Travel and School

Part of the reason for not blogging for eons is because my family has been traveling all over the State. This past summer, I was asked to be part of a panel to help encourage parents on their cyber school journey. Because they offered to pay me for my time, I wholeheartedly agreed to do it.

My job was to go to the locations and answer any questions that parents had and if I didn't get any questions, then I was to tell them about my own cyber school experience. It was rather fun to do. I am gifted in encouraging others and this opportunity was great for me to use my gifting.

First I traveled to Harrisburg. Then Lancaster. Then Allentown. Then Wilkes-Barre. Then Pittsburgh. Then Grove City. Then Philadelphia. And finally State College. All within a month. All while trying to get school done.

Looking back on it, it was a very busy time for me but I wouldn't have changed it a bit. I got to stay in hotels. My family came along. The kids were watched by teachers. Life was good. The sessions them selves were very relaxing for me. The preparations for traveling were not. I had to make sure we were ahead with school because of losing a day of school while traveling. Never fear though, we are all caught up now.

If you are ever in any of those areas, I can let you know which hotels to go to and which hotels to run from. There was one in particular that we prayed a cleansing through our room and protection over us. It wasn't pretty. I was afraid to go to sleep. I didn't want to lay in the bed. I didn't want to cover myself. I did eventually fall asleep and woke up still in one piece.

That about sums up my first month of school. Hopefully no you understand more of why I haven't been blogging.

My Weekend

I feel so refreshed right now. I had the opportunity to go to Jim Thorpe, PA to a woman's conference, "Victory in the Valley". Thanks CC for inviting me! I went with the expectation that I would come home being closer to God. Not only did he draw me closer, but he changed a lot of my heart too. I'll be telling you more about that in the coming days.

The Speaker was Valetta Steel Crumley. I had never heard of her before going to the conference but her testimony blew me away!

Here's the basics:
She was married to a pastor and had a son who at 2 years old, died from Leukemia. She then had 2 more children, a boy and girl. Soon after her little girl was born, her husband was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease. As soon as he was diagnosed, he wanted to leave the pastorate and joined OMS International where he spent his final few months in a foreign country as a missionary. After spending a few years in a deep depression, Valetta was touched by God and continued to work as a missionary. When her children were 17 & 15, they were instantly killed in a head-on collision as they were driving to church to play volleyball. She knew they were born again so she was rejoicing at their funeral and after the funeral decided to continue her missionary work. She took a position in Taiwan where she was brutally raped and robbed. Even that did not quench her love for Jesus. Upon returning to the USA, she married an old acquaintance friend. Today she travels telling her testimony.

The thing that I got out of her testimony was to cherish life and not sweat the little things because the only thing that really does matter is the heart. After hearing Valetta's testimony, I have absolutely NOTHING to complain about!!!!!

Here are a few pictures of the view from the conference...





Here's where I stayed along with 19 other women and the family who owns the house...