Where do I begin...

So, much has happened between now and the last time I wrote a post. Being that so much has taken place, you would have thought I had a lot to blog about in the last month (which I did), but there wasn't time in time in the day to do the writing required.

I received an ever so gentle reminder from my dear friend Stacey that she missed hearing from me, so here I am dragging myself to the keyboard in an effort to catch you all up on my life.

Let's start with work, I'm still with Ameriprise and working on the end of the year projects, which occupy a lot of my time.

Sandal House is always an ever present challenge/reward in my life. We've had some comings and goings at the house, and that always disrupts the schedule and takes more time on my part. I'll be happy when one day we have three permanent residents in place and have established a routine to our days.

I'm enjoying "church life". Some exciting events are taking place in our fellowship at Weaver's Mennonite and I'm thrilled to be serving in various roles there. Recently I've become involved as the director of Missions and Service, the Sr. High Sunday School teacher, and working towards developing young adult ministries. Again, each area has it's own challenges and rewards, and I'm still working at how exactly God would like me to share my gifts in these different roles.

My family is going through some adjustments. In the last couple of months my parents have begun work on their new home. While they are awaiting it's completion they've been living in a house in Dayton, that's about a ten minute drive from where I live. After all these years of living in Utah, it's nice to live so close to my parents and be able to visit them on a whim.

My sister, Lora Beth is still living in South Central, Virginia in a rural/small community. She's been working with WIC and soon to be a licensed dietician. She recently got back from a vacation in Mexico and I look forward to hearing all about it.

My brother, Brent moved to North Carolina this summer and everything seems to be going well with him. He wanted an evening job, so that he could be near his computer during the stock market hours, so he's working as a valet. I think as a guy he really enjoys being able to get behind the wheel of some pretty fancy cars.

I've been thinking of my grandparents a lot recently. I have three who are still living, but not in the best of health. My grandmother Heatwole is living in a nursing home near where I live. I visit her when I can, but she really doesn't remember me. She has dementia, and I know it will be a blessing when the Lord calls her home. My grandmother Vance is also living in a nursing home about an 1/2 hour drive from me. She was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer this last year, and has also suffered some strokes. It's difficult to watch her go down hill like she is. My granddad Vance is still living in his home in Highland County (about an hour drive from me). I've recently begun spending the second weekend of every month with him. Visiting granddad is something I look forward to each month. He lives in the quiet, peaceful, rural mountains and solitude is a real blessing in my life. Plus, my granddad is a riot, it's a lot of fun talking and hanging out with him.

Next in my life comes my friends, who are wonderful!! I feel so blessed to have such loving, supportive friends in my life. I really enjoy spending time with them, when times allows. One of my favorite activities is hanging with the Ladies Biblestudy, such wonderful woment in that group. I also enjoy the random moments we get together, like this past weekend when Emily came over for "girl talk" and we ran out for her very first slurpee (okay, she's 27 and had never had a slurpee, that wasn't right and we corrected it).

I also enjoy spending time catching up with old friends over the telephone (because unfortunately I don't have time to fly all over the country to visit them). This past weekend I spent a good amount of time catching up with some of the guys in Utah. I love those guys, and it was great having some heart to heart's with them.

So, that leads me to what I'm doing in my free time. What free time you might ask :) I do get some, and I'm using it to enjoy some of my favorite activities. Most recently that's involved cake decorating. I love the creative outlet it's giving me, plus I just love feeding people. Actually, I've been decorating so many cakes for people here of late, I feel like I've started up a side business quite unintentionally. I haven't been posting photos of the cakes here on my blog, because unfortunately my camera has decided to die on me, and since I haven't gone shopping for a new camera, well no photos.

That's my life in a nutshell. Hope you enjoyed the general review. Contact me some time if you want the specifics.