Priorities...

So, when I shared with my church family about my recent trip to Bolivia, I ended with a brief moment of "looking ahead". I shared prayer requests with them, and now I'm going to share them with you.

1) Find a faith community that challenges me to grow in my relationship with Christ.
2) Pursue my studies wholeheartedly- learning as much as I can about nutrition and immersing myself in the opportunities provided for me.
3) To live lightly upon the world, building upon the biblical ethic of stewardship. For me, this includes seeking to be sustainable in the way that I use my resources and gifts, and how I eat.

Tonight, I had a choice to make- ought I whip up some delicious tomato sauce from the meaty red orbs languishing in my garage and crank out some sweet applesauce from the bushel of green orbs that are chilling beside the tomatoes? Oh, how I longed to steam up the kitchen with a bit of cooking. But, I spent last night canning a batch of salsa and getting to know my roommates, so tonight I had to focus on my studies.

Which included walking down to Starbucks to take a set of online medical terminology quizzes. Anyone interested in prefixes, roots, and suffixes? Go to dmu.edu/medterms for a great online guide if you want to learn! So, I've spent the past 2 hours sitting at a computer taking these quizzes... I feel like canning would be a lot more productive!!! Oh well, a grad student I have chosen to be, so a grad student I will be.

An update on my "garden-less" state: my dearest parents came to visit on Monday and Tuesday, bringing my big furniture, as well as a portable garden of pots of herbs. Incredibly welcome gifts from my eldest sister-in-law (who also sent me a trash can full of tomatoes, and a 5 gallon bucket of compost)! So, now I have a mini garden on my bag porch. And my parents even prepped some tubs for a vermicomposting (composting with worms!) farm. I have to clear that with my roommates yet...


And the tomatoes and garlic chives: