hmm

So it turns out I'm really bad at this blogging thing. I should update you more, my readers! There truly isn't much to say, though...

*I was needing to stretch my body and was going to listen to Adventures in Odyssey last night and instead stumbled on a hymn-sing, which I gladly listened to instead! For the first time I remember, I heard “And Can It Be” by Charles Wesley. I think it’s going to be a favorite.

*I have been taking the 10-week membership class and spending more time with people at church. The gospel, and their gospel-centeredness, is amazing to me!! Yet I am still not sure about whether I will join. I am not sure if there are things that I need to get over, or whether I should start looking for another church. They are not doctrinal/theological issues. One of my trouble spots is that it is 20 minutes away, in the OPPOSITE direction from the city, in a very suburban area. This is just not where I pictured myself or thought I wanted to be. Things like this. I don’t want to say anything against this church. It has been a blessing from God to me in these days. So also, I don’t want to stay here just because it is comfortable and safe.

*There is still not much happening in life. I am busier, with work and church activities and the everydays of “keeping up” my own place, but there is no exciting news.

*The most exciting news is that 11 New Grad opportunities with BannerHealth were just posted, and I applied to them all! After talking with HR at one of those hospitals, I found out I was under review for regular nursing jobs, so I'm hoping that something will happen!

*Much has been going up and down in the way of travel plans for the next few months. A lot of it will depend on if and when I acquire nursing employment. But I had planned a trip to see Bee & Gramps and also a trip home in the next month and then had to face the fact that these would not be wise right now! I am still planning on going home in May when Kimmie gets married! (and am still hoping for another trip before then!) And I will get to see Crystal when she comes here for her Spring Break in March! And next week my friend Christy will be in town visiting her sister so I will see her! And I hope to have a trip to Bee & Gramps in the summer, and also a trip to NY for my cousin Joy’s graduation to see Dad’s side of the family, hopefully both of those with my family.

*Please pray for my friend who has a young son and recently had surgery to remove a tumor on her thyroid. They found that the cancer was not contained to her thyroid, and her battle is not over yet.

*I spent way too much time on facebook looking for pictures of the Winter Retreat with church. (I, of course, brought extra batteries for my camera, but forgot my camera!) I hear that fb’s privacy policy allows this. (So be careful what you post there!)

the "assembly room" We had 4 teaching sessions and also (part of) an Olympiad in this room. Part of this was trying to get 7 of us balanced on one cinder block. I guess that's called team building.
I took this picture. Of the other 8 folks at my breakfast table. Chris, Hannah, Stephanie, Mike, Bonnie, Jennifer, Amanda, and Adam. They are cool kids.

my new friend Jenna. She rode up with me and we talked about books and ate chocolate mint cookies.

The path leading from the cabins to the dining hall. We got about 25 minutes of hiking per meal.

My cabin. It had a wood stove to keep us warm... aaaaah, loving the need for that in AZ.

Currently reading: Una Mujer que Conforme al Corazon de Dios (A Woman After God's Own Heart) by Elizabeth George and Why the Rest Hates the West by Meic Pierce
Currently listening to: Give Up by the Postal Service and This is Our God by Hillsong and THE FRAY (self-titled album-- it's new-- I like it a lot:)