Right now I am sitting by the lake sun bathing in the most beautiful place in the world! (here is a picture of what I was looking at while writing)

Since my last post I have been all over they place, literally, mentally and emotionally. I have been blessed beyond belief by this town (as usual) but it hasn’t been easy at all times. With the holidays coming up I have gotten pretty home sick and often look online at flights just to see if Maybe I could make a trip home; but it is more than impractical. The thing that makes it easier to bare is the fact that a) it is Crazy beautiful here and b) that it is summer time, so it doesn’t quite feel like Christmas. There continues to be amazing things happening all the time that hold me over. One of the many things I love the most is that there are Always opportunities to have picnics with amazing surroundings. (I have about 4 or 5 picnics a week and it is marvelous)
I am continuing to make new friends and develop relationships with people here. I have gotten to be really great friends with one of my co-workers. It has been lovely doing things with her. She is a planner, like me, and we are always up to something. We have made a few plans for camping trips and always manage to get a good girls night out about once a week or so. She is even thinking about joining me for a trip to Fiji!
I have also committed to a church (a different one than I had mentioned in my last post) and I am starting to build friendships with some of the girls from there. We had a fun movie night last weekend and today I had a great sushi picnic with one of the girls on the lake. While I didn’t think initially that this was the right church for me, God has now really affirmed that it is. The congregation is young and they meet at night so I am always able to make it.

My two really close guy friends left this week so that was a bit sad, but I am sure that I will be able to see them again at some point. Right before Pete left we were able to take a wonderful day trip to Milford Sounds. It was a long day (about 5 hours each way) but it was so worth it. The drive was absolutely breath taking. I was absolutely astounded by Gods creation. We had booked boat cruise through the sounds. We got there we checked in and were talking to the receptionist and she asked how we heard about them; we told her we worked for Basecamp, so she let us on for free!!! It was such a huge blessing because the cruises are normally about $60. Since we got on for free we were able to have a nice dinner on the way home.

Work continues to go well. I had started to get pretty board and I was dreading the idea of working without Joey and Pete. (they always made things interesting and fun) But I finally got put on some Café shifts and it has been AMAZING! I was able to do some cooking and I loved it. I didn’t realize that I missed cooking and to be honest I didn’t even know that I love to do it; but it turns out that I do! Anyways the café supervisor really liked having me back there and was impressed by my work, so she told the manager that from now on she wants me to do all the cooking! I think the change is just what I needed. This week should also be fun at work because we have an event this Friday and it’s Speed Dating. My co-workes made sure that I was not working and they took the liberty to sign me up, which I was initially Totally against, but now I think it will be a good laugh. I have actually managed to get 3 girls from church to come and do it with me! (I told them it would be a good outreach, haha)

And now for the warm fuzzy feeling of the week:
God’s provision was incredible that past week. As I told you I chose a church to commit to; well last week they made an announcement that they were doing a big donation pull for their base church’s building fund. When they said this I had a really strong feeling that I was suppose to give them my next paycheck. I wasn’t to thrilled about this feeling, but I decided to pray about it. So I prayed and told God that I didn’t really want to give it and that I wanted to save it for other things. But that since he asked me to I would commit and do it. The next day I was talking to my parents and they told me that both my Aunt and Grandma had sent me checks that totaled Well over the amount of my paycheck! God is good. It just really shows that you cant receive His gifts with a closed hand!

Prayers:
Everything here is really wonderful but please pray for me over the holidays. And that I would find comfort in this time. Please also pray for clarity and guidance on the “future.” Thanks so much! I love you and miss you!

PICTURES!
http://unt.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2162003&l=610a0&id=23902206