En Todas Las Cosas: Let the Parties Begin!

During the past few weeks I have become quite the reflector and have come to the realization that God has really blessed me by putting so many wonderful people in my life during this "season"! I mean, I knew I had a great TU community that I would instantly be apart of (10 of us from university moved down here together after graduation), but I had no clue about the other relationships He had in store for me. Therefore, in a way that is suitable for any good friendship, each good-bye was accompanied by some type of party. So...get out the brownie mix and salsa, Megan's leaving Charlotte!

Amanda (Indiana, US), me (La Paz, Bolivia) Erin, (Charlotte, US), Jenny (Kijabe, Kenya)

The first "party" was thrown by our wonderful roommate Erin, who we are all leaving behind :(. She totally surprised us with a special night that started with a video of pictures highlighting some memories of our time in Charlotte and revealing how much we have all GROWN-UP....no wonder some of us were mistaken for STUDENTS our first year of teaching! After the video, friend after friend kept trickling into the house until a good smattering of my Charlotte buds were all there to send me off and wish me safe travels and oxygen at my new elevation of 12,000 feet...bring it La Paz!

Kim, me, Jenny, Cindy and Josh, Nicole, Jamie, Ria and Katie

The second "party" consisted of the lovely ladies from my Target group (a small group of women from my church, Steele Creek Church of Charlotte) and was also a sweet time to glean wisdom from these women and to "remember why we are here" :)!

Amanda, Caroline and Max, me, Michelle, Kelly, Julia and Kaya

Now, one cannot leave Charlotte without a proper good-bye from the "first friends" of the city. Therefore, my last "party" at the Hohensee's was a sweet time to remember the good old days! That's right, the days when my life consisted of playing with my 1 year-old buddy Kaya,explore" the neighborhood, talking with my new friend Caroline to prolong the time in the AC and then joining my cooped-up-in-the-ACed-apartment-all-day roommate Erica and entertaining ourselves with movies from our local library while sitting on lawn chairs in our undecorated living room! Sufficed to say, my life has changed a bit since I first moved to Charlotte, but our friendship has stayed the same and I will truly miss them!