The Year was 1994

I  returned home from Moscow just in time for Christmas and then 1994 began. It was our senior year, we had completed most of our high school requirements (thus the reason I was able to "skip" school and travel for over three months,) and we were trying to decide what direction to go next. College? Job? It would have been nice if Mom and Dad just would have told us what to do. But we needed to learn to make our own decisions. We prayed. I got a job at a florist in town. It was a perfect fit for me while I decided what to do with my life.

My parents house was remodeled that year. Finally the orange shag carpet was gone. The project was completed the week before our high school graduation party. We set out two baskets for graduation cards so that anyone who brought us a gift to share would feel silly....   :)

I worked that year but in the fall, another trip presented itself, and Sara and I spent two months with a hundred or so girls in Dallas, Texas. It was a conference/girls school/training center all wrapped in one. And our best friend Sarah Y. from Iowa, and a few of my friends from the Russia trip were there too. We had a fabulous time, and crammed as much silliness into what little free time we were given. That trip was helpful in my decision on whether to pursue opportunities our home education program offered or whether to go the more traditional, college education route.

We came home, my job took me back and that is how I got this ornament from a co-worker for Christmas. I continued to work part time, taking another short hiatus for a mission trip to Taiwan (again with Sarah Y.) the spring of '95.

That next fall, I decided to live at home while attending a small Christian college nearby, but I'll never regret taking my time in that decision and making the most of the travel opportunities I was given.