I have an apartment!

After some deliberation and counsel of good friends I have chosen an apartment to live in over in Lithuania!

Here are a couple photos...  (I'll be sure to add more once I arrive and give it the "Susie-touch"!)

This is the building I will live in.  My apartment is on the second floor.

This is the kitchen - kinda retro-cool!  I'm sure many delicious meals and priceless memories will come from this room!

My teeny-tiny washing machine in the bathroom!  No dryer. 

22 days!

Many of you have been asking when I leave for Lithuania...I purchased my plane ticket at the beginning of July, so my departure is almost 100% official now!  (I submitted my visa application yesterday, so once that comes back I'll be 100% official.)  In my heart I am "all in" though!  :) 

I leave on Wednesday, August 4th.  My flight leaves Chicago around 10:30 that night.  I will arrive in Palanga, Lithuania (about 30 -40 minutes from campus) at 9:00 the next evening.  My trip time will be about 15 1/2 hours - after taking the 7 hour time difference into consideration.  The actual flight time is something more like 11 1/2 hours.  I will fly Chicago to Frankfurt, Germany to Riga, Latvia to Palanga.

I am filling my days with errands and connecting with friends/family before I leave.  I have a hunch these next 22 days will fly by!

Praying for a friend or two.

Goodness, I haven't posted in a while!  I just returned from a week of vacation and am now seriously working on preparing to leave for Lithuania!  I fly out on Wednesday, August 4th.  That's only 27 days from now.  I know that 4 weeks can seem like a long time especially when you are looking forward to something.  Funny thing is that I am very much looking forward to this move, but 4 weeks doesn't seem like very long at all.  Likely because as much as I am looking forward to moving on, I think I am equally not looking forward to saying good-bye to friends/family here in Goshen.

I just returned from a week with my childhood best friend who now lives in England.  I am always thrilled that she and I can just pick up where we left off when we see each other - whether it's been 6 hours or 6 months, we can find things to chat about.  Since I only see her once or twice a year in person, we make an effort stay in touch via electronic methods and by talking on the phone at least once a month.  Even with our regular chats, emails, and facebook posts I do miss knowing what is going on in her day to day life and being able to share those things about my life with her.  Thankfully, while she can never be "replaced", God has brought another dear friend into my life who is that person for me now in her absence.  I know God has done the same for her in England as well.

I think that is one of the things I am most apprehensive about as I prepare for this transition  - having someone in my life that I can share the day to day joys and struggles with.  One of my regular prayer requests lately is that God will help me to quickly connect with a couple other women who will become close friends/confidants.  This is a prayer that I've often prayed during times of transition in my life - whether it was work, school, or other social changes that were occurring - and it's one that I've seen God answer in wonderful ways through the addition of new friends that I cherish!  So, while I'm not asking God to replace the friends I leave behind here in the USA, I am asking Him to provide me with new friends who will walk with me through the daily ups and downs of life in Lithuania.  Won't you please join me in this prayer?

US Postal Service

It's been a long time since I last changed my address with the US Postal Service.  Like most things in life now, changing your address with the post office needs to be done online.  Typically I find that to be convenient and my preferred way of doing things.  Not this time.  I went online and filled out the appropriate blanks hit "Send" and promptly received an error message.  It seems that since I live at a business (the college) I cannot use their handy online system.  Well, it took several phone calls and a trip to Middlebury to get the situation remedied.   Besides the minor inconvenience this caused me, the other impact that occurred was that some of my fund-raising feedback cards were returned to those who sent them in.  So, if you received your card back in the mail marked "no such number" or "not at the this address", please try sending it again.  Or you can send me an email if you don't want to waste another postage stamp.  Thanks!

What I am up to right now...

Lots of friends have been asking me when I am leaving and what I am doing from now until then.  So, I thought I'd let the rest of you know as well!  :)

This week I am focusing on my garage sale.  I'm having a sale at my mom's house Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.  I've gone through all my earthly possessions and decided that I can part with a lot of them.  Friends (especially Denise and Deanna) have helped me with this process over the past several weeks.  My items along with the donations of several generous friends has made for quite a nice amount of items for the sale.  I am hoping to earn enough to cover any expenses I have during the month of July (when I am without a paycheck between employment at GC and LCC) and also to put a little more away in my savings account to help cover expenses in Lithuania.  I am hopeful that the sale will do well and I am excited to be getting rid of so much extra stuff!  :) 

If you want to drop by the sale it is at 1619 S 11th St in Goshen (on the corner of 11th and College Ave.)

Next week, after the sale is over, I will be finishing up packing the rest of my belongings.  Most will go into storage, while a few will be moving with me to my transitional living space and then even fewer will end up making the trip to Lithuania with me. I will move out of my RD apartment on June 26th.  Helping hands are appreciate...many hands make light work, right?

I will be taking care of move our details with GC, evaluating fund-raising efforts, and  relaxing a bit the next couple of days before I head out on vacation June 29th.  The Rissers and I planned a trip back in March (before the job in Lithuania was even on my radar) so we are going to use the tickets we purchased and go to England to visit our friend Rebecca and to do some sightseeing in Paris.  I will return from that trip on July 7th.

July 8th through the first week of August will be spent finishing up my fund-raising and spending time with friends and family.  I will leave August 4 or 5 (still working out a few final details about that with LCC.)  So, there you have it - where I'll be and what I'll be up to for the next 7 weeks or so! 

ACSD Conference

This past week I attended an ACSD (Association for Christians in Student Development) conference at Messiah College in Grantham, PA.  LCC is an active member of this organization and invited me to join their group at the conference.  I am so glad I did!

Highlights of the conference:
-hearing Juana Bordas (author of Salsa, Soul, and Spirit) speak.  Our Res Life team at GC read her book this year and it was inspiring to here her speak about leadership and the youth of today.  She had many good things to say and was a very engaging speaker.
-connecting with friends I've made at regional ACSD events (Laura, Larry, Jesse, and others).
-staying with friends Ben & Anita Yoder on the way out and stopping for dinner with Heath & Gary on my drive back.

 The highlight though, was spending time with the LCC folks! 
-Kim Stave (the VP for Student Life) and I spent a good amount of time together interviewing for the positions we still have open for this year at LCC.  While we didn't hire anyone on the spot, I am hopeful about some of the people we interviewed.  I thought our time spent working together was a nice glimpse into what our working relationship will be like.  I think it's going to be a good partnership between her and I!
-Becky Johnson is one of my RDs at LCC.  She ended up being my roommate at the conference.  She was delightful!  She is young and full of excitement/vision for Res Life at LCC.  I'm excited to get to know her better and to work with her to impact the lives of our students.
-Steve Hanson is an RD who is leaving LCC.  While I won't have the opportunity to work with him, it was fun to get to know him and to ask him lots of questions about LCC. 

Here's a photo of me with the other LCC folks:

Kim, me, Becky, and Steve

Chicken BBQ

A couple good friends from church (Brenda and Patty) organized a chicken BBQ fundraiser for me on Friday. We have a local company that helps schools, organizations, and individuals do fundraisers by selling chicken that they grill in their special trailers. It's a pretty common way to raise money around our county and the public tends to really enjoy it!

We purchased a little over 600 halves of chicken and 5 cases of their specially seasoned potatoes. We also had cold pop and water for sale as well. After about 7 1/2 hours we sold all the chicken and potatoes! Sixteen people gave up part or all of their day to come help us sell chicken. And we netted about $1500 in profit to help with my costs of going to Lithuania! WooHoo!

Thanks to everyone who bought chicken, helped with set up/selling/tear down, and/or prayed for the day to go well.

We even have a date set for another sale next spring...May 21st, 2011...that will be my first weekend home from Lithuania, so mark your calendar to see me and buy some chicken!!! :)