skip to main |
skip to sidebar
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
