It's Been a Whirl-Wind!

My goodness. It's been a whirl-wind few months! I'm sure you've noticed the personal posts have been far and few between. There has been a reason for that but I didn't want to really share until I knew how it was all going to go.

I've been in university! I have never been to college and it was a desire of mine to go someday. I decided last Spring that if my health would allow it, I would submit my application and go in the Fall. I submitted my application and was accepted into Liberty University! My major is Biblical/Theological studies and wow - what a ride! I learned so much about myself doing this and, although it was probably too soon after my difficult year to do this, I did really well and I'm very happy about my experience. I took 4 classes (or 12 credits) and I have a 4.0 grade average (which still amazes me - lol) and I was able to keep up with everything.

Here's what I learned about myself.

• I'm not as dumb as I always think I am. 
• I know more about the Bible than I realized. 
• God is truly calling me to write as I was given so much positive feedback in this area from all my professors. 
• I have more confidence in myself and my goals. 
• I'm stronger than I thought. 

I'm now taking a break. I'm taking this semester off to rest and to pursue my writing and art. I am so excited about working on these things! When I was in school, there was no time for anything but school work. I read hundreds of pages a week and wrote many essays. Lots of research has to be done and it all takes a lot of time. Add to this the books I read and review and I was constantly reading or writing reports of some type. Of course, I love reading and reviewing books so that was a real treat during all this school work! In future to have this time to pursue these other things is such a blessing and I'm really looking forward to it!

Here's my first little project. I like to make an ornament for my hubby and sons and here's the one I made for my youngest son.

I'm going to stitch his name above the deer. It actually had a little bird sitting on it's head, but I wasn't crazy about it. I like the idea of his name better. This pattern is from a British cross stitch magazine called "Enjoy Cross Stitch". This magazine always comes with a little kit of items to cross stitch and this is one of those projects. I love this magazine and have quite a few of them. The other two ornaments will be from this issue, too. Everything to complete the ornament is there so it makes it so easy peasy! I love the little face on this deer and the other ornaments are just as cute as this one. I'll share pics when I get them stitched.

Our Christmas season has been pretty low key. My oldest son brought home a horrible virus from work and he went through two bouts of it and so did I. He was much sicker than I was but, even so, it was horrible. We do have our tree up but that's about it. All my many decorations won't make it out this year, but that's okay. It's about Jesus and family, for me anyway, so I'm blessed in that area! I pray you are, too!

Blessings - Julie