Planning and Laughing

So Many Wonderful Things…

Last night as I was getting into bed I decided to read an affie from BRH mission trip. I pulled out my letter from Sarah Leyda and realized that she had torn out of her beautiful journal the page with the quote that I had found and fallen in love with. I loved the quote especially in terms of my students and mathematical learning processes. This night the quote was in my terms.

“We learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself.” ~Lloyd Alexander

This hit and me and I was strongly reminded again that this wait time was purposeful and I needed to rest in that and use it to learn something. Even if I didn’t find resolution (a friend), there was something for me to learn through this experience. So I was ready to face today head-on, friends or no friends.

This morning was….
Mission: Dunkin’ Donuts
Result: Mission Failed
Did I get up at 5:30 to leave by 6:30? Yes
Did I find the directions and make it there in time? Yes

As my mouth began to water for those wonderful chocolate donut holes as I pulled around the corner I found, instead of a wonderful donut shop, a vacant, destitute building. Yes, the wonderful Dunkin Donuts I went to once a week last summer has disappeared. I cannot describe my reaction – my face was a mix of disappointment, anger, frustration, but mostly amusement that it had really disappeared and I was that upset about it. Ended up looking for another donut place on my gps, found one, followed the directions, and it is now a park. Apparently HP residents don’t like to put fried dough into their bodies in the morning so I had to settle for Starbucks and coffee cake. Sorry Starbucks lovers – but it just doesn’t compare to Dunkin Donuts…

Start of the morning – Rough

But then it all began to change ( I feel like there should be movie music in the background here).

Today was paperwork/DISD info day so those of us who are already certified (7 of us out of 148 corps members) had a totally different process to go through and spent the entire morning just the 7 of us. It was nice to have a smaller group of people to travel with and talk to – a little less overwhelming for me.
I ended up driving 3 other girls to the HR office and we were able to have some good conversation in the car. When we got to the HR office, they processed our paperwork one by one so we spent awhile sitting in the lobby together.

Kathryn and I began talking about various things and she mentioned that she was in the Christian sorority at A&M. The next time I had a chance I asked her if she would be looking for churches in the area and which ones she knew she wanted to look at. From that point on, we spent almost the entire day together. We spent about an hour in that lobby talking about our faith, churches, and housing (that’ll make sense later). After we went to our next location she made it clear that she wanted us to find a group to sit with at lunch together. At that group I was able to meet some people that I can actually see myself being friends with and one person that I actually have quite a few mutual friends with already. This was my first really positive and comfortable big group meal experience – I was loving it!

After lunch the two of us were able to leave and have a break for a few hours. We had talked about The Dakota and both needed to talk to them about a few things so we decided to go visit it together. Well, an hour and a half later we walked out with her and her roommate putting a hold on a unit and me committing to lease for my unit! After this we went back to the dorms for just a few minutes, talked about the importance of quiet times over this crazy summer, and shared names of devo books that we’ve enjoyed.

Right. So not only did I gain a close friend that I can relate to on so many levels and who has also been searching for someone to connect with this entire time, but she and her roommate (who she says is similar to us also) will be living in the same complex as me! We’ve decided that we want to go to The Village social events as long as we don’t have to go by ourselves – so we’re going to go together. We’re both also wanting to get involved in a Bible study during the week and maybe we can find one with people in The Village through a church. (And she’s also already certified so we’re able to connect with each other on that)

Needless to say. God pulled me through today. In a big way.

So according to the quote, I should pull from this a lesson learned. When I look at the lesson I realize that it is something I have been learning over and over again. When I plan, God laughs. That simple. And I plan a lot. I’m realizing that maybe I need to find a better balance of planning versus faith in my life. The recurrence of this lesson is so significant that I’m finally realizing that I need to make a change. Yes, I can and need to plan. No, I cannot place expectations on God’s plan – his is, after-all, incomparably better than mine. I’m not really sure how this is going to flesh-out in my life, but I’m gonna figure it out.

Today: Despite the Dunkin Donuts Disaster? Incredible.

Thank you for your prayers and encouragement. I believe that God fully answered those prayers today and I’m blessed to have witnessed such a clear and quick answer to prayers.

Looking forward to what tomorrow holds!

Holding Onto His Hand,
Courtney