the biggest thing, I guess. Through a whole bunch of really really cool God stuff, and some really really painful Erin stuff, I finally saw God leading me in that direction. Neither of the colleges I applied to worked out for this year because of finances. Either one would leave me with too much debt at the end of four years. One school even said that it would be best if I waited another year, because they very possibly could give me a full-ride scholarship! How's that for a hint? Then opportunities, one after another, started opening up for a year in Albania. I could continue my girls' group at church. I could work as a teacher's assistant at GDQ (the MK school in Tirana). I could help out at the highschool co-op. I could pursue that dream of a second girls' group separate from church--one that reached out to older MK girls at GDQ and the highschool. Though the tutoring job hasn't worked out, all those other opportunities--and more--just presented themselves as soon as I gave everything up! Well, actually, I'm pretty sure God had a hand in presenting them to me... *wink* Anyways, that's what's happening with that decision, and I'm absolutely thrilled to see what God has up His sleeve for this next year! It's going to be so awesome!

I'm in America right now with my family, travelling around, speaking in churches, and trying to raise more support. Also on the agenda--looking at colleges. Since I so conveniently gave up all my plans for college this year, I've gotta start over in that department. (btw-- George Fox is 99.9% a no-go because of money... so it's pretty much off the list) So far, I've visited Bryan College in Dayton, TN, and Union University in Jackson, TN. Because of my (pardon my bragging) 1400 SAT score (not including writing) and 4.0 GPA(!!!), I've qualified for the highest scholarships that each of them have, which are actually competitions I will have to take part in--including essays, interviews, reading books and discussing them with faculty, among other things. But seriously! We're talking about 4 years of college for FREE if I win one of these things. Amazing, huh? Remember this, kids--your grades and how hard you work in school are important. They can save you LOTS of money in college. So... yeah. There are other colleges on the list to visit as we travel... Moody is among them. We'll see how that one goes. Right now, Bryan is my favorite.

I'm sad to say that the whole ordeal with college over the past few months really damaged my relationship with God. I'm working on getting everything back and right with Him, because I know how extremely important that is... It's just taking a whole lot more time than I expected. I keep wanting to just run into His wide open arms, but it seems like each time I do that, I stumble and fall after a couple steps and have to get up, dust myself off, and try again, each time getting more discouraged. The only thing that seems to work is taking teeny-tiny baby steps toward Him. I don't fall, but it takes so much longer, which is also pretty discouraging. I was reading through some of my old prayer journal entries, and was reminded of how close we were before this whole college thing--I long for that sort of relationship again... I'm just having such a hard time attaining it. I know what I need to do, but I guess I'm just not trying hard enough, and I feel bad about that. I need to be able to set a good example for the people around me, especially when I'll be in so many leadership positions when I get back to Albania. That possibility of being a bad example, a bad testimony, terrifies me. So if you guys could be praying for me in that area, I would really really appreciate it.

This is kinda random, but I just thought it would be kinda cool to share it... Just recently, my mom was talking to an old friend of hers that is now in California. He told her about this really awesome church that he's in right now, and how he hoped that they might take us on for support. We downloaded one of the sermons off of their website and listened to it in the car on the way down to Savannah to visit my grandparents. At first I kinda complained that we had to stop talking so my parents could hear it, but then after only a few minutes of listening to the sermon, it had me hooked. That guy was amazing! It's the kind of teaching that I really really miss having. This time, he only talked about ONE verse. Matthew 5:48--"Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." At first sight, this verse looks totally impossible. How on earth are we--fallen, sinful, horrible humans, that are very much IMperfect--supposed to be perfect like God?! I mean, come on! That's totally impossible. We can't be perfect like God is, because that would make us God, too, right? Anyways, he dug into the Greek words of the verse to find out the answer to that question. Turns out, the Greek word that is translated as "perfect" is actually one of those words that just doesn't translate well. I know exactly what that's like... there are some Albanian words that just don't translate well into English, too! The Greek word there is the same one that James explains in James 1:4--"...so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." It's the word that people would use for a tree when it had reached the age of bearing fruit. It's also the word that they would use for a group that had the same focus, the same goal, the same heart. Is this starting to make sense? We need to be mature, complete, unified, fruit-bearing, focused, purposefully living, knowing and sharing God's heart, just like God is all those things. Yeah. After hearing that message, I was really excited about this church (I read the stuff on their website and got even more excited). My mom's friend will be meeting with the missions pastor later this month (or maybe next month?) to talk about the possibility of the church supporting us. Really be praying about that. Too bad the church is in California, though. It's like, waaaaay out of the way for us, and we won't be able to visit this time around unless they pay for a plane ticket for my dad. Now if only the church was really close to a college I was interested in...

Another totally random thing--my computer is giving me tons of trouble. The touchpad quits working randomly, and sometimes the screen shorts out or something so it doesn't light up. Then there are the times when it goes sooooo slow you'd never believe I've only had it for a couple years. I'm pretty sure it's dying, and I don't have the money for a new computer. Not cool. Think you could be praying for that? Either that my computer would suddenly be fixed, or that I'd have the money for a new computer?

Mom's calling me to go work in the storage building, so I'll have to stop here. Ha.. this has kinda been a prayer request post, but I didn't mean it to be... I'm just letting you know where I'm at these days. If you wanna pray for me though, I'm sure it wouldn't hurt! Thanks guys, I love you all!