I've closed all of my challenge blogs and have stepped down from all of the Design Teams I was on. Many of you know that already. I have enough projects to post to my blog daily through sometime in February of next year. Understand these are all scheduled posts. I have not been crafting for a several months except for maybe one or two things that I've made with new card kits that came in. I did leave some dates in December open in case I make anything new to post or just want to chat with you like I'm doing today.
Church has been wonderful. I had planned on visiting several of the Sunday School classes to see what was available, but yesterday when I visited Kathleen's class, I decided it felt right. No need to visit the others. This is a fabulous group of men and women who are sincere in their love and care for others and want to grow in Christ together. I'm sure all of the other Sunday School classes are just as awesome, but what can I say other than I felt right in my soul this was the one I belonged to.
Many of you also know that although our family has moved home to South Carolina, Tom is still working in Alaska and splits his time between here and there. It's quite the adjustment, but we video chat, text, and call each other all through the days, so that helps. Tom & Bonnie also get on XBox Live and race together. We can hear him talking through the TV speakers, and he can hear us. Bonnie loves it. It's quite fun. Over the weekend, Jimmy was on XBox Live too, and all of them were racing together.
Thank you for all of your prayers for Tom after the 7.0 Alaska earthquake. He's fine. He was at work standing in a doorway talking to his customer when it hit. Best place to be - in a doorway - during an earthquake. He said the aftershocks are not as frequent and strong now, so that's good. The earthquake damaged a lot of buildings, roads, took out bridges, rock slides, sink holes, that sort of thing. Several businesses have been closed since last Friday. Hopefully they will reopen today and things can get back to normal.
During these periods of Tom being there and not here, I've been doing a lot more reading. I love to read, and haven't done that nearly as much this year as I normally do. Both Tom & I have Kindles which are great, and both of us are sort of missing having "real" books on the bookshelf to run our fingers over and pick one to read again.
I told Tom I was conflicted. I like the Kindle. It's lightweight, I can look up words I don't know, I can change the font to really big (which these old eyes like), and it's nice to read in bed without the light on. On the other hand, I love the feel of a real book. I love writing on the pages thoughts I have about what I'm reading and underlining things that pop out to me. I like grabbing a book off the shelf I haven't read in a while, and read it again and see all of those notes and remember those thoughts I had. But... some books are heavy to read in bed and then there's that bright light you have to have on while you read.... sigh... I guess both are convenient and useful in their own ways. I'll probably still keep using both.
I just finished "The Women of Christmas." It was very good. Easy to read. And you can probably finish it in a day. I was trying to pace myself for 2 chapters a week since I'm doing an online Bible Study with it via Bible Cafe Study Groups on Facebook, and we are discussing 2 chapters a week up until Christmas, but I had to just read it through over the weekend. Couldn't stand not finishing it. LOL
Lifeway Women on the internet is another incredible place to gather together in the name of Christ and study His word. Lots of different studies that go on. Pick one. It's sort of the same thing as the Facebook group, except here there is a post about the study that week, sometimes a short introduction video (NOT the same thing as the weekly study video sessions), and then questions to answer and comment on in the comment section. Again, a great way to stay in God's Word learning and growing with other women and praying for each other. JOB starts in January. You can order your study guide online at Lifeway.com or go to your local Lifeway store.
Speaking of the Lifeway store... There are having a $5 book sale right now and guess what book I saw on sale for $5?! Fervent by Priscilla Shirer! I love that book. Read it from a library book (so couldn't write in it). Bought the Kindle edition. But I would LOVE to have a paper copy to underline stuff and write out thoughts. Tempted to swing by their store today and see if they have one in stock, but better not. Santa still has some shopping to get done.
Christmas movies we've watched so far this year:
Enjoy your week, everyone!
Hugs, Janis
