Another semester comes to a close...

Today as I was reading all of my wonderful Azeri friends status' talking about the end of another semester there at the English center I couldn't help but be a little sad... I am so missing them and the fun times we had each day. It's hard to believe that I left over a month ago...yet it seems like it has been forever at the same time!
Some pictures that are perhaps not the best in quality and good facial expressions, but also perhaps bring the biggest smile to my face...

When your wondering if you matter...

I'm currently in the middle of a book titled you matter more than you think (check it out, it's pretty awesome) and as I was turning the page that ended the chapter I was on, I was hit with a sudden thought;
In order for this book to be written, published, and sold.... many women needed to feel as though they didn't matter.

In my journey overseas this past year, I have been told many times that Satan likes to pick on your strongest point. He wants to make you feel weak in that area so that it is no longer being used. 

You matter more than he would ever like you to believe.

Now, I don't know about you, but I'm an overachiever by every meaning of the word. If it isn't perfect, I'm not done. It can be so good to have this personality... it can also make you feel like everything is wrong in your world.

I didn't do my devotions this morning and now I'm a day behind. 

My pies didn't turn out how I wanted them to look and taste, and now everyone probably thinks I'm an awful cook.

My new blanket isn't the exact shade my other blankets are, can I even be trusted to decorate my home?!

Do you get where I'm going with this? When you are always ready to beat yourself up, Satan is there with a a baseball bat ready to help finish you off.

When you wonder if you matter, remember the times you have succeeded and not the times you have failed.

When you wonder if you matter, don't hesitate to ask God what His opinion on it is....

Time flies when....

One month ago today I had come down with a terrible case of pink eye. How do I remember this, you may ask? Because it was four days before I left the country of Azerbaijan.

As I look through the pictures of my trip, I can't help but be a little teary eyed. It hardly seems as though that was even a season in my life, it passed so quickly. All of the people I did life with, all of the miles I traveled through the city each day...it already seems like a distant memory.

It seemed while I was there as though there were many hard things that we dealt with each day and yet as I look back on my time there, I can barely even think of those things. All I can seem to remember are the beautiful people I sat next to on the bus, the flower crowns that were made with friends in the village, the fun 'family' meals with all of us crammed into the girls' apartment, the countless games of banana-grams and phase ten played between us girls and the guys on our team that loved being at our house.

I'm so thankful that I wrote things down while I was there, because who would ever want to forget these memories that we will never all have the chance to make again?