Alps, alps and friends

Hey!

Its been forever since I've written...sorry...but I have a good excuse!

SO much has been going on!

I finished school, had an art exhibition, made necklaces for a bazar,

and we finally know the dates we're going to the States (Aug.-Nov.)

Right now my family is in a mountain hut, 1500m off of sea level! Phew! That's high!

The highest I've ever lived was 1000m. It is beautiful up here.

The sun is shining and the sky is the clearest cerulean blue there is.

The colors of the mountains here are different from any I've ever seen: Purple, ocker, and hooker's green, so different from the familiar Alps of Austria.

Staying with us in this beautiful setting, are our friends from Blacksburg.

It is so wonderful to see them again, although I keep catching myself thinking,"Isn't it wonderful to be in the States again and see all our friends again?!" Since we usually only see them in the States, every two years.

Oh well!

I will try to update my blog more frequently, now that school is done,

though I'm not sure there IS anyone out there really reading this...

I will write anyway, since the fun is in the writing, not the knowing there are people reading my peculiar thoughts... :D

Have a wonderful summer, you invisible readers who might even not exist!

Yours sincerely,

Tessa

Heaven

Going to heaven. I wonder what its like.

Heaven. Its a beautiful word. Full of joy, love, color. When I imagine Heaven, I see blue, and gold, and soft pastels. I hear the wind, rustling the leaves. A child's laughter. An artist's paintbrush. The fingers of musicians stroking keys.

I see light. Always light. And I feel home. And God is there. His presence fills everything, every corner with an unspeakable joy. It radiates like the sun, but it does not hurt the eyes.

Spunky is in heaven now. Opa Raine too. I see them, sitting beneath a tree, listening to the angels sing, a brooke gurgling in the back round. Spunky is jumping through the grass the way she used to when the sun shone.

They are happy. They have no pain anymore. Spunky's fur is sleek, and she is young again. Opa Raine's hip is not hurting, and all the aches of his body have fled. I see them there. They are happy, filled with joy at being home. God is there. The angels are there. They are all waiting for me. Spunky is waiting for me.

One day, not yet, I will go to them, I will hold Spunky in my arms once more, and tell her what a good girl she is. I will hug Opa Raine and tell him I'm glad to see him. My parents and brothers will be there as well. We will all be reunited, we will be a family, we will be whole.

And I will see Jesus, and everything will be alright again.

Camp, SHARE, MKs, and art contests

I haven't posted anything in AGES!!!....so sorry.

It's not like nothing has happened in my life lately, I've actually been swamped with events that have totally upheaved my emotional balance!

Here's a run down of them all:

1. I went to vacation camp with my brothers the beginning of February. It was ALL in FRENCH!

It was hard, and taxing too, since it was the first time I'd been away alone with out my parents, since moving to France. I was able to speak a little French though. My language skills are getting better. And I must say I am beginning to love the easygoing French culture more and more....but....well....France just isn't MY country yet.

2. End of February: Packing for SHARE!! That's the conference, in Hungary, we've gone to annually for the past 7 years. I was really looking forward to this trip, because SHARE is the only place there are teens JUST like me. Kids who live in a third culture, who have no true country because they share a little of all cultures.

Being at SHARE again was so good. Not only was it fun, but it was good for my soul. I had not realized up until that week HOW much I miss worshiping the Lord in my language. And how much I needed to talk to people my age who UNDERSTOOD. People who know what I'm going through everyday of my life.

Not that I'm complaining about my life! I love the life God has blessed me with. I love having lived in so many countries, but I can not deny that it is hard also. Living in so many different countries, knowing the best of all worlds...I can never be satisfied in one world. For different worlds they are: France, Austria, Germany...

Whenever I am in one country I long for another. My heart is never at peace. I have no home, no roots. Only in God can I find comfort and a home that will NEVER change.

Only other Third Culture Kids, and MKs (Missionary Kids) can understand. I have many friends from all over the world, and they all try to understand what I mean, when I say it is hard to be an MK. They all succeed to a certain extend. But I believe only another MK can understand what being a missionary really means.

Its not just adventures and cultures and leading people to Christ, like some believe. Being an MK also means to never be at peace until we reach the heavenly home of our Maker.

This is so complicated what I am trying to explain here. And a little contradictory too. Because, yes, being an MK is hard, but at the same time, yes, it is the best thing that can happen to you! Because, being an MK, you learn what the true meaning of Home really is: JESUS.

3. My painting made it to the final round of the 2010 HSLDA Art Contest!!

The final ruling will be in April.......who knows.......

Oil painting

I started oil painting two days ago! It is really fun, I still like watercolor better, but maybe only because I know how to use it more.

I would love to display some of my art on my blog, but I don't know how!

Anyway, right now I'm working on a painting of my siblings and me in a canoe on the lake where our family own a lake house. Its going to be kind of impressionistic. The main focus is the water behind the canoe and the many shades of green and the ripples that create shapes. I hope it turns out!

The hard part is going to be us kids. I'm not trying to paint us so you can tell who it is, but I want people to be able to tell that they are children....drawing people is okay, but painting people, especially in oil is hard.....

well, lets see how it turns out!

The Purpose of life

THE PURPOSE OF LIFE, is it to love? Is it to fulfill your dreams? Is it to have a successful career or a family?

What is the purpose of life? Why do I live, what do I live for?

I am very much a person that needs a purpose, a reason for breathing and going on, day after day. Sometimes, my reason, my drive to live, has been to paint and fulfill my dream of being an artist. Sometimes I've felt that my purpose in life is to someday be a wife and mother.

All of these things are dreams I yearn for. Yet, in the end, they are meaningless.

What good is fame, when I am going to die and leave it behind anyway? What good is living for love when human love is such a fickle thing. What good is living when we are all just going to die and "wither away, like the flowers of the field"?

What good is life?

I have found, in my short sixteen years of living, that there is only one answer to the dilemma above: JESUS.

With Him there is a purpose to life! With him there is joy, with him is color and hope and life.

It is so true.

Just now I was working on my newest painting, and while I was working, a sort of despondency came over me: Why did I even bother with it!? Why paint a picture and put so much thought and worry in it, when I will die someday and it will fade away and be forgotten?

Perhaps this is a little dramatic, but the thought is a valid one. Why bother doing something when it will just be forgotten or thrown away anyway?

Then my eyes fell on the bible laying on my bed, and I knew the answer: Jesus.

The bible says that we are made to glorify God.

That is the one and only answer to all my questions above. We live, we breathe, we work and sweat to glorify God. That is why I should keep on painting, not do glorify myself, or gain fame and renown, no. But to glorify God, to worship Him in my own way.

We toil away on earth, struggle with sin and temptations, yet one day it will all be worth it! Because one day we will see Jesus face to face, and when we gaze into His face, all our worry, all our grief and trouble will fall away and we will truly be at peace. For eternity.