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Saturday, June 11, 2011

A new week begins tomorrow

I was blessed to be able to attend the In the Image of The Maker retreat this weekend.  It was great!
I met so many lovely ladies...godly ladies, who shared their stories...their hearts.  
It was such a gift.
It was needed to springboard me into the coming week.  
Twice a year, my employer conducts national sales meetings. As one of the corporate educators, I'm involved in educating at these meetings. Needless to say, they are stressful. I'd much prefer to be at home taking silly pictures and splashing in puddles with my little one.
But, this retreat fed me in a way that many things do not.  It has helped to ground me in The One who can get me through this next week. The fact that the retreat was this weekend was beautiful. 
Only He could arrange something so perfect.

Tomorrow morning, I will board a plane and head back to Texas.  Once I arrive, I will get my expenses ready to turn in on Monday and I will take a Theology mid-term.  I will get to see my husband and my little one. 
And then, things will start moving really fast. (they will probably start moving fast around the time I hit "start" on my mid-term, but that's a whole different story...) 
When things get too fast, I will make an effort to slow down and recognize the gifts that He gives me each moment.  
If {when} things get too crazy, I will remember to fight feeling with feeling.
I will remember that for right now, my crazy work provides money for schooling for the hubs and myself...it provides food and shelter for our little family and helps to provide for our 3 Compassion kids.  Yep - over the weekend our Compassion kids went from 1 to 3.  Listening to Ann share about her experience in Guatemala was quite moving.  I love that when you sponsor a child with Compassion, you aren't just helping to provide food, shelter and education, but you are helping them to hear about Jesus' love.  I want the little one to grow up writing and praying for the kids we sponsor. 
Friday night, when I saw the cards of 2 little boys just a couple of years older than my little one, I couldn't help but pick them up...Today, we sponsored them and I tucked their cards inside my Bible to carry home. I can't wait to write them! If you haven't sponsored a child with Compassion, you should go read Ann's story...and Kristen's story...and then, help a child out of poverty. 
Speaking of Kristen - she and her family were scheduled to leave today for Africa...for The Mercy House.  But, due to some unexpected health issues for Kristen, they were not able to leave.  Please keep them in your prayers.

Friday, June 10, 2011

tonight

Tonight I am in North Carolina at a retreat hosted by Christa Wells, Nicole Witt and Ann Voskamp. I'm pretty excited about being here - even if I did come to the retreat all by myself!
I'm also excited that I was able to see my little sister Jenia last night and that we will be able to sneak in a little shopping tomorrow night before I head back home.
The trees here in North Carolina are REALLY tall. I like it. It seems to make the nighttime animal noises just that much cooler. That, or I'm crazy. Either options are totally plausible.
I so enjoyed getting to hear Ann speak...she is such an encourager, and I love that! I realized tonight that she is pretty much my virtual mentor - if that is even possible... :)
And the music session tonight with Christa and Nicole was great. They are both blessed with some pretty amazing talents. It was such fun to be in the room and sing along all of the awesome ladies who were able to come to the retreat.
I know that tomorrow is going to be even better!

Thankful for:
encouraging words (505)
praise songs (506)
tall {really tall} trees (507)
crickets and bullfrogs at night (508)
junebugs (509)
the way the moon sneaks through the trees (510)
fellowship with Godly women (511)
My "tart and sweet Island treat" from Trader Joes - Green Mango (512)
The USB plug that charges my iPhone in my attention grabbing rental. (513)
The obvious reminder from God to not speed - a bright red mustang as a rental. (I reserved a compact car, but there weren't any clean ones readily available, so the kind young man was excited to upgrade me to the mustang. I smiled and said thank you, while I cringed inside.) (514)
The mere fact that I have finally recorded more than 500 gifts - Obviously, I'm still learning to recognize and write them down... (515)