Every year, we have a conference that is for juniors and seniors in college that are involved in our ministry.  This conference, called Preview Weekend, is a chance for students to hear from God’s Word as well as process what their next steps will be after graduation.  For some, they are considering full-time ministry with us or a short-term international trip called STINT (which lasts a year or two) and for others, they are considering going into the work force in which case we talk about how they can become life-long laborers there as well. There are usually only a select group of students who go from each campus(es) and only  a staff or two.  This year (last weekend to be exact), Ed went with our students to Charlotte, NC for preview weekend.

My mom decided to join Kinsley and I for a FUN girls weekend while Ed was gone!  Have I mentioned how I love living closer to family and having these impromptu trips?  Well, our girls weekend was complete with food, crafts, and watching girly TV shows!  Oh, and laughing!  For food, we cooked and ate things that Ed doesn’t like that I only get when Ed is gone and I am with my mom.  Think shrimp and grits (he family is northern so he doesn’t like grits), egg salad sandwiches, chicken salad sandwiches (my mom seriously has the best recipe EVER!), ramen salad (Ed doesn’t like this girly salad with coleslaw).  For TV shows, we watched Say Yes to the Dress and Four Weddings.  For crafts, I enlisted my mom’s help in finding the perfect fabric for our guest room/office which we used to make curtains and throw pillows.  My mom is a master in sewing and as I only recently started learning (I figured I better take advantage of her expertise in this lost art while she is still around), I tap into her knowledge base every time she comes here.

So, what was the final result?  They both turned out amazingly!  I should also mention that when I was decorating our guest room/office, I had to go with burgendy/red to match the Ohio State pictures that Ed brought into our marriage.  He did try to get me to buy Ohio State specific bedding, but you see who won that battle :).

Completely unrelated, let me share about the educational fun Kinsley and I have been having.  At the gym a week or so ago, an older gentlemen shared with me about this project by NC State in conjunction with the Army Corps of Engineers that served to let people in the Triangle area know that bald eagles were nesting nearby at Jordan Lake.  So, they posted a camera above the nest before they laid their eggs and for the past few years, you have been able to see the eagles lay eggs, see the eggs hatch, see the eaglets grow and be fed and protected by mom and dad eagle, and then see them fledge the nest.  It has been really interesting (and addicting) to watch!!  Kinsley loves to see the mom and dad fly in with a fish to feed them (which sometimes can be way graphic!) and see the baby eaglets fight with each others.  If you want to check it out, here is the link:  http://www.ustream.tv/jordanlakeeagles.  It has been offline today, but they will get it up and running soon.  Let me know if you check it out and like it as much as we do!