Not Quite Ordinary Observations

For Today...Wednesday, September 17, 2014

In the great outdoors...beautiful sunshine! Great day for harvest. But, rain is supposed to be coming. We’re just praying it’s gentle.

Within our four walls...Olivia running through a few piano songs while Angie and Steven relax before school. Apparently there are not enough chores on Wednesday mornings. Ha!

A heart of thanksgiving...for a safe weekend trip and a smooth weekend for my family here at home; for the sunshine; for the promise of fall.

A heart of prayer...for our children and youth at church to hunger for a relationship with the Lord; for harvest.

My silly children...are pirate-y this week. Which reminds me that I have not shared the pictures of their ship The Pirate Cow. I believe I have a video introducing the full crew. It will come soon.

Thoughts from the kitchen...Doug cooked chili while I was gone last weekend. We had that Monday. Then, right before I went to go work on lunch yesterday, he asked if I had a plan. When I said no, he went in and concocted a fantastic cordon bleu pasta dish. Oh my! Today’s pot pie will be good, I’m sure, but a little bland after all of that!

On my bookshelf...I started Grace in Thine Eyes by Liz Curtis Higgs on the way to Florida Thursday. I’m sure I will be sneaking in moments here and there to get it finished.

Projects...time to start thinking about Christmas!

Sounds of the moment...Christmas music. Yes. But there’s a reason for it. Olivia’s playing it on the piano because she wants to be able to play a special by Christmas. Doug is listening to it because he’s working on a Christmas related writing project. I just get to be in on the fun (although I do need have some Christmas writing to do as well).

From Hibbard Academy...getting back into the swing of things after a couple of crazy weeks.

A favorite thing from last week...allow me to set the stage first: I work with a great group of ladies. But, we are scattered across the country. Until last weekend, none of us had met the whole team face to face – just a few of us here and there had met a few others. A couple of months ago, though, our CEO told us she wanted to fly us all to Florida for our first annual staff retreat. Now, how do you say no to that?

In all honesty, though, I was nervous. Three days in a house with eleven other ladies? Would we possibly gel as well in person as we do through our cyber interactions? This introvert just wasn’t sure about the whole thing. Just how much energy would this take, and how long would it take to recover?

I wish I could put words to how the weekend truly went, but I can’t. All I can say is that in both play and work, we meshed beautifully. I always knew I worked with amazing ladies, but the weekend showed just how amazing they really are. And we clicked as a team more powerfully than ever.

I have always marveled over the way God opened doors to allow me to be a part of this team. But the weekend opened my eyes to just how miraculous the whole team is. HEDUA is an incredible company. I just pray that we will always be good stewards of what He has put together. I’m so humbled and honored to be a part of this team!

The planner...a normal week, ending with some time with a GA group on Saturday.

Because visuals are fun...I just realized I didn’t get any pictures where we stayed. But, this was a beautiful view in St. Augustine!