The Last Days

It's been three days since I've arrived home from Australia.
I tell you what, life is depressing without relationships. But
I've grown closer in the relationship I've held all along. God
is good he's dependable and He'll stay with you when no
one else will or can. I'm thankful that God is willing to know
me, and know me intimately.

In the last week, I spent a lot of time with my American friends.
On that Wednesday Darren and I went over to the Concord
house where we met Michael, Cassie C., Cassie F. and Katie.
We then went to Darling Harbor to take a Captain Cook cruise.
It was a good time. We could have done pretty much the same
thing had we just taken one of the public transport ferry's. But
that's alright. Later that night we and a bunch of others met
again at Darling Harbor to see the Christmas tree lighting.
There was also some singing and a show going on. A lot more
people showed up then I thought would. It was a really good
time afterwards. We all walked down the harbor a bit to get
some ice cream.

I talked a bunch with Cali about homeschooling. She had been
homeschooled until highschool. She and I agreed on pretty
much all of the positive and negative aspects of homschooling.
It was really cool to talk with her about it. I always feel like
people sort of look down on homeschooling, because of the
social issue and stuff. So I was happy to entertain her questions,
especially since I felt like she wasadmirable of the fact that I was
homeschooled and not just curious about a different lifestyle.

On Thursday night, the last night in Australia, I went over to the
Concord house again. A bunch of us including, Cassie Cook, Leslie,
Brittany, Chris C., and Amber then went to Pancakes on the Rocks.
We didn't get there until about 11:45. It was a going away/Shannon's
birthday party. When we got there, there were heaps and heaps of
people there already. I knew or recognized nearly everyone from
school or the ASC program. There was trouble finding a place to sit.
But we finnally did and I shared some really good blue berry pancakes
with Amber. Amber Chris and I had to sit kind of secluded from
everyone else because of the lack of space. So Cali, being the nice
thoughtful girl that she is, came over and talked with us so we wouldn't
feel so left out. I was really glad to get to talk with her some more.

Due to some previous joking, Shannon later came over to me and
asked if I would dance with her. It was a restaurant and I could barley
hear the music. There were cameras on us as she asked. It was quite
embarrassing. I had to say no just because I didn't know how and
there were so many people around.

That night I came home and saw two letters on my bed. One from
Jon and one from Wendy. I made the mistake of reading Jon's right
away. It was really late by the time I got back and when i read it, I got
pretty emotional. I realized that I probably wouldn't see him again, and
I felt sorry for him because of his state without Christ. I decided to add
a little more to my letter to him about some spiritual things. I hope God
uses what I've done and said to bring Jon to Himself.

In the morning it wasn't to terribly hard to say goodbye to Wendy and
Jon for some reason. I guess I was pretty excited about going home. It
was kind of hard to say good bye at the Sydney airport. But then once
we got to LA I think we were all so excited to get off the plane and get
to our next flight that there weren't many tears. On the plane we all
watched movies and I talked some with April and others briefly. Then
Cassie F. came over to sit by me (because there was an empty seat). I
was really glad she came over. It was like she came over just because
she was a friend and wanted to talk for the last time. We didn't even
really have much to say to each other. It was just a nice fulfilling time.

So that's that. Good-bye Australia. As I said, life has been kind of sad
lately as I've had to readjust to home and being without the friends
that I made in Australia. But I've been trying to be mature about and
live in the present, not the past. As God said there is a time for
everything. My time for Australia is over. What He has next for my life
I don't know. I can only hope it will be as amazing as Australia.