finally, right?

listen, no...please...don't think that i've forgotten all you dear people. you've been in my thoughts and dreams constantly since leaving you in new york (and some in cairo)... and now i'm on the blog and can feel somewhat connected again. i guess this things has been going on for some time now that there are like 60 posts or something and i feel a little behind, but i lost track of the blog address for a little while.

wow. so we're back in the usa, huh? how are you all doing with that. i can honestly say that overall, its been really positive for me. there was definitely some adjusting to be done, but really, i've lived in america most of my life--i felt like i just wasn't really surprised at what was waiting for me back here, both good and bad. one of those really good things was christmastime with my family. who remembers the little rest stop in jordan when a bunch of us were talking about our different christmas traditions and what would be happening when we got back? that was fun... but getting back and actually doing all of those things was even... funner.

also, one of the highlights of getting back was walking up the atlanta baggage claim and seeing lauren for the first time. lucky eunice got to be there. haha, i'll spare all the details (as everyone breathes a al-humdulillah) but it was amazing to see her again and spend some time with her that week. we were at my house a few days before she had to leave, and then i flew down to houston over new year's to go to her big family reunion. and, by the way, alissa was right about that stupid 25,000 mile base for a free flight. i just can't believe that flying halfway across the globe doens't equal out to enough damn miles for a little domestic flight. anyways...while in texas, our favorite malcolm family invited both lauren and i over for a new years dinner and i got to hang out with becca for the afternoon. it was awesome. oh, and i had the famous texas briskett. that was awesome too.

she's the one that helped me out with the blog.

now i'm back at home and its a little weird because i'm alone. my parents are at work, my brother's at school, and my sister is randomly doing things. cedarville starts back up this tuesday, so i've only got a couple of days left. but i've been filling my time with reading and research... sweet huh? i'm working on getting myself up to date on venezuela because i'm representing them at the regional model UN in february. i also just finished going through the iraq study group report. one lady on the plane asked if it was a "good book." hmm...its not really the thing i'd rejoice in literarily, but i told her that i thought it was important. it did a little to add to my discouragement and frustration towards US action and policy in the middle east, but also presented some thought through solutions that are a bit more informed than current action (or lack of it), in my opinion.

i've talked about egypt A LOT since coming back... like even had people over the to house and set up a bunch of slideshows for my pictures. there have been more chances to share and more interest in my listeners that i originally thought. i hope i don't get burnt out on it--which i can see happening. i know that the things that i've learned and have decided to talk about are important and i feel that i have some responsibility to take advantage of those times. there for awhile we kept asking a bunch of our speakers the question of what we could do or what we could bring back with us. most of them told us to talk about what we had seen and heard and done. i'm trying to. sometimes it just feels really incomplete...

well... i guess you could say that this is the typical intial post--the short update and check in on everyone. i'll keep posting on some other things as time goes by.

i'm glad i'm finally on here though. i miss you guys a lot.