FREE church leadership conference----the NINES

If you are a church leader, sign up for this FREE Leadership Conference on September 9th. You can watch it from your computer & the speakers last on NINE minutes!

Some of the speakers include: Francis Chan, Sam Chand, Eugene Cho, Alan Hirsch, Brad Lomenick, Jaeson Ma, Kem Meyer, Perry Noble, Stacy Spencer, Ed Stetzer, Greg Surratt, Leonard Sweet and Rick Warren---but more are yet to come (over 100 speakers)!

http://thenines.leadnet.org/2010/index.html

God at the Beach

My friend Kacey and I totally had a "God Moment" at the beach today. We went after church with the intention of staying until right at 5, then taking off so that I had time to shower, eat, and be at life group by 6. I knew it was cutting it close, but figured I'd be okay with time.

We had just about everything packed up ready to go right at 5 when the ice cream man pulled his truck up next to us to let people by ice cream (and K & I were sad that we had no monies for icecream). K said, let's wait until he drives away before we go, we don't wanna look rude, all "you pulled up, we're leaving." So we sat there for a couple minutes, drooling over the ice cream, when I saw the cutest little girl (by herself). I thought to myself, 'I hope she's not lost.'

Next thing I know, she's standing next to me, and says, tearfully, "Can you help me find my Daddy?"

Well, K and I immediately jump up and begin asking her what her dad looks like, if she knew if she was by the buildings...you know all the questions you'd ask. All she told us was she was there with only her Daddy and that he was wearing blue swim trunks (Or 'blue swimming suit shorts that are long').

She told us that she had just looked to the right, so we started walking to the left. Poor sweet pea was terrified. Thankfully we had K's mom's dog, so K let her hold the leash (which my red flag-- if her dad sees us walking with her with the dog --came on--like the whole stranger with candy). Long story short, we walked all the way to the next Lifeguard stand where K & I told the Life Guard she couldn't find her Daddy--just as there was a call coming in from the next stand over saying that they had a father looking for his 6 year old little girl, Bella. 5-10 minutes later, Sweet Bella was reunited with her dad (and her two brothers and sister--even though it was 'only her and her daddy'). :-)

I am SO thankful that K and I decided to wait for the ice cream man to leave before we left. Had we left right then, Bella wouldn't have asked us to help her...she may have asked someone else. Someone who isn't a Children's Director and a Young Life leader. Someone who could've snatched her away or done harm to her.

I thank and praise God for giving me the gift that I have with kids. The gift that when kids see me, they tend to be at ease. I truly, 100%, believe that's the reason Bella came up to me. There were so many other people around. I just get the chills thinking about what may have happened had we not been there.

Thank you so much God, for allowing K and I to be there.

I'm a horrible blogger...

...it's been since mid April since I've last blogged. Internets, I is sorry. I can haz forgives?

Wow, since April. So, to try to recap & not bore you all:

Final Exams/Papers--went okay, I still dislike writing greatly.

Grades: 5As, 2 Bs. I'm happy. :-D <---- See? That's a big happy face! (Minus the teeth, little creepy)

Since school let out, I've spent the summer working on Kids Camp stuff and working in the library at school. I love working in there. Mrs. Celelli and I moved about 13,000 books from the old library to a classroom while the new library was being built. Tomorrow we move them from the classroom to the new library. I'm excited. The library looks fantastic! Thanks to the Texas Baptist Men for making it look oh-so-awesome.

Kids Camp was SOOO much fun--definitely the BEST kids camp I've been to so far! I have a video that I'll try to post. :-)

Other than that, I've been house sitting since the beginning of June for different people and will be house sitting (or at camp) for another 3-4 weeks... :-)

I'll try to be better, internets, at blogging, but, as you know, I is not goods at the blogs. :-(

Dear Research Paper,

I am very sorry that I have neglected you throughout the semester. Really I am. However, you are due tomorrow and I am tired. So, as I sleep and dream of sno cones and giraffes, please write yourself--you need to expand at least another 11 pages, please and thank you.

I look forward to reading you when I wake up in a few hours.
Much love,


P.S. If you so desire, you may also write several pages (or 12-15) on the paper that is due Tuesday. :)

A bit of catching up to do:

Much has happened since the Top 10 Reasons to go to the Easter Festival, so here I am to quickly summarize the last week or so in bullets:

• Easter Festival was AWESOME! (We served about 2,000 people!)
• Easter Services were great...Audie and I bought the same shirt and wore them with white capris so that we would be matching...and we told Jenny to wear a similar outfit....
• 

Aren't we just the cutest? :)

• I had a fun Easter afternoon with the Aunt Maggie & Cousins Megan, Tori, and Amanda--we ate & dyed eggs (my first time!!) and watched both Hairspray and Blind Side

This one was my favorite color...
BUT... this one was my favorite...

...because in case you didn't know: "I freakin' love giraffes!"

• Not much has happened since then aside from regular school work & papers being due. (OH, that reminds me!! I got my counseling paper back --I wrote on counseling children of divorces-- and my prof gave me a couple of suggestions for improvement and then asked if once I corrected if he could have a copy to hand out to his patients because the content was so good!!!! I got an 87 on it too--my Turabian citations weren't that great.).
• I had sno cones with my prof's wife Sara last Thursday. Might I say that I just love sno cones? I just love sno cones. Yummm. Made me really miss my sno cone buddy, Kendi, but I was excited to spend time with Sara discussing fun activities for SCS students!!
• AND, the best news of all............................................

I'm officially a SENIOR!!!!!!! only 19 more hours until I graduate!!!!

Top Ten Reasons to Go to the Easter Festival!!!

10. It's Free (hotdogs, sno cones, face painting, games, egg hunts, pics with the Easter Bunny--everything)

9. Anyone and Everyone can come--bring your friends!

8. Stevie G and the rest of the praise team will be mixing it up with some live music!!!

7. Not only are there Easter egg hunts, but they're age appropriate so your sweet 2 year old who is just excited about getting a yellow egg won't be trampled by a ten year old trying to fill his basket, his pockets and his baby brother's basket with as many eggs as he can. :)

6. Pastor John, Audie, Steve, Jenny and I would look quite silly bouncing on the inflatables... I think we should leave that for the kiddos (though the obstacle course inflatable could be a fun staff challenge....hmmm...)

5. Your canned good "entry fee" will be donated to the Food Bank of Corpus Christi and will help feed the hungry in Corpus Christi.

4. If you don't come, I'll have not only a stomachache, but several cavities from eating all the candy out of 4,000 EASTER EGGS!

3. 4,000 Easter eggs are ready to be found.

2. You can get your picture taken with the Easter Bunny!!!

And the number one reason you should come to the Easter Festival: TO HAVE FUN!!!!

School, school, school

It has come to that point in the semester:

• research methodologies were due last week
• second set of exams was this week
• research papers begin being turned in next week
• Bible Studies are to be turned in in about 2-3 weeks along with a paper on my philosophy on counseling
• and then it's final exams.

Whew. The last part of the semester is always so busy...have you ever noticed that? Even if we took away the school part of the semester and just focused on life, it's so busy. If you think about it, in the beginning of the semesters (January and August), we've just been through two busy seasons (Christmas and Summer) and we're relaxed and relieved that the business is over. Then, about Spring Break/Easter time or mid-November, things start picking up---planning summer vacations, summer activities at the church, EASTER FESTIVALS (

), a Wii Bowling Tournament for Kids Camp Fundraising, KIDS CAMP, and so so much more---then in November begins the Thanksgiving/Christmas rush (need I say more?). So...what if the semesters started in like November and went until March. And then the Fall semester could start in late july and run until early november.

PROBLEM. SOLVED. :-)

I think I ate a whole cucumber today.

I also studied from 1045am-4pm with pretty much no breaks, but it paid off (I hope!): I think I did really well on my Life and Letters of Paul Test and my Church and Personal Finances Final Exam.

Now, to study for Hebrew Prophets. Test in the morning...woo.

Spring Break in ATX

I spent Friday and Saturday of Spring Break in the Austin area.

Friday was a WONDERFUL day of shopping with my Aunt Barb:

Lunch at Cheddar's

Round Rock Outlets (got new running shoes!)

JCPenney

IKEA!!!

Friday night, we went to Roadhouse for dinner---Me, Missy, Bryan, Landen, Lleyton, and Bryan's parents. It was YUMMY!:) Then we went home and Landen and I played and played and played until Missy said it was time for us to go to bed. :)

Saturday we played again and then went to Landen's birthday party at Main Event--an awesome place in ATX that has bowling, laser tag, games, glow in the dark golf, pool, rock climbing wall and more. It was great!!

I headed back to San Marcos to meet Audie and her family for some shopping and the Johnson's for dinner.

It was an AWESOME weekend!

Here are some pics:

Free slideshow design customized with Smilebox

Spring Break with the Johnson's

I was so excited to get to spend some time with the Johnson's over Spring Break. I went up to SA on Thursday afternoon, picked up the kids from their daycares, and met Erin at Pizza Hut (thanks for dinner!!). After dinner, we stopped at HEB to get Megan some birthday cupcakes (Happy 5th Birthday, today, Princess Megan!!), and then went home to hang out. She got the beautiful dress in the mail for her birthday and had to try it on, of course. The next morning, I offered to take the kids to school, and got an extra hour or so to play with them.

Here are some pictures from the trip---not sure why, but it wouldn't let me rotate the pics..sorry!

Digital slideshow generated with Smilebox

Thanks so much, Johnson's for letting me stay with you!!! I love you and miss you!!

Maybe I should play the Lotto today

I'm thinking I should play the Lotto today--I might win.

My camera's been broken for awhile & I started messing with it, and now it works.

I woke up early, not feeling well, but had planned on going to BodyPump, so I went ahead and went--and felt GREAT as soon as we started (and still do)!

Went to the building after BP to get the curriculum ready, and it took a lot less time than I expected.

Went to HEB for a couple of things: fabric softener (had $1 off coupon), Razors (had $1.75 coupon), mascara (had $1 off coupon), toothpaste ($1 off coupon), Gas Treatment (was marked down), Sunflower seeds (marked down), and bananas (not marked down, but I wanted two and there were several bunches that just had two). Then, I went to electronics because I've been looking for a converter for a SD card to a USB since neither my PC nor my laptop have SD card slots. Everywhere else I've looked, they've run between $25-$45. At HEB Plus= $9.98! Woot!

On that note, I'm off to do laundry, pack, clean out my car, take my mom lunch, and go to SAN ANTONIO to see the Johnson's!! (Then tomorrow shopping day with my Aunt Barbie!!! And Saturday is Landen's 7th BDAY party!!)!

Spring Break!

Monday was my first day of Spring Break! :) And I spent it at the aquarium with Samantha, Sophie, Susan, Paul, James, and Berea! It was sooo much fun, especially the dolphin show! Here are some pics:

watching the dolphin show

Me and the bestie

After the aquarium, I took Sophie's older sister, Chloe to Chuck E. Cheese to play games and to Petco. It was a fabulous first day of Spring Break!!

The rest of my Spring Break includes another trip to Chuck E. Cheese today (with Hayden), working all day Wednesday, San Antonio to see the Johnson's on Thursday, and then Friday and Saturday a trip to Austin for my sweet cousin Landen's big 7th birthday! Can't wait for it all!!! But...wish Spring Break was longer. :)

Also, here is a pic from life group Sunday night---I spiked Jamesy's hair! I have been wanting to do that for weeks, but kept forgetting to bring something to spike it with! After the picture, James told me: "You wipe off hair now, please?" Too cute!

One of THOSE days

I am having one of those days...one of those days where no matter how hard you try to fix something, nothing will work to fix it. Really, it's not that big of a deal...it's actually quite amusing to me. You see, since I've been up, I have been trying to fix this:

my hair. Yes. My hair. I have tried hairspray, mousse, water, rewashing my hair, everything. You can't really tell too much in the picture, but it's pretty much standing straight up in the majority of places. Oh well. It just feels like standing up today, I guess. So I'll just laugh at my crazy hair day. :)

Giraffe Shoes!!!!!

AHHH! My favorite fake!cousin Amanda is on vacay in Indiana and just texted me this picture:







GIRAFFE SHOES! If you really know me, you know that I "freakin' love giraffes!"

So, I have now bought these shoes!!! WOOO

Not Me Monday

I have begun to read this blog quite often--I love reading MckMama's humor, seeing her pics, and seeing her live out her faith. Anyway, every Monday, she has "Not Me" Mondays, so I thought that I would join this week. Here is MckMama's "Not Me Monday."

I did not have leftover pizza for breakfast both Saturday morning and this morning.

I did not take a 2 hour nap yesterday and then stayed up way too late because I couldn't sleep. I did not watch 4 episodes of Bones while trying to get to sleep either, nope, not me.

I did not actually get all my homework for this week done early...by Saturday night... so that I could not take the aforementioned nap...

I did not paint my toenails blue over the teal that they were just because I couldn't find the nail polish remover. I would never do that. :)

I did not forget to mail a congrats card to my friend and just found it last night. Nope.

I did not burn a blister onto my thumb with my hair straightener. I would never do something like that.

I did not buy Fun Dip and eat in the car, while driving home yesterday. Not me. I also did not spill that Fun Dip all over my pants and my arms. Not me. And of course, I did not lick it off of my arm because I didn't want it to go to waste. Nope, not me.

Praising the Lord

This morning I picked up my friend Corey for school because his car was in the shop. We stopped at Stripes for breakfast tacos & as we were leaving we noticed these crows on the grass near the exit to the gas station. Several of them were just poking at the ground, but two of them had their heads straight up with their necks exposed and their little beaks wide open. As soon as I saw them, I said, "They're praising the Lord!" We laughed about it for awhile, but it made me just stop and think about praising the Lord.

One of my favorite songs, Majestic (by Lincoln Brewster), says:
"The heavens declare Your greatness.
The Oceans cry out to You.
The Mountains they bow down before You,
So I'll join with the earth and I'll give my praise to You!"

God, help me to be like those birds, and join with the Heavens, the Oceans, and the Mountains. Help me to join the earth and give ALL my praises to you!

Fastbooking Eve

Tomorrow marks the beginning of the Lenten season, and thus, my fastbooking season. A few people have asked me how I'm feeling about it and what I'm going to do with my life now that I'll have free time. Lame.

So how am I feeling? Excited! Nervous. Happy. Like I'm being freed from something. I know that's weird, it's just Facebook for goodness sake. But seriously, it has become one of those things that has really become an obsession in my life. Not good.

True Story:

Monday morning (yesterday), I was laying in bed, trying to wake up, when my text message song goes off. It's a Facebook text (because I get texts every time I get a message, wall post, new friend, or certain family members/friends status updates). So this text is a new (inbox) message from my friend Eric, saying check your email and reply back. So I jump outta bed, run to the computer, and check my email: "Can you do me a favor?" I reply, "Yeah, what's up? Everything ok?!?" His response: I lost my phone in my house and can't find it. Can you call me until I answer?" Seriously. So after calling him a bunch of times (the phone was in his sons room), he finally answers. He facebook inboxed me because he knew that I got texts and that I would immediately check it and be able to help him find his phone. He had emailed a dozen other people and hadn't heard back, so he logged into facebook and sent me the message. And, because of my slight obsession, he knew I'd be able to help him. And he was right.

So, after that slightly embarassing, but true, story, I can honestly say that I am looking forward to Fastbooking and seeing how God uses this time to strengthen me. I am a little sad because I'll be missing out on seeing new pics of my friend's first baby boy, Ranston (Congrats, Mike and Cymbre!!!) and on having that distraction that I sometimes just need after a long day of school or work or just life in general. Instead, I'm going to focus those times on the Lord and His Word, and see where that takes me.

If you are viewing this on Facebook, it's because I have my blog linked directly to Facebook---I'm not really on facebook. I encourage you to check out my blog and leave comments on my posts...and if I haven't blogged in awhile, ask me to blog again about what God is doing in my life!



P.S. My boss, Audie, will be checking my Facebook periodically throughout the Lenten season so that she can see any Children's Ministry needs...Please just email me at osocreekkids@gmail.com! Thanks!!! :)

Fastbooking....

....it's a term my professor, Dr. Jackson, used last year when he fasted from using Facebook. It's also a term I'm about to use daily.

Lent is a time, between Ash Wednesday and Easter, when many people give something up to remember what God did when He sent His Son to die for our sins. God gave up His Son...Jesus gave up His life.

At Oso Creek, we are about to start 40 days of Holy Uprising. Check out the website here for more up to date information on that 40 days where we will be focusing on Reflection, Repentance, and Renewal.

I have been praying about what I need to "give up" during this 40 Days of Holy Uprising, or Lent. And, as you may be able to guess from the title of this blog, I have felt convicted to fast from (gasp)Facebook. I spend hours a day on Facebook; playing games, chatting, looking at pictures, etc. I feel like if I can spend that much time on Facebook, why shouldn't I be spending that much time focusing on God? You know? So, as I embark on this journey, I ask for your prayers that God will open my eyes to Him and let me see Him work in extraordinary ways.

Those of you who are friends of mine on Facebook may occasionally see a new "note" appear from my name. That "note" actually is imported directly from my blog. Please feel free to go to my blog to comment---I wont' be checking the comments on Facebook. Also, my boss, Audie will be checking my Facebook every couple of days for any Children's Ministry emails, posts, etc. Please please, just send me a quick email at osocreekkids@gmail.com if you are a Creeker Children's Ministry Volunteer (or if you'd like to be!!). :)

86,400

If you were given $86,400 in your bank account every day to spend as you pleased, but knew at the end of 24 hours, the remaining would be taken out, you would do everything you can to spend that $86,400 on friends, family, charities, etc.

God gives us 86,400 seconds every day...how are we spending those seconds to further the Kingdom?

The Love of our Lord

I am taking "Hebrew Prophets" as an elective this semester...I hadn't planned to, but President Celelli asked me to be in his class and I ended up not taking Spanish, so, I agreed to join the class. I am really enjoying it. :)

This week, we are reading the book of Hosea and as I was reading the text, something the author wrote really hit me.

"Although Israel may return to Yahweh for materialistic benefit, Yahweh will take her back in love......... Even though Israel's return to Yahweh was marked by social and material exigency, Yahweh's return to Israel was motivated by love and grace." (Bullock, C. Hassel, An Introduction to Old testament Prophetic Books, (Moody Publishers: Chicago), 110.)

How often do we really screw up and do things that are so not of the Lord, but of our own fleshly, worldly desires? How often do we skip our quiet times or just 'check the box' for going to church or to life group. How many times do we do things for materialistic benefits or to climb the popularity scale?

How often does our Lord love us unconditionally? ALL THE TIME.

How often does our Lord accept us with open arms? ALL THE TIME.

How often does our Lord really and truly forgive us for all of our stupidities? ALL THE TIME.

Lord, forgive us. Help us to forget about all the worldly things and to just fall more and more in love with You. Help us to see that just like You loved Israel, despite their desires for materialistic and social things, You love us just the same. Lord, help me to be who You desire me to be. amen.

"The Lord says, 'Then I will heal you of your idolatry and faithfulness, and my love will know no bounds, for my anger will be gone forever! I will be to Israel like a refreshing dew from Heaven. It will blossom like the lily; it will send roots deep into the soil like the cedars in Lebanon. Its branches will spread out like those of beautiful olive trees, as fragrant as the cedar forests of Lebanon. My people will return again to the safety of their land. They will flourish like grain and blossom like grapevines. They will be as fragrant as the wines of Lebanon. O Israel, stay away from idols! I am the one who looks after yoiu and cares for you. i am like a tree that is always green, giving my fruit to you all through the year." Hosea 14:4-8