to sum up an entire year...

...would be impossible. but, i am making an honest and zealous attempt to jump back into the blog world. i realize that people kinda wonder if i'm still alive when i don't tell them that i'm still alive. so i'm going to try and let you in on my world on a regular basis again.

so, in honor of my return, i gave the blog a face-lift. one reason for my long absence was that i really truly don't know what to say most of the time. everything feels heavy and very difficult to communicate. i feel like freetown has changed me- so much sometimes that it feels a bit misleading to still be called 'stephanie', you know? so while i'm not about to go through the hastle of a legal name-change, i thought it would be appropriate to rearrange my little corner of the WWW.

the poem that you now see at the top of my page is a relatively new favorite. i have kristina and ben to thank for it. they were members of my first servant team (could it really have been a YEAR ago???) and they gave me a letter with this poem before they left freetown. it was like rilke (and kristina) had read my soul. and each time i read the words, it resounds deeply in me. so i thought, why not name my page after it?

i am the dove outside. i hope that my won-back heart can be satisfied: free through all it has given up. my soul fills my chest differently now - heavier by the weight of where i have been...