Preparing for Thailand?

When May hit, I thought, "I just need to get to June; it'll be a breeze compared to this." Then June came crashing forward. Now we're halfway through, and I'm still picking up the pieces of this June crash. Goodness. (I could write pages about this past month, but I'll spare my cyberspace audience. I'll try to keep everything here relevant to my Thailand trip.)

I can't even process it all because there's no pause option. Not yet at least. And the scary part is, when I think, "I just need to get to..."

Well, let's see. There's all the music that we need to unearth from boxes for a wedding, there's all the VBS songs + VBS week, there's Thailand, there's camp, there's med school...Hmm.

"I just need to get...through med school??"

But there's no time to worry. And no need for it, really. It's been beyond wonderful being home. New home, yes. But home. Family. Boxes everywhere, but hey, we're together. That's what being a family is all about. Relationships (of any kind) aren't meant to be long distance (although circumstances sometimes require that), so everything feels right with the four of us. It's perfect. God tied our heartstrings together, and they play so well when they're not stretched across the country.

And in the midst of it all, I've been enjoying the pleasures of The Cell Phone. Thank God for [most] technology. Talking to friends has lifted the occasional bouts of anxiety about the rest of summer, especially Thailand. Community is a blessing. I keep telling people that there's a reason why God didn't just give us each our own planet to cultivate; He gave the Earth billions of people instead. And it's great how people's words just root themselves straight in the heart.

But Thailand still seems so...foreign. I've got this picture in my head of me living in the woods eating bugs. Which reminds me...

We went to Short Hills Mall tonight to get Dad a gift (his birthday always lands on or near Father's Day) and get some needed items. I've been searching for dry shampoo for Thailand. It's especially needed with my Asian hair, sadly. I finally realized that the easiest way to acquire it is from Sephora. $20 for a tiny, tiny tube. Okay, that's not a fortune, but still. I buy makeup at Wal-Mart.

I've been feeling this big disconnect between my reality and reality from one step back. When I take a step back I see that tonight, I bought expensive shampoo just so I can use it in a poverty-stricken place where $20 goes a long way. It's tough to reconcile.

But I'm glad God's making me aware of things, even the small things like shampoo.

I don't think we're ever meant to be comfortable.