When It's Not Working

Well I am running low on energy and the ability to concentrate today, so I will try hard not to just ramble. I got up at 5:20am this morning to take a friend to the airport and now John and I are watching their three kids while they are out of town for a couple of days. But the kids are great; it’s the lack of sleep that is affecting my ability to focus on anything.

The pictures up are from my grandmother’s 90th Surprise Birthday Party. John & I provided the church building and the excuse for her to come see us, and all of her sons (my dad & uncles) provided the resources for the party. It was wonderful, truly a blessing to celebrate my grandmother, Fannie Lucinda with all of our family and friends. John & I were also able to make an Imovie of all of her old pictures and the whole family growing up, it was so special and fun to see our families go through the growth over time.

Here is something I have been struggling with the past couple of weeks. Four years ago now I started a Middle School Girls Bible Study that met once a week, the group was small (between 4-6 girls each week) but it was consistent. And those girls that I started with are now freshmen; they are changing the leadership of our youth group and are the closest group of girls in our youth group. This year I am continuing their study, which is now a High School Girls Bible Study, but I have also attempted to begin the next Middle School Girls Bible Study. This is where the struggle is coming in. At what point do I justly declare that the new Middle School study is not working out and disband it? It has been four weeks, the first week I had one student, the second week I had two students (but it was like pulling teeth to get them to talk, simply painful), the third week only one made it so we went and got ice cream, and this past week it was canceled because no one could make it. So where is the line in this ministry that I can easily draw, and say this is not accomplishing it’s goal time to stop, pray, and see what will provide they unity and growth for these girls. What are your thoughts?

2 Floods and Some New Names

I am finally taking the time to update my blog, let’s see since I last wrote we have under gone some major construction at the church, the church experienced its 5th flood, John experienced his 6th office flood, we had our annual parents’ meeting, we have begun searching for our Italy trip plans and much more. I will just cover some highlights.

The 5th flood of the church was an amazing one, not the most amazing but one to remember. You see the new building was just installed with a fire sprinkler system that will eventually also be added in the old building, well a pipe on the second floor was not capped off when the water was turned on. For about 45 minutes pressurized water flooded the east side of the second floor, flowing freely into the auditorium balcony which then created a waterfall in the auditorium (which would have been so beautiful had it been made purposely). The water also came through the floors of the second floor seeping into the first floor and cascading down the stairs. So much fun! I could only laugh as we hastily swept water out of the balcony and second floor, praising God that it was not my office.

Last week John was interrupted in his work by water flowing through his ceiling tiles, we had to quickly evacuate his office of anything that might get ruined, nothing was ruined but his office reeks of stale water now.

Right now, I need your help with something John and I must decide this week. We have to name the three new youth rooms for signage purposes. There are two classrooms and a gathering/hangout space in the between the two classrooms. Since the two classrooms are separated by the gathering space I have been rejected to simply call them classroom A and classroom B. So what should we name these three rooms? I don’t mind some funny answers; I expect nothing less from many of you- but a few helpful ones also. They don’t have to be themed just simple.

Cool Mountain to a Fiery Furnace

From the cool mountain air to a fiery furnace, meant literally and a little symbolically. A week ago John & I returned from our greatest week of camp with Preston Road in the last four years. Literally the temperatures were average about 50-60 degrees it was wonderful to wear jeans and fleeces in the middle of the summer. We were encouraged to take 20 students with us to camp this year; two years ago we went alone to fulfill our teaching responsibilities. Therefore taking 20 students was exciting, but numbers is not the most exciting part of course or the real evidence of God’s hand. Throughout the week our students worshipped with instruments (provided by our favorite worship team ever from Dave Drake, Edwin Guerra, and Aaron Collier), they worshipped accapella, they opened up to one another, and included everyone. The Preston Road Youth Group actually looked like a group of students seeking Christ together, this is a huge milestone for a youth group that is spread through 25 schools and has had no leadership from students until now. It was inspirational and one of the few times in four years that John and I have been able to SEE the difference in our group now. This week was our cool mountain air.

We came back to a literal fiery furnace; the temperatures this week will stay around 102 degrees every day. I am not a friend of the heat, I have always been sensitive to heat and the sun with headaches and sunburns, but after getting heat stroke and dehydration last year I do all that I can to stay out of the heat now. Symbolically, it was not exactly a fiery furnace but it felt a little similar. I had a confrontational meeting with someone that expressed to me I had let them down, hurt their feelings, and had missed opportunities to show Christ’s love to them. My reflex was to defend myself, find excuses- but I had nothing and I could defend nothing- this person was right. I had unintentionally failed to offer support, give encouragement, or show Christ’s love in the past year. It broke my heart to be told this and know there was truth in it. I cannot go back and change my lack of actions, but I seek God to forgive me, and to allow this to be a building step in my ministry. One that will encourage me to actively seek more people out boldly if needed to show them care and encouragement. I strive to not let this confrontation tear any part of God’s work in me down, or give hold to any doubt of what I am doing for Him.

Revelations 3:19-20, here He is knocking

New Orleans Mission

This past weekend John & I took our students to New Orleans to work with Operation Nehemiah, to help rebuild the city. We had a great trip, some lessons in patience and flexibility- but still a great trip that we believe has been instrumental in forming and connecting our students. Here are some pictures of our trip. I’m headed to Nashville in the morning to have a girls’ weekend with all of my old Dallas friends that have abandoned me (see blog titled “And then there was one”). I hope to fill you in more on our New Orleans trip when I get back.

Breaking open the crawfish was so gross at first.

But well worth the flavor!

Going Solo

Last year in March I wrote a blog about the core group of friends I had made in Dallas, I told you how great they were and how much God had worked in our lives through each other. The title of the blog in March of last year was “And Then There Were Two.” Because from the three close friends that I had here in Dallas- one moved to the west side of Fort Worth, and one moved back to Kentucky.

Yesterday, I said goodbye to the third. Summer and her family moved to Alabama, her husband was our worship minister and took a job at a church in Montgomery. To say that I shed a few tears is a huge understatement, but I am thankful for the sorrow I felt. It means that Summer and her family were an important part of my life here, that God has made me more of the woman He desires me to be through our friendship, and I believe I will be a better mother someday from what I have learned from her! Though yesterday was hard, and it will be sad to enter into the church not hearing her little girls yelling my name in excitement, and I am still sad for how our friendship will have to change- going from weekly visits to yearly, but nevertheless I rejoice and have faith that there will be many more opportunities for God to use new friends to mold me.

For this is the day the Lord has made and I will rejoice and be glad in it.

A One-Woman Man

Madness, complete madness. That is what my schedule has felt like lately. In the past month I had an amazing trip to Nashville for Church of Christ women in fulltime Youth Ministry Retreat, and I was able to see one of my favorite people Lesli and her family that moved from Dallas to KY last year. It was AMAZING! I have started a new bible study at one of the private schools nearby after having finished studying with one of the girls that had some BIG questions about God (examples: If heaven is sinless how did Satan sin while there? How do we know Jesus was the Savior? Where did all the nationalities come from? Where did the Bible come from?) And she is in 6th grade. We just had a lock-in with 25 members of our church and 35 friends they brought! So fun!!! I want to stay up 24hrs every day. Ok, the lock-in was great but at age can I claim to be too old for that? We had a Deacon/Elders/Ministers Retreat, which I was the only female at- fun times. And from the retreat I have been given my first big task at Preston Road, well you know other then spiritually forming the lives of teens.

I have been set as the chair of a committee of deacons and elders that will evaluate two things. First, potential deacon candidates, our church has not installed new deacons in six years. So they are asking me to chair a committee that will get it done in less than one month, gee thanks. And second, we will present to the elders a translation of what it means for a deacon to be the “husband of but one wife.” 1 Timothy 3:12. Literally translates a “one-woman man.” I don’t know where to go with this and how in the world I became the chair is beyond me. What is your church’s policy on this deacon qualification? Or what do you believe, I have done the research and I have my own conclusions but there are so many different situations. What do you think? And any advice for chairing a committee?

A Sad Realization & Working in a Wind Tunnel

Last month while cleaning out my parents attach I had a slight mishap, when tossing down a stack of heavy metal trays I released them to early- throwing them on top of a wooden pole which in turn flew up and hit me in the face. Sounds fun uh?! The stick came within an inch of my eye but thankfully only put a messy scratch on my eye brow. The next day after John & I went to a Couples Retreat with our church, where I was asked repeatedly what happened. Eventually one person asked if the scratch was still from the fall when I had two black eyes. I told him the story of how I got this injury at which point he asked…”are you a klutz?” Of course I said no, I really am not.

The following week that question came back to my mind twice when I once burnt my finger on the curling iron, and then again when I burnt my shoulder by dropping the curling iron on myself. And then this past week when a student in our youth ministry tossed me a cell phone and it hit in the face. So my family nickname of “Grace” has come to full tuition, and brought me to the sad realization that I am a klutz.

And now at this time I once again write to you from the wind tunnel of my office. Though my office took on no water it shares a wall with John’s office and a portion of the youth area that once again flooded for the forth time. Here is the sad part though; no matter if it is a foot of water all over the whole basement or about 10sq feet that got wet the process of drying out the walls and floor demand multiple days of huge drying fans and furniture moved. Hence now I am working with hair flying and ipod blasting to block out the noise of the fans. Oh, the adventure of it all!

This is the day the Lord has made, I will be glad and rejoice in it.

A Trove of Teasures

Two weeks ago John & I got the itch to do some cleaning, and well there was no cleaning out to be done at our house- we have simply gotten rid of everything we can. It is an amazing feeling! So, we went to my mom & stepdad’s house to clean out the attic. A place that evidently had not been cleaned out in at least 15 years! The task was huge, but we did it!

Among the treasures found in our parents' attic was an Atari box (not the actual Atari but just the box), a Speak & Spell, a plethora of KFC & Wendy’s memorabilia (my dad worked at each place for multiple years) , a Light Bright, Trolls (in various sizes and styles), Barbie’s, some toy zoo like creatures that we could not remember the name of (one was a lion mixed with bumble bee wings, and there was an elephant mixed with something else), many Pound Puppies, and a long lost Popple (see 1st picture if you don’t know what that is). It was a great time to throw about 10 trash cans of stuff away and see everything from my childhood!

Did these treasures bring back any memories for you?

Valentine's Day

I would love to take just a moment to brag about John, my husband. Last Monday he had his wisdom teeth out, which was in itself a hard thing for him but a hilarious experience for me. When John was coming out of the anesthesia he started right away asking if he could have his teeth that were pulled- so that he could put them under his pillow for the tooth fairy. Not just once, but repeatedly he asked…I started to let him know that I was no sure if we got them- at which point John shook his fist at me, as if saying “oh, you better get them.” The entire 15 minutes that he was coming to in the dentist office I could not stop laughing, it was great, not even drugs can take away my husband’s sense of humor!

Back to the real bragging part, John had is wisdom teeth out on Monday and Valentines Day was Thursday, which meant John would not be able to really eat so our plan was to just go somewhere with good soup like Corner Bakery or La Madeline. Also, let me tell you John is not much for celebrating anything other then Christmas and major birthdays/anniversaries, and definitely not buying gifts for such occasions, it is just how he was raised and I can see the value in not buying things for everything all the time, it makes some years even more special and memorable. But he is the type that does bring home flowers or little presents unexpectedly so it all evens out.

Well, this Valentines Day after showering and getting ready I go into our closet to get dressed and John has perfectly set up a dress and shirt that he bought me! He picked it out all on his own and did so great! It was so special that he not only went out and got me a present but got me something that he really likes too, I mean usually it is hard to get an opinion on any clothes at all- but he went and picked this out! It was wonderful! It was a great Valentines and John made me feel so special that he cared about a dress for me!

And the picture is exactly how it looks on me ;)

Foo Fighters Concert

John & I have these amazing friends, some of the coolest you could ever have. Their names are Edwin & Tami, and they among many other gifts, recently gave John & I two tickets to the Foo Fighters concert last week. It is amazing that someone would just give tickets away that they had paid for, but they did. Like I said these are amazing people we are friends with.
So last Wednesday, John & I made arrangements to skip church and went to the concert with Edwin & Tami (they had floor tickets, ours were in the first level of the AAC). The concert was pretty packed; I would not have wanted to be on the floor at all, way too much pushing and body heat and invasion of my personal space. Edwin & Tami are much more hard core then I am. The Foo Fighters were flippin’ awesome though, I didn’t realize how many of their songs I knew, they did great! My favorite part of the concert was the acoustic songs (still with the whole band but on the acoustic instead of the electric). And at the intro into the acoustic songs Dave Grohl (lead guy) begins strumming some acoustic riffs as he walks from the main rectangle stage that is set, down the cat walk in the middle of the crowd, to a circular band stage that is being lowered down from the rafters! It was so great, and once he got there, facing the opposite end of the AAC now he says to the crowd in front of him something like “I didn’t want to forget about you guys.” It was greatness, I really enjoyed their music and some of John’s dancing. Hahaha.

I had not been to a secular concert in years; John & I are usually too cheap to pay for the tickets that make it worth going. And even then we have only gone to Christians concerts. But this concert really reminded me how naive I am and pretty much sheltered by the church and people I spend time with I am. Not to my surprise, just a reminder. In between his great songs Dave Grohl threw in as much profanity as possible I think, plus a wonderful little tribute to smoking weed. I was a bit disgusted by it, especially the fact that it was not what he was saying that was getting the crowd rallied, but the profanity he used. I mean really “let’s all cheer for the f-bomb,” or “oh, he said s*%t, that’s our queue to scream.” That small part of the concert though is simply a good reminder of the world around me I think, not the reality but the world. I am glad I went, and so thankful to Tami & Edwin for giving us amazing seats at the concert!

Winterfest is a convention for teenagers in grades 6-12, it is held by the Churches of Christ in Arlington and gathers over 4,000 students together! They bring bands, commedy, artists, and all sorts of entertainment for the youth to experience Christ through. For us Winterfest was last weekend.

We took 25 students to Winterfest, the largest group we have ever taken, it was amazing! Our students built relationships, spent time together worshipping and learning about Christ, and learning how to Know, Be, See, and Share Christ. This is a weekend that John and I have been praying for and we feel that God has answered our prayers in big ways. Our youth group is finally becoming a community found on Christ. Of course it will never be perfect, but it is on the move. I hope you enjoy the pictures, there are tons more in the Winterfest Album on my myspace page, www.myspace.com/crystymarie .

What Everyone Wants for Christmas…

At this time of year I always hear friends, family, and other people talking about how much they wish they had more time off from work, to get shopping done, to be with family, to relax from the demands of the holiday…which is sad too that there are so many demands that you need rest from during a season of joy…but anyway back to topic.

On the vacations topic, John & I are in the unique career position that most of our out of town trips pertain to work for example; youth group ski trip, girls retreat, guys camping trip, summer camp in New Mexico, youth minister conventions in California or Colorado…it’s a tough life. Also, both of us being the youth ministers when we do leave town it takes extra work to fill in all of the whole and get the next weeks work done before hand, not to mention I don’t know anyone affords an out of town trip…they are so expensive. All of this to say, John & I almost never leave town without it being for our ministry the result of this is that John has 186 hours of vacation hours, and I have 208 vacation hours stored up! Which roughly comes out to John having 4 ½ weeks and me a little over 5 weeks of vacation!!!!

This past year our church came out with new policies for vacation hours, each employee can roll over up to 80 hours of vacation (2 weeks) into the New Year. Therefore before December 28 (because we leave for our youth ski trip then) John has 106 hours of vacation (2 weeks) and I have 128 (3 weeks) that need to be taken!!! What an amazing problem to have, sorry I cannot not give some of you these vacation hours to use too.

Thankgiving...San Diego...Third Times a Charm

Happy Thanksgiving! John and I had a great time with Thanksgiving, we saw my dad and memaw on the Saturday before (made roast, quite an accomplishment!). On Thanksgiving Day we were with my mom & stepdad and sister and bro-in-law, and then on Friday we went to John’s parent’s house. It was a wonderful holiday full of family, food, relaxing, and stories.

The pictures here are not from Thanksgiving if you are wondering. The pictures are from our trip a month ago now to San Diego for the Youth Specialties Convention, it was an amazing trip. Though the conference was GREAT!!! With David Crowder Band and Shane & Shane, I must confess we still skipped a few general sessions to hang out with some wonderful friends. And my friend Beth had never been to an IKEA so Heather and I had to take her. The day before the convention we spent at the San Diego Zoo, which was wonderful! Enjoy the pictures.

Also, you will not believe what I am about to tell you…I am once again out of my office for a couple of days only though this time. YES!!! Believe it, our church offices once again took on some water, not near the amount the past two times but the basement is a wind tunnel at the moment. The water this time came from under the wall in John’s office, NOTHING was damaged though. Amazing how after two we have gotten the hang of it.

Softball Play-Offs

Well it looks like the David Crowder Concert was not exciting enough to get any comments, so let’s see if this is exciting enough for all of you.

This past Thursday our church softball team made it to the play-offs, which is amazing considering last spring we never won a game. Our first game was at 8pm and if we won that game we played at 9pm for the championship. I must confess I am not exactly the key component of the team and especially since I had never played softball until this year and so my position is usually the catcher. First inning went by great; I even caught the ball when the batters struck out. Second inning, I am ready once again to prove my amazing catcher ability when the pitch is thrown, and the batter just barely gets a piece of the ball…the ball hit the top of bat, hard enough to put a back spin on the ball and WHAM! right into my forehead. I have never in my life felt such a blow to head, of course there was no helmet and I went down but not out.

We were able to immediately put ice on the knot (which was not fun in 52 degree weather), and after batting one more time I sat out the rest of the game, and the next one (since we did make it to the championship, and the guy that barely got the ball struck out after I was walked off the field).

I kept ice on the knot the rest of the night and the next two days, by Saturday I had some pretty hideous black eyes, to say the least I got some amazing three time glances from people, or simply blatant stares and John got some dirty looks…I think the fact that he is so tall and big didn’t work in his favor either.

After a lot of fuse from others at church on Sunday about my appearance, and a friend in medical school suggesting…I went to the doctor on Monday. She even said it looked painful, but the fact that I never passed out or vomited was a good sign. I have to check in with the doctor for the next couple of days but I should be just fine. Enjoy the pictures, the scrape on my forehead is where the ball actually hit.

David Crowder Concert!

This past week, John being the piddler (a person that piddles) that he is, found something cool on the new David Crowder Band CD. He followed the website and went through more things that only someone wanting to waist time would go through and found a certificate that fans can get signed by the band when you bring it to the concert. So, we printed a couple off hoping to get them signed at their concert this past Friday. Little did we realize that after the sensation of standing through David Crowder’s awesome concert the certificates we had printed off actually worked as BACK STAGE PASSES! The students we had brought were a little sad that we didn’t have some to give them but they lived.

John and I were able to go back stage where the David Crowder Band was hanging out with friends and family, it was great. All of the band members were super nice; of course we didn’t recognize all them and had to ask one which signature we were missing and which person he was. Though we felt a little bit like middle school girl fans and dorks it was worth it to meet David Crowder!

Here's to All Nighters

For some reason much to mine and & John’s dismay the most attended and anticipated event in our youth ministry is the Middle School Lock-In…they only happen once a semester but we are asked when will be the next one beginning the day after the last one.

This past Friday was our Fall Middle School Lock-In and once again our students amazed us and broke the record attendance from the last lock-in. 22 out of our 31 Middle School students came to the Lock-In and they brought 37 friends! Can you believe that?

Over all the Lock-In went GREAT! We had a only one injury (a broken toe) and only one dramatic angry girl, but both stayed through the night. We had tons of help from parents and other young couples that all have a new respect for the fact that John & I stayed up the entire night and did clean up. The Lock-In was from 8pm-8am and we went to bed at 9:30am pretty good for all the kids we had. The majority of the night was playing Capture the Flag and Murder in the dark church building, which I must admit I enjoy almost as much as the middle students.

I think we have pretty much recovered on our sleep, but I feel a sinus infection coming on…you know its like the day before or maybe even two days before you get sick. Nothing really sounds good to eat, the pressure around the nose, drowsiness, and a funny taste in your mouth. But I already started on Clariton D so hopefully I can get this thing nixed before it starts.

OH, and we are back in our offices. It took one week and two days to get back into our flooded offices…way better then the 16 months that it took last time.

Flood 2007

Here are some great pictures! And guess what though these picture may look like they are the office flood picture from a year and half ago NO, these are from today! 5 Inches deep in water, not just mine and John's offices but also the rest of the staff and the youth classroom. And we just moved back into these offices in May! Have fun looking.

Stumped

Do you ever have a random quote or scene from a movie or song come to your head and then you can’t figure out where in the world it came from or how it got in your head? Lying in bed last night, while contemplating how to solve the mysteries of the universe, all of a sudden a movie quote came to my mind…only bits of it and I had to keep repeating it over and over in my mind to even get the whole quote. Usually I consider myself pretty brilliant at figuring movie quotes out…at least with classic movies, but I was stumped. So I turned to John for help, and he agreed that it was completely familiar but could not figure it out either. Well, of course I could not go to sleep without solving this tormenting mystery. Finally after about 10 minutes of repeating it to each other, and giving our own images of what we saw and heard with the quote I solved the mystery, but can you? Can you tell me what movie and scene this quote is from; “…it is but a faint idea, anything more then a whisper and it will vanish.” Let’s see if you’ve got it!

A Wedding to Remember!

I am so excited that this weekend has past and also now almost officially all the business of my summer is over! This weekend alone was packed with our 6th grade promotion dinner and party, a funeral, cleaning my house (like deep cleaning) because of our open house for the ENTIRE church, and finally a wedding last night. So surely you can understand, I am excited to be done with some duties.

Of course a wedding isn’t really that consuming right, of course not…unless you are performing it!!! Yes that is right, last night for the first time in my life (and most likely the last) I performed a wedding ceremony! My cousin Brian & his fiancé Carly asked me to perform their wedding, why I am not entirely positive other then that they are family and love me. Leading up to the wedding I was not all that scared or nervous, I think it was because I had some many others things on my mind at the same time…but evidently I was more anxious then I assumed. About 5 minutes into the ceremony John, sitting in the audience began giving me hand signals, which I read to be saying slow down (like I was speaking too fast). Although even after slowed down he continued to lip something to me (which I cannot read lips!) then I realized, OH NO, I did it…I had skipped over the 20 pt font in bold and all caps that read PLEASE BE SEATED! I had forgotten to seat the audience after the bride had been given away. Oh, everyone got a good laugh out of it, and the bride and groom told me after that they had not even realized it. So, I lived and made a few jokes along the way that went over with flying colors. And in the end, the important thing is they are married and on their way to their honeymoon now.

After, feeling all of that tension released at the reception John, me, my sister Cyndy & her husband Chris took it upon ourselves to make sure that the disposable camera’s on the tables had some questionable and hilarious pictures on them…just to freak the bride out a little when she develops them.

So, it is done and now I focus on getting everything into place for the fall in our youth ministry.

this Summer & 3 Years!

John & I have had a wonderful summer and have been able to spend time with so many of you that mean so much to us. I am excited to finally be home for at least a week and get all of the laundry done without packing it again right away. We have three weeks of camps, a week in El Paso visiting our one year old niece, a week in Caldwell visiting the in-laws, and some time in Lubbock visiting friends in between camps. And now we are home until we go back to Lubbock and before a church wide retreat. I get tired just thinking about all of the traveling. It has by far been our best summer here though.

Tomorrow, August 1st will by mine & John’s 3rd year anniversary here at Preston Road in Youth Ministry together. Even though most people still do not understand that, yes I am a full time youth minister at the church too…along with John. I don’t know when a youth minister should feel like they have their ministry running like a well oiled machine, but I absolutely do not feel like that. And I have heard this saying that you know that your ministry is healthy and doing well when you (the minister) can be gone for a month and everything still work and move on as usual…if we were gone for a month nothing would be done! I am a little sad about what that might say about our ministry, I just now after three years feel excited about some of the new plans we have for the youth ministry and just recently have begun to feel at home more and more here. It is the first time in a long time that I can honestly say we are not tempted by other ministry offers, not simply because of the obligation we feel to this church but now because it is home.

I hope you enjoy some of these pictures and I will attempt to update more each week on the details and excitement of our summer, there are some great stories. Happy 3 Years to Us!