Travel

This was in my fortune cookie the night before I left...

Amen.  

I AM IN LOVE WITH THAILAND.  in! love!

"Like I am not even joking right now."  ;)  (if you didn't get that, ask someone who frequents youtube)

I almost titled this post "OH M' GOSH" because you can add the way I say "ohmygosh" to the beginning of almost everything I'm about to write, and then follow it with "ILOVEIT."  But, you have to read it just like I would say it or you won't get the same effect.  I figured this would be the easiest way for me to personally keep track of every little thing that I've so enJOYed on my little [BIG] adventure so far.  :)

I'll help you get started....

OHMYGOSH I got my own row on the airplane, hello sleep!  ILOVEIT.
OHMYGOSH that flight attendant looks JUST LIKE Matt Bowen (did anyone else notice when I uploaded the picture in my last post?).
OHMYGOSH he's Swedish!  Camilla!
...now you try.
[ohm'gosh] This sunrise over Europe....  [iloveit]

- Hunger Games was so intense.  My heart raced through the whole movie, which might be why I only got 2 hours of sleep on a 14 hour flight.  WOMP.  The Swedish-Matt-Bowen-look-alike walked by once and said "How's the movie?  Oh no are you crying?"  (I'd just finished watching the Rue part).  I said, "Yeeeesss, this movie is so crazy!"  He sat down next to me and said, "Our job is everything - we are your servants, your waiters, your friends, your shrinks...."  lol.

- flew over Zagreb!  Shout out to the Masseys and Albrights!

- THIS:

Sunrise over Europe.  

- Dubai is incredible, even from the airplane.  Every building looked like a palace, and in fact, I could see a few palaces.
- Dubai International Airport looks like a mall.  I had been told that, but it was more like one the Las Vegas malls, with Givenchy dresses for $600.  I see why the Kardashians travel to Dubai, now....  Gingerman crowd from Friday, no, the Kardashians were not on my flight, and neither was Zefron.  ;)  Bummerrrrr.  Closest I got to that was watching "The Lucky One" for a few minutes in-flight.

Ok trying to write with a prefix and suffix to every sentence is getting difficult.  I'll just tell you about the rest of it.

Travel -

Emirates wins for best airplane food.  I watched the pilot episode of New Girl while I ate my turmeric veggie dish.  I tried to stay awake in Dubai, but I just couldn't.  I got a deal on a hotel room where I showered and slept for about 3 hours.  Everything about it was so chic and modern.  The flight to Bangkok was delayed an hour, so I met a girl my age from Germany (orginally from India, though). Y'all, I've heard a lot of fantastic *so-close* phrases from my international friends, but this was one of the best ---

Her: "Being from America, have you ever seen famous people?"
Me: "Actually yes, I saw Cameron Diaz once.  She was so cute and petite!"
Her:  "Hmm.  Cameron Diaz.  Uhhh... she is an angel from Charlie??"
Me:  "LOLOL, yes, yes she is an angel from Charlie."  haha.

I continued writing about my travel to and through Bangkok, but the post was getting too long.  Splitting it up - read about Bangkok and my arrival in Chiang Rai tomorrow.  Good stories and more pictures.

This may be another reason I hardly slept on my 14 hr flight... I couldn't get enough of sights like these.

DISCLAIMER:  Blogger has changed some things since 2010 when I last kept a blog.  As you can tell, I haven't figured out the layout of my photos.  haha.

Truths from Mother Teresa

Before I left, some friends gave me the book "Everything Starts from Prayer," a collection of Mother Teresa's meditations on spiritual life for people of all faiths.  I began reading it this morning and want to share a few truths.

"... To break through to spiritual realization, one needs great faith, great doubt, and great determination to reconcile the two opposing forces."  
Agreed.  This is part of my life story.  

"We do nothing. 
He does everything. 
All glory must be returned to him. 

God has not called me to be successful. 
He called me to be faithful."  

"We are talking about the Joy that comes from union with God, from living in his presence, because living in his presence fills us with joy.
When I speak of joy, I do not identify it with loud laughter or with noise.  This is not true happiness.  Sometimes it hides other things.  
When I speak of happiness, I refer to an inner and deep peace, which shows itself in our eyes, on our faces, in our attitudes, in our gestures, in our promptness."  

Thought this would be a good preface to my next few posts about Thailand.  :)

Soarin' & Flyin'

Too many blessings this week to even list... but I plan on trying when I have some spare time in Thailand.  I'll be posting more pictures to Facebook than to blogger, fyi.

My computer is about to die and I'll be checking out my chic hotel room in the Dubai airport in 20 minutes, but I wanted to share this:

As bittersweet as it was to leave my 15 1/2 year old dog at home, my sweet parents at the security line, I couldn't keep from smiling as I boarded my Emirates flight.  What. Incredible. Peace&Joy.  My flight was full of Arabs, Indians, Europeans, and Americans.  I was just so happy to be surrounded by them!  Precious faces, each with stories and a purpose.  I sat across from the cutest little Saudi family - their 4 girls, about ages 8 and under, had on matching outfits.  May they experience the freedom and love of Christ, someday!  

The rows were 2-4-3, and my seat was at the very back, by myself.  :)  I normally don't like the back because it's so bumpy, but God knew what He was doing!  Even after I selected my seat twice... ended up in a different one.  I connected quickly with the flight attendants, and they let me come hang out at the back with them.  They were all around my age and hooked me up with their favorite in-flight foods and drinks.

Michelle was from Australia,
Cristoffer was from Sweden (Camilla, look he's Swedish!)
And Julia was from Ireland.
They were fun :)

And then this happened:  

Wheel at 30,000 feet.  Why not?  

Lost in a Dallas Parking Garage

Visa Tales - let me repost our happy faces from when we got our visas.

< Here we are on the longest, steepest escalator in all of history at the Galleria in Dallas with our VISAAAAAAS!

Yayyyy we can officially go to Thailand, noooow!!!
Yayyyy I made it in and out of the Galleria without shoppiiiiing!!!




Nellie and I decided it'd be easier to just go get our visas together, I'm so glad we did - it made going the wrong direction about 5 times much more fun.  :)  Nellie navigated her way through Dallas to Three Galleria Tower North (go Nellie!), only at first we stopped at Two Galleria Tower North - google maps told us "49 seconds to destination," and you know, we thought it felt like only 39 seconds.

....


Did you know the Galleria has offices???  A nice man directed us over to Three Galleria Tower, and then another nice ::clears throat:: young, sharply dressed businessman ;) directed us where to go once we were inside the garage - only somehow we ended up in Two Galleria Tower again.  We knew something was wrong because we were looking for FLOOR 9, and the elevator only went to like 5 or 6.  So - back on the elevator down to the "mall level" where we walked clear across the parking garage to what might be Three Galleria Tower.  FINALLY - sign above the elevator says "Three Galleria Tower."  Yessss....

No.  This elevator only goes up to Level 7.  WHAT!  So we took it up to 7, which led to nowhere, so we went back down to the mall level and just started walking.  Things started looking official aaannnnddd voila!  World's longest steepest (as labeled by me) elevator seen in the photo at the top!  This MUST BE IT!  We got on this elevator and it ONLY WENT UP TO FLOOR 8.  seriously, y'all. seriously laughing at this point.  We asked the man at the desk and found out the correct one was NEXT to the elevator we got on.

Floor 9, precious Thai Consul man gave us our visas, super smooth and quick.
That story was more fun in person than it was to write.

Can't wait till we get to do that where everybody speaks ANOTHER LANGUAGE!  =) :) ;) 8-)

Christ Fellaship Luv

One week from RIGHT NOW, I will be in-flight to Thailand!  Can't believe it!

SUPER BLESSED by my Christ Fellowship family this morning.  I just love them.  Sunday mornings are one of my favorite times of the week - here's a culmination of why:

1. Jesus (le duh)
2. Spirit-filled worship
3. Genuinely loving community 
4. Awesome Hospitality Team (shout-out!) 
5. I love being around lots of people 
6. Making people feel welcome and connected is one of my FAVORITE things

*SIDENOTE - it really IS one of my favorite things.  I got a little teary-eyed when I left the lobby to join the service as worship was beginning.  I know, weird.  This is like my dream job, though.  Just looking to do it on a bigger scale someday, if that's in God's plans for me.  And yes, I do plan on being back in a year and I know I'm being a little melancholic about leaving (soooo not my personality but I am a musician so I guess I have it in me).

There are many more reasons why I love Sunday mornings, those are just some!  So thankful for Christy & Yvette for planning a send-off for me & Nellie, and for the AMAZING CAKE FROM SAM'S (loved the purple, rah rah TCU), Justin for introducing us and James for working out so many details for us.  My family came to CF today, it was so fun to have them there!  Wonderful to hug so many dear people.  

Then I got in the car after church, and Sister Golden Hair was playing on 91.7.  It was just a great morning.  :) 

Had a productive afternoon & finished the day with Babe's Catfish and time with my grandparents.  =)   *WAITING on this pic from mom, I'll post it when I get it, Mamie & Papaw!  :)  

I've been thinking a lot about the direction I want my blog to take... the voice I want to write in, the tone I want to set, the information I want to share/not share.  I decided to go ahead & share some things that are significant, and realized it's hard to write any way except how I usually write - which is how I talk.  Of course when I need to be professional, I will be, but for blogger, it's much easier for me to just write like I talk.  May be an ENFP quality?  

And so, here's something pretty significant that I've only shared with a few people - 

Right before I clicked "send" to inform my principals that I'd been accepted to CRICS and planned on resigning from my job, I checked with God one more time just to make sure, "Lord, am I really making the right decision here because this is a really big deal right now...quitting my job..."  

Clear as day I heard Him say, "kt, I've been waiting for you to get here."   

Here may be Thailand, it may be CRICS, it may be with the church plant, but I also think it's to a place of surrender, adventure, of allowing Him - okay EXPECTING - Him to show His faithfulness in working out His purposes for me, in fulfilling desires He's planted and nourished inside my heart.  "The Lord will accomplish what concerns me; Your lovingkindness, O Lord, is everlasting."  Psalm 138. 

I have no doubt that I should be heading this direction.  NO DOUBT!  Read it again, Chris&Ami Burr!  =D

(now does that mean I have no anxieties or worries about being single and moving to a country where I don't know the language?  of course not.  But thankfully, I can cast my anxieties and cares upon the Lord, because He cares for me, and He will sustain me.)  Seeing, talking or planning with Nellie gets me more and more excited to be there - so thankful for her.  Plus, I kind of feel like I was made for this.  It's time for adventure :)  

Pics to come.... 

What I've Been up to

As I prepare to move to Thailand, here are some things I've been up to~

obvi. 

spent many evenings on my happy little patio 

lots of visits with dear friends, this is leah and yvette

of course continued to watch emily maynard's fairy tale love story, with the most dramatic ending yet because she put her heart out on the line.  

i added jef and arie to my list of potential baby names.

sean if you ever see this, holla 

said goodbye to my first classroom

enjoying the many charms and sights of Fort Worth

therapeutic exercise in one of my favorite buildings on 8th Avenue

girls' nights out, with Terra, Deanna & Whitney

family party for the Olympics

#London2012

awww moved out of my cute little apartment/happy little haven 

Nellie & I got our visas!

cherishing time with my 15 1/2 year old Simon

Great News!

I have great news!  My sweet friend, Nellie Lutz, will be going to Thailand with me!!!  

I am SO THANKFUL to have a buddy to experience the new culture with, to travel with, to have a little piece of home and Christ Fellowship there with me.  We don't know each other that well right now, but people have described her as "delightful," and that's exactly how she seems!  She will also be working at the school and will serve in a few different roles there.  And, we'll be living together!  Based on the time I have already spent with her... I anticipate much laughter.  :)  She won't be traveling with me TO Thailand.  I leave about a week before her - I have to be there by the 16th for teacher orientation.  She'll arrive on the 18th or 19th.

Anybody have connections in Dubai???  I have a 10 hour layover...

One good story before I go to bed -

God speaks to me in dreams every now and then, and I love it.  A few nights ago, I dreamt that it was the first day of school, and I had that anxious feeling of "oh my goodness, I don't have anything prepared," the kind that makes your heart race, not in a good way.  But as the day started, turns out, I DID have everything planned and ready to go, and as the day went on, I asked God, "Ok what do we do now??" And He directed every moment of the day, with all the materials already there and prepared.  When I woke up, I realized that all of my regular "first day of school" routines had showed up in my dream - things I hadn't thought about in a year.  I normally have those written down and in a "First Day of School" file, but I haven't looked through those plans yet.  I wondered... is this how it could be all year??  Why haven't I called on the name of the Lord to direct my lesson plans before??  Keep these ideas coming, Lord!  When kids' needed counseling or disciplining in the past, yes, I said a prayer for guidance, but I just thought it was awesome that I had a step-by-step picture of the ROUTINES for the first day at CRICS.  Pretty cool, Go God.  Always surprising me.