Dark Chocolate.

My life feels like dark chocolate.

While that may sound weird at first, let me explain.

This past week has been an overwhelming mixture of joy, tears, relief, disappointment, laughter, anxiety, fatigue, and disbelief.

On Thursday, I found out my family's arrival was delayed until Sunday due to the ash cloud spanning the Tasman. I was incredibly disappointed. I spent my day moping a bit and studying for finals.

On Friday, I took my second final: Classical Tragedy through Mythology. I was rather glad to be finished with that one.

On Saturday, I took my Inorganic Chemistry final. It was an immense relief to be finished with that.

After my exam, Saturday brought me to tears. I am not sure whether they were tears of joy or of sadness. Most likely both. My mother called me from Sydney to deliver the news that they will not be able to arrive until Tuesday due to the ash cloud. Four days after their planned arrival. Just as I was absorbing this difficult information, the phone was given to someone else in Sydney. Someone I thought was on the other side of the ocean spending time in Minnesota playing frisbee golf.

My boyfriend Justin is in Sydney with them. Even now, I can scarcely wrap my head around all of the planning and white lies that were put into making his arrival a surprise and had the ash cloud not gotten in the way (quite literally), I think the airport would have experienced an incredible amount of screams and tears when I saw him.

While it is truly unfortunate that the Lucht family + Justin are marooned in Australia, I have grown to recognize that there are also some positive aspects of this situation. I have been able to study for my last exam without distraction. They have been able to spend a few days in the lively city of Sydney seeing incredibly architecture, tasting great food, and experiencing Australia. I have time to pack and get all of my things together before they arrive. They will have recovered from jet lag by the time they get to me.

During church this morning, the pastor spoke about hope. He spoke about the importance of it in our Christian lives, especially when we face disappointment.

In the stressful events of the past few days, God has been showing me just that: in the difficult things of life, there is always hope.

In those things that seem too bitter, there is still sweetness.

It's like dark chocolate.