Wednesday, November 23, 2011

The prodigal blogger...

I have had an incredibly busy month! After four-ish weeks of retreats, conferences, road trips, housesitting, and crazy work events, I feel like my life is finally slowing down. (Just in time for the hectic holiday season, ha.) I am kind of kicking myself because three of those four weeks were spent at incredible spiritual retreats and a convention, and I should have been using my blog to document my experiences. Oh well... I'm back now, and hopefully I'll get back into the habit of updating my blog on a regular basis. (In my defense, I have started blogging about my classroom, and I also write a blog for my students to read and comment on... so I am still blogging. Just not here!)

So here is a quick rundown of what I've been up to...
The last weekend in October, my awesome friend Butler and I went on an Emmaus retreat together. I'm not really sure what to say about it other than that it was a great, relaxing weekend and that I absolutely cannot wait to start serving in the Emmaus and Chrysalis community!
The weekend after that, I went on a youth retreat to Victory Ranch. This trip was quite possibly the best youth trip I've ever been on. I've said it before, and I'll continue to say it: our church has the most awesome young people on the face of the planet. I am SO blessed that I have the opportunity to spend so much time with them. I always think it's funny when people say things to me like, "Oh, you're chaperoning a youth trip...  (usually here they roll their eyes) yeah, good luck with that..." They have no idea :)
The weekend after that, I housesat for my parents... uneventful...
Then last weekend, I went with Butler and my friend Jason to the National Youth Workers Convention in Atlanta. So fun! We met up with old friends, stopped at SIFAT to visit with people that Jason and Butler had met over the summer (SIFAT people are the best people, by the way. I love when you meet people for the first time and feel as if you've known them for years), and heard some amazing speakers (Tony Campolo!) We got lost three times on the way home... while using Google Maps... maybe I'm not the best navigator... but overall, it was a fantastic weekend!

Now I'm gearing up for some quality Thanksgiving-style family time tomorrow... and my first trip to Manna House! Which means I need to get some sleep... my alarm is going to go off very very early...