It seems that I never get to do as much hiking as I would like to do in the fall. This year we only got out twice.
The first time was when Terry and I hiked to Angel Falls Overlook in the Big South Fork, Tennessee.
But we also got to hike with my sister and her husband to Hawksbill Craig, and iconic spot in Arkansas that I can’t believe I’ve never been to before. Cross this one off the bucket list!
I’m sure I made Terry nervous by getting so close to the edge. But that is honestly part of the fun for me. At least I promised not to make a selfie at the edge!
Now that my homeschooling days are over (see here), I have decided to embark on a sabbatical of sorts - hopefully taking this school year to reflect and think about what is next for me.
In my “past life” (pre full-time motherhood) I was a chemical engineer. I’m not sure if it was the best fit for my strengths, but I did enjoy all my assignments. My career started as an intern at Texas Eastman, and bless his heart, my Dad took some photos of me there and tried to make a chemical plant look good.
I ended up spending my entire chemical engineering career at Eastman - working at Arkansas Eastman in Batesville, Texas Eastman in Longview, and Tennessee Eastman in Kingsport.
Now, 30 years later, an environmental firm in Knoxville hired me as an intern! This spot was supposed to go to a college student, but they agreed to give me a try. It was fun being in a lab again and doing nerdy stuff.
The building looked a little better than a chemical plant
Jacques and Andrea (my bosses)
I can’t talk about the actual research I was working on as I signed secrecy agreements, but it was interesting, and I learned a lot. There was a lot of biology mixed in with the chemistry which took some getting used to. I really did not like having to wear gloves all the time to keep from contaminating things! I enjoyed the people I worked with, especially a PhD South African named Jacques who was forgiving of all my mistakes and laughed at all my jokes. I thought I proved I still “had it” technically, but when my internship ended, I wasn’t offered a real job of any kind. It was a bit disappointing and made me question my abilities. But I also determined that I really didn’t want to work 40 hours a week anyway. So whatever is next for me, it won’t be this, and that’s OK.
There's nothing like seeing old friends, and music has a great power to bring back memories. The New Creations was the college choir at University Baptist Church - my church home in Fayetteville, Arkansas. After being a fan in the congregation for years, I got to be in the choir from 1979-1984, forming many lifelong friendships. My sisters were also in New Creations, but none of us were in it the same years.
This November we had a 40 year reunion for everyone who had ever been in New Creations. It was glorious! And we didn't just get together and visit, we actually rehearsed and performed together.
I got to rehearse right next to my best friend, Brenda. It was just like old times. Well, the notes were a little harder to hit. Thankfully we were second sopranos instead of first sopranos.
My sisters were altos, so they got to sit together, but I scooted in for a photo. Here's a photo of two pairs of three sisters that were all members of New Creations.
Here I am with my two closest friends in high school and college, Brenda and Teresa:
Our old youth and college leader was there, Robert Cupp:
And the Nathan I named my Nathan after:
Phil Goff (who made me happy by recognizing me right away):
And his brother, Matt:
And my buddy, Jeff, who worked with me at Arkansas Eastman, Texas Eastman, and Tennessee Eastman:
Jeff and Beth Presley with Tanner Riley (our director)
And a reminder that we weren't always so old. Here's a photo of a skit the guys did on tour. That's Jeff on the left:
So after rehearsing one evening and morning, we had an afternoon concert for some of our old fans. We sang ten songs, but this was a favorite as it was written by a New Creations member:
Our name< New Creations, was based on the verse that says that "if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation." - 2 Cor. 5:17. We all realize that we may never be together again in this life, so our theme for the weekend was based on the following verse of "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling:"
Since Terry and I spent two weeks in Greece and the boys had various things they were involved with, we didn't have time for a big family vacation. But I wanted to plan something fun and different. So we decided to head to Cedar Point to ride roller coasters. The kids didn't like any "scary rides" when they were younger, and Terry and I swore off taking them to an amusement park until they were old enough to really enjoy it. Time got away from us, and we almost waited until we were too old to enjoy it!
Joseph couldn't get off of work, but we bought a plane ticket for Rebecca and picked her up on the way as a surprise to the boys! This was our first time all together since her wedding, and it was so fun! We camped at East Harbor State Park.
The campsite was nothing to brag about, but the kids enjoyed tossing a frisbee around in Lake Erie, and we drove down the road a ways and saw a cool lighthouse.
We spent two days at the park, riding roller coaster after roller coaster. Rebecca doesn't like heights, but even she enjoyed them! Terry and I had to take Benadryl and Ibuprofen in fairly large quantities. We gained a new appreciation for the phrase "more fun than people oughta have!" Terry, Nathan and Rebecca actually blacked out on some of the rides. Caleb read that the trick is to tense your core like fighter pilots do.
This is the first one we rode. It was intense and very jerky. I started worrying whether I had made a bad mistake planning this trip.
But then we discovered the GateKeeper - a wing coaster that we all enjoyed!
The most fun thing was just being together - we even managed to play games while standing in line:
I decided that our fun little trip sort of symbolized our lives together - ups, down, twists, turns, fears, joys, yelling, waiting (lots), but most of all speed. Life goes by so fast. There's nobody I'd rather spend it with than this bunch!
We heard the phrase "My friend, my friend" over and over again during our work at Gateways2Life.
Even those that knew no other English seemed to know this phrase. We found ourselves using it when addressing the children we were caring for as their mothers took showers and did laundry. It sounds so much friendlier than "Hey, you!"
One of the things I will always remember about this trip is the friends I made, and I wanted to record some of my thoughts about them here. I already talked in my earlier post about some of our Greek friends in the town of Panagouida. But we also got to know some of our fellow workers at Gateways2Life. Vanessa was a favorite of our whole team.
She was from Brasil and had traveled with YWAM in many dangerous parts of the world sharing the gospel. She was bold in her faith and so good at showing love to the refugees. We tried to learn as much as we could.
We all had certain women and children that we became attached to during our time there. My favorites were a little boy named Hamid and his mother and aunt.
Hamid was a handful but also loved to give kisses. Mary Bond said she thought he would either be the evangelist or terrorist of his generation. I try to pray for this little boy and his family every day. I can pray for the refugees in general, but my heart seems to work better in specifics.
I also try to pray for Ikran and her daughter, Sabrina. She had so much joy for being in a place like Moria. She hopes to end up in Minnesota.
And I pray for Menach, her daughter Lara (pictured below), and the rest of her family. Menach would cry when talking of Syria. I could tell she had so much pain over what had happened to her country.
And I pray for the Greek staff at Gateways2Life. It is challenging work.
