Sometimes the Best Choice and the Hardest Choice Are the Same Thing

For the last few years, I’ve said, “I hate Atlanta/Georgia. I want to go to _____.” I’ve been psychoanalyzed so much about this that I must be running away from something. Perhaps they’re right in some ways, and maybe I have some sort of negative connotation towards Atlanta, but the city is not going to change. As my “wise” middle sister, Mandie, has said, “Live in Atlanta, but don’t do it the way you did before. Change it.” When you can’t change something (Atlanta), you have to change yourself. I mean, it’s a good practice for life. In a world where we want everything to change for our ideal (and we wonder why so many people get divorced…), sometimes we have to change ourselves because “the benefits outweigh the costs” (Thank you for the advice, Andrew Jones). Life is never going to be perfect, so we have to change our minds/attitudes/whatever to make it work. We are much more courageous, brave, strong, humble when we do that.

Change the World

"Never underestimate the ability of a small group of committed individuals to change the world. Indeed, the are the only ones who ever had."
~ Margaret Mead

Family Missions Company is a small(er) missionary organization started by Frank & Ginnie Summers, lifetime missionaries. They now teach others to be missionaries in Abbeville, LA, and host mission trips for Catholic families and lay missionaries to engage in evangelization and serving the poor in foreign missions. In February 2009 I had the opportunity to join several people from Lafayette, LA on a 2 week mission trip to Ecuador where we road in the back of trucks, took boats, and hiked to 17 communities to provide medical care. If you are interested in doing missions (even as a family), check into FMC at http://fmcmissions.com/

God is Good…even when I’m confused

Sarah & Sara might kill me for this picture and it is super random, but it was one of my favorite confusion moments. What in the world were we are eating in Budapest? Oh right, chunk & soup.

I made a mistake a couple days ago. I was in terrible anguish over choosing between 2 jobs: One in Atlanta with the majority of my friends & family in a city I “hate”, and the other in North Carolina where I hardly know a sole and have only visited once but seems to be a place that fits me. While being in turmoil over this decision, I had several people ask me, “Liz(zy), what do YOU want?” I felt like I was in the stupid Notebook (I think that’s the only part I like about the movie because that is…me…for everything). I never really had much of an answer bust silly things like being able to bike/walk to work, being in a green/granola place (reminds me of Africa), and learning to settle down. However, what I really want most is a community. I’ve spent, oh, the last 11 years spread out among many. I’m tired. And, what did I do, but choose the job in the city where I know only person. Um, where in the world is my community there? I was so upset over my decision. I mean, my friends and family are in Atlanta! However, despite my mistake, God is good. I had forgotten I had e-mailed a Catholic church in Chapel Hill that I was looking for some Catholic girls to live with. The e-mails have been pouring in from (hopefully) my new community. Thank You for loving me despite myself and random decisions.

Genuine Friends

I had gotten this book called Genuine Friendship from a friend that knows me all too well. However, while reading it I realized how poor one of my favorite friendships actually was. It’s funny how you can know someone for so long and feel so close to them and then realize how distant you actually are from them. I’ve felt this with those friends that I just went out & did things with but never actually had a solid conversation with. However, in this case it was so odd because we had talked about EVERYTHING except what brings us joy, hurts us the most, makes us sad the most, makes us so angry we could punch a wall...especially when at times it was each other. What a terribly confusing, disaster of a friendship that was so perfect on the surface. I have this thing against poor communication in relationships because I hate not knowing what a person is thinking, especially when it comes to loving someone, the most vulnerable relationship there is. How even worse to do this in friendships, because they are supposed to be built on trust since you are so vulnerable with them. In this case, after so many years and a several hour phone conversation we are finally true genuine friends and it makes my heart happy.

Great communication and trust is needed for all relationships, from friendship to marriage to our relationships with God.

Being an Idiot

They say that being an idiot is doing the same thing and expecting different results. However, being an idiot is also doing something different and expecting the same results. This can be in romantic relationships, friendships, family, where you live… I feel like I’ve done this many times, so the moral of the story: Stop predicting the future and making the same thing happen over and over again. If it stays the same, it’s your own fault.

For a silly example, above is a picture of me with 3 Italian medical students (Ricardo, Francesca, and Georgia) who decided it would be a great idea to cut each others hair...with an electric razor. The always beautiful Tanzanian, Zama, was smart and got her hair done at a salon instead. We did this a year ago in Ethiopia, and my hair has finally...wait, almost grown out of that hideous haircut. But, have no fear, I will still get haircuts...but not by an Italian. :p

Australian Teen Sacrifices His Life to Save His Brother

(CNN) -- A teenager who was scared of water drowned in the Queensland floods after begging rescuers to save his younger brother first. Jordan Rice, 13, and his mother Donna, 43, were swept away as a wall of water hit the town of Toowoomba on Monday afternoon.

"Jordan can't swim and is terrified of water," his father, John Tyson, told local newspaper The Toowoomba Chronicle. "But when the man went to rescue him, he said 'save my brother first.'I can only imagine what was going on inside to give up his life to save his brother, even though he was petrified of water. He is our little hero."

Rice was taking Jordan and his 10-year-old brother Blake to buy school uniforms when the family car became stuck in floodwaters. As the tide rose around them, the mother-of-four made a desperate call to the emergency services, and the trio clambered on to the roof of their stranded vehicle, before passer-by Warren McErlean stopped to help.

"I called out for some ropes and a guy gave me some ropes and I tied those together and just headed out towards this car," he told the Nine Network. "But the water just kept coming up and by the time I got near this car it just swept me off my feet.

"The mum put the boy on his back and brought him across to me and by that time I grabbed the boy and the water kept coming up... it was too much water and there was just no time. The tension took up on the rope and I had to let it go. He was just pleading with me to please save my mum, please save my mummy - he was screaming to save his mum. It's terrible. I just kept telling the boy it was going to be alright and it wasn't," a distraught McErlean explained."I'm just very sorry for himself and his family that we couldn't do some more and get them out."

The death toll from the Queensland floods has risen to 15, and there are fears it could grow further as the waters recede in the days to come, with some 70 people still listed as missing.

I think about how much my sisters and I fought growing up. I am so amazed at this teenager's love for his brother. Definitely inspiring. Please praise for his family and those who are still being affected by this flood.

On a lighter note...

What to Do?

Trapped inside all day and need to be inspired? Watch any of the seasons of Biggest Loser. You'll cry, feel like a bum, want to eat healthy, and be motivated to run a marathon.