We need PEOPLE!

(I have a new reader!!!! I will tell you a little about her which leads me into the topic that I have on my heart....but my new reader supports me and loves me so much! She has been an example to me for my whole entire life! She has served me, shown me what it means to be loyal to her family and husband, challenged me to be an OUTSTANDING cook, wonderful friend to her friends who ALL live away, taught me to love and cherish Christmas in my heart, and faithfully has followed and has loved Jesus her whole life too! Her name is Mom and I am happy she is enjoying my little blog!)

Anyways....
Here is what I have been learning this week especially! This is a HUGE HUGE time in my life. I have waited for a long time (but you have already heard that story) to find a man to love and love me. In the mean time, I have tried many different paths and most of all (like my sister says) I have always followed my heart. This has not always looked "good on paper" but I can honestly say that every choice I have ever made has been accompanied with prayers, advice and trusting myself to do the right thing in the end. So where I am----my career, finances, and even my relationship--- is very different then I would have ever planned it out back when I was 18.

I loved Bible College. I made an informed decision to go there with specific reasons which were: I wanted to learn more about God, I wanted to train myself in a career that was focused on God, missions and children, and I wanted to "get out of my comfort zone". I feel I was brave as a young teenager to leave all my friends, specifically some of my very best friends who were attending a local Bible school that my entire family, parents and grandparents had attended. I made this choice (perhaps a little stubbornly) but in the end because I felt this was the right choice for me.

I got so much from this school, but my most important resources that I gained that are still unbelievably important to me right now are: My true friends that I found there...I lovingly call them my Prairie girls (and I include Sean and Eric and Luke and all the "husbands") in this group. I am so thankful for them. I also gained a tremendous passion for philosophy--namely Soren K., and developed my mind and heart in the things of God and those things will never leave me and never be "irrelevant".

The down side is that I gained a HUGE debt that is still with me today. 

I have always longed to work in a place that I can develop my skills and heart to loving kids and when I get to also talk freely about God, I know that it is the place that I am the happiest. So the 7 years I spent at summer Bible camp are also choices that "never looked right on paper". But my decision to work with camp was also an informed one because I wanted to develop in my ministry and discipling and it was there that I also developed friendships that are still some of the most important to me. I am so blessed that one of my best friends in the whole world I met while driving to work at a camp in New York in 2003 and she is one of my "maids"!

The downside is that I never made alot of money at camp in the summer when I could have saved up and put that money towards my education and prevent having a huge debt now.

This week I have been defending my choices to myself (and in some cases to other people). I have made some really bad choices over the years (as everyone is bound to do sometimes) but all of the choices  have made me into who I am today. And something Danny said to me this week has remained deep in my heart....that he loves who I am and everything I have done has made me this way. He has challenged me and encouraged me to be believe in myself and together as a couple we are learning to really become a team. He teaches me so much about the way Jesus loves me. He is not perfect...(and its been a really rough hard week for us) but I have learned a lot from him this week.

When I got engaged, it made me really see how many people are really behind me and Dan. The people that write you messages, notes or just actually say to your face how happy they are that I am engaged really made me feel unbelievably overwhelmed with just how loved I am. The very first people that me and Dan told was our parents and our brothers and sisters---who are all the people who have prayed and built into us the most of anyone in the world! One sweet lady that has been praying for me forever gave me and Dan a gift certificate to go on a date to celebrate, Dan's best friend's mom that I only met a few times mailed me a card and even my landlords sent down a bouquet of flowers---these are little small things but make me feel loved and remembered and  cared for!

I want to lastly say that PEOPLE are an investment that I have always been encouraged to invest in (especially by my Mom). I know 100% that in my heritage, my history, my background, my family...that people are our greatest resource. My family is who I want to be with the most of anyone...and I always hear my sister say the same things. Its funny when that changes from when you are a teen to an adult...but as much as I adore my friends (who are scattered all over the globe at this point in time) I am so grateful that I have so much time to spend with my family and Dan's family.

All of this to say that although I am learning to make smarter choices with my career, money and finances and I am definitely always trying to become a better steward with what God gives me, I really do want to always keep the two things that Jesus COMMANDS us to do:

Love God and Love People.