2013 In Pictures

January

Started off the year running around a hotel in Mobile, AL with some of the craziest people in my life getting my hair dyed purple.

Crazy equals awesome in my book. I have some pretty amazing friends!

We were in Alabama because we were on our way to Passion 2013. 

January brought on a lot of spiritual growth for me. At the time I was dealing with a spiritual numbness. I just want you to know, that even when you're not feeling a dratted thing during your spiritual walk with Christ, you keep walking. Don't stop. 

February 

Oh February. A time full of crazy preparation for It's A Girl Thing. I was blessed to be asked to serve on the board for the It's A Girl Thing Conference. IAGT 2013 was one of the best yet with guest musicians "The James Roots Band" and "Kerrie Roberts" with one of the best speakers I've heard so far, "Pam Stenzel."

March

Let's just say, I'll never forget March of 2013. It was the month I went to Honduras on a short term mission trip and ended up making a commitment of my life.

April

April was a blast. That was Mpact month. Hurray for the Awkward Anchors! 

Yes, that's ice cream in my hair. We had a pretty "cool" time that weekend. In all seriousness, God did some awesome stuff that weekend in the lives of many students! 

May

In May, there was a lot of quality time with my best friend who was getting ready to leave for Uganda. There were some deep talks about what we were experiencing, but there was also plenty of goofing off!

June

In June, we said goodbye to Reyna. It was a long, hard, sad day. But exciting. We were excited to see what God was going to do in and through Reyna in Uganda. 

July

July was by far one of my favorite parts of summer, including a girl trip to one of the towns I used to live in. It was full of crazy adventures like taking pictures of mountains...

Visiting old childhood haunts.

 Drinking good old fashioned root beer floats!

And climbing Point of Rocks in 'nuffin but my Chacos!

And a couple days after our adventure, my mom, sister, and I set out on another adventure of being the middle school teachers for our sister church's VBS. That week is high competition for some of the best days of my life. 

August

August was filled with preparations for Honduras. Shopping trips. Coffee dates. Sonic happy hours. Guitar and beach time. And also, one of the highlight's of my summer: THSC Teen Staff Program. Crazy year. Crazy kids. Crazy awesome time! 

On the last day of August, I boarded a plane with the thought of, "Am I really doing this???

This was the mess I made in my new room as I was searching for my shampoo. 

And here's my happy face after finding the shampoo. About five minutes later that face was twisted in horror as the dadgum shower head exploded, melted, and just about killed me. 

September 

September 1st, I woke up to the sun shining through my window. I thought it was a beautiful site that morning. However, I've covered over the window with darker curtains. Not much of a morning person hehe! 

September brought scary things into my life. Long story short, my debit card didn't work, I experienced lice for the first time, I caught the stomach bug and thought I was dyyyyyyying. And I taught school for the first time as the teacher of a class. I thought I was dyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyying. 

October

October held a sense of normalcy and definitely some adventure as I saw more of Central America from the back of a pick up truck heading to Guatemala. 

November

If I felt like October was getting normal, November was probably about as normal as it got for me. We spent Thanksgiving with Rhonda's kids and cooked by far one of the most interesting Thanksgiving meals. Lots of "substitution" with our normal ingredients but it sure was yummy!! 

December

December was great. The month went by fast as I waiting with crazy anticipation to come home. It had been four months since I had seen or hung out with my family and friends (aka-my support group). I think I drove my roommate crazy with "Hey! We're going home in 20 days!" "Dude! Only three weeks 'til we come home!" "Oh my gosh! We get to see our families in TEN DAYS!" And the night before we left Honduras....oooooh my gosh, if she wasn't as excited as I was she probably would've smacked me in the face. "BETHANY!!! WE'RE GOING HOME TOMORROW!!!!!" 

Started Christmas vacation the right way, with Chick-Fil-A.

Spent some time with my gorgeous (and to all you boys...OFF LIMITS) sister. 

Sat in front of a couple fires.

And felt the (very cold) sand between my toes. 

Oh ya, remember the first picture of my purple hair? Skylar and I seem to have this tradition started where she does fun stuff with my hair on New Years Eve! 

My verse for 2014: Ezekiel 40:4- Son of man, look with your eyes and hear with your ears and pay attention to everything I am going to show you, for that is why you have been brought here.

I don't know the context of this verse but it's a beautiful message from God as I step into the second half of my year in Honduras, to look, hear, and pay attention. 

Porque Dios dijo

Since the beginning of this blog, I've struggled with how honest to be on here. Which has made blogging difficult because most of my time in Honduras has been learning about myself which has proved more personal than I ever would have imagined. However, there are some things I definitely feel I can be honest about.
I don't want to go back to Honduras.
Life is the most difficult I've ever experienced.
My first full time job that doesn't involve answering phones.
My first time living away from home.
My first time living in a third-world country.
My first time living with people other than my family.
My first time living in a country where their language is one I'm not entirely familiar with.
However, by December 19th, I finally got used to Honduras and it got used to me.

And then I came home and was reminded why I love it here so much.
My family.
My group of friends.
My Sunday School class (with whom I laugh and learn constantly).
My amazing pastor giving the word of God in the beautiful language of English.
My amazing worship team who leads hundreds to meet with Jesus in Worship (and they sing in English).
My amazing church who is a constant support and encouragement.
And of course there's the fact that I have a vehicle here, a nice comfortable bed, a hot shower, hot water coming out of the kitchen sink to clean the dishes, my dogs, bonfires.

It's just been good being home. Going back to Honduras it will be easier because I know what to expect. I don't have to completely start from scratch in building a life there. But it will also be harder because I've been reminded of why I love my hometown. And it will be harder because this time, it will be a whole two months longer. By month three I was ready to just come home. Life on the Frontlines is difficult indeed. And I don't want to return. But I made God a promise before leaving, "I lay me down I'm not my own, I belong to you alone." And I was reminded of this promise in church this morning. So, I'm heading back. Porque Dios djio. And because of that, I need no other reason.

Home Again

1. My shower is hot.

2. My bed is soft.

3. My floor is warm (and not tile).

4. My dogs are clean. 

5. My family is the best and physically with me. 

6. Chick-Fil-A exists in this country. 

It is good to be home. 

Padrinos

Last week, we did something at Destino that has never been done before in Destino's history. We had the insane privilege of giving each child the name of their sponsor. God has bestowed bountiful blessings on Destino by the way of sponsors. This is the first year each child has a sponsor. The excitement that was in the room when I told the First Graders that I had a surprise for them was thick. When I told them the surprise was that I had the name of their sponsors, I don't think it was just excitement. The presence of the Holy Spirit was in that room ministering to each of those children. These children have hard, hard lives, so for them to not just hear about their sponsors, and make Christmas cards for no-name people, but actually have a name, to know that there is a specific person praying for them, stands out and, I'll go as far to say, will be one of the most memorable days in their time at school. So, if you are a sponsor of one of these children, or a sponsor of a Destino child...know that you made these children more excited than I've ever seen them. 

Here's our unofficial class picture (unofficial because my awesome assistant is behind the camera and needs to be in the picture because I would go crazy without her).

This is our "nice picture. We're trying to give off the aura that everything is perfect in our class (ha!).

And this is more what it's like...

But I wouldn't have it any other way!