All it takes is a pumpkin...

So as I mentioned in Part 1 of my blog post, this is the post that will warm your soul. Wednesday night I had signed my 6th grade girls up to help me work our church's pumpkin patch. This is something I look forward to every year and instead of doing it by myself this year, I decided it'd be a good idea to share this night with my middle school girls. One thing my youth pastor ALWAYS taught me was to be a servant and sometimes I let my selfish, lazy side get in the way, but I really try to serve others so I wanted to put that into action with these girls. Because the shift started earlier than small group, I went out there with plans that once youth started the girls would then be walked out to me and away we'd play, serve, and be silly. Well, let's just say that God had other plans. Now, I say I love the cold, but that's only when I have the proper attire on. Wednesday there was a cold snap and seeing as how I came straight from Leadership Bay, I didn't have time to go home and grab a jacket blanket (or 3)! I was sitting there FREEZING and although a few people came by who were quite nice to talk to, I was continually telling myself I didn't need to be sitting out in the freezing cold and that no one else was going to stop by this late so I should just go inside, right?!...WRONG!

A few minutes after my thoughts of going in, this beat up old jeep pulled in and out came a mom, dad, and their two little girls. You could tell by their car and their clothes (or lack of, i.e. jackets) that they didn't have a whole lot of money. The little girls went CRAZY looking at all the pumpkins, holding them, kissing them, etc...it was so cute! But the parents remained hesitant to look and finally the dad had worked up the nerve to come and ask me how much the pumpkins were. Normally we price them according to size but this year we decided we wanted it to be by donation only, so after telling the dad that he could get whatever he wanted and give whatever he wanted the parents whole persona changed. The parents were running around with their kids, taking pictures in the wood cutouts (don't know the name for these) and laughing and cutting up like they had never seen pumpkins. It truly warmed my heart, but it was toward the end of their stop that the door was opened. The dad came up and asked me what kind of church we were and what we believed and there I began to witness to him and invited him to our church's celebration we're having this afternoon! I don't tell you this story to say, "look at me...I witnessed," but to say that sometimes we lose sight of why we do the "church things" and think that doing something as small as working the pumpkin patch couldn't/wouldn't open the door for us to share God's love with someone. It's in times like Wednesday night that I continue to thank God for his faithfulness and love toward us. That is one night I don't think I'll ever forget and you can bet I'll be looking for that family today at our church celebration!

One crazy week...

Well, it has finally come, the day I've been waiting for...SATURDAY!! I must say this has been one of THE busiest weeks. Started off by packing, cleaning, organizing, and re-packing everything at my house in preparation of my move that was to take place Tuesday. My oh so sweet friend, Ashley came over and helped me clean and pack EVERYTHING...seriously, she was so sweet to give up her weekend to come and help me pack and clean MY stuff, and because of her, we got it done! So Monday night another sweet friend, Cassie came over and helped me pack my friend's truck and my car and dark-thirty while trying to find every nook and cranny to lightly place shove stuff in and that we did! Tuesday, the moving day finally arrived and despite the sprinkles downpour earlier in the day, the rain did decide to hold off just long enough for Mrs. Val and I to move all my stuff in! I can't even tell you how excited I am to be in my new home with my new roommate. Tuesday evening Mrs. P brought over my FAVORITE meal (Poppyseed chicken, green beans, rolls, and fruit) and myself, my roommate Tiffany, and her sweet boyfriend Chase sat down as a family at our table and enjoyed our first meal. The best part about it was having to use toilet paper as our napkins because we forgot napkins and paper towels. So on Wednesday came and man was I dragging...went to my Leadership Bay Session ALL DAY (but I must say I love this group of folks and we have become fast friends). Wednesday night I headed straight to the church as I had signed my small group up for selling pumpkins (that story will be on my following post) and Thursday I was up bright and early to head to a meeting I was supporting on base from 7am to 5pm...that's right...a 10 hour meeting (wanted to pluck my eyes out) but it was that morning that I remembered why I hate living on the 3rd floor of an apartment. I was leaving my house around 6:15 when I began to descend the first flight of stairs and about 2 or 3 steps into me walking down, I fell face first down the concrete steps, skinning my legs from my ankles all the way to my knees (seriously, it looks like someone took a bat to them, and feels like it too) and hit my head on the rod iron fence that was at the plateau before the next flight of stairs...can I just say that this would be my luck?! Anyways, I was fine, got up and on my merry way I went to the meeting where I then came home enjoyed my one un-hectic night of the week so far and then it was Friday. I worked and then headed home early to meet the cable guy and Ashley who came to stay the night. I'm always very leary of cable guys and any other random men coming in my home when I'm by myself so I called in Ashley for backup! As the cable guy was here, I decided I wanted to make cookies to put in my cookie jar and low and behold, I didn't burn them. I was so proud of myself I even offered them to the cable guy!!! They were delish! So here it is, Saturday morning I've been up for quite awhile, watching HGTV, sitting by the warm fire and even decided to make some cinnamon streusel muffins that ALSO came out without burning...man, my house smells wonderful!!