Last time I wrote I was on my way to North Carolina for vacation, today I woke up to snow and it feels more like December than the middle of October!
My time on vacation was absolutely wonderful! We spent a lot of time driving around the Smokey Mountains, they were so beautiful! We even saw a mamma bear and four tiny little cubs alongside the road! The highlight of my trip was having three of my dear friends from Columbia come and visit me. Thanks Linda, Andrew and Julie, it was so great seeing you again! The four of us went to Grandfather Mountain, paid way too much to get in, but had a great time!When I returned from vacation it was to some not so great stuff happening at home. I can't really go into detail, but my family would still appreciate your prayers. We'll call it an "unspoken" prayer request, the Lord knows!
The good thing that happened when I got back was that I got a job! My doctor had approved me to go back to work, very part time. I shot an e-mail over to the church where I have worked off and on the past several years and wonder of wonders they found out about an opening the same day I sent my e-mail! I started working oh, maybe 3 or 4 weeks ago. It has been so wonderful to be back there. I'm not biased or anything, but it really is the best place in the world to work!
This year I am also trying something new...I am getting involved with AWANA this year. I am in the Cubbies room, which is the littlest kids and they are so adorable! The funny thing is, there is a bar in my town called Cubbies...the first night I went to help, dad couldn't figure out why I would want to go to the bar...wrong Cubbies dad! I love our kids, they are so stinkin' adorable. I have not had much experience working with kids so I figured it was time to learn!Last weekend we had our District Women's Retreat in beautiful Green Lake, WI. It was marvelous. Great speaker, great workshops, great friends... One thing that meant a lot to me was climbing Judson Tower. You may wonder why climbing a tower is such a big deal, but last year I could not do it. There was no way I could physically climb up there, I could hardly do the stairs between the different buildings. But this year, I made it all the way to the top! Sure, I had to stop several times on the way up, but I made it not only up the many steps to get to the tower, but up the 120-something steps in the tower. Praise the Lord!
So pretty much, life has been going really well for me. I am feeling so much better. I still have my days, especially with this crazy weather. I have realized that now that I am working the days I don't work I really need to rest. That makes it hard to do all of the things I had been doing. I have had to drop some things that I did not want to drop, but I need to be working and I trust that as I get more used to working, I'll be able to pick some of these things back up again.
The Lord is so good to me. As a church we have been going 3D...Deeper with God, Deeper with other Christ Followers and Deeper with those who don't know Him yet. Every 60 minutes we stop what we are doing and spend a moment with the Lord. How wonderful to connect with the Lord and go deeper with Him, after all, that's what life's all about!
Thank you so much for your prayers and encouragement. I hope you are doing well, I'd love to hear what's going on in your life and how I can pray for you. Enjoy fall if you have it, winter if you're getting it and those nice hot temps if you are blessed enough to live somewhere warm!
