My help comes from the Lord

"I look up to the mountains-does my help come from there? My help comes from the Lord, who makes heaven and earth!" Psalm 121:1-2

I absolutely love sitting on my couch in the morning watching the sunrise hit the mountains. I especially love when I get to sit there reading scripture that talks about mountains. I've lived in Mexico for a week now, and I am learning so much about my help coming from the Lord. I'm in a foreign country without mastery of the language, a car, a cell phone, my church, and many of the other things that I turn to when I need help. I'm completely dependent upon the Lord and how he provides for me through others. A little example for you. I have next to no groceries right now, it's basically cereal, fruits and veggies, and sandwiches, which is sufficient but not fun. Yesterday a group left leaving behind some treasures that were passed down to me! I got a few cans of coca light, pringles, oreos, more cereal, cashews, granola bars, pears, and chocolate. I was so happy and so grateful, and again so glad that the Lord cares about us so much that he provides these little things for us.

Dispensas

I'm on day 3 here in Mexico! I'm unpacked, I got groceries, and I attended my first staff meeting. I surprisingly feel at home already, and like I've been here for a while instead of just 3 days. For the next week or so I'm "settling in", which means I'm just getting used to life in Mexico and I'm not really committed to any projects. I have an amazing staff mentor who's let me be her shadow for the last 2 days while she purchased all of the items for dispensas which will be handed out to 300 families that we serve, plus the food for a major cookout on our campus this weekend. It was quite a sight, it took 2 trips to Sam's Club plus a trip to a butcher shop. In the end we had 300 bags of beans, 150 bags of rice, 300 jugs of oil, 1720 eggs, 30 packages of bacon, and 55 kg (121 lbs) of arrachera. Our arms are SO sore from lugging all of those groceries around, but it was great fun and I'm excited to see the despensas passed out to the families we serve. I'll leave you with a picture of the view from my apartment window. It's been cloudy so it's hard to tell how gorgeous it is, but once the sun comes out I'll take a new one so you can truly enjoy the mountains.

Time to go

I'm leaving for Mexico on Monday morning! Now that it's actually here and I'm looking at my visa and plane ticket instead of just imagining them, the nerves (and endless questions) are kicking in. The past two weeks have been challenging, and I've felt homeless for lack of a better term. I moved out of my apartment and back to my parent's house in Cincinnati. The bummer is that I don't really know anyone in Cincinnati so I've had lots of me time. Anyways, here's a glimpse into the mess that is my head at this point in time.

I don't really speak Spanish, and as much as I've been studying I just can't remember anything. I've gotten to do 3 triathlons and 1 running race in the past 6 weeks and I'm really going to miss racing and my awesome endurance sport friends. I've still been able to text and talk to my best friend Jenny every day, and I'm not certain I'll survive without the daily communication. I haven't been to church in about 6 weeks, and boy do I miss Clear River! I can't believe I'm leaving a full month later than I planned on, although I'm seeing the purpose in it.

I'll leave you with a picture of my race last weekend, the Boilerman olympic distance triathlon. I took 3rd in my age group and shaved 17 minutes off of last years time.

Still Waiting

I'm still playing the waiting game. I finally got an appointment at the consulate to get my visa paperwork finalized, but the first available was Tuesday afternoon. Most likely I'll be leaving next weekend, which is October 3rd. The original plan was to leave on September 9th. Thank you really slow and ridiculous new visa process. I'm trying to stay positive and see the good things about still being in the States. Feel free to add to my list, sometimes I need some encouragement, particularly when it's 9:30am and I'm still laying on the couch in my pj's with little intention of moving.

-extra time to move out of my apartment

-living in my parent's house for a while (they're currently both out of town)

-2 extra triathlons with my friends

-a few extra play dates and dinners with friends

-time to relax, sleep, and read some new books

-tv (I got rid of mine a few months ago, I forgot how easily tv sucks you in!)

Top 10 lists

This idea was lifted off of my friend Julie's blog, she just moved to Costa Rica for a year with the Vineyard church. I'm still waiting for my visa, the consulate was closed several days this week for Mexico's independence day so I still haven't gotten my paperwork finalized. Hopefully I can get it done on Monday and then get a flight on Wednesday.

10 things I'll miss most in the States

1. Clear River Church and the girls in my lifegroup

2. My little friends who grow up so fast

3. Triathlon training/racing

4. My car

5. Liquid coffee creamer

6. Going for a run whenever/wherever I want

7. Always understanding what people are saying

8. TriTippecanoe and YMCA training buddies

9. My cell phone and texting

10. Autumn (which sounds much classier than fall)

10 things I'm most excited about in Mexico

1. Living on the side of a mountain range

2. Learning to speak a second language well

3. Working with the awesome staff

4. Sharing my training on crisis intervention/foster care/adoption/attachment disorders

5. Real mexican food

6. Ponytails and athletic shorts are normal daily attire

7. Having a roommate again and living in community

8. Summer for 9 or so months of the year

9. Helping with groups who are on missions trips

10. Life changing experiences

Hasta Luego

Today my good friends had a little "see you later" fiesta for me at the park. I even got a Mexican flag drawn on my arm, which I was trying to wash off before I went into WalMart and offended people. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera and I think so did everyone else. Or they already know I don't like having my picture taken so they purposefully left them at home. Anyways, it was great fun and a wonderful chance to see them again before I leave. This next week is going to be a rush of packing and moving my apartment into a storage unit, picking up my visa and other paperwork, sending off my application for physical therapy school, packing for Mexico, and trying to see everyone one last time. I should be flying to Mexico on the 20th or 21st!

The past two weeks I've been doing lots of shadowing at a physical therapy clinic in town before I leave. I got really lucky and got to shadow the physical therapist I saw for my various injuries, and she was one of the huge influences in me deciding to go back to school this spring. The shadowing experience was great confirmation that I made the right choice in going back to school after working for a while. So while I'm in Mexico I'll be waiting to hear if I got into physical therapy school which would start in August 2011. Life is never boring!

Questions Answered

To answer everyone's burning questions, I'm not moving on Sept. 9th, which would be tomorrow. I still don't have my work visa back yet, although it should be any day now. I think the tentative plan is to leave next weekend, although at this point I'm basically saying at some point in September I'll be moving to Monterrey. I'm really glad that God plans these things for us, because left to our own devices it would be disastrous! For example: my plan was to fly to Mexico on the 9th. As of the 8th, my apartment is still not packed/painted/moved out, my physical therapy school stuff isn't finished yet, and I haven't even started packing for Mexico. I'm working on it though, and it WILL be done by next week so that I'll be ready to leave whenever I can.

Some of you have also been asking about Ironman Kentucky, which I participated in on August 29th. It consisted of a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and 26.2 mile run, which totals 140.6 miles in one day! I made it 132.4 miles before having to drop out of the race because of heat exhaustion and dehydration. I got pretty sick out on the bike course where the actual temps were 92 or 93 and the heat index was definitely over 100. However it was one of the best days of my life, and I'm hopeful that I can do another full Ironman in 2012. Here are just a few pictures from that day (swim start, on the bike, on the run, and after getting out of the medical tent).