Over the Mountains and Through the Woods

Nicki and I have been planning for quite some time to take the trek over the mountains to visit the Waldrons and the Majors over Memorial Day weekend. I have been looking forward to it, and to be honest I was quite distracted from school because of my excitement!! :-D But the time arrived and praise the Lord, the pass was open! I was so glad we didn't have to go the long way around. It was a beautiful drive for sure.

The weekend was spent building wonderful memories. Lots of games were played (Sorry Card Revenge of course, and Phase 10), some won, some lost. Just so you know, if Maggie complains about her bruised arm, you need to know that she was a very sore winner. hahahahaha. yup...she deserved it. :-)

One of the things I was really looking forward to was the opportunity to spend Sunday with them to see the work that's been started. It was wonderful to see how things are being done and it was very encouraging to me. The Lord is doing wonderful things over there and I am excited to see what He will do this next year. It's hard to believe they have been there for a year! Nicki and I sang a duet, praising the Lord and purposing to be a blessing. Later that evening the Majors came over and we ate some delicious homemade pizza and watched Josh Waldron's picture slideshow from the Juarez outreach. The Lord really did some amazing things last week in Juarez, Mexico!!!! Continue to pray for the souls who were saved that they would be discipled.

I was very sad to leave today, but we truly had a wonderful time. The drive back was just as fun. Again, the Lord reminds me how good He is to me by giving me friends who are exactly what I need. They have hearts for the Lord and that enables true fellowship and friendship that goes beyond anything the world can ever know.

Almost There!

It's really odd for me to go this long without posting something. To be honest, I have been so busy trying to finish up school that blogging has been pretty low on the priority list. Don't get me wrong, I have tons to write about! Since last time I wrote I've turned 21 (along with Josh, my twin). The day was pretty much like every other day (school, piano, print shop) but full of little blessings and birthday wishes. The Lord is so good to me in so many ways.

Three weeks from today I leave for Thailand. It has certainly come up fast! Today I received immunizations and I will be glad to not do that again!! Although, I will need to get another booster once I get to Thailand to finish off one of the vaccines. Fun stuff.

I am so close to finishing school I can smell it! (You know....the smell of coffee that keeps me goin. :-) Five papers to write, two chapters to read, one speech to give, and a recital to play. Whew! It may sound like a lot but comparitively it's very little. I am looking forward to this weekend going over the mountains to visit Maggie and Kali. YEAH! T'will be loads of fun. Kind of my last hoorah with them before I leave. Hopefully I can finish ALL of my work before then so I don't have school in the back of my mind making me feel guilty while I am there. :-)

To finish it off, I want to comment on the wonderful time of intercessory prayer we had at church tonight. It was SUCH a blessing! I love my little group and the discussions we have before prayer each month. I go away each month with not only a bigger burden for the people group but a joyous heart for the church the Lord has placed me in. I praise God for allowing me to live in a country that can freely worship. I praise the Lord for allowing me to HEAR the gospel! So many people are never even given the opportunity. Makes me want to ensure that I am sharing that life-changing gospel with those I come into contact with.

Have a blessed week!! :-D

Have You Ever?

Have you ever had days you just felt couldn't get much worse?
Have you ever experienced the suffocation of no spare minute to do what has to be done?
Have you ever felt like just when you thought you couldn't handle another trial that the Lord throws something else on top?

Well.....that's how it's been for me the past few days. It's then that I realized that I have ZERO strength on my own. None whatsoever. The Lord has called me to do these things and without Him I am just going to fall flat on my face. But isn't it great that He DOES give us the strength? He doesn't just expect us to keep going in our own might and to stumble along the way as we blindly feel where to go.

Ps. 42:11- "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God."

Ps. 37:39- "But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord: he is their strength in the time of trouble."

Tote Time!

My birthday is still a few days away but I received in the mail today an early gift from my friends (Maggie and Kali) over the mountains!  :-D  They surprised me with a beautiful tote bag that I had my eye on from my other friend's Etsy site.




 You can see her store here: Cotton+Wood.   Rebecca's handmade items are absolutely beautiful!  I fell in love with this tote bag when I saw it on her site so I was very excited when I received an envelope with the return address of "Cotton+Wood". teehee! Definitely check out her store and see what wonderful things she offers!

Book Review: Preparing To Be A Help Meet

My mom ordered me this book and I had heard good reviews so I was excited to read it.  Since the author is Debi Pearl it is advisable to read with caution.  Take everything with a grain of salt. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and she had some very good things to say about preparing for marriage. 

Most of the information I have heard and that's the privilege I have had with being raised in a Christian home.  There were, however, a lot of good reminders and really helped me to refocus.  There are so many important things to understand BEFORE marriage and I think this book was very helpful.  I recommend it for single women but, again, I caution against taking everything she says about relationships at face value.  The most valuable aspect of this book for me was the preparation within ourselves for marriage.  The key point she made that I found really helpful was this:  if you want to marry the right kind of guy you need to be the right kind of young lady.  I can't expect to marry a godly man if I am not taking the necessary steps to be a godly young lady. Anyway, I really enjoyed the book and in fact read it pretty much in one sitting.  That may have had something to do with the fact that I didn't want it distracting me from school the next day. haha Overall, definitely a useful book.

Mom...

Who is my Mom?  What is she like?  Well I can tell you that she is not only a GREAT Mom but a great friend! :-)  She has a sense of humor that makes us laugh, especially when we particularly don't want to.  She always has just the right word to say when life seems overwhelming.  She's an example of kindness and patience.  She has a servant's heart in all matters and is always willing to give her time if it means helping someone else.  She always has a listening ear when I just need to talk my life through. :-)

I love you, Mom! Happy Mother's Day!

Learning Thai?

I am attempting (that is a key word) to learn a little bit of Thai before heading to Thailand.  Now...for my Thai friends, I hope that you'll bear with me once I arrive. :-) I still have SOO much to learn!  I feel overwhelmed to say the least.  But every little bit helps.  I am determined to learn five words or phrases a day.  Will I be able to accomplish this?.....We'll see. :-)  At first I thought "Well I'll just learn to speak it and not spend my time learning the characters." But I think it would be helpful to learn the characters as well.   So here is my attempt at writing....I feel like a little kid again!  Only this time, I feel like I'm writing with my left hand or something. :-)

Forty-three days before I leave!  I've definitely got my work cut out for me...