Back to School

Hello everyone!

After a nice, long break, I'm back. Back to blogging, back to Virginia, back to school. And what a nice break it was! It was less hectic than my Thanksgiving visit, but I still had plenty to do. I spent the first two weeks of break simply with my family. I came home a week before Christmas, and so the whole holiday season I remember in a blur. Oh, I definetly enjoyed my Christmas. We were home, just the family enjoying each other. Living so far away from home has given me a new perspective that I don't think I would have if I got to go home more often. I'm starting to realize just how important family is. I have a new appreciation for my family, and I enjoyed just being back with them. I also really enjoyed being back at my church. The family of God is truly wonderful. They accepted me right back in, almost as if I had never been gone. My church family is such a blessing.

About a week before I left, my mom had surgery. It was a voluntary thing, meant mainly to prevent problems in the future. But it was still something major to our family. We parked our fifth wheel trailer in our church parking lot so that we would have somewhere to stay for the duration of the surgery (side note: does anyone realize how strange it is to shower in the church on Sunday morning? Unfortunately I do...). I spent lots of time shuttling to and from the hospital (including driving our duelie-pickup through Hollywood, which I am very proud of myself for). The surgery went very well, but the recovery was more difficult. My mom was in the hospital for 3 days following surgery. It was very impactful to see my mom lying there in a hospital bed, too weak to get up and too sick to eat. It unnerved me a little bit, and reminded me of the fraility of life. But I'm very glad that I was able to be there with the family throughout the surgery.

Coming back to school was very hard, maybe harder than the first time. Since my mom can't do any housework for three months, I was doing a lot of chores before I left. I enjoyed doing them; I enjoyed being helpful and productive. I seriously thought about staying to take care of things at home. But I knew, without a doubt, that God wanted me back here at college. It may not be where I think I need to be; it might not always be the place I want to be. But I want to be where God wants me. I'm here to honor Him, even though I might not really know why. I will trust Him to take care of home, to take care of my family and my mom. And I will do what He asks me to do, which is to be diligent and focused here.

Speaking of home, my family could use quite a bit of prayer right now. There is an absolutely HUGE storm predicted for Southern California. They're forcasting up to 8-10 feet of snow. We have never had so much snow before. If we get that much, my family will be snowed in for weeks, maybe months. They have decided to stay up at camp and ride it out. We have generators and food, but my mom is still on antibiotics from surgery. Also, since the fire wiped out all the vegetation, the mountainside is very unstable. With this much moisture major rock slides and mud slides are quite likely on the road. The road is already shut down, and we have no idea when it will reopen. I'm starting to see a trend here - I leave California in August, and a week later there was the biggest fire ever in So. Cal. I leave Virginia in December, and two days later the east is hit by a big storm and record low temperatures (by the way, it was a beautiful, sunny, 80 degrees while I was in Cali :]). Then I leave California, and a record storm prepares to hit my home! Crazy. But God is sovreign, and He will take care of my family and of me.

Meanwhile, I jump straight back into school. I'm excited for what lessons are in store for me - both academic and outside the classroom. I'm taking 15 credits instead of 13, and I have a job tutoring an 8th grade girl in pre-algebra. Pray for me as I face new challenges and new experience. As always, I keep you in my prayers and would love to know what is going on with any of you. May God bless this coming week, and if He permits I will blog again next Sunday!

~Carissa