Giddy-Up God!

It's been so long since I've had much of anything to say. Other than going to Virginia to visit family about a month ago, I've just been working a lot and trying to spend time outside soaking up some of the gorgeous sun. Bring on the vitamin D! I have so many cute pictures of my niece, but posted some of my favorites on Facebook, so I feel like it's redundant to make people look at the same ones here. Sometimes I have posts that share my ponderings, but it's felt like the muses were working overtime. The only problem is they're in a jumbled mess that would only show up here as a confusing sort of rambling.

In the last couple days, I've felt as is my train of thought took me from one bloggable moment to another. There were no depots in sight for miles. Now I have more stops than I'm sure I'll be able to keep up with.

First on the list of things to share is two enjoyable evenings this last week. Wendy is one of the very special people in my life. We met nearly nine years ago. I had been volunteering at The Power House Youth Center. One of the directors asked me to think and pray about the opportunity of mentoring a particular girl who was a member at the PH. We had developed a bit of a relationship. After considering, I decided to agree. When I said I'd do it, I was told that they had decided on someone else instead. It was Wendy. I knew who she was, but didn't really know her at all. That made me feel a little uneasy. I had no idea what she was like, whether we would click, what we might have in common, what we might talk about, or if she would have any interest in spending time with me, for that matter. I went with it anyway, and I can't tell you how many times over the years Wendy and I have laughed about how right the choice was. We certainly have differences, but we have so many things, besides loving Jesus:), in common. There are things, such as a love for words, that we both implicitly understand about each other. When we tell others, they look at us like we just might be from another planet. The wondering what we might talk about? Ha! Quitting talking is usually our problem.

My friendship with Wendy has been an amazing experience. One of the adventures that I treasure most thus far. I don't have children of my own. She's too old to be my daughter. That's honestly not what a mentoring relationship is anyway, but I feel just a bit of the pride in her that a mother does. It's been my privilege to share in the last nine years of her life. I look forward to many more.

Fast forward nine years. Wendy has recently finished her Victory Lap. She's done a great job supporting herself, living on her own, and paying for school. The last year and a half many of our conversations have centered on the economy, unemployment, the vast array of jobs available or not to people with a business degree, and what in the world to do once graduation arrived. Graduating from college is an exciting time. Graduating from college in a rotten economy and thousands of dollars in loans is a scary time. We've been doing a lot of praying. Wendy found out last week that she had been hired for a job in Macon Georgia. I forgot to mention that once she was old enough, she quit being a member at The Power House and became a volunteer as well as employee. She is now the coordinator for a volunteer program at Wesleyan College. While I'm sad to see her move far away, I think this is a very good move for her. She lived in Macon for one year during school, and loved it. I'm just so excited for her! All those months of concern over how to find a job were taken care of only a month after graduation. I pointed out to her that it was nearly 6 months til I found a nursing job after school. In this economy, a job after only a month can only be seen as a HUGE answer to prayer!

A week ago she and I had dinner at our favorite pizza place. We said our "see ya laters". I figured that was it for quite a while. A going away party was scheduled for Friday, so I got to see her again. Saturday evening I went to church with her, and then to a cookout where we were going to stay for "a little while". A little while after midnight we finally left:) It was a very nice evening. The weather was perfect, not too hot, not too cold. The s'mores were delicious. The company was even better. I felt like it was stolen time with my girl. The two evenings made my weekend completely delightful. I'll miss having Wendy around, but I'm so excited to see what the next stretch in the road holds for her!

Side note: Just before we left church Saturday evening, the daughter of a friend found a large paper with a picture, apparently of Jesus on it. The adults were chatting and heard Vanessa in the background proclaiming, "God! I have a picture of God! I'm taking God home with me!" She really caught our attention when she raised the volume and proclaimed, "Giddy-up God! I'm riding God!" We turned to see her with the large paper rolled and tucked between her knees, "riding" it like a stick pony. How many times do we as adults wish that we could say "Giddy-up God!" I've been chuckling about it all week long. I guess He did giddy-up in finding Wendy's job.