Monday, July 28, 2008
Happy Birthday to Us!
Tuesday (July 22nd) was my mom's birthday as well as mine. Yep, I was her most painful gift ever! (Not to mention expensive and high maintenance...) I've always loved sharing a birthday w/her. There's a special unbreakable bond there. And I just think she's fantastic! :)
Happy Birthday July friends -- Hannah, Liz, Eunice, Emily, Sharon, Ricky, Nathan, Reuben, Charice, Christina (M. Tanner)... ! Sorry if I've missed some...
Off to Retreat ...
We'll be off in a bit to our Covenant Players Retreat today! We'll be away until Friday and I'm looking forward to it! It's my first summer here that I'm not involved in the directing/producing end of the retreat plays we have planned. So I'll have a bit more free time than usual. And although there's a little part of me that's disappointed not to be involved in one of the Retreat plays, I'm definitely looking foward to having a bit more free time.
Tuesday (July 22nd) was my mom's birthday as well as mine. Yep, I was her most painful gift ever! (Not to mention expensive and high maintenance...) I've always loved sharing a birthday w/her. There's a special unbreakable bond there. And I just think she's fantastic! :)
Happy Birthday July friends -- Hannah, Liz, Eunice, Emily, Sharon, Ricky, Nathan, Reuben, Charice, Christina (M. Tanner)... ! Sorry if I've missed some...
Off to Retreat ...
We'll be off in a bit to our Covenant Players Retreat today! We'll be away until Friday and I'm looking forward to it! It's my first summer here that I'm not involved in the directing/producing end of the retreat plays we have planned. So I'll have a bit more free time than usual. And although there's a little part of me that's disappointed not to be involved in one of the Retreat plays, I'm definitely looking foward to having a bit more free time.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Saying bye to our supervisors...
It's been a heart-wrenching day -- a heart-wrenching week, really. First, we said bye to Valerie, a Covenant Player who'll be joining our units in South America. We "sent her off" tearfully on Tuesday night only to hear that because of a huge accident on the autobahn, she missed her flight the next day. So she's back with us and even though we're happy to see her, we know she really should be in South America and we're believing in a miracle -- that she'll get there before the 8th of August (which is when her flight has been rescheduled to). That Tuesday evening, almost everyone was in tears as Valerie spoke personal words of truth and affirmation for each person publicly at the end of our showcase evening. What a gift it is to be able to see the best in each person and point that out to them and to the body.
Pam & Bart (who'd officially stepped down from the positions on Monday in order to aid the transition of our new supervisors, Joe & Karin) said goodbye to us at the end of our picnic today and that really killed me inside. Even though I know that God's called Joe and Karin here and I think they're incredible people and I'm quite fond of them, I still find it to be extremely difficult to release Bart and Pam. They've not only been wonderful and Godly leaders and examples to us, but they've also grown to be dear friends I trust deeply. It's so hard to say goodbye to people you love even when you know the time is right.
On a more cheerful note...
To my loving and thoughtful and very precious big sister: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SHARON!!! I love you very much and I'm so glad God gave me you as my big sister. I wouldn't have it any other way!!! :) Have a good day and as Aaron used to love to say: "CE-LE-BRAAAAATE!!!"
It's been a heart-wrenching day -- a heart-wrenching week, really. First, we said bye to Valerie, a Covenant Player who'll be joining our units in South America. We "sent her off" tearfully on Tuesday night only to hear that because of a huge accident on the autobahn, she missed her flight the next day. So she's back with us and even though we're happy to see her, we know she really should be in South America and we're believing in a miracle -- that she'll get there before the 8th of August (which is when her flight has been rescheduled to). That Tuesday evening, almost everyone was in tears as Valerie spoke personal words of truth and affirmation for each person publicly at the end of our showcase evening. What a gift it is to be able to see the best in each person and point that out to them and to the body.
Pam & Bart (who'd officially stepped down from the positions on Monday in order to aid the transition of our new supervisors, Joe & Karin) said goodbye to us at the end of our picnic today and that really killed me inside. Even though I know that God's called Joe and Karin here and I think they're incredible people and I'm quite fond of them, I still find it to be extremely difficult to release Bart and Pam. They've not only been wonderful and Godly leaders and examples to us, but they've also grown to be dear friends I trust deeply. It's so hard to say goodbye to people you love even when you know the time is right.
On a more cheerful note...
To my loving and thoughtful and very precious big sister: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SHARON!!! I love you very much and I'm so glad God gave me you as my big sister. I wouldn't have it any other way!!! :) Have a good day and as Aaron used to love to say: "CE-LE-BRAAAAATE!!!"
Saturday, July 05, 2008
a few pics from back home...
well here's a couple highlights from home. i was hoping to put more up but i haven't downloaded them from my camera yet and i don't have it with me at the moment.
1) breakfast my way... my first breakfast back home: rice plus leftover chinese food ("char siu" -- barbecue pork and also, sauteed green beans with garlic and pork). Plus, tropical juice and coffee (for my Western side). Yum!
2) seeing my niece who just turned one! happy belated birthday, kk!
3) a get together with several of my cousins on my mom's side --including my cousin torbert who i haven't seen for several years. (we couldn't even figure out when the last time we saw each other was.) there's a picture of him with my sister
4) my nephew who's now 4 1/2 and has a purple belt in karate! (i'll have to show those pictures some time!) as you can see, he's quite a character. cracks me up. uh, maybe 'cause he kind of reminds me of myself. :)
that's all the pictures for now. more to come!
i'm back in germany now and at the moment, i'm sitting in the car prep'ing this blog so that when i finally have a chance to send it, i will! tonight we're having kind of a farewell/appreciation party for our European supervisors, Pam & Bart. while i'm sure it'll be a lot of fun, it's also gonna be kinda hard. we, Covenant players on the European campus love them so much and they've invested a great deal in each of us, personally. they've been wonderful models to me and i'll miss them.
