Awesome Weekend!

Went on a singing trip with 'Message of Mercy' this weekend. The Fall colors were amazing! The trip was great. First of all, I love to connect with people and hang out with my friends. Darlene did my hair again-she has the magic touch to make my hair look like that of a princess. We talked and laughed all the way to our first engagement. (Sang at 2 different Adventist facilities) Mt. Pisgah Academy was the first, Fletcher Academy the second. Our sound was terrible Friday night, but the people seemed to enjoy us. We couldn't hear ourselves very well- always intimidating to get up in front of a bunch of teenagers who sit and talk through most of the concert. To my surprise- I met up with a good friend of mine from college, Christ Lebrun. He hasn't changed much, still the friendly guy he always was. Then after the concert I was able to meet a fellow blogger! He came up to me and said, "Hey Trailady, I'm Kev, from "What's Up with Kev". WOW! He was really nice to talk to and we had our picture taken together. Every so often, I meet up with someone from the blogosphere and it's so cool!! :o)
The message was really good that night. A young man spoke. I still hope that perhaps the younger generation of Adventists will help re-direct their church's focus to Christ instead of being so caught up in works & culture.
After the concert, we headed out to stay overnight in the home of my former Pastor in Yakima, WA. Awkward- wasn't sure how it would go, because he was our Pastor for a year before we got onto the Ultra-Conservative kick. I joined in with some very harsh criticisms of Pastor T. and his church at that time. You see, the leaders of our group called his church 'The Whore on the Hill' because of their more Contemporary worship style and open-arms approach to anyone who would come in. I now see they were on track. He knows how to love people. I apologized to him. He gave me a big hug and said, "Don't ever think about it again, I forgive you and I understand that you were in a learning process." He said if they had any idea what we were caught up in out there, they would have tried harder to reach us. Truly, life is- a journey in learning.

Saturday, we sang at the Fletcher church. It went very well- loved the sound system there! Pastor T. preached an awesome sermon about being patient in trials and resting in the love of God. AWESOME! Made me wonder how many great sermons we missed out in Yakima, because we were so busy trying to be perfect people? After first service, I saw a familiar face- our former downstairs neighbor from Texas. Ginny & her family lived below us in our first apartment. I was sad to hear that her husband left her and wanted nothing to do with God or family anymore. They were a great couple! She was really hurting- I listened, cried and hugged her. So much pain in this life! Helps me forget my own struggles when I can reach out to someone else. We promised to keep in touch. After the service, an old friend from high-school days came up and invited me to her home for lunch. It was nice to catch up. We are both friendly and love music, but this lady is opposite of me in many ways. She admittedly has lived a charmed life. Her parents are wealthy, happy, functional, supportive people. (Not perfect, but everything you could want in parents) She says she's had a wonderful life with no major upsets. She's married and has a lovely daughter. I'm happy for her, but I hold my breath too, because I think sooner or later everyone gets their turn at suffering. I hope she will have the strength to handle it when the time comes. It was nice of her to open her home to me. We talked like two school-girls.

Our concert Sat. night went well. I love to speak about the love of God- don't get to do that often enough. After the concert, we went to eat supper at a nice Italian restaurant 'Ianucci's' in Ashville, NC. GREAT food & service. If you are ever passing through- check it out. The salad, bread & pasta are amazing!! I got home at 1:30am last night. My husband was waiting on the couch for me. I was so sleepy, he carried my things, helped me remove my shoes & get ready for bed. So sweet of him.

Today, we have the third showing of our house in a week. Not sure what we will do if/when it sells, but at least we won't be killing ourselves trying to make the mortgage anymore. I'm sitting here in my robe, with Ember curled in my lap and the sounds of my family all around me. Don't know how long this happy feeling will last, but I'm enjoying it...