Weekend

Hi All,

Thanks for the prayers and encouraging words this past week. It was much needed! I was also able to have some encouraging conversations this past week. Not all is solved, but better.

Yesterday (Friday) when classes were done, Steve had his RA retreat (I get to go along as benefits of being his wife:). So we loaded up a van and lots of food, and went out of town to a colleague's house for the evening (he has been super generous this year with letting people use his house for retreats).

It was just the thing we needed. We cooked our food over a fire, sauna'd, and just in general hung out. The house was heated by a wood stove, so Steve is a bit tired after trying to keep enough wood going, and making sure the house was warm through the night.
I on the other hand had the best night's sleep I've had in a long time. I woke up on my own (no alarm), and was ready to wake up (that never happens. I always want to sleep a little more). No one else was awake, so I took the camera and went for a walk. It was beautiful. I really connect with God via nature, and it was a gorgeous morning.

We got back here in the middle of the afternoon, and quickly cleaned up and then got ready for my leaders to come over for dinner (we were over scheduled this weekend, but it was such laid back quality time that it didn't seem so stressful). Yesterday before we left on the RA retreat I made a chicken stew of sorts (I was improvising, didn't know if it would turn out to be more of a thin soup or a thick stew...we were hoping for a stew, and it was a success!), so all we had to do when we got back today was heat it up, and then we made some rice to go with it. It was very tasty! I will definitely have to make it again.

Then after that we had our friends the Johnsons over for some 500 (cards). Their friendship has been such a huge blessing for us. They are definitely an answer to prayer -- so thank you for that!

Here are some pictures I took on my walk this morning, and Steve with his RAs. Thanks again for praying for us this week. It started out rough, but ended well.

The path up to the outdoor....hearth (what is the word?), where the guys cooked dinner (Šašlyk...basically seasoned/marinated meat on sticks...highly similar, I think, to shish kebabs).


Wintry trees on a small pond.


One of my favorite sounds is wind blowing through pine trees. I couldn't capture the sound, so here is a picture I took while I was listening to the wind while walking this morning.


Wide open nothingness. I was lucky to have such a blue sky. By this afternoon it was quite grey again.


A neat looking bridge.


Sun shining on the pine tree and the dirt road. Love it.


Steve and his RAs.


PS...happy Birthday to Hezekiah! We tried to call today, and will call again tomorrow too!