This past month and a half has been the busiest time of my life in a long time. At the beginning of the month, I made a very quick trip to Texas. I spoke at the Sertoma Club meeting in Port Arthur about my time on the world race and support opportunities. It was so fast and I was in and out of Groves in a day! Then, I spent the weekend with my family celebrating Ryleigh Ranae’s 2nd birthday …. she is WAY TOO CUTE and boy does she know it!
Then, I came back to Georgia and almost immediately we started our last training camp of the year. This training camp was our largest so far and was really special to me for a few reasons. In January, we are sending out 4 World Race squads, the T,U, and V squads (we have been assigning letters since the 2nd year of the Race — I was on the H squad in Jan 2009). We are also sending out a World Race squad that is specifically working with victims of trafficking and they will travel for 4 months to Thailand, Cambodia, India and America to work with ministries that are directly involved with rescuing people out of the trafficking industry. This training camp was special to me because I am directly connected to two girls who are leaving on the Race in January. Joy Robertson — a fireball of a girl, was someone who is passionate about seeing the wrongs of the world become right — she and I spent a few years together at Dallas Baptist University. Lauren Rush — she and I have a few mutual friends and I am so excited to see what all the Lord is going to do in her life. She lives in Beaumont, TX and just graduated from Lamar University …. is a member of Church on the Rock. It makes me so excited to see the lives that will be changed because of these two women!
Then, at the end of training camp, I flew to Chicago for the Hanna/Brown wedding! You may remember my teammate, Dave Brown … well, he was going to marry the girl of his dreams, my dear friend Ashli Hanna. They met on the Race and became very close friends, but did not fall in love until it was all said and done. They began dating in February and immediately knew it was right. As soon as Dave told me — I agreed that this was the right thing. This was my first time in almost a year to see most of my “Spectacle family” (I had seen Di and Anna before this)! So, Dave, Rachel, Jenn and I got to have small family reunion.
*Don’t mind the cute little girl who wanted to get in our pic!
Then, I flew back to Georgia and almost immediately had the Stirred
Conference at AIM. People came from all over to participate in the weekend of
worship. Jonathan David Helser and
his band were with us again and it is always incredible to have them
around. I personally allowed
myself to dive more into the presence of the Lord and learn how to hear His
voice and speak it over people! It
was so great to see so many alumni and catch up with friends. Here is a picture of the H Squad alumni
that were in for the weekend…
A few days
later, my sister, Ashli, came in town to hang out with me. It was not long, but we had so much
fun! She is moving to the Middle
East in a week or so and this was my last time to see her for several
months. Unfortunately, her camera
battery was dead and I did not think to get a picture of us together. We spent time around the cute little
town of Gainesville and then traveled into Atlanta for a fun night of
dancing! Boy did we have fun! It was by far, the best night of people
watching I have had in a really long time. I am so glad we got to spend some quality time together
before she leaves!
Last, my
friend, Zack came in to see me – all the way from Canada!! Actually, he and his
friend were driving from Canada to Arizona and they happened to stop by
Gainesville, Georgia on the way to see me! It was sooo good to see him, as he was the last of the “Spectacles�
for me to see. I was not sure how
much longer I could wait to see him, so it was perfect timing when he
came. We immediately started
acting like brother and sister again…he may have even left a bruise on my arm
from laughing and punching me in the arm.
It was way too short, but so refreshing to see him. We have vowed to do a better job of
keeping in touch! He even brought
me some gifts from Scranton, Pennsylvania, the site of our favorite sitcom, The
Office! We spent many hours
watching episodes of The Office together!
Thanks for taking the time to read my last month … whew! I enjoyed every minute of it, but I am glad it is over. Now I am ready to spend time with my family in Texas for Thanksgiving!
