Beauty

The Fall is my favorite time of the year. I guess my name suits me well. :) It is a time of year when it starts cooling off, the trees turn into bright oranges, yellows, and reds, farmers are harvesting the pumpkins, there are hayrides, festivals, fun decorations, and a lot of my favorite foods are popular this time of year.  So - being in Phoenix has changed that a little - I have to approach it in a different way this year, and I definitely do miss the beauty of the Fall in other parts of the country that aren't quite so "desert - like."  It is stil HOT here even in mid October with temperatures still soaring into the upper 90's every day.  There are no colorful trees - the trees we do have are still all green & I have a feeling that when it does cool off they will just turn brown or something.  Despite that, I am so blessed and remember that another characteristic of this season is that generally people specifically take time to think of their blessings.  We should do this every day regardless of the season, but in this culture it is definitely easy to think of these things this time of year.  So I just want to list some of the things that I have been blessed by the past couple of weeks.

• My Mama came to visit me this past week. It was so wonderful to see her & spend those few days together! We did a lot of fun stuff, but pertaining to "Fall" we experienced some of the season (yes, even here in Phoenix) by going to a pumpkin patch and corn maze this past weekend. It was such a fun night of just laughing and being out in the night air (which was significantly cooler once the sun went down)
• I have finally settled into my new place that I will likely be in for several months & am also blessed to have a great roommate who is passionate about the Lord.
• It only takes me a couple of hours to drive to one of my favorite places in the world.  If you have spent more than 5 minutes with me you probably don't even have to ask where I'm talking about. :) I spent the past 2 weekends there and was blessed by every bit of it. Sometimes crazy things happen that might catch me off guard, but even in those moments I know I am blessed by God. (That's a story for another time...probably not something to post in a blog). 
• It is a blessing to see how the kids I work with on a daily basis are progressing and how what I'm doing is making a difference in their lives.  
• Hearing how God is working in my friends lives blesses and encourages me immensely.  It is such a joy to hear of their faith stories and how He is guiding/teaching them. 
• Skype conversations with a precious friend just to catch up on any & everything and to encourage one another just blesses my heart & life so much. 
• Talking with family and friends from the Southeast helps me to remember that I'm not just out here alone, but there are people who love and support me and that I'm being lifted up in prayer.  It makes a big difference in how my days go knowing that I'm thought of and cared for.  Those kinds of things can make a world of difference in how we approach situations. I was thinking about that today...you know, having a friend stand by you gives you such a confidence that you don't always have when you feel you are standing alone. YET, even when we do feel alone - God is ALWAYS standing with us as His children - so we ultimately receive our courage and confidence from Him.  It is nice to have people loving & supporting us also in ways that we can feel & see. 

There are other things and closer to Thanksgiving I plan to write a blog listing general statements of life that I've been blessed by that encompass more than just a short span of a few weeks. There is also more that I could probably write now, but I don't want this one to be way long for now :)