Travel Time

If you're wondering where I'll be during the next 9 months, read below...

December

6 days visiting one of my favorite families on the east coast

3 days scouting our PEACE trip to Costa Rica

January

3 days of Staff Camp at Thousand Pines

February

11 days traveling to and being in Kitale, Kenya

March

4 days in Louisville, Kentucky for SYMC

June

4 days in Palm Desert for Staff Retreat

July

5 days at Summer Camp

11 days in Costa Rica

So, so excited (and so thankful) for the months to come!

My Boss Made Me

A few weeks ago, I ran a cross a blog post that wouldn't let me go. So I prayed, thought, and wrote. I sent my team at the church an email about this blog post in hopes that it would challenge them too. And, of course, my boss asked me to post the email here. My hope is that it would stir something in your heart, the way it did mine.

Hey team!

While reading Doug Fields’ blog the other day one of his posts made me think and more than that, challenged me.

Please read it if you haven’t already done so. Here it is.

Here's what I felt God was stirring in me as I read and prayed about this post:

Doug’s statement: “I’m assuming you all struggle.” In most of my daily ministry interactions I assume and hope for the best. I am , after all, the person who is supposed to encourage, strengthen, and believe that God can do anything, right? I oftentimes don’t ask the hard questions or assume that a student is struggling through things but that it’s not that bad. BUT, what if I should assume students are struggling with major issues? This post is about porn, but really we are capable of struggling with ANYTHING. The other day one of the girls in my Life Group told my co-leader, “I’m so glad that our group doesn’t struggle with drinking, guys and sex…we can just come and learn about the Bible.” Really? They aren’t struggling with anything but school and stress? I don’t believe that. I am pretty sure that once I begin assuming that there is more under the surface, I will find it.

We shouldn’t be afraid to assume that our students are facing deep struggles in their lives. You’re not being negative or lacking faith. You’re acknowledging that we live in a fallen world. BUT, we do need to continually believe and have faith in the fact that Jesus came to save us from the sin that binds us. In Romans 6 Paul says we were all slaves to sin, but through Christ we have been freed from it! As we tackle this, let’s remind our students that they DO have the gift of freedom in Christ, but the first step to receiving it is acknowledging the NEED for freedom.

Thanks for loving students…love you guys.

Love.

I'm a sucker for a good love story. Especially one that comes from Brooklyn.

I spent a good 20 minutes crying at the office while watching (and re-watching) this today.

Enjoy.

I Hate Dogs...

But a commercial for this show reeled me in.

Watch it with me.

Mid-Year Resolutions

The only New Year's resolution I set for 2011 was to workout. And I have been! Congratulations to me.

But seeing as how we are well into the new year I decided to set yet another goal for myself since the first was so easily attained (who knew I'd end up liking exercise?!).

I want to be smarter. Or just know more.

I always admire friends that say things like, "I recently read..." or "Did you know...?".

How can I be this person? What should I be reading? Listening to? Looking at?

Here's the thing, I don't want to search for information, I want it to be available to me with the least amount of effort on my part to attain it.

So maybe this is a resolution for any readers of this blog if you should chose to accept it: make me smarter.

Thank you.

No Regrets!

Last Tuesday at our weekly Team Meeting something incredible happened: we found out we would not only get Saturday and Sunday off but also Tuesday as an Easter holiday since our regular day off is Monday and that's when the rest of the church would be taking their Easter observance day off.

Awesome.

If you've spent any time around me during 'school-off holidays' (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Spring Break, etc.) you know how much I LOVE feeling the break I once did when I was a student. I love it so much that I continually kept yelling, "Spring Break 2011 - No Regrets!" around the office for the past 3 weeks.

I got 4 days off in a row. A total surprise. And a total SPRING BREAK 2011.

Here's what I did as a 27 year old on Spring Break:

-Recuperated from a Life Group sleepover on Friday night.
-Slept in every day (at least until 10am).
-Spent time with family.
-Ate lots of food.
-Celebrated Easter...my WHOLE family went to church together!
-Fought a cold.
-Watched 'Water for Elephants'.
-Drank coffee and found out I only need 3 stars to get to the Gold level on my Starbucks account.
-Watched a lot of reality TV.
-Laughed with friends.

Not bad. And so far...no regrets.

Dating Tips

I had lunch with a dear friend on Monday. Great food, great location, great conversation.
As lunch progressed my friend recalled a super awkward moment she had with a guy from her grad school program. She attempted to flirt in hopes that he would see that she was interested in him...he never reciprocated. Fail. So she asked me for advice.

Here is some of the wisdom I shared from the peak of my dating days...

#1 When a guy ignores you, ignore him back.

#2 Always make yourself known.

For example, when I had a crush on the guy who eventually became my college boyfriend I always made a point of noting which door he would exit when leaving the worship center at church. I would pretend to casually walk by him as if coincidentally walking in the same direction. Just a little reminder that I was around.

#3 When you are in the same room as your crush, talk to people around you and when you notice your crush looking in your direction laugh and act as though you are having the time of your life. Guys like fun people.

#4 Make up random, yet believable reasons to be around/talk to your crush. "Forget" your book in his car, carpool to events, find a common interest and run with it (this one can take you a LONG way in sharing time with your crush).

#5 When he invites you places with others (not dates), don't always say yes. Decline politely, knowing it will make him miss you. This one has worked very effectively for me.

Disclaimer: These tips were used from 2003-2007 and may no longer be deemed useful.

DF

A few weeks ago my good friend, Stacey, and I were in Chicago at a great youth ministry conference having the time of our lives. As I spent time with her I got to thinking of how thankful I am for her. God has used her in really incredible ways in my life. I love Jesus more because I am Stacey's friend. She's amazing.

And so, in Stacey's honor, we coined a new, hip term: DF. It stands for Dear Friend.

I never used the word dear before meeting Stacey, but being around her more and more (and hearing her use this word to describe the people and things that are closest to her heart) made it stick. Now, I too share in these dear feelings!

If you hear me describe you as dear or refer to you as my DF, consider yourself loved. Because YOU ARE my dear friend!

*Below is a photograph where I was assumed to have been thinking that whatever was being talked about was "so dear!".