I'm off on on an adventure to Oz, but I'll still miss Kansas!

Get a hold of yourself, Erin. It's just a month. Yes, despite the exuberance yall have seen me express on here, I am somewhat sad to leave home. I'll be missing a large chunk of the Southern summers  I have long enjoyed, and most of all, missing my family and friends. I visited most of them yesterday to say my goodbyes, and I acted like I was  going to be gone for years! (And believe me, that same kind of mentality goes into my packing! Woo-weee, is that one big suitcase I have! I'm gonna be knocking everyone on the sidewalks down when I'm rolling that thing!) One thing you have to know about my family: we are EXTREMELY tight knit. Inseperable. Exceptionally interdependent. I cried with Mom and Dad, I cried with both my grandmas, and cried all the way home from both their houses, worrying to death about every little thing, and almost feeling like I was betraying my family for leaving them! I know, I know. Melodramatic. That word summarizes the whole of my emotions.

But, as I was crying and worrying, the words of a very wise woman came to my mind. Two women, in fact. The first was  my dear aunt, who had reminded me earlier today of Whose hands I am in. The Lord God's. And nothing will happen to me that is outside His plan. His hand will be beneath that airplane going all the way across the Atlantic, His hand will be shielding those I love from  harm while I am away, His hand will be holding mine as I enter a brand new  corner of the world, far from everything that is familiar. I have nothing to fear. Secondly, during my crying spell, the verse that a dear lady in Sunday school had shared earlier that day came to mind. Isaiah 50:7-"For the Lord God will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed." No matter the "what ifs" that flood my worries, I have  to predetermine to set my face like stone in God's direction at the beginning of every day. I have to keep my eyes toward Who is in control of it all.

After meditating on these thoughts, I cheered up significantly (but that's not the end of my crying, I don't think. I still have the airport goodbye to go through with my parents, sister, and boyfriend!) To help me even further, I took one last trip to the  supreme grandeur of Southernness: Bojangles. Hello, Cajun filet biscuit and sweet tea! I also made a list about  the comforts of home for extreme cases of missness to keep in my England notebook. At the top of this list was a quotation of my quirky, spunky, Southern Belle of a Grandma who told me this as I was leaving today: "I've never been on an airplane  before, but if anyone messes with my baby over there,  they'll have to deal with me! I'll hunt them down like a bloodhound and a half! I'd swim if I had to!" Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.