skip to main |
skip to sidebar
So I am being a very creative adult this year; creative because (are you ready for this...) I am MAKING all of my Christmas cards, can you believe it. I am pretty proud. And an adult because I am actually sending Christmas cards, though not as many as we could be sending out, but we are completely grown up yet either. We had one of our friends who is a gifted photographer (you can pay me later Ryan) to take some pictures of me and John for our cards so here are a couple of the pictures just for you.
We had our first lock-in, but it wasn’t for the youth group. We practiced this time on the 4th-6th graders; they were great and even went to sleep! It was great fun, including relays in the worship center, a race under the pews and sardines in the whole church. I can’t believe no one was hurt or went home crying, no one even broke any of the rules! Talk about success. But the pictures you are looking at are from our youth Polar Bear Party, thats right, but this pool was heated! It was so much fun, the pool was 80 degrees and the hot tub was 100 degrees, while outside it was in the 40’s. One of the pictures you are looking at is my amazing husband who could fit 9 marshmallows in his mouth and still say “chubby bunny” I know, not everyone is as blessed as me. Although John says he was disappointed in himself, he swears could fit 11 last time.
Have you ever done the “Day after Thanksgiving” shopping? You know when every crazy person wakes up at an ungodly hour to get the store that has all of the great deals. Well, I never had, I always thought those people are beyond madness. But my mom and sister were going so I thought well why not, I have never been and they (my mom and sister) are so much fun. So I got up at the crack of dawn in Dallas (which is 5:30) to meet my sister in Grand Prairie at 6 am, so that we could ride together to our mom’s house in Fort Worth and then go shopping. Well to put it politely my Thanksgiving feast did not exactly set well with my digestive system, or it sat a little too well. Anyway, my stomach started cramping after we had been at Target for like 30 minutes, but we trucked on, then mom decided I needed to take more medicine…oh my gosh…the worst taste I have ever had in MY LIFE! That is what the picture is from, my sister couldn't pass up the chance to take that picture. But I sucked it up and finished the stuff. Well by then we were just walking into Old Navy, and BOOM it hit. To spare you all the details, I saw nothing in Old Navy other then the bathroom, and was in there for an hour. And the line was so long for even the bathroom that I got sick in the trash can in front of everyone waiting. Oh it was so miserable. Will I ever try shopping the day after Thanksgiving again? Um maybe, but I will never take that medicine again…no way mom.
Happy Thanksgiving, for all you who love turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie and all of that you must really be getting worked up for this Thursday! Me on the other hand I just need a little snack of the ham, yeah that’s right ham not turkey, and I am good for the year. However with some much family naturally we have more then one Thanksgiving gorge, I mean feast. This past weekend was the Sims’ Thanksgiving, my dad’s side it was a great weekend including staying up ‘til 4am playing chicken foot and phase 10 (I know don’t you wish you could be this cool), snacking all day up until the feast, my sister and I ending up by each other on the big leather couch, and a new treat this year…after spending the night at my dad’s house and putting on the only clothes I brought, Cyndy (my sister) thought it would be funny if we wore the same thing, so went home and put on the exact same sweater, undershirt, jeans, and even necklace I was already wearing. Oh, she is a hoot. Needless to say we were asked uncountable times “why exactly are you dressed alike?” Which just helped fuel our already popular nickname in our family, the giggle girls, clever uh? Anyway, it was a great weekend with good food, great family, and fun games. Did I mention that playing games is my favorite thing EVER!?! Well that made my weekend better. Sorry I don't have a picture of us dressed alike, I know you are all disapointed.
Isn’t it just amazing how God works through us! This past weekend was the West Texas Girls Conference, and even though our church is not in west Texas I still take our youth group to it. We had a really great weekend and it is wonderful to watch God grow and nurture the relationships between the girls.
But what I am simply amazed about is how God can take a fear and turn it into a passion. You see I taught a class at the retreat this past weekend, and yes there were like 50 other women that also taught classes, but what is so extraordinary to me is that at one point in college I questioned my desire to go into youth ministry because I had a huge fear of teaching in front of people! Even when I was hired here at Preston Road I still had that fear, but I knew I would have to face it. Not that I am all of a sudden an amazing teacher, but it is an amazing transformation to me to not only be able to get up in front of a class of 40 girls and teach, but to have the passion to want to teach them and be excited about it. It has not come easily or by my choice alone, I praise God and Christ above all else, but I also have to give kudos to my incredible husband that is not only an example of a stupendous teacher but has really challenged me and in love pushed me forward. Have you felt this same victory in Christ? What fears has God transformed in your lives? I would love to celebrate them with you too.
Have you ever heard of or played whirlyball? It has to be one of the best games ever. It is basically a cross between basketball and lacrosse played in bumper cars, and not just bumper cars that you drive with a steering wheel but one that is driven by a stick. If you want to go left you turn it right, if you want to go right you turn it left, and if you want to reverse then you turn the stick 360 degrees…but don’t keep turning it because then you just don’t move at all, no really believe me. So we took the youth group to play this fantastic game on Sunday, it was great. I can’t say the pictures turned out that great, the color is funky, but I hope you get the idea. And I would have an awesome story about how I scored the winning point of the final game, by launching the ball from the opposite end of the court, but really you people know me way better then that. And me being the Christ-like servant I am, I only played twice and let the students play more. I know I know, I'm so nice. Love you guys.
It’s been a crazy busy week, sorry to let down all 2 of my weekly fans. This past weekend John and I went to our Newly Married’s Class party, it was an 80’s Party and contest. We were excited to go but were hurried after a youth service project on Saturday morning and so we didn’t dress up for it, so didn't really expect anything out of it other then hanging out with some friends. Although I have to throw props out to all the other couples that wore leg warmers, two layers of colored socks, their shirts tied on hip, and their hair in side pony tails..oh the greatness of the 80's. But anyway,the first event was Putt Putt which John and I tied for with another couple so it came down to the wives’ scores, needless to say we ended up third place. Well it is without doubt that John and I bombed the 80’s trivia test, since we were only 9 when the 80’s were over. But we still had the craft contest to aim high for, and thanks to all of my elementary teachers for free time inside on rainy days and my parents for giving me the chance to watch Punky Brewster! For the craft contest each couple had 30 min to make the most creative thing that represented our childhood, so out of pipe cleaners, popsicle sticks, feathers and glue we made Punky Brewster’s tree house…and won first place! Which over all put us on top, we couldn’t believe it! The first place prize… (Drum roll please)…4 Dallas Stars tickets on the fifth row!!!! How awesome is that? But don’t everyone call at once; we have already picked the lucky couple that will go with us, my sister Cyndy and her husband Chris. Chris is a true Stars fan, we wanted to take someone that would really appreciate the hockey game...well at least that is how I convinced John to take my sister. But before John agreed to it Cyndy had to name at least 5 NHL teams, way to go Cyndy for pulling through.
Ok, so I didn't have the time this week to actually redeem myself on pumpkin carving, but if I had...believe me this is how good it would be, if not better.
Don't let the title of this post fool you, I learned that I have no skills at carving pumpkins…I am sure my husband and some of our friends will agree. This weekend John and I went to the wedding of one of our favorite people, Dave Drake from Raintree in Lubbock. He was married out on a plantation and so they made it kind of a whole weekend thing. Friday night after the rehearsal dinner everyone carved pumpkins to be set out for the wedding the next day. To say the least mine was not one set out front. After cleaning one out I was tired of being sticky and cold so I just attempted a simple eyes and nose on the pumpkin…although in the dark the face did not exactly turn out symmetrical. And then I thought ok, I will do something that is easier…a heart, which turned out beautifully if I don’t say so myself. After having accomplished this I thought I would take a chance and try something harder…it was after all the Tech vs. UT weekend and everyone there was Tech fans so…yes I tried a double T, which ended up not only caving in but not at all looking like a double T in the first place. I gave up after that and tried not to claim my pumpkins after setting them in the crowd of others, but of course my wonderful husband did not fail me and told everyone which ones I did. To say the least my pumpkins were the butt of many jokes. But have no fear I hope to return next week with a picture of the greatest carved pumpkin you have ever laid eyes on!
So today I had to make my first trip ever to the SPCA, it was so sad. For those of you with cold hearts it might not be a sad place for you but oh, I couldn’t handle it. I went there because a week ago I found a little cat outside my house; it was starving and so skinny. Naturally we fed her, even though it was a bit of a food snob, probably because at first we didn’t have any cat food so we gave it a can of tuna after that the dry cat food really didn’t impress her much. But today I took her to SPCA in hopes that they can find her a permanent home. The family in front of me was bringing back a dog that they had gotten there 3 weeks ago but had bitten her husband and dad, and when they took their dog back the 2 year old little girl started crying saying they took my dog. Oh, its just too much to handle.
On a happier note, this past weekend I flew to Amarillo, thanks to my giving husband I didn’t have to make the 6 hour drive. I went to visit 2 of my friends from LCU, Traci and Monica, well it was suppose to be 4 but we will forgive the 2 that backed out on us. J We had a blast though, it is always great to be with familiar people that already know you so well, and it just feels at home. I would have a picture for you to see but, someone has not remembered to email them to me, so you will have to wait.
Well, I have given up waiting on autumn to arrive and have decided to move on without it. Maybe if I just go ahead and start wearing my fall and winter clothes s
omeone will get the hint and it will become cool, even cold. Fall and winter are my favorite times of the year, having three big holidays, wearing all of your snuggly warm clothes, seeing all of the trees change to beautiful oranges and browns…well at least you see it in the pictures. Here the leaves just fall off the trees and turn one dull shade of brown. I really enjoy it though, especially all of the decorations! All the millionaires around here have already had their landscapers put out tons of pumpkins and scarecrows, and other seasonal decorations in their yards, it looks great, so very festive. Oh, and this is the only time of year that the degree that we set our air conditioner at matches the actual temperature of the house, which is 
great. In the spring and summer we usually keep the temperature set at like 65 degrees, but in the heat of the day our 80 year old home only gets down to like 80 degrees…so you can imagine how excited we are about cooler weather. And lastly why I love fall is because it means that Christmas is on its way. You see I love to decorate for holidays, but I refuse to decorate for any holiday other than Christmas, it simply would cost too much money and I don’t think I want to be old enough yet to get into all those decorating holidays. So I get all kinds of stoked for Christmas to come and put out the great Christmas stuff I have, at least I think it is great, John is a bit of a scrooge about Christmas decorations. So, come on Fall, I am ready…how about you?
What an amazing weekend! There was incredible worship lead by David Crowder Band, amazing classes with all the big names in ministry, and loads of free resources and t-shirts. But the best part of it all was spending time with some of my best friends ever!!! On Saturday, my birthday, we took a little hiatus from the YS Convention and went to San Francisco! It was so much fun; the town is great, full of huge hills which Neena was excited about, as well as a Pier 1 too! (Just for you Josh and John). We found the Golden Gate Bridge twice, although the first one was really the Bay Bridge. The Golden Gate bridge red and breaking through the fog looked amazing. We walked around Pier 39 and ate dinner at Bubba Gump’s Shrimp place, which the food wasn’t that great but the view was incredible, overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. The weekend was completely rejuvenating and I could not have prayed for or imaged a better weekend (unless Traci could have been there), praise to our Lord. I do have to admit that I even cried when we finally left Josh and Neena at the airport. It is always so amazing how you can be away from your friends for months at a time and you each have completely different lives even, but the unity and love that bounds together in Christ is unlike any friendship I have ever had and the instant you are together again the time away from one another is simply a dream. So to my best friends from college Natalie, Traci, and Neena (and our new addition to the group; Jessica) love you tons and I could never tell you how great you are to me.
Each year there is one BIG EVENT that John and I look forward to more than any other, the Youth Specialties Convention for Youth Workers. A time when we can say goodbye to youth, parents, elders and staff for five sweet days, not that we don’t love every single one of those people dearly. I could not be more excited, we will leave Thursday for Sacramento, CA to spend time filling up in worship (lead by David Crowder Band), classes, food and best of all time with some of our greatest friends ever from LCU. So you can count on me writing next week about the amazing time we had in California. Oh and this is mine and John’s birthday week, what a great present. John’s birthday is today the 27th of September and mine is October 1st…in case you forgot.
So I don’t really know what to write about this week, isn’t that sad I have only had this blog for month and I am already out of things to talk about. Everything this week has seemed so rushed; Saturday we (the youth group) had a car wash to raise money for Central Dallas Ministries’ After School Academy, which Rachel Embry is the director of. It went great, we raised a good amount for them and we were impressed with how many students, parents, and kids showed up to help and work hard. Sunday flew by as usual and then on Monday I went to Austin for my cousin’s funeral. It is weird to go to a family member’s funeral when I had only met him maybe 2 or 3 times in my life, of course I was sad for my family but I can’t say that it really affected me. What was sad was that the priest who did his funeral didn’t even know him and so he had nothing personal to add or comfort to provide, the priest just did a common Catholic funeral. It was unnerving just to think about that after this man had lived 30 something years all that the priest had to say at this funeral was that he liked to make people laugh. Not that making people laugh is a bad thing but I mean really, that’s not what I want said about me. Anyway, after that day on the road I feel like I am behind in everything, but praises that I am not stressed yet because it is work that I have a passion to do. I guess that’s it.Oh, and thanks Joe for coming all the way from Florida to help us wash cars and not even get any pizza.
I am so excited! I just finished creating and publishing our new youth ministry website. Ok, well we bought the package of an already made website and just filled in the blanks but I still had to learn how to publish it and everything. I know it is a typical “Simply Youth Ministry” format but you can’t take my sunshine away I am pumped to finally know how to do this and have it DONE! So visit our youth group website at www.prestonroad.org/youth its great!
I love animals, I really do, I guess it has just been so long since I lived with one. And isn’t it funny how accustomed our pets become to us. This past weekend John and I house sat for my parents in Ft. Worth, well we were really there to take care of their animals. They have three dogs and two cats, but my sister took one of the cats for the weekend. If there are any animals that have become accustomed to their owners it’s these animals. You see my parents go to bed at about 9 p.m. every night and wake up around 4 a.m. or 4:30 a.m. and these pets have really gotten used to that schedule. I mean naturally at 4 a.m. the two small dogs that stay inside need to go to the bathroom, so who do the call for? Me, and then at about 5 a.m. the cat is tired of being inside and wants to go out too. Not to mention that once I bring the dogs back in the older little terrier wants to sleep with me, little did I know that this 8 pound dogs takes up almost half of the bed and turns into a 110 degree heater when sleeping. So the sleeping was night exactly wonderful. Then my old cat that I had left at home when I went to college, who still loves me more then anyone else in the family, now only drinks water out of the bathroom faucet. Isn’t that weird, anytime you are in the bathroom he comes running and wants you to turn on the water. Oh and also the big dog, a mix German Shepard we discovered is deathly afraid of the water bowls that have the jug of water that feed water into the bowl below. Who knew? She hadn’t drunk anything in almost a day or two and when we finally went outside she went hysterical barking at the water bowl. It was crazy. So, I must admit that I am not ready to have pets, at least not four who go by my parents schedule and lifestyle.
Last Wednesday our church received 12 evacuees from New Orleans, then on Friday we received 18 more. The church owns the apartment buildings behind us and had four empty apartments and so has put up these two families in them. When the families arrived all they had was packed in their cars, I can’t imagine what it is like for them to be here living now in a two bedroom apartment with eight other people and having all that they new as home gone. It has been beyond amazing to watch our church provide for these families; food, clothes, sheets, mattresses, towels, money, gift cards, school, medical needs and much more. And despite some ungratefulness everyone continues to give. Though these people are being taken care of completely it is still obvious that this is not their home, that they are not comfortable here, which is so sad to me. I don’t expect them to be jumping up and down with joy but I think it is these people that really makes this disaster real for me. And yet among all that has happened I still feel the urgency in meaningless deadlines like getting the youth calendar updated, putting up posters for our car wash coming soon, and so on. But the families next door to me are deciding where their new home will be and how they will make it after this month. I can't imagine, and my hope rests in, what it will be like once we are HOME and no longer searching for a tempory place here. I know that might sound cheesy but oh well, it is my encouragement...my hope of home.
John & I at a friend's wedding in Dallas. These Dallas weddings are amazing!
Windows Explorer
Well thanks to so many of my friends getting blogs I figured I should too. Not that my life is worth writing about every day, but maybe once a week. The youth usually give me at least one good story to share and if not them then John gives me some crazy stories to share also. This week I am glad to get into the swing of things in youth ministry with all of the students finally back in school, not that I am sick of spending time with them but let’s face it I am a person that enjoys routine and with student out all summer that is not really possible. We just moved our new 6th graders up last Sunday which is really exciting because they are the first class John and I have moved into the youth group that we already had relationships with, which makes a big difference. I am also working on getting out our monthly youth newsletter which should be sent out the first week of each month...which is tomorrow. And I am checking all of the many emails I have since our phones and internet at the church have been down for the past 2 days...it is amazing how much we depend on the internet. What I am most excited about is the potential discipleship group that I am working on beginning with the middle school girls. I have loads of hope that God will do amazing things, and really create a strong community among these girls that will spread through the whole youth group. Well, that’s enough for this week.
