March is Here...Hurray!

    Last weekend was my Church's annual winter retreat and it was so much fun. In the week leading up to the retreat, we were so busy getting everything ready for house guests and such. This week, not so much, the house has pretty much stayed as is since Sunday when everything ended. I plan to get to that today.
    March has arrived and it came in like a lion with bright sunshine but cold temperatures. I am now thinking Spring despite the fact that huge, chunky, snowflakes are falling at this very moment. I started a countdown with my kids at school. As of today there are 16 days till Spring. It's been making me very happy.
     Luke's sister Martha and here family came up for the retreat and have been here all week. It has been such fun to get to see them. They introduced us to one of my new favorite games, Telestrations. Even Luke enjoyed it and that is saying something, since he is not a huge fan of games in general. We got quite a few good laughs from it.

                                              Luke and Martha Jane

Heidi and Mara

Irindee

Telestrations Fun

Jonathan and Lars and and their battle zone

       We caucused this week. This is the first time that I have taken any sort of interest in politics and the election process, but I've been finding it quite interesting. At the beginning of the school year I had decided that I was going to focus on the presidents. At the time, I wasn't even thinking that it was an election year. But it's worked out great, has been fun, and I have learned a lot as I've been working through stuff with my students.

    Yesterday was parent/teacher conferences. They went well and it was a beautiful day. Last evening we had supper out at Luke's sister Abbi's house. Since I was at conferences till 6, Luke and I drove separately. I've never gone out to Abbi's from the school and I knew that if I went the way that I knew how it would take me close to an hour to get there. So, I used the GPS. As I followed the electronic voice's directions, I wound my way through the woods and around the lake. It was a very pretty drive.      The GPS got me to where I needed to be with no hassle, but there were moments when I thought that something looked familiar or I felt like maybe I wasn't on the right road based on what I thought I knew of the directions. But I just kept following the GPS's advice. And as I drove, I thought about how the GPS is a lot like God's word.
    So often in my life, I find myself confused about which direction I should take. I know what the Bible says, but I get confused by what I think I know or what I feel. Just like my drive last night, if I had deviated from the GPS's course because I thought I knew a road, or was worried that maybe the GPS didn't quite know what it was doing, I would have ended up lost or late or maybe both.
    Despite my feelings or preconceived notions on what direction I was taking, I just kept following the GPS. God's word is life's GPS. When I take a turn in life based on what I think I know or on what I feel I end up lost and confused. Proverbs 28:25b-26 says, "But he who trusts in the LORD will be delivered. Whoever trusts in his own heart is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered." I've got to stop trusting in my own mind. It's just not very reliable, but God's word is. Happy Friday.

Springtime is the land awakening. The March winds are the morning yawn. ~Quoted by Lewis Grizzard in Kathy Sue Loudermilk, I Love You