Wishin' and Hopin' and Thinkin' and Prayin'

That's what I've been doing the two days. I've been wishing I could find things as easily and conveniently here as I can at home. I've been hoping that my health keeps feeling relatively normal for our upcoming trip to Athens. I've been thinking about everything I'm going to see when I'm there next week. And I've been praying that God blesses our work here.

Friday was one of those days that, even though I'm content here, I just wanted to be home. I was wishing to be somewhere else. It all started when I was trying to make a grocery list. I have such a hard time finding recipes that I can make here because they don't have many of the ingredients that I use in normal recipes at home. For example, I want to be able to find Campbell's soups here to make various casseroles. Ha! If I even mentioned that, people would look at me like I'd lost my mind.

I want to be able to find normal items like celery or mozzarella cheese. I want to be able to buy chicken that doesn't have the nasty innards or neck attached to it. I want to buy boneless skinless chicken breasts that don't have junk attached to it that I have to cut off. (FYI, I haven't bought chicken since the first month I was here for these very reasons.) I want to buy milk that I will drink. Milk here is in a box or carton and is warm on the shelves. You don't need to keep it cold until you open it. It has a very weird taste to me and is much more sour than milk at home. And milk is my favorite thing to drink. I want to be able to buy brown sugar. Nope. Unheard of here. I want to be able to find certain spices. How about Ramen, Mac and Cheese, peanut butter, or applesauce? Not even a thought here.

Then there's the whole problem of buying meat...is it kept in a freezer or cooler with a generator so that when the electricity doesn't work it still stays cold? If I ask for it, will the person actually put gloves on or change their gloves before they package it for me? Is the plastic shopping bag they put it in clean? Plus, if I want a certain cut, I don't know how to ask for it and they don't know how to explain it to me. I basically buy ground beef once in a while or I live on pizza, pasta, or soup. This is quite a change for a girl who's not a picky eater and therefore doesn't usually need to put much thought into a grocery list.

All of this went through my mind as I was just trying to make a simple grocery list. Then I started thinking about how cold it is in our church and at our apartment. I want to be someplace where the temperature inside is warmer than outside instead of our apartment being colder than outside. I want to be in a home that has central heating instead of having to use an electric heater to heat whatever room I'm in, one room at a time.

Then, after Activity Night, a nice long phone chat with my friend Sabrina, some fun facebook messages from other friends, a great church service today where we had one of our students attend for the first time (yay!), after saying a few prayers about a much needed attitude adjustment (aka a swift kick in the pants), and after our 7th sunny day in a row, those prayers have been answered. I'm no longer a cranky pants. The regular old Katie is baaa-aaack! :)

Now I'm am wanting it to be tomorrow so our friend Andrea will be here with her fun-loving self and some goodies from home. I'm wanting to do laundry and get packed for Athens. I'm wanting to start looking at hostels in Rome since I bought tickets to go there at the beginning of April when my friend Beth comes to visit. Today, after an uneasy yesterday, I'm wishing that everyone could have this experience. I'm hoping that Andrea will love it while she's here. I'm thinking that I couldn't be luckier or more blessed. And I'm praying that God continues to send me these kinds of reminders when I need them and I'm thanking him for everyone at home who lifts my spirits without even knowing it. :)