Focus 2006

I know it's been a while, but I've been busy! (And my internet at home has been down)
Anyway, figured I was overdue on showing you some pictures from Focus. (Focus is a college conference)

All Access & VIP

Chris & Mike

Me! (I love Sonic drinks!)

And finally... a salute to our speaker for the weekend, Matt Chandler.
He was a great speaker!

will write some more later when my internet is working again!

Music

Ok loyal readers... I've got another online thing for you. This time it's music! Free music at that! Click on the bird cage below.

Ecclesiastes

Had a friend recommend a sermon series to me, and I've been listening to them and they are really good. Thought I'd let you in on it... take a little time to listen to Matt Chandler and his series on Ecclesiastes.

PS~ I'd advise listening to them in order, start with part 1.

Good News... Bad News...

I've got some time so I thought I'd post...
First, for the good news... Chris and I bought a new entertainment center... the old one we had was from Wal-Mart and was getting pretty ratty so we bought a new one! Here is a picture of the old one...

and here is the new one...

Pretty nice eh? We like it.

Now for the bad news...
My best friend, Michelle, has left to go back to college for her senior year. I know I'll still see her several times in the coming months, and we'll be talking a lot on the phone and through email and blogs... but never-the-less... it's sad. (pic of Michelle and me this summer at the Arnold's lakehouse - pic compliments of Mike)the other bad news is that all but one of my Fc3 boys have left (or are about to leave) for their first year of college. (Mike is going to school locally - yay! I don't have to say goodbye to him too!) I'm gonna miss them all tons... I know I will see them a few times and hope to stay in touch withthem too, but it's not the same as seeing them every week, 2x a week, at church and Bible study etc. (pic of them doing what they do best... FOOSING!!!)
Well that's about it for now. Will post more another time.

Stuff Running Through My Mind...

Been busy lately... that's why I haven't posted in a while. Sorry. But today I have this song stuck in my head... I started thinking about the words instead of just sub-consciously singing them and whoa... I had to post so that you could read them. Serious stuff. Scarey to think of just how true they are... this is Lost The Plot by the Newsboys.


When you're coming back again
would you bring me something from the fridge?
Heard the rumor that the end is near
but I just got comfortable here.

sigh
let's be blunt
I'm a little distracted
What do you want?

Headaches and bad faith
they're all that I got
first I misplaced the ending
then I lost the plot

Long among the free-ranged sheep
where the big birds sharpen their claws
for the time we stuck with the shepherd
but you wouldn't play Santa Claus

sigh
let's be blunt
We're a little distracted
What do you want?

Once we could follow
now we cannot
You would not fit our image
so we lost the plot

Once we could hear you
now our senses are shut
We've forgotten our first love
we have lost the plot
lost the plot

When I saw you for the first time
you were hanging with a thief
and I saw my hands were dirty
so I dropped my gaze
but you said I was forgiven
and you welcomed me with laughter
I was happy ever after
and I was counting the days
When you're coming back again
I'll be ready for you
When you're coming back again
We'll be waiting for you
Maybe we will wake up when
Maybe we will wake up when
You are coming back again

lies
let's be blunt
We're a little unfaithful
What do you want?

Are you still listening?
'Cause obviously we're not
We've forgotten our first love
We have lost the plot

And why are you still calling?
You forgave, we forgot
We're such experts at stalling
we have lost the plot
lost the plot
lost the plot
lost the plot

When you're coming back again
would you bring me something from the fridge?
Heard the rumor that the end is near
but I just got comfortable here

2006 Senior Progressive Dinner

Thursday evening we had a celebration for the 2006 high school graduates of our church... we called it The 2006 Senior Progressive Dinner... we had a blast!
It started with appetizers at Jeremy's (shrimp with cocktail sauce, sushi, stuffed mushrooms, crackers and fancy cheese, gingerale and juices in fancy champagne glasses). Then we proceeded to Tommy's house where his mother had prepared a wonderful meal of chicken with broccoli, sweet bread and rolls, and pasta (again with the fancy dishes and glasses). Then we finished by coming to my place with cheesecake, cream puffs, Milano cookies, and coffee (also with the fine china stuff). Then Matt (the pastor) and myself gave each of the graduates some parting gifts and words of encouragement and wisdom. We finished by praying for each of them. It was a really great night and I will always cherish the time I have had with these young men. Well, before I go getting too sappy... here are some pics from the evening's festivities! Enjoy!

Riley

Mike

"Magnum" (Fc3 Graduates)

Fc3 Group

At the dinner table

More pics from the canyon...

Thought you might enjoy a few more pics...

Chris, Taylor, Tim, and Amber

The "cool" boat

Martha sitting pretty upstream of Lava Rapids

In case you were wondering... "where did you go to the bathroom?" Well, here is the toilette... it was kinda stinky

Daniel's "mad" soccer skills

Grand Canyon 2006

It's here... the moment you've all been waiting for... The Grand Canyon 2006 blog post with pictures!!! Whoo hoo!
Well, let me tell you, the trip was amazing... in fact it was "once in a lifetime" amazing. I'll probably never have the opportunity to do that kind of trip again... but I would do it again if I could. Hey, maybe someday I can take my kids! (what a thought)
As I'm typing this, I'm trying to figure out what I can say, in this post, that can give you (my loyal reader) a glimpse of what I felt and experienced... I'm drawing a blank... Wow, the Grand Canyon, one of the "wonders of the world." It is so beautiful and so amptly displays God's majesty here on earth.
Besides the scenery, which I will cease to try to describe because I won't be able to do it justice, I met some wonderful people on this trip. We were quite a mix of people. There was a fun-loving, and might I say very sarcastic, family from Iowa (papa was from Arizona), a father and daughter from Pennsylvania who learned to love playing Maffia, a sweet couple who are both teachers (I think they were from Pennsylvania too), and a fun family of four from New Jersey who's youngest son always had us laughing. We also had 3 and a half guides. (by half I mean we had three guides and one intern who was learning how to be a guide). And finally, us! Which included my dad, his wife, their two teenagers, me, Chris, and my brother Daniel.
All 27 of us floated down the Colorado River inside the Grand Canyon for 187 miles. The rapids of the Grand Canyon are one of only three other rivers who's rapids are rated on a 1-10 scale (all other rapids are rated on a 1-6 scale). During those 187 miles, we did rapids that were rated 1, we did rapids rated 10 and we did rapids that rated everywhere in between! It was fantastic! We all had a blast. God was so good to us... He gave us great cohesion as a group, crazy good weather (the guides said that the way the weather was acting, one would think we were on a September trip instead of a July trip!), and safety!

We put in the water on July 4th and then we camped on the shore of the river for 5 nights and were helicoptered out of the canyon 5 days later on the morning of the 9th. What a week... and I mean WHAT A WEEK! Ok, well I can't think of anything else at the moment so I'll post some pictures. Enjoy!

dad, Chris, me, & Daniel



Chris & me at a beautiful waterfall


Daniel & Chris kickin' back while floating down the river


me & hubby at a scenic outlook


view from the top of one of the side-canyons


map of Grand Canyon... we started at Lee's Ferry and got out just beyond Whitmore Rapid (click on the map to get a better look at it)


the last morning... a pic of the whole gang!

Ok, that's all for now... will post more thoughts from the trip and some more pics later... until then!

Wrapping Pics

This is the "handiwork" of Sunday night.

This is the "handiwork" of Monday night
*Notice the random stork?
...and if you look closly you can see the writing on the driveway...

Wham!... and WHAM again!...

So yeah... Sunday night seemed like any other Sunday night... we had Bible study at our house, the students left and then I got my things together for work in the morning and then went to bed. What was NOT usual was the appearance of a "white Christmas" out my front window. Wham! We'd been wrapped (TP'd, toilette papered, or whatever you want to call it... it happened!)
I woke Chris as soon as I saw it and dragged him outside with me to inspect the "damage." We took pictures and had a good laugh over it and then Chris began cleaning it up and I had to leave for work.
Well... here's what's crazy...the next morning (which is today)... WHAM... again more toilette paper... I wake up Chris and drag him out of bed again to go inspect the "damage." all the while I'm saying "Unbeleivable! Two days in a row?!" We walk outside and there before our eyes is a giant blow-up bird... a stork to be precise that is holding a sign that reads "We got you Hendy!" Again, we have a good laugh over it and begin to clean up. We also notice that there is a soap trail on our driveway that says"hendy" in huge letters... and later while cleaning it up we find clumps of moist style cat food in the grass... weird, I know... so anyway, it's 7:30 PM and Chris and I are still trying to figure out who did it.
We thought the first time it was the Fc3 boys, but today found out it wasn't. We thought today's wrapping was Kat, Shannon, Mike and Travis... but they all deny it. We really have no idea anymore... we're thoroughly confused... but shall continue our endeavors to find the culprits so we can have a good laugh with them. Whomever did the deed, sure was creative about it that's for sure... Will keep you posted... until then.
This is Sherlock, signing off for the night.
PS~ I took pictures and brought them to work to show my co-workers and then I accidentally left it at work so I'll post the pics later.

Camp 2006! Whooohoo!!!

What a blast I had this past week at summer camp! There are so many things I could write about it, but I think if I had to give a one-word description it would be "full.
It was "full" of fun, "full" of laughter, "full" of friendships (both old & new), "full" of mafia (yay! for group 2... the best small group!), "full" of foosing, "full of serenades, "full" of yellow canaries (so disturbing that it was hilarious!), "full" of Juice-House, "full" of "that hot, hot, Gonzales heat," "full" of mixed emotions and tears, "full" of amazing worship times, and most importantly "full" of God. His spirit was there and moved mightily in our midst. It was awesome! Now that I sit at home writing this, reflecting on the week, and looking over a ton of pictures that were taken... I realize one more "full," and that is, my heart. My heart is so full with the love that God has given me for the people with whom I just spent a whole week. What a blessing! (And if any of them are reading this, you know who you are, I want you to know that I love you all dearly with the love of Christ and I consider it the utmost priviledge and joy to serve you).
Ok, enough of the sappy stuff... and now for some pics...

Summer Sun...

Well, here we are... summer. It seems like only yesterday we were singing carols and decorating the tree. Time sure does fly. So a brief catch up. This week is Vacation Bible School for me at work and things are nuts but I'm making it. Two days down and three more to go. I went to the lakehouse last weekend with Chris and the youth and had a blast... see pic.

The lakehouse that we went to is about 3 hours from here and is such a wonderful place to get your mind off stuff and just relax. God is good... He knew how much I needed just that very thing. It was a restful weekend and I so very much enjoyed the company I had with me there.
This coming Saturday Chris and I leave for summer camp. We are both totally pumped about it and can't wait to see how God is going to move in our midst. Praying that He "shows off" in order to make Himself known... it's gonna be cool! We will be there for a week so it will be nice to be off work for a whole week. Then coming up in July we will be going on a 6-day white-water rafting trip in the Grand Canyon. I can hardly wait. Don't worry, I'll tell you all about it. But right now I just need to make it through VBS!
Ok, well I have tons more I could say but no time. Gotta go to bed so I can survive my 3rd day of VBS! Ha! Kasey... you know what I'm talking about! Will write more in a couple weeks.

May Madness...

Ok, so yeah, it's official... May has to be the most crazy month of the year for me. I am surviving, but that's about all. Today Chris was so sweet... he surprised me by showing up at work this afternoon with a gorgeous bouquet of flowers - and, all for no apparent reason. Ok, let me hear it girls... "ahhh, how romantic!" Wasn't it though? I was so surprised (not to mention thrilled)! I tell ya, he's a keeper that hubby of mine. (see pic that I took of my beautiful arrangement)

So anyway... about May. Well, May is the month of preparation for VBS, it is the month of preparation for Summer Camp, it is the month of preparing for my rafting trip this July, it is the month that my Abuela took a sharp turn for the worst, it is the month of "end of the school year" events, it is the month of graduations and goodbyes... it the the month of exhaustion!

But hey, let's be positive here shall we? May is also the month of wonderful memory-making events, it is the month of blooming flowers and trees, it is the month of picnics in the park with co-workers (it's one of the only months for such outings in Houston), its the month for blue skies and perfect temperatures... well, I feel better already, do you? I hope so. We have so much to be thankful for - despite our life circumstances. God is good!

Hmmm, that's about all I can think of tonight... my brain is shot from a long day, which reminds me... YEAH! I get to sleep-in tomorrow morning. Now there is something to rejoice in!

Catching Up...

I figure since I haven't really posted (aside from my random "I'm dying" posts) in such a long time, you might enjoy a brief snapshot of what's been going on in my life... here' goes...

Palm Sunday - my church's first outdoor worship with our new sound equipment... very cool experience.

Easter - we had an Easter Egg hunt for the youth after Bible study... it was a hit!

Playing in the office - we have a lot of fun at work... let's just say that the people I work with are very "creative..." they are a blast!

Needless to say it's been a fun last couple of weeks... not to say it hasn't been crazy busy, just that it was worth it and it was fun. I really do love where God has me right now, the people I work with, the ministry God has given Chris and I at our church, I just love it... again I will say it's hard, but SO WORTH IT!!!


PS~ I just want to say happy birthday to my lifelong friend Mary!

Happy 26th Mar!

Still Alive

Ok, I know I haven't posted in FOREVER but I promise I haven't died... I'm still here... things have been busy and I've been tired. "so what's new about that?" you might say. Well, I suppose nothing is new about that... but I promise to get better. Mum is finally home from Australia and she's wonderful about helping me around the house... so great to come home from work and find dinner is already made and ready to eat!
Anyway, I have a bunch a pics to post so maybe I'll try to do that tonight after dinner as I don't have time right now.
Love you all (my three or four readers!) Will post again soon.

PS~ I finished putting together my new desk set and cleaning the upstairs office... just a few boxes still to sort, but otherwise finished! YEAH!

Making It...

Okay, so I haven't posted in over a week... sorry 'bout that. I've been super busy at work and when I get home it's either really late and so I have to get things ready for the next day and then it's time to go to bed... or I'm plum tuckered out from the day's events and couldn't be bothered with posting. In any case, I'm back, and that's all that matters.
So today is Saturday and it was wonderful to sleep in... it's too bad that I totally forgot about going to a bridal shower... the shower was at 10am and I was still in bed at 9:45ish when a friend called to ask me if I was still planning on going. I told her I was still in bed and wouldn't be able to make it. I felt horrible not going, but my body has been in revolt against me due to the amount of things I subject it to on a daily basis... so I figured it was more important to stay home than continue to "war" against my poor ailing tired body. I got up had a leisurely breakfast, read for a while and then began to work on the mound in my closet that is my laundry. (I was out of town last weekend and didn't do any laundry so it has really made a small mountain in my closet). It's 9:30 at night now and I'm still working on it! Yuck!
On the bright side, I'm happy to say that my yard is spick and span now. Chris did wonders with the lawn by mowing, weed-eating, and blowing; while I worked on the plant beds in the front yard. I weeded (yuck!), trimmed up some dead leaves off the plants and then planted some flowers in the beds so it would have some color. I have to say Chris and I make quite a team... I also have to say that yard work is HARD!
Tomorrow will prove to be interesting I'm sure. It's Palm Sunday this week and we are taking the congregation outside for worship. We've never done this before, but since we have the new portable sound system, it makes it possible. We are supposed to get there early to set up and we are praying for no rain. (today was beautiful - gorgeous clear blue skies with a nice breeze and temps in the mid 70's) Hopefully tomorrow's weather will echo today's.
Can't beleive it's already here but two weeks from today my mum will be home from Australia! YEAH! The time went so quickly while she was away... Daniel will be staying for school, but will be home in June... I can't wait to see and hug both of them.
Okay, well I think that about does it for updates... not much else going on at the moment, just living life and staying busy... hopefully one day the busyness will stop. Until then, I'm off to do another load of the endless laundry!

So Tired...

All I can say is... "I am so tired." This week has been so emotionally, mentally and physically exhausting... And now I think I'm too tired to keep writing this message. I'll write more later...

Ouch! That hurt!

So this week has been absolutely crazy at work. We are moving a 40-50 person staffed office to another location, and the ministry I work with is also moving across campus. It has been nuts. It was all very predictable but that didn't make it any less stressful. My boss was on edge, I had way too much to do and not enough time to do it, and it was really cold this week (unseasonably cold) which made me bitter about getting out of bed in the morning. But HALLELUJAH! I made it through! And a bonus was that at the end of the week I found out the our H.R. dept had decided that since the movers would be moving stuff on Monday, that we would just get in their way if we were there so she told us to take the day off! YEAH for ME! I could really use a day off.
Friday night was fun. I went to a friend's house and hung out and did girlie stuff. We washed our faces and tried out some new skin care products that a friend of hers is selling. I tried a mask on my face and followed up with some sort of night cream. I liked it, though not enough to pay almost $55 for the combination of the wash, mask, and cream! I think I'll definitely stick with Melalueca's skincare line - great quality -reasonable prices! But never the less, I had a really good time and enjoyed meeting a couple of new people.
But here is the reason for the title... I decided that I was going to try waxing today. I went to salon near the house, and for a small fee they will wax your legs (or anything else you wish). I chose to only do half my legs (from the knee down). Can I just say... OUCH! That hurts! Supposedly it will keep you from having to shave for several weeks, we'll see. But the worst part is that when I got home I realized that they'd missed some spots! Darn that! If I'm going to endure such pain I at least want a good job done - a thorough job. good grief. Oh well. If it turns out that I really enjoy not shaving for a couple of weeks than I may try it again (but at a different salon) and I'll know to make sure they get it all. I also got a pedicure - at least that was nice... I got to sit in one of those massage chairs while she worked on my toes. I love a good massage.
Ok, well, now I've shared all... probably more than you wanted to know so I think I'll go now. Hurray for Saturdays!

A New Life Lesson

Ok, so I had new experience today, one that I'm kinda thinking I don't really want to have again...
On that note, have you ever tried to bathe your cat? For those who are unaware, Chris and I have two adorable cats (we call them "the babies"). Their names are Micah and Cali. Micah is mostly my cat (he was a bottle-feeder so he thinks that I really am his mother) and Cali is mostly "daddy's girl." Anyway - Micah has had some sort of skin irritation on his back and it has cause little flakes (like dandruff or something) so I thought maybe it would help if he had a bath. You know soothe the irritated skin. Now I'm no fool, I knew cat-bathing is not a well-like sport, but Chris and I did some research about it online and were well prepared to give it a shot. So this afternoon we filled the tub a little bit (maybe 5 or 6 inches) with warm water and had PLENTY of towels ready (might I just say it's a good thing too) and set about the bathing process. We shut ourselves with both cats into the tiny bathroom upstairs and started with Cali. We picked her first because she is the stupid one and wouldn't know one way or the other. Micah on the other hand is very intelligent and we didn't want him to think we were picking on him... we wanted him to watch Cali and see that she came out fine.
Cali squirmed like a worm the whole time. I eventually just grabbed a towel and put it in the tub with her and used it to hold firmly to her back legs (the only ones with claws) while Chris tried to speak calming words to her and hold on to her front end and head. I have to say this arrangement worked relatively well. She looked a bit like a drowned rat but other than the squirming she was just scared. Okay, really scared. So we took her out and dried her off a bit and braced ourselves for Micah. Oh boy. So in he goes... and... out he goes... so we put him back in trying to get a hold of his hind legs the way we did Cali - but see Micah is smart and he stubborn so he's a fighter. He tried biting Chris's arm and thrashing about - soaked Chris and I both. Eventually I managed to get a good scrub of pet shampoo on his back where the irritation was. We managed to get most of the visible soap off but he jumped out again... so we waited a minute and had to put him back in! Poor little guy. By this time, though he is visibly exhausted he continues to fight - so exhausted tht we can hear him panting a bit. So I have a bucket of warm water and have to slosh it all over him (freaking him out more) in order to get the soap out.
Finally the drama is over and he and I are BOTH tramatized. I held him in a towel for a few minutes and talked softly to him until I could see that his heart-rate had dropped back down to normal. Plus I was soaked and my muscles were a bit shaky myself from the struggle. So I put him down and thought I'd dry him a bit but he would have none of it so I just had to leave him to his own divises (he wasn't soaked or anything just damper than I would have liked). I must say he and Cali both looked like a couple of drowned rats.
So Chris and I cleaned up the bath got all the fur out of the tub and let the babies out of the bathroom. They seem okay - but I'm just hoping they haven't developed some sort of personal vendetta against us now. So overall, quite the experience for all of us. Not something I am anxious to try again.
Moral of the story? When your cat has a skin irritation, take him to the vet and let the vet deal with it.

Can I just say???

I am so glad that it's FRIDAY! Thank you Lord for making weekends! Oh how we need them. Fortunately for me, I think this weekend will prove to be a relatively slow one... which is always nice after a busy week. Next weekend may prove to be not so restful.