All Across the Nation

I've been travelling a lot for work this month. I was in Boston at the beginning of the month, just got back from Springfield, MO last week, and this coming weekend, I'll be in New Mexico. Going into all of this, I knew it was God giving me an opportunity to say "Hey, I really like this!" or "You know what, it's just not for me." I can't decide how I feel yet.

I love travelling and seeing new places and meeting new people. I always have. This love made me welcome this opportunity and even ask to go to additional places than originally intended. Perhaps it's just the timing of everything. This past weekend, I moved (which is stressful in and of itself!). Granted, it was only 100 ft. away into another unit, but it still warranted gathering your entire house up into boxes and moving. So, trying to be out of town and pack was quite stressful. I'm grateful beyond words that when the day actually came to move that I we had 11 men willing to cart it all over - AND unpack everything! By the end of it all, we had our entire house moved, unpacked, and set up! Even had pictures on the wall! It was definitely a blessing to me.

God's giving me another wonderful opportunity to share publicly the journey I've been on with Him. I've been asked to speak at a church next Sunday and give the sermon for both services. I'm extremely excited about it, but I'm also cautious. I want to make sure that I'm truly ready to lay "Alyson" aside so that God can shine through me. Sharing my story is easy. I've done it many times. But, this will be my first time to share my story since really dealing with my story in a comprehensive way through Celebrate Recovery. I pray that God totally takes over and at the end of it, He alone is glorified.

Please keep me in prayer this weekend as I speak at another Purpose Driven church!

New Car!

After a long week in Boston, I was excited to come home. I took Friday off of work and decided to start packing (I'm moving in two weeks) and also do the odds and ends that I never get to do during the work week. One of those things was to take my car in to get serviced.

How is it that I ended up leaving with a new car?! :) I'm actually extremely excited! I have been wanting to get a new car for about 2 years now, but I keep putting it off and convincing myself that I could wait a little longer to save money. In the meantime, I did a lot of research and studying so that I would know exactly what I wanted if/when the time came. Well, God just opened up too many doors for me to pass this deal up this weekend! It was such a good feeling - empowering, in fact - to be able to make such a big decision on my own. I was very confident when I went in there to talk prices and negotiate, and I think they knew I had game after the first few words out of my mouth! I wasn't just another dumb woman coming in!

So anyway, here's my new car!! Yes, another Volvo, but I love the security of knowing that I'm driving a safe car. One car accident is enough!! It's basically the same car that I had except the color changed and it's newer!

God continues to be SO good!

Photo Shoot

I'm in the Boston area for work, and about 9 months ago I was introduced to the Calabria family. Today, I had a photo shoot with probably the best photographer I know! It was truly an honor to have my picture taken by Carl Calabria. Ever since seeing his work in his blogs, I've secretly hoped that one day I'd have the chance to be on the other side of his lens. Carl is fantastic in so many ways - dad, husband, photographer, etc. - so it was truly the highlight of my day today. Here are a few shots from today (click on the picture for a closer view). You can see more of his work at his own blog site under my list of favorites. Enjoy!