A great day

Today was a busy day - but it was a lot of fun.  

Here is the run down with some pictures and captions interjected.  

To start off, I slept in!  Then had a breakfast of strawberry shortcake.  Next it was off with Meri for a day of adventure.  

First we headed out to Diamand Valley Lake.  It was awesome.  We scouted out the wildflower trail, which we did not take since it was overcast and most of the wild flowers were asleep.  

View from the trail - amazing.

Then we headed back to the car to go check out the rest of the facilities at Diamond Valley Lake.  

Here is an ugly beetle we saw on the way to the car.

We checked out the Aquatic center - a pool, water slide and water play area.

We also checked out the visitor center and got some info on the museum out there - which I must go visit soon....

After that, we went to lunch, Homegoods, and Walmart.  After that it was time to go home!  We were tired...  We put together some cookie dough and took naps....

Annabelle, pretending like she was being a good puppy - b/c in reality she was quite the pest most of the day.  But that is mainly b/c the two other puppies have invaded her space and she isn't a good sharer.  

The result of the cookie dough - we will decorate tomorrow.  

The most exciting part of the day was our attempt to make peeps!  Yes, we got a recipe on-line (gelatin, water and sugar) and created some fun.  They turned out quite a bit smaller than the real things and somewhat deformed, but we got a few cute ones.  AND it was a lot of fun!  

The peeps

Some of our favorites.  

Three peeps running away from the mutant peep!  

A fun weekend

This has been a bit of a busy weekend.  Friday night we celebrated my mom's b-day.  We went to the Spaghetti factory in Fullerton.  Fun area and a great time.  The birthday was a bit belated since my sis was in the hospital on mom's actual day.

Friday night I spent the night in the OC and then got up and went to Avalon bagels with my sis on our way to a tball game.  While there, we ran into an old friend, which was really fun.

Then the t-ball game.  Always a fun thing.  This was Rebecca's game, Rebecca is a six year old who we have known since before birth.  My sis used to nanny for her and I used to work for her mom. 

After t-ball bre and I decided to head down to Costa Mesa to hunt for a Hurley sale.  We found it thanks to her eagle eyes and found some great deals.  I got a pair of nice pants, a shirt and a sweatshirt for 60 bucks.  

After that we raced back home grabbed some lunch and I went to go babysit two of my favorite kids.  After some Wii and backyard play we loaded up and drove the block or so to my parents.  I told Levi that we were picking "something up"  He didn't know who or what, but he was definitely curious.  I told him to keep watching the door.  Finally my bro came out.  Kenny is one of Levi's favorite teachers (probably second only to yours truly).  So, both boys were pretty excited (as was I since it meant another set of hands while at McD's.)  We had a great time at McD's - it was a lot of fun to be together with three of the greatest boys in the world.  After they played on the playground we got some ice cream - it is a great tool to get them out of the play-place.  

After that we dropped the biggest boy off and went back to the house for some mellow cartoons and snuggling time.  

Then I drove back home.  Today was church and then hanging out with the newest roomates - the two puppies we are watching.  Annabelle belongs to my roomates and Darci and Pasita belong to their parents.  

Darci - but she is so darn black that it is hard to make her out...

Annabelle and Pasita 

My good friend... 

Enjoying Ice Cream

Trying to get the icecream off his face - didn't work so well :)

My buddy again, he is an amazing kid and I love watching him grow up!

Frustration

Today was church - I love being at my new church.  It has a great feeling about it.  I love that our pastors are around and always hanging out with people.  I love that there are some amazing parents who really love their kids.  I do get sad/frustrated/worn-out at times.  You see, our children's department is experiencing some growth - at least growth in the amount of children they have - not so much growth in the amount of helpers they have.  I have a model of ministry I believe in - it is some sort of a compilation between the values that were instilled in me at friends and the model children's worker of EGM.  All I know though is that the majority of those values are violated in so many ways during one of the Sunday Mornings that I have at my new church - it kills me!  I want to be able to lead experiential activities, I want the children to go home knowing the main idea of the lesson, not just the story.  (Although I am not even sure that was accomplished today)  I want the children to go home having responded to that real life truth, after a great real life discussion.  None of which were accomplished today.  I want to be safety conscious - to always have two adults in the room and not send children to the bathroom with just one other teacher.  I want to be relational and have the ability to be with the children rather than put out fires.   I want to have fun with the kids and really connect with the parents.  All of these things I want to be able to do.  Yet, with only one of me and 16 kids, those things just can't happen.  In the meant time I will continue to pray that more people will step up to fulfill these important roles in the lives of these amazing kids!

Why am I here?

Have you ever had one of those brief moments that jolts you out of your normally accepted life and puts you immediately into questioning what you are doing and why you are doing it?  I had prayed earlier this week because there is a huge part of me that misses living in Orange county, being with my family, being with my friends, etc.  so I had prayed that God would continue to move in me, showing me what I am doing and why I am here.  

Then tonight, I got a call...  The call made me really question why I am where I am.  I definitely feel as though God has called me to the place I am at.  That somehow this is for His glory and for my healing and sanctification.  He has given me many things out here that I had been longing for, for years.  So, as much as I want to disappear back out to the OC - I know that God is not done with me in this desert.  

I decided I would write out some of the things that I know God has called me to here.  

1.  I love the mission/vision/values of EGM.  I am not sure that I could be more aligned if I had written them myself.

2.  I love what I am doing.  There are many times when it is hard (just like every job) but God has called me to the world, not locally, and I can't deny that.

3.  I love the people I work with.  They have become family.  

4.  I love my church.  I really want to get involved and even more plugged in there.

5.  I know that God isn't calling me out yet.  He has a plan for my life out here that is clearly evident and I know that it is not time to turn-tail and run.  (As much as I would love to do that)

So, I don't know what is in store in a year and a half, for that will be when I am done with the big project I am working on.  There is a part of me I think that will always look for a way back to Orange County-to hope that around that time I get a similar phone call, but for now I am here.  Even then, I pray that God will direct me to be where he wants me to be and that He will grant me the grace to accept whatever place that is.  

Exhaustion

So, Sabrina is finally home.  Which is a great thing, but the bad thing is that they still don't know what is going on.  So, we are just hoping that whatever it was doesn't come back.

On the other side of life, the past few weeks have completely worn out myself and my family.  We (especially my mom, dad, and I) are pretty wiped out.  I can't remember when it was when I felt so exhausted last time.  So, pray that we will all get some rest and recover.  

Day Four part 2

Just talked to my mom, (I left around noon today).  She says that Sabrina is eating well and is doing a lot better, her pain is down.  The dr. came by and said that they are going to observe her overnight and wait to see what to do next.  

I am hoping that she will be fine, but I am also worried that they have not figured out what caused all of this in the first place.  Pray for wisdom for the Dr's and healing for Sabrina - I will update tomorrow once I get word.

Day four

This morning Sabrina had her colonoscopy. The doctor looked hard and took a couple samples just to be sure, but he said everything looked fine. According to the doctors yesterday, the next step is to do exploratory laprascopy. So far we haven't talked to her specialist today to figure out if that is still the case and if yes, when the surgery will be.

Right now she is in pain and sleeping, they had to use a lot of drugs to sedate her, apparently she has a high tolerance to the meds.