5 days

 I only have five days left in the States with my family before I board the plane to Ecuador. Two weeks ago, if I even began to think about it, my eyes would tear up. Now, I feel more peace. I have been praying for God's peace about this trip, and I believe he has graciously listened to my prayers. I can now think about it in a calm manner, and have a conversation with someone about it without blinking back tears. Another thing I think has changed is my attitude towards my last couple of days in the States. I used to think of them as completely sad and dramatic (I tend to be a dramatic person). Happy moments instantly turned sad in my head when I thought of my trip to Ecuador. Let me explain: if my cutest-little-brother-ever-Giovanni came up to me and told me he loved me, out of nowhere, I would smile and think it was so cute, and instantly think "Oh, I am going to remember this moment in a couple of days and be so sad"... Understand? My mindset was ruining these last precious days with my whole family together. Then, I was reminded of the "A Time for Everything" chapter in Ecclesiastes - especially verse 4:


 "There is a time for everything.... a time to weep and a time to laugh...."


There it is! There is a time to WEEP and a time to LAUGH. I don't want to ruin my time to laugh with weeping (although I wouldn't mind ruining my time to weep with laughter! :). And then I thought of something else: my time in Ecuador is going to be SO amazing, and I am going to learn SO much and get SO attached to the kids there, that I will have to tell myself the same thing when it is time to leave. 


 So now, when my little brother comes and sits in my lap asking to play Angry Birds Rio on my computer, or my little sister wants me to watch her new movie with her, or my other brothers want me to play soccer with them - I will say YES and completely enjoy that moment. Because there will be many other happy moments in my future, and if I don't learn how to enjoy them now, I never will.


 Therefore, in the spirit of enjoying happy moments as much as I can, here are some pictures of some REALLY happy moments during these past months (which are right up there on the "best months of my life" list):

 remembering the day i got here 

hanging out with papa and garrett at the st. jude marathon

falling in a very unladylike way and skinning my knee and hands (ask garrett to describe the fall for you - or better yet, reenact it - it was not pretty) 

hanging out with my best friend 

hanging out with another best friend 

getting to watch the best wedding ever 

getting AWESOME new cousins!! 

 ...and still stuck with the old ones

taking millions of pictures of these two cute boys

playing "dirty santa" with my family

being a dork with this dork 

taking family pictures (maybe not so fun...) 

hanging out with auntie m

other moments not pictured here:

- CHRISTMAS!!

- our "big brother" jesse coming to stay with us

- getting my learners permit!

- getting my first debit card!

- talking with my friends on skype!
- getting surprise packages from faraway friends :)

- pulling in the driveway at night to see that my grandmothers reindeer have been rearranged into hilarious inappropriate positions (i actually do have pictures of this)
- getting really encouraging e-mails and phone calls from really great friends/family (jesse! aunt joyce! larry and margaret ann!)

- getting to see granna and grandaddy (pictures yet to come!!)

 thank you for reading my blog and once again please remember me in your prayers!!

 love, 

ansley