Thanksgiving

I was very fortunate to get to go home for Thanksgiving. I have not been back to Dublin since August so it was nice to be home for a couple of days. This Thanksgiving was wonderful!!! The Bouchers always celebrate Thanksgiving on Thursday and this year all of Dad's siblings came which is the first time this has happened in a really long time. It was a wonderful chance to get to spend some time catching up with everyone.
However, it has been really hard for me to be back in Levelland now. I just want to be back at home spending time with my family. I know that I have a purpose here and that God is using me to be a witness to these kids, I have already built some great relationships with students from last year. But it is still hard being so far away from my family. It just makes me stop and think about John Mark and Jessica and how they are a whole ocean away. That has to be so hard. But it is like Dad said we can't put our family before God so we need to go where he leads us even if that is far away from our families. The good thing for me is that in two more weeks I will be at home again with my family!!
I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that it was a wonderful time for you to get to spend time with your family.

Refreshing

Sunday I decided to try a new church. I went to Southcrest Baptist church. Sunday school was exactly what I needed. We did a station type thing. One station you wrote your concerns in a letter to God and left it in a box, another one you rubbed your hands in the dirt and then washed them off a symbol of washing your sins away, another one was prayers from the Bible. There were 13 stations. It was a great chance to just spend some time reflecting on God and what he is doing in my life. Also a great chance to learn some new ways to study the Bible and to pray. It was very refreshing spiritually. Now I am looking forward to Thanksgiving. I am so ready to see my family. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and are able to take a moment and reflect on what God has done for you this year.

Thad

This weekend I got to go to San Angelo to hang out with Jeremy, Sara, and Thad. Saturday Thad was a month old and he has already started to change. We played games, ate cake, and Thad napped on my chest for the majoring of our playing time. He is so cute. It was funny because when I first got there on Friday night Sara had just finished feeding him and put him down and with in a couple of minutes he started crying so they went and got him and handed him to me. And what did he do, he smiled at me!!! It was so great. I love family. I think my time in Levelland and John Mark and Jessica moving away has really made me realize how close our family has always been. When I am away from them for long periods of time, I really miss them. I feel like a part of me is missing. I believe it should be that way with the church. When a brother or sister is gone for a while we should feel that, and lovingly bring them back. As well has the non believers. We should long for them to be a part of this wonderful family of God.

As promised and a little late here are a couple of pictures of Thad.

I love this picture of him. So peaceful.

These two are from this weekend.

If I were a color...

I have been reading this book called the Book Thief. It is about a young girl who grew up during Hitler's reign over Germany. The story is told by Death, who is recalling the story that the girl writes about her life. In the book Death talks about the color of each person's soul when he picks them up out of their bodies. This is not the first time that I have come across someone who thinks that we give off a color. The author of The Shack also does this as well as the director of The Village. It made me stop and think if I were a color what color would I be, and I realized how unlimited the possibilities are. I would like to be the color of a blue sky after a storm. I told my mom she could be the orange color of a Texas sunset. So if you were a color what color do you think that you would be? I would really like to hear your answers.

Taking a beating

Wow so this week has been off to a rough, rough start. At church on Sunday I found out that my Sunday School teachers are stepping down and will no longer be teaching our Sunday School class. I had really enjoyed having them as teachers. Then yesterday was a day full of frustrations. Students, technology, teachers, and of course the Rangers. It is one of those times we I just need to pull away from the frustrations of the world and spend some time with God. I always think of Philippians 4:6-7:
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
Wow what a powerful verse and it is an exciting verse as well. To know that if I just let God know that I am struggling and that the world is overwhelming me with these frustrations He will send me His peace. And not only send His peace to me but His peace will guard my heart and my mind. But instead of listening to these words of wisdom given to me in Philippians I allow the frustrations to pile on until I can no longer with stand the pressure. It is at this break point one I finally cry out to God to grant me peace, because it is then that I realize that I have been trying to do this all on my own and that the burden has always been to much for me to carry on my own. Yet I still do not learn from the pass because I still try to cling to the frustrations and find a way to survive when God is offering me not only survival but He is offering me a cool, secluded, summer beach (free of sunburn or sunscreen).
So I am going to work on letting my requests be made known to God this week. I hope that you are all having a wonderful week.
Oh yeah on a happier note John Mark, Jessica, Chloe and Joel called me on Saturday. Chloe is getting really good at saying my name and even allowed me to have a tea party with her over the phone. I so miss getting to spend time with the four of them.
Well have a wonderful day and if you get a chance this week stop and think about Philippians 4:6-7.