Tuesday, August 26, 2003
hey, i don't know what happened to my last blog. it was a good one...oh, well...
i wrote about different blessings the Lord had provided for me all in one day-- from "little" ones like my hosts washing my car for me before i took it back home and my sister and brother and law driving me back and forth from home to Camarillo, CA -- to "bigger" blessings like someone giving me a brand new beautiful computer. i was very overwhelmed that day. (the day before i went back on the road.) overwhelmed by God's goodness...
this past week i've been overwhelmed...but not in a good way. this team is very unique because of the challenges (and blessings) of having a married couple with a 2 1/2 month old baby on the team. honestly, it's been really stressful this last week. i need a little more time to breathe freely. i'll write more about this later... we really need to be covered in prayer.
what's really cool is that i had an awesome conversation w/my team leader last night and we had a really rich/precious time of prayer together. i think the Lord is really using her to work through some past hurts and painful experiences so that I can be whole again. praise God!
well, i gotta go. yea! i get to stay at one of my all-time favorite hosts tonight! :)
i wrote about different blessings the Lord had provided for me all in one day-- from "little" ones like my hosts washing my car for me before i took it back home and my sister and brother and law driving me back and forth from home to Camarillo, CA -- to "bigger" blessings like someone giving me a brand new beautiful computer. i was very overwhelmed that day. (the day before i went back on the road.) overwhelmed by God's goodness...
this past week i've been overwhelmed...but not in a good way. this team is very unique because of the challenges (and blessings) of having a married couple with a 2 1/2 month old baby on the team. honestly, it's been really stressful this last week. i need a little more time to breathe freely. i'll write more about this later... we really need to be covered in prayer.
what's really cool is that i had an awesome conversation w/my team leader last night and we had a really rich/precious time of prayer together. i think the Lord is really using her to work through some past hurts and painful experiences so that I can be whole again. praise God!
well, i gotta go. yea! i get to stay at one of my all-time favorite hosts tonight! :)
Sunday, August 10, 2003
on coolness...
two nights ago I was giving a couple Covenant Players a ride in my dad's car and one girl asked if it was my car. i of course answered "nope, it's my dad's" to which my friend responded "man, your dad's pretty cool" to which I replied "yeah. he is pretty cool." then my friend liliana chimed in, "yeah, I love her parents. they're great." to which I of course agreed "yeah, they are pretty cool, aren't they?" :)
tonight i took two Covenant Players, Dave and Sigrun, to Montebello w/me to have dinner w/my family and I. They'll be missioning in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Korea so I thought we ought to break them into the Chinese culture a bit by giving them a taste of yummy Chinese and Taiwanese cuisine. mom and dad treated us all to a scrumptious dinner at Kuan's restaurant which I highly recommend (located near the 60 fwy off of Via Campo and Wilcox). My whole family (including Butch, of course) was very helpful to them and daddy even came up w/ a Chinese name for Sigrun. ("wise, fragrant, beautiful orchid"). She, of course, loved it and they were very thankful and thought my parents were way cool. I of course agreed. In fact, my whole family's pretty darn cool, huh? :)
and now... how cool ARE your friends???
Some of my friends know that I'm quite horrible at cleaning up and/or packing b/c every time I attempt to do so, I get sidetracked by that sentimental, nostalgic little bug that lives inside of me and refuses to be exterminated. This time, I started rummaging thru old photos. Gosh it brought up so many different feelings and memories-- some of which were quite blurry and formerly "forgotten". If you've not taken a look at old photos from your last decade lately, you really ought to do so. It's great for a big laugh at the very least! Take special note of your coolest friends' hairdos and fashions...for some, that "coolest friend" might mean yourself. Now ask yourself how cool they/you really are.
two nights ago I was giving a couple Covenant Players a ride in my dad's car and one girl asked if it was my car. i of course answered "nope, it's my dad's" to which my friend responded "man, your dad's pretty cool" to which I replied "yeah. he is pretty cool." then my friend liliana chimed in, "yeah, I love her parents. they're great." to which I of course agreed "yeah, they are pretty cool, aren't they?" :)
tonight i took two Covenant Players, Dave and Sigrun, to Montebello w/me to have dinner w/my family and I. They'll be missioning in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Korea so I thought we ought to break them into the Chinese culture a bit by giving them a taste of yummy Chinese and Taiwanese cuisine. mom and dad treated us all to a scrumptious dinner at Kuan's restaurant which I highly recommend (located near the 60 fwy off of Via Campo and Wilcox). My whole family (including Butch, of course) was very helpful to them and daddy even came up w/ a Chinese name for Sigrun. ("wise, fragrant, beautiful orchid"). She, of course, loved it and they were very thankful and thought my parents were way cool. I of course agreed. In fact, my whole family's pretty darn cool, huh? :)
and now... how cool ARE your friends???
Some of my friends know that I'm quite horrible at cleaning up and/or packing b/c every time I attempt to do so, I get sidetracked by that sentimental, nostalgic little bug that lives inside of me and refuses to be exterminated. This time, I started rummaging thru old photos. Gosh it brought up so many different feelings and memories-- some of which were quite blurry and formerly "forgotten". If you've not taken a look at old photos from your last decade lately, you really ought to do so. It's great for a big laugh at the very least! Take special note of your coolest friends' hairdos and fashions...for some, that "coolest friend" might mean yourself. Now ask yourself how cool they/you really are.
Friday, August 08, 2003
Ok, yea. I can finally tell you where I'll be going...
Yea! I'll be on the CATALYST EAST unit which covers the East Coast as well as Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, and Wisconsin.
I'm so happy I'll be singing again and I look forward to learning alot. My unit leader, Laura Lee Poe is very mature and I know she is very spiritually focused and rehearses alot (which is actually something I requested). I'm really happy about that. Also on the team is my friend Hannah (who I toured w/my first mission), her husband, Elijah, and their new baby girl, Emma. I'm really excited about this upcoming mission.
Gosh, I'm wiped out right now. I gotta go to sleep. Tomorrow I'm performing again...another fun comedy...yea! :)
Yea! I'll be on the CATALYST EAST unit which covers the East Coast as well as Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, and Wisconsin.
I'm so happy I'll be singing again and I look forward to learning alot. My unit leader, Laura Lee Poe is very mature and I know she is very spiritually focused and rehearses alot (which is actually something I requested). I'm really happy about that. Also on the team is my friend Hannah (who I toured w/my first mission), her husband, Elijah, and their new baby girl, Emma. I'm really excited about this upcoming mission.
Gosh, I'm wiped out right now. I gotta go to sleep. Tomorrow I'm performing again...another fun comedy...yea! :)
Wednesday, August 06, 2003
I think I know where I'll be touring... but I can't publicize it yet! =) I'll let you know when it's confirmed! Sorry to keep you in suspense!!! :)
Monday, August 04, 2003
Mid-life crisis? PMS? Or just a rough transition time?
Does being 30-years-old warrant the right to have a mid-life crisis? I guess that all depends on one's lifespan, huh? Maybe I'm just PMS'g. Who knows when it's coming anyway. (Sorry, guys.) Maybe I'm just having a rough time transitioning back to life in the States as I try to find where my "place" is....Maybe it's a combination of all of these things.
Maybe I'm just going crazy. I've had so many "I-don't-know-where-I-belong" moments since I've been back this summer and these have heightened since I decided to stay in the States for a tour or two. Ironically, one reason I wanted to stay in the States this tour was because I felt it was a "safer" place for me to be as the Lord did some healing in my life. But it's turned out to be a crazy last two weeks.
It's been a strange transitioning time for me. I still have some very good friends in the ministry here but it's different. We all have different circles. Some are married now, others have made new friends that have not been so welcoming to me. And part of me loves not having a "clique" but I also have to admit that the other part of me feels a bit insecure. I don't exactly know where I'm supposed to be.
I guess this applies to my situation at church, too. Many friendships change when you've been gone for a while. People sometimes don't know how to relate to you anymore. It's a really strange feeling. And I guess I'm not used to it. It used to be that I'd have to worry over choosing which group of friends to hang out with. Now I feel like I don't really have that many true friends left. I used to think that numbers didn't matter to me, but maybe it really did and I was just kidding myself.
Maybe I just need to get out of myself and stop this pity-party, huh?
One cool thing about today is that I got to help out with worship this morning at church. It's been two years since I've played with Danette and it's probably been about that long since I've played keyboard in a worship setting anywhere in the world. To be honest, I couldn't really hear the keyboard through the monitor so I could have been playing in a totally different key the whole time and I wouldn't have known, but I think it was ok. :) And I really really enjoyed it. So thanks Dan, Hubert, Jesse, Roo, and Hannah. And thanks, God.
Does being 30-years-old warrant the right to have a mid-life crisis? I guess that all depends on one's lifespan, huh? Maybe I'm just PMS'g. Who knows when it's coming anyway. (Sorry, guys.) Maybe I'm just having a rough time transitioning back to life in the States as I try to find where my "place" is....Maybe it's a combination of all of these things.
Maybe I'm just going crazy. I've had so many "I-don't-know-where-I-belong" moments since I've been back this summer and these have heightened since I decided to stay in the States for a tour or two. Ironically, one reason I wanted to stay in the States this tour was because I felt it was a "safer" place for me to be as the Lord did some healing in my life. But it's turned out to be a crazy last two weeks.
It's been a strange transitioning time for me. I still have some very good friends in the ministry here but it's different. We all have different circles. Some are married now, others have made new friends that have not been so welcoming to me. And part of me loves not having a "clique" but I also have to admit that the other part of me feels a bit insecure. I don't exactly know where I'm supposed to be.
I guess this applies to my situation at church, too. Many friendships change when you've been gone for a while. People sometimes don't know how to relate to you anymore. It's a really strange feeling. And I guess I'm not used to it. It used to be that I'd have to worry over choosing which group of friends to hang out with. Now I feel like I don't really have that many true friends left. I used to think that numbers didn't matter to me, but maybe it really did and I was just kidding myself.
Maybe I just need to get out of myself and stop this pity-party, huh?
One cool thing about today is that I got to help out with worship this morning at church. It's been two years since I've played with Danette and it's probably been about that long since I've played keyboard in a worship setting anywhere in the world. To be honest, I couldn't really hear the keyboard through the monitor so I could have been playing in a totally different key the whole time and I wouldn't have known, but I think it was ok. :) And I really really enjoyed it. So thanks Dan, Hubert, Jesse, Roo, and Hannah. And thanks, God.
