Another year ...

It was two years ago now that I officially retired from ... employment! After floundering around for the first few months of retirement, and volunteering here and there, I think I have finally found a "groove" that is a good mixture of work and play. I'm really thankful for good health and fabulous opportunities in our church community to be of service to others. I have really enjoyed working with little children and volunteering in many different capacities involving them, as well as meeting their parents and making many new friends.

Starting this new school year, I will resume a healthy schedule of volunteering and making myself available for new areas to serve. I'm excited about what God will show me this year!

And my sister has inspired me to begin memorizing Scripture. This is my second week of that endeavor, and I have memorized the first ten verses of Ephesians chapter one. I have been so comforted and spiritually renewed by this passage of Scripture that I feel like ... a new person! Verse four alone needs to be made into a song! "Long ago, even before He made the world, God LOVED us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes."

We are packing for our Texas trip. We leave first thing in the morning, heading first to El Paso and then Bandera, and then Austin! We are not able to stay very long in any one place, because we have to get back to our volunteer commitments ... but we plan to enjoy every minute we can with our families in Texas. We'll try to keep in touch while in the road ...

We finally got Mr. Jones's shelf and beautiful train hanging up in the family room ... thought you might want to see it.