Did I drive too fast for him? Did I let too much water spill out? Didn't he just want a little friendship?
Ohhh the questions I will just have to keep asking myself, as Jocabe Britton the 1st has just been flushed down the toilet (fortunately, all drains lead to the ocean). The lil guy has been with me through thick & thick (ha), as he was given as a surgery recovery present exactly 1 year & 2 months ago. But he just couldn't make it through the long road home last night... R.I.P. Jocabe.
Yes, that means I'm home =D. I am not very good at this game. The goodbye thing, I mean. But who is?! I think sometimes we say things that we know won't happen in order to make the goodbyes a little easier... "let's hang out a lot this summer" (to people you know you can't hang out with) seems to really be "I love you a lot and would love to hang out with you, but this is probably goodbye until next time we run into each other on the path..." Ya know what I mean? I guess God's starting to teach me to keep my mouth shut unless I'll actually follow through with what I'm saying, because sometimes it's better just to smile and hug and say THANKS. Last night as I drove home (apparently killing my fishy in the process), I went through every girl on my floor & thanked God for what I appreciate about each of them, and of course it was when I thought about my roommate that I got a lil teary-eyed. What do you say to someone who gradually turned from one of your closest friends at school to a practical stranger? It’s by God’s grace that we remained wonderfully compatible, but as my roomie said goodbye “we’ve been great together because we’ve never once had an argument,” I couldn’t help but realize that that’s not at all what friendship is about. After all, “if two people always agree on something, one of them isn’t needed.”
What a wonderfully strange year it is been, as God taught me more than ever before that he doesn’t want me to be “comfortable.” Even if it means having me room with sometime who’s a polar opposite of myself or the constant reminders that people die and that boys cry and that someday I might end up in a remote village where everyone has malaria and everyone needs Jesus. “He may let them rest in a feeling of security, but his eyes are on their ways.” Job 24:23
Be secure in nothing but Jesus.
Here’s the summer outlook:
-starting next Wednesday; summer school (Philosophy and Communication & Culture) for 7 hours a day for 3 weeks)
-the week after that: trip to California to see Braden & Grandma
-July 6-August 6 lots & lots of little Spanish kids craving a little love =D (month in Guatemala)
-August 27: move back to my other home!
And of course plenty of picnics and beach trips and cornfields and seafoam should be involved too =) Until then...
In Christ Alone,
Denise Joell
p.s. Winnie (our psychotic puppy) got stuck in a raccoon trap TWICE today. silly billy.
p.p.s. My brother & I got accepted to spend 3 weeks next January taking a class in FL learning how to sail in the sweet blue amazing ocean! (my favorite piece of nature ever). :) :) | 
