- Amanda McKinney
Week of Crazy & Awesome

So this week started off and ended awesomely, but the middle was really crazy.....
We had our annual church campout over Labor Day Weekend, last weekend, and as always, it was great!When we got back home on Sunday and I had cell and internet service again, I saw the monthly email from Shepherd's Staff Mission Facilitators stating what donations had been given during the month of August. It is very exciting and awesome to share that I'm now up to $1,240 (62%) of monthly support out of the $2,000! And, I'm up to $8,850 (59%) out of the $15,000 of the One-Time Support! Woohoo! Slowly, but surely God, through using ya'll, is reaching these goals! I only need $760 more of monthly support and I'll be cleared to move in February to Pucallpa, Peru! Thank You all soo much for your donations and please continue to pray that the remaining $760 of monhtly support needed is donated!
So I started the week excited and uplifted, then Tuesday happened....I found out 2 of the classes I was scheduled to interpret for the entire fall semester had been cancelled because the student was ill and had dropped the classes. I felt terrible for the student, but that meant that I just lost 8 hours of work a week! So I emailed the college interpreting office about some classes they had been still trying to fill at the end of last week seeing if they still needed people and I ended up in an email conversation about trying to fit a geology class into my schedule. It all got figured out and I needed to start the geology class the next day, Wed!
So then the craziest day of the week happened...Wednesday. Throughout the day, I ended up driving to 4 different campuses of Northern Virginia Community College....I went to the first campus for an 8 am class, then my co-interpreter was late relieving me so I could make it to the geology class at another campus. I rushed to the other campus to be informed just as I arrive that the student for the geology class forgot it started on Wed, so he wasn't going to class. As I was leaving that campus to head home, I was asked if I might be willing to relieve another interpreter at another campus for a java class. I said sure, so I headed out there till 1pm. I luckily then had a break until the night class I'm interpreting at yet another campus, but man, what a day! I really can't complain cause I get paid for all of that craziness, but it was craziness!
The work week ended with my violin instructor cancelling my violin lesson yesterday, which actually allowed me to meet up with a friend who is getting into Freelance Interpreting and I was able to explain to her a lot of the logistics, etc. and help her get started..
So overall, what have I learned from this crazy week? I am soooo NOT in control of anything in my life, but God has a divine purpose for everything! Turns out that because I now don't have classes to interpret on Tues/Thu during the day, I am able to cover another job for an agency right here in Fredericksburg. Although this week has been mentally and physically nuts, God had a plan from the beginning and He knows EXACTLY what He is doing! I kept praying, "Lord, I don't know what You're doing, but You obviously have a reason for all of this, so please keep me sane!"
And of course He did. :-)