Wednesday, July 15, 2009

I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.
-Psalm 27:13

This past week God used many many people to refocus me and remind me of His goodness.  I wanted to share some of it...I find that often it changes my perspective.  

For one, my visit home was so terrific.  I saw most everyone that I wanted to see (dang Anna for not being home ;)) and had lots of fun with friends and family.  Plus, my allergies let up so much and I felt 1243245098235 times better.  I came back up Tuesday night and then Matt came up Wednesday to celebrate my birthday.  I came home Thursday to find my room completely clean and organized. It was wonderful.  It was great having Matt here for a short visit, especially over my birthday.  

Matt left Sunday morning and Laura and Caitie arrived that afternoon.  Monday afternoon we left for a time of exploration and that's when some awesome stuff started happening.  You may think we're nerdy, but we knew that parts of the Hannah Montana movie were filmed in Columbia, TN (a neighboring city) so we decided to go explore the area and get pictures.  The most obvious landmark we found was the courthouse.  We were kind of embarrassed to go inside, but the police in there were so nice!  They let us through security and told us all about the movie and where stuff was filmed.  We left there and headed to a street where they said most of the city scenes were filmed and thought we had found the diner used in the movie.  There was a man walking by so we asked him to get our picture in front of the building.  We ended up telling him our purpose in coming to Columbia and it turned out that we were at the wrong building.  Oddly enough, he had the key to the real place and let us inside and told us all about the changes the movie crew made.  I wanted to move to Columbia after interacting with all the sweet people there!

We headed to Nashville after that to eat at the Wildhorse Saloon and walk around the city.  As I'm sure all of you know, parking is beyond horrible and so expensive everywhere.  After driving around for quite some time we finally decided on a garage that would cost $12 until 6:00 PM.  As we pulled in, a lady coming out rolled down her window and offered us her pass so that we didn't have to pay.  How cool is that?  We then walked around the city and realized that we were going to run over past 6 PM once we ate dinner...but only for about 30 minutes and the sign said that we had to pay 10 more dollars if we ran over.  There was a parking attendant walking around so we decided to talk it over with him.  He ended up letting us go to dinner and told us that he'd just overlook our car for the little bit of extra time.  May not seem like a big deal, but those two kind people saved us $22 of parking (when I have absolutely no cash flow this summer).  

I was just so amazed by how God used those people to restore my faith in society. I love that even though there is evil in this world, God always prevails.  We will be victorious in the end.  I love that!  

I'm headed out from work, but just wanted to share how I was encouraged.  Love you guys!

Brit

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

I am still alive...

Quick little update:

  • I've been struggling with sickness these past 3 weeks. Started as bronchitis, then sinusitis, then whooping cough...kind of doubt that last one.  Finnnallyyy feeling better with the last medication they put me on.  Praise the Lord!
  • Life in Nash has gotten much much better since the last time I wrote.  I am finally feeling at home in my church up here and am starting to make closer friendships with a few people up here.  I'm so thankful for this experience and would not have changed it one bit, although I am pretty excited to return home and then to Orlando. 
  • Needless to say, I absolutely cannot wait for my short trip home Friday.  I can't even express how excited I am to see you, Em!  Should be loads of fun.  Plus, our new pastor starts Sunday so I'll get to be home for that.  Looking forward to a wonderful weekend.  Hopefully Florida decides to be nice to me and give us good weather for a beach trip Monday.
  • Once I get back up here, time will fly.  Matt visits the day I return till the 12.  My friends Laura and Caitie (from UCF) will be here from the 12-15.  My mom, Judy, and Julie will then come from the 15-on to whenever they decide to go.  Then it's only August 14 till I head home!  Where has this summer gone??
Love you girls!  Hope all is well with each of you. Have a fantastic week. :)

Brit