A quick home update.

This evening I'm babysitting two little girls from church. I'm basking in that lovely high after everyone has been pajama-ed, read to, and tucked in. So while I'm here in this quiet house and the girls are still asleep, I'll give a quick update.

It's been about a week since I arrived home, and I'm still feeling really content with my decision. Already I'm loving the feeling of relaxation that home welcomes. I've loved waking up without any stress; going to bed without any stress; and filling the points in between with no stress. It's also been neat to spend time with my parents as a semi-only child, which I've never experienced before.

I have no regrets at this point about leaving Goshen, though I am beginning to feel a twinge of missing the friends I've lived with for half a year. I keep reminding myself, though, that it requires a sense of boredom and almost isolation to get the stuff done that I need to get done. (Which is hard to say, coming from an extrovert that doesn't mind excitement 24/7.)

My main project right now is cleaning out my room to move back into. It's been an emotional process to even move the furniture around, but overall I feel ready to move back in. From April into the summer, I needed that room to stay the same, but I've reached a point now where I need it to be different. I need a place where I can call my own again, where I can sit and reflect and remember without being scared to move anything because that's how it's "always been."

Other things I have planned for the next month or so:
-Babysitting and doing small jobs for anyone that offers; maybe working at my aunt's thrift store.
-Volunteering: babysitting at the Clare House in Lancaster, and maybe being a dance instructor or "swim buddy" for children at the Schreiber Center. Hopefully other volunteer options will arise.
-Reading, writing, and maybe starting some sort of art project--if I can get around to it.

That's all for now.