"Follow Me"

Daddy and me...notice the toy tools :)

Happy Father's Day (belated)!! I just want to say that I love my dad. He is amazing. I've never known someone like him, and he is such a great example of following Christ with all the gifts that he's been given. I am grateful for the support, teaching, encouragement, and love that he and my mom have given us kids all these years, even though we aren't always perfect. :) Thanks, Daddy!!

There is like a black hole that is sucking time away...seriously, it's just disappearing! At times when I was working in the school district I would get tired and flustered and say, “I wish it was Friday already!” Mr. Larry, our school custodian (who by the way is one of the sweetest men alive), would say, “Now don't you go wishin' your life away!” Hm, he was right! We've only got one, and it goes by fast enough!

This last week I went to visit some friends in Texas for just a couple days, which was nice. We chilled out at their land, did some fishing, played some horse shoes, and I shot a shot gun for the first time. That skeet didn't stand a chance! ;) The day I got back I spent a good amount of time doing assignments for orientation...stuff about families of origin, TCKs, and personality profiles. All good stuff! I'm just a terrible procrastinator...always have been. But it worked out alright! The next day I went to Tulsa to pick up a couple of buddies from high school who randomly decided to come out to visit me from Cali for the weekend. It was the first time they had ever been to the “south,” and luckily the rodeo was in town, so that was a high light for them! We also did some hiking at a lovely state park. It was fun to hang out and share with them what life is like in this neck of the woods. I was definitely wiped out by the time I got back from taking them to the airport, though! I fell asleep at 5:30pm haha.

Yellowrock Trail outlook, Devil's Den State Park

This weekend I'll be heading up to Minneapolis for a week of TeachBeyond orientation. I'm so excited to get to meet everyone!! It's going to be awesome and make this all start to feel even more real! Check out this cool video about BFA by clicking here. So exciting! Right after orientation is over I'll be going to Alabama with my family to visit some dear friends of ours who we've known since I was 2. They are basically our 2^nd family. I'm pumped about spending the 4^th of July with them! So lots of traveling in the next couple weeks! Please pray for traveling mercies for me, my family, and all the other TeachBeyond members going to orientation. Thanks!

I'm spending this week getting more things in the mail, doing paperwork, spending time with loved ones, and getting a bit of rest. It's amazing how many things there are to do and to think about! I've really been grateful for the time that I set aside for just sitting still and being with the Lord. It's always a good thing to do, obviously, but it seems even more crucial during this time. There is so much faith and trust that we need to put in the Lord at all times of our lives and in every area, but this experience of preparation to go on the mission field has deepened my understanding of what it means to really trust Him. It's a hard but beautiful thing. You know how sometimes you hear a recurring topic in all kinds of places and it's just like, “Ok, God...I'm listening”? Well this thing about trusting God has come up all over the place for me lately, from my devotions, to church sermons, to the daily verse on my Bible app, to comments made by other people. Sometimes I get discouraged and think, “Am I doing the right thing? What if I got confused?” And then a soft but clear voice speaks to me and says, “Follow me.” Peter struggled with questions, too, but Jesus' command was clear: “Follow me.” Yes, Lord.