Re-cap from the weekend...

I had a great time at home overall and had some amazing time reconnecting with friends. I was able to see a friend that I haven’t seen in almost eight years! It was great catching up and laughing about the last time we were together. Plus I was able to try and speak a little German which is always fun! I still remembered a few things, but I really lost a lot of the little that I did know. It was really wonderful hearing about where life has taken her and remembering how I was so many years ago as well. It was a short visit but I packed a lot in. Jen & Andy’s wedding was absolutely beautiful, and really captured their spirit…zany and fun! It really looked like they had a great time and were actually able to enjoy the wedding, which I feel like that doesn’t happen as often as it may seem. Everyone had a great time at the reception, which was a blast and had Jen & Andy written all over it!

Throughout the weekend I was able to hang out and catch up with Melissa! Thursday evening after church a bunch of us decided to go to one of my favorite restaurants back home and catch up. Melissa was going to drive me, but on the way up from the lower parking lot she got a flat tire! Eek! So a couple of the guys put her spare on, but there was no hope for the tire, there was a 2-3 inch gash in it! I’m talking you could put a couple fingers through it and they would fit just fine! Anyway, so after a slight delay we were off and running again. We were able to get a great deal on a tire the next day before heading to Redamaks for the most amazing cheese burger ever! Yes, it really is worth an hour and a half round trip drive! Anyway, it was just wonderful to really be able to just sit down and talk about life with her again without feeling like we had to be somewhere or that we had to get something else done. It had been such a long time since we had done that last. The first night we were in the Bend we stayed up until close to 1:30am talking on the porch about the past year and how far we’ve both come. It’s amazing to think that a year ago I was just starting MT school. I’m now almost done (10 weeks to go!) and looking on to bigger goals now. It’s amazing how much I’ve grown and changed but at the same time how much I’ve stayed the same and have grown stronger in my faith and really learned the value of friendship even more than I already knew.

Okay back to the weekend. Church was great, as always, and I learned so much from only being there once (well 1.5 times…got in much later than expected so I missed half of the midweek service...poo!). One thing that really stuck out to me was something that our senior pastor said, “We are not to prey on each other; we are to pray for each other.” How often do we look at other as just an obstacle to overcome? In just about every aspect of life we look at each other as just an object in our way of our bigger goal. We don’t see each other as people we see each other as objects. (Yes, I know I just said that twice basically, but I think it needs to be said a couple times to really understand it.) After church I was able to meet up with my former supervisor (and mentor!) and catch up with how things are moving along for me. It’s always great to talk with her, and get her wisdom on different situations that I’m going through. About a half hour later me and some friends went to grab a bite to eat and catch up one last time before being gone for a couple months again. I was able to see a friend of mine that I’ve been praying for, for some time now, who is getting baptized today! (Although by now I’m sure that happened already.) I wish I could have stayed longer so I could have been there for the event, but no luck. Either way it was still great to see her and let her know how proud of her I am.

Altogether I really had a wonderful time, but it went way too fast. I really wish that I could have caught up with more friends but that will have to wait until next time, which I’m sure will come faster than I can even imagine. For now…Over and out!

Lo!