Happy Anniversary!

Happy 6th Anniversary Carlotta and Matteo!
What in the world did we do before you joined this family Carla? We love you!

Scout's Big Surgery

Yesterday Scout finally had her surgery to remove the tumor from the tip of her nose. She did awesome! They were in the OR for a little over an hour. When we were called back to the recovery room she was awake and very cuddly! Her nose looks incredible. We are so glad that God allowed this day to go so well! She is quite the trooper. She never cried and actually played all day. Yay Scout!

Skating on Ice...Ho, Ho, Ho or No, No, No

Last night the college kids headed down to Fountain Inn for a night of Ice Skating and carriage rides. I was so excited. I had visions of us all in hats, mittins, scarves, and coats skating around being jolly. Well, that didn't happen! Haha! The "ice" was actually greasy plastic. Now that is some hard stuff to skate on. We were aloud to be on the "ice" for 55 minutes. Three times around the rink and I was out! Haha...and I wasn't the first one to take my skates off! So after we all got the plastic shavings off of our tank tops (because it was a balmy 70 degrees outside), we took a carriage ride. Now that was a lot of fun. The students saved a front row seat for me....right behind the horse...how sweet! Seriously, I had no idea how pretty the houses on Main Street in Fountain Inn are decorated for Christmas. Its worth a drive down 385 just to see the houses. Afterwards we headed to Mauldin to see the best decorated house in Greenville county. This place gives Hollywild a run for its money...and its free. All in all we had a really good time, which I think is a reminder to us all that its not what you do, but who you do it with!

Why?

Sometimes this job is frustrating and lonely. That's how I was feeling this morning. And then Colette sent me this video to watch. Wow! What a reminder of one of the reasons I do what I do! You can't see the world and not love the world. You can't see someone come to Christ and not long to see it again and again. You can't see someone grow and not want others to "get it" as well. You can't truly experience God's peace that surpasses all understanding and not long to be in the center of His will. Thank you God for choosing to use me even when I don't deserve it and even sometimes when I don't feel like doing it. Forgive me for taking my opportunities for service for granted.

I think I got it!

Okay, so I told you that I would share my deep spiritual lesson as soon as I figured it out. So here goes. God can do anything. He can take care of any problem. He can take away your deepest fears. These are all lessons that I have learned before, and yet still, when things started to spin out of control, I worried. Why is it that we worry when things are out of our control? That is usually when the good stuff happens! Haha! So here is what happened. On Thursday, David Nabors came out to look at my hot water heater. We saw that the thermocouple was out of alignment with the pilot light and in minutes we were back in business. Sweet! So then I asked him to check out the fireplace while he was there. He relit the pilot light and the fireplace came on. He thinks there was just some dust over the line. Awesome! So on Saturday, I go to Lowe's again to see about the mailbox. As I am looking at one of them, I realize that I can take it apart and use the parts to fix what is broken on mine. So I pick up the cheapest one they have ($6) and head home. Yay! Finally, I shipped my computer off to Apple (at their expense). They sent me a new one for free. So all in all....all problems solved for $6. God is so good!

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Have you ever seen this book? It's a great little book. I always enjoyed reading it to my 1st graders when I taught school. However, yesterday I really felt sorry for poor ole Alexander, because Angela had a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day! It wasn't a day like say "Wednesday". It was day, as in 24 hours of misery. It all started Tuesday evening when I got home from work. My foot was killing me, because I had tripped over a rock and bumped it up pretty good. I limped out to the mailbox to find that it had no door. The mailman, who apparently was also having a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, had riped it off the hinges and busted the latch all in one fell swoop. So off to Lowe's I limp. But Lowe's doesn't sell green mailboxes...which my neighborhood says you have to have. So anyway, Wednesday morning I get up and....no hot water. So being the brave, single girl that I am, I go downstairs in my bathrobe and check out the hot water heater. No pilot light. I go back inside, find a flash light and a lighter and I am off to fix the problem. I read the directions and poof, there is a pilot light, but as soon as I let go of the button, no pilot light. I do this 5 times...just in case there is air in the line...I really read the directions! So I start calling around...mom, dad, David Nabors, Marshall...no one knows what to do. Marshall and David have some ideas, but nothing I can do. So I go back inside. I look and the pilot light for the fireplace is on. I think that's a good sign, so I go over to turn on the fireplace....nothing...except for the smell of gas. This is not good. I call the gas company and she says they can come and take a look for $70. I politely decline, hoping that I will not have to call her back. So off to work I go, I spend all day getting my computer presentation together for the Greenhouse. I have it all set up and ready to go and I go downstairs for dinner. I am only gone about an hour. I go back up to teach and .... my computer is completely dead! Dead as in, it is currently being shipped back to the "mother station" or wherever it is that you ship those sorts of things off to. Now, I am sure that there is a spiritual lesson in all of this for me, but I just haven't found it yet. I'll let you know when I do. What I did learn was that if you see this on your Mac screen...you are in big trouble!As for now, I am just trying not to touch anything too valuable!

Scout and Poppa get'in down

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!Who knew Poppa had so much rhythm...hahaha!

Almost there!

As of today we have given $120,520 towards our missions offering! Yay! Our goal is $165,000 and I just know that we are going to surpass it next Sunday! Thanks for your generosity and for the love you have for people around our world! May many come to Christ because of your sacrifice!

MySpace and YouTube

Well, as most of you know we are gearing up for Session 2 of The Greenhouse. This session I am going to be teaching a class for parents about MySpace and internet safety. So I have been reading several books and polishing up my MySpace skills. Well, I am more of a Facebook girl myself, so I had to figure out how to make my MySpace page look a little "cooler." Haha! One of the things you can do on MySpace is add videos from YouTube onto your page. So I started looking for a video and came across some footage of my favorite comedian, Brian Regan. This guy is hilarious. Two years ago some friends and I made a trip down to Orlando to see him and laughed ourselves silly! So I came across one of his acts and it cracked me up! Hope you enjoy it as much as I did! It kind of reminds me of my dad's dream of having "3rd Man to Walk on the Moon" carved into his gravestone. Haha! Check it out below!

Brian Regan - I Walked on the Moon!

Innovate 2007

Last week Colette, Carla, and I had the incredible opportunity of attending the Innovate conference at Granger Community Church. It was by far the greatest conference that I have ever been to! It was so refreshing! All of the speakers left me with something that I needed to hear, for our church and for myself personally! It was also great to hang out with the girls...(wmb...hahaha!) You can hear (and see) all of the things that happened at the conference at www.wiredchurches.com/site/Innovate07_summary.html. Scroll down about halfway to wear it says "Watch Innovate Sessions." My favorite speaker was Guy Kawasaki. He was phenomenal! If you click on his talk and just want to hear his presentation, fast forward to 26 minutes into the session. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! Whatever it is that you do....be innovative!

Just for laughs!

Well, actually it is just for Staci, because she has been complaining about my lack of blogging...haha! But, as those of you who know me know, I can almost always come up with a funny story about something that has happened in my life. So here goes... This past Saturday I went shopping for a pair of red shoes to wear with a black and white dress that I have had for a while. I wear this dress about every other Sunday and just wanted to add a little color to the outfit...haha! So anyway, I am at Off Broadway trying to pick out a pair of shoes. It is, by the way, really hard to find red shoes that don't look, how should I say it, a little well....ummm...inappropriate. Haha! So I am in the clearance section and I see a pair of red wedges.


I have always wanted to try a pair of wedges, because I think they look so cute. So here I am in the middle of the aisle and I take one shoe off and put one of the wedges on. Left foot...several inches off of the ground in a wedge. Right foot....very close to the ground in a flip flop. Suddenly, entire body sprawled out on the floor. I completely lost my balance and twisted my ankle, my wrist, and hit my back on the floor...hard! There was absolutely nothing dainty or graceful about it!


There was a man stocking the shelves and he was going crazy asking if I was okay...I think he was probably just trying not to laugh. Haha! Needless to say, I did not, nor will I ever, buy the wedges! So how was that Staci?

The Verdict Is In!!!!

Well, as many of you know, there has been a text message war going on between many of the friends over a VERY important topic. My hair....bwahahaha. Well, the final vote came down like this:
4 votes pixie
5 votes bob
2 votes....what in the world is a pixie
1 vote....don't do anything (come on...you guys know me...as if that was an option)

So..... since it was soooo close....I decided on a compromise...a mullet!


Bwahahaha! Just kidding! I did decide on something...well different. Since you guys couldn't decide, I decided to let Sunshine, the girl who cut my hair, help me decide. This is what we came up with:




This is my favorite picture....hahaha...it totally looks staged and yet it was just me taking a picture and then hearing something that caught my attention on the tv right before the picture took! Haha!

Formal Nite Out 2007

Well, we did it again... completely humiliated ourselves in public! But we sure had fun doing it. I think this was our 6th Formal Nite Out.... and may have been the most fun! First, Cindy (my secretary) and I spent all day Thursday turning our church bus into a party van. Haha! Trust me, you can do all kinds of fun stuff with faux leather, feather boas, and Christmas lights. Haha! So the first big surprise of the night was that we were all riding together (a first for FNO) and then second...that it was in a party van...haha!


Our first stop, another first for FNO, a first class dinner at Candleberry Inn, a local B&B.



And then the karaoke machine came out....and Jason and Staci weren't even there...what's up with that?




Even I couldn't resist belting out a little James Brown, awwww...hit me!

Next stop, Frankie's Fun Park!





And for the grand finale...well since we went classy for dinner did you really think that we would end up at the Melting Pot again...I hope not..

.
That's right...SONIC!


Not sure what I am being accused of, but I am pretty sure I didn't do it! Haha!



Don't miss out next year! It was incredible!

New Orleans

A week after we returned from Uganda, I headed to New Orleans with another team. We had a great time and a great team. It was my first time to see the city since Katrina. It is unbelievable how much there still is to do. I don't think you can truly understand what it is like until you see it in person.


I loved meeting the people there. We worked with several families, but I worked most closely with the Bartholomew family. What a lovely couple and an incredibly close family! We painted their house (and yes, I spent most of the week on a ladder...a personal fear feat! Haha!)


The guys spent most of their time with two other families. They installed windows and I think they "tried" to install some doors...just kidding guys. They did a great job!


Our first day on the job, we worked with the City Park and a great lady named Lisa. Zack, one of our partner church's members, came and worked with us. He is hilarious and made the work go so much faster. We helped organize Christmas lights for a city production, kind of like Roper Mountain. Then we did some yard work around the park.






Zack (on the mound)


That afternoon we went to Friendship House, a NAMB women and children's home. We helped sort clothes and some of the guys did a little electrical work. I was excited about this part of the week, because my friends Kay and Karina run Friendship House.



Karina, my seminary roommate, and I. Can you tell who has been shoveling mulch? Haha!


Our second day, we started the work on the houses.

The house on the right, behind the FEMA trailer, was the house that we painted.

This house is one of the ones that the guys worked on.












Okay, so I wasn't on a ladder the WHOLE time...haha!

We partnered with a new church plant called Sojourn and worked through NAMB's Operation NOAH. We spent most of the week working with Travis, one of the teaching pastors at Sojourn, and Jenny, an intern with Sojourn. We fell in love with both of them and were so impressed with their hearts for the people.


Travis


Jenny


Our last night, when Travis and Jenny took us out on the town....and we missed curfew...oh my! Bwahahaha!

We ended this trip in classic BCBC fashion...flat tire...haha...but God protected us and we got home safe and sound.

Pretty good blog for a kid who never got her camera out, huh?