Decision time!

Maybe I'll just come out and let my faithful blog readers know. I'm trying to decide what to do when I graduate. Of course that's what most people do when they're 2 months from graduating. I figured by this point I'd have a job or know what I wanted to do. Sometimes it seems like there are too many opportunities, and then the next second there are none at all.

As I try to figure out the next steps, they just seem incredibly unclear. I've been praying, getting wise counsel from trusted friends, and reading the Word. I've also been talking with a couple missions organizations about possibly going overseas again. Although I have a million different interests, here are the common denominators in my life:

-My faith
-Draw to Asia
-Heart for the unloved and marginalized

Currently there aren't any opportunities or open doors that seem obvious or fill me with peace. I just don't really understand... With other big life decisions, like going to Old Dominion for college and heading off to China, I felt like these were the most natural next steps in the world. There's nothing like that right now, even with Christian organizations I'm looking into at the moment. Something is making me hesitant, and I don't know why. I'm trying to trust the Father, but I feel either impatient or frustrated. What's wrong with returning to East Asia? Nothing probably, but then why am I not super enthusiastic and rearing to go? Maybe God is telling me, "Be still and wait."

I guess I just want to make the best decision out of myriad good choices, and want to honor God. This past week I've rested from trying to make any decisions, and I've been much more content. I've been able to love people well here and now.

There were some highlights from this past week. I started taking Chinese lessons at the Asian Culture Center on campus, which is a nice old house with lots of character. My new tutor reviewed some of the basics, and I was surprised at how much I remembered. Hopefully I'll be able to continue lessons each week.

I also am still attending ballet classes once a week at Windfall Dancers. If I could pick anything to do, without fear of needing to make a living, I'd definitely choose ballet. It's a huge blessing to dance to gorgeous music, release all my worries, fly through the air, and feel talented at something.

Today I also drove down to Bedford to be on the big Super Oldies radio station, which sounds pretty random. As the PR person for Homeward Bound, I get to interact a lot with the media--newspaper, radio, TV, etc. It was pretty enjoyable. The station building was a little box, like a step out of time right from the 1950s. The guy--Andy--interviewed me for about 10 minutes, which sort of is a long time.

I sat in a faded orange chair from a time when the Oldies were new songs, with a giant pink microphone in my face. Right before we went on air, with "Twist and Shout" playing in the background, Andy told me not to be nervous, because only a total of 150,000 people could possibly listen. I smiled, but was somewhat smugly thinking, "That's nothing! How about being on Chinese television, twice, in front of a good few hundred million people?"

Truth be told, though, I was nervous. I only lost my grasp on the English language a couple of times. But I was surprised at how comfortable I felt once we started talking. I felt like I could keep talking and bantering back and forth forever. At the end, after we went off air, Andy looked at me sort of strangely. He said, "That was your first time? You're a natural! I wish I could have you on the air another 100 times." So I felt relieved and a wee bit more confident as I walked out the quaint little building and drove out of the quaint little southern Indiana town into the wintry February morning.

Next interview: WISH-TV in Indianapolis. With that one, I can't look like I just rolled out of bed, and real people I really know could really be tuning in.

That's all I know for now! I managed to pick up a cold somewhere, so I just feel like hibernating tonight. Hope you are well! Let me know how you are doing!