Blessed!!!

Oh my goodness, my heart is so full with the love of Christ and the
way that He is loving me. I am so blessed. That's the flat out TRUTH
of the matter...God is GOOD...ALL the time!

Today I got up and went on a run with my roommate Hanna in the main
park in Madrid, and it was...to be honest, much harder than I thought!
But it was so good to be out running and challenging myself. Then we came
back and got ready, ate breakfast and checked out of the hotel! Now here comes the
interesting part...so imagine, 45 students...carrying all their luggage for
3 months...and keep in mind that the majority of the students are girls...now
we have 1 bus to get us and our luggage to Valladolid...you do the math!


so here the suitcases packed into the back of the bus, so much luggage! we were delayed for awhile trying to fit it all and figure it out...


so here is the solution, another van that our professors had to go and rent and drive behind the bus with a whole bunch of the luggage!

But after being delayed and about 2 1/2 hours on the bus we made it to Valladolid! And we pulled up to our stop and all of our "mamas" were waiting for us! We all got so excited and nervous all at the same time! So here begins the rest of our adventure! Our names were called and we stepped up to meet our Mama! :-) She is a single lady, 37 and so much fun...She's energetic, bubbly, full of life, hilarious...and I'm so excited about living here for a couple months! We are living in this cute little apartment in prime location in town! It is a block and a half from our closest friends on the trip...plus our "Mamas" are friends! We can walk to school, to downtown, to the river, to go shopping, to restaurants...and anywhere else we need to go the bus comes right by her house!


Hanna unpacking!


Our cute little room!


Fitting our stuff in the little closet! Yes we did it! With a spill over of jackets into another one, but yes you should be impressed!



and the door closes! ;)


our living/dinning room!

This afternoon we just took time to unpack and get settled, enjoyed talking with
our Mama, oh her name is Auxi!! She's so sweet and just a whole bunch of fun!
Then we had dinner, which was amazing, she also likes to cook! She is pretty to
easy to understand with her Spanish and I already feel like I'm learning so much.
I'm still a little nervous about class starting, but all is good and I'm ready to be
challenged and to learn! Auxi is very patient and wants us to learn all that we can.
It is a lot of fun, but funny because I always have to be thinking...which sounds funny, but in English you can zone and still follow something, but when speaking
Spanish I have to think more!

But by far the best part of my day, was tonight...when four of us girls...Me, Hanna (my roommate) Tiffany and Aubrea (who are roommates and live a block away!) went and got coffee...and this is the reason I feel so loved and full of Christ's love tonight. They bless my heart...we sat just talking for like 2 hours just about life, and what it means to love (we all have boyfriends and are at different stages) which is awesome because we're learning from each other! We prayed together...and we're going to study together and hold each other accountable. I have learned so much from each of them already and see Christ so evidently in them, and I am blessed to have such friends where there is an instant connection!

Well once again its late, but I wanted to share my heart as it is full and just so enjoying everything...keep praying, they are being answered!
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for lifting me up, I feel your prayers and God
is answering them in HUGE ways in my life!