Settling In!

I may be settling in to being back in the US but, my friends who are still in Croatia are just finishing up their last day of English class. They will be returning next week, I pray for a safe return and long to hear the stories they can tell about their time there.

These past couple of weeks have been lessons in faith, patience, perseverance, and adjustments. God gives us only what He knows we can handle and like the song says, "He Said, I won't give you more than you can take, I might let you bend, but I won't let you break" (video at end of blog). I have been bent many different ways since my return from Croatia, I have not been broken. Satan worked hard to try and get me to give in to frustration, fear, panic, anxiety, and loneliness, I have and will continue to overcome through Jesus Christ!


Since my return to the United States, I have given two presentations about my trip. The first one was at Social Springs Baptist Church in Ringgold, Louisiana. This church helped sponsor the trip to Croatia. It is also where my Father and Step-mother attend church. To say the least I was very scared and Satan was really at work with my PowerPoint. It would not run smoothly up to time for me to speak, then like magic it work great. It was like there was a huge angel that stood by the computer challenging Satan to try anything! Everything went well until I decided to sing and forgot the song... God even helped me remember that too!

The next speaking engagement was at Kinder Bible Church, the church I attend. Again before the program the PowerPoint was giving me issues, then it worked
fine for a while, then it stopped... I did remember the words to the song, even though I wanted to cry the whole time, as I watched the photos of my friends on the screen.

If all that was not enough to make me bend, God had other things to test my resolve. While I was in Croatia some decisions were made concerning my classroom at my place of employment. I found out about these decisions the day after I returned to the States. I teach computer lab in the elementary school here in Kinder, Louisiana. My class was moved to a different room. Now, the room is bigger, it is near the restroom, and the air condition works better, those are all great things. I never get overly excited about anything, and I tried really hard to be positive about the move. I just had more work to do before school starts than I thought I would, and if you could see a before picture of the room (my daughter had a photo of my room before so I have posted it) before this picture you would understand the frustration. Also, the school theme for this year is "Learning Around the World" so my class is going to be Croatia in honor of my trip. I had to create the decorations for that. If I hadn't had the help of my daughter, her boyfriend, and some of the techs from the school board I would still be trying to get things in order.

Classroom Before Arranging

Front of New Classroom

Back of New Classroom

Now my daughter has returned to New Jersey, I start work next week, and I miss my friends in Croatia. It will be hard communicating with them and my daughter from such a long distance and with the time differences. With the Lord everything that has, is, and will happen is possible. I pray God keeps them all safe and shows Himself to them everyday. He loves the whole world that includes everyone.

Thanks for reading this blog and if new things happen... I will keep you posted :)

Video