For Those That Asked

It was brought to my attention yesterday that I need to blog more frequently. I really do. Whether I actually post what I type or not I realized today that it's a good release. Since I have not posted in a couple of months this is likely to be incredibly long, but I'll try to keep it as short as possible.

Looking back through old posts I didn't see that I had posted anything about my family. I think this is because I've been in denial about many things that have happened in my life. So, a quick review of family life. In January my grandmother passed away from a very rare form of cancer. I used to stay with her and my grandfather during the summer. Some of my best memories from childhood are sitting up late playing canasta with her, eating a bowl of ice cream or a pickle, and talking about life and what we thought about it. I miss her. In April my uncle passed away from a rare form of leukemia. I wasn't as close to my uncle as I am to some of my other family members but I remember going over to his house as a child for Christmas parties planning what I was going to perform for everyone and then deciding at the last minute that I couldn't stand having everyone watching me. David gave me my first taste of beer, I was 5. Needless to say my mom was not happy with him. In August Carle, my step-dad, discovered that he has a ruptured intestine, not pretty to say the least. The performed surgery to fix it in September. On Halloween he was taken to emergency for his gallbladder. They can't do surgery for that until he finishes healing from the surgery on his intestines, so in January or February he'll be going through surgery again. Last month they found prostate cancer in my grandfather. He'll be having his first laster treatment this week. Oh yea, and Sam moved to Arizona. I really miss my partner in crime, having off-the-wall conversations just isn't the same without him.

Life in general hasn't been to terribly calm either. Over the summer a co-worker at Borders was killed in an accident, her car was hit by a train. Needless to say it was a blow to the Borders community. Those of us that knew her best, that worked with her on a regular basis and hung out with her outside of work were hit the hardest. Last week my doctor passed away. They're still not giving out any information all they're saying is Marsha (his wife) and the kids are ok. I'm thinking it was an accident of some sort but don't know for sure. I know this will sound incredibly cold, but I'm really not looking forward to finding a new doctor. For those that know the history, I still have my cyst problems. I have one rupture about every other month, but the pain is starting to be bearable.

I'm still teaching at the college, I have 5 labs this quarter, and am working at Borders still. I'm busier than ever with Pipeline stuff. I'm still praying for volunteers that want to help with behind-the-scenes stuff. If you know of anyone, please have them contact me. Yes, that was a plug for Pipeline volunteers; I have no shame. My big project right now with Pipeline is I'm helping plan the Family Ministries Christmas party. We have 255 volunteers in Family Ministries and a Christmas party would involve spouses and children of volunteers as well, so we're looking at about 500 people. Now albeit not all of those people will show up, but about two-thirds of that crowd is still 350 people. How do you plan a party for 350 people when you don't have your own church building without spending a small fortune on the thing? I am currently looking for solutions. I am also now leading a small group. I finally listened to God and became a small group leader. So I've added more to my plate, but there's still only 24 hours in a day. Per the little voices in my head and the not so little voices outside my head (Justin, Steven, Beky, my mom) I really am looking to cut back.

However, all of that being said, I am incredibly blessed. I have an amazing group of friends that love and support me. A small group of people I can call at any time day or night that will be there with a shoulder I can cry on or a great big hug to help me calm down. They remind me to put my focus back on God and to hand things over to Him. They are the reason I am still sane, that and a few well-timed trips to Disneyland. Disneyland has been one of my few "fun" outlets lately. Speaking of which, if anyone is still reading this and would like to join me, I am going this Friday, the 14th, for my birthday.

I think that's it. I really can't think any more right now. I'm sure something else will come to mind in the near future. If that happens I'll try to post it.

I am such a geek

I am currently sitting at the Embassy Suites hotel in Frisco Texas. I've been here since Thursday morning. We were supposed to fly in Wednesday evening but there was a storm. We got diverted to Houston. I have to say it was pretty amazing seeing the lighting in the clouds as we were flying through them. It was slightly scary, but definitely cool looking. Anyway, we got diverted to Houston and landed in Dallas 4 hours after we were supposed to. Then we get to the rental car agency and they have only one car left on the lot. Amazingly we all fit into it, with luggage. God truly does work miracles. We get to the hotel and they had given away one of our rooms so there was only one room for all 6 of us. They shipped 3 of us off to a difference hotel for the evening. Luckily, or rather, by the grace of God, things calmed down yesterday and have been going smoothly since.

Anyway, the reason I'm at the Embassy Suites in Frisco Texas is for a conference. Not just any conference, but a geek conference. I'm here to learn more about Fellowship Technologies. This is the program that our church uses as much as possible. We are always learning new ways in which we can use the program. So, I'm here to learn how to better implement the program. It has been AMAZING! I've learned so much. I've gotten tons of tips on how to better apply functions and how to troubleshoot current problems. I went to an amazing session by Mark Lindsley on how to better format event registration. Online camp sign-ups are going to go so much smoother next year. I'm really excited about what's being covered and how to apply it when we get home.

We actually have tonight off, so we're going to a minor league baseball game. The field sits right behind the hotel, so we'll veg for an hour or so before the game starts and head over and relax and fellowship together.

It's been great! I'm loving it!

I'm so happy!!

Today, the Finland team returned to Riverside. This makes me extremely happy because my brother was in Finland for 10 days. Don't get me wrong, I'm very glad that he went, but I missed him. I also missed Eddie, a good friend, who gives good hugs, and is like another brother to me. So, I am happy that they are back. And everyone loves pictures, so some pictures follow.

Sam and Eddie when they first got to the gym after driving from LAX
after a 20 hour flight from Finland.

Eddie!

Sam with the gift he brought me from Finland.

My gift!
Finland vodka in Finland chocolate!
They're pretty tasty.

1 Night 2 Unite

Sunday night we had one church service in the evening. It was amazing! There were so many people there! But what was so amazing (for me anyway) was the fact that some of my motions team girls got to go on stage, in front of the WHOLE church. They did such a good job, they were awesome! Thanks to Los for letting us come on stage and show the church that it's ok to dance and have fun during worship and thanks to Snap for the photos. You really should click on them to see they full size, they are amazing.

This one is of almost everyone who was there. See if you can spot the incredibly bright Pipeline shirts.


This one is of two of my girls who were on stage, Ashley and Alexis, they're doing motions to "Beautiful One".
This one is of Pipeline in the front representin' and following along to "Beautiful One". And that beautiful blonde on the right side of the photo is Raylyn who was totally awesome and helped me out that night.

Small Group Goodness

Tonight was small group. My leader, Steven, is on his way to Yosemite (actually I'm sure he's there by now) so that he can climb half dome tomorrow. The person who usually takes over, Steve, is off leading a financial small group for a few weeks. So, I led small group. We didn't talk about the sermon (I'll leave that to Steven next week). Instead I asked everyone what they have been reading lately in the bible. I myself have been reading Ecclesiastes 5 and really focusing on verses 1 - 7 which talk about fearing God. Before small group I re-read chapters 1 through 4 just to refresh my memory. But our discussion this evening centered around Ecc. 5:1-7. It was awesome, we had some really good discussion about what it means to fear God. Then we talked a little bit about the beginning of Ecclesiastes and how Solomon talked about everything being done in vanity. How we should not focus on yesterday because it's done and there's nothing we can do to change it and we should not focus on tomorrow because it is not here and there's no point in worrying about it, but that we should focus on now. As we go about our day we need to be thinking about what we can do NOW to glorify God and praise Him. Then of course we did prayer requests and talked about how things are going in our lives. It was an absolutely amazing evening! Almost makes me wish I hadn't backed out of becoming a small group leader.