I'm Back...And, wow, what a thing to come back to!

For those of you who are following me here, you may have noticed I haven't posted anything new in a few weeks. Well, first of all, even though I have a blog, I do not consider myself a "professional blogger." Those amazing folks have blog planners and often have several weeks of posts in various stages of completion at one time. They EVEN will schedule entries to automatically post when they are not physically in front of their computers. More power to them.

I, on the other hand, am not so organized. Though I thoroughly enjoy sharing things on my heart here, a majority of my "non-homemaking, non-family" time is spent writing and filming curriculum or speaking and encouraging parents and students. As of yesterday, I arrived home from two major trips involving me traveling through 10 different airports in a period of 21 days. That's right. During the last three weeks, I have been in the Miami airport, Heathrow airport, Nairobi airport, Kilimanjaro airport, Mwanza airport (Tanzania), Gatwick airport, La Guardia, Richmond, Atlanta, and finally Orlando, which is home. If you're following me on Facebook , you might have seen some of the things I was busy doing.

I packed in to my schedule a trip to Africa, including speaking to families at a national pastor's conference in Tanzania, doing two science camps (one for an orphanage school and the other for a school for some of the poorest families in the area), and a two-day safari on the Serengeti and into the Ngorogoro Crater (look it up...it's amazing!) so we could do some filming for science instructional DVDs I'm working on.

I then returned to the States for one day before repacking my bags to speak at the HEAV conference in Richmond, Virginia, where I led a shark dissection for 120 students and did 5 speaking sessions on science/education/parent encouragement.

After all of that amazing travel, I was sitting in the Richmond airport Sunday morning, waiting to catch a plane home. I was tired but on a bit of a high, thinking about all I had the opportunity to experience during those last few weeks. Then I opened my phone.

I learned of the horrible shooting in my home town. How could this have happened? Though Orlando is known worldwide, it is really a bit of a small town, only getting its notoriety once Disney and the other theme parks moved in. Now all the eyes of the nation were aiming at us and trying to make sense of the horrific loss of life.

I felt I had to post something. So I shared this on my personal Facebook page:

"This is not a political post. It is not a religious one, either. This is a post to snap us all out of our bickering and infighting within our country so we can come together as Americans to stand against those who think they can brutally take human lives just because they don't agree with what others think.

In light of the recent horrible shooting in Orlando and the tragic loss of lives (recent reports are saying maybe 50?), can we NOT discuss gun control or sexual orientation or other hotbed topics and all agree that this shouldn't happen?

My heart this morning is where it was after the 9/11 attacks...as we felt the devastation on our own U.S. soil we dropped our political biases, our hate speeches toward each other and realized that as a country, we have been given the blessings of freedom. Terrorism and despotism and control by kings are not new... these are what our Constitution spoke against. That revolutionary document is what has given our country stability and enabled us to live in relative peace and freedom for centuries.

My prayers are with the families of those who lost loved ones yesterday. My prayers are for the doctors, nurses, paramedics, and police working to bring healing and order. And my prayers are for our country, seemingly spiraling out of control as we have forgotten where we came from and what made us so great. Please join me in this. Don't let the terrorists win by tearing us apart!‪#‎PrayForOrlando‬"

I wasn't trying to garner followers with this. I was just trying to encourage us all to look at this event from a proper perspective. But God has used it as it has been shared and shared again. I pray that we all look at the insanity of that event and join together as a nation. I pray that we remember WHAT our nation was founded on and that Biblical principles are relevant today and are definitely NEEDED! And, finally, I pray that God will make himself known in the hearts of those who are seeking comfort and sanity in this crazy world.

He is there. He desires a relationship with His people. He offers comfort to those who are hurting.

~Sherri