today...tomorrow

Today...

-I turned my alarm off in my sleep
-I woke up late
-I left my house late
-But still met up with the people I needed to in the end
-I saw a big group of my gypsy friends in the metro
-I went to an orphanage
-I went to the Bazroba
-And bought like "8 kilos" of tomatoes for 3.50 lari
-But I'm not sure if it was really "8 kilos", maybe more like 5, but the lady said 8
-I came home
-I showered
-I talked to a lady about buying some of her stuff
-Like a coffee maker, dishes, pots & pans, a bookshelf, for my new apartment
-But I'm not sure how I'll pay for it all yet, and still make it until August 7th
-But God knows my situation, and I don't think I'm making bad choices
-I went to the neighbors' house and talked with them for like 3 1/2 hours
-We made lots of plans: go to the lake, learn how to make cake, go to the village
-And we talked about God and church
-And how in church, the actions mean nothing if your heart isn't in it
-We also talked about "I Am Legend"
-Then I came home again
-I ate some adjika+mayonaise on bread with tomatoes
-And after I'm done with this I will get ready for bed

...and it's already tomorrow!

God really works things out.

I don't know why all of a sudden these days I'm in like updating-my-blog-mood, but I guess it's good for you guys. :-)

So right now Marina & I are in apartment finding mode because we need to move out of this house by August 27th (the kind family who let us stay here while they were in America is returning on the 28th). And today we found the most "magari" (cool) apartment. Seriously! It's newly remodeled, not 100% Western, but a lot more Western than most Georgian apartments. It has 2 bedrooms, one for me and one for Marina. A cute living room. A super cute bathroom. The lady is going to buy a washing machine. There's hot water. AND it's like 5 minutes from our current YWAM office, also the place where we will hold our DTS! So I'm very excited!!

It's also really interesting, because yesterday we looked at an apartment, and it was nice, but not totally what we needed, but I was really tempted to say, "ok!! we'll take it." because I was thinking that we wouldn't find another and our time is running out. But God really worked things out and it's so exciting. We still haven't given a 100% sure yes to the lady yet, because although I'm like 99% sure, we were advised to wait just a bit to make sure it's the right choice. And so we'll call in the morning and let her know.

Anyways, just wanted to share that news!! Please be praying for us though, that we will for sure make the right choice. And also it will be more expensive to live there, so I think I will need some more finances. And we will be in a new neighborhood (well, not a new area, but a new apartment building, and in Georgian culture relationships are VERY important), so I'm sure we will have a lot of new people to get to know. But it's way cool and I am dzalian mixaria (very happy!!).

forecast

*cries a bit*

Forecast next 6 days (T'bilisi)

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
low: 71 °F high: 104 °F	low: 74 °F high: 104 °F	low: 71 °F high: 101 °F	low: 69 °F high: 100 °F	low: 70 °F high: 99 °F	low: 62 °F high: 95 °F

my Georgian love

Two things.

I think God has either given me a die-hard stomach, or just like extra protection from sickness, because I can count the times that I've been like stomach-sick while living in Georgia on one hand. AND I drink water from the tap, and eat really local food. I just realized how great it is, and I really praise God for that.

And another. So I think my mid-life crisis wasn't really a mid-life crisis, just a lot of emotions gathered into one spot inside of me and it felt like it was too much to take. But I DID realize a few things this last week, and I'll share those thoughts with you:

COMMITMENT.

Although I've never been married, I've heard this example used many times. That when you're get married you go through a "lovey-dovey" stage. Everything is new and cute and nice. And then after a while (that time can vary I guess) you come to face the reality that you've committed yourself to this person for the rest of your life, with their faults and annoying habits and everything that you maybe weren't so aware of in the first stage. But then I believe, in the best cases, the husband and wife together work on it and through it and come out with a deeper love and understanding for each other. And I can say that me and Georgia are in this right now.

I think basically from the moment my feet touched Georgian soil, I was in love. I'm not sure how, or why exactly, or what inspired it, probably a lot of things, but it just happened. Now I've lived here for about 20 months and I can say that although I still love greatly, I'm beginning to be challenged with some things that weren't challenging before. Just in the culture, the traditions, the pseudo-persecution of being a technically protestant but preferably called "Biblical" Christian in an Orthodox Christian country, and the fact that I am still a foreigner and people can usually tell (although I've begun to blend in more than before) which always seems to leave me with the feeling that this is not quite my home, and etc. And when these things and more are realized and felt, I feel a little bit like running away. To America. Or just to another country to have that new love feeling that I had with Georgia before.

BUT, I'm committed to Georgia for this time in my life, and I can't just run away. I won't.

And this is definitely teaching me a lot.

Commitment, commitment, commitment.

I have the hope, that when these challenges are worked through a bit (could they all be worked through completely?), I will have a deeper love and understanding for this country that I'm choosing to live my life in and these people that I'm choosing to live my life with.

Mid-Life Crisis...

I feel a bit like I'm having a mid-life crisis. Is that normal?

I'm heading out on Wednesday for Kobuleti, for a summer project with the Campus Crusade people. It will be for one week. Just so you know.

MUSIC

Hey! So, I have a music myspace and I put a new song up, so check it out! I actually wrote it when I was in Turkey on DTS outreach, but it's the first time I've recorded it. It's called, "Servant's Eyes".