International.

Ever since I was a teenager, I loved to get out and about. I loved to be socialising or roaming around the neighbourhood, swimming in the river or hanging out at the park.

And as I've got older that love of exploring and adventuring has just grown stronger.

I love exploring. I love being outside of my homeland and being exposed to culture, tradition, diversity in lifestyle, new foods, languages, climate and communities. It has been a very special thing to have a life partner who values these things too. We are very intentional about our lifestyle. We choose not to work full time so we have the opportunity to invest in others things, such as learning how to grow our own food, or for me to explore my creativity with my handicrafts or take the time to give from my own education to tutor local kids who need help, or for Ben to busk as a Living Statue or to work as a gardener to help others.

One of the girls I tutor said to me that I must be really rich to be able to travel... And, from a global perspective of the poor I am a very rich person - rich in education, opportunity, choices and money. But I told her that I make the choice to save to go overseas. I don't go shopping and buy new things, and that money we save enables us to travel. Saving a little bit every week adds up. As does the support of those who choose to invest in my handmade items. My opportunities exist due to my participation in a community of support, encouragement and opportunities.

I want to be able to look back on my life when I'm older and see that I lived out my values and had the courage to turn dreams into reality. I love that my heart is for community, to engage with others and to serve and support, and to share what I have. I don't want to be rich, but to be rich in life and love. I adore that I tutor Somali children in English and that I spend time sharing in their worlds. I love that I study textiles - pushing myself to extend my abilities, my technical knowledge and the discipline to learn and achieve more. I value that I serve in a faith community, to give what I can to work together with common-hearted people for God.

My life is far from perfect, and there are challenges we face all the time. When I write from my heart I don't want it to give the perception that I have it easy or it's perfect. I don't always talk about the challenges here but they are there, just as light and dark exist side by side, my heart's desire to be all that I was created to be is held in tension with my flawed humanity. But, I know that when I celebrate the gifts, the strengths, the joys, the wins, the achievements, the faith - those are the moments I know I am rich, I am blessed, I am called and I am taking a step of faith each day.

I feel like I have been filled with skills and knowledge, gifts and abilities, faith and love and I want to sew these treasures into others. I want to be courageous to take risks that enable me to grow - to study, to travel, to ask, to give, to try, and to not give up when the going gets tough.

The sun rises again and again, and we have the opportunity to seize the day.

Thank you for travelling this journey with me, for taking the time to invest in me and share in my world. It is the friends, the moments, the opportunities taken, the joys celebrated that make us rich.