An orange purse told me to go to Peru.

By way of context, for my own sake, here are the things in my life at the moment:

1. I just turned 27.
2. In November, I resigned from KCRM.
3. Two weeks later God called me to pursue ordained pastoral ministry.
4. I worked at First Church for eight months, but only four months full time.
5. After I was laid off, a result of financial difficulties in the church, I started working at First Impressions, teaching toddlers. I love this job.
6. I have applied to work at that cell phone company where I used to work. The job would be a perfect fit, while trying to get through school.
   
7. Sparrow just returned from the Holy Land. She brought me aventurine.
8. Sauffie sent me an email about a two year church-planting mission trip to Peru.
9. I really want to go. I am supposed to meet with a woman from the organization next week for coffee.
10. I might be starting a job, working with foreign exchange students.
    
11. For the first time in my life, I am friends with the wife of my pastor. She is truly delightful. That's never happened to me before.
12. This Lent I gave up... manipulation, poor thinking patterns, those things in my life that God has not called me to be doing. I have sought to live out only the thing which God has specifically asked of me. I have failed pretty miserably; however, I am at peace with the idea that the lesson I need to learn won't be lost because I don't perform the practices of Lent perfectly.
13. God seems to be readying this people for something... big? It seems big. I don't really know.
14. I have had the opportunity to speak truth and reconciliation to my brother, Sauffie, and a man who broke my heart.
15. I'm really tired. I'm tired of being stressed about money, how long my car will last, whether or not I'll get a job that actually pays my bills, and whether or not I'll be able to pull it together to pass my classes.
16. At first, I was worried about turning 27. It seemed like such a departure from childhood... like an irrevocable launching into an adulthood I didn't choose. However, as I pondered my life thus far, I decided that I've earned these 27 years. I choose to be grateful for this life I've been given.