Seasons

This past weekend, I was invited to a women's retreat by one of my good friends. I was very excited, and a little nervous, to go. I was excited to see what God would teach me, but I was nervous about being around so many people I'd never met before. God did not disappoint! Our speaker, Pat Harley, gave four amazing messages. And, I got to know some amazing women over the 2 days.

These are the women of Numazawa . . . Room 4: (L-R) Nancy, Julie, Jennifer, Marcy, Melodie, Melissa, Kerri, & me. I had registered to ride the zip line a couple of times, but the weather didn't cooperate. Instead, we all gathered in our room & played games. :-)

The theme of the weekend was I will praise Him in every season. Sunday morning, the sun came out! It was beautiful!! It allowed everyone to participate in the "prayer mosaic". In case you don't know what that is (I didn't either until Sunday morning), it's where you go to several "stations" and have a time of prayer. For example, one of them was Laying your burdens at the foot of Jesus. So, at this station, we wrote a burden on a rock, prayed to give it over to Jesus, and threw the rock in the lake to symbolize its release. They had set up 7 different stations, and we each went through them. It was such an intimate time with my Savior! By far, that hour was the highlight of the retreat for me!! :)

Sunday morning, before breakfast, I walked around for a little while enjoying the sunshine. Of course, I had to get a picture of the lighthouse near the dining hall. Just because I'm living further from the ocean doesn't mean I've stopped looking for lighthouses! :) I sat out on the dock for a little while, too, until the wind got to be too strong.

It was a wonderful weekend, and I'm so glad that I got to go!

On a completely different note, it's April 21st today . . . which means it's Aggie Muster. For those of you who aren't Aggies, this is a day to remember those lost this past year and to celebrate the life that they had. I'm working tonight, so I won't be able to attend a local gathering, but hopefully I'll find a local group before next year. I'm sure there's an Aggie Family here in Fort Worth! :)

Where has the time gone?

I just looked at my last post date, and it's been a month. I'm sure you've been waiting with bated breath to find out what I've been up to. Or, you hadn't noticed it's been a while. =)

So, let's play catch up. . .

The past 6 months I've been working a contract at a children's hospital in the DFW area. With the end of that job rapidly coming to a close, I've spent a LOT of time praying for direction about what God wanted me to do. Amazingly enough, I've had so much peace (that can only come from Him) as the days ticked by and the paychecks were coming to a close. I looked around the area for NICU jobs, and I talked to a couple of NICU's in NC hospitals. Most every NICU is fully staffed at the moment. . . great for the nurses who aren't being overworked, but not so great for me. :) Even still, God had calmed my spirit about it all. So, I didn't let this consume me. I continued to enjoy my days off. (I know that's surprising . . . ha ha ha)

A few Saturdays ago, I spent a very busy yet very fun day in the Dallas area. One of my oldest friends (not by age, but because we've now been friends for 25 years . . . WOW!) had a surprise sprinkle for her 3rd little boy who will soon grace us with his presence. For those of you who have never heard of this, it's basically a baby shower & a surprise party mixed together. It was wonderful to get to visit with some people I haven't seen in 10+ years.

After the shower, I had planned to go to the Dallas Arboretum to see the tulips. It was smack dab in the middle of Dallas Blooms, so I was expecting greatness!! =) My sweet parents drove in from Tyler to meet me there. We were NOT disappointed!! We got to walk around there for a few hours before I needed to head off to my next activity for that day. It was an absolutely perfect afternoon for being in a garden!! =) Apparently, most of the people in Dallas felt the same way because it was pretty crowded. The past couple of springs, I've been further north & east from where I am this spring, so I've been blessed to get to enjoy all the beautiful cherry blossom trees. They are just gorgeous. Last Easter, I was in NC, and I spent most of the afternoon at the Duke Gardens. They had some amazing cherry blossom trees there. Well, I was missing getting to see them this year, so you can imagine how excited I was to see them at the Arboretum!! They were in full bloom - some still the pink & some were already turning more white. They are beautiful. What more could I ask for than tulips with cherry blossoms?!? Throw in some fun times with my parents & it's the trifecta. :) Not to discount the tulips, though. They were amazing. I can't even imagine how many THOUSAND bulbs had been planted there this year. All colors, sizes, & varieties. It was a lovely way to spend the afternoon.

So, after enjoying creation for a while, I went over to some wonderful friends' house for a Red Envelope Party. Don't worry if you don't know what that is because I didn't know about it until my friend explained it to me. Basically, it was people from all across the country preparing & sending empty red envelopes to the White House with a message written on the back about abortion. Each envelope represented a child killed by an abortion. The envelope was purposely left empty because the child will never be able to participate in this life. It's kind of a grass roots effort to let our new President know that we don't agree with his recent decisions to fund & support abortions. I'm not usually a political activist, but this issue is very important to me. I spend HOURS & HOURS each week trying to save sick babies trying to make it for parents who so desperately want a child. It's so hard to hear of people killing their babies. Okay . . . I'm stepping down off of my soap box now. =)

That Sunday, I left on a long & exciting road trip. Well, at least the 2nd day of driving was exciting. :) For those of you who have never had the pleasure of driving across West Texas, let me just tell you - it's not all that exciting! Don't get me wrong, I'm a Texan through & through, and yes, I do believe it's a GREAT place to live. I just don't want to spend another 8 1/2 hours in a truck driving through that part again anytime soon. That evening, as the sun was setting, God really made it all worthwhile! The camera just can't capture the true colors of that sunset. It was gorgeous. Once I hit the state line that night, I only had about 20 minutes left until I reached my hotel. The next morning, after a much needed night of sleep, I got up refreshed & ready to finish my journey. I was heading to Twentynine Palms, CA, for a Marine Homecoming Celebration. Now those of you who have known me for years know that I don't have any brothers . . . officially. But, sometimes you have the family you were borne into & then the family you choose as you walk through life. Well, that is the type of brother I was going to welcome back to the States. Such dear friends don't come around everyday, and I was SO honored & excited to get to join in this celebration. Sean, my little brother, was getting back late that Monday night from Iraq (his 2nd tour). It was wonderful to see him home & safe again. God is doing amazing things in the lives of his parents. His mom is like a sister to me - someone who helped me get through the move from city to country back in highschool. This last picture is one of my favorites from that trip - Sean hugging his dad. It was such a wonderful . . . and VERY COLD . . . night. I'd always heard that the desert gets cold at night, but I was NOT prepared for that. Thankfully, Bea had planned for me & packed extra sweatshirts/sweaters for me. I'm lucky to have people looking out for me!! =) That Wednesday, I had to head back home so that I could go back to work. It was a short trip, but SO VERY WORTH IT!! I will always remember that night.

Now, that 18+ hour road trip left a lot of time for me to think. The saying is very true - An idle mind is the devil's workshop!! I have to admit that during part of that trip I started to get a little panicky about the job situation. I only had 3 weeks left, and then I didn't know what I was going to do. As a contract worker over the past couple of years, I've been able to set aside money, so I wasn't worried so much about the money issue. It's the control/planning issue that always creeps back into my thoughts and causes worry. Something I've been working on during the past few years is patience. If you know me at all, you know this is NOT my strongest character quality. (some might even say it doesn't exist on a regular basis in my life). =) But, as a contract nurse, it's something that MUST be learned! Clearly I haven't learned my lesson yet, because I was getting a little impatient with God about the job situation during those quiet hours in west Texas. I even considered calling a nurse manager of a hospital where I used to work to get a job. I knew they had an opening, and I felt pretty confident that I could just go back there & have a job. The problem was that I didn't have peace about doing that. I knew that it would be me taking control of the situation again instead of waiting on God. So, every time these thoughts would come to mind, I'd try to remember to pray. Each time, God brought one of the following 3 verses to my mind:

"'For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways,' declares the Lord.

'As the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways

and my thoughts than your thoughts.'"

-Isaiah 55: 8-9

"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord,

'plans to prosper you & not to harm you,

plans to give you hope & a future.'"

-Jeremiah 29:11

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything,

by prayer & petition, with thanksgiving,

present your requests to God.

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding,

will guard your hearts & your minds in Christ Jesus."

-Philippians 4:4-7

These promises would calm me down again. I ended up not calling that hospital on the trip. When I went back to work after my little trip, one of the night managers came rushing up to my patient's bedside while I was working with him, and she said "I haven't gotten a reply to my email!" I didn't have a clue what she was talking about, and was honestly a little worried that something bad had happened while I was away. I explained that I'd been out of town and that I hadn't yet had time to check my email since getting to work that night. She then explained that they were offering me a position to stay permanently, but they needed to know my answer ASAP since there's a list of people waiting to get hired there.

Talk about an answer to prayers! I'm sure (if you've been reading my blog over the past year) you're wondering why I'm not heading back to the east coast. It is what I've been planning and looking forward to for a while now. But, the more I thought & prayed about it, the more I realized that it's not where God wants me . . . at least right now. I'll just have to take little vacations out there so I can return to my favorite beaches! =) I'm excited because I've made some great friends at work here, and I think that God may use me to witness to some of my coworkers here. That would be awesome! Not to mention the fact that now I won't have to sit through another rah-rah-sis-boom-bah orientation week or two, and I won't have to learn another hospital's way of doing things. BOTH a bonus in my thinking! So, to say the obvious, I'm staying here in Fort Worth permanently. (or at least that's the plan right now) :) I'm actually more & more excited about this with each new day. No, it's not a perfect hospital & NICU. But, as I've learned over the past couple of years, that does NOT exist. I've been here long enough for the rose colored glasses to be removed, and I am still more than happy to stay.

Another bonus is that I'll be close to family & friends . . . something I've missed while traveling. Also, I get to stay at my church here. I'm so looking forward to getting involved in a ministry there! I'm not saying that the change back to "staff" from "contract" isn't scary & a bit intimidating at times. But, it's really what I feel I should be doing. So, with all that said, I'm off on an apartment hunt today. The whole lizard incident last December, along with a few other issues, has made me want a new apartment.

Well, that pretty much sums up my life for the past month. I'm going to try to be better at updating here this month. I hope you have a wonderful Easter weekend celebrating our Risen Savior!!