What's the Verdict???

Myspace and the kids in my youth group...If they're posting stuff about alcohol and party and junk (even if in all likelihood they aren't drinking or partying...well some are, some are just writing it to be cool)...do I call them out on myspace with a message or try to talk them in person or what....

your input is greatly appreciated...

It's one of those mornings...

I just don't know where to begin. I have all my last VBS stuff to deal with, my house is a disaster (and I have a group of vbs volunteers staying at my house for the week.) Most of my materials still have not showed up, I'm sick of making decorations, and I'm pretty tired. On top of it all, I'm supposed to go out with some friends tonight and I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to cancel.

So I'm sitting at my desk and I'm trying to get my junk in order, and I just am not feeling it today. I feel like I just got up on the wrong side of the bed.

Yesterday I was entirely productive...but today just doesn't feel like it's going to pan out that way. I'm thinking I may go get some coffee from the good coffee place up the road. That'll kick me into high gear.

And I Cried...

You're not allowed to laugh at me.

The past few days have been a crazy, busy, hectic, exciting, group of days. Last thursday I left for STL to visit my family. I love spending time with my parents. I think the older I get, the more I like being around them. My dad's birthday was Thursday so we went out for dinner at a great Italian restaurant on the Hill. It was so good. My mom and dad and friend Cheryl made for a fun, interesting evening. You may have heard about the storms that hit the STL area and how a ton of people in the area were without power. My parents' home was one of the places without electricity, which meant that my parents, dog andI all slept in the basement of the house trying desperately to find the coolest place in the house. I'll never forget the night of my dad's 51st birthday, because I believe it is the only night my parents and I have had a slumber party. It was definitely memorable!

On Friday I got to hang out with my grandparents in the morning. We went to breakfast hoping to find a place that had air conditioning since they too had spent the night in the heat. We went to an IHOP...I won't lie, it was kinda ghetto. There were over 30 people on the list in front of me when I put our names on there. My grandparents arrived after me and not even 10 minutes after they arrived another storm hit and the electricity at IHOP went out too...chaos ensued!

We decided to stay and get whatever breakfast we could. All of us ate eggs, bacon, and milk, because that's all they could give us with the power outage. It was another memory I will hold for forever.

After hanging out with my grandparents whom I love very much, I went down to Barnes hospital to visit with my friend Cheryl and her mom Jane. Jane had a bone marrow transplant becuase she has cancer and I wanted to be able to be a support to my friend and her family at that time. It was my primary reason for going to St. Louis that weekend. I was surprised to see Jane looking amazingly well. We hung out at the hospital most of the day. It was nice to sit around and talk with my friend and her mom. I joked that I would spend the night there since they had air conditioning. I got to wear a surgical mask....if you think about it, say a prayer for Jane. She is an amazingly brave woman and I pray for her healing every day.

My parents came and picked Cheryl and I up and took us for dinner at another amazing Italian restaurant. (one of the things I miss most about STL are the amazing Italian restaurants.....sigh) We had pizza and talked for quite some time. I always forget how much I love having Cheryl as a friend until we spend time together. She is aboslutely amazing, and so fun to be around.

The next day I hung out at the hospital again. It was good...again. Then I returned home.

I have been working like crazy because VBS starts in less than week...which leads me to the title of this blog. Yesterday was a long day for me. I didn't leave work until after 12:30...in the morning! It was a long day and this morning I had to wake up early so I could leave the house by 7 to get to a meeting that I had out of town. I didn't get back to my house until 6:45 this evening. I am tired. I am worn out. And to make matters even worse I have been waiting on a box full of VBS supplies that I orderd almost a month ago.

Today I finally got an email about them saying that they had been returned to the company and the money was refunded to me...WHAT????? So I tracked my package of supplies and found out that somehow they thought I had given them an insufficient address...so I checked that too. I hadn't messed anything up...THEY HAD....so I called the company. A nice man answered the phone and told me that they had shipped it to the wrong place. He asked me if I wanted to place the order with him again...and I started to cry. I don't cry in front of people...not very often. But this man had to listen to me boo hoo to him about my VBS supplies. He was so nice. He replaced the order and had it shipped express without charging me...so I guess the crying might have actually been benificial..I just hope my stuff shows up!!!

That's not the worse part though...after I got done with the VBS stuff I decided to run on the treadmill...have a glass of wine and get ready for bed...while I was running I put in the movie Honey. I don't know if you have seen it...it's not meant to be a tear jerker...but after running I sat down to watch the movie and at the end I started to cry. Not just a few loose tears but a full on sob. I felt slightly ridiculous...just slightly. Who crys at honey???? I think I am just overly tired...which is why at this point I am going to say, "Don't Judge ME" and go to bed!

love.

Frustration of the Day...

I can't ecxactly pinpoint it, but for some reason I am just frustrated today. I am sitting at my desk, with my happy mood lamps on, actually accomplishing things, and yet I feel extremely frustrated. I can't tell you exactly why it is either.

Today is my dad's birthday and I am going to St. Louis this evening to see him for the special occasion, but it's only 1:30, and I want to leave now...unfortunately there is work that I should probably keep working on for a bit more before I hop in the car. The idea of driving for 4 hours isn't too terribly exciting to me, but I suppose it'll be good to clear my head.

I think most of my frustration is stemming from ministry type stuff at this time. There are so many things that I want to do and I want to see happen, but I am at the point at the new church where I'm no longer new and people aren't going to do things just because they want to do things for me, and I don't know how to help them capture my heart, God's heart, for the people in our community. I guess it's just one of those things that take time. I've always felt like I was one of those people that had an excitement about the things I care about that seems to be contagious to those around me...but I don't know if that's the case anymore...or at least where I'm at. I guess it's just time for me to be more intentional about sitting down with people and sharing my life, and my heart with them.

I just wish people saw that church and their relationship with God and the body of Christ is so much more than going through the motions on Sunday morning.

ok...enough of me jabbering on about frustration. Chin up...

I'm off to work...and then STL.

mlegh...

VBS may be the end of me.

I don't want no scrub...

So the scrubs aren't terribly attractive, and yet somehow I think we managed to look pretty stinkin cute!

I never thought I'd miss....

I never thought I'd miss Minnesota, but I do. It might have something to do with the fact that I just spent an amazing week up in the Twin Cities at a conference where I learned more than I thought I would, and got to spend a lot of time with some of my favorite people.

That's my beautiful Godson, Noah. Wednesday was his mom's birthday, so Lindsey and I took Noah out on a date to the Olive Garden! It was so fun getting to hang out with Noah when there weren't a gazillion people around and I could get to know him. He has an amazing personality and he loves to laugh. He's happy and that makes me happy!!!

The conference I went to started on Thursday. I got to present for one of the modules with my friend Jill who graduated with me. It was fun to be in front of a group of people that included some of the people who taught us in college, and some of the people we graduated with. I also went to a section about church planting, and ministry to different cultures. I just gotta say that God was totally speaking to my heart and helping me to figure out some stuff that I have been praying about. My heart really did ache when I heard people talking about ministry in the city. I love the city. I miss the city. I feel called to the city. But at the same time, I know that my call isn't to a city right now and God just opened my eyes and showed me that there are exciting things about ministry right where I'm at, so I'm looking forward to seeing where some of those things might lead me.

Friday night Dani and Lindsey and I went out to celebrate Dani's birthday.

I forget how much I just like to sit around and talk with these girls. They are amazing women who make me a better person just by being around them.

Saturday night was Dani's birthday party. Since she's kinda addicted to Grey's Anatomy, the party was a Grey's theme and we were all supposed to wear scrubs, except for the ones that came from the thrift store that Linds and I got ours from were GINORMOUS!!!! I was in a bit of a crabby mood for because I had to wear the scrubs that looked ridiculous, so we started joking around about it. I figured since there was so much extra room in the pants I might as well make it look like my butt was bigger, so I stuff some stuff down my pants. I realize how absolutely ridiculous that sounds, but at the moment it seemed like a good idea! So I got a few shirts to make my butt look bigger. Then Lindsey decided she would help us to laugh a little bit more...and she got a full size pillow and put it in her pants. It was HILARIOUS. I thought I would pee my pants I was laughing so hard. So I had her put the pillow in my pants too...(this story does not make us sound very cool, but I assure you, at the time it was so funny...you would have laughed and asked if you could stuff the pillow in your pants too!)

We decided we should take our new booty gear with us to the party to let Danielle see how funny we are! Sunday I went to church at Woodbury where Linds works and it was great to be there. I hung out with the friends a little bit more on Sunday night and then work up and drove hom this morning at 4:30. Needless to say. I am pretty tired. But the trip was fun and well worth the fatigue I am feeling right now!

It is official. I miss Minnesota.

Livin la vida Branson...

Well July has been crazy busy. I've been running in and out of town for youth trips, vacation, conferences and the like. I feel like I have hardly been at home at all. Life has been good though. Work has been productive, vacation was AMAZING (thanks John and Kim!) and I'm leaving tomorrow for Minnesota which I'm sure will be lovely because I get to stay with Lindsey and hang out with the Tietjens.

The only thing I can think of to complain about right now is Branson...dear goodness. Apparently in the past two weeks everyone and their 4 brothers have decided to come down to the good old Ozarks and take in the local culture. This is great and all, but it means I have to sit in TONS of traffic if I want to go just about anywhere. I had to cancel a meeting the other day because there was no way everyone would be able to get to the restaurant we were meeting at because the traffic was so bad. I know that everyone has to deal with traffic at one time or another, but the problem is, when they planned out this city, they made sure there were only two lane roads, that you can't pass on, and you have to take if you want to be able to get to your desitination. There are few short cuts that actually make things shorter...

It almost makes me wish it was January. But when I get cranky about traffic, I remember that I live on a beautiful lake and I get to go swim whenever I want...and that seems to make everything better.