Mackenzie Standing

For the sake of being completely honest, I must admit: I want to go home. There's so much that I miss here. I miss Jarred coming into my room shouting "MY SISTA!" at the top of his lungs. I miss Travis making some sarcastic remark about whatever Jarred said. I miss movie nights at the Thompson's house and watching Phineas and Ferb with Lauren and Elizabeth. I miss my Froyo-Fridays with Hannah and volunteering at Columbia Heights. I miss Wednesday night coffee with Meghan and watching as Kaleb comes up with creative ways to ask if we can leave. I miss being part of a team. I miss making the Sunday graphics and teaching my kids and helping lead worship on Sundays. But mostly I just miss being so close to all these people that make up my definition of "family." I miss being near the people who know and love me, who try to challenge me. I miss getting to have those nitty-gritty, brutally honest, this-is-where-I-am conversations. I miss really  talking to my ...

Today I'm thankful. I'm thankful that I really like my roommate and that I love  my dorm. I'm thankful for some new acquaintances that could become good friends. I'm thankful for phone calls from dear friends back home-the ones who will listen to me cry and talk me through my struggles. I'm thankful that the bus system in Bozeman is free. I'm thankful for postcards and letters and drawings that come in the mail. I'm thankful for the third floor of the library, which is quickly becoming my favorite place to study. I'm thankful for Skype. I'm thankful for email. I'm thankful for the Study Guides on my Statistics website, because I'm pretty sure that's going to be the only way I pass the class. I'm thankful for the rain for clearing out some of the wildfire smoke. I'm thankful the dining hall food isn't that bad. I'm thankful that I survived the first week- and I'm thankful that Jesus is in all of it. My very first we...