Matthew 6:25

So I think I'm going to make a separate blog to write about Vietnam. Everyone has been telling me to blog--friends, distant relatives, even my professors (especially my professors actually). So that's what's going to happen. I want this to be my own and the other one can be for the world. It can be cutesy and have pictures and a little blurb about what's going on but this is the space where I'm just going to say what I have to say. I know I won't be as open and honest if I use the same blog to check in with everyone at home as I do to share what's on my heart and run my mouth.

I have finally started packing. I hate packing. A lot. I feel like I haven't packed anything extra and my suitcase is already full. Knowing that I will have to carry this all with me not just as a physical burden but also as a reminder of how tied I am to material things and how even international cultural expectations won't let me escape them. I decided that I need to leave my regular Bible home and bring one that travels better. It still bothers me that I am going to be leaving my usual Bible behind and using this different one. God's word is the same in both of them, but I have a history with this Bible. The back cover is probably going to fall off, my 4th grade Sunday school teacher's and pastor's signatures are on the front page, and the inside is full of my little notes and underlines verses. I'm contradicting myself--I don't want to be tied down to material possession yet I don't want to leave this specific Bible behind. I'm so silly, I crack myself up sometimes.