highs and lows

well, im home on lunch. court didn't take as long this morning as it normally does, so i came home, cut the grass in the back yard, took a shower and ate lunch.

Big issues on the prayer front: One of my close friends just found out that her 15 month old is almost completely deaf. They will be doing surgery at the end of the month to put tubes in her ears to drain the fluid and the doctor is optimistic that this will help-but then she will have to learn a bunch of things over again. so prayer that her family has peace about this gets through this next few months trying to figure out what will work best.

also, my brother is having some medical problems--possibly serious ones. I can't elaborate at the moment, but prayer for my family would be amazing.

to get through today, i believe that God loves me, cares for me, and does His best to carry my load when it gets too heavy. I wish my clients would call God with their problems instead of me, but I know that I can make it through because God can provide me with strength and encouragement when I feel empty and confused. He is BIGGER, STRONGER and more POWERFUL than any of my struggles. I BELIEVE THAT.

I am excited that scott and i get to go on a mini-vacation next week. Now lots of you are probably thinking that we're always on vacation--camp and youth events to do not equal vacation no matter how fun they are :) Our anniversary is next tuesday, so late next thursday night we're heading to st. louis for a ball game and trip to the zoo. We went last year to st. louis for baseball and botanical gardens...so i'm sure this trip will be just as fun. We did learn a lesson last year, and are stayin on the missouri side instead of the illinois side so that we don't have to wait 9 hours to get on the metra after the game because westbound is much less crowded than eastbound --apparently no one goes from the baseball game to the airport which is good news for us. We'll probably also have lunch with his parents and possibly see their new place. So, the thought of taking time away from work also gets me through the day.

NYC letdown

So, i kinda slacked there..and you never heard about days 5 and 6 (7 if you count our trip home). but thats ok. All you need to know is that it was an amazing experience...and my few brief updates don't do justice to the event. Arena events are always exciting..because although they are emotionally charged..you get to see people, just like you worshipping God. And its beautiful. My prayer is that all the students go home from NYC remembering their "moment" when NYC transformed them.

So, i go back to work tuesday and am happy to learn that my supervisor is in joliet, and then will be off wednesday. this means i can re-orient without feeling attacked. So, wednesday, Valerie calls...because she's in bourbonnais for a home visit and we go to lunch. Half way through lunch i start to feel more than a little sick...and end up puking my guts out twice at lunch. So i make some calls..tell people im not going to be back in the office, and head home. i only lose my guts two more times at home before falling asleep around 4 pm. well, i woke up at 4:30 to find that my husband had cleaned the downstairs living room around me...and thrown out my sprite.
still not feeling 100 percent, i try to lay in my bed...can't sleep (no suprise...) so i do some quizzing stuff...eat a small bowl of cereal...and then decided to post. im going to go lay back down for half an hour or so...just so my body can be rested. hopefully...the cereal will remain in my stomach where it belongs.

Days 3 and 4

I really think the best thing to do to describe our NYC experience over these 2 days is to give you all a few lyrics...
If I'm here all alone
If I'm left behind
If they spit in my face
If they hate my kind

I will rise above
I will live for love
I will answer to the call
For the bond between
For the depth unseen
For my God forsake it all

'Cause I'm a fire
I'm a flood
I'm a revolution
I am a war
Already won
I'm a revolution

When the world is at war
When the grace is gone
When the hungry lay dead
While the rich live on

I will rise above
I will live for love
I will answer to the call
For the bond between
For a depth unseen
For my God forsake it all

(Here I stand)
Open hands
Waiting for You
I won't back down
I'll live to speak Your truth


yeah. and the girls from kankakee 1st church--best on the planet!

NYC day 2

well...if you like screaming, family force 5 is the way to go. Ew. And if you theme something water fire wind, its silly to put bottles of waters in the hands of 10000 people for an object lesson. seriously. today was again amazing. the tracks seemed like they went great or terrible...depending on the individual track coordinators. or students are behaving like rockstars--which is always good and makes me very proud of them. Today was "water" day and so our messages centered around water and cleansing...and being thirsty. Overall a great day. pictures on the ccd page if you want em.

NYC Day 1 (officially)

Good day everyone! I'm waiting for scott to return to our room with some late night (early morning) pizza. Today has been fantastic. We got on busses at ONU early this morning and headed to st. louis....close to 200 of us from the chicago central district. We had lunch on the way, checked in at the convention center..and carried all the food for the feeding of the 5000 project down what was called the "famine trek" (every participant was asked to bring 50 pounds of food). Then we dropped our stuff off at the hotel, and headed to dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. So, 110 of our group of 200 gets seated outside. It's very very humid, but starting to cool off by the time we get our drinks, so thats nice. then, they start bringing out food, and sure enough..by the time about half of us have our food-theres some thunder, and it begins to rain on us. so we try to cram people inside where there are tables available...and then no one can find their food..pretty funny stuff...but makes for a good NYC memory--especially considering the theme is WATER FIRE WIND.

then we hop on our busses and head to the convention center for the first session. Toby Mac did a decent job...everyone had a fantastic job, and for Toby Mac--it was the best i've seen him--but im not really a fan. Then Greg Steir spoke and asked the question "is Jesus your embarrassing friend?" and gave the challenge to stop acting like Jesus is something to be embarrassed by..then some super amazing worship with starfield, hang out time at the late night stuff...and then walking back to the hotel (after finally finding our missing group members) and whatnot. Everyone is in bed, and scott is back with food.

Please pray that the students really are able to focus and get what God has for them this week. It's going to be good times and lots of Love. God is amazing, and with enough prayer...well..who said high schoolers can't change the world?

if you want to see pictures, im posting them daily on the CCD quizzing site.

4th of July

So today, I get up, read for awhile, decide to go shopping, and then head to the mantors for 4th festivities. As I drive past the Mantors, I remember an email I had from my grandma and remembered she was stressed about her sisters failing health. So, armed with hamburgers and a veggie tray, I turn around and head to my parents house. I walk in :SUPRISE! We're gonna have a cookout--call the grandmas and tell them to come on down! So, the grandma's come down, and my dad runs back into town to get some chips because for the first time in the history of my memory, they don't have any. Then my brother and I whip up some macaroni salad and wait for scott to get home. Then we have a 4th of july cookout with my family.

This is kind of a big deal, because we used to ALWAYS cook out at my parents for the 4th--like this huge bash!--but the last few years, due to my parents health and a few other things, we haven't at all. we've either gone to my aunt's house or done nothing. So it was really nice to revive that tradition. As an added bonus, I even cleaned up moms kitchen a little.

Then we came home, and it started raining, so we decided not to drive down to KCC to see the fireworks that may or may not happen. And I played papermario, and scott fell asleep, so tomorrow, we'll do 4th of July sparklers.

Thats the story of my 4th of July.