Lost but not forgotten!

Hello again old friends! I've been very, very busy as of late. It was a long hard winter and I feel as though I might finally be surfacing again just in time for spring! I started writing a post a while back, but Mama always said...If you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all! And I certainly consider myself to be smarter after heeding my Mama's advice on this point! I've decided to give you all a list! We'll see what information from the last couple of months is important enough to make my list!

February:

I had my first (and hopefully LAST) opportunity to attempt CPR. My 24 year old neighbor was found unresponsive in his apartment...right across the hall from me...by his parents who were worried about him. The guy upstairs and I attempted chest compressions, but quite honestly, I am pretty sure he was too far gone....It took a while to get back to being able to walk past the empty apartment to get to mine without the visual of the day flashing into my head. A shadow of this day will be with me always.

February:
I began looking for another job. I hope and pray that God has something for me closer to home. It has been a rough year so far from my church Family and friends! Driving 50 minutes to and from work and 50 minutes to and from church or any fellowship and hang out time has gotten really old! I have felt like the clown in the circus(and a three ring one to boot!) who is trying to keep the plates spinning on her poles. My difficulty is that the poles are all an hour away from each other! I get the plates spinning at work, and the fellowship plates come crashing down. On the weekend, I pack a bag and head into town to get refreshing fellowship and return home to find that no home plates are left spinning. I spend time cleaning and running errands to get my home back in order and realize that I've stayed up too late, or now have a migraine and miss a day of work! I stay late at work and arrive home to realize that I have no groceries and settle on popcorn or ice cream for dinner. Some days I don't even stop at home before I head to church, which cuts down the drive by at least a quarter hour. I have spent more time cleaning up shards of shattered plates then almost anything else!

I began to identify what God has been trying to teach me through my 2 years at this school. I got to borrow a friend's husband for some of the driving, and have learned a lot about having a brother! (I admit to turning up...just a little...some songs that my brother doesn't like from time to time...just to see my brother squirm!)

I have gotten really, really good at driving when I'm tired. Exhausted even! Last night I stayed in town late to put together a job application and drove home at 11:45-12:30 on a school night. I was beat, but arrived home safely (by the grace of God!). I have no idea where God will use this in my life, but He has some purpose! Perhaps this leads in to my next point....

March:
On my much coveted spring break I drove a friend to Detroit. She isn't able to drive due to epilepsy and so I drove her to an appointment with a specialist in Detroit. It took us 12 hours to get there, with very few stops. Perhaps our most comical was at the gas station just outside of the city. Our joke....So, 2 white girls walked into a gas station with bullet proof glass at night and bought a map....yep, that's it. No real punch line.... We stayed over night, took a cab to the hospital and then explored the downtown area around the Hilton where we stayed! We especially enjoyed the neighborhood called GreekTown, with it's smells, it's casino and OH YEAH! the Astoria Pastry Shop! (When will technology allow smell-avision?) We did experience a bit of a cab-driver turf war, but after a short trip up over the median and side walk, we came to rest in the Valet parking area! We paid our Cabby made a hasty retreat into the hotel! We went back to the Astoria Pastry Shop again for breakfast before our departure....which, paired with a quick stop at the local Target, almost made rush hour in downtown Chicago worth it! A stop for dinner at Chipotle in Madison, Wisconsin rounded out our menu for the day! Yummmmm!

April:
I'm quite busy at work right now as well. In the realm of Special Education, a meeting just isn't a meeting without 3 or 4 extra people! Could we make it more any more complicated? Throw in some med changes (my students thanks, not me!), some family drama and some hard core spiritual warfare on my church family, and I'm a bit wore out! My car was the latest, no- second to latest, car to be used in the warfare against the body of Christ! As I was watering the plants I'd been repotting on Saturday I heard crunching plastic in the parking lot. A neighbor's boyfriend accidentally backed into my back bumper and did a number on the paint job, and I've noticed that the bumper is a bit jiggly as well! His insurance is covering it, but I've got to get an estimate this week and fax it to the office. I spend 3 hours i my car on at least 2/5 days of the work week, and I wonder how not having a car will fit into my busy schedule? Perhaps I'll pray for a super-sweet, zippy little rental car?

I'm planning a move back to Menomonie, but the details are completely up in the air until I find a new job.... I have loved living so close to my family, only 15 minutes in the car instead of 45, and have loved only being a local call away! Both my mom and grandma will call my home phone and leave me little messages, something they didn't do when I only had a cell phone!

God is teaching me about prayer as of late. I'm really falling in love with my conversations with Him, which is another thing that suffers when I'm trying to keep those plates spinning! He is teaching be about being led by His eye (in Psalms somewhere) as a spouse or chils instead of by the bit and bridle like a dumb animal. You know, like when the husband and wife's eyes meet across the room, and without words they begin their good-byes and head for the door? Or when a parent only has to look at their child reaching for another piece of cake and the look stops the child in his tracks, without words or physical intervention? Perhaps I will always have those dumb animal tendencies, as the Bible says that my decisions will NEVER be free from the flesh-spirit war, but I want so much to know His mind and heart!

And so dear, starved blogging buddies, this is my life. I have been active on Face Book, as it's a quick one-liner kind of communication, leading to personal conversations and opportunities for relationships with the body of Christ and a crazy rekindling of old friendships. I have been included in celebrations of life, opportunities for prayer and some great humor as a result!

I have no idea where the next months will take me. I do know that God is in the driver's seat. If you don't hear from me, just know that I've relegated myself to the trunk so that God may completely drive my car! And not only is He the Driver, he's the wheel I cling to, the air I breathe and the headlights that light my way! Okay...so I think I've gone a bit over the top...do you remember the part of the story that tells you that I didn't even get home until 12:30 last night? Four hours of sleep does not a full night make! Perhaps tonight will make it better....if I stop blogging and start cooking!

If you're still around, drop me a line to say hi, if you want!

Your blogging flunky,
Amanda