A Chilly 49 Degrees

12 hour drive what? I would have driven 20 hours for this weather! Praise God for mountains, rain, 49 degrees, and no cell phone signal. It has pretty much been raining the whole time we have been here but oh it is so beautiful. We are having so much fun, LeVondrick is here with us and 8 of our students and they are freezing their little patooties off! It is a wonderful week, and I looked up the weather in Dallas and its 101 degrees today.
Oh, and today marks mine and John’s 2 year anniversary at Preston Road Church of Christ…and they still like us! What a wonderful way to spend our anniversary as youth minister too. Well that’s it, enjoy the pictures.

It's the Craziest Thing...

Well, once again we are off. We are headed to Pine Springs this Sunday morning at 5am, before God even wakes up. So when you get to church that morning at 9 or maybe even 10am you can think of John & I who will have already driven for 4-5 hours. But that’s not the crazy part.
We have 9 students going with us, which we are excited about. It may seem small but you have to remember this is a new camp for our church. As of now we are taking both of our cars, the Suburban and the Tahoe, which mean yes we are both driving the entire 11 hours and we are the only two adults going. Exciting no, doable yes. But here is the crazy part, for the past two days we have called pretty much every place in Dallas/ Fort Worth that rents 12 passenger vans…and no one has one! In ALL of DFW there is not one single 12 passenger van! Can you believe that? It’s madness I tell you.
So you might ask well just get a 15 passenger van, b/c there are tons of 15 passenger vans available…ah, but our church’s insurance blocked 15 passenger vans out of our policy b/c they are too dangerous and there have been too many wrecks in them. HA, but take three of those seats out and it is just dandy. I am just in amazement, have you ever heard of an entire city being out of vans to rent? I’m flabbergasted…what do you think?

On the Road Again!

Thank you all so much for your prayers and words of encouragement! We had a great time at Pine Springs, we were up there with Natalie & Daniel, Link, Trent, and Tanner ( and more but those are the LCU people). It was a great week of camp and so wonderful to be up in the mountains and in cold weather!

Two days after got back from camp we left with Dean (campus minister at Broadway in Lubbock) for the NACC (noth american christian conference) in KY. It was a 12 hours trip but really great for John and I to spend that time with Dean, he is a mentor of ours...and John wants to be like him when he grows up. The conference was awesome too, it is the first time that the independent christian churches had invited the churches of christ since their split in 1906...so it is a date to mark history! It was really wonderful to be a part of something that is bringing unity to the church! And John and I saw several old friends there that we didn't expect to...it was a wonderful suprise.

We got back from KY on Saturday morning 3am, then went to Celebrate Freedom with some youth and didn't get back until 2am...then did church Sunday morning (well barely, it is all kinda of fuzzy now since we were so tired), and headed out Sunday evening for John's parents house in Caldwell, TX (near College Station). Thats right this is my third week to be out of town...and I really don't mind being out of town but its the being home for only a day or two inbetween the trips that drives me crazy. Its just a tease and long enough for you to get the house dirty and rush to clean it again before we leave. Because I can't leave my house dirty!

So, what have your summer adventures been so far?

Say a Little Prayer

Well, it is 11pm on Saturday and we leave in 6 hours for Pine Springs (our church camp in the NM mountains) and I still haven't packed :). It is a 10 hour drive and we will be there until next Saturday (June 24th). Keep John and I in your prayers through out this week, we are looking forward to going to Pine Springs b/c it is such a beautiful place and so cool in the summer, but we have come to some challenges in our youth ministry and are both a bit discouraged...so when you think of it say a little prayer not that we will have a good time but that we will entertain the presence of Christ and come back renewed and more reliant on Jesus for our ministry and our personal walks. Thanks.

Good News, Bad News, Worse News

So, I have good news, bad news, and worse news. I will start with the GOOD news just to keep you in suspense! I went to the dentist this morning, my appointment was at 8:45am and I walked out at 11:30am. Whew, but that’s not the good news, this was my first appointment at a new dentist and she was GREAT! I don’t think I have ever been able to say that about my dentist but she is a member of our church, and she is so great!

The BAD news is that I have multiple things that need attention in my mouth, although none of them have to do with poor hygiene so don’t even think that. But I have a crown that needs to be fixed, a (yes a, one) wisdom tooth that has to be pulled, and ….are you ready I have to go to the orthodontist to see a about a tooth on the bottom front that is causing trouble to other teeth…oh please say I don’t have to have braces a 3rd time!!!!!!!!! If you look close in the first picture you can see one little tooth on the bottom sticking up higher then the others. And crazy thing, what I learned today is that your teeth will keep growing until they hit something to stop them, I just thought that tooth had been crowded out of line but my dentist said that when I got my braces off they didn't aline the tooth right so where the other teeth hit the top teeth and stop growing this one didn't stop until it hit my gums...which is still weird. (oh, and no my hair doesn't look that for real, that was a bad bangs cut & a picture taken 2 years ago...so don't worry).


And now the WORSE news, if you have been a avid reader of my blog you will remember when our offices at the church building flooded, and all of the fun that surrounded that glorious event. The flood happened on March 19th, the first date given to get back in the offices was mid April, then we found that the carpet had to be replaced, so mid May; then we found mold (maybe black mold) in the walls and now we have found asbestos that has been activated so a new date has been given, the earliest we will be back in our offices is SEPTEMBER! Until then I am in a church class room with two admin girls and one right out side our class and then four of the ministers are in a classroom on the second floor and John is sharing an office with the people that count money on Sundays. Oh, and I though sharing an office with John was hard but now just have a table and boxing…UH. SEVEN months like this.

Ok, so that’s all of my news for this week…hopefully soon I will be able to tell you where John and I are going to be moved to b/c the church is tearing down our house to add on to the church building in August…so it would be nice to know where they are moving us soon.

Welcome to Culture!

Welcome to Culture! John and I went to Andrews, TX this past weekend, if you don’t know where that is at think about the farthest you can go and still be in west Texas and there you are. It is about 45 min northwest of Midland/Odessa if you know where that is. Anyway, John was the bestman in his bestman’s wedding…do you follow? Everything went great and we had so much fun spending time with the bride & groom and their families, they made us feel completely loved and special. The wedding was beautiful; I even was able to lend a hand with my expertise in bow making! We had great food from cookouts, to Buddy’s steak-fingers, to the most important some Bahama Buck’s snow-cones!!!! And no, Andrews does not have a Bahama Buck’s we got it in Odessa on our way from the airport. Oh man, talk about that best snow-cones ever!!!

Moving on from the snow-cones, I never want to live in a small town in my life! I thought that when I went to Lubbock to go to college I was moving to a small town but oh was I mistaken! Andrews consists of about 10,000 people…more people fit in a college stadium! Now I know there can be good small towns, ones that hold a quiet beauty, an escape from the busy & noisy life in a city but this is not one of those towns. J It is not even nice enough to call a desert, b/c still with a desert you think of loads of sand, cool cactus, ect. Well, think of a desert with weeds and you have Andrews. Ok, I think that’s enough.

MY NEW CAR!!!

This is MY NEW TAHOE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That’s right, a 2004 Tahoe fully loaded with leather, sunroof, quad-captain seats, a DVD player, third row, and 20” inch rims ride’n on the side. I don’t say this to brag, it is an answer to prayer! We have been looking for a new vehicle since February, and this past Saturday the dealership let us take it home on a test drive, John said if they can get the monthly payments to “this” much then we will get it, and they got it $27 under that amount. Whoa, God is good. The only thing we didn’t like were the rims, which John thought about selling on ebay and buying the factory ones. Each time we get out of it he says, “we have to hurry back out before someone steals those rims.”

Another Great Weekend

Another great weekend!!! This past weekend I had our youth group Girls’ Night!!! It was so fun, and 22 girls showed! So many more then we have ever had…we began the night by going to a place called Purple Glaze where everyone got to pick out a piece of pottery and paint it, then the store fires and glazes the pottery for you. After that we went to a family’s house to swim, eat pizza, and make smores. Once everyone was done swimming we returned to the church for some classic games that are totally great to play in a dark church building; like ghost in the grave yard, sardines, tag, and many more! After a few hours of games I put a movie on in the youth house projector and they were out at 4am. Oh what fun!

On Saturday John and I celebrated my stepdad’s birthday at a park with a cook-out and fishing. It was a great day too. And on Sunday our church kicked off its financial building campaign! In which they had John and I speak on behalf of the youth ministry on why this new addition is need so badly…I know, I got to speak in front of the church!!!! Up on stage…but don’t worry I didn’t read scripture or pray or preach. And praise God we already have one anonymous family that is pledging the amount for half of the whole building!!! Hope you had a great weekend too. And here is another Easter picture of me and John dancing at the park!

Easter Weekend

I hope you had a wonderful Easter weekend. We kicked off Good Friday by spending 14 hours at Six Flags with our youth group! Talk about fun, I mean insanity. We did have a couple of girls that failed to check in with us at the check-in times, and they were 20 minutes late to meet us when we were leaving. What do you to reprimand them when you are already leaving the park? What have you done?

It was still a good day, especially for John! In one of the pictures above you will see a picture of John with his hero, Batman. He even asked Robin not to be in the picture, which is why he is standing off to the side. And then Saturday when we returned the vans we found the old Batmobile, so of course we had to go home and get the camera. John was giddy!

We also went to the Dallas Arboretum, it was beautiful, and even though we missed all of the tulips in bloom it was still great. We took some great pictures too. After our Easter services we spent the day with my family in Fort Worth, it was a great Easter.

Last week I had the wonderful opportunity to go to Nashville on a Renewal for women in Youth Ministry in the churches of Christ. It was such a blast and so great to meet other women that are in youth ministry full time, there were even two others that are a team with their husbands. There are now almost 30 women in full time youth ministry in the churches of Christ, two of which are the only youth ministers. Its exciting to see God's movement into teams of men and women. Of course you really should count all of the hundreds and thousands of youth ministers wives who work like full time youth ministers. :) Here are a couple of pictures from the weekend.

Tagged

One of the cutest little girls ever! Anyway...
I was tagged just like everyone else…thanks Monica.

Four jobs you have had in your life:
1. the Gap
2. youth ministry intern
3. gift shop in Lubbock
4. youth minister

Four movies you would watch over and over:
1. Pride & Prejudice
2. LOTR
3. Harry Potters
4. Count of Monte Cristo
Four places you have lived:
1. Ft. Worth, TX
2. Lubbock, TX
3. Atlanta, GA
4. Dallas, TX (the only four places)

Four TV shows you love to watch:
1. Gilmore Girls
2. Grey's Anatomy
3. Lost
4. ?

Four places you have been on vacation:
1. Playa de Carmen, Mexico
2. London, England
3. Edinburgh, Scotland
4. Paris, France

Four websites you visit often:
1. facebook
2. prestonroad youth (I have to check my work)
3. jeep.com (we are looking for a new car)
4. blogspot

Four of your favorite foods:
1. hamburger & fries
2. shrimp fried rice
3. steak (Salt Grass…mmmm)
4. Chick-fil-A kids meal with sweet tea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Four places you would rather be right now:
1. on a cruise
2. Wilderness Trek
3. Italy
4. Dallas Arboretum

Four people who are tagged to do this:
1. Summer
2.Lesli
3. Bret

You Like Me, You Really Do Like Me

Well, you do like me! For the past couple of weeks I thought I had lost all of my friends, or that everyone was just really busy. I mean it couldn’t be my posts, how often do you hear about being flooded out the office. But low and behold I had messed up my comments box to where I had to approve all of the comments I had…silly me.

Otherwise things have gone great, our staff continues to share an office out a classroom, its oh so cozy, it looks like it might be a week or two before we get back into our normal offices. Although in the mean time we are enjoying the change of light (i.e. the windows we have now) because we are basically in a cave usually.

Some of my great week was because of the meeting our elders, deacons, and staff had yesterday evening. It was the meeting to unite our leaders of the church before we tell the congregation that we are adding on to the church building. And I was so relieved afterwards, because I spoke for the youth ministry on reasons we need this new addition…which would include a new youth facility. I received several compliments on my little two cents. So whoop for a new building, the announcement and fundraising for the building begin April 9th, the architecture plans are already done. The picture up is where we currently meet with our youth, the youth area is downstairs and John & I live in an apartment upstairs. It is located right behind the church.

And the Heaven Poured Down

Well if you don’t live in the DFW area let me tell you about our flood that came in on Sunday. From what I know the Highland Park area was one the hardest hit areas, the street became small rivers, cars were under water, and the city drains were so full they were pumping water out. Coincidently, the church’s (my office) drains are connected to the city’s drains, so…while the heavens opened and poured down, the overflow went into our offices which are in the church basement. You will see in the pictures that in my and John’s office there is a window to the drain (I know a window that looks in the drain, yes we have a great view) well when the drain started pumping water back the widow began to fill and we had a fantastic fish tank for a few minutes, until the glass broke and put the fish tank in our office. Well, all will be fixed and nothing of great value was lost, thanks to those of us staff that were running from office to office grabbing everything off the floor…what a wonderful bonding time. And until the office is done being drained and re-carpeted we will continue to bond while we make office all together in a classroom.Oh, and all of this happened right after lunch on Sunday, that is why I am in my church clothes and John is in the baptismal waiters so his suit would not be ruined.

New Orleans Mission

Here are some pictures from our trip, luckly I was taking all of the pictures so I'm not in any of them. We worked three days and did insulation, sheetrocking, and mudding...I could be a pro at this stuff by now but don't worry I'm not quiting my day job.

John hard at work, doesn't he look lovely.












They cooked us amazing Cajun feasts everyday, this day was fresh crawfish.















And here is the whole group!

Spring Break in New Orleans

I am so excited, John just left with 13 others headed for New Orleans; I leave tomorrow morning (Saturday) with a second team of 10. We are headed to New Orleans to help with some rebuilding for our Spring Break Mission Trip with our youth group. I am not sure if you remember but during the aftermath of Katrina our church housed some families in the apartments we own nextdoor and now the families have moved back to New Orleans. Although, one family did not have home owners’ insurance and so we are going to help her with things that need to be done at her home. Keep our team in your prayers as we are gone and I hope to post some great pictures when we return.

I Survived!

I survived a night alone at our apartment. Now I know what you must be thinking, so what, no big deal. Well, it is an accomplishment for me. This past weekend John was in Seattle doing a retreat for our friend Anthony, so that left me here by myself… the reason that this is an accomplishment is because I am completely FREAKED out at night in our apartment alone…it is not that I am alone it is our apartment, I promise. In case you have never had the pleasure of visiting us allow me to set the seen for you.

Our apartment was a quadra-plex (4 apartments in one house), it was built in the 1920’s (old things creep me out), and the downstairs has been renovated into the youth house (where our youth have class & chill). We live upstairs and we do have neighbors but that really doesn’t help me much. Just imagine it, and 80 year old apartment (you think your place makes noises) all wood floors, windows everywhere, all the doors creek, and there are 3 doors that all lead to our bedroom…3! Who designed this place? One door from the bathroom which also goes to the dinning room, one door from a long narrow hallway from the dinning room, and the last from the kitchen right beside our front door, so take your pick on how you want sneak in on me, I mean really. And then the whole downstairs is empty b/c it is the youth house. But I guess it just comes down to me being a scaredy cat, but I did it and no monster got me from under the bed (of course the dust bunnies might have helped scare them from being under there J), and no ghost showed up behind me or popped out from behind a door (like John likes to do to me) so maybe someday I could do it again but not yet. And the picture is just to help you set the seen, it is not really my house.

Is anyone participating in lent? I am giving up sweet tea…in my whole life I don’t think I ever gone two weeks without sweet tea so this will be a big challenge for me. And John is giving up all cokes…which really he should be ok with. What are you giving up?

And the Winner is...

You love me, you really love me…lol. Ok, did ya’ll give some GREAT suggestions or what!?! Here are the choices I was given to choose from: Omar, Scooter, something that starts with the letter “T”, Landry, Jaws, Joe (but I know a Joe and he isn’t as cool as my fishJ) Hush Puppy, Bait, Guppy, Flounder, Pookie (but then John wouldn’t know if I was talking to him or the fish, no I’m just kidding, no really I am), Big Blue, Moby, Bruce Wayne ( I wonder who gave that one), Chris (to add some confusion btwn me and my bro-in-law), John (to confuse him and get some built up anger out, but I don’t want to traumatize the poor fish). Rusty, 728b (sorry Scott but I don’t get the joke), or Briet Hewitt Gibbons Carr (thanks for giving up your first child’s name, what a true friend you are).

After much deliberation I have chosen a name…drum roll please….Moby. I talked to my sister about it, and even read a synopsis of the book so that I could better understand the real Moby Dick. And after reading that it was a violent whale I thought it might be fitting, I mean the fish cannot be put with another beta and he does enjoy dive bombing the rocks and air bubbles. So there it is…Moby.

Though this name is not permanent and is subject to change upon my choice.

Name My Fish!

Well, I am not going to start off this paragraph with “its been forever since I have written,” because that is what everyone says and you should just expect it now that I am never going to be on schedule all the time for updating my blog. But anyway I have a new challenge for all of my friends. Are you ready?
I have a new beta fish for my office (picture above) but I have no name for it. I am told that every fish needs a name, and besides I have so many kids come in my office and that is one of the first questions they ask me. So lets see who is the best at naming fish, something short and catchy and of course cool.

How It Went

Well thank you to the few of you who lent me some ideas. Josh we must be thinking alike b/c after I had finished writing the lesson for it I looked at your answer and it was pretty much the same.
We started off the class with questions about what POWER is and who is powerful…of course at first they gave “church” answers but then we got them started on their favorite super heroes…batman, superman, spiderman. And then we asked them about being scared, what they were scared of, why they were scared, and who helped them. That is how we introduced the story, and then we had some students act it out…a 6th grade girl play Jesus, a 8th grader being the man that was possessed by the evil spirit, and a 6th grade boy played the evil spirit that was attached by piggy back and evil by beating him while on piggy back. The kids’ favorite part was when the evil spirit fell dramatically to the floor. And we concluded that Jesus is more powerful then anyone, even batman, and we don’t have to be scared because he is powerful.
Thanks for your suggestions, Chris I would have gone with puppets next. And here is the closest thing I could find to a picture of a person possessed by an evil spirit, it is John after I cast the evil spirit out of him.

A Little Help Please

Ok, I know you can't believe that I am updating my blog for the 2nd time this week, its a phenomenon, but I need a little help, any suggestions will be great. Except from Chris (my self proclaimed comedian brother-in-law)…I only expect clever laughs from your responses so don’t let me down now.
So every time there is a fifth Sunday in a month it is the youth group’s responsibility to present the children’s story lesson to them…are you still with me. So what it really seems like is that every time the children get to a difficult lesson to present they think oh lets just hand it off to the youth…for example past lessons we have had to present include the Beatitudes and 1 Corinthians 13…to 4yrs-10yrs old. So this time it is actually a story which is great, but it is the story of Jesus driving out an evil spirit from a man (Mark 1:21-28). Hello, all of the little kids are going to running out of class either acting like demon possessed kids or their parents are going to be tucking them into bed and they are going to start crying from fear of being possessed by the demon under their bed.
So, this is where you come in, any suggestions on how to present this lesson and take up 15 minutes of time with out scaring these precious children of God. I mean really, I am interested to hear from you…so if you read this I want to hear from you…lets see how creative you are…I expect at least like 10 comments this time guys.

Winterfest

Well, I got nothing. So here are some pictures from Winterfest this weekend with the youth. John enjoys torturing the youth when they get out of line. Beth spent the next 10 mins. in the bathroom cleansing herself after John was done with her. I guess she didn't care for John's feet.

LaVondrick's Week

Another crazy busy week, the day after we returned from the youth ski trip John and I flew LaVondrick into Dallas to celebrate a late Christmas with him. If you don’t know who LaVondrick is, he is John’s little brother from the Big Brother program. John and LaVondrick were matched four years ago while John and I were in college in Lubbock; LaVondrick is now 12 years old. They even have won Big Brother of Texas together in 2003. We usually try and bring LaVondrick out here 2 or 3 times a year, which means for one week 2 or 3 times a year John and I become responsible for this kid completely. What a scary thought, I can honestly say I am not ready to have a 12 year old, good thing they start younger.
Although it is a difficult adjustment for John and I, I believe that it is far more difficult for LaVondrick. To imagine the life style change from his home to ours is crazy. You see in Lubbock he lives with both parents (this month) as well as 2 sisters, a grandmother, a cousin, sometimes an uncle or who ever else in the family needs housing at the moment…all in a two bedroom duplex. He said he doesn’t like to share a room with his cousin b/c he isn’t nice so LaVondrick sleeps on the couch. In his daily routine there really are not any rules, any set times to eat, or anyone that he really has to answer to. As well as he cannot trust his own family in his house with his belongings b/c they end up “missing.”
And then John & I fly him to one of the wealthiest areas of Dallas, where all he has been taught is to want more, & think of what he could do with more money if it was his. In one week we try and teach him as much as we can, about Christ-like values, education, social skills, poor grammar, and manners. I am not saying we do any good by doing this, we may even be doing damage, I don’t know. It is just so sad because there is so much that we wish we could give and opportunities to prepare him for but everything we hope for him seems to disappear once he goes home, even the things we have bought for him. Our only hope, our only impact…the love that Christ overflows from us to him. No matter how we burden him and overwhelm him, he continually asks when he can come back, and cries every time he leaves. Praise Jesus for His perfect love. Do you have any stories or thoughts?

PRYM Ski Trip 2005

I am so sorry to have kept all of my fans waiting for so long. John and I just got back at the beginning of this week from our youth ski trip. It was awesome; we had 17 out of 23 in ski school and still no one was injured… talk about God’s intervention. And yours truly learned how to snowboard! I know I was amazed to. John thought I would give up, but I have the bruises to prove I did it for a whole three day. John also thought that I wouldn’t like snowboarding, he said “all you do on skis is snow plow the whole way down; you can’t do that on a snowboard.” Well did I prove him wrong! Leave it to me to find the hardest but slowest way down on a snowboard…backwards or as us pros call it, a toe wedge. That’s right, everyone else goes straight down or even goes down forward (a heel wedge) but not me, the easiest way I found was going down backwards. Just another thing John can add to his list of strange things about me. Sorry I don’t have any good pictures of the miracle of me snowboarding, but here is the whole gang. I am in the yellow sweater and light blue jacket... and no I am not that fat it is all of the layering. For more picture you can look at our youth ministry site.

What Will Not Be on My XMas Card

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.

Fun Fun Fun

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.

Catastrophe

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

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.

God's Victory

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.

WhirlyBall

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.

Remember the 80's

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.

My Pumpkin Carving Skills

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.

Pumpkin Carving Champion

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!

My Visits

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.

Where is Autumn?

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 someone 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 a Weekend!!!

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.