Please Pray

It's been a strange evening... after going for a run to get out my frustrations over my Clemson Tigers losing the Music City bowl game to Kentucky I came home to hopefully watch the Gamecocks lose their bowl game. No such luck. So, while keeping the tv on ESPN I dove back into the 5th Harry Potter book that I am reading for the third or fourth time.

Somewhere in the midst of that I decide to check CNN.com to see what's going on in the world. Immediately I was reminded that Saddam Hussein was hanged tonight. That was around 10pm, which was about the time it actually happened (6am in Iraq). Needless to say, my mood and mindset changed as soon as I saw the news. Not too long after, a friend texted to remind me to pray for our troops, including her brother and sister-in-law as there will be celebrating AND riots in Iraq today.

The thing that gets me is that it seems that people like Saddam and Castro should only be people I read about in history books... not people that are on today's news. Go figure that with all of our "progress" and technology and everything we have "learned from history" that we still have people like them out there today.

PLEASE say a prayer for all the troops (regardless of what country they are serving), for the Iraqi civilians and all news crews. Most importantly pray that God will make Himself known during all of this and that He will be glorified... regardless of whether we understand what He is doing or not.

205 Olympics

Well, it was more of a track meet than the Olympics, but that is beside the point. You are probably wondering how we began the track meet this evening at 205, but I am also wondering the same thing. All I know is that one minute I was sitting on the couch watching ESPN and the next minute Robert and Lindsay are home from the Clemson basketball game and I'm on the floor trying to determine who can jump the highest. We are pretty sure Lindsay won that event.
Next came the long jump. Yes, we had the long jump in our hallway! Since only 1/3 of us even participated in track back in the day, Lindsay was the one who jumped the furthest. Although, I came pretty close! The funniest part was when Robert took his turn in the standing long jump... when he landed, he fell into the wall and we all laughed because it would have been really funny had his elbow gone through the wall! But, it didn't. So, there will be no trips to Home Depot this weekend.
There was talk of finding soft things to jump onto from the upstairs in the foyer... but we determined that we didn't have anything adequate enough. So we thought about jumping from the railing on the deck onto the grass to practice since there is a little less distance and the ground is softer than the laminated floor in the foyer.

The closing ceremonies will probably take place tomorrow evening. Please let me know if you would like to attend and I will email a (free) ticket to you!

There was no alcohol involved in this evening's activites...
believe it or not.

Yay!!

Not only did I get to see my nephew last night, but I got some one-on-one time with him while his mom went to get pizza for dinner. Every time I see him I am amazed at what a great kid he is. He's definitely my favorite 7 year old on the planet! We played his little pool game he got, watched a little tv and played some video games (ok, so I watched him play video games). With this pool game that he got, he could play pool, soccer, basketball or target shooting. We set up the target shooting and he had to fire the small ball off and towards the targets, which was some card stock folded and sitting there with 9 holes in it. He got various points for getting the ball through the different holes. The thing that blew my mind away was that he added all of his points up in his head! He's 7!! Granted it was like 100+20+50+30+... but still. His mom told me that he's at the top of his class, that his report card is always good and that she and his teacher were really impressed with his standardized test scores. Wow!

He told me at one point that his dad (step-dad actually) told him he was stupid. Um... negative. I told him he was the furthest thing from stupid and that I personally considered him a genious. Not that I'm biased at all... :)

As I was leaving, his mom told me to give me a hug and it was such a great hug that I made him give me another one :) I told him I loved him, he said he loved me too and I left. The first place I stopped was at Walgreens to get the Star Wars Gen. Grevious that he said he wanted for Christmas. I told him that if I didn't see him before Christmas then I would definitely get his gift to him before 2007.

There are many times I leave there extrememly frustrated or times that I don't get to see him for months at a time. But, last night was all I needed for Christmas from him. He told me about The Hangar at church (they go to First Baptist from time to time) and was telling me a little about God when we were looking at the globe I gave him last year. I know that he isn't being completely shut off from the Gospel but I don't know how much of it he's hearing. But, I have hope. God is far from done with him and his family!

Weekend at the Cabin

You know the weekend was fun when...

...there is an incriminating picture of John in the hot tub

...Jill almost caught a diaper on fire in the microwave

...Wes was really excited about figuring out just what was in those diapers during the shower

...we were sad when the Hillbilly putt-putt golf was closed

...we almost got a picture of 13.5 of us at Old Timey Pho-tos

...all of the noise in the house stopped when the steaks were ready

...all the noise started back once Nurts was in full swing!

...we got Josh on video doing a running man impression during a round of Cranium

...Allen survived not only meeting all of us at once but survived the entire weekend!

...we're already planning to go back next year for a 3 day weekend!

I love my girls!!

(but we really missed Leslie (&Philip) and Brooke!)

Thankful for Christmas

I LOVE Thanksgiving and Christmas. You have an excuse to eat lots of good food, you get to be with your family (hopefully) and of course, it's time to prepare for the birth of our Savior.
How amazing sweet is that?

Thanksgiving lunch at my aunt's house. I think there were about 20 of us total!

My cousin, Karlin... she's so cute.

And another cousin, Alejandro. Don't you love that smile??

We finally got the (topless) tree at 205 decorated! Ain't it purty? :)

There is so much to look forward to at this time of year. It's amazing that we (in the states) get to begin the "holidays" with a day of being thankful. I just pray that this Christmas season will touch you like never before, that you will be able to see Christ as the Savior he came to earth to be.
It was an amazing miracle and he IS an amazing Lord.

TGI Fridays, Squatty Potties and a Little Basketball

It's amazing how much American food you will eat when you are out of the country! We ate at TGI Friday's twice and McD's twice. I think the last time I ate at Friday's was when I was living in Atlanta! And I may eat at McD's once a year. Actually, I think the last time I visited McD's was while I was going through Germany to and from South Africa. It makes me laugh!

Now, I've used squatty potties before. I know they exist and I'm not afraid to use them... unless of course the door doesn't really lock and the only light in the water closet is busted! However, after walking about for a bit and trying to figure out what I was going to do, I realized I didn't have a choice and decided to chance it! Luckily, after stepping outside to make sure the coast was clear, I saw Sasha and told him there was only one. So he said, "It's ok, you are safe!" You will be happy to hear that "Operation Squatty Potty" was a success :) haha!

The gym we were in for our conference on Tuesday was amazing. Although it was REALLY cold! Everything went well and the people we met in the Ukraine were very interested in what we had to tell them about Upward. We are at the very beginning stages, but who knows... Upward Ukraine may become a reality! We'll just have to see what all God has in store.

Orthodox churches are all over the place.

As are statues!!

It was a really good trip. It was odd being in Eastern Europe this time... many things were very familiar because it was Europe. But there are a lot of differences because it's in the east and still has a good bit of Russian influence. I'm thankful that God is allowing me to see different parts of the world and meet people in other cultures... and that's my job! It's amazing. He's amazing. And I'm so grateful for all that He is doing around the world and right here in Greenville. I love it!

I'm in the Ukraine!

First of all.... we made it safely.
Second of all... it's FREEZING.
But third of all... it snowed some today! So at least there was a reason for me being so cold :)

So far, I love it. But to be honest, there aren't many places that I've gone in the world and not loved. We haven't met too many people b/c we only got here about 24 hours ago, but our hosts are amazing and have been wonderful. We went to a market today and loaded up on fun souvenirs and headed to a church service. We ended up leaving part of the way through, but our hosts mainly wanted us to just see one example of a worship service. He actually helped plant that church and aparently it has declined in the last few years with their worship attendance. But he said that their small groups are going strong... a bit odd to me, but he said the church leadership isn't worried about it. If he were still there, he'd be worried, but he has helped start another church in the past 5 years that seems to be going really well. They meet on Saturday afternoon though and our flight didn't arrive until after it was over.

We start our Upward conference tomorrow and from what we've heard, many people are very excited about it. So, be praying for us and the people in Ukraine as they hear about what God has done through sports in the US and other parts of the world. Pray that they will be able to help us understand what it would take to help them use sports ministry here!

the FAITHFUL life

"...being a child of God isn’t about the easy life… it’s about the FAITHFUL life."

That's what I found my fingers typing on Natalie's blog this morning in response to what she's been struggling with (read it). I've always known that the life of a Christian wasn't easy. The Bible tells us as much! But every once in a while I find myself expecting things to always go my way or trying to rest in the fact that "my plans" are going to work out.

In talking with Natalie about what she is going to do when her little girl comes I've realized that I have absolutely no clue what my future looks like. In 11th grade I remember standing in the AP Chemistry lab talking to my lab partners/friends about how my life was going to work out. I was going to go to the Naval Academy, get a degree in engineering, apply to NASA and become an astronaut. Simple, right? Sure! NOT how God works. Unfortunately I had to learn that lesson a couple of times the hard way.

Of course I know what I would like to do and what I believe God is calling me to do, but I don't know for sure. All that I do know is that He is faithful beyond my imagination. His plans are to prosper me, NOT to harm me. He is in the process of reminding me of that and I'm thankful. I try to look at life with an attitude of excitement... I mean, it's better than a movie because you have NO IDEA what God is going to do!! Most of the time I'm just laughing at myself because who would have thought Miss "I'm going to be an astronaut and no one can stop me" would end up getting her FRENCH degree from CLEMSON to then go live in Belgium and come home to SPARTANBURG, SC (of all places...) to work with a ministry that I love and adore? If anyone would like to stand up and tell me that God doesn't have a sense of humor after hearing about my life, then forget it, because I'll just tell you to sit back down :)

Since I didn't know where I was going to be or what I was going to be doing 3 years ago when I graduated from Clemson, what makes me think that I know what even the next year holds?? I'm excited about it. I know that God isn't going to drop me and leave me. There are times when I try and do it with Him, but He is always there waiting (patiently, I might add) when I go sprinting back to Him. If only WE had that much faith in HIM. Wow. I wish I could get to that point and really see what God fully has in store for me.

Trunk-or-Treat!

This was part of my small group working on our crayon costumes: Sara, Marsha, Alicia and Nicky.

The finished product! We had an awesome box of crayons!

Emily, Court and Chris McGowan
(Pirates... not sure if they were of the Caribbean or not)

Erin and Mac McArthur
(Glenda the Good Witch and The Wizard of Oz)

Late 20s

This is the view from the second floor balcony at my office. How amazing is that? Not too bad for a birthday morning, huh?

So apparently, some people think that 27 is still your mid-twenties, which I'm completely fine with, but I had convinced myself that it was OK to be hitting my late twenties today and I don't know that I can revert back at the drop of a conversation. Oh well... God has done some amazing things these past 27 years and I am SO thankful for His GREATness. All in all, I don't think it really matters what "age" we are... God doesn't work on our timetable anyway. Besides, to be honest, I've enjoyed getting older... (notice I didn't say "growing up." haha!) I wouldn't be able to appreciate life if I stayed the same age for eternity. This adventure of life is much more exciting when you have age and experiences under your belt.