Week Twenty-Six in Review

Can you believe the year is officially half over?  Where have the first six months gone?  You can definitely tell from the temperatures outside that it is not winter!  100+ temps for three days in a row is nuts.  I don't live in Phoenix for a reason!  I guess it's God's way of letting me feel a little of what my friend Lisa is experiencing in West Africa this summer.

This was a pretty low-key week.  I am finishing up some projects at work but I can definitely tell my time is ending - I view things differently and it's getting harder and harder to get out of bed in the mornings.  Of course, my upcoming beach trip might have something to do with that. :-)  I will look back fondly on my time at GCADV but it is time to move on.  I am quite thankful God brought me the new position at Children's Healthcare and I'm looking forward to whatever my next adventure is.

I had a couple of thoughts spiritually this week while I was reading.  First, I was struck by Naaman's response in 2 Kings 5 when Elisha gave him a cure for leprosy.  He was upset because it wasn't a bold enough plan and Elisha sent the cure by messenger instead of coming himself.  I couldn't believe he was willing to give up a cure for leprosy because the cure wasn't big enough.  While calmer heads did prevail, I pondered how often my response to God's provision is similar.  The answer doesn't come soon enough, isn't exactly what I wanted or how I wanted it.  It just proves that we all have a hard time being content with how God provides.

The second thought pertained to the evilness that shows up in the lineage of the Kings and how God continued to be faithful in spite of the evilness.  In 2 Kings 8, the writer is detailing how evil Jehoram was but highlighted that God did not destroy Judah because of the promise He made to David - promising a continued kingdom through his line.  I was just reminded that our God is a God of promises - He keeps His even when we break ours.  My heart was so thankful for that this week.  While I don't think grace is a license to sin freely, I'm thankful we are given grace for those times when we do sin.

I ended the week with a wonderful visit from my mom and sister.  We did our annual girls' weekend more low-key this year.  Instead of traveling somewhere, they came up here and we went to the Braves game on Friday night, outlet shopping yesterday and then church and lunch today.  The Braves game was hot as you know where and they lost but we still had a great time together.  We had great seats and since it was so hot, the crowds weren't ridiculously big.  Yesterday we went up to Dawsonville to outlet shop.  I managed to find some great deals to add to my "professional" wardrobe.  Since all my jobs since college have been for non-profits or churches or required scrubs, I haven't needed the most professional looking wardrobe.  Well, Children's is a little different.  While I don't have to wear suits every day (Praise the Lord!), I do have to dress above business casual.  No capris, no denim, no flip flops.  So, I had to add clothes and shoes.  Fortunately, Sarah has FABULOUS taste and helped me pick some things out and then last night, she helped me organize outfits.  I have at least 60 outfits cataloged on my phone and there are probably more than 20 that we didn't catalog because I could figure them out on my own.  So, so thankful for a fashionista sister.  And we get to do it all over again in the fall when we add winter tops.

I guess that's it for now.  I'm planning to try and stay in one place the rest of the night.  It's cooler that way.  More next week from the beach...