Kevin and I love the Adirondacks...he spent a few years working up there and I have done quite a bit of hiking up there and there is just something about being able to go up there that refreshes our spirits...we are heading up today to spend a few days relaxing up there and I have really needed this break. I want to run to the peace of the mountains and bask in the silence it brings...to spend time at the feet of my savior and in the arms of my husband as we enjoy an escape from all that calls out to us so loudly in our lives. It does not matter what the weather is like I just want to go to the mountains.

The leadership team organized a community service day at school and I was asked to go along with one of the groups. It ended up being all boys heading to a nursing home...I wasn't sure how it was going to go but as I watched I was so encouraged by the way they stepped up to the plate...it took some of them a little bit of time to warm up but they all did an awesome job and it was so fun to be a part of it with them. The second half of the day we spent at a small christian bookstore on main st. in cortland. The lady who owns it has some physical disabilities but has faithfully provided a place for great resources for almost 20 years. I was able to hear her testimony of how she started with 29 cents and has trusted God each step of the way and I was moved by the faith of this woman and God's incredible working through her.

ever just had one of those days...those days where everything just goes not so great...you can't find the right outfit, you drop your purse on the way out the door, you try to get someplace on time and end up running late, you forget to pick up something and have to fight traffic to go back out and get it...and just when you need encouragement you find out the person you want it from needs it too and so you end up in the big one...that one big, stupid fight that is more about the fact that you are dead tired from giving so much that you can't communicate what you really feel and misconstrue what the other person is trying to say...you say stupid things you don't mean and in the end realize it was about nothing more that you need sleep and each other...the making up is good but the steps to get there are tough. Yet, i am thankful once again for grace...the grace to forgive, to understand, and to love in spite of.