Home.

So, I'm home.

sister-daddy date

I got back to Lusaka a couple of weeks ago, and have had a great time getting back into the swing of things here - waving down the guy on the street corner to bargain for tomatoes, going on runs in my neighborhood and high-fiving all the cute little kids playing in the streets, taking Kelsey to school for finals and trying not to get hit passing tractors on Leopard's Hill, baking chocolate avocado cake, going to Bible study, catching up with old friends and getting to know new friends - I love being back!

grocery shopping with Cowie and what does she find?
HAPPY COW CHEESE! so perfect.

taking Kels to her first IB Exam -
nothing like a little T-Swift singalong to get PUMPED!

After living with an impressive bunch of literature buffs for the past 3 months, I've taken it upon myself to make a personal summer reading list. I know, I dreaded them in high school, but this summer I'm really excited for it. Without papers to write, I have so much more time to read (and bake, and paint, and play piano, and sing, and run....!) . The list is now nicely magneted to the fridge so it won't get brushed aside and forgotten (another flashback to high school summer reading, and my mom's constant reminders to get my books read before the last week of summer. Somehow, the time always seemed to fly by and the books seemed to remain unopened until that last week...). I just finished the first book on my list: C.S. Lewis' Surprised by Joy (one book done, a minor feat in and of itself, if you know how little I read for fun...).


Surprised by Joy, as some of you may know - and probably all of you Oxford friends do know since you're all crazy Lewis scholars - is the story of Lewis' life and his faith journey. Having spent time in England, I had a much greater appreciation for his tales of growing up and heading off to university in England. He also goes to war in the book, which I can fully picture now that I am caught up on both seasons of Dowton Abbey (watching tv: another result of neither Kelsey nor I being at school or working yet!).

However, one of the most meaningful parts of the whole narrative, in my opinion, happens near the end:

I was going up Headington Hill on the top of a bus...I felt myself being, there and then, given a free choice. I could open the door or keep it shut; I could unbuckle the armour or keep it on...The choice appeared to be momentous but it was also strangely unemotional. I was moved by no desires or fears. In a sense I was not moved by anything. I chose to open, to unbuckle, to loosen the rein. 


So, although I am no longer riding up Headington Hill every afternoon to get home to the Vines, it was and indeed always will be the very hill upon which C.S. Lewis finally opened his heart to believe in God. I'd say that's a Highlight from Headington Hill if there ever was one. :] I miss it, but I can look back and see the awesome journey God led me on this semester and the great friends I've gained for a lifetime. No more ridiculous midnight cookie baking adventures, study breaks at the Vines' piano, bike rides through Port Meadow, afternoon teas, or Simon Schama videos....but SO many great memories that will last forever!

And, I am really getting excited for the fall - it will be great to be back at W&M....singing with the beloved Intonations, running in CW (....and maybe hitting up the richmond half marathon again with Katherine), rooming with Annie (!!!), getting back into church at Relevant, reconnecting with old friends and making new ones - I can't wait!

Thanks for reading along this semester! If you have any book suggestions I should add to my summer list...leave a comment!