Well, another NEWAY class is finishing tonight with the traditional potluck. I am so proud of them, they have done so well. Somehow this group was special to me— but then again, they all are! I love how it evolves, starting from 9 individuals meeting together and finishing as a group of ladies who have traveled together and shared victories. I love how real these women become and I get so thrilled as I see confidence emerging in them, hope for a better tomorrow, and the knowledge that they actually can have control over their bodies.
I love to see the transformation and the faces brighten up.
Tonight, we celebrate with good, healthy food, and then I send them on their way, convinced that they now have the tools to make wise decisions.
In September, I start all over again. 16 women have signed up thus far, and I already am praying for their success. 16 more people to love and care for, to work with until they can freely enjoy life the way they were intended to.
And then, later this fall, maybe we’ll start NEWAY for couples… How exciting it is to let the Lord lead us into His path!
To God be the glory forever and ever!

A few weeks ago, it was daylight when I set out for my daily early morning walks; now it is not quite as bright, and a little harder to make the decision to get out there. But I really don’t have much of a decision to make: the Master is calling, and the servant is answering–period.
Yet it is so much more than that–more like a friend calling another, or a Father calling a son. I delight in answering, my spirit longs for these times alone with Him.
I go out there and walk my heart out while I speak with Him about all that my life is about. I declare His praise and His worthiness, I speak of His lovingkindness, I commit those I love to Him and their challenges. I settle my heart in His presence, drinking all that I need for the day that is coming. I eat of Him until I am full, I sit with Him and let Him speak to me His wonderful Word, making it clear to me. He tells me of His plans for me, plans for those I love, and I concur with Him. When there are struggles, I stay with Him until I know that He will win.
And then my day begins. I wouldn’t dare start apart from Him. He Himself is my necessary food. And He is wonderful to my taste, to my heart, to my soul.

This information came from my son at UVA. I thought it was very cool!
In 2007, Harvard’s MBA program did a survey on their graduates–900 people who are without a doubt some of the very best budding business minds in the world, some very driven people. This is the question they were asked: “What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
There were lots of cool answers, some pretty fascinating ones, such a wide range of personalities and hopes and dreams…some said they plan to change the world and eradicate poverty, some said they wanted to make their millions, some said they just wanted to enjoy life and make their families happy. One answer in particular is worth reprinting here. It came from an African American woman Heather McLetchie-Leader, 2007 Harvard MBA graduate:

“What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

“We are blessed to be blessings. I almost didn’t make it. At 17 I dropped out of high school and by 19, teenage motherhood stood poised to knock me even further out of the game. yet somehow–miraculously–it all worked out. Now, more than anything, I want to be a blessing. Professionally, that means providing at-risk youth with the educational tools to lift themselves and their families out of poverty, giving them the chance that someone made sure I had. Personally it means serving wherever I see need, whether it be running a make-shift farmacia in Siuna, Nicaragua, leading a team of relief workers in Tarboro, North Carolina, or being a Big Sister in Dorchester, Massachussetts. I am a product of amazing grace and I will bring out that grace in others, empowering them to be the people God created them to be. I will love and love fully, without fear. I will laugh often, and loudly, without shame. I wil l be a virtuous wife and will bear my man of God happy, healthy, precocious children who will love the Lord as much as their parents do. I will touch lives. I will nurture dreams. I will be a blessing.”

–Heather McLetchie-Leader, hmcletchieleader@mba2007.hbs.edu

So, Barbara, what will you do with your one and precious life? And you, my friend, what will you do with your one and precious life?
I am pondering my answer… It will more than likely be the topic of an upcoming post.

My husband and I went on a 4 days get-away at the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon–who would have ever thought there was something so cool right here in Pa? It was absolutely gorgeous! The bottom of the canyon has a river, and both sides of the mountains are state parks that you can hike down and up. We did them both and got a serious workout! All along, there are waterfalls, small and big, and you can hear them throughout the canyon. The birds sing their songs and the colors are amazing. At the bottom of the canyon, there is a 42-mile bike trail, of which we biked a few miles only, but it is right along the river, and so very peaceful.
We stayed at a great bed and breakfast; well actually, it was an apartment stocked with breakfast foods. It had the coolest deck positioned just right to view incredible sunsets. That is where we were when we weren’t hiking. There, with wine or coffee depending on the time of day, We dreamed together about our children’s future, reflected on the Lord’s goodness to us, planned our businesses, joked and laughed, and it felt so wonderful to be alive to Him, to each other and simply to life.
That was my 49th birthday and my first 4th of July as an American–can’t think of a better way to spend both!