Hiya. This will be a short post as I am ultra sleepy and plan to go home and rest a bit before heading to supper and prayer with a good friend. :o)

Last week I had a nice long post all ready to post here. And then? You guessed it; blogger had technical difficulties and I lost my post. BUMMER. Oh well ...

Things here go well.

I've been working on a few articles for our upcoming SEND!. Those are so much fun! Of course, I'm kind of still in the research phase for the most part. I did start writing one of the shorter articles but have kind of come to a standstill where I need to review my research and see what facts can be woven in.

Truly it is a privilege to be His ambassador. Praise God.

Gorgeous day.

And there are still people who think this all happened by chance? Hard to believe.

I had a good day. Passed pretty quickly. I just got done with a project at work. Now I still need to go and clean my restroom at the office.

After that? I'm thinking about going walking. Then I may use a coupon I have for a FREE shrimp taco at Tin Star. :oD And get my pictures developed at Costco.

That's all for now, folks. :o)

Okay, the weather outside is BEAUTIFUL. Thank You, Lord.

This afternoon a co-worker and I went to the airport to welcome back another gal who works with us. (She had been in India for several months.) It's a nice feeling to have her back. And the Lord has brought others to work with us, as well. I'm very excited about all the people we have in our area now! :oD

Now I'm sleepy.

After I leave here, I'm planning to go back to my apartment for just a little bit and rest. Then? Going for a walk to enjoy this gorgeous day, of course. :o) And pray as I walk. Those are such nice times!

It is so nice to know God can be trusted. And especially to rest in the wonderful, indescribable peace He gives.

This afternoon, sitting upstairs in my office, surrounded by co-workers as we welcomed a new couple on staff, it struck me how very happy and content I felt. How much I felt part of the family of people here. Moments like that are priceless.

BTW, the new couple, whom I'll call Clint and Jenny, are really nice. I am incredibly excited that they will be joining us on staff. They are some of those special people who not only have a GREAt sense of humor but also a thoughtfulness and warmth that makes you almost immediately connect with them. Being around them makes me feel invigorated, alive.

They hope to make it back here in November. Praise the Lord. We need to pray for them. They are giving their lives to labor for the Gospel, and the enemy is not happy. But GOD is in control, and HE always wins!

Praise the Lord.

Last night after my friend and I ate supper, I ran into another friend at the office! We chatted and then spontaneously decided to run by McDonalds for a milkshake (me) and sundae (her).

Then we stopped by the apartment of a mutual friend, to fellowship with her. Except she wasn't answering when we knocked (she was on the phone on her balcony, it turned out!), but her cat was walking around outside.

So we planted her cat right by the door (amazingly, she stayed--she even went over there herself!) and then knocked really loudly and ran around the corner. Sad to say, our friend never heard us knock. But if we could have pulled it off, it would have been really hilarious. :oD

Tonight is prayer meeting. And--speaking of prayer--I'm experiencing quite a lot of peace and hopeful expectancy about the thing I'm praying about for this month. So ... we'll see what God does. Regardless of the outcome, I'm ultimately content. :o) His plan is good and perfect!

The weekend was very nice.

I enjoyed all-night prayer and getting together a couple of times with the interns who are serving with us at the ministry for the next year, as well as some of the other young people on staff.

I also visited a new S.S. class for the second time and really liked it. I went and ate with everyone afterwards and had a really nice time. I even got recruited to be part of the worship team. :o)

On a different note, in one sense I have been very encouraged as far what I've been praying about. I want whatever would most glorify the Lord -- whatever that is!

Tonight? I'm going after work to eat with one of the girls I used to room with. And of course we'll pray for one another. :o) I'm really looking forward to it! We meet at 6, so before then I'm probably going to walk around outside and pray. Those are such nice times with the Lord!

And later on tonight? Not sure yet ... would go swimming but I just washed my hair and kind of hate to have to turn around and wash it again. (Yes, I know, I'm lazy. :oD)

It's Friday.

I went through some things over the weekend. But all in all have had a NICE week.

I'm holding on to what as far as I can tell I need to be faithful to pray for (see last week). Haven't missed a day yet as far as I can tell, and don't plan to. But I've definitely been "challenged" and tested along the way ... even if given at different times, very possible "glimmers of hope" : )

Sometimes it's soooooooooooo hard to be patient.

Whatever happens, I am confident that the Lord is doing a work of faith in me through the process.

And now? Well, it's a little after 4 and we all get to go home early since it's Friday night prayer. For starters, I think I'll go home and just have some R&R time at the apartment while I watch a little of Ice Princess. Then I'll probably go pay a bill at the mall and eat some supper with a Chick-fila coupon. :oD

Until next time.

I struggled a little last night with my emotions about the thing I mentioned yesterday that I'm praying about. Singing praise songs helped SO much. I felt a peace about things. But then later in the evening I struggled again.

And something else challenging has come up that I am trying to give over to the Lord and have HIS perspective over ... not always easy.

But He is good and faithful and I can trust Him. Even when my circumstances or emotions may try to wrongly tell me otherwise! Throughout the years I've definitely had a number of times where I've had to say "Okay, Lord. I'm going to trust You by faith." Then it is the most encouraging thing when the feelings later (or sometimes sooner!) follow. Praise God. He is so good.

On a different note ... I just got back from a really nice time with some gals from church -- a "bargain shopping" trip we've been planning for a while. We went to a Dillards clearance sale. And boy did we ever find some bargains!

I ended up with two really cute skirts, three great shirts, a much-needed pair of summer dress shoes, and a cute dress --all for about $80 total!

I think I'll get a lot of use out of everything. The skirts were $108 and $168 before clearance. (Can you imagine?!) And I got the dress for $6 and the shoes for $9. : ) I can't wait to try things on again when I get home -- that's always fun. :o)

Well, I'm going back to my apartment. I think some R&R along with some more time with the Lord will do me good. :o)

Until next time.

Whew! Not long after I wrote that last post, we received word that my parents--and aunt and uncle--were safe. What a relief! I was so glad to hear this.

On kind of another note ... Ever feel like the Lord has impressed on your heart to be faithful to pray for a certain thing but you have no guarantee of the outcome? I'm feeling like that now ... on the one hand I thank God for putting this on my heart to pray for. Then on the other, it's truly a leap of faith because of not knowing the outcome.

But in either case, I can rest assured that He will work everything out beautifully, according to HIS perfect plan -- and will develop more character in my life in the process.

Thursday and still no definite word from my parents since about noon on Monday.

I imagine most phone lines still aren't going through ... and that it could be days and days still ... although my sister did receive a call yesterday from their cell phone, but there was no voice because it disconnected too soon.

We were wondering last night how much drinking water they saved up before the storm ... There are so many uncertainties, yet this entire week my heart has been feeled with this incredible peace and calm that could only come from the Lord. I'm SO glad for that.