Earning My Boots

I have the best parents in the world, for all of yourses information. Mom and Dad are buying my Outdoor Pursuits clothing and boots, as long as I clean and organize our book-room. Talk about Herculean tasks...

Imagine, if you can, a bookshelf. Six shelves in all, each one stuffed with books: books standing up, books on their sides, random papers, maps, pamphlets, what have you. All around the shelves, there are stacks and stacks, some knee-high and some waist-high, of books. Now imagine six of those, in a room about the size of an average living room, about 12x14 feet. Imagine them arranged in a trident shape, with narrow paths in between the shelves, narrow due to the stacks of books on the floor. On one wall is a piano, and next to the piano are two metal cabinets with a printer on one of them. There are over a thousand books in this room, of all kinds: fiction, science fiction, history, fantasy, sword and sorcery, biology, theology, psychology, music, everything. All need to be sorted, shelved, and dusted.

THIS is my job this summer, to put up shelves, list books, and get them organized. For the task of navigating a literary labyrinth and un-labyrinth-ing it, I get stuff for Wales.

And then I'll be de-tasseling. Walking through fields of corn, pulling tassels. Oddly enough, it's a job I kinda like :)

If you need me, my nose will be in the books. Or the corn. Either one.

--Kae

Cold Feet

It's nearing midnight, 73 days before leaving for Wales. This is THE WORST possible time to get Cold Feet.

I had the horrifying realization that I will be without my main supports, my closest friends, my family, my church, for an entire semester. No movie nights, no vespers, no tickle fights, no silly arguments, no heart-felt conversations that last forever, no rarely-given-which-makes-them-even-more-precious hugs, no hysterical laughter at meals, nothing. I will already have been without the majority of my friends for the summer, one of whom I didn't get to see all last semester either, and another to whom I didn't get to say goodbye before he left.

I.
Am.
Terrified.

Right now, nearing midnight 73 days before I leave, I really, really, REALLY don't want to go. I want everything to remain exactly the way it has been, I want to go back to campus in August and start up the movies, the teasing, the jokes, the laughter, and I don't want it to change. I don't want to leave. I'm scared of having to meet (and get along with) new people, new classes, new professors, new ways of doing things.

I'm going to miss my friends, the ones I can always talk to, the ones I can count on to cheer me up, even when they have no idea I've been feeling down. I'm going to miss the hanging out every Friday night, going to campus activities together, having classes together. I'm going to miss getting online to see if someone else knows what on earth question 7 is actually saying and how we're supposed to answer that.

Sitting here in bed, wanting to throw up or hide under a rock...so this is what cold feet feel like.

Oh God, our protector, behold, and look upon the face of Your annointed. For one day in your courts is better than a thousand; I chose to be an outcast in the house of my God, rather than to dwell in the tents of sinners. For the Lord loves mercy and truth; He will give grace and glory;
The Lord's hand will not remove good things from those who walk in innocence. Oh Lord of hosts, blessed is the man who hopes in You. --Psalm 84:10-13

Lord God, help me not to fall into despair. You who know all things, help me to trust You in the coming months. Lord, I'm scared and I don't know how I'll manage, but there's one thing that I do know - You are here, You are with me, and You will guide and comfort me.

And please help me get to sleep soon so I'm not half asleep in church tomorrow.

--Kae

International SIM Card

I have one. I also have tickets. And I'm earning myself hiking boots and a hiking pack.

Lesson #1 of International Travel: Don't tell people you're nervous, because they will IMMEDIATELY start comforting you.

Lesson #2 of International Travel: If a thought is big enough to worry about, it's big enough to pray about. Start praying.

Lesson #3 of International Travel: Following Lesson #2 cancels out the need for Lesson #1.
Imagine that!

The LORD will keep you from all harm - He will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going, both now and forevermore. --Psalm 121:7-8

--Kae

Flight is Booked

Well okay then...officially leaving for the UK in 53 days, flight has been booked, ISIC card is activated, I've ordered the international SIM card...gosh, I'm so nervous right now!

So, about this blog - this will be the story of me in Wales. I'm going through my school, Central College, and I'll be there for an entire semester. It's still hard to wrap my mind around, I'm going to the home of Merlin and Saint David! How cool is that?

Merlin is well know, of course, everyone knows about him. He was a magician, advisor to the great King Arthur, and the lead character in many books and movies. There is one record of a "Merlyn" having helped Urther Pendragon, not necessarily by using magic. According to the Historia Brittonum, it was Merlin who revealed to the king Vertigon that the reason for his constantly collapsing tower was that there were two dragons in a lake, fighting and causing the tower to collapse.

Saint David on the other hand (Dewi Sant, in Welsh) is not as widely known. He was a Christian saint who travelled to Wales in the 6th century. He founded many wells, a monastery, and urged his brothers to abstain from worldly pleasures, to spend their evenings praying, writing, and reading. Possessions were forbidden. He was a famous preacher, and turned many towards Christ. St. David's Cathedral, in southwest Pembrokeshire, stands on the site of the monastery that he had founded.

And I get to go to the home of both of them. I am excited, and terrified - my first time flying all by myself!

--Never fly faster than your guardian angels can--

Kae