Shake, rattle, and roll

I'm having a good relaxing time here, at this women's retreat. Natalie and I made it on time at 8 a.m. this morning, mostly because Julie told me there's be biscuits and gravy for breakfast, but it's not until tomorrow! But hopefully, I'll get a nice walk around the lake today and enjoy some more vegetarian food!

About a month or two ago, Julie, Natalie's MIL, asked me if I would help out at a women's retreat this weekend and at the time, I was working at the apartments and made sure I got my day off on Friday. Well, this was my first week at the new job and I really didn't want to take a day off my first week, so my boss told me that I could come into work at 7 a.m. and get off work at 3:30 p.m. I figured that would work great!
Unfortunately, I was so busy after work on Thursday, doing laundry, reading my book, cleaning the apartment, packing, watching Survivor, and then I stayed up until almost midnight reading my book, I just couldn't stop reading it and I finished it! I've got to start writing a list of all the books I've read since January 1st. It's getting to be quite a list.
Anyway, I had set my alarm clock for 5:30 so I could snooze it until 6, but Rocco had the brilliant idea of rustling with plastic bags or something random, so I finally got up a few minutes later and went to the bathroom.
Half asleep, I suddenly realized that everything was vibrating... so, I first thought that maybe since I had just woken up, that my heart was beating really fast. Nope. Then I thought maybe my downstairs neighbors were fighting or doing some interesting things downstairs, but no. Then I remembered that scene in the movie se7en when Brad Pitt and Gweneth Paltrow live in that apartment right by the train and it shook every 5 minutes, so maybe it was the train that was shaking it, or my super old refrigerator. Nope. It stopped and I got ready to take a shower and turned on the radio (I still don't have cable/Internet, yet).
Shock of all shocks! The DJ was explaining that what I had just felt was an earthquake! What? This is the 8th state I've lived in (I think) including California, and here I was, in an earthquake for the first time, and didn't even know it!
IT WAS SO COOL! Now, I can tell everyone that I've been in an earthquake and it was exciting! Apparently, it was in Evansville, IL at 5.4 on the Richter scale.
What a highlight for the day! I then headed into work at 7 a.m. and as soon as I got off, I was in the car headed for my 4 hour drive (Natalie told me it was only about 3!)
I finally made it here at the camp ground, although the directions from mapquest sent me on the wrong road and I had to stop at this bar to ask the bartender where this Christian campground was! That was awkward!!!
Through all the busy random of things of the last few days, it was really nice to come here and relax and help with the song service and listen to amazing stories. The speaker is from Washington, where I lived before Michigan and she is a very descriptive story teller. She, Jenny, was telling us about a couple, years ago, who had stopped at her church in Texas (her husband was the pastor) on their way to a military base. Well, apparently, they were just driving through and saw the sign for the church and stopped. Well, Jenny invited them over for Sabbath lunch and afterwards, she took her two boys and their three boys (all under the age of five) to the park to play, while the parents took a nap in the air conditioned house. Then they served dinner and the couple and their kids drove off towards the base a ways away.
Jenny, then told us that years later, this guy came up to her and asked her if she had lived in Texas. Yes. If her husband was a pastor. Yes. And if she remembered him. No.
He then proceeded to tell her that he was that guy and as they were on their way to the base, him and his wife decided to be SDA's and after he got out of the military, he went to school, and became a pastor and is currently head of something or other in the Florida conference! The point of it all was basically that we can be the person planting the seed, or watering the garden. Either way, no matter how small, our actions make a difference. We just need to figure out what kind of difference we want to make.