A New Direction

As many of you know, my life will be drastically changing this next year.

This fall I will be moving to Hungary to teach at the International Christian School of Budapest.

The International Christian School of Budapest (ICSB) is a school dedicated to teaching children of missionaries, specifically, but also many international students and local Hungarians. I did my student teaching at ICSB in the spring of 2013, and I definitely left a large part of my heart there.

I am so excited to be going back! I am heading back as a full time missionary with Teach Beyond, a missions organization dedicated to placing teachers in schools around the world, and transforming lives through the power of education and the Gospel.

As you may have noticed, I have given this blog a makeover as I start on this new journey. I was originally planning on starting a new blog altogether, perhaps using a different site. But as I was thinking about it, I realized that I love the idea of keeping the same blog I've had for years. I love being able to peruse old posts, and see moments of learning, moments of growth even five years ago.

I've always had a hard time with accepting "younger" or more "foolish" versions of myself. I remember in high school, my brother and I would pull out old art work from elementary school and cackle at it until my mom would stow it protectively back in the attic. She always told us to accept who we were, and to celebrate who we had become.

This lesson is finally hitting home. Instead of hiding blog posts from my early blogging days, I love the cohesive story they tell.
They tell the story of an almost adult, eager to be used by the Lord, struggling, and slowly emerging out of the cocoon of college... rich in experiences of culture and language.
They tell the story of a wanderer, a Third Culture Kid, longingly searching for home.
They tell the story of a teacher, wrestling with the difficulties in students' lives, the burdens of teaching, yet the joy of learning.

I love seeing how the Lord has clearly been faithful in my life up until this point, knowing He will continue to be faithful in the future. I see the way He weaves my story, ultimately preparing me for this next step.

So I'm not creating a new blog. And I'm not deleting the old posts. I want to embrace the continuous story this blog tells.

I did, however, reconsider the title and description a bit...

A while back I wrote about why I didn't like the title of this blog. You can read that post here. When I first chose to title my blog after Psalm 46:10, I was thinking about the peace of God, and about the joy and comfort there is in His presence. But I also overlooked the second half of the verse that addressed the Lord's heart for the nations. "I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."

My focus for this blog is going to be on the peace that comes from the Lord as I prepare to obediently exalt His name among the nations of students at ICSB!

I am so excited to revamp this blog and to have you continue to follow my journey!