This week has flown by!!  Between campus happenings, fun with friends, enjoying the girls being out of school for two days (for Rosh Hashanah, a Jewish holiday), and the weekend, it was gone before I knew it.

Tuesday, I trekked all the kids out to St. John’s University to attend our first ever Celebration Gathering, a time for believing students in our ministries from all across Queens to come together and to celebrate what the Lord is doing on their campuses. Eddie (in the far left in the picture below) spoke, which was neat because he is actually a Queens College alumni who went on to get his Masters of Divinity, is on staff at New Life Fellowship (our church), and is getting ready to leave New Life to launch his own church in Queens. This is exactly what we want to see happen with our students in Queens, so it is neat to see how the Lord brought that about in Eddie’s life.

The girls LOVED seeing where dad “works” and getting to interact with the college students. They even got free food at the Subway in the cafeteria – 1) because they are cute and 2) because I don’t think the ladies working there see little people there very often and were enamored with them and wanted to spoil them. We also got to grab ice cream after with the students, which was fun to connect with them more.

Then, Thursday and Friday, with having school off for Rosh Hashanah, we did lots of playing around the house. Their new favorite thing is making forts in our living room, which is easy and keeps them occupied for a long while!

We also visited the Queens Zoo with sweet friends. While I can boast that I navigated the bus and the zoo with all 4 kids and everyone survived, while I can say that we had a great time, and while I can say that the kids did awesome, it was a sad day. My friend lost her Iphone and we initially thought that someone had taken it while we were getting Italian Ices at the Lemon Ice King of Corona . Then, late that night, she heard from a guy who didn’t speak English well, but who stammered out that he had found it and had gone to work and could meet her the next morning to give it back. We were so excited that God had allowed him to come forward with it, but then he didn’t show the next day when they were supposed to meet. Not sure what all that is about, but it was a great reminder to me that I shouldn’t ever feel too comfortable in NYC, because bad things do definitely happen.

We spent the rest of the weekend attending church, playing at playgrounds in Long Island City (right on the East River with amazing views of Manhattan), and attending a street fair in our neighborhood where we got to see a lot of newer friends.

Check out this amazing view from my morning run:

Its in a place near us (actually where the girls go to school as well) called Forest Hill Gardens. The houses are so unique, enormous, and cost in the multiple millions. It is so fun that I get to run through this area and just be mesmerized with how beautiful and quiet it is.

Also, I have a lot of people ask me how in the world I find time to read. Thats a great question. I do a lot of reading while I am working out and doing cardio. Because I haven’t been doing a ton of exercising before the last few weeks, I haven’t read a lot. But, again, part of feeling more like my old self is that I am finding the time and being disciplined (most of the time anyways) to exercise. These are the latest books I have read:

Anne of Green Gables – I have no idea why I haven’t read this yet. I loved it – so clean, pure, and just easy, fun reading.

My dear friend Cam wrote this book. Cam has been a good friend for a while now, but I got to know her even better when we served together (she helps to lead the team) at NC State. I walked with her through most of the journey of her mom battling and ultimately succumbing to cancer, but it was hard/great to see even more behind the lines of her journey. She says in the book that they hoped to point people to Jesus through their journey and through the book, and man, did she ever. I can honestly say that while she was confused, sad, angry, and a whole host of other emotions, she truly held fast, and continues to hold fast, to Jesus through it all.

I picked up this book at our national staff conference this summer. I have been so excited to read it because we have so many Muslims around us and even specifically, one of the moms in our complex that I interact with a lot because we have kids the same age, is Muslim. While I am still reading this, it has not disappointed. I knew what Muslims believed, but this book is giving me such a better understanding of how to love on and reach out to them. I highly recommend!!

Will you pray for this mom as I interact with her – that I would love her well and that God will give me opportunities to understand what she believes and values but also opportunities to share about Jesus? Will you pray for my mom’s group as we are getting ready to start an intense, self-reflective study about lies we believe that aren’t from God -a few of these women don’t know Jesus personally and could really start asking questions about Christianity as a result of this or they could be turned off? Will you pray for our ministries at St. Johns University and Queens College – we are promoting our Fall Retreat which is the first week of October and want to see 20 people attend? Will you pray for the girls as they have been having issues (it started last year and has just continued) with a boy on their bus doing inappropriate things and that they would stay away from him, God will protect them, and that he will get the help he needs?