Victory

I knocked it out of the park, to quote a friend. My talk(s) on Saturday were great! I was nervous off and on throughout the week leading up and even Saturday morning had flashes of being nervous. But, as soon as I got the mic and started talking it was just so natural to be up there sharing. This is how you know it is a gift from God and not yourself. Those times when you just do something and don't really know how, and can't really explain it, but you just don't have to work at it and it just flows. Not that I didn't think and plan my talk ahead, but after all that prep to just have it flow....it was not me speaking up there! I even told some jokes and was able to speak without hardly using my notes.

Several people told me I brought them to tears. I got a standing ovation and had many people who were not even present tell me that they heard about my talk.

I am hoping that it was recorded so that I have it to listen to it and maybe even upload it.
Erin

VDay Date, Job, Conference and other items

I had a date for Valentine's Day. Actually, I had a date with FOUR guys for Valentine's Day. Their names were Caedon, Caleb, Ethan and Evan and the oldest one was five, the youngest just three months. Caedon and Caleb are two boys at the school and their mom invited Erika and I over for dinner a few weeks ago. We thought we'd be babysitting while she and her husband when out to dinner, but NO! She said she and Eric, her husband, were wanting to teach her boys "how to treat a lady." So, when we arrived, Caedon and Caleb had a three presents sitting out for Erika and I, which he wanted us to open right away. Inside were Ghiradehli (mangled spelling, I know) chocolates, a heart-shaped plate that was pink and said 'love' on it, and a matching pink coffee mug. We were then offered "hors d'ourves" by the boys and Carrie (mom) taught them how to assist a lady into her chair and prompted the boys to ask us fun questions through the dinner and offer us more food and water. It had to be the cutest thing ever. I even got a kiss from Caedon at the end of the "date." It just made the whole day so fun. I have not had a single pang of any sort over my lack of a date more appropriate in age at all. It was the best.

I also talked to Chris yesterday and it looks like I start at the office on March 27th training with the current office manager, Gretchen, and then off on my own from the beginning of April forward. Should be fun. I have not had a ton of time to think about the whole thing with the conference coming up, and then the trip to Korea happening in the middle of the month too. The month between now and the end of March is proving to be one of major changes.

Lora, roommate, is also moving out during the month. She is starting up a new house with another friend where kids can come over and hang out after school etc. This is really her heart for ministry. So, I am down to two again, and looking for a third. Not stressed at all about it, but just wondering who it will be!

The conference is coming together. I am going tomorrow afternoon to buy food. One of my two talks is comletely done, and the other is just in need of some slight tweaking. Whew. I think will work on it for about 15 minutes tonight and then just take the night off of anything but crashing on the couch. I am more and more at peace with everything, and so that is great! Keep praying though!
Hope you are blessed too!
Erin

Whoa Nelly

This week is proving to be one where I will probably look back at the end of it and say "Thank you, Lord for pulling me through." Our women's conference is this Friday and Saturday. I am speaking at it twice. Considering that I used to do public speaking in front of hundreds of people, I am surprisingly nervous about it. This is the first time that the topic (women's health) will be something close to my heart and the audience will be one that I care about their opinions. When I did public speaking before, it was always in front of strangers and it was on topics I don't care about nearly as much as I care about this one. Some day, when I have spoken in front of people a lot (because I WILL do that someday), I will look back on this and smile about how the Lord prepared me by using this conference. Regardless, I am probably over-preparing and worrying about this for no reason, but I would love your prayers for peace and clarity as I prepare for those talks. If I had a ton of time to prepare, I would probably feel less stressed. However, I am also in charge of food for the conference, and working full time and all of my other committments too. I am feeling nervous about the talks and I just need to release the whole thing to the Lord. I AM called to this!

Erin

All but the details

It's all done but for the details....as of the end of this month, I will officially no longer be director of a school, but will be working in the office of our church. Details about how that will all work out are still being figured out, but it is basically happening. I will be working Tues-Fri in the office and making sure stuff runs at church on Sat. as well. I am not sure the exact tasks I will be doing, but there it is!

I have moved on a bit from the sadness earlier this week and I am now MUCH more excited about what this will entail and what it will look like. Suffice to say, I am stoked!!

Korea is also still being figured out too. WE have been having struggles with trying to figure out the details of it all and at times I have wondered if we are even going to be going. No tickets have been bought, we have no exact dates, we have no idea what we will be doing.....so, it just feels either a. really opposed or b. like we are maybe not supposed to go and are working at odds against the Lord. I am sure a little bit of "a" is in there regardless, but I am starting to wonder if this trip is even going to happen, it just feels so laborious to get the details hammered out. We'll see.

Our women's health conference is happening too. It will be the weekend of Feb. 16-18. I am giving my testimony one evening and teaching a breakout session on another evening. I am not as scared as I was, and feel overall a sense of this being something I HAVE to do. It has been fun to be on the planning team too.

I think the overall theme of the last few weeks has been: I cannot believe how much fear and insignificance are still in my "game." I have been so fearful about all of these changes, and the thing that keeps running through my head is: "Me?" Not that I shouldn't have a healthy fear in there or have a dose of humility, but it has not been false humility, it has been a very real sense of "I am not certain why I get to be the one to do these things." And the fear has been just flat out a lack of trusting the Lord. It is good to have these things surface, I cannot move forward into what I am to do with them still there. Gotta get em out!
Erin