So I arrived back in Rhode Island just over a week ago, and after two days of driving, I turned around and got back in the car to pick up a friend at Logan International Airport. You know, every once in a while, you come across someone you just never seem to lose touch with. Beth is one such friend. We were inseparable through middle school and high school, and though life has taken us about 3,000 miles apart, we still manage to pick up right where we left off, no matter how few and far between our visits are.

This Christmas was a little different than most, in that, instead of spending the day with extended family, my parents and I spent the holiday with Beth and her parents. It's funny how some friends just seem like family over time. It's not something I can put my finger on, like one moment when I suddenly realized how close we'd become. No, it was more like a progression of memories: ski weekends in New Hampshire, mountain biking trips around the condo, summers at White Mountain Ranch, dancing at the top of the Biltmore, trips to the beach...and countless others. But somewhere along the way, our families became more like family than friends.

Well after a beautiful Christmas dinner with family and friends, I'm sitting down with my parents to watch War of the Worlds. We just paused the movie so my parents could make some holiday calls, and the three of us are sitting in the living room awestruck by my mother's new toy...a robotic vacuum cleaner that is making its way past my feet as I type. Well, it looks like it's on its way down the hall. According to the manual, it will find it's way back to the charger when the floors have been successfully vacuumed. What will they come up with next?

Last night, a group of us packed into my bug and drove to the top of the hill on MLC Lane to watch a meteor shower. I'm sure several of the cars that passed us wondered what five people were doing standing (voluntarily) on the side of the road in the freezing cold, but I think all five of us would agree the show was well worth the cold fingers and toes. After watching for about thirty minutes to an hour, we probably saw only a handful of meteors, but there was one in particular that made the whole show worthwhile. It was amazing to watch even just that one meteor streak so brightly across the sky. When it happened, we were all hoping God would let us see another one like it, and we began talking about the glory of God displayed in the heavens. It's something I've often thought about on backpacking trips, from the peaks of the White Mountains, but God reminded me last night that his glory is displayed in all of creation. The stars alone are an awesome testimony of his power and glory.

Well, the past week and a half has been a blur of security training, hanging out, writing, reading, personality profiling...and the list goes on. It's crazy to think orientation is almost over. Sometimes I feel like we've been here forever, but at the same time, it seems like only a few days ago we were sitting on the floor of the KGC watching everyone stick their pictures on the world map at our mapping ceremony. Tomorrow, we'll meet again in the KGC. But this time, we'll remove our pictures from the world map and be commissioned to the nations. It's bittersweet to think we'll soon be leaving people we've come to know so well, but I can't wait to see what the next two years are going to hold for all of us.