CHURCH ~ In December my little church of 5+ years dissolved and disbanded due to financial hardship. We had been living off savings for some years, and with attendance and employment levels low the savings eventually dried up.
I have only checked out a couple churches since then due to the holidays falling on Sundays this year; I have also been attending somewhat regularly the Sunday PM service for a church in Escondido which Bible studies I've been attending for 2-3 years. I really like it there and the more I check out other churches the more I realize I would really enjoy going there. So next week I may check out their Sunday AM service...
HOBBIES ~ After my October visit to a friend in Abbotsford, BC (Canada) my enjoyment of painting was rekindled; I set up a desk and my painting supplies and began to paint again.
I'm not super great yet, and make occasional mistakes which send me calling on Val to fix... But I'm getting there! :)
WORK ~ I applied for a new position at work but didn't get it; nonetheless my current team was moved to the Risk department and given a different sort of focus and I am really enjoying the changes... And I am totally excited about the person who DID get the position, because I think it will make things a lot better (and my job a lot easier/ more interesting!).
We hired a 3rd person on our North America team this summer - And though I am still traveling around the country, I no longer have Texas under my belt. This is nice in a lot of ways but I will miss the people out there (and my visits with my dad's cousin who lives out there; she is awesome!).
MUSIC ~ Not much has changed on the music front. I did begin writing my first song of the new year, but lyrics have been slow in coming due to a lingering sinus infection which affects my singing ability (and thus lyric writing).
CONCLUSION ~ So that's about it for the end of 2011 and start of 2012! I'm excited to see what new things the Lord will do through my work, friendships and new church. :)
Happy New Year all!