Gone stir-crazy?

I just got back from a 4-day football/soccer coaching seminar in Chishinau, Moldova (pronounced Kishinyov) w/ Ben, Ethan, and Alyosha. It was a nice break from being stuck at home for most of the past 3 months.

Chishinau was a beautiful city w/ lots of trees, open spaces, parks, and wide, tree-lined streets. I'd like to visit again and spend more time exploring the city. I'm thankful that we arrived a day early to the training so that we could spend some time in the city and seeing the sites.

I really enjoyed the fellowship w/ my friends/teammates and am glad I went even though I didn't really gain anything from the football training itself, having already participated in several more serious football coaching classes a few years ago.

On the last night we were there (Wed.), it was very cold and windy and we walked the 7+ minutes between buildings w/o adequate clothing. The buildings there were very cold as well - so I never felt warm the whole time we were there. The last day, the weather was damp, cold, and windy and I woke up that morning w/ a slight fever which got worse as the day progressed. Oiy!

So, I enjoyed about 1 week of almost normal health before getting sick again w/ fever and sore throat, this time sharing my illness w/ Ethan and Alyosha! I guess lack of sleep and decent food coupled w/ bad weather and being outside or in the cold all the time didn't help keep me healthy... We all went a little stir-crazy on the return trip (after being on the road for more than 26 hours) - it was fun!

Moe is here from the US and he's helping us plan for our first "extreme leadership training" camp next week. Unfortunately, he has to leave before the camp starts b/c he has to lead youth camp in his church at the same time. I felt bad that we were unable to do much yesterday and today (most of us being sick), but hopefully tomorrow we can start planning and get a lot done before the weekend.

I'm honestly not looking forward to it only b/c I'm not feeling good and there will be a LOT of work to do. However, such is life and I know that God can give me the strength and energy to do what needs to be done no matter what! :-)

Well, it's late and I should already be in bed to get enough sleep before tomorrow morning's meeting. It's good to be back home where a warm bed awaits me... Sweet dreams!