To Blog or Not to Blog

It has been 3 weeks since I have blogged! To say the least, my life got a little bit crazy once I got back from vacation! And then the decision becomes, do I play catch up on the last 3 weeks, or do I just start from today (this is why I don't keep a journal, because I get frustrated when I don't write in it for awhile and then I just stop writing altogether).

I don't want this to be a melancholy, woe is me, post, which is part of the problem. I want to give some honest answers to what has been going on, but I don't want to complain or sound like I have a horrible life :). Because I don't. I am very blessed to have family and friends who love me.

Dad, Amy, Daynah, Josh, and the 3 cats left for Arizona on Wednesday morning. It has been an up and down week emotionally. This weekend was hard because, being a holiday weekend, I would have spent quite a bit of time at the house with them. I get teary at random times, and have been over the top emotional anyway. I cried buckets reading a book that I have read at least 5 times. I cried during at least two movies I watched this weekend. I cried when I talked to Dad on the phone to see how they were settling in. I cried when I had to eat frozen chicken fingers for lunch yesterday instead of something cooked on the grill.

But I've also laughed a lot. Kari's family adopted me Saturday night for dinner and games. That was a lot of fun. Emily has been a great roommate and kept me company throughout the week and listened to me, no matter how silly or sappy I would get.

And always, I have a great Lord who wants to shower me with His blessings. Two weeks ago I went on a weekend retreat with my Sunday School class. The speaker spoke about God's will and also gave us some tangible ways to break down affliction/suffering/trials so that we can see what God is up to in our lives. With that, he gave us lots of Scripture to apply the questions to. So, I have been going through those Scriptures each morning to discover what I can learn from this particular trial in my life. Over and over again, I come back to several facts. First, God is a God of love. Second, God calls me to suffering so that I can share His glory and goodness with others. Third, God has a good purpose for my life. Fourth, God does not have a plan B for my life and He knows exactly what He is doing. Fifth, I need to stop trying to what-if my way through this situation and move on to the what-now. Sixth, God fills His Word with "so that" statements so that I can know His purpose. It is not a mystery. They have been good lessons to learn, and I look forward to continuing to learn them in the coming weeks.

On top of my family moving, I have been getting geared up for AWANA. It starts this Wednesday and I am getting really excited for the new year. It is daunting to think about but also something I am familiar with. I am ready for the school year routine to settle back in. I also start a new Bible study on Thursday night, different from the Career Impact study that I normally do, so I'm excited to see what God is going to do through this study. My work schedule has been crazy since school is back in session and clients haven't gotten used to the new schedule yet. I'm ready for that to settle down a little bit.

This three day weekend could not have come at a better time. I have filled it with basically nothing. My only plan was dinner on Saturday night and church on Sunday. I have completed two puzzles. I finished a book and am pretty far into a second book. I have watched five movies. Basically I have relaxed. Today I need to get some things accomplished, like cleaning and doing some organizing, but other than that, I'm going to continue to relax.

There you have it, a "brief" catch up on my last three weeks.