Amman: Day 1

We have finally arrived in Amman, Jordan! Yay! We got here around 10 this morning. We went through customs fairly easily; the customs officer saw us with all our bags, and when he found out we were from the States he let us just go through without scanning our bags! Hallelujah! 

Hillary met us at the airport and we got us and all of our luggage back to her house! 

Once we got to the house we chilled out for a while. 

Oh my gosh laying down was just OH SO SWEET. 

And taking a shower was pretty good too. 

Then we ventured out into the town! 

We got some lunch...Shawarma

Just for you Dad. 

Then we went to the downtown area. 

We saw some old school fruit markets and souvenir type shops. 

We got a pretty good view of the city though. 

Then we went down and saw one of the old Roman Coliseums. That was pretty cool. It's still used for special events and can seat up to 6,000 people! 

It was a nice afternoon, but it was pretty HOT, and we were all starting to drag so we decided to head back to the house. 

So now i'm just sitting on the couch, blogging and enjoying an ice cold Coke. 

And man is it GOOOOOOOD. 

Stop 1: Dubai

So we've made it safely to Dubai the first "stop" on our trip. 

We flew out of Houston last night and came straight here. 

Our 14 hour flight really was quite enjoyable....I mean if you have to fly for 14 hours I would HIGHLY recommend flying with Emirates. We felt like royalty....and we were just in Economy Class!

It was awesome! 

Everyone got their own TV with probably over 600 movies, 500 TV shows, radio and games. 

We also got our own blanket, pillow, eye mask, socks and toothbrush. 

And we got food NONSTOP! 

Dinner was delicious! 

Breakfast was delicious!

And the snacks were just as good! 

At one point the flight attendant asked if mom wanted some chocolate. She responded, "yeah I'll take a piece." This is what he gave her. 

So now we're just trying to get a little sleep in the airport before our flight to Amman tomorrow morning. Right now its about 9 p.m. here and our flight is at about 7 a.m. 

So far the Dubai airport is pretty dang impressive....they've got a park in here! 

We found a nice quiet place to rest, but apparently everyone else had the same idea we did....and its not so quite anymore. Oh well, that's what Benadryl is for.  

The Day is Here.

Well the day has finally arrived! 

Today,

Mom, Halley and I, 

leave for our adventurous voyage to unknown lands!

A.K.A. we leave for our ridiculous vacation today! 

This afternoon we drive from Lake Charles to Houston. 

Our flight leaves May 23, around 7 p.m. 

We fly from Houston to Dubai,

around 14 hours,

 and then from Dubai to Amman,

around 3 hours.

We will arrive in Amman May 25, around 10 a.m. 

Our total flying time is around 18 hours, 

but we do have a nice layover in Dubai.

What will we be doing on May 24?

GOOD QUESTION. 

The answer:

We won't be doing anything, 

because basically May 24th will not exist. 

Isn't that interesting! 

So we're looking at a nice long day....and night 

of tight spaces, 

strange noises and smells,

crushed snack foods, 

cold toes, 

and loud neighbors. 

It should be one interesting day...or two.  

But I will admit that I'm really looking forward to this flight. 

1. Because we're flying Emirates and I hear their planes are INCREDIBLE. 

Tons of movies to choose from,

big spacious seats, 

and lots and lots of FOOD. 

2. Because that plane ride is a whole 14+ hours that I just get to sit there. 

I just get to sit, 

and I don't have to do ANYTHING,

except watch movies, 

read, 

sleep,

and eat. 

It's going to be AWESOME. 

I'm so excited!! 

So your prayers for safe travel would be greatly appreciated. 

Also, if you could throw in a few for happy attitudes and smiling faces that would be good too.

Graduation Day!

So guys I graduated from college yesterday...

that was pretty weird. 

Just me and my sisters. 

Okay Halley isn't technically my sister...but she might as well be. 

Carey Roommates Y2K12.

My dear friend Leslie, 

a.k.a. "Noëlle,"

French wouldn't have been the same without you.

Mom and Dad.

Aren't they just so cute?

My precious Sutton, 

my very first friend in college. 

Sweet Hanna Sams,

we've had so many interesting adventures. 

My darling Amber, 

you always put up with my craziness. 

And Anna, 

my beloved cow. 

These are just a few pictures from the joyous day....it was basically just one long photo shoot. 

It was a pretty weird experience, 

mostly because well...

I've never graduated college before. 

I've so enjoyed my time here at Louisiana Tech. 

I can't even begin to describe how much this place has influenced me over the past four years. 

I've learned so many countless lessons, 

some easy and some hard, 

but all with very real and very necessary purposes. 

I've made so many wonderful relationships here, 

friends, 

mentors, 

teachers, 

etc, 

etc. 

I'll never be able to thank all of you for all that you have meant to me. 

There have been so many of you who have invested so much in me and I am so very grateful. 

The Lord has blessed me infinitely more than I could have ever dreamed. 

I am one lucky girl. 

Ruston has been good to me in so many ways. 

I don't even want to try to list them all...

so I won't, 

because I would inevitably leave something/someone really important out,

and then I would just feel silly.

So thank you to all the men and women who have 

cared for me, 

prayed for me, 

encouraged me, 

listened to me, 

taught me, 

had fun with me, 

and influenced me. 

You have been a blessing in my life. 

Thank You. 

"I thank my God every time I remember" Philippians 1:3

So I Finished College...What Now?

Well so I finished college yesterday.

That sure was weird. 

I can't believe it's already time for graduation;

I definitely do NOT feel old enough for this. 

But it's here and it's time so I guess I better get ready! 

Well I thought I would share with you all some of my plans for after graduation. 

Everyone is asking so I thought I would go ahead and fill you in.

But be prepared....

I don't have many plans. 

Let's run through a brief timeline, shall we....

Okay so I graduate from Louisiana Tech University,

with a BA in French and Spanish, 

and a minor in English, 

on Saturday, May 18, 2013. 

The next day I move back to Lake Charles. 

Thursday, May 23, 2013, 

my mom, Barbara, 

and my pseudo sister, Halley, 

and I leave for our graduation trip! 

We will be visiting Jordan and Thailand!

Don't worry I'll keep everyone updated! 

Tuesday, June 4, 2013, 

we return to Lake Charles from Bangkok, Thailand. 

Thursday, June 6, 2013, 

I leave at 6 a.m. for Los Angeles. 

(Yeah...I know....that's going to be a rough couple of days)

Thursday, July 25, 2013, 

I return to Lake Charles from LA. 

Tentatively:

Thursday, August 1, 2013, 

I will be going to Kamp to visit and volunteer for a few days. 

Saturday, August 10, 2013,

I leave Kamp and return to Lake Charles. 

Sunday, August 11, 2013,

THE GREAT UNKNOWN. 

So that's a basic run down of my summer. 

Pretty jam packed I know, 

but I always figure I need to take advantage of opportunities to go and do while I can. 

So what if I'm going to be a little tired,

I can handle that.

I plan on updating my blog all summer so fret not you can all stay well informed!

Oh yeah....I have a blog!

Well folks....

....it's been a while. 

I almost forgot this bad boy even existed.

I've been off my blogging game,

TWO AND A HALF MONTHS,

since my last post,

that's just pathetic.

I do apologize.

I know all of my many followers out there have just been dying for some lovin!

I'm sorry I've neglected you,

but I'm back now! 

And fret not,

I'll have much more to blog about in the next coming weeks and months. 

So let's start with a small life update:

1. I've only got TWO WEEKS left of college.

I'm sorry what?!?

Oh yes that's right,

in just two short weeks I'll be done with school FOREVER.

(unless I decide to go to grad school, HA)

2. I currently have the summer planned,

but nothing beyond. 

This summer I'll be doing a summer training project in Los Angeles.

It's called the Intensive Training (IT) Project, 

through The Traveling Team, 

 a missions mobilization organization. 

(I'll give you more details later)

(I PROMISE)

3. I have a nice big trip planned! 

I, 

along with two fabulous traveling companions,

my mother, 

Barbara Thomas,

and pseudo-sister,

Halley Claudel,

will be exploring the exotic and faraway lands of,

JORDAN and THAILAND. 

Oh yes that's right from May 23-June 4,

it's gonna be AWESOME!

(Again, more details to come)

4. I have plans until August 10th, 

however,

after that my life is just white space,

to be filled with whatever the Good Lord desires. 

It's a rather strange feeling,

on one hand I like not knowing,

it's exciting and forces me to rely on the Lord's timing and not trust my own planning or agenda,

but on the other hand, 

it would be nice to at least have an idea of what I would want to do.

If anything just so that when I'm asked for the 24,389 time:

"What are you doing after graduation?"

I can respond with something other than:

"Uhhh I dunno"

Because then people just think I'm stupid,

and ya know that gets old.

But no matter, 

I'm sure something will come to me.

The current issue is that I don't know what I want to do.

Like I really have NO CLUE what I want to do with my life. 

I mean I could see myself overseas in ministry.

I could see myself in The States in ministry.

I could see myself overseas in grad school.

I could see myself in The States in grad school.

I could see myself at Kanakuk Institute or in seminary.

I could see myself as a tennis coach.

I could see myself as someone's assistant. 

I could see myself as an entrepreneur. 

I could see myself as a professor. 

I could see myself working for the government. 

I could see myself as a tour guide. 

I could see myself as a flight attendant. 

I could see myself as a teacher. 

I could see myself as a baker.

I could see myself as a calligrapher. 

I could see myself as......

See my dilemma? 

And those are just the general fields, 

that doesn't include things like:

where to live, 

who to work for, 

what field of study,

what language, 

etc, 

etc, 

etc. 

See it's all very complicated,

but then completely simple. 

And honestly,

 I don't mind the question,

it doesn't bother me to talk about it. 

Obviously, 

I've got some things I need to talk about,

and I like hearing other people's opinions,

because let's face it, 

some of you know me better than I do.

And it's just fun to hear what other people think. 

So if you've got any suggestions let me hear em!! 

I'm all ears!

Cleansing Rain.

I've been toying with the idea of this blog post for quite some time now,

but I've just never been sure if I really wanted to write it.

And even if I did, 

how would I do it?

What would I say?

But tonight I have decided that yes, 

I do want to share this with you.

So here goes.

I'm going to assume that I'm not the only person with,

what I like to call, 

a secret sin.

We've all got em,

right?

That thing that you just can't seem to get away from.

It plagues you.

You know it's wrong.

You know it's sinful.

You know it's hurting you.

You know it's hurting God.

But for whatever reason,

you just can't stop.

You might have some successful bouts,

a couple days,

a week or so, 

a month,

etc. 

And you're proud of those periods of restraint,

discipline, 

and freedom.

You think,

"This time is different."

"This time I'm going to kick it for good."

But eventually,

you don't.

And it's back.

And it's brought with it a lifetime supply of 

guilt,

shame,

low self-esteem,

self-pity,

hopelessness,

etc.

And the cycle begins anew. 

I have one of those.

Well actually, 

I used to. 

I was plagued by sin.

It was always with me.

At times it consumed me.

No matter how hard I tried,

it was still there. 

No matter how many changes I made,

it was still there. 

No matter how many times I prayed,

it was still there. 

I didn't understand it. 

I hated it.

I hated myself because of it. 

It made me sick to my stomach.

And it caused some serious emotional and spiritual issues. 

It made me feel worthless. 

It made me feel stupid.

It made me feel weak. 

I can't even fathom how many times I cried out to God to take it from me,

to heal me,

to clean me,

to rescue me. 

But I never felt like He did. 

It was always with me.

And eventually I just accepted the fact that this was always going to be an issue. 

But the beautiful thing is that God had a much bigger plan in mind. 

I never understood why I had to deal with this.

Couldn't it be something else?

Something a little smaller, or simpler?

And I still don't understand why it had to be this,

and I may never understand why.

But I do think I know why it had to last so long.

The longer it plagued me,

the sweeter forgiveness would feel. 

Allow me to share my story of redemption:

 December 19, 2012.

It was a Wednesday night,

 and we had finished up with CollegeLife.

After I had finished cleaning,

 a friend came up and asked if I wanted to go ride around with her.

She and I hadn't seen each other in a while so I said yes,

 and we got in her car and went on our way.

In the course of us driving,

 and talking,

 and singing, 

we started talking about "it."

This thing that no one

 (or very few, she being one of the few) 

knew about.

I was glad to be able to talk to her about this

 and have her be able to understand where I was coming from, 

and not think less of me.

We stopped driving and pulled off into this parking lot overlooking a big open pasture. 

As we were sitting and talking, 

I was just overcome with this feeling of extreme hopelessness. 

I felt like this was never going to go away. 

I felt like I was stuck with it,

and that was that. 

I felt weak and pathetic,

completely useless. 

And she said,

 "You know what? We can do this. But we have to do it together." 

Then she started to pray, 

at this point I'm just bawling my eyes out, 

and snotting all over the place. 

But as she was praying, 

something happened.

It started to rain, 

just barely. 

And I knew it was the Lord's blessing.

I just knew it.

I have never been so sure of anything in my life. 

So I just started saying,

"It's His blessing! He's blessing us! It's His blessing!"

Of course I just kept on crying,

and she leaned her head on my shoulder and said,

"It's almost like He's washing us clean."

And as soon as she said it, 

we both started screaming,

"Oh my god, that 's what He's doing!" 

"He's cleaning us!"

"What is going on!"

"I can't believe this is happening!"

And I'm sure many, many other things. 

The rain only lasted for a moment, 

but it was enough.

 So she and I climbed out of the sun roof and sat on top of the car,

blaring some Christy Nockles song. 

She was pure joy, 

just laughing and singing.

She was glowing.

I,
 on the other hand,
 was a basket case,

sobbing and nasty crying everywhere. 

I'm sure if anyone would have seen us they would have called the police.
We looked insane.

But it gets better. 

While we were singing and laughing and crying,

 it started to rain a second time.

And this time it rained just a little bit longer,

and just a little bit harder. 

And as soon as that first rain drop hit, 

I fell into hysterics again. 

I couldn't believe what was going on.

I couldn't believe what was happening.
I couldn't believe this was happening to ME.

While I was sitting on top of the car dazed and confused,

my friend noticed something in the field in front of us.

She sat there with her jaw dropped just pointing. 

Bring out the angels!

(Just kidding, there were no angels, but that would have been really cool though)

I leaned over and I saw it. 

The fence was making a shadow on the grass, 

and it was making the most beautiful cross. 

And as soon as I saw that wonderful cross, 

it started to rain a third time. 

And this time it rained just a little bit harder, 

and just a little bit longer. 

Cue hyperventilation. 

I was cleaned. 

I was washed clean. 

He literally washed me of my sins. 

And now I am whole.

I am finally free.

I am clean.

I am forgiven. 

I am redeemed. 

I am free. 

That sin is no longer a part of my life. 

I am no longer in bondage to it. 

I am free. 

The Lord freed me. 

Before I went to bed that night I read Psalm 31,

and of course I started sobbing all over again.

But it was the good kind of sobbing so it was okay. 

I had finally come to the place I had dreamed about for so long,

a place I never thought I would actually get to.

But I'm still here. 

I'm still free.

And it's the most beautiful thing I have ever experienced.
And I just had to share it.

I pray that the Lord shows you love and forgiveness. 

I pray that you find freedom.

I pray that you are cleaned.