:-/ish

Monday, August 08, 2005

Well... right now I am feeling semi-depressed... or at least sad. Depressed might be too strong of a word. (Cheer me up, why don't ya!) And I'm listening to R.E.M., which doesn't really help in that area. I really like R.E.M., don't get me wrong, but they have just kind of a sad sound to them, and a lot of their lyrics are sad to, not really in like a bad way, just a sad way... 'Tis really good music just to listen to and think and contemplate about various things as one listens to it.
So, you may be wondering (though most of you probably don't really care all that much), why do you feel depressed/sad? Well, that would be due to a couple of things, which I plan to allude to somewhat in this post.

First off, this weekend was spent in northern Indiana, Shipshewana Fri - Sat, and Elkhart Sat - Sun, and 'twas a really good time.
was the place of our every 4 years (has probably been changed as of this year to every 2 years) Blackwood family reunion, which is always a really good time - getting to see and talk to and hang out with relatives, many of which I haven't seen in years - good time there.
In Elkhart, we spent Saturday at the Moores (Joe, Rochelle, Heather, Isaac, and Bethany - those Moores, if any of you were wondering, and Haley Fisher was there too), and I had a really good time there, doing things like talking, eating, playing games and sports, watching a movie (Flight of the Phoenix for the guys -pretty good movie-, and Kate and Leopold for the s, I think that was it, but the highlight for me was scrounging around in their woods by myself for a couple of hours (well, the last half hour or so, I was with Benji, Isaac, and Bethany - all shoeless and wearing shorts, crazy kids - I carried Benji a little ways 'cause his feet hurt from stepping on all kinds of things) - I just walked around, found some interesting things, such as a concrete bridge in the middle of the woods (why anyone would build a bridge in the middle of some woods, nowhere near a stream or body of water or anything, I have no idea), among other things. I even climbed up in a tree stand for a bit and just sat down on the bucket up there for a while, which was pretty neat, just looking around at everything and thinking and the like.
Then on Sunday we went to the Elkhart church, where my dad preached and we had a fellowship lunch at the church, then spent the afternoon with the Membres (they have a very cool house and an amazing and beautiful yard - Mrs. Membre really has a green thumb) and went to Elkhart in the evening, where we sang and prayed and my dad talked about their (and mine and Z's) plans for Australia and etc, which was neat, I learned a bunch of things that I didn't even know about Australia and etc. I was bummed to miss going to Southside and not getting to go to Truth Group, either, but 'twas a good time in Elkhart. Then we went home.

All this introduction is simply to say that on the way back, I was thinking about my family going to Australia and we all talked about it and stuff - 'twas a very good ride home - I'm def. going to miss those :'-) - and so I was just considering the reality (again) of my family leaving to go to Oz and everything... 'tis pretty overwhelming. And then this coupled with the fact that my classes at Purdue start 2 weeks from today, and I have so much to do before I go; it has just kind of made me sad, all these changes which are going to be happening in the next couple of weeks, months... 'tis crazy (but thankfully, God is in control and I can trust Him in all of this!).

So, I am kinda sad about all these things which are to be done ;-) (did anyone get the humor in that phrase there?)... In case you guys didn't know, 'tis pretty much a given that my parents and the rest of my family are going to Oz sometime between the months of Sept and Jan... craziness! But, I am excited for them (as well as a bit jealous of my siblings posistions, tho I do plan on going up next summer and possibly the semester following to visit/go on a mission trip/study abroad there, which should be pretty cool, if it all works out. But still, I will def. miss them a heck of a lot while they're gone! 'Twill be kind of crazy... I was talking to Dr. Roy Blackwood at our reunion and he is pretty much going to be my closest relative while we're at Purdue, and he lives 50 miles away... but he did say that if we ever needed anything, to come to them if we need to. Which is really nice, and others have said similar things as well... even thogh my biological family will be pretty far away, I still do have family here in Christ, as well as other relatives... which is pretty cool, and I'm definitley excited to be living with the Saunders - I think they will probably in a wayu become my family to an extent, which I'm excited about - Bart and Melissa are very cool people, and their kids are also great fun...

Still though, I have all this to do in preparation - I hafta totally go through all of my stuff and get rid of a lot of it, 'cause I won't be able to just leave it at my parents house... and just things like that. Another thing that is kind of sad, anytime I come back for Holidays and such, I won't have my family to come home to... but it'll be alright, like I said, I do have my church family and other biological relatives.

Anyways, I guess if you reading this want to pray for my family and I, that God would just be showing us things we need to do, give us all peace and guidance and willingness to follow His will about everything, help things to come together (house read to be put on the market, that it'd sell at the right time, that things with the visas and etc would go well and their wouldn't be much trouble with all of that, etc.

In Christ,

-Allen

song of the post: "Imitation of Life" ~R.E.M.

quote of the post: "I was wanting to know if you knew what was on a cucumber sandwich?" ~Ruth Enas

verse of the post: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths." ~Proverbs 3, v5-6And I wanted to add something that I found in my Reformation Study Bible on this passage that I found conforting: "The Lord will guide you to the final goal of life. God gives wisdom and with it the task of making wise decisions; these are the two aspects of guidance in wisdom teaching. There is no hint of guidance that bypasses the duty of making decisions. But human decisions do not overrule the protection of God's providence (Genesis 50:20,21; Psalm 103:14)."

allen left to contemplate other things at 5:35 PM

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