Expanding my vocabulary

I have been told I am maniacal (look it up) when it comes to beating boys. I think that's a bit extreme don't you? Ah well! What a week. I have found myself longing to be in Portland a lot this week. I am well aware of the fact that we sometimes romatisize things but I don't think that is the case here. I really honestly think that Portland is in need of Jesus and there is nothing more appealing to me then taking the word to a place in need. I praise God for people like Steve and the staff at PUMP who walked through a door that God opened. God bless PUMP, PSP and Portland.

On a different note, this week in Arlington has been awesome. We have been busy and working. After a nice Monday off, we spent Tuesday at Hurricane Harbor with the Jr. High Swim group. That was a lot of fun. I have realized that I easily give into peer pressure at amusement parks. I participated with a group of girls, and Greg, in conquering the "Big Slides" that are right next to I-30. Now typically you could not pay me any amount of money to ride such a ride, but seeing as to how "everyone was doing it" I felt the need to participate. I screamed all the way down closing my mouth only moments before splashing into the pool at the bottom; that was a conscious thought. The report was that the people at the bottom were laughing as well as the people at the top. My remarks, "I could go the rest of my life and never ride that again and be O.K.!" So true.

On Wednesday we had Ignite. Taylor played during our at the cross time and we had mission trip time where we got to share stories that meant something to us from Portland. We had about 15 teens there and about 6 parents not including mission trip adults. I was a little bit disappointed in the turn out but it was good to talk about it nonetheless. We also had Ignite Afterhours Wednesday night. About 10 or so kids stayed and then Bryan, Sean and I were there. Got to play a little bit of ping pong with some real competition. I was successful in my venture for victory-this is when I was deemed maniacal.

Thursday was the Drive-In at the Clarks. We watched National Treasure and were joined by the middle school girls from Highland in Abilene. They were working at Fortress this weekend and came to hang out with us. It was a lot of fun. Coach O'Neal has almost lost hope in my football throwing abilities. Sad day. I'm working on it.

Friday night Lauren Peters and I went to the Rangers game with the Highland group. That was a lot of fun but the game was really sad until the end. We left before it got exciting from what I hear. Oh well. They still lost.

Today, Saturday, was Family Uplift at church. I have really come to love kids this summer and today only confirmed that. I have always struggled with being excited about VBS, Day Camp etc. but this summer I have had ample opportunity to do such things and I would not trade those experiences for the world. Kids love unconditionally. It's no wonder that Jesus told us we must become like a child. I don't think you can get any closer to Jesus love than to love like a child. Praise God for all his little children.

Tomorrow the Zambian Vocal Group will be singing to our teens in our class and then they will be singing in worship. I am very excited to have them and I look forward to what they will share with us in the morning. Tomorrow night starts Project serve. I have never done it but I am really excited. I'm shooting 3 for 3 working with Greg in groups this summer so I am really excited to see what new experiences we will embark on!

What a week! Praise God! I hope you all have a great Sunday and an awesome week!

Be Blessed!!!

Pictures From Portland

I hope you enjoy these:



The 3rd Graders

The 2nd Graders

1st Grade Group 1

1st Grade Group 2




The Girls

The Falls

The Retreat on Mt. Hood

Yellow Circles, our reading group




Louis Break Dancing

The Hands of Jesus

Darius

Estaban






Be Blessed!!!

Unfinished Business

Today was a good day for me. I finished a book, I finished the first season of The O.C. and I had lots of time to process through the week at PUMP considering Greg gave Bryan and Me the day off- thanks Greg. The only complaint I have with my whole day is that it was not complete. While processing alone today and with the girls at Bible Study I realized that there is much work to do. We spent one week trying to be Jesus to people we didn't know and then left. It breaks my heart to leave and feel like there is so much more to do.

Love. One word that can wrap around you, entangle you and cushion you all at the same time. Falling in love is from God and I never, in a million years, thought I would fall in love with a first grade boy who looks like a gangster, or a third grade boy who does a great impression of Raven, or a second grade boy who follows directions better then I do, or a first grade girl who puts on a tough front but really doesn't want to go to headquarters, or a first grade girl who has more beads in her hair then hair itself, or a third grade girl who loves to hold your hand. As I looked at the handprints yesterday I wanted to be there. I wanted to be with the kids, even the bad ones who tested me and pushed my buttons. They need me, they need Jesus; or do I need them? Are they the Jesus that I have been looking for and long to be with? I miss them...there is unfinished business in Portland, Oregon; there is unfinished business in the world.

Be Blessed!!!

Click on the picture to make it bigger!

My 100th Post and it's from Portland

Well friends out there, it has been a great week. As most of you know I have been busy in Portland, Oregon working with PUMP church in their PSP program. Yesterday was our last day of PSP so today we spent sightseeing and by that I mean we went to the Zoo. Tonight we are going to the Falls and out to dinner. I am excited about it. It you want to read about our trip to PUMP you can go to www.xanga.com/pump_2005 What beautiful children of God live in Portland, Oregon.

Yesterday as we were driving back to Cascade (the college dorms we are staying in) we were able to see Mt. Hood in front of us and Mt. St. Helen's to our left! So cool! I also got to go with Matthew, Sam, Greg and Ryan a couple of days ago to the part of town where Bagdad Theater is. That is important to you if you have read Blue Like Jazz. If you haven't read it I highly recommend it!!

The time has come and our trip will be complete tomorrow around 8:00 p.m. when we land in Dallas. The lessons learned here from the kids at PSP will not be forgotten and the faces will never leave, but more important than that, the Love of Christ that has overflowed from the kids this week and rained down showers of blessings on the 22 of us will always be felt. Praise God for his Children. Go read about it, www.xanga.com/pump_2005.

Be Blessed!!!

Into the West

That's right. We head out tomorrow for Portland, OR. I am really excited. I think it is going to be a great trip. I am looking forward to a great experience at PUMP and getting to know the kids in our group better. It has been such a pleasure to be a part of this church this summer. You know what they say though, make new friends but keep the old.

I was at Woodland West this afternoon for the funeral of a dear friend of the family. Chris Pollard had downsyndrome and passed away Sunday morning just shy of his 30th birthday. It was a special time this afternoon listening to stories about Chris and his love for others and remembering times I got to see Chris. Although we left Woodland West a long time ago Chris always remembered me when we came to visit. He was a sweet man and will be missed.

Amidst the bitter sweet passing of Chris, I got to see and talk to a lot of old friend's. Most of them my parents age but friends non the less. The Allen's, Pollard's, Varney's, Thornton's, Cochrum's, Khel's, Hoglan's, Thompson's and some I am sure I am forgetting. It was great to see them and to see my friends, Lori and Ryan, Brittany, Amy and Amanda, Joe and Jerry and others. What a blessing God has given me to have friends to share sad times with.

All-in all, it was a good day. I am now about to embark on my first trip to Dallas with the Dismuke's. We are going to eat but who knows what will happen. Anyone who knows them knows it's never just a meal! I can't wait! See ya later alligator!

Be Blessed!!!

Swiming with the boys

What a week! I generally have not been a big fan of helping out with Day Camps. They are long and tiring and the kids are bad and in the past my role has been one requiring me to be there and thats about it. A waste of a day if you ask me. Last week, however, was the best Day Camp I think I have ever been too. I had a blast with my 2nd and 3rd grade Ninja's. We had cool headbands and we got to go into the "Ninja Cave" and sit in a "Ninja Circle" all week. It was a blast. As much fun as it was to teach the guys about creation, my favorite time was swimming time. We swam for about an hour and a half to two hours Mon-Thurs. afternoons. The guys were so cute playing pool games. On of my favorite was when they were sailors and they were attacking each others boat. I also enjoyed them being special agents in search of the evil villian which was usually an adult.

My boys were great and I had a lot of fun!

As for other aspects of my life-Mission trip is coming up. We leave for Portland, Oregon on Friday and will be back the next Saturday. The church we are going to is called PUMP (Portland Urban Ministry Project). We will be doing a VBS type of week with the kids there. The church has been so gracious with financially helping us out to get there. We are almost to our goal, just a few thousand more to go. Praise God for the people at North Davis and their hearts. We have been working hard these last couple of days since Day Camp is over on our mission trip stuff. I think it will turn out well. If you would keep the mission trip in your prayers for the next couple of weeks we would really appreciate it.

It's late and I am spending my time putting songs on my iPod. I am off tomorrow, Praise God for that! I get to see Jeff and April and Ty also. They are picking me up for the Rangers game. I am excited.

I hope everyone is having a great summer. I love you guys!

Be Blessed!!!

A Regular Week...

...If there is such a thing. This week in the office has been nice. We have had stuff to do and been busy for the most part but it has also been relaxing and a nice break from the fast paced world of camps. I am really enjoying working here at North Davis and I am excited to see what God has in store for the rest of the summer.

Yesterday we had our first new Wednesday night set up. We are calling it Ignite. If you like it let me know if you don't keep it to yourself. :o) But really it went well. It's a changed from how Wednesday nights are usually done and I think the kids responded to it really well-if you are a NDSM member and you liked it let me know! We had a great time of praise and worship and Michael and Kouster (sp?) did a great job sharing what was on their hearts with everyone. Thanks guys.

Tonight is SYS and tomorrow is a day to breathe! Praise God! It's fun. I love my job.

Be Blessed!!!

Faith-Hope-Love

Kadesh and MPulse have been the last two weeks of my life. Man, what a way to spend you time: digging in the Word, discussion the Word and acting on the Word. Praise God for what he has done in my life the last two weeks but Praise him more for how he has transformed the lives of 11 High School Graduates and 20 7th & 8th graders.

Kadesh-HOPE
What better a message for High School graduates to hear then the Hope we have in Christ. Call me and I will tell you about my experience-if you can't do that email me (asn02a@acu.edu). It's great to see 11 kids go from "I think I'm going to heaven" to "You better believe I'm going to heaven and let me tell you why!" Man-awesome!

Shout to the Lord all the earth let us sing!
Power and majesty praise to the King!
Mountains bow down and the seas will roar,
at the sound of your name!
I sing for joy at the work of Your hand!
Forever I'll love you forever I'll stand!
Nothing compares to the promise I have in you!

MPulse-Agape for the World
20 of the most challenging middle school kids I have ever worked with. Not challenging like asking question but challenging like a typical middle school kid. This week has taught me patience. Praise God for being my strength. Today I think most of them got it. All week we have been talking about what it means to love like Christ loved. Today we had a foot washing ceremony where Bryan and I washed the feet of each of our group members while Luke and Chris prayed over them. Awesome! "So that's what it means to love like Jesus!" Light bulb! Happy heart! I love middle school kids-even the challenging ones!

It was a great 2 weeks! Call me if you want to know more!
I love you guys! Be Blessed!!!

Divine Design...

Painting houses...Changing Lives...From the outside in!

That was the theme for Arlington Work Camp 2005. I have not done a camp like this in a very long time and It has been so spiritually renewing for me. It was a great reminder to me of why I love teenagers so much and that they are not all about themselves. Arlington has a youth that knows what it means to be a Christian. I'm a Christian so I serve. It's natural to them. Second nature. It's what I'm supposed to do. No complaints. No questions. Just service.

This week I have gotten to see a level of service that I didn't even know kids still had. To be honest I had almost lost hope in a deeper service for this teenage generation but there's something bigger. God has a Divine Design for us and service is the path he has created us to walk. Praise God for teenagers who surpass surface level service and hit the heart of Christianity! Praise God for teenagers who get it! Praise God!

Be Blessed!!!

Done! Time!

In the words of my friend Chris Lair, Done! Time! Finals are over and grades are in. Not too shabby this semester. I am home and ready to relax. Had a great weekend with Chris, Clint, Heather, Shannon and the GParents in San Antonio this last weekend and spent a couple of days in Abilene. Dad came in for his short course so I had a few meals with him and yesterday I spent the day with Joel shopping, thats right shopping, and loading art work, some of which I am proud to say I now own. I have 2 original Joel Goudeau snapshots and one original pastal drawing. I'm proud. We also watched The Lord of the Rings, just the first one. It was my first time and now I am hooked. I can't wait to watch the rest of them. I might go rent them tomorrow!

I enjoyed my drive home. My dad came up Sunday to Abilene and much to my surprise he drove my new car which means I got to bring it on the nice 6 hour journey home! I love it!!! I was so excited when he came with it that I wanted to drive everywhere. I even drove around at Midnight b/c I couldn't sleep Sunday night. It's awesome! Well, it's about 11:30 which is still pretty early but I got up at 7:30 this morning so I am gonna hit the hay! Everyone have a great night and by all means, call me! I would love to talk to you!

Be Blessed!!!