The Changing Seasons

        It has been a while since I last posted.  This past summer my husband James and I moved to Alabama to serve at a camp.   We were dorm parents for 40 summer staffers while James worked in Maintenance and I worked in Recreation.  Part way through the summer a full-time position opened up.  After much prayer and consideration James decided to accept a position as a full-time Maintenance Technician.  So we have now landed in a place where we can settle and began putting down roots.  Last week the summer season came to a close and all of our resident summer staffers moved out.  After a busy summer it has felt like an abrupt change for me.  All summer I worked 5-6 days a week and had several things in the evenings to be apart of with our summer staffers.  Now, there is a void.  It is a strange mix of missing everyone and feeling like I should be doing something when there is not that much to do.  So this past week I have began to switch gears.  I have began to write down things that I need to do in the coming months while still working part time here.
   
       One thing I am hoping to do during this coming season is to blog a little more.  Blogging helps me to sort my thoughts and focus on the good things that God does.  I am hoping to write about life, encouraging things that happen, positive things for which I am thankful, and interesting things that happen in the coming months.  So, to start off, today I was working a shift at camp life-guarding at our giant slide called the "Wet Willie."  I worked for an hour helping a church group enjoy it.  This afternoon we will run it again for a couple more hours.  After my first shift I read in a book called "Seattle" by Colleen L Reece.  It's a set of Christian fiction books and I am in the third of four.  The characters in the book were hiking up Mount Rainier and feeling tired from the ascent.  One encouraged the group by saying don't look at how much left you have to climb.  Instead look back and think about how far you have already come.  As the conversation continued one character said, "The next time I get discouraged and feel I'm not getting anywhere on life's rocky road, I'll remember to turn around and see how far I am from where I started" (Reece 269). This is a good perspective to have on life, especially when you feel like you're just spinning your wheels.

       In the last three years I have moved four times and lived in two countries and three states.  Some exciting things have happened in those years.  At the same time I have also felt like just when I have started putting down roots, I have had to uproot and move to something else.  I have felt like I have just been spinning my wheels and not really making much of an investment in anything.  I am so thankful to be in a place to stay for a long time.  Instead of feeling discouraged about how little I have been able to invest, I need to remember God's blessings and how He has brought so many good things along the way.  God took all of those twists and turns to bring people into my life and to show that He is in control and He cares and is holding me through all the changes.  And He allowed me to be a part of some pretty neat opportunities along the way.