The year is coming to completion for Shannon and she had learned much. She realizes that often life can be the most fun while dreaming of adventures, but not necessarily experiencing them.

   What Shannon clearly does understand, is that she has too many other feelings rising to the surface.  Above all, she feels she has to be honest with herself.   Maybe she hadn't been ready for the mission field. Maybe during a different time, she would have been able to feel the same joy   that Moriah seems to be experiencing.

   She had gone to the mission field, not because she had been drawn to it, but because she was drawing herself away from any closeness that Stan may have been feeling towards her.

   The year is finally through!  Shannon is coming home.  And the very thing that she had run away from …is now drawing her close.  She misses her family so much!   But her feelings had done a complete turnabout with Stan.   She is no longer afraid ...and she misses him too.

   She is eager to explore the adventures of her heart through courtship. She hadn't tried to nourish the thought, but the more the thought crosses her mind, the more it begins to settle in with quiet contentment, towards commitment.   She wants to settle down.   And she wants to settle down with someone she can love …and who will love her.   Stan had already announced both his feelings and his intentions.   And Shannon feels she is ready to meet him on those terms.