the land of sweeping plains

(rock climbing in thailand...james asked for a picture :) i'm the speck on the right somewhere...almost at the top!)

home. screens around me blare with local news. i recognise the presenter as an amateur brisbane actor . small world.
my eyes play tricks, trying to convince me that the world is even smaller, picking out faces and telling me i know them: 'it's jenny from um...and look, carolin has flown over from germany!'.
i'd like to believe that yes, this is home, and yes, the world is tiny...and yet i know my home is elsewhere, with the One who holds our tiny universe in the palms of sin-scarred hands.
- written in sydney airport while waiting for my final flight to brisbane

yep. i'm home. i can't explain the feeling. i'm tired from too much excitement, yet intrigued enough to continue. i feel i know far more about the world, and yet i realise how little i understand. i have seen how beautiful God's creation is, and i have seen the ugly stains of man everywhere. i want to run outside and see more, and i want to lock myself in my room and never leave. the world is scary but serene, beautiful but intensely ugly. australia is home, but, as i've always known, not forever.
i could write forever on my philosophies of traveling and what this trip has done to me (and i probably will), but for now i will focus on home.
home is wonderful. the temperature is just perfect. mum cooks us a 'favourite' meal every night, from lasagne (of which italy has nothing on) to 'french' toast with tomato sauce or nanna's homemade chutney. i've seen what friends care to see me and heard from loved ones and overseas friends who are now a million miles away.
just now i've sorted through all of my Florida photos and chosen those ones i want to print. just that was an emotional experience - realising how blessed i have been and praising God for all of my CCH and ULC friends...and of course the housemates :)
my two best friends took the day off of work to pick me up at the airport, and then we hung around before a surprise party that nishan and jordan had planned for anisia and i. despite one hour's sleep (or perhaps that was a beneficial thing) i had a hyperactive night with lots of fun and hugs from missed friends.
it has only been a week today since i've gotten back. my bedroom is finally made up again, with MY stuff (Jordan went to extra lengths to make it 'alive' for me, with old photos everywhere, my 'BaaBaa' blanket and flowers :) and i've just finished unpacking. to be honest, i don't know what to do with myself. i feel like i've just been dumped by some wave in the king tides and have ended up on the beach, quite safely, trying to figure out what just happened.
my room feels about 10 years younger than me (and looks it!), because I have grown but it's frozen in time. jordan and i cannot begin renting a house yet, so we wait until closer to the 11th of june to look. because we have no house we cannot buy furniture, so we are just waiting. just waiting to spend forever together. this has been the biggest and best bit about being home. spending time with jordan. we are both so glad we don't have to play the overseas game anymore.
i guess i will keep posting on here, even though we're done with travelling. mum and rikki have proven to me how wonderful it is to 'see' one another's lives. for those of you who are interested, rikki posted caleb's euology on his and kristin's blog. it's beautiful.
i hope to hear from you all soon...now that i'm home, in australia, it is hitting me that all our lovely overseas places are a long way away...fie our island! no, never. i love this island home...come visit :)