A Summer of Firsts

Hooray for Google Chrome!! My poor Firefox browser picked up a virus somewhere and died a slow and painful bug-infested death that brought me great pain and sadness ... and inconvenience, with all the stuff I needed to do that week. Including blog. Grr. So, I am most delighted to announce that despite my initial misgivings I have downloaded the latest version of Google Chrome, and found it to not only be faster and more reliable than Firefox, but prettier and more fun to customize as well. My new blog design came together in one afternoon as a result of its clean lines and smooth efficiency. So I am back online with style!  :-)

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Before I tell you a few of the things I've been up to this summer, I'd like to ask for prayer for the Musser family at "The Blessing of Verity." In the last few years, they have been used by God in mighty ways to advocate for children with Down syndrome and fragile orphans from Eastern Europe; and today, their son Tommy went to be with the Lord after a tragic accident. If you could lift them up in your prayers for the next few days, I know they would be very grateful.

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I was popping in my brand-spanking-new contact lenses the other day - the first I've ever owned, by the way - and I started reflecting on all of the "firsts" I've accomplished this summer. It's really been quite an important summer for my awkward slightly-stunted self.

Firstly, as I said, I got contacts. I love them now, but for a while, they were quite an adjustment - I was not prepared to feel so exposed without glasses shielding my eyes! I've had that boundary in front of my face since I was 7 years old, and it felt very strange to have it suddenly taken away, especially since my eyes are the first place where wrinkles have begun to show up, and I'm rather self-conscious about that. I think I'm mostly used to it now. I still keep the glasses to retreat behind on days when I just can't face the world bare-faced, though.  :-)

This week was my first (and only!!) attempt at the GRE. That certainly was a first! The GRE, or Graduate Resource Exam, is basically a standardized test that measures the verbal and numerical thinking you will supposedly be using in grad school. I was at the testing center for 5 hours, and my brain felt like pickled oatmeal by the time I was done.  :-P  Nevertheless, I actually did very, very well, thanks to much fervent prayer from my friends and family. I'm excited to get my official scores next week!

Another "first" time in a long while ... I have been going to - wait for it - CHURCH. (Massive sound of many jaws dropping.) Yes, I said church! As you might know, I haven't attended church regularly for many years, mostly because of laziness and, shamefully, pride; but when I heard that a new church had begun meeting very close to my house, I decided to start going again. I've only been there for two weeks so far, but I have really, really, really enjoyed it. It sounds strange, but I had forgotten just how special and amazing the fellowship between brothers and sisters in Christ is - going to church and feeling that special connection with otherwise complete strangers has heightened my appreciation for the Christians that I work with and interact with outside church, too. We are family. God has saved us, and we are here to love and encourage and support each other. I'm really sorry now that I've stayed away for so long!

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I'm sure there are other "firsts" that I've forgotten to tell you about, but this post has been festering in my "Drafts" folder for about two weeks, so I thought it was about time to get it posted so I can relieve my writer's block.  :-)  So please, forgive my hasty and somewhat unpolished method of splatting this up here, but I wanted to get this posted TONIGHT for fear that one more day will cause me to give up altogether.

What about you? What have you done this summer for the very first time?

Hugs,
Vicki

(It's so good to be back blogging again!!!)