Worth a Thousand Words

I was going to make this post virtually wordless--but my pictures need just a bit of explaining. :)

It's been a great, difficult, different summer for me. It was almost nothing like I planned, I didn't get accomplished all I wanted to, but as I look at the weeks gone by, I know the Lord accomplished what HE wanted to. And that's what made it great.


The summer had some great ups--like meeting this little sweetheart. :) She's the sole survivor of our garage cat, George--ette, who is really a girl, we found out. :) Little Lucy, as we've dubbed her, is full of life and makes our hearts happy. :)



I've spent a few hours each week with my precious Granny. She suffered a pretty bad stroke this summer, which has been kind of sad. She can't speak as well anymore, but she's still as cute and funny as ever...she kept moving, so getting a picture of her was hard to do!


Probably the saddest thing we faced as a family was the loss of my "little brother," Henry. He was with us for 14 years, and we all really loved him. I still tear up thinking about him not being at my parents' house any more when I get there--but I'm glad he's out of pain. He sure was handsome... :)


Another really sad/hard part of the summer was literally picking up the pieces of parts of my life after my classroom (seen above) and school were vandalized. That probably was the greatest contributor to the emotional upheaval and spiritual distress I found myself coping with this summer. However, it's also been one of the things the Lord really used to make me more like Him.


With my sister dating and living in Wisconsin, I've had the privilege of being able to hog my parents. :) They are such comforts and supports to me...I'm pretty sure I'd have gone totally crazy by now without them!


All in all...what a summer! Paula and I spent a lovely week on vacation, which I already told you about, but it was so fun! I'm so glad she's my buddy...she puts up with a lot!

I'm so thankful for God's continued peace, provision, and protection. I'm still so unlike Him--there is still so much of me to work on! But by His grace, He's doing what He wills. Truly there's no better place to be!