August Rush!

Time waits for no one, and it's already past the middle of the month.

This past weekend was really relaxing. It was pretty quiet since Sarah was at a wedding in Ashland and Jenny is working really long hours since the festival is only a few days out.

Movie night Friday night with Anna Riedl. She brought Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey and Krispie Kremes, and I made popcorn and "apple cider cocktails" (dilute unpasturized raw apple cider vinegar, club soda, a few drops of stevia to sweeten, and vanilla - the acidity of the "cocktail" helps balance the sugars in the body). I thought Northanger Abbey was really funny. Maybe it wasn't meant to be... but I thought it was.

Saturday I went shopping to get the food for Luis' snack baskets in his hotel room and at the festival site. I had so much fun! Normally I wouldn't get such an opportunity, but fortunately, Jenny is the the Operations Director of the festival and it was on her To Do list. And fortunately she didn't really want to or have time to - and I did on both accounts. So, I had a blast.

Saturday evening I drove to Woodland to the Bresnahan's beautiful country home to see Nicole who is visiting from Lousiana. I hadn't seen Nicole for almost a year - and it was so good to see her again and hear her stories. Also, because she's only here for a short time, she invited several others over as well... and it never ceases to amaze me how many incredible people I never met at Fox. We all had some great conversations -- and it's so encouraging to meet other people who share so many of the same beliefs as I do... who feel so strongly about absolute truth and other topics relating to Christianity. And all of them still live in this area, so I'm hoping to catch up with at least a few of them again and get to know them better.

(If I had any regrets about my time at Fox, it may be how focused I was on school. Don't get me wrong - I'm not saying I would have slacked off. But, I probably wouldn't have spent so much time getting a perfect score when I could have spent more time getting to know people and still ended up with an A.)

And then Sunday was just a chill day. Church in the morning. And then I came home in a cooking mood. So Jenny was sweet enough to let me make her blueberry and whipped cream crepes for breakfast. And then I did something I never do -- I fell asleep in the middle of the afternoon for 3 hours. I had been trying to read a book, but I couldn't stay awake for it. (It wasn't an intentional nap.) Then Jenny and I watched a movie that night. Thanks to my nap, I wasn't tired when it was time for bed... so I was awake until 1am, but still felt pretty rested when I woke up this morning.

All in all, a good weekend before the craziness.

Starting tomorrow, I'll be involved in all the festival stuff... the first of the luncheons is happening. The second luncheon is Wednesday, though I'll be a "guest" for that since I'm hosting some ladies at my table. Thursday the PC (for major donors) starts and I'll be helping with the kids program. Friday and Saturday are the festival days - and after PC stuff in the morning, I'll be in the crowd collecting testimony stories and counseling new believers until late. Sunday afternoon the PC is over and normal life will start to resume in the late afternoon - I hope. Please be praying! We hope many thousands of people come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ this week.