Too cold outside for angels to fly

It's the first real snowstorm of the season.

By that, I mean that the snow is sticking to the roads and to the grass and everything looks magical. It also means that I curled up with some good music and cocoa today.

An anonymous someone scraped the windows of my car early this morning. I don't know who, but--thank you to the void. It made my morning.

Today at work my supervisor said, "Megan, you should leave early so you can get home before the weather gets too bad." I'm grateful for his thoughtfulness.

I'm also grateful that most people were driving carefully today.

I accidentally grabbed Vanilla yogurt instead of plain yogurt at the store the other day. I only found out at breakfast this morning. I am okay with this.

The Toll House Cookie Dough package has a sign in bold letters that says, "DO NOT CONSUME RAW COOKIE DOUGH." Umm, just going to conveniently avoid that warning . . .

We're putting up Christmas decorations (and by that, I mean Becky is putting together the Christmas tree) while watching Miracle on 34th Street. The old one, of course.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Five.

Five years ago exactly, on a Wednesday in late November--the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, in fact--my life changed forever.

I received a mission call to serve an LDS mission in Donetsk, Ukraine. I made the decision to serve after careful thought, consideration, and prayer. It was one of the hardest decisions I have ever made in my life. And serving that mission is still probably the hardest thing I've done in my life so far.

But it's also one of the most important. It set the trajectory for my future. That mission is holy to me, for it is one of those sacred spots of earth and time where I came to know Jesus.

I have written a lot about my mission on this blog and elsewhere. I guess it's true what they say. You can take the girl out of the mission, but you can't take the mission out of the girl.

But today, five years after receiving that call, I simply want to say that I am deeply humbled and deeply grateful.

Thanks be to God for knowing the faithscape of a nation and the landscape of the heart.

For knowing that I needed Ukraine. And that Ukraine--in some small way--needed me.

For allowing me to clumsily try to deliver His message of love to His children there.

For giving me more than I ever deserved.

For allowing me to love so much it hurt.

For showing me the beauty of the Russian language, the resiliance of the Ukrainian spirit, and the strength of Ukrainian women.

For giving me a bit of that resiliance and strength to carry home.

And thanks be to God that He is the healer of nations and of souls.

I haven't forgotten.

And I never will.

the days that follow so fast

I've been MIA for the past couple of weeks. Sorry, loyal readership. Sometimes life gets crazy.

But that doesn't mean that life doesn't happen. And that it's good, and sweet, and bitter, and confusing, and funny all at the same time.

I still have an Oxford graduation post coming up. But as a teaser, here's a picture:

[You may now call me Master Meg.]

What I've been doing about/thinking about the most: PhD applications. Because they are due v soon. Hopefully they'll be in by the end of this week. At least most of them. Sooo clooooose.

What I've realized: As I've been trying to clean up my Facebook account (as in, I have so many event invites and page invites that I never respond to), I realize that sometimes I am absolutely terrible at following up. For a girl who people so often praise as being "put-together" and "well-organized," I still have a lot to learn. I too often embody that absent-minded professor stereotype.

What I've been listening to: My playlist recently has been a mixture of Christmas music (and more Christmas music, and even more Christmas music), with Vienna Teng, "Wait for It," and "O mio Babbino Caro" played on repeat, depending on my mood. I'm in a weird music phase this month. One might even say v weird. I'm going to blame PhD applications.

What I've been reading: Hard to Be a God by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. It's this Russian science fiction novel that was written in 1964. It has this "Star Trek-esque" feel to it, and this Soviet scientist is sent to a world where this despot is killing all the literate people. It's super interesting and I'm looking forward to finding out what happens.

I've also been studying Ether 2-3 in depth. There's just something about the story of the Brother of Jared that speaks to me. There is something more to that story that I'm trying to uncover. Something about prayer, something about desire, something about faith, something about divine love. There's just so much. If anyone wants to talk to me about it, I'm very open to your insights.

A Random Fun Fact: My roommates are hilarious. I have laughed so much with these two good women.

In short, life is good and at the moment, life is simple. And I'm good with this.