Faith, plain and simple.

I have been looking and looking and looking for the perfect cross necklace. I wanted something very simple. Nothing with diamonds or other twinkle effects. I have looked at expensive jewelry, handmade jewelry, antique jewelry. I've looked in high end stores, thrift stores, and craft shows. I finally found it. At Walmart of all places. It was in a display for Hallmark jewelry. It's very plain and simple, but on the side of it in small script it says "faith" and how I need that daily reminder over my heart every day. And of $13.00 it made it a great deal as well.!

Who needs a pool when you're yard is a swamp.

We made it Women of Faith! For one day anyway. We were able to go early on Friday and have the whole day and a few hours in DC. We got our night in the super comfy hotel beds and headed back early this morning. We probably could have stayed for some of the morning conference and been okay, but no one was comfortable with that as we all had husbands and/or kids at home. Friday was nice! I'm thankful for Friday. I have decided to take the reigns of Women of Faith for 2012! I'm nervous, but really excited. I had just mentioned to Johnny that it would be a fun thing to do if our group leader ever needed to step down. Well it turns out she did need to. So, I'm the official group leader, we've signed up!

It was fairly empty, lots of no shows.

 Now as for Irene, our power has been out since noon! It rarely goes out, so I'm disappointed! Thankfully Johnny has rigged the generator to run half the house, so we have a few fans, tv, and obviously the internet. It's made it bearable. I shouldn't be complaining there's been 5 deaths and the southside of Virginia is practically underwater. As it is, our backyard is a swamp at least 6 inches deep. The boys want to play in it. *sigh* We have about 4 more hours to go before it's on its way up the coast. I emailed Miguel in Queens, since they had been evacuated. He called us back, they are staying, so we'll be praying for them too. I can't imagine having to evacuate people who rely on the subway and buses to get around, they shut the subway down.

This was a few hours ago, it's worse now.

That's the update from here, stay safe east coast blogger buddies!

Empty

I had one of 'those' Sundays. I got up earlier than the kids bursting with energy. Everyone was out the door on time without a fuss. We even loaded up all the belongings I needed to return to people. As we pulled in and dropped off bassinets, books, and clothes, I finally received my Scentsy products and I was thrilled. Fall scents. We emptied everyone off to class and I headed downstairs. We had our weekly stops as everyone admired my sweet baby M. I sat down in Sunday School. M started chatting. I left to take him up to nursery. My energy bubble burst. By then time I made it back downstairs after some chit chat, our Sunday School lesson was nearly over. For the time being we we learning about different religions. I find it all very fascinating. It's a class at the community college that I've always wanted to take, but this class is free and has a fantastic teacher. Anyway, so class was nearly over. I missed the section I wanted to hear more about.

I had my week in nursery this Sunday. I LOVE nursery. I love holding babies and play ring around the rosy, and seeing little people coming out of their shells and giving me a hug! The nursery is undergoing some changes in how we operate and even our nursery space itself. It's going to be wonderful, however, this week the room had no carpet. It was loud and had a very large echo. I had a headache. My sweet little people didn't notice nor did they care. My high energy of the early morning was gone. Still, sweet hugs goodbye made it worth it. The point of this was that I didn't get to go to "big church" As of now, we do not have a sermon piped in or the music. Oh, how I wish we could have the music in the nursery. After church let out, I remembered there was a business meeting in which I was to be nominated for Sunday School Secretary. By the time I got M ready to go, that was half over. All this to say, I left church feeling empty. The empty has lingered all week. I cherish the singing in church with my children and the quiet adult time listening to the sermon with my husband. (also we were not at church last week) So missing two weeks in a row, I was a bit empty.

Now, this weekend is a great event called Women of Faith. It's held in D.C. It's a two day conference. Our wonderful women's leader put this huge event together for us to go at a great price. She takes care of all the details including a payment schedule, metro cards, hotel stay, conference tickets, and car pool. It's a lot of work, I'm learning. I'm preparing to take the reigns for this event next summer, but that's another story. We leave on Friday morning. We're meeting at the church at 5am. I cannot wait. It's 2 days of laughter, tears, thought provoking stories, dramas, and music. All in a huge venue with 20,000 other women. But this is lurking out in the Atlantic:

This needs to go away. This causes my husband to have to work insane hours keeping ships safe. This is causing my empty bubble to grow. I have a fear that I won't be able to go. So far there is no reason for these thoughts. My husband's boss has even told him not to worry about coming in. This hurricane needs to skirt the coast and not cause anyone any harm. I don't know why I'm so bothered. I think we'll be fine, all plans are a go. It's going to be rainy, but I can handle rain. I just really want to get to D.C and enjoy this:

I need this! This will fill my energy bubble back up. This will put ideas into place. This will fill my journal with delights. This will be a place to make a new friend, learn about an old friend. This will be a place to cry out, to laugh, and to sing. This will be a place where God is present and waiting to talk to me and waiting for me to listen. I want to get to this place!