A Little Like Georgia

This post is a little later than I meant for it to be. Things have been a little busy, as you can imagine. We are not nearly as unpacked as I thought we would be at this point, but life keeps happening, regardless of what I need to get done. Laundry keeps getting dirty, floors need to be swept, and no matter what I do, these kids keeping getting hungry! Not just once, but THREE TIMES A DAY! :-)

Overall, things are going well, though. We are making some progress on getting some things taken care of for Clara, though I still cannot get anyone from the therapeutic ranch to call me back. I am a little anxious to get her back on a horse...it does so much to build her strength. On the other hand, it might be best to wait until after the holidays. I am just believing that God will work it out the way He sees fit. Additionally, we are finally learning our way around, and slowly but surely, we are meeting people and making new friends. One of the things I have missed most since I have been here is music. I don't mean the kind you hear on the radio...I mean REAL music. I miss being a part of music. I miss the experience of music. Well, I am so excited because I have been asked to play flute at a ladies banquet this Saturday night!! I don't care about the spotlight, or any of that. I am just so excited to have an opportunity to play again and be a part of something meaningful like that. That helps me feel a little more at home, as well. I sometimes have a fear that the gifts Jeff and I have, and the years of training that go with those gifts, are not going to be useful here, and I have not been ready to let go of that quite yet. I am so thankful this came along. I am praying for His perfect will in this area, as well.

As you know, Sundays have been our hardest days, but this past Sunday was our best yet. I only got choked up once and everyone seemed to be in good spirits. We visited another church with some wonderful qualities. We know the preacher of that church. His wife is the daughter of our Sunday School teacher at BeechHaven. We went to lunch after the service, and there was something very comforting about spending the afternoon with a little bit of "home". They are precious people. Sunday was the first day I have had a glimpse of "this is going to be okay...this will be like home someday"...so that was nice.

Our big excitement is that it snowed last Friday! We reacted as true southerners....we raced to the first scene of the snow to play in it before it melted! (It started snowing 5 miles away at the Camp, and didn't get here for another 4 hours.) And speaking of feeling at home, it was a true Georgia snow. It was only a couple of inches, you couldn't roll a snowball without it being full of leaves, and it was pretty much gone the next day! The following Monday, temperatures were in the 60's and we were in our flip-flops. Doesn't that sound like Georgia? I know there is more to come, and I know that in a few months we will no longer be excited, but for now, it was very exciting...at least for the kids. Here are a few of our pictures:

We got a call from a friend at the Camp telling us it was snowing there. The skies were like spring here. So we waited about thirty minutes, realized the snow wasn't coming here for a while, if at all, so we bundled up, got in the car, played at the Camp, and got laughed at by everyone who drove by. :-) As you can see, we didn't let the heckling stop us! It had already started melting before we got there, but we played anyway. :-)

That night, it really came down here. We had already planned to go eat that night with some friends...northern friends.... in Benton Harbor. We were not about to cancel because of snow (You know, when in Michigan....), so we drove in snow that was WAY heavier than anything I would drive in if I were in Georgia. The funny thing is, the snow plows were not even sent out, so for up here, it wasn't much. How far is Benton Harbor? I couldn't tell you. I CAN tell you that it took about 40 minutes for these southerners to drive there in the snow, but I think it is only about 20 minutes away. We saw three or four cars in the ditch, but thankfully, we were not one of them. On the way home, it was really falling, and the best we could do was just stay in the ruts that had already been created in the road. I am sure we will get the hang of it. I asked my friend, Laurie, how you can even tell where the lanes are. She said, "You just have to guess." Lovely.

When we got home, the girls were eager to play, in spite of the dark, so we let them. Hey, you only have your first Michigan snow once. Right??

This was the sunrise out of my kitchen window the following morning. Just beautiful. The picture doesn't do it justice, plus I took it through the window, so that does not help the quality of the shot. :-) I was not about to get out of my warm P.J.'s to take a picture. Are you kidding me??

Can you guess which member of my family would build a snowman with such flair?

As you can see, Jeff is settling in quite nicely at work. He is already very comfortable there. :-)

Have a blessed day!
Jeannie