Hello Summer!

We have a break from BSF until September, so I had to find my own course of Bible study for the next few months. It is always a struggle for me to find the right study; there are SO many to choose from, and I always want to make it count. I am so used to the intensity and structure of BSF that I am easily bored by non-challenging studies. So after much prayer and contemplation, I decided to go with one of Beth Moore's studies- David: 90 Days With a Heart Like His. This will actually be my first Beth Moore study...I know, please hold your gasps. I have wanted to do one of her studies for so long, but the timing has just never worked out. So when this book arrived with my latest Amazon order, I was more than excited to get started! I am already a week into the study and am loving it. David has always intrigued me, so it will be interesting to learn about his life from Beth Moore's perspective. To be known through all of eternity as being a man after God's own heart...that's a guy I want to know more about! As a woman who is on her own journey to the heart of God, I figured this would be the perfect study for the summer. My prayer is that I, too, can have a heart like his...

And since we're on the subject of summer studies...I will also continue my studies for my new job. I am currently working toward my CISR (Certified Insurance Service Representative) designation. There are 5 courses required to earn this designation, and my goal is to have those done before the fall. I want to get through the courses/exams this summer, so I can have a short break before BSF starts again and before I start working toward my next designation: CIC (Certified Insurance Counselor). When it's all said and done, I will earn these 2 designations and ultimately my CPCU (Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter), which my boss says is equivalent to my Masters in insurance. I am SO grateful to my boss and my company for setting me up professionally with these designations. It is such a blessing to have a company that believes in me and that wants to set me up for success. It's just another way that God is taking care of me. Who would have thought? ENM...CISR, CIC, CPCU. haha. God is so fun!

So I have my Jesus time and my work goals set...I also have some fun thing planned for the summer!

Fun Summer Project

I am hopelessly behind on my scrapbook. With my move to Dallas and change of jobs, it just hasn't been a top priority. I mean, let's be honest: scrapbooking should never be a top priority. But it is my favorite hobby and something I have desperately missed. My overly-ambitious goal for the summer is to get completely caught up on everything. My more realistic goal is to catch up through half of 2008. I already have my scrapbooking corner all set and ready, and am starting to make headway on this time-consuming, but always relaxing, project. Right now, I am working on the trip I made to Prague my senior year at Baylor. Next, I will tackle the Washington D.C. trip. Luckily, I already have the pictures printed and the supplies for these two projects. After that though...think of the photo commercials with the people in the digital camera that get deleted because the pictures are never printed...I don't keep pictures on my camera, but I have file after file of pictures on my computer that have yet to be printed. Haha...guess I have to start somewhere, right?

Fun Summer Mini-Vacation

The highlight of my summer will most definitely be my trip to Seattle/Victoria!!! I have a business meeting in Victoria, BC in July (life's rough, I know), so I will be tacking on a few extra days to that trip to go visit my friend April in Seattle! April and I met at Baylor and worked together as Community Leaders. She moved to Seattle a year ago, and I have really missed her. So when my flight to Victoria stopped off in Seattle, I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to see my dear friend. I prayed with April for over a year, as she struggled through the desire of wanting to move to Seattle and the process of waiting on God's timing for that. I was overly ecstatic to finally see her dreams come to life as she made her way to the Pacific Northwest. Now that she has been there a year, it is amazing to see where God has taken her! I am SUPER excited to visit her and can't wait for her to show me around her favorite city, which she now calls home.