Hi all! Hope you had a great weekend! I was celebrating the 4th of July early as I do just about every year. I LOVE the 4th of July so much that I guess I can't wait until the actual day to celebrate. I just had a thought that this holiday is one that you should celebrate everyday. I am proud to be an American! But, on the other hand, what makes the 4th so spectacular is that it does only happen once a year, and the fireworks are just that and more spectacular! Getting back to the pre-celebrations, I played a part in the orchestra for our annual patriotic services held the weekend before the actual holiday. We do this to honor and celebrate those who have served this country and are serving currently around the world. The song that I have had in my head since is Battle Hymn of the Republic. We ended each service with that hymn and confetti coming out of two pipes on either side of the stage (I being right by two of them). It is always good to see those men in uniform and the presentation of our American flag and say the pledge of allegiance.
Mosaic on Saturday was spent with Mure and I talking about our trip to Mexico and how we were stretched by God. We finished up by talking about our upcoming camping trip...oh and we had a couple 'newbies' come to our group which is good as we could have more people in the group. We went out to Wong Kings for dinner, which was pretty good.
Sunday afternoon I picked up Care and we went bowling for an hour. My work was having a bowlathon/fundraiser to raise money to send teens to leadership training. We both had a good time bowling, and then went out afterwards to a couple places and I also showed her where I work. It was good to spend time with her after not seeing each other for three weeks.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
It's NBA Draft Day!
Hola! I'm home! Yes, I have arrived safe and sound from the depths of Mexico. All in all, it was a good trip. Don't worry, I will have a post featuring just things about the trip before the month is up (hopefully).
Today is Draft day in the NBA. Being an avid TrailBlazer fan (and basketball fan), I am excited when this day comes around. So, I apologize for breaking news if you haven't heard yet. At our pick #13, we selected Brandon Rush who we all assumed was going to go to Charlotte as we had acquired their #9 pick of DJ Augustine. That was for sure who we thought we were getting, then it turns out that no, that's not the case. Mr. GM said that no, we are getting Indiana's #11 pick of Jared Bayless, who is who Portland wanted. So we are sending Jarrett Jack and possible Josh McRoberts to Indiana for him. All has not been confirmed yet, but I am sure we shall hear soon. Oh, then our next pick was #27 (I had missed something when New Orleans picked at 27 with Darrell Arthur who was sitting in the green room by himself waiting to get picked up). He possibly could be a Trail Blazer also, and then our next pick was #33 with Joey Dorsey from Memphis.
Feel free to make comments on your thoughts on the Blazers' picks and what you think will take place. I already thought that either Sergio, Jarrett, or Steve was going to go somewhere else. So now that it's Jarrett that's leaving, I may still cheer for him as he is one of my favorite Blazers. It's sad (most of the time) to see someone traded to another team, but it's usually to better the team (at least, that is the goal).
Today is Draft day in the NBA. Being an avid TrailBlazer fan (and basketball fan), I am excited when this day comes around. So, I apologize for breaking news if you haven't heard yet. At our pick #13, we selected Brandon Rush who we all assumed was going to go to Charlotte as we had acquired their #9 pick of DJ Augustine. That was for sure who we thought we were getting, then it turns out that no, that's not the case. Mr. GM said that no, we are getting Indiana's #11 pick of Jared Bayless, who is who Portland wanted. So we are sending Jarrett Jack and possible Josh McRoberts to Indiana for him. All has not been confirmed yet, but I am sure we shall hear soon. Oh, then our next pick was #27 (I had missed something when New Orleans picked at 27 with Darrell Arthur who was sitting in the green room by himself waiting to get picked up). He possibly could be a Trail Blazer also, and then our next pick was #33 with Joey Dorsey from Memphis.
Feel free to make comments on your thoughts on the Blazers' picks and what you think will take place. I already thought that either Sergio, Jarrett, or Steve was going to go somewhere else. So now that it's Jarrett that's leaving, I may still cheer for him as he is one of my favorite Blazers. It's sad (most of the time) to see someone traded to another team, but it's usually to better the team (at least, that is the goal).
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Destination: Mexico
Hola! Hope you have had a good week. My week was busy while it was month-end at work. I got there a little bit early each day so I could make sure I get my work done and I stayed late a little each day too. I am ready for a vacation. Oh, how nice...I do get to go on vacation to Mexico...tomorrow! Actually in just a few SHORT hours, I will be getting on a plane with 14 others (the 15th is coming later) to Mazatlan. Oh, and it's not really a vacation...it's a mission to serve God and His children at an orphanage. I appreciate all your prayers as we are down there. Please pray for safety, good health, Godly wisdom, and endurance, plus whatever else you can think of.
Hope you have a good weekend and a week ahead. It will be a few days 'til I blog again, but I'll have stories to share. Until then, God bless!
Hope you have a good weekend and a week ahead. It will be a few days 'til I blog again, but I'll have stories to share. Until then, God bless!
Friday, June 6, 2008
His Providence is Apparent
Hola! It's been a week full of busyness, news, blessings, and service. Let it be known that in less than 7 days I leave for Mexico!! WOW! That translates into some 150 hours until I get on a plane headed south. Tonight, I went over to a house where we prepped for a garage sale that is happening tomorrow. We are raising funds for the orphanage that we will be working at down there. We hope for good weather and a good turnout. I went with a teammate tonight and helped put out signs for the sale. You can just call me the 'arrow gal' as I put well-seen arrows on the signs. I typed up the songs we are going to be singing down there last night as well as our team song...which I had in my head tonight. I think we are all getting very excited...at least I hope we are, anyways. Oh, I got word over email that our team has just over three-fourths of our support raised...wahoo!!!
Tuesday night was our first orchestra rehearsal for patriotic services for church. I am a bit amazed at how well I played that night, considering I am a little out of shape. I am once again, playing my clarinet and look forward to that weekend. The choir has been practicing now for almost a month but they have to have their words and notes memorized. I always look forward to the 4th of July as it is one of my favorite holidays. (I know I will say this again when it gets closer to the day).
Saturday I had the privilege to go to a wedding of a good friend of mine (Cheryl) that I had somewhat lost contact with. Everything about and in the wedding was beautiful, including the bride and groom. It was so good that we got to see and talk to each other, and almost make the other cry because of a good thing!!
Work has been busy as it was a payroll week and the first couple days I spent catching up on my filing that was getting piled up. On Monday, a meeting was held after work with some big news being announced. None of us knew (we thought) what the news was going to be. (Drum roll, please!) There will be a merger between the company I work for with two other companies. They hope to have the deal closed by September, and we have to get approval from suppliers to close it. They could only tell us what they know thus far at the meeting...hmm, very profound. There are still lots of unknowns yet, but there was a little blurb on it in the paper on Tuesday and then a bigger article in Wednesday's paper. I am shocked, but I think it's going to be a good move.
Hope you all have a great weekend!
"For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall,' Eph 2:14
Tuesday night was our first orchestra rehearsal for patriotic services for church. I am a bit amazed at how well I played that night, considering I am a little out of shape. I am once again, playing my clarinet and look forward to that weekend. The choir has been practicing now for almost a month but they have to have their words and notes memorized. I always look forward to the 4th of July as it is one of my favorite holidays. (I know I will say this again when it gets closer to the day).
Saturday I had the privilege to go to a wedding of a good friend of mine (Cheryl) that I had somewhat lost contact with. Everything about and in the wedding was beautiful, including the bride and groom. It was so good that we got to see and talk to each other, and almost make the other cry because of a good thing!!
Work has been busy as it was a payroll week and the first couple days I spent catching up on my filing that was getting piled up. On Monday, a meeting was held after work with some big news being announced. None of us knew (we thought) what the news was going to be. (Drum roll, please!) There will be a merger between the company I work for with two other companies. They hope to have the deal closed by September, and we have to get approval from suppliers to close it. They could only tell us what they know thus far at the meeting...hmm, very profound. There are still lots of unknowns yet, but there was a little blurb on it in the paper on Tuesday and then a bigger article in Wednesday's paper. I am shocked, but I think it's going to be a good move.
Hope you all have a great weekend!
"For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall,' Eph 2:14
Friday, May 30, 2008
Playing and Praying at the Beach
Greetings! Hope you all had a cool week! And a nice Memorial Day weekend last weekend. I did a little bit of shopping for my trip to Mexico (that's in just a few 13 days, give or take a few hours). I did spend a little bit of time remembering those who need not be forgotten. Oh, I had another Mexico meeting last Saturday where we worked on one of the skits we will be doing there. I just read in my email that we will work on it again at our potluck we are having so our families that come will be our audience. How nice!
This time of the month can be slow at work, so I was able to take a couple days off this week to go to the coast with my close dear friend, Care. We met Tuesday after my day at work and drove down to the coast where my family has a cabin. We stopped in Albany for dinner and saw some ducks, which made me think of my grandpa and I when we went to feed the ducks at the lake. It was quite interesting watching them as we were eating in the food place. Off we went again and got to the cabin after 9:00, and watched the movie, Clue. It is such a good movie...I think that is my third time watching it but I could watch it at least 100 times maybe but not in a row and still enjoy it. Wednesday, we went into town and into a couple antique malls as we both like to go antique shopping. It is very fun to see what there might be in the malls, just to look at. I took Care to the bayfront where there were little shops and ate lunch at Mo's. No, I did not get my halibut but had a good tuna sandwich with clam chowder and Care had her fish 'n chips. On the way back we stopped for ice cream, of course!! One cannot go to the beach and not have ice cream! In the evening, we played the Bible game on video and some other games. That was after we watched most of the second half of the Boston-Detroit game and Boston won, 106-102.
Thursday, we spent some time in the Word, played more video games, went to the beach, ate at a '60s style restaurant, saw some sea lions, and got some taffy. All said and done, we finally got back home a little after 9:00 in the evening. I know that we both enjoyed ourselves and that we grew in our friendship and in our relationship with the Lord as well.
"So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing. (Note: Paul is in Ephesus) Now after these things were finished, Paul purposed in the Spirit to go to Jerusalem after he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, saying, 'After I have been there, I must also see Rome.' And having sent into Macedonia two of those who ministered to him, Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia for a while." Acts 19:20-22
This time of the month can be slow at work, so I was able to take a couple days off this week to go to the coast with my close dear friend, Care. We met Tuesday after my day at work and drove down to the coast where my family has a cabin. We stopped in Albany for dinner and saw some ducks, which made me think of my grandpa and I when we went to feed the ducks at the lake. It was quite interesting watching them as we were eating in the food place. Off we went again and got to the cabin after 9:00, and watched the movie, Clue. It is such a good movie...I think that is my third time watching it but I could watch it at least 100 times maybe but not in a row and still enjoy it. Wednesday, we went into town and into a couple antique malls as we both like to go antique shopping. It is very fun to see what there might be in the malls, just to look at. I took Care to the bayfront where there were little shops and ate lunch at Mo's. No, I did not get my halibut but had a good tuna sandwich with clam chowder and Care had her fish 'n chips. On the way back we stopped for ice cream, of course!! One cannot go to the beach and not have ice cream! In the evening, we played the Bible game on video and some other games. That was after we watched most of the second half of the Boston-Detroit game and Boston won, 106-102.
Thursday, we spent some time in the Word, played more video games, went to the beach, ate at a '60s style restaurant, saw some sea lions, and got some taffy. All said and done, we finally got back home a little after 9:00 in the evening. I know that we both enjoyed ourselves and that we grew in our friendship and in our relationship with the Lord as well.
"So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing. (Note: Paul is in Ephesus) Now after these things were finished, Paul purposed in the Spirit to go to Jerusalem after he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, saying, 'After I have been there, I must also see Rome.' And having sent into Macedonia two of those who ministered to him, Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia for a while." Acts 19:20-22
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Devoted to service
Hola! I spent this last weekend at my team retreat, getting ready for the trip to Mexico. I heard we were the last team to take our retreat, but it was also team commissioning at church this weekend. It was a double-good weekend to be had. I picked up my brother-in-Christ on the way to the house where we would be retreating. Ed was there that night to talk more about the culture and what exactly we would be doing at the orphanage. After that, my brother (in Christ) and I went on a run to get some dinner and brought it back to the house to eat. We stayed up with most everyone just chatting and having fellowship that night. Saturday morning after breakfast we went and did a community service project at the Good News clinic in Rockwood. What we did was pull up weeds, put down two loads of bark dust and planted fresh new flowers in the front. I think we all felt really good about doing something to help the community. I bet God was happy with His children, seeing them work like that to make something look beautiful.
When we were done, we went back to the house for lunch. We were all hungry after doing all that work. Later on, we left to go to the church to get ready for service in which all the short-term teams would be commissioned. Since we were having our retreat that weeekend, we worked it out and did not have to stay and help with the barbecue. We ate some dinner and worked on some children's praise songs in Spanish. Sunday morning we were back off to church again to be commissioned two more times. The Russia team left today so pray that they have a safe trip and that they would be devoted to serving the One who called them to go. We stayed after 2nd service to help set up and serve at the barbecue...I was the official 'ice sculpture guard'. There was this very nice 2-dimensional sculpture of the world, made of ice. It was very 'cool' looking! Both barbecues were a success and I am sure that everyone that helped felt good and appreciated all that came to eat.
Today I served the state I live in, and it was actually pretty cool. Service of any kind is neat because you are doing it ultimately for the One who made you, then to the community, to the team. I hope that we all can do more service this summer, not just individually but also in groups. God will get the glory for it all!
"and they spoke to Moses, saying ' The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work in which the LORD commanded us to do' " Exodus 36:5
When we were done, we went back to the house for lunch. We were all hungry after doing all that work. Later on, we left to go to the church to get ready for service in which all the short-term teams would be commissioned. Since we were having our retreat that weeekend, we worked it out and did not have to stay and help with the barbecue. We ate some dinner and worked on some children's praise songs in Spanish. Sunday morning we were back off to church again to be commissioned two more times. The Russia team left today so pray that they have a safe trip and that they would be devoted to serving the One who called them to go. We stayed after 2nd service to help set up and serve at the barbecue...I was the official 'ice sculpture guard'. There was this very nice 2-dimensional sculpture of the world, made of ice. It was very 'cool' looking! Both barbecues were a success and I am sure that everyone that helped felt good and appreciated all that came to eat.
Today I served the state I live in, and it was actually pretty cool. Service of any kind is neat because you are doing it ultimately for the One who made you, then to the community, to the team. I hope that we all can do more service this summer, not just individually but also in groups. God will get the glory for it all!
"and they spoke to Moses, saying ' The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work in which the LORD commanded us to do' " Exodus 36:5
Monday, May 12, 2008
Give and Take
Hi y'all. Hope you had a lovely weekend. Happy Belated Mother's Day to all the Mothers I know out there. Sunday, we were all available to go out for dinner. It was that dinner that was supposed to happen last Sunday or my birthday, my sister's birthday and Mother's Day. We went to Gustav's for the early dinner, which was nice considering I think my sister had not been there and I know I had not been there before. My brother and sister-in-law were able to dine with us as well. Dinner was quite good (yes, Care, I had my HALIBUT). lol! OH, and our power went out for about three hours on Sunday too. We don't know the reason why but I bet there were some daughters and/or mothers that were upset when it had gone out at lunch time. The power had come back on before we got home from dinner, so hopefully people were able to have their nice lunches/dinners for the special day.
Saturday, I went to Alyssa's basketball game in the morning. She was not awake and did not do much in the game but I know she enjoys playing and having fun. Then in the afternoon I finished preparing myself for Mosaic that night as I would be teaching. After some prayer earlier in the week, I was led to teach about the temple and the story of the den of robbers and how when you do something such as singing in the church choir, you are doing it for God above all. Some people will do things for the church just for the church and their hearts are not in it to serve God. They want to please the church...they would be people-pleasers. God calls us to be God-pleasers. I thought the teaching went quite well. Prayer time can sometimes be interesting and this was one of those times. I was glad to see that my brother-in-Christ made it back safely from Europe.
"But this is what I commanded them, saying, 'Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you." Jeremiah 7:23
Saturday, I went to Alyssa's basketball game in the morning. She was not awake and did not do much in the game but I know she enjoys playing and having fun. Then in the afternoon I finished preparing myself for Mosaic that night as I would be teaching. After some prayer earlier in the week, I was led to teach about the temple and the story of the den of robbers and how when you do something such as singing in the church choir, you are doing it for God above all. Some people will do things for the church just for the church and their hearts are not in it to serve God. They want to please the church...they would be people-pleasers. God calls us to be God-pleasers. I thought the teaching went quite well. Prayer time can sometimes be interesting and this was one of those times. I was glad to see that my brother-in-Christ made it back safely from Europe.
"But this is what I commanded them, saying, 'Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you." Jeremiah 7:23
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