StevenLaura

A week and a half ago my mom gave me her old pants. I was excited to be in "real jeans" again. She had worked hard to lose enough weight to lose the pants. The jeans fit perfectly. Now, after only 10 days of eating whatever I want (including lots of pies and cookies) I am happy to say mom's pants are now too big for ME! WOOT! Keep it comin'!

In other news, God's good. I keep coming nearly to the end of my rope, only to find he's extended it.
Example: Yesterday, homesickness hit. I was in Bible study with a bunch of strangers REALLY missing my home church. It's just too hard to make friends, I had no energy, ick. On the way out the door I got intercepted by two older women who wanted to "ooh" and "ahh" over my newborn. Instead of the normal awkward "I don't know you, let's meet" conversation, however, I got a refreshing conversation. During that conversation I discovered that the woman I was talking to had JUST (last week) visited my "home church" in NC. "D.D. gave the sermon" she told me, "and I visited with S, do you know S?" "Yes! He asked me to help volunteer with the ESL program when I lived down there" "Oh, you have a teaching license in ESL? Could I get your insight on something?..." and the conversation continued. "So, why did you decide to come to E. Church?" "Well, a professor I knew at [my undergraduate institution] gave it to me in a list of churches when I asked for her advice about church shopping. I guess she went here when she was an undergraduate at [a local college where S works]. Her name's V.L." [Side note: I think V.L. went to this church before I was born, if I'm doing the math right.] "Oh! V.L like N. and V.L.!? I know of them!"
Then the other woman piped up, "So, are you from MN then?" "yes." "So am I!!"

(sigh of contentment) Although I'm far from my homes, apparently I'm not so far away after all.

Another (shorter) story: Since my mother/mother in law have left, I've discovered how difficult it is to sleep/clean/eat/etc. with a newborn AND toddler. Today, feeling a bit overwhelmed, I got two invites from people I barely know volunteering to bring me soup so that I wouldn't have to cook.

And I got a sermonette today that really spoke to me. Essentially, reminding me that it's in "trials" that we grow. I have looked at my life of late as a little bit of a trial (albeit a good one) so the reminder that I could rejoice in this time was wonderful, and refreshing. So good.