My loyalties

So, I've been realizing lately how fiercely loyal I am. Once you have been an integral part of my life, I will love you forever. This sounds like a great quality, and I'm sure that it is. But it also means I hold on to things and don't let them go after everyone else involved has. Can't tell you how many times I've tried to relive things or reconnect with people who think I'm crazy that I still care. But you know what, I'm gonna choose to look at this part of my personality as a good thing. So, I'm gonna give a shout out to all the things and people I am fiercely loyal too. Here goes:

Well, gotta start with my family. Anyone who is a part my family, whether blood or adopted...I love you. I love the way we share a hometown that most of us have never lived in. I love that we have regular family reunions. I love that I played Star Wars with my cousins in the treehouse. I love that my parents and aunts and uncles pray for our generation everytime they get together. In a nutshell...I love you!

Then there are the people I grew up with in Mexico and Jamaica from both church and school. We've had good times and bad.... But I gotta say, I actually thank God for facebook for being able to reconnect with so many friends from back in the d-a-y. I'll always feel connected to the people I learned to read with, the ones I played on the playground with, even the ones who always picked me last to be on their team in PE. And the ones who loved NKOTB with me. Man, I miss you guys!!!

At 13, I started working at Camp Troutburg...Wow, I could go on for hours about the great memories and friendships I have from there. Great nights of laying at the fork in the road watching the stars, great musicals like Antsy-Antsy-Antsylvania. Quick trips to Brockport and water wars in the middle of the night....I mean, in the middle of the day (in case Aunt Grace reads this :-) I love my Troutburg gang. I miss you to pieces!

College - The best days of my life! I lived on the same floor of the same dorm for 3 of the 4 years I was there. Miner Penthouse RULES and I'm so grateful for the ladies I lived with there (and even those I lived with on the 3rd floor that one year). Roberts was also the place where I had more good friends that were guys than any other time in my life. Sometimes I feel like I was a different person there than I ever have been since. All I know is I experienced snow there first, it was my first few years of living in the US and I have incredibly friends who helped me thru that transition. I don't get to see you guys often enough.

CHICAGO
Well, I've got to start with OBT - the best church you have ever heard of. Man, I really miss that family. I cannot even begin to express the fun, the growth, the worship, the love I have experienced there. If you are or have ever been a part of OBT, you are a part of me. I will always hold you close to my heart and consider you a part of my family.
The Ladybug House - you girls are my sisters! Thru thick and thin, I will always stand by you. We have been through it all together and somehow still manage to be friends today. I love you! Now, you know how I feel about nepotism, I think I made myself very clear :-) but if I allowed it, I would move heaven and earth for you because you are real sisters to me! I love you!
Wheaton friends - I'm so lucky to have made more friends even when I thought I didn't need them, cuz you turned out to be the only single friends I have left at home and I don't know where I'd be without you! I have had so much fun with you, I love that we still get each other!
CBLI - after so many years of being on CBLI staff that I can't even keep track of the number, words cannot express...

Then there is BFA...11 years ago I showed up here in Kandern and lived with 30 teenage girls, 4 other staff members, and one dorm brother. See, if you live in a building with me...then that makes you family. So, my Haus 1 fam, you cannot get rid of me. You may try, but I'm not letting you go. I will always care for and about you. I will always be there for you. You have brought me such joy!
Now I'm back at BFA and my BFA family just keeps getting bigger and bigger. I get to add to it a long list of Spanish students, class of 2011 students, small group girls, HBR guys and staff members to whom I am fiercely loyal. I have the pictures to prove it. (OK, now that just sounds creepy, doesn't it :-)

Have I mentioned Urbana Missions Conference, Bible Study Fellowship, the many short term missions teams, etc.? (Actually I do have to give a special shout out to my Ecuador SMTeam. They are the best missions team ever and I was so blessed to be a part of it. That trip is beyond words...I love you guys!" Eres tu la unica razon!)

If you're actually still reading this, I'm guessing you fit somewhere on this list. Even if I didn't mention your category specifically, I think you get the picture. YOU ARE SPECIAL TO ME. I LOVE YOU VERY MUCH AND I'M HERE TO STAY. Hope you can handle that.

Loyally yours,

Viki