Today, April 12, 2011, marks the 25th anniversary of my marriage.
Wow! what an adventure this past 25 years has been!
- Four pregnancies, 3 births, (1 stillborn)
- 3 adoptions,
- 36 children in and out of our home through the fostercare system
- 2 master's programs for Steve (M. Div. and master's in Psychology)
- 1 master's program for me (master's of ministry, which I will complete spring of 2012)
- we lived in 5 different states
- 11 different homes
- Pastored 4 churches in 15 years
- took a 9 year break
- been back in full-time ministry for 6 months
and that's just the highlights!
Sunday I will preach my very first "real" sermon in front of "real" people... not just seminary students. (sorry PESM friends). I'm a tad-bit worried. This is my final for preaching class... I'm going to be so glad when this class is done and I won't have to write and give sermons.
Early in December, I found a conference that I really wanted to go to. It was in March and was going to be held in sunny San Diego, California, what more could you ask for? Well, the fact is, there was more. Pleanty more... The line-up of break-out sessions on special needs alone, was fantastic. Plus (this was a big one for me!) they were offereing full scholarships! I filled out all the paperwork, however, I didn't get everything together in time to send it in by the mail-in date. I decided to turn it all in anyways... I got the scholarship! Yay!!
What a morning!
It's just 10am and as I sit with my cup of coffee (cup # 3 for the morning) and reflect over my morning I see how busy I can be just being busy.
Alex's new caregiver, Zach, started this morning... you would think that having a caregiver for Alex would make things "easier"... well, it does in some ways and in some ways, not so much. Since today was his first day with Alex, we needed to go over "rules" and schedules and Alex seemed to need a lot of "re-directing" today.
I've "started" many things so far this morning, but nothing is done or completed. The dishwasher is half-emptied, 3 fliers are in various stages of completion on my computer, my Bible is open to my devotions for the morning (but I haven't even glanced at it yet), and the list goes on and on and on and (well, you get the idea...)
So what do I do? My first instinct is to find another "project" to start and busy myself with yet another thing on my list to do.
I think for now, I will just sit... sit in the quietness and be thankful
