Heading Back: Where Did the Time Go?!

It’s hard to believe in just 6 short weeks, I will once again board a plane and fly to the other side of the world!

As I share with family and friends of my soon departure, I find myself nonchalantly say, “Yep, I’m off to China again in just 6 more weeks.” I watch as the facial expressions vary from excited to shocked! One of my friends once said to me, “Amanda, you make moving to China sound like you’re just moving around the corner to Buffalo!” I chuckled as I realized how insane it must sound to just uproot and move to the other side of the world.

It’s just not normal! But I guess I never signed up for normal 😉

In All Splendor

As I walked out of the house this morning, the cold crisp air kissed me cheeks. Little did I know, this five minute walk was about to be a fresh encounter with You.

Taking a few more steps, I turned to see the sun beginning to rise over the distant hills, creating a beautiful painting of blue, pink, orange, and purple. I was CAPTIVATED! I could sense that You were smiling as I continued forward, unable to turn away from the beauty before me. “I knew you’d like it,” You gently whispered.

A few more steps and I was caught by another moment of splendor. With the light layer of snow coating the grass and the squirrels rustling the leaves above me, I found myself overwhelmed by Your creation as a whole. What an amazing creator, that You would make and form everything around me with such precision and detail! Even the crunch of tree branches was like a symphony to my ears!

As I came over the hill and approached my destination, I was filled with slight disappointment. I didn’t want to stop looking at Your work of art; this grand masterpiece that surrounded me! I could have stood out in the cold forever, or so it seemed.

Just as I turned the corner, something off in the distance caught my attention. Below in a valley, eight beautiful, majestic deer galloped across the open field. I froze. “Wow, what a beautiful Father!”

What had seemed like just any other morning quickly became a gift; a way for my Sweet Prince to show His love for me! I was overwhelmed!

“Oh how great Your love is for me!”

Snowflake Kisses

As I strolled back from soccer tonight, gentle snowflakes began to fall from the sky. I smiled as they kissed my face; oh how I’ve longed to enjoy the snow.

As I stood there for  a minute, breathing in the crisp night air, I was overwhelmed by His love and with each single snowflake, He was speaking! Everything around so quite and still, yet it seemed like a symphony played around me! I yearned to stand there all night and simply soak in His presence!

Oh Sweet Prince, how I do love you so! You paid my price and made me as white as the snow, and with every snowflake that kisses my face, I’m reminded of how good you truly  are to me!

So Long Facebook

Well, as many of you already know, in a little more than a week, I begin my journey to the other side of the world!

However, this time, my journey is going to be a little different from the last.Starting the 22nd, I will not be using facebook. I don’t think I will be deactivating it for the sake of people still being able to contact me. However, being that it is illegal to use facebook there and I have no intention to purchase software to by pass the great firewall of China,I will not be using it.

This is your week and a half notice. If you do wish to contact me throughout the year, please shoot me an email or message me on facebook before I deactivate it.

♥

I love you

So it’ s official… it is August 29th… in less than 8 hours I will board a flight to china…

I spent this last week running around like a mad woman packing, spraying all my clothes with bug repellent, seeing all of my friends and family one last time, making lists, etc… and yet out of all of them, the only one I found difficult was seeing my friends and family before leaving… however… it does not even compare to the tears I shed having to say see ya later to my mom, dad, and brother… 19 years 11 months and 3 days… I have been with my parents and brother since the beginning… it’s not easy letting go… I have never been a huge fan of change… but I know this change has to happen

My best friend and I have had a few talks about my trip… encouraging me that I’m doing the right thing…. I am meant to go to china… but honestly if I didn’t have the encouragement… that push that I’m on the correct path… just having to say see ya later to my family was enough… I would have turned right back around… but no… I can do this… It’s only 10 months… I will see everyone when I get back… This is not goodbye…

Love you Mom, Dad, and Josh… I’ll miss you more than words can express…

Where did the summer go…

2 full days until I leave for china… where in the world did my summer go…

A surprise party thrown for me on Tuesday left me in laughter and tears…  what I thought was going to be a simple dinner between my parents, my brother, and I turned out to be a dinner with my grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins,and  best friends… the love I felt as I sat at that table was simply indescribable…

Wednesday, I managed to do majority of my laundry and spray half of it with mosquito repellent… and then went to see my ICNHM family one last time before my trip… with every hug, I held in the tears… I’m just not good at staying in one piece when it comes to “see ya later”… but fortunately with the help of my best friend, I got through it.

Today, I spent the day packing away clothes and spraying more clothes down… and then had to go see one of my closest best friends from high school… Spending the evening with her, we watched one of our classic movies/musicals… The Producers… and then proceeded to have lasagna for dinner with her family… and then go putt-putt golfing… needless to say… pro-golfing is not in my future… after a fun night, we had to go our ways… all while keeping tradition… we departed with our typical final statement… “Thank you for being here today”…

As I look back on these last few nights and look forward to my last 2 days… I can honestly say I am very excited… but at the same time, I fight tears as I think about the people I will sorely miss this year abroad… I know I’ll see them again… but I guess I can’t explain it… it’s such a feeling of uncertainty… and me… having been the planner all my life, it’s hard to look at this next part of my life… completely unplanned… uncertain of what I might face… it’s a new arena… and I don’t have any plays…  so goodbye Amanda “I must plan everything” Randolph… and hello Miss “Whatever will be will be”…

Time to Stall a Little More…

So here I am only 5 days until I leave for China…

And I have successfully completed everything on my T0-Do list except for one thing…. packing… ugh

I never thought I would ever have to condense my life into two suitcases and a backpack… but nothing says adventure like living on nothing but the basic essentials…

I’m managing thus far to pack everything… however tomorrow I have the wonderful task of spraying my clothes with a clothing bug repellent… it’s going to be an interesting day tomorrow for sure… I just hope the weather will be a little nicer than it’s been the last few days being that the entire insect-spraying process is supposed to be completed outdoors…  it’s moments like now that I wish I had access to a very large tent…

Besides clothes, I’ve basically packed everything else… well minus shoes… that’s a part of my packing experience that I sort of dread… I don’t like to pick favorites and I think all of my shoes are worthy of seeing china… however… when it comes down to packing… I’ll have to make some choices…

On a side note… saw the neurologist for a follow up today… in short, minus the headaches, I am one hundred percent healthy… He said my MRI looked great… and that my brain looks clean… My sleep test showed that I definitely do not have sleep apnea… so another great thing to hear… He thinks all my headaches are nothing more than stress related and it’s nothing a little sleep and destressing can’t fix… so yay for health!!!

On another side note… tonight was by far one of my most fun nights of the summer… I have not laughed so hard in such a long time… seeing two of my closest friends from high school did the trick… we simply had dinner together and laughed about random college experiences… and after seeing how tonight went… I came to one conclusion… Although we may be growing up, we are definitely not growing apart… I could not be more thankful ❤

Well… I think I’ve stalled packing enough… I seriously need to continue packing or go to sleep and start fresh in the morning…

well for now… 再见

It’s all so bittersweet

People always say that saying “goodbye” is the hardest, but I think saying “see you later” is just as hard…

I have known one of my families for 7 years now and having to say “see you later” sent me to tears more times than I can count. They’ve watched me grow up… through my “tom boy” phase in my early high school years… to my “maybe i’ll wear make-up” phase in my later high school years… to my present “I’ll wear make-up, a dress, and heels” phase… I know I’ve only gone from point A to point B, but let me just say… it was a pretty big gap…

This family has simply shown me so much love over the years… and I can’t thank them enough for the support they have given me… they’ve honestly helped shape who I have become… no longer a mere teenager trying to find herself but a strong independent woman who tries to please her father…

❤ my ICNHM family

7 days til China

I promise I won’t cry

As I approach tomorrow… I see the deadline… two weeks until china! eeeekkkk!!!! and so much to do still…

But out of all my preparation… it’s saying “see ya later” to my friends… I just don’t have the heart to ever say goodbye….

But somehow whether I say “see ya later” or “well… see ya soon,” the tears just seem inevitable… I justify my tears with this however…. The friends I have are amazing and I am going to miss each and everyone of them more than anyone could imagine… <3… i can’t go any further with this blog… i’m about to send myself into tears…

night… ❤

What a headache…

So I finally went to the neurologist about the headaches/migraines I have been experiencing over the year…

Without saying a word to the doctor, he turns to me and goes… “You have conscientious written all over your forehead. I can tell you’re a hard worker. You’re the kind of person that people go to when they want something done right. You tend to overload yourself, focusing on completing the task at all costs to your personal needs. You overload yourself with these tasks and because of it, your brain is on overdrive at all times.”

I was taken aback. How could anyone simply look at me and be able to identify the type of person I am.

My doctor then explained that when driving a car for hours straight without stopping, you’re using only one core part of your brain. This type of stress on one part of the brain can cause a headache. He then explained that my constant thinking is potentially the reason why I get headaches so frequently. I never give my brain time to rest because I’m always concerned about something.

The simplest solutions to the problem would be more sleep and being less stressed. So my best friend and I are going to talk and see if we can come up with some clever ways to help me de-stress and let my mind rest some.

Well, I think that’s it for now

❤ 再见