Like a.. roller coaster?

I. Love. Roller coasters. The whole idea of getting to a theme park nice and early and waiting in a long line for that one ride that you’ve heard is literally THE best ride in the park. Hearing stories of how fast and scary it is, just waiting in anticipation until you’re at the front of the line and are about to get on all while freaking out. You finally get on, are all buckled up, and as the ride starts to “tick-tick-tick-tick-tick” up an extremely steep hill you look side to side and think to yourself, “I'm literally about to die and these people next to me are the last people I’m ever going to see…o.m.g.,” but none of that comes out of your mouth because your just freaking out as you get closer and closer to the top, until finally your somewhat parallel to the ground again and you know the drop is about to come. Although you’re completely terrified you remember you chose to get on the ride in the first place because you heard how much fun and awesome it was and you couldn’t back out now obviously. Finally you drop over the side of the roller coaster and go through a million twists and turns for about 30 seconds, but when you get off the ride you have a sense of accomplishment that you actually did it and Lived!!! (: You get to go and get hugs from your friends while they all say, “I told you it was awesome!!!,” and you're so glad you rode it because if you hadn’t of, man, you would have regretted it.

You’re probably reading this and thinking, “Chloe… what does this have to do with anything? I understand how a roller coaster works… what?”  The reason I wrote about this is because it seemed like the perfect way to describe this move. My family has been waiting 365 days to move to Africa and were almost at the top of the roller coaster, holding on for dear life yet so unbelievable excited. The actual ride of the roller coaster is so much fun and that’s the “easier” part, but were not quite there yet. Of coarse there are going to be lots of ups, downs, twists, and turns, but its all part of the ride, right? It’s all part of the ride/journey that you chose to go on/take. This adventure that I’m about to go on is going to be one for the books, that’s for sure, but I've been waiting in anticipation for 358 days and I'm ready for the drop! This is going to be one of THE coolest experiences of my life and I seriously can not wait. Let go alreadyyyyyyy!!!

Only 16 days??

Wow. We're seriously moving in 16 days. Last time I posted or "blogged" (my first post) we were 137 days out, but now just 16. Its crazy how time flies.(I apologize that I haven't blogged in a while, but I didn't feel I had anything important to say.) 

Anyways, I guess I need to back track a little bit. First off, it is the LAST WEEK OF SCHOOL!!! Summer is just around the corner (along with the move) and I gotta say, i'm pumped. Yes, i'm going to miss Milton High School and everyone in it, Cirque, etc., but everyone is ready for summer when it comes around. These next 2 weeks are going to be great. They're filled with celebration for Spencer's graduation/18th birthday and my sweet 16 with our friends and family. I'm so glad were gonna have a great coupe weeks because the move IS coming up. 

So last time I wrote I talked about how I felt about the move and My perspective, but over the past couple of months it has changed a little bit. Before I wasn't "excited" about moving, but now i'm proud to say I really am excited. First off, I have 3 little brothers and 2 little sisters I get to meet when I get there and I seriously can't wait. (: Im also really looking forward to my new school, Waterford, which i'll be attending starting June 6th. Its year around schooling (January-December) so i'll be jumping half way into 10th grade (other wise known at "form 4" there I believe). I get the months of April, August, & December off, so I guess thats cool. Oh, and Wednesdays are half days so thats awesome. I've started talking to some of the students that go there through Facebook and they seem really cool. 

Next, I'm excited for the 4 wheelers, our house, the water fall, getting PUPPIES, my pet ostrich, being able to play with the babies, playing guitar out on the patio, staying in a house instead of a hotel room for a whole summer, meeting new people etc etc etc. It's gonna be amazing. I've kind of readjusted to this whole move. Going all in and not against it (not that I was against it before) is making it just seem so much better and is making everyone at peace with it. 

We moved here to Atlanta Georgia 5 1/2 years ago and i've made so many great memories & incredible friends that I hope to stay friends with for a long time, but i'm ready for a change. Moving WITH my parents isn't too "hard" because I don't necessarily have a choice, but if I were in their position of having a choice, I gotta say it would haveI been a whole lot harder. I'm so proud of them for actually stepping up and following what God has asked them to do with their lives because if they hadn't of been obedient little Joshua and the gang might not of been alive today, many people's lives wouldn't have been changed, and I wouldn't have been the person I am today. I hope that one day i'll shine even a flicker of the light they do every day, and that I have the strength and courage to do what God asks of me. 

Even though at this moment everything is going pretty well, I know it's going to get harder so prayers would be awesome. I am so ready to move. 16 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

137 days...

As many people know, my family is moving to Africa this year in May. People ask me questions daily ranging from, "How do you feel about the move?"  to "Where will you be going to school?" to just straight up, "Why?"  This blog is kinda gonna be a place where I can answer those questions and also just say day to day how I'm feeling about the move. Things I'm excited for and things I'm nervous about. 

When my parents told me that we were moving to Africa it didn't seem that bad. I was actually pretty cool with it, and then they said it was going to be in a YEAR. Wait a second... so I'll be moving to Africa for my sophomore, junior, AND senior year of high school? The years that you're a teenager and are some pretty memorable years? I was okay with it, but it seemed pretty far away, so I kinda put it out of my mind for a little while.  

After that conversation it felt like every time I would think about absolutely anything, it seemed related to moving to Africa.  For example, did they have "prom" in Africa? Thinking about prom led me to, where would I be going to high school??? Would I be home schooled? I was starting to get a little freaked out. What teenager wouldn't be a little freaked out? All of your friends say, "Wow! You're so lucky! I wish I could move to Africa!" I would say that too if one of my friends was moving somewhere cool, but then it's me whose the one moving, and it doesn't seem as cool as it seemed when it was someone else. Of course I knew it was going to be an amazing experience, and that I’d look back on it and think it was incredible, but at the time all I was thinking about was my friends, theatre, school, prom, my cell phone, and my straightener, priorities.  

The end of 8th grade is when my parents told me about the move, and that summer I was going on a church retreat called, "The Walk" with North Point. Leading up to "The Walk" I had really been praying the God would tell ME that we were supposed to move, just confirm it. What if my parents had heard wrong and they were actually supposed to wait until I got out of high school??? Or, what if they were supposed to move and I was supposed to stay in Georgia? I was waiting for God to tell me personally, not just tell my parents. Well, I got what I asked for, confirmation. It was the last day of the retreat (The Walk) and we were in morning session. Truthfully, I don't even remember what the speaker was saying, but I felt like he was talking straight to me. No, it wasn't even really him talking straight to me, I felt like God was talking straight to me, but through this speaker. I realized that there was more to life then just my little "1st world problems." I was being selfish. I knew in that moment that we were supposed to move, and I was at peace with it.  That was the first time I've ever felt like God was talking to me, and it was pretty cool. 

It's been 7 months since I heard that now and I'll admit, I still have those bad days where I go back into the "1st world problems" of what about my friends, cell phone and straightener, but I have to remind myself that He has it all under control.  (:  He knows what I think are some "priorities," and has been so amazing with giving me little, what I like to call, "God Kisses." 

He provided me with a friend, Bailey Klee, who will be moving with us and going to school with me, a cell phone that will actually work in Swaziland, AND a straightener that had duel voltage (so it'll work in Africa.)  He's got it all under control. 137 days to go, and I’m ready.