How much can one person cram into two months?

I'm going to attempt an update. Bear with me here. Since October my life has felt like a whirling dervish. I'm not even sure what a whirling dervish is but it sounds exactly right. The amazingly cool thing is that in the midst of the whirling I have been at rest. I have felt that place of rest inside. It has been a time of joy and sorrow, grief and loss, fun and conviction. I feel like I've been all over the board. Highs and lows - ups and downs - but always in the eye of the storm. Fascinating. So I'll attempt to fill you in since several people have asked.

On October 5th I got a new iMac. That alone is challenge enough. Then on October 11th my Mom died. I flew to Colorado and spent a week with my dad and brothers and extended family. The bonus was spending time with my amazing sister-in-law who I'd never really connected with and now feel very close to. She is absolutely precious. I am really thankful for her. I could do a whole month of posts on this one week. Suffice it to say I spent it with family. Use your imaginations - you probably still won't come close. Here's a glimpse of the view in Colorado Springs:


On October 25th we went to Muleshoe, TX for a friend's wedding which was beautiful and fun. Their family is more than just our friends - they are part of our family of choice. We love them deeply. Well, while I was in Colorado my dad gave me the ring I had made for my mom when I was about 20. It was a lost wax mother's ring with a stone representing each one of us. It was the only thing I really wanted that was hers. So what does this have to do with the wedding? I was wearing my mom's ring around my neck on a chain at the wedding and at some point the chain broke and I lost it. I know. It tears me up every time I think about it. I still pray for it to come back to me. I figure it's out there somewhere and God knows where it is. I can't help but wonder why I hung it around my neck on such a fragile chain. Was that some kind of psychological thing? Geoff even told me the next day that he nearly asked me if that chain was strong enough. I think it has something to do with how fragile my relationship was with my mother. The ring tangibly represented to her that I did love her. She hung onto it for over 30 years. I intended to do the same. Only I didn't. I'm learning that love is not tangible. But it is strong. And it is real, perhaps more real than a tangible indicator can represent. More to ponder.

A few days later on October 28th Geoff and I flew to Virginia via Baltimore to visit friends for several days. It was so good to just sit and talk and take in the joy of each other's company with no agenda. The men, of course, had sights to see - we opted for pajama time. It's good to have choices.

On November 10th I had my first colonoscopy and endoscopy. I have been fully poked and prodded for the year. I'm actually current on all my medical procedures and that is saying something for me! I hate that stuff but I get it. And I did it.

On November 15th I taught a class at the West Texas Girls Conference here in Abilene. The class was called "Return To Me (Loving God)". We soaked. Me and 300 or so high school girls. It was good. At least 3 different churches are planning to start their own soaking times for their high schoolers as a result of that time. God is so good. A couple of stories from that afternoon. I had butcher paper up on the walls and markers to draw or write with in case they felt the urge to move around. One young woman simply wrote "I saw JESUS". That's what it's all about. I wish I could have talked to her. Another young woman came up to me and said her word was "daughter". She said after she received that she kept hearing, "you are so wonderful" over and over. I guarantee you that's exactly what she needed to hear. Here are a couple of pictures that will warm your heart:




Those are high school girls soaking in the Love of the Father. You have to love that.

On November 21st I flew to Nashville with one of our church's youth ministers, Sarah, for the National Youth Workers Convention put on by Youth Specialties. There is no way I can relate to you how much fun and how convicting that four days was for me. Worship was led by Mercy Me, Jars of Clay, David Crowder Band, Lincoln Brewster, Shane and Shane, Kendall Payne, and a group called Starfield which I'd never heard of before but am a huge fan of now. They were all incredible. Speakers included Francis Chan (oh my gosh, amazing), Mark Yaconelli, Tony Campolo, Shane Claiborne, Andrew Marin and a woman named Danielle Strickland who left me so convicted of sharing the GOOD news. She is the Salvation Army's Social Justice Director for the Australian Southern Territory. She left me with a mental image of God standing before me with His hand on my forehead asking, "Now do you remember?" Do we remember what we're doing here? Surely I will blog more about this later. Remind me if I don't get to it. It was profound. Here's a shot of the stage with Mercy Me:


If you know me at all you know I love concerts so I was in "hog heaven" (as my mom would say). I loved it! Besides that, distracted by worship was a great way to spend my mom's first birthday after her death.

I got home on Monday night and immediately started thinking about turkey as Thanksgiving was three days away and people were coming! It was a blast! Here's our group shot:


We had the Mhlanga family from Zimbabwe and the Xu's from China along with several students, a new face at our table, Roger, and of course the McGilbutt's. It was so much fun!!

Last Tuesday Geoff and I went to Dallas to hear Michael W. Smith and the Dallas Symphony do their Christmas concert. It was incredible! It certainly helped get me in the mood for Christmas. We got to meet Smitty who's a really good sport. It was good of him to squat there for the photo! Here's proof:


It's a terrible picture but all we had was my iPhone and really bad lighting.

I'm fully decorated for Christmas though the boys may put up some lights outside yet. I even ordered Christmas cards which I haven't sent out in quite some time so that will be a treat. Next week we're having a garage sale to benefit our Palm House. That was brilliant planning - NOT! But we're having it and we will have fun. For those of you who are local - come on by Saturday at FUMC and if you have any donations - leave me a note! We'll come by Friday and pick them up.

Those were the high points. Eight different states were involved in the last two months travel and I was in Dallas 8 times. Amazing. I loved it though I could have done without that first unplanned trip. I hope you weren't too bored. I could write ten posts out of this one and maybe I will. But for now, that will do.