Weekends Are Supposed to be for Resting!!

Sooo....I've been BUSY to say the least!
Friday was another day where I slept in, without anything that I HAD to do early. In the afternoon I made dirt pudding, which is chocolate pudding, butter, cream cheese, and milk mixed together and then layered with crushed Oreos! It is really good stuff, but I can't eat it which is sad! I made it for the Bible study that is held on Friday nights for families of people in jail, ex convicts, and really anyone who wants to come. It did go over REALLY well! :)
Mom and I went to the Saturday morning jail ministry team meeting. It went well. I was planning on going in on Sunday, which was all well and good until I found out that the regular pianist (also my former piano teacher) was going to be out of town! UGH! That meant that I had to play, I haven't played the piano in several months, there just hasn't been time! So, not only did I have to play the piano, but I also had to accompany a guy who was singing, which was fine cuz he was just singing out of the piano. Plus, I was told that I would be helping with what would be done with the speaking in the ladies block, I wasn't feeling well, and so it seemed REALLY overwhelming!!
I had a HUGE blessing on Saturday! :) At the jail meeting some how I had made the comment that I had found a job, but I would also like to get another job as well. One of the men on the jail team, Wes Smith, who has a whole bunch of ministries, mainly involving the end times and prophecy, asked if I was good on the computer. I was like, "Uh, yes." He said, "I'm wanting a presentation that I can show at churches of pictures from Israel that I have taken, etc. Do you know how to do things like that?" I said, "Yes!" The discussion went really well from there, and I'm hired! I have a meeting with him tomorrow to begin the work! YAY!!
Saturday afternoon we went to a high school graduation party for a friend of ours. I grew up with him, and we had a lot of fun! On our way home from that Samuel and I stopped to see another friend. He is trying to sell a pick-up truck, and jokingly tried to sell it to me!! :-P He did let me drive it, which was fun! :)

*****Me n' a truck...what a combo*****

Saturday night we went to a friends high school graduation. I grew up with Brent and his older brother, Bobby and I haven't seen them in ages. Bobby went to college at Pensacola Christian College, and ended up moving back down there almost two years ago, and we haven't seen him since. They have both been like brothers to me over the years. Bobby and I sat next to each other at the graduation and we made comments back and forth the entire time!! It was fun!

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*****Brent walking across the stage*****

Sunday morning Samuel and I both went into the jail. I was excited/sad to go to into our first service which is in F block, the lock down block where guys are locked into individual cells 23 hours a day, because a guy that I've known since he was a little boy, we were neighbors, and he and his siblings used to come to church with us, was in that block. When I found out several months ago that Michael was in jail (at the time he was only 15, now he is 16) I was pretty mad at him, but I also really saddened, and as time went on I decided that I couldn't wait to get back into jail so I could give him a hug. Since he was in F block, there would be no way that I could hug him, which made me sad. So we go into F and I'm looking around and didn't see him in any of the cells, so I asked one of the guys and he said that Michael had been moved from F to another block!! YAY!! That meant that I would be able to give him a hug after all!! That TOTALLY made my day! :) After the service in F one of the guys motioned me to come to his cell. In the little bit of time that we had been doing the service he had drawn a picture of me! How cool is that??!!

*****My picture*****

The next service was all of the guys in the regular cells combined into one service and Michael was there!!!!! :) There was a radical change from the boy that I used to know to the young man that he is now! When he was younger, Michael used to be a mocker, and defied authority at any and every chance possible. Now, he is really sweet, and he listened very intently, and was even helping another Mexican man who was sitting next to him. After the service was over the jailers weren't ready to take the men back to their blocks, so Michael and I got to talk for quite a while. He has really matured! I not only got one hug from him, but two!! :)
Our church had a carry-in dinner and then an afternoon service, so we went to that. I sang a solo for church! That was cool! I sang "God Hears My Prayer." It's a song that I learned for voice lessons and I really like.
Sunday evening we had friends over for dinner and played games.
Today was the beginning of training for my job. I will be selling Rainbow systems. It's a lot of information to digest, but I'm pretty sure I will like the job! :)
I got a phone call this evening from a hotel that I had filled out an application for last week, wanting me to come in for an interview tomorrow! Praise the Lord!

Home Sweet Home

The graduation ceremony went well on Friday night. :) I think there were 15 graduates, but don't hold me to that! I know it was the largest graduating class so far. I managed to make it through the ceremony fine until at the very end they had the graduates and their parents go up to the altar and pray while the ladies singing group sang "His Will" that's when I broke down and cried. I had so many friends, including my roommate graduate, and it was a bittersweet time for me.
After the ceremony we stood around and talked for a while, saying "good-bye." Then we loaded up my stuff and left International Bible College for good (or at least for good for me, and for me as a student). It was kinda hard knowing that I will never see quite a few of these people ever again.
On our way to the Phillips' we stopped at Friendly's and ate ice cream. :) That was good cuz they actually have ice cream that I am allowed to eat!! :)
After eating we then went to the Phillips' and unloaded what I would need for the night then stood around and talked for a long time. Morgan stayed over as well, so the two of us stayed up late and talked, enjoying our last few hours together.
Bro. Phillips had to go to work early, so we didn't see him at all on Saturday. Mrs. Phillips and Charlie and Nichole went soul winning, so I saw them for a little while before they left for church. Around 9:30 or so Bro. Mike came over with Seth and the four of us ran some errands, and then went to the Marina in Bay Shore (I think) and walked around the water for a while. It was fun, and kinda sad too cuz I knew that I was gonna miss them all SOOOO much!
We got back a little before 1:30 and Mrs. Phillips and the kiddos got back home soon after. We talked a lot and just spent time together as a "family."
We left around 3:00 for the airport. We got there and I got checked in, amazingly, neither one of my bags was over the 50 lb. limit! That's incredible! :) LOL! After making sure that I was all set to go, we sat down and had some more "family" time. It was really sweet, and sad, and well, I guess I miss them a LOT!
For some reason the fire alarm went off! I have no idea what the problem was because they never evacuated, but it kept going off and they had to keep silencing it for over an hour! It was still going off when I boarded my plane!
Finally the time came to say "good-bye." I cried, not as much as I thought I would, which is a good thing! It was really hard. I hope I get to go back sometime and see them again....or better yet, they can all come to Indiana (hint, hint!! :))

*****My New York Family*****

*****Left to Right: Nichole, Mrs. Phillips, Charlie, Seth, Morgan, Me, and Bro. Mike*****

I made it through security with no problems, which is a very good thing. I went to my gate, only to find that they had already started boarding!! LOL!! Thankfully I was still able to get on the plane, even though I should have boarded a LOT earlier than I actually did!! :) The plane was starting to get pretty full when I got on. I like to sit by the window near the back of the plane on the left side, I don't know why, but that is just my thing I guess. Well, there were NO window seats left when I got on, so I decided to sit in an isle seat on the same side. There was a guy sitting by the window, but nobody in between. So I sat down and then they announced that the plane would be full so every seat was going to be taken. :( The guy (I found out later his name is Neil) and I looked at each other and just rolled our eyes. We tried the "put a book in the seat, hope that nobody is going to sit there" thing, but it didn't work. I ended up moving to the middle cuz the other man that sat with us was really tall, and since I'm short, it was easier for me to sit in the middle.
Neil and I started talking. We talked the entire flight! It was cool cuz we started talking about God and the Bible. He is NOT a Christian. I had put my Bible in my computer bag which was up above the seats. :( Bad idea. He told me that he had read parts of the Bible, and so we started discussing the different writing styles, which brought me to my favorite book, Isaiah, which has two different styles of writing. He asked me to get my Bible out, which I was MORE than happy to do, and so we went through Isaiah 53 verse by verse! How cool is that??!! We then went on and talked about a BUNCH of different topics and doctrines in the Bible! It was amazing!! He gave me his email address, so hopefully we will be able to continue our discussion. I emailed him this evening. Pray for him, he is one of the types of people who is very smart, and good and very blind to his need of a Saviour.
I got off the plane with no problems, and it was sooo nice to see Mom and Samuel. Dad is in Minnesota right now for a friends wedding and some training for work, so I won't get to see him until Thursday! :(
We got out of Chicago without any problems, the traffic was clear which was nice. :) We stopped in Valpo so Mom and Samuel could get something to eat, I wasn't hungry, but I did want coffee, and Dunkin Donuts in particular. Well, unfortunately there was no Dunkin to be found. :( I had to go to Star Bucks instead. I prefer Dunkin cuz its a LOT cheaper, and more coffee for the price. I think I like the flavor of their coffee better as well. Anyways, I got an iced latte at SBs. :)
I came out of the Star Bucks to see someone talking to Mom and Samuel. I recognized her, but I couldn't remember who she was! LOL! It was my dad's cousin, Ruth, who lives in Valpo. I hadn't seen her since my graduation! We chatted for a while, then I got in the drivers seat and off we went! :)
We got home around 11:00 last night! :) HOME!!! YAY!!!
I opened my suite case and low and behold on the top of one of them there was a little note that informed me that the suite case had been randomly inspected! I could tell....it was a mess!! LOL!! It didn't bother me....I just thought it was funny!
This morning I went to church with one of my former managers. I had never been to her church, and they just built a new building, and she had been wanting me to go with her, so I went with her.
My former piano teacher really wanted to see me as well, so we went to her house for dinner. She made a Mexican dish, which I couldn't eat, but Mom had made homemade chicken noodle soup, which was something that I had been craving for a VERY long time, so we all had some of that, and then everyone else also had some of the Mexican food.
I came home and went to bed and slept this afternoon. Mom and Samuel went to church tonight, but I wasn't feeling well, so I stayed home.
I am VERY glad to FINALLY be home! It's SOOOO nice!