Back to Indy

It was hard to drive away from Wheaton--people, places, and a fellowship I love almost more today than the day I left. I had an awesome couple of weeks just soaking up love and relaxation. And to be quite honest I wasn't too excited to begin my time of being stranded without a car in suburbia. However, this past week has been wonderful in its own special way. It's been nice to sit down to amazing dinners with my parents, photograph their spectacular gardens, and exercise my competitive muscles at a few round of croquet. I've driven my mom to work a couple days this week and tucked myself away in Starbucks (I'm loving the raspberry mocha...) studying for the GREs. I've been learning all kinds of useful knowledge such as, if a triangle with a right angle has two sides the length of 6, the third side is 6 times the square root of two. And in less than two weeks I can forget all of this pertinent information that is supposedly indicative of my future success in grad school. Tomorrow I head back to my birth land (that's Columbus, Ohio--not Iowa) to visit some friends. I can't wait to have a nice big helping of Graeter's ice cream--best ice cream in the world!! I'll also be sure to say hi to the Shoe for you Wu...

Home

The last couple weeks I've been hanging out in the Wheaton/Chicago area. If I have a "home" in the States, this is definitely the place. My parents are currently in Indianapolis and since I only lived there two years I don't really have any roots down there. Wheaton, however, is full of memories and dear friends. It's been simply incredible to just soak up time with the amazing folks around here. I've also had plenty of time to tuck myself away in coffee shops reading. I should have been studying for the GREs...but, I can do that when I get back to Indy... It's been really good to be forced to take things at a slower pace, to sit still and reflect, and to simply rest. Last night I headed into the city to meet a friend of mine. I was sitting for a little bit in the Metra station waiting to meet him, watching the crowds pass through. I was amazed at how rushed and harried everyone seemed. I was slightly disturbed by a very visual representation of how my home culture is constantly running from one thing to the next. This type of living is something I am often guilty of myself--which is why a couple weeks of being forced to live without schedules, tasks, and time frames has been startlingly refreshing. To take time to go on a long walk after dinner, to sit and chat over cups of coffee, to sit outside in a heavy summer rain. Hmmmmm, it's late and I'm beginning to ramble here, but I think you get the point. The summation is that my time here in my American home has been a wonderful time of rest and renewal and pausing, which I'm incredibly thankful for. In addition, it's also been fun to hang out with some of the team on this side of the ocean (we miss you Michelle!).

The 6th Annual Mordt Tournament

I just got back form a fun week in Florida hanging out with my sister and brother-in-law and one of my college roommates. One of the highlights of the trip was the annual putt putt competition with Heather. We've competed annually for six years and the rivalry is fierce as ever. This year was a close race all the way to the tied end...after 15 holes. We were playing behind several large families, which meant it was slow going through the course. And what is the only thing more important than putt putt? Cheesecake!! Consequently, we abandoned our tournament to make it to Cheesecake Factory before closing time. The raspberry chocolate cheesecake was well worth the sacrifice of three holes of putt putt.