The Valley Between Mountain Peaks.

We call trips like the mission trip I just returned from "Mountaintop Experiences". They are once in a lifetime experiences that we will never forget, or experience again. That's not to say that we won't have more Mountaintop Experiences in our lives, but none of them will be the same, nor will we learn the exact same things. On the last evening of the trip before going to bed, we warned the youth that returning from a tip like this can be difficult. We will no longer have our daily worship time, and we won't be around the people that we have grown to love on a daily basis. Life gets back to normal as we leave the emotional high of participating in this experience.
Life has gotten back to the daily routine for me as well. I'm struggling a little bit with it, but most of that has to do with everything that has happened since I have returned. I'm feeling very tired and drained right now, and not sure when I'm going to have time to recover fully. I'm also feeling a little bit lonely. I never realized before just how much company having my dog was for me. While I was away, my roommate moved out of our house, and since I gave away Sassy before I left I am now alone in my home. It's a struggle going from living with 22 other people in a very close setting and growing to love the fellowship, to coming home to a house with not a single living creature around. I keep trying to shut doors behind me so Sassy won't get out of the house, or leaving food out of the reach of her, but then I realize it's really just me right now.
I also decided while I was gone that I was definitely going to have to have a garage sale before the end of the month. Unfortunately that means that it has to be this Saturday, being as my next weekend is booked. I was planning on using this weekend to recover from my trip, but now I find myself tearing apart my house trying to figure out what to sell and what to keep in just a couple of days. As I type right now, I do so on the floor with my desktop lying next to me because I have pulled my desk out to my garage to sell this weekend. I really don't know how I'm going to manage to pull everything off, but I do have some amazing friends and I know that they will help me out in the end.
I also was indirectly forced to give my notice at work yesterday. When I returned from my trip I was asked if I would be interested in switching to a different territory at work. It would have been Loveland if the change could have been improved, which is the city I live in. It was a perfect fit, with the exception that I knew I would be leaving in a month and it wouldn't be fair for the company to switch me and then have me give my notice a week later. I sat down with my boss yesterday and let him know that I was going to be leaving. He was actually very cool about the whole thing and wished me luck. He did let me know I blindsided him a bit and was very grateful that I gave him more then two weeks notice. It feels very good not having to worry about when I'm going to give my notice, and having to walk around of egg shells at work to make sure I don't mention something I shouldn't. I really do hate having secrets like that.
I'm really feeling frustrated that I have not had much time to let you all know more about my experiences, but I really want to spend some time writing that out, and I have not had more then 10 minutes at a time lately. I'm starting to worry that if I wait much longer that I'm going to start forgetting things that happened on the trip and I don't want that to happen. I'm hoping that the garage sale goes well on Saturday and that I will have some time that evening to sit down and spend some time writing.
I'm just bidding my time now until I leave for what I hope is my next Mountaintop Experience at seminary. I know that there will be many valleys there, but overall I'm hoping for that type of experience in my studies. Thank you again for all your prayers for me and the youth. You are truly awesome friends.