It's winter. Crisp, cold February. And the northern bays of the lake are covered in a foot of ice; enough to drive on, more than enough for ice skating.

I haven't been ice skating in years. I used to, in another life, actually take lessons. But then, in keeping with Holub tradition, we moved. I think I may have been once or twice in the last twelve years, but skating circles in a rink with countless other people is not what I call skating. It's lemmings on ice. Needless to say I was thrilled to be out on the lake this past weekend. I was even more thrilled that I had enough balance left to stay standing.

If I had been keeping things updated this past year (I'm surprised at my recent blog deficiency) you (my collective reader) would have known that I was scheduled to be headed to Mali on a summer mission trip as part of my time on EDGE Corps. It has come about that I am no longer able to go.

There are a long lists of reasons. Official: Insufficient Funding. Rational: I'll be able to spend more time fund raising this summer; it takes a great deal of pressure off me and my limited contact list; and on and on...

But in typical Erika form, I don't like using any of these. My response doesn't seem to make much sense at all really. It makes me think of how beautiful God is. I have said I will trust God in all things, which means trusting where he leads, and where he doesn't. I trust him now as ever. How great his love, how much his care, for God provides even in saying no. And really, when I recognize God's hand in my life, how can I fail to praise him?

Where's my decoder ring?

There comes a point when it is just cheaper to buy a new computer rather than investing in bandages for the old....I don't know where it is, but I'm not that far from hitting it.

Now that my laptop has a new hard-drive and I got a new wireless card and I'm looking for new batteries and a new power cord.....I mean, I can get online now.

Isn't that great?

It's the start of semester 2 here at UVM. I'm not back "on campus" yet, I've got 3% left on my funding before I get to go back, but it is good just to be back in Vermont. Vermont certainly is beautiful this time of year, all that snow.

I've been thinking about a lot of things recently (another distraction to actually posting anything). What I really need to do is write more things down. I've got so many different lines running through my head that I frequently forget what I was thinking on any one of them and have to start over. And once I've thought something through I manage to forget what I concluded.

How's that for rambling and jumbled?

One of the things I have been noticing a lot, especially in my Bible study, is how many words I use without knowing what they mean. Words that are common, particularly in Christian conversation, that I use all the time...like grace, and glory, or even talking about the Spirit. I mean I understand the context and the general definitions, but I've been chewing over their full meanings...