Our getaway to Park City!
The sale has come and gone-- life is resuming its normal pace. Things are good-- very good.
We met our $12,000 goal at the sale! Everything went SO well! We now have over $20,000 to put toward the playground. It is such a rewarding feeling to think about how much we've accomplished through our little sale.
Scott and I were thrilled to get away for a ski trip to Park City this week. We really enjoy skiing and used to go quite often B.K. (before kids!). I hadn't actually been on the slopes in almost 4 years because of being pregnant or having little ones too small to leave behind.
Now that Caroline is one, we decided to let my parents keep the kids while were gone. It is such a blessing to be able to leave them and not to have a moment's worry about it. They didn't even know we were gone! They love Pa Bob and Ma Betz.
Scott and I had a great time! The weather was perfect, even if the snow got a tad slushy by early afternoon... It is nice to remember what life was like before we had two kids! It also lets you remember just how blessed we are to have each other and those two precious kiddos.
Next item on the Westerman agenda--- DISNEY! We are headed to Disney in three weeks! This will be Luke's (and Caroline's) first trip, and he is beyond excited! He is especially pumped about eating breakfast with Jo Jo, Goliath, and a few of the Little Einsteins from Playhouse Disney. We are excited to see the park through their eyes.... I first went to Disney when I was 6, and I still have vivid memories of being scared out of my wits when the ghost was sitting next to me on the haunted house ride! Scott and I also spent a few days there on the way back from our honeymoon.... Good memories, and now we will have new family memories there.
My Beth Moore study wraps this week. It has been a rich time, and I will miss it. I am extremely humbled and aware of how much work I still have to do in yielding my will to His and to learning to live under His power and not my own. Thanks for your gifts, Beth!
I vow to do better on posting! Sometimes life just gets out of control and things must be placed on the back burner for a time.... I have missed capturing my life in words. When I find time, I will sit down and "slurp" this all into a hardback version that perhaps others can read many moons from now-- or at least it can collect dust on one of our shelves! There is a new company into blog-binding now-- BLURB check it out.
Also-- I have to put in a few words about my favorite writer of choice lately-- Lauren Winner. I first heard of her from Mike Cope's raves at a ZOE planning meeting in early 2006. She was soon slated to be on the ZOE conference schedule. I actually didn't even get to hear her at the conference, but I tracked down the audio CDs and was hooked, too. I snapped up two of her books. I tackled Girl Meets God and was deeply affected by it in such a positive way. What an amazing tale of a journey from one faith (Judaism) into another (Christianity). This week on the plane, I finished Mudhouse Sabbath. This book chronicles the Jewish traditions and how they parallel and might even enrich our Christian traditions-- LOVED IT!!It is odd how God seems to be placing similar things in my life lately revolving around this. Last fall I was blessed to sit in on a class by the head of New Testament studies at Vanderbilt, Dr. Amy-Jill Levine. She is a devout Jew and knows more about the New Testament than I could even begin to muster. What an interesting time hearing her takes on Christianity and the story the gospels reveal-- and yet, she does not believe. She had to cut the class short due to some health issues, but she will be starting a class on Matthew next month on Tuesday nights at 7 pm at Otter Creek. It would definitely be worth your time if you are near to attend.
In another class on Sunday mornings, I was blessed to hear one of our elders talk about a recent experience he had at a local Jewish Synagogue. He was moved to tears as he described the time he shared with the congregation there.
So-- I think I am going to start thinking more deeply about things like Sabbath, and scripture study, and celebrations, and other traditions which aren't so much Jewish as much as a part of the entire story of God, from beginning to end. Thanks, Lauren!
