the unexpected

On Tuesday I was lucky enough to sit between Sarah and Andrea during Chapel.  I just love hanging out with these two, but I'd say we were all a bit happier than normal.  We were all riding the wave of excitement that happened on Monday.  There was a lot of laughter, smiles, joy.  Sarah - she got accepted into LLU's school of nursing AND gets to go a quarter earlier than she expected.  Andrea - she's dating for the first time!  And me - I'm headed to Nepal!

On Monday night, I was going to go to bed early at 9:30 so I could get up early and study with a fresh brain...but I decided that the company in the reference room was better than my own lonely company in the morning.  So at 9:31 pm, I was still in the library when I received a phone call from an "Unavailable" number.  My first thought - "Is this Nepal?"  I went sprinting out of the library, and answered Banepa, Nepal.

Long story short, they've asked me to come work in the physical therapy department at Scheer Memorial Hospital.  As soon as school gets out.  Which is 5 weeks from today.  The reason for this is because the physical therapist who currently works at Scheer is leaving at the beginning of August.  So, they want me to learn as much as possible before she leaves.  Then, I'll be the physical therapist? Or something, I'm not really sure.  But I'm incredibly excited!

No more studying happened after that phone call.  Nope.  Party!  I couldn't have wiped the smile off my face if I had tried.  I told everyone I saw... jumped around my room...maybe even shrieked a little bit.  Then I went to ice cream with a friend until 11:30 at night.  I slept all of about 4.5 hours that night.

By now, the giddy part of the excitement has worn off.  I am, however, incredibly distracted all the time.  In the middle of my World Religions test I am thinking about trekking and climbing.  In between classes I wonder what my apartment will look like.  All the time I wonder if I am really going to be the physical therapist.  Or was he joking?  Really?

And then there's the other half of me.  I'm leaving in June?  I had so many plans for this summer.  I was going spend my last summer with my parents and my brother.  I was going to enjoy working in the orchard... driving tractors, being dirty - all the time, racing around on the fourwheeler, riding my bike through the hills above my house, harvests - cherries, blueberries, peaches, raspberries, blackberries, pears, apples (in that order).  I was going to do a lot of mountaineering, like every weekend.  I live for this lifestyle...and I've been craving it for months now.  But working in physical therapy in Nepal is SUCH an amazing opportunity.  It's my other dream.  My emotions are so split right now.  The end of that discussion is that I have not yet officially decided when I'm leaving...but it's within 6-8 weeks.  Crazy!

Lastly, it's just incredibly remarkable how this has all worked out.  Last week I was emailing Loma Linda about the possibilities of getting back into the program for this year.  This week, I have a sense of direction again.  Something to look forward to!  It's interesting too, because last week my time with God was almost non-existent.  On Monday morning, I told God, "OK, I'm starting over.  This week is going to be better.  We're actually going to spend time together."  And that evening, God sent a phone call from Nepal.  Not only a phone call, but a job opportunity that is a lot better than the one I had hoped for. I guess it just confirms that when you "Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, all these things will be given to you as well."  I'm pretty excited about life right now!

The school and the hospital