Day 53: Carrying Your Love With Me

by George Strait. is playing right now. and it is just the sweetest of songs. I miss country music. Praise God for Grooveshark.

Anyways,

Maybe it's the glass of red wine I had tonight, or maybe it really is the fact that there is so much good in my life and that I have been holding the hand of the greatest Man all day today, but whatever the reason, my insides are numb and I don't even know how to process.

My day started with a 10-mile run, and I swear it was the best run of my life. I saw great things, felt great while seeing them, and embraced the Aberdonian sun on my face and the warm 45 degree weather on my bare arms and legs. 

I showered and ate and skyped Katie and cleaned my room before I was picked up by Kyli, who's husband and her had invited me to their house for the evening, to dine with them and their family. It was set up through something I had signed weeks ago at the RGU International Student Fair, saying that I was interested in being contacted by a host family. Rob and Kyli are a married couple with two children, Cassidy and Luke, 13 and 10, and one brown dog, Ginger, from Anchorage, Alaska. They've been here for a year for Rob's job. It was a wonderful visit with wonderful conversation and I LOVED being in a house. I was JUST speaking to friends about how I missed the comfort of being in a house, since I haven't been in one since I've been in Aberdeen (sometimes it's just the little answered prayers that make life so amazing).

The lasagna dinner was delicious, as was the birthday cake that followed, to celebrate Rob turning 37 tomorrow.

We talked a lot about the funny/surprising differences between America and here, and another girl, Carmen, from Romania, was also there, so she threw in some great Romanian perspectives.

From the whole over-4-hour visit, the best thing was watching Rob and Kyli interact with each other and interact with their children. It was a waterfall of love within that house, and it literally made my heart swell. I was so happy happy happy to see a home so full of love and respect and the normal kid-parent confrontations and challenges. 

It was the simple things, like hearing Rob read out the "You're the best, funnest, coolest daddy" card given to him by his kids while they were arguing in the background over the fact that Luke wanted the card to only be from him, and how after we had opened presents and cards and eaten cake and the kids had left the room and we were just talking, Rob stood up randomly and suddenly and stepped over to his wife, lifted her chin, and kissed her on her lips, sweetly, seemingly in the middle of the conversation, then thanked her for everything and she responded in a smile and "You're welcome, anything for you." And it wasn't mushy, and it wasn't weepy, and it wasn't awkward, and I didn't feel like I shouldn't be watching. It was just real and honest; she really meant it and so did he, and I could have bursted in that moment.

I have so many blessings in so many forms in my life and to list all of the ones that I am thinking of today and why they are great would take far too long and far too many words. I love families and happy marriages and dogs and America and Dads and wine and all food. But I will leave it at that for now and I will fall asleep in the hands of the One who pursues my heart everyday, who loves me so deeply I can't even understand, and who runs/walks/stands beside me at all moments, when I'm at my weakest and when I feel like I'm standing on top of the world. Thanks, Jesus, for answering my call and holding my hand all day.