Expanding Horizons

Today is the first day of summer and I got to enjoy beautiful home area views like this as I drove home to my parents with Charlotte.

 

My summer online class is in the next to last week of running. July is right around the corner which is the month I hope to step away from doing schoolwork.....hope being the operative word as July is the only month I don't teach my regular teaching load but there are so many projects in the works at the moment....in a good way!

Yesterday, I received word that a paper was accepted to be presented in the Czech Republic and tomorrow I will be in Philadelphia for a morning workshop at a conference on instructional technology where I am excited to learn new things! Next week, a chapter I am writing for a monograph in Madrid, Spain is due and moving parts are coming together for an exciting research opportunity through a grant proposal that is due in a couple weeks.

Ever since stepping off the planes that brought us back to America from Austria exactly one month ago from today, we have been running around town getting our house and cars back in shape, Charlotte has been loving her time at a new activity center for children and families that opened in our town, I have been home at my parents' house three times, and we have had the unexpected pleasure of connecting with not one, not two, but five members of our Austrian family in Ohio!!  Actually, eight if you count the three students we met in Austria who are working in Ohio for the summer who have already been to our house for dinner!

We had three of the Sisters over for lunch last week. Two of them had been in Austria and it was so delightful to host them in our home! I was especially excited to serve Sr. Eliana coffee from our new coffee machine! She approved!

The day after lunch, while at work, I saw Fr. Jonathan! Again  it was incredible connecting with someone we had gotten close to in Europe here on US soil. Finally, on Wednesday, when teaching at the activity center, I was able to catch up with a dear sweet friend from Austria who is spending time here with her hubby's family. I had to laugh when Courtney said, "It feels like I just saw you!" as a greeting since I felt the same way and am sooooo thankful for these amazing friends we met due to our shared experiences in Austria!

Who would have thought that this one semester abroad would lead to such sweet friendships and afforded me the professional opportunities in not only Austria but also in Slovakia, Czech Republic, Spain, and beyond as well as locally in Ohio?!

In the next month, now that it is officially summer, I hope things slow down and I can reconnect with those I have not been able to see since fall semester!

Three nephews and one niece were awaiting our arrival at Mom and Dad's house. My niece snapped this photo. When I saw it, I was struck by the visual reminder to take the time to stop and try to sloooooow down in the next couple weeks now that summer is here. Hmm.... Maybe after VBS ends and we show Mason and Braden a good time during the annual summer visit of a niece and nephew! This will be Mason's fifth summer of visiting and Braden's first one...soooo excited! 

Closing Time

The class song for my senior class was Closing Time. The lyrics for this redundant number are below...I always thought this song was about being out late at night before the bar closed. I read recently, though, that it is about birth and the baby leaving the womb for the unknown. I couldn't help but think of this song as I realized something tonight in a completely different context.

Nine years ago on this day, I made the decision to leave life as I knew it in York, Pennsylvania to follow a dream down in North Carolina. I prepared to be a special educator from 1998-2002 then in 2010, I made a leap to start working on my doctorate! It is wild to think that I have now been in higher education for nine years!

Looking at these pictures of places where I have been from hanging in our home tonight makes me wonder what beginning will come from some other beginning's end in the next nine years? I bought the Pittsburgh picture in the black frame back in college when Dad and I were picking up last minute Christmas gifts from the mall by my Grandma's house. At the time, I had no idea what life would end up looking like or that four states and twelve years later, I would wind up within 45 minutes of the Steel City again on my way to becoming a wife and mom. The Greensboro painting was a goodbye gift from dear friends as I prepared to leave North Carolina but what the couple who gave it to me could not have known is that this scene reminds me of a special moment. That scene takes me back to the romantic cold night when Adam and I went ice skating in the outdoor rink by those city buildings before winding up at a local brewery a few blocks away where he shared shocking news with me that he was falling in love!

Hmm...I just realized I don't have a picture to represent when I lived in Delaware! I do, however, have some letter tiles that spell out Lewes (the name of the small beach town where I lived) that are in display in the same room. My hometown of Frackville is not represented on this wall either. However, I have a bunch of fall foliage pictures from there hanging up elsewhere in our home so that is probably okay. ;) 

This was a parting gift from the Study Abroad Program. It now hangs in our living room so I can see it every day - - our most recent new and now former home.

When I purchased this during an Art Festival (yeah, Kipona!), I had expected to live in this area for a long time. Little did I know that York was going to become a cherished new hometown. York remains a place I would return to in a heartbeat!

How cute are these magnets created by the same artist who made the prints of York from my Wall of Places I've Lived... I may need a second fridge just for the magnets I want from this stock photo on the artist's website!! ;} 

The last few days I have been pondering how folks set out to move forward and over obstacles, with all these thoughts of literal and figurative places to be, to keep from being stuck in a rut.

Some avoid.

Some run away (think fight or fight) and some deny anything is wrong.

Some face their challenges head on while others bury their heads in the sand.

The main theme that seems to come up is perspective. When one changes how something is viewed and how to live with whatever the "it" is, growth can occur. The other day, I heard an interesting view about suffering. It went something like this: Healing may not look the way you think it will. A person may still die of disease. Yet through that illness, the person was able to offer it up for a loved one or the person experienced a conversion of the heart that may not otherwise have happened. This means the suffering was not in vain even if the person did not experience a cure.

I have been thinking of the concept of redemptive suffering a bit since hearing that reminder. Jesus did not promise things would be easy or that things would stay the same. What he did promise is that he will never abandon us and what a terrific reminder of this through today being Pentecost Sunday! Come, Holy Spirit! No matter where we live or what we have done in our lives to separate us from the Lord...God wants us to come to Him and to rely on Him. Unlike city or state lines, God's grace knows no boundaries.  Sometimes the forgiveness we are seeking has to come from within ourselves.

Closing time 
Time for you to go out go out into the world. 
Closing time 
Turn the lights up over every boy and every girl. 
Closing time 
One last call for alcohol so finish your whiskey or beer. 
Closing time 
You don't have to go home but you can't stay here.

I know who I want to take me home. 
I know who I want to take me home. 
I know who I want to take me home. 
Take me home

Closing time 
Time for you to go back to the places you will be from. 
Closing time 
This room won't be open 'til your brothers or you sisters come. 
So gather up your jackets, and move it to the exits 
I hope you have found a 
Friend.

Closing time 
Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.

Yeah, I know who I want to take me home. 
I know who I want to take me home. 
I know who I want to take me home. 
Take me home

Closing time 
Time for you to go back to the places you will be from

I know who I want to take me home. 
I know who I want to take me home. 
I know who I want to take me home. 
Take me home

Closing time 
Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end