Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Personal Retreat
Last weekend Angie and I went to a place called the Chalet in Comlumbia City. It's a house the Family Care Center provides to those in ministry to use for personal retreats for a small fee. It was wonderful! We were close to a lake and woods surrounded the house. The picture of the deer was taken from the kitchen window! The last day we were there it snowed quite a bit. What a treat it was to enjoy the peaceful nature surrounding us.I had never gone on a personal retreat so the experience was very new to me. It was great to get away from the TV and computer and just be. I spent a lot of time praying, journaling, and reading scripture. I had come with a list of questions I wanted God to answer for me, but He had a different plan. Funny how He always wins out, huh? Instead of addressing my questions, he drew me into His presence and showed me many aspects of His character. I had taken my Jill Phillips CD with me and played the song "I Am" after reading a devotional that triggered me to remember some words from this song. It was a perfect way to begin my journey of being reminded who God is.
I came away reassured that He is my Refuge, my Protector, my Savior, my Strength, my Rock, my Guardian, my Defender, my Master and Ruler, my Shelter, and my Shield of love in whom I can trust. Wow! Let's just say I came away filled with joy from being in the presence of Jesus and am so thankful His agenda was different than mine. As far as my questions go...I'm still bringing them to Him and waiting expectantly for His answers. I'm learning God doesn't want me to just seek answers, He wants me to seek Him. And so I will.
And that's the end of this mini sermon!
Jamie at 5:40 PM
Monday, January 15, 2007
Socks and More
It never fails...Dad is always happy with some new socks! Not just ANY socks though...only those good ole yellow toe socks! 
I couldn't resist this...Pete was taking up the ENTIRE couch ya know! He asked for it! I really don't think he minded. It was great to hang out with Pete. He's safely in Afghanistan now beginning his year of service. I'll be glad when he's safely back home.Jamie at 7:43 PM
Cozy Fireplace and Mom Hugs!
And here, I'm enjoying my fill of Mom hugs! You can't get enough of those!
Jamie at 7:27 PM
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Spending the Holidays in Florida
Well, this picture depicts what I just got finished doing...relaxing and taking it easy in the sunny state of Florida. I arrived home around 11 p.m. last night and couldn't wind down enough to go to bed until mid-night. When 6:45 a.m. came around I wasn't exactly ready to hit the ground running, but I did anyway. It's been a long day and I can't believe I'm sitting here blogging when I should be getting ready for bed. Oh well. The cat pictured above is Angie's and his name is Jinga. He was so adorable we couldn't resist taking a picture.
My trip entailed playing games with my family, shopping, celebrating the holidays with family, and sleeping in until 9 a.m. every day! The picture above shows us playing Ticket to Ride. We call it the train game. It takes a lot of strategy and we discovered that by the first 15 minutes of the game you can become one frustrated person. Simply put, the object is to complete routes that you draw. Well, with four people and overlapping routes, it's easy to have your well mapped out route blocked or taken over by someone else. Peter and Dad won a lot. Mom and I spent a lot of time being frustrated. Oh well, it was fun anyway.
We also went to a place called Wakulla Springs last Saturday. It was 80 degrees and sunny...a perfect day for the boat ride we took. We saw all kinds of wildlife during the ride...allegators, turtles (my favorite) and lots of birds.
It was great to have Pete with us for most of the week. Above is a self portrait of us...hence the cut off heads. Oh well, it gives it a modern look, right? We saw Peter off at the airport last Thursday. They let us go past the security check point with him since we are military family. It was good to have the extra time together as Pete waited to board the flight. He'll be leaving for Afghanistan any day now. It was really hard to say goodbye but we're set up to talk on skype so that will be good.
Overall it was a great vacation and believe it or not I'm glad to be back home getting back into a daily routine.
Jamie at 9:43 PM
