Let it snow, snow, snow...

SNOW DAY!!

This picture was really taken a few years ago, just before Christmas, but I thought, in honor of all the snow, I would put it here! :)

Snow days can be a teacher's dream...until they start interfering with Spring Break! But...we still have two more days we can use to make-up before they do, so...here's hoping we won't be enjoying our Spring Break in January and February instead of March! I must say, though, I'm getting kind of used to these three day work weeks! Two days sick the first week back, two snow days last week, two this week, and my music conference for three days next week...I have not worked a full week this whole month, and will only work two in February due to another meeting and my conference at the end of the month! Seems so crazy...I guess I just thought teaching was a M-F job! haha

My fun boots, which I found out in the last snow...are actually not very practical because they are kind of tight, which makes it hard to keep my toes WARM because they can't move...I guess they are actually more risky for frost bite than my shoes! Oh well! ha

Last week I spent my snow days at home being lazy all day and still kind of recovering from my sick days the week before. But this week I spent them with a very fun family! I've known this family since high school, they were actually teachers of mine, and now we work in the same district as...colleagues! That still seems crazy to me! But, they have been so kind to open their home to me anytime this year while I'm commuting, and I always love playing with their kids, which means that my two snow days this week were still lazy, but.......lots of FUN! :) We played outside, had hot chocolate, watched movies like Alvin and the Chipmunks and SweetPea Beauty, ate fresh baked chocolate chip cookies, and just...enjoyed the time off from school! I'm so thankful for the blessing and encouragement they are to me! :) 

This was really from our first snow of the year in December, but this seems to be the "look" we have lately!

I also spent time reading some of my old Xanga blog entries from college. I'm so glad it was "all the rage" to have a blog starting around my freshman year...it seemed like everyone was doing it! And there are some really funny and serious memories I wouldn't even remember if I hadn't done that. I hope I can somehow transfer it to my computer or paper one day, so I can always keep those memories! I would definitely like to keep a journal, but it takes so much time, and it is just easier to record and write through typing and technology these days. I'm a little lazy about writing sometimes because...I'm just not a quick writer. And if that helps me to keep track of things, I guess it's a good thing! So...I'm glad for this blog too because I've already been able to go back over my past year since I started it and see all that God has been doing in this time of my life! 

And, of course my heart and mind have been thinking a lot about my conference next month. It is SO exciting! Yet so overwhelming to think about ALL the many places in the world I might go. I do know that, before my trip to Africa in college, for some reason, God placed that continent on my heart. I really can't remember the exact time or the reason, but I just...knew. Then the trip came up, and I was SO excited. I knew I was supposed to go. And God provided perfectly for that to happen. It was a life-changing trip, and...when I left I cried so much. A piece of my heart was there, and always will be. And I knew I would be going back...someday...for some amount of time. So of course, for these years after the trip, Africa has still been on my heart, but I don't even know where in Africa. It is a big continent, after all! I visited Senegal on the trip and loved it, but I've never even had the opportunity to be in another part of Africa. Recently another country in Africa has come up in different random ways...and I am excited because my heart had not even thought about that area...until now! I honestly didn't even think about the possibility of people being in that country working. It's not that it's an unsafe or unworkable place...I just...hadn't thought about it. I can imagine it will be like that at the conference...all the possibilities my heart has not even thought about! I'm going to begin praying about this country and see if there is a reason it has recently come to mind. Only God knows that, but I am ready and willing to seek and find out. And I will also pray as God leads my heart to other places, if He does. But...I would be REALLY excited if this were the place, now that I am thinking about it! :) 

I found this picture online, and it seems perfect to me right now...It's a little funny looking, I know, but it reminds me, 

God really does have the WHOLE world in HIS hands, and I can only imagine what He has in store for me somewhere...even if it is here!

I don't necessarily know if God is calling me to Africa at all. I also don't want to go to the conference with a certain thing in mind and feel...disappointed. I know saying that might seem a little odd, because where ever I have the opportunity to go, I know God is already working and making the way, but as  humans, sometimes our hearts can get set on what "WE" want or plan, and fail to set our eyes on what God is planning. I do know I am going to pray wholeheartedly the next four and a half weeks that I will have clarity, and that He will place a burden on my heart for a specific part of the world I am to go to. I wish I could be more detailed here, but really there is a lot I just don't even know right now. A lot I won't know until I go, and a lot I probably won't be able to share if/when for security reasons. But...that is all down the road, and for now I simply ask you to be praying with me as well! I'm thankful for the prayers and support of anyone who is reading this, and look forward to sharing more of my journey with you! 

Brazil - Amazon Region Village - Summer 2007

Happy Friday, everyone! I hope you have a blessed weekend  and stay warm! Or cool...depending on where in the world you are! :)