Last night at The Well, Fred spoke, and it was amazing! God used Fred and spoke through him. The topic was stewardship, and I wasn't really quite sure what to expect. Well, he talked about how we can be stewards with our time, money, spiritual gifts and physical bodies. You wanna talk about something heavy, study that in the Bible! There are so many verses that support stewardship in the various aspects of our lives. It was so neat to read how God expects us to use what He has given us. Yes, I've read these verses before, but I think my eyes were opened last night and I was able to dive deeper into God's Word.

I really enjoyed the question of what we do with the 90% that we don't tithe. It's true that sometimes we say that the 10% is God's, and the 90% is ours. We are some selfish people! If we really wanted to be honest, we would say that 100% of our money is God's, since He created us, the money and everything else in this universe! Anyways, that just really made me think about what I'm giving and why. Do I consider it to be mine or God's? Oh, and another question I enjoyed was how our attitude is when we give. While he was talking about this monetarily, it could go for any of the areas. Am I happy and joyous to give, or am I upset? Am I happy when I work in the nursery and serve those children and parents, or am I upset and focused on myself? I know that not everyone is called to work in the nursery, or work with youth, or whatever (you fill in the blank), but I think we should still have a heart and attitude of love.

Ok, I don't want to get off the topic of what The Well was about. I enjoyed the teaching time and the time of worship. I learned a lot, thought a lot and thoroughly enjoyed the evening!

So, last week was not so great. However, I feel so much better this week! God is so amazing and I love loving Him! I was able to spend time talking to him and journaling and praying last week. So needed, and so much fun! Anyways, I leave in like 9 days - craziness! I think I'm ready. I've been praying for this and looking forward to it for so long. It amazes me how God just plants these seeds in our hearts and then He waters them and we have this amazing desire, that has always been His desire. Hopefully you followed that.

I've started saying my good-byes, and while it's hard and somewhat overwhelming, I'm so thankful that I'm taking the advice from MTI, because I feel so at peace with everything. And, it can make for some wonderful memories! For example, tonight we had the last supper at the Stenny's house. We ate salmon, bread, cake and drank grape juice. And, to top it off, we used our hands to eat everything, even the cake - so much fun!! I know that I'm going to miss the people here and some of the random things we do, but then I think about all of the things I have to look forward to. I pray that I can build some great friendships with the teachers at my school. I also pray for ministry opportunities and times to hang out with people and be random and have fun! So much to look forward to and pray about!!!

Stressed? I sure am!

I talked to the principal at my school yesterday...I now, officially have a time when I can leave and head up there. I can't move in until the 2nd week of August, so I'll probably leave around the 5th or 6th. It's nice to finally have somewhat of an idea of when I can leave. Every day I get more and more nervous about teaching. Just about getting my room ready and preparing lesson plans and not getting my curriculum until I get to the school. First year teacher nerves, and big move nerves. I give them all to the Lord, and ask for his hand of comfort over me.

I've had so much on my mind these past couple of days, that I couldn't sleep anymore. I woke up around 7:45, and while that may be sleeping in to some, that was a couple hours before I usually wake up. I have packing and organizing to do. I have to think about what furniture I'm taking and what I still need. These are all feelings that anyone who has a major move thinks about, but this is my first time to move far away and be alone. I just have a lot to think about and to pray about...I do need to pray more and give my worries and burdens to the Lord.

Such a fun time this is!

A whole lot of randomness...

I finally went and saw the second Pirates last night. I was really excited to see it, especially since the first one was so amazing. I was pretty impressed. However, I actually got bored at the beginning of the movie. Very sad. However, Captain Jack and Will Turner made things more exciting with sword fighting and what-not. Hopefully the third one will be absolutely amazing.

After the movie, we went to Lic's, then I went and played frisbee with Michael at the church parking lot. Amazing, I tell you - the church was (shhh.....) unlocked! So, we went potty and got drinks. We felt like we were breaking in, but it wasn't locked, so it wasn't really breaking in, just being kinda quiet and sneaky. Fred showed up later, after the drive in. I was there until 2 in the am. You know what, I'm just not used to that anymore. It's sad to realize that my bed time is like before midnight these days. It makes me sad.

So, today I wanted to be productive. Well, I failed. Oh well. I'm going to dinner tonight with Amy and her mom and Kerrie and her mom. I'm really excited because I might not see them again before they leave. So, it will be a good dinner, but also a little sad. Oh, and today I looked for flights from South Dakota to Evansville for Amy's wedding.....WOW, I think I might have to use my first couple of pay checks to pay for that. It's so expensive to fly!! Like, over $500. I just don't understand the need for it to be so expensive. Oh well. It's totally worth it!


OK, so tomorrow I'm gonna try to be productive! Maybe I'll actually start packing and putting things in boxes. We'll see...

My life right now

I went to children's camp last week...very interesting. I had a lot of fun meeting all of the kids and the leaders. I was the missionary, so I got to see all of the kids everyday in class. It was fun for me because I never had to give any type of presentation on Pine Ridge, so I was able to talk about it a lot and it made me even more excited about going. The kids were so funny! They always had a funny question or comment, such as "I know where Florida is on the map!" or "Are those kids from New Mexico," after we had spent three days talking about South Dakota. Fun times!

And maybe you're asking what else have I been doing. Well, last night I sat outside of Chic-fil-a for a long time. I was there from maybe 9ish until 1 in the morning. They were having some promotion thing and the first 100 people got free food for the equivalent of a year, or something like that. I wasn't in line, but I was hanging out with people who were. They had to stay until 6 am. Craziness! But, I guess it was worth it, for the free food. And today, I went to Amy's bridal shower. Very fun!

So, I've got about two weeks left here. I haven't really started packing yet, so I guess I need to get to that. I'm getting really excited about going. However, I'm also nervous. Sometimes, I think my excitement is hidden beneath my stress and nerves...hopefully people are understanding about that. Oh, and we're having a going away party next weekend. It should be lots of fun! We're gonna play volleyball, frisbee and eat food. What could be better?!?

I'm going to start saying my good-byes next week. I think I could start crying right now just thinking about it. There are some people that I'm going to probably put off saying good-bye to because it will hard for me, and that's just the way I deal with things. So, that's what I'll be doing for the next two weeks. Please pray for me as I'm saying good-bye and grieving.

Vacation thoughts

Got back from Florida today. Exciting! My mom and I went together and stayed with some family friends. We had an adventure. The resort was pretty much on the beach. Nice! And it was an amazing place. Baytown and Bay Village are pretty cool. We went to Seaside one day and shopped. Before that we ate at the Donut Hole. Highly recommended. Alex is working at Watercolor this summer, so we visited him at this completely amazing, expensive resort. That was cool. It was also fun having Bobby and his two friends, Kassenbrock and Strickler, around. Even though I don't really drink, it was fun watching them be silly. Oh, and last night we ate at the Seabar. Amazing music. I bought a CD, and we listened to it on the way home. Good stuff! So, pretty much I spent this week either by the pool, on the beach or hanging out with the Hoffmans and the boys. Can't complain.

Tomorrow and Sunday at church are my commissioning services. Should be exciting. I'm so excited to head out to South Dakota, but kinda nervous at the same time. I know that the Lord is before me, behind me, above me and below me; however, I still sometimes get nervous. Pray for me that I will completely trust God.

OK, I'm going to go unpack. Should be fun!