A Start

I really ought to be gettin to bed, but I just have to give a wee post about this evening.

(Tomorrow or next I'll give into the past couple days of fun)

I've just got home from a "night in" with my friend Naomi. No, she's not someone I met this past week in orientation, she's a real life friend.

How did we happen?

Once upon a time, my buddy Kyle went to a school in Ecuador. His first grade teacher was a missionary by the surname Deering from Northern Ireland. Then, years go by and Kyle attends John Brown University, later to accompany a group of Family and Human Service Majors (and one minor) to Northern Ireland for a month, where he reconnects with his teacher.

On the Sunday he was to have lunch with them, he took me along. At the Deering home, I met Naomi, their daughter. Post this event, I added Naomi on Facebook only to never become accepted. :(

A year goes by.

Then, I get a facebook message out of the wild from Naomi, saying she'd seen something on Kyle's wall to suggest that I was to be in Belfast over Christmas (no idea what she saw) and that if I were to be here in September, she'd love to show me about.

This was in May, and I fully expected nothing to come of it. However, we continued to chat over the summer and, finally, hung out for the second in-person time ever. And, it should be noted, that she gave me my first hug since getting to NI . If you know me, you know that's an unreasonably long time to go without.

She picked me up, we went over to her auntie and uncle's, and drank tea, watched tv, and chatted. It was just very lovely and felt so normal, like we'd been friends all along.

I am so thankful.

What's funny, too, is that I've taken to introducing myself here as Ruth. No reason in particular except that I've always really liked my middle name. That makes us Ruth and Naomi.

This isn't my land or my people. We share a common God, but that's about all. Thus far, though, I feel like the biblical Ruth did toward Naomi. She had no one left but her, and she was willing to trust that following Naomi was worth her trust.

Knowing that there's someone in this country that cares about me personally changes things for me. I have someone to show me what's what, bake with me, watch stupid american sitcoms with me, eat pumpkin, and live life alongside.

Sound like I'm being a little far-fetched for a first date? Obviously, you've never been desperate for a friend. Furthermore, our friendship is also a little far-fetched, which leads me to believe--similar to my being here in the first place--that God's got a handle behind it.