Ready to have fun :) October 27, 2009

I love to have fun!! Halloween will be here in just a few days so I thought I would share some of the fun games I’ve played…yes, I do realize how old I am These are fun with large groups, small groups or just with your own kids…and if you’re an adult who still has that fun spirit, you may want to try them just to be sure the kids are doing it right, of course

Find the eyeballs – This was a huge hit and it’s very simple. You make lots of oatmeal and put it in a big bowl then place gummy eyeballs throughout it with a few on the top for fun. Then have the kids / adults place their hands behind their back and using only their face they have to find an eyeball. I have to say this is my favorite. Be sure you provide plastic bags to cover clothing

Costume scavenger hunt and contest – This was also very fun and both kids and adults loved it. You will want teams of 2 – 5 for this. Buy a variety of costume parts like hats, capes, noses as well as things like toilet paper, slime, tape, etc. Be creative. Take all the hats, all the TP, all the slime, etc. and place them in bags or baskets and hide them in separate places. Have the kids / adults go on a hunt (using clues makes it fun and you place a clue with each item for folks to find the next item) and find one of each item on their list. Then once everyone returns with all their items they chose one person on the team to be the person that’s going to get dressed up. The teams will then take all the items they have collected and dress that person as whatever they want and the most creative wins

Bobbing for apples with a slight twist – Kids always love bobbing for apples. To make it more fun take a couple of the apples and cut a small hole in it then add a gummy worm. The kid who gets the apple with the worm wins.

Guess the body part – This is the classic guess the food but each food is a body part. You can use plastic bags or bowls covered by towels. You decide what food is what body part. It’s fun to tell a spooky story about how the body parts ended up in bowls Have kids / adults put their hands in the bowl and try to guess which body part is in there.

Simple haunted tunnel / mini house – You can use a pop up tent with butcher paper, chairs and black fabric or large cardboard boxes to make the tunnel / mini-house. You just place red slime, spider webs, fake bugs, etc. throughout the tunnel…you need to make sure guest go through on their knees and that the room is pitch black. It’s more of a feeling gross things than seeing scary things. It’s really fun and simple. You also want to have a scary sounds CD or a person helping with strange noises

Pumpkin gut penny hunt – Very simple but fun. Take a few pumpkins uncleaned and fill them with pennies, nickels and dimes. Blindfold the finder and they get 30 seconds to go through the pumpkin guts and find a penny. Once the game is over you can have a carving contest with the pumpkins

Thanks for reading my brain splatter and Happy Halloween

What was I thinking October 21, 2009

Yes, I’m sure you’ve wondered the same thing many times…probably not as often as I have though Really, this could be about a number of things. I was talking with an old friend about the days of dating. I was a very picky dater. As I look back, ridiculously picky for a time. A guy had to have a certain eye color and hands were important along with a few other things. Spunk and vibrant personality were very important. Those were fun times, sometimes anyway. Come to think of it I ended up becoming very close to some of the guys I went on dates with. You just enjoy being with the person but you realize a dating relationship isn’t gonna work. Over time you have moments where you wonder but then you realize a friendship will be lost and you come back to your senses I thought I would splatter some of the fun I had on those dates here for the world to see.

The first one I’m going to share had to be close to the WORST date ever!! Although there are a few close seconds. I was a pretty picky dater so I didn’t do a lot of blind dates or referrals from friends but there were a couple times. This was one of those times. My friend told me I had to meet this guy. She told me he was all that and a bag of chips Reluctantly I agreed. We all planned to meet at her house. She was dating someone. I get there and he’s alright. He seems nice enough so we continue with the evening. We’re ready to go to dinner. The drive seems pleasant enough. We get to dinner and start chatting a bit more. We’re all discussing things coming up, plans and the discussion is a first date surface conversation. So far pretty average. I liked guys with some spunk and he had none. We go the movies. He oversteps his boundries…ALOT!! I suggested he keep all parts in his seat. We finish the movie and as we’re leaving he says I’m the girl he’s going to marry and we needed to plan our next date…ummm, this was a first date and the first time we had ever met. Where in the world did that come from. He continued this through the rest of the evening…going on and on about how I was the one and our date was fate and blah, blah, blah. This guy was planning a wedding date. He wanted to spend everyday together. Needless to say that was the only date. I had no desire to marry anyone nor did I have time to spend everyday with anyone so there was definitely a conflict of interest

The next date. I love Disneyland so I have always gone frequently. I was there one night with a good friend and as we were walking to the car we were approached by two guys. My friend was completely into one of them and really wanted to go out with him. He said I had to go out with his friend and it had to be a double date…that’s a bad sign right there. She was one of my very good friends so I agreed to go. I did require that we meet them somewhere. We met at Knotts Berry Farm. We had chatted with them a few times on the phone and they seemed like pretty nice guys. The first 20 minutes went alright. Then they asked if we went to church and we both did. I am not uptight by any stretch of the imagination and I was even less so then. They joked around and that was fine then they went into a 30 minute long mocking session of all religions. It was bad and the night had just begun. We both told them it was a bit much. We continued the night and she was snuggling up to her boy but I was not interested in the guy I was with. His eyes, hands, lack of personality and overall rude behavior just turned me off. Still, I was doing this for her and she was having fun so I put on a smile and was nice. After spending about 6 hours with these guys I was ready to call it a night. It was 1am. They insisted that we get food. I did not want to but she was in love or lust or whatever it was. We went. It was about 1:30am so there were not a lot of waitresses and there were lots of customers. I had been a waitress so I completely understand that it was taking awhile for someone to get to us. We had drinks so it wasn’t like we were being neglected. The guy I was so fortunate as to be hooked up with gets us, goes into the kitchen / serving area of the restaurant, and starts going off on the waitresses. I wanted to climb under the table. Even his friend was a bit embarrassed. The night finally ended about 3:00am. My friend and her boy were kissing goodnight so the guy I was with thought he should get the same because he paid for pie. He tried, he failed, he stomped off into the night…thank goodness for small favors

I will end with one of the most fun dates I ever went on. He had come to the restaurant where I waitressed and I immediately liked him. I had this drink that I made to stay awake during late night shifts. I would drink this concoction and eat pickles and chocolate. I was the only one. It was late at night and he had come in with friends. I went to his table to take his order and he had seen me drinking and eating and asked what. I told him. He said I’ll have that. I thought he was kidding but I brought it to him. He drank the entire drink and ate the pickles and chocolate. Pretty impressive. He chatted with me for a bit and he was very funny. He then asked if I’d like to go out. Of course, I said sure. We set up a time and he picked me up for dinner. He was hilarious at dinner. He was doing all kinds of goofy things that other people were looking at and saying I never but I was thinking this guy has spunk and lots of it!! We left the restaurant and had shopping cart races…it was awesome!! Then we went back to my house, watched movies and had a huge pillow fight. It was fun. I went out with him for awhile.

There was one guy I never dated but always had a great time with. He had the coolest off road truck you’ve ever seen. He let me drive it…if you’ve ever seen me drive you’ll understand that was very brave. We would talk for hours. He stopped speaking to me when I got engaged and that’s when I realized.

I have been married now for 10 years and we dated for 3 years before we got married but it’s fun to think back on those years of dating craziness.

Thanks for reading my brain splatter and if you have a dating story, good or bad, I’d love to hear it

Don’t turn a blind eye October 15, 2009

I am very moved by music as I’ve said in the past. Today I’d like to hit a topic that most people turn a blind eye too. I do get very passionate as I speak…just so you know. I will end this post with lyrics to several songs. There are links to each song. Please be warned that some of the images are graphic images of abuse.

We so often turn a blind eye to women, men and children who are suffering at the hands of abusers. Why? I got into a car accident a time ago and ended up with quite a goose egg and a black eye that went from corner to corner and a cut. I had lots of other bumps and bruises as well but they were covered by my clothes. Many knew what had happened but many didn’t. One woman in particular had been talking to me for about 5 minutes and kept looking at my head. She never once asked what happened. Eventually, to ease her mind I lightheartedly said “I got in a car accident and my head hit pretty hard on the steering wheel…it won.” Her response was “Oh, I was wondering but I was afraid to ask because you never know these days. I thought it might be abuse.”

Ok…so my first thought is you see an injury like that and suspect it might be abuse should your first response be let me turn the other way and ignore it? How selfish is it to suspect someone is suffering and to be so selfish that you’re willing to let that person continue suffering so you don’t have to get in the middle. Step up people!!!

I know you wonder why they don’t leave in the case of an adult…well with the consent of a few ladies I’ve talked with I can tell you. There are a couple of thought patterns that occur here. The first is the fear of leaving is greater than the fear of staying. The thought pattern is “If I stay he may give me a black eye but if I leave he’ll kill me”. The second is a sense of worthlessness, inability. I can’t survive without him / her. The third is unfounded hope. He / She apologized so it’s going to get better, he / she won’t do it again. The fourth is excuses. It’s because of the drinking or the drugs. The fifth is a feeling of guilt. If only I didn’t then he / she wouldn’t.

NONSENSE!!! It’s not anyones fault but the abuser. No one makes them drink, do drugs, hit, berate, critisize but themselves.

Many people also make the mistake that abuse is only physical…it’s not. Everyone argues and says mean things on occasion. If someone is belittling you daily that’s not ok!!

This is a difficult subject but how can someone live with themselves knowing someone died because they didn’t want to get in the middle of it. Could you?

Here are some red flags to look out for when considering dating:

1. Extreme jealousy. Let me define. This person is jealous when you spend time with family, friends, and always needs to know where you are. They don’t want you to work for fear you’ll meet someone else or they call several times a day to check up on you. That’s not love.

2. Controlling Behavior and Isolations. There is a big difference between concern and control. If someone is telling you how to spend your money, who you may and may not socialize with, what you can and can not wear, what places you can and can not go…that’s controlling. If someone is trying to say that your friends only cause trouble and you need to be away from your family…HUGE RED FLAG…RUN!!!

3. Quick request for commitment. Relationships take natural courses. I do believe in love at first sight but you still need to take time to get to know the person. If someone is pressuring you to move in, get engaged, or take it a step further than your ready to do that’s a red flag. Take time to get to know someone if they are not ok with that then there is a problem.

4.Unreal expectations. It is not your responsibility to make someone else whole. If someone is telling you that you are ALL they need to be whole that’s a huge red flag. Suddenly when you do not meet their unreal expectations they will punish you for their shortcomings.

5. Shifting the Blame and Overly sensitive. Abusive types will NEVER take responsibility for their shortcomings. They lose a job it’s someone else’s fault, they can’t find a job it’s someone else’s fault, they get mad it’s your fault, they’re depressed it’s your fault but if things are going well it’s all because of them. They take ridiculous things like your preference in colors as personal attacks if it varies from their own opinions.

6. Playing out gender roles to an extreme. Male abusers will expect a woman to be completely subservient, attend to ALL his needs at his whim even if the woman is sick or injured and a female abuser will expect the man to be responsible for her well being.

7.Verbal Abuse. There are times we all say mean things. Verbal abuse occurs when the abuser consistently hurls insults in a malicious manner, says you’ll never accomplish your dreams because you’re not good enough. Often, abusers will throw in the occasional compliment to regain your confidence only to tear you down over again.

8. Swift personality changes. Many abusers are in a public light charming, successful, attentive and kind. Once they are alone with you it’s like someone flips a switch and they become a completely different person. If you notice this early on…run!!

9. Alcohol or Substance Abuse. Someone who abuses either will tend toward abuse because of the mind altering affects these have. This will be one you can quickly see. The way most abusers lure their victims is to say that they want to stop and if only someone would believe in them they could change. While there are instances where this is true be on your guard.

10. Threats. These are not always as blatant as you might think. Something as simple as I can’t live without you should raise a red flag. Then, of course, there are more intense threats but it’s the little things that you should be looking for so the bigger threats don’t have a chance to manifest.

11. Restraining you during an argument or breaking things. This is another simple thing to look for. If someone stops you from leaving a room or physically restrains you during an argument that’s a red flag. If they throw things, destroy things that are meaningful to you, shout right in your face or anything like that it’s a red flag.

Let’s talk statistics. 1 in 4 women has experienced domestic violence. 3 in 4 people know someone who is a victim. 1 in 5 highschool girls are in a relationship where they experience domestic violence. 50% of individuals who abuse their spouses abuse their children as well. On average 3 women and 1 man are murdered by their spouses every day. Pregnant and recently pregnant women are more likely to be victims of homicide than to die of any other cause. 3,000,000 cases of child abuse and neglect were reported in this country last year, and 2,000 children died as a result of that abuse.

I won’t just walk away. No one deserves to be treated this way. Next time you think, ask. Put aside your own personal interest and save a life.

There are agencies everywhere that want to help if you are in an abusive situation. There are people who want to help. If you’d like to post your story of survival here or have resources you know to be helpful please do not hesitate
to help someone in need.

Thanks for reading my brain splatter. October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month so get out there and change a life

Here are the songs:

“Dear Mr. Jesus, I just had to write to you, Something really scared me, when I saw it on the news, A story ’bout a little girl beaten black and blue ,Jesus, thought I’d take this right to you” Dear Mr. Jesus by Richard Klender and sung by children. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLAMbJdCqY8

“It’s hard to see the pain behind the mask”, “Somebody cries in the middle of the night, The neighbors hear but they turn out the lights” Martina McBrides song Concrete Angel. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLwwy-g2wkc

He’d break her spirit down, then come lovin’ up on her. give a little, then take it back. She’d tell him about her dreams – he’d just shoot ‘em down. He loved to make her cry…and with a broken wing, she still sings.” Broken Wing by Martina McBride. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLwwy-g2wkc

“Because Alyssa lies to the classroom, Alyssa lies everyday at school, Alyssa lies to the teachers as she tries to cover every bruise” Alyssa Lies by Jason Michael Caroll. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpE73PvU9bk

The importance of positivity :) October 6, 2009

I am fortunate that this comes naturally to me. I love to encourage, edify, inspire, cheer lead. I love to point out the positive, to find the good no matter how bad things are. According to strength finders it’s in my top 5 strengths. Positivity. The world needs more…much more.

We watched a video this morning in which Rob Bell made the statement “you will find what you are looking for.” If you are a pessimist then you will find things to complain about, if you are a cynic then you will find things to be cynical about, etc. If you are like me, an eternal optimist, then there is good all around.

This doesn’t mean that you live in a world where reality does not affect you. Even I have “those” days where a smile escapes me. One of the common misconceptions about those of us with the positivity gene is that we don’t see reality…believe me we do. As I posted previously joy does not come from great circumstances and a perfect life but from somewhere much deeper so circumstances are what they are whether I smile or grouch, right?

Anyway, back to the importance of positivity. Study after study shows how important positive reinforcement is. This applies to all areas of life. So a few thoughts on how:

* Parents take the time to tell your children when they are doing well. Actually spend more time telling them when they are doing things right and give them less attention when they are doing something wrong. That is not to say discipline is not important but if the only time your making a big deal is when they are bad…well. Really notice the good, say thank you, reward good behavior.

*Positivity is important in the work place as well. I mean think about it, when HR calls you in for a meeting do you ever think this is going to be great. No, you probably cower. I believe so strongly in this that I called a meeting and told none why. I’m sure they were stressed because people don’t call meetings for good things. I walked in and spent time just telling them how amazing they were and how important they were in my life. I really think commendations should be more commonplace than reprimands. I think going up to someone and saying great job, thanks for giving extra time, or even just a general compliment is always good. I did a study on workplace retention for a business class I took and the number one reason people leave is lack of positivity. The second most common reason people leave is lack of challenge and third was money. So, be sure to say thank you.

Even when you are dealing with total strangers a kind word can change the course of someones day. The saying that you never know what someone else is going through could not be more true. You never know what your words can do to brighten someones day.

Take the time to make someones day!! Thanks for reading my brain splatter and by the way YOU rock!!

What a sad week :( September 29, 2009

It’s been a tough week Our staff is a family so when one is hurting we all hurt. Please take a moment to read this note written by our lead pastor Mike Goldsworthy…

Painful

by Mike on September 29, 2009

in Church

Painful is the best way to describe it. Yesterday was an incredibly painful day at Parkcrest. This letter was sent out earlier today to everyone on Parkcrest’s email list.
—————

Dear Parkcrest Family,

I am writing this to let you know that yesterday we had to eliminate the positions of 6 of our employees and reduced the hours of 1 of by 50%. This has been one of the hardest decisions that I’ve ever been a part of and I want you to know that it was a decision that was not made easily or quickly.

For some time we have known that we were overstaffed, and our hope was that as we continued to grow that our growth would eventually catch up with our staffing. Unfortunately, while we have continued to grow, the reality of the economy has affected our regular giving.

We have cut ministry budgets, frozen spending at times, delayed projects and done everything possible in order to try and avoid having to take this step. But, it has become necessary for us to cut around $200,000 from our salaries.

This decision was made in consultation with some leaders outside of our church, several of our key staff leaders as well as our Elders. It has been thoroughly processed for some time and everything possible was done in order to avoid it.

As cliche as it might sound, we do believe that God has something better in store for each of these people. We believe in each of them and are taking steps to help them figure out what is next. They have each made significant contributions to the life of Parkcrest and we believe that they will make significant contributions with whatever God has for each of them next.

I want you to know, however, that this does not stop us from moving forward as a church. The church is not dependent on any one staff member, but on the movement of God working through his people. This year alone we’ve already seen record numbers of people being baptized and coming to faith. A week does not go by without someone saying to me, “God is doing something huge at Parkcrest right now.”

And so while this decision is incredibly painful and it hurts to see our friends lose their jobs, we know that God’s mission must continue to move forward through Parkcrest. This then becomes an opportunity for us to all step up. I want to challenge you to consider stepping up in one of these ways:

1. Make a one time gift or increase your regular giving to the church

These decisions were made because we sit with a deficit in our general checking account. We anticipate our general fund checking account ending the month of September over $100,000 in the red. While this isn’t alarmist for our size church and budget, it is still significant and needs to be dealt with so that we can continue to move forward. This is not as a result of exorbitant spending by any ministry but simply because of high fixed costs, which included staffing and a lower than normal giving. Every ministry leader has done a great job of keeping expenditures tight during this time.

I’d like to encourage you to consider giving a one time gift or to increase your regular giving to the church in order to help us through this time. Giving to God is a significant way for us to express our faith, and sometimes it takes seeing a visible need before we seize the opportunity.

If you’d like to take that step, you can give a one time gift or create an ongoing regular gift to our general fund online here

2. Begin serving regularly

Losing these staff positions creates some holes in our church life, which in turn creates an opportunity for you to step up and begin serving regularly. The church makes a difference not because of any one person, but by a community of people who are all stepping up and showing up.

You can serve best by discovering your giftedness and plugging in there. If you don’t have any idea where to start, a 301 class will be offered on October 18th, where can discover your giftedness, and you can sign up for that class here

Or if you’d prefer, here are a few places where there is more immediate need based on our current situation where you can begin to plug-in and serve immediately

* Weekly office help – administrative help, copying, etc during the weekday (Email Cheryl)
* Tech Team at the Heartwell Campus – help with sound, video or the computer on the weekends (Email Jo Jo)
* First Impressions Team at the Heartwell Campus – serving at the info table, as a greeter, or host during the weekend services (Email Cathy)

Parkcrest, I appreciate your understanding and your commitment to the church during this time. Thank you for being an incredible church who consistently makes yourself available to be used by God. I also appreciate your prayers for our church, our leadership, and especially for those who’s lives are affected by this staff reduction.

Grace and Peace,

Mike

Inspired by Youth :) September 24, 2009

It always brings me great joy to see kids and teens who want to make a difference in this world we live in and in the lives of those around them.   I was excited to the high schoolers at our church came home from camp with commitments to do just that.  Doing seemingly small things that could make a huge difference to someone.  I wanted to take a moment to give them props and show you what those things are. I think we could learn something from our youth Small random acts of kindness can make someones day

Hey, do you have an idea that could be added?  Would you like to do something to help or even do something like this in your area? I’d love to hear your thoughts   Here are some of the things they’ll be doing:

CLOTHES OFF YOUR BACK: Give up buying new clothes for a year. Donate your clothes money to the children’s ministry in your church.:

SKIP THE DANCE: Give up homecoming or prom. Take the money you would have spent and give it to someone you know can’t afford to go.

LUNCH ON ME: Find one person in your school whose family is struggling financially and provide lunch for them once a week.

PLAY TIME: Find a place in your town or city where children need a to play and build a playground.

MID-WEEK FAST: Fast every Wednesday for an entire year. Talk to a youth leader and get help doing it.

WEEKEND GET A WAY: Save up and pay for a weekend trip(hotel, gas, food) for your parent or parents. Make all of the plans and surprise them.

PICK UP THE TAB: Buy a friend’s lunch every time you go out to eat for a year.

$32 A MONTH: Sponsor a needy child

APPLES FOR TEACHERS: Provide breakfast for the teachers in your school once a month. Be creative!

REACH OUT: Become friends with at least five people who believe a different religion.

500 TURKEYS: Organize a food drive for Thanksgiving this year. Make it your goal to raise enough food and funds to feed 500 families.

26.2: Commit to being healthier. Train and run a marathon before next summer. Get started at www.activewater.org.

BIG BROS: Join Big Brothers Big Sisters and mentor a younger child.

THE $500 SALE: Sell something you have that is worth more than $500 and give that money to the poor.

CLEAN OUT YOUR CLOSET: Sell 50 articles of your clothing on eBay and secretly give the money to an underprivileged family.

PASS IT ON: Teach a younger child something you do well (guitar, algebra) for free.

AFTER SCHOOL GIG: Take a part time job for the sole reason of witnessing to other employees.

MISSION: Go on a mission trip outside of the United States before next summer. Get started at www.ciy.com/missions.

THE 500 COAT CHALLENGE: Collect 500 coats for local elementary schools to pass out this fall to kids of lower income families.

KICK THE COKE: Give up soda (or something you really like to eat) for the entire school year.

I may think about the Kick the Coke because I am an avid coke drinker…we’ll see Thanks for reading my brain splatter and the next time you see a child or teen challenge them to make a difference

Meeting Mwakhali September 22, 2009

Mwakhali, the reason I wanted to go to Africa.  I can not even begin to express the emotions I was feeling the moment I saw her.  This little girl that is part of my family.  When her photo came I told my kids this is your sister. I show them all her letters.  Her penmanship and English is beautiful.  They were very excited they had a Kenyan sister…they also had lots and lots of questions.

The highlight of my trip was definitely meeting  Mikawhli.  The first thing I did was give her a hug. I’ve known her for a time so although this was the first time we had met, I knew her face, her smile. She was very excited about having recently been baptized and there they receive an additional name when that happens and hers was Emma.    Her grandmother was not home so she was there alone.   She then showed us her home which was a very small home only big enough for her bed and a chair.  Three of us barely fit in the room.  Her bed was made of sticks and straps with fingernail thin cushions. She was dressed in tattered clothing, no shoes, very little of anything.  We visited with her for awhile then gave her food, blankets and some small things we had brought. It absolutely broke my heart to see the conditions she had to live in. I wanted to do so much more. I cried as we left her home. I had an opportunity to meet her grandmother a few days later and I gave them a few extra schillings to get what they needed.  I sit here now and think there’s something more I should be doing for her, for all the kids I encountered.

I could not have even begun to imagine the affect going to Africa and meeting Mwakhali would have on me.

Thanks for reading my brain splatter

So you think you can steal my joy, do you ;-) September 20, 2009

I must say the last several months have been insane!! As a general rule,  I am terminally happy.  I have moments but then I think about it and say “I’m not going to give whatever it is the satisfaction of making me have a bad day”.  I believe it is all in our reactions to things.  Whether we choose to be joyful or we choose to be cranky we have to deal with the same situation and as Mary Poppins says “just a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down” The moment I started wanting to go to Africa to do missions the trials started coming and haven’t stopped.  As the bible says “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you face trials of many kinds”  Well, woohoo!!!

So, just a few of the trials I’ve been blessed with prior to the trip…First, I totalled my truck but was only bumped up and bruised.  I did have to find a new car which was going to cost money that I didn’t have but got one.  I am not insulted easily, people are who they are so I let things go.  The one thing that does bother me, alot, is when someone criticizes my parenting.  I consider myself a good mom.  I spend all my free time with my kids.  I had someone going on and on about what a horrible mom I was because I was going on a mission trip and leaving my kids.  They had me in tears.  Then I had something happen at work that almost made me not go. Then stuff happened at home that made it hard but despite all of it on August 21 I got on a plane and am so glad I did.

Now while in Africa there were only a couple trials.  Apparantly Satan thought it was a good idea to keep trying to steal my joy.  One of the days I woke up hurling and very sick so I couldn’t do anything that day.  The next day I was up and running and I believe it was after our first home visit where 3 of the kids were sponsered on the spot and God was blessing us beyond belief.  As we left that house excited about the happenings I fell down a hill.  I don’t mean a little scrape on the knee.  I stood up and said I’m fine because darn it, Satan, you are not stealing my joy!!!  I ended up with two bruised knees, a scraped up and bruised stomach and right side, both hands scraped up and my right arm very scraped up but I pressed on.  Then our last day my airplane pants ripped.  Now, I make light of it but those were the pants I had worn to Africa and we had 3 perfect flights so I thought wearing them back would bring 4 more perfect flights.  I am scared of flying.  I had prayed, extensively and these pants were all a part of it….yeah, I know, strange. You can read the candid story about those below.

Then we get home and Satan is still at it.  I spent the last week sick as a dog, bowing to or sitting on the porcelain god for days.  Yesterday was the first day I was able to keep food down. During last week I communicated very little because I was so sick but did a little. I got an email from someone I have a great deal of respect for that was very harsh and it actually made me cry. I had never been anything but kind to this person.  It has been one thing after the other but you know what I still have my joy!!!

Yes, this has been a trying few months and I didn’t even give you all the details of all the happenings or even all the happenings but no matter what I will smile.  I will always have a joyful attitude because I truly believe if it doesn’t kill us, it makes us stronger.  I will be wonderwoman in no time!!

Dont’ let anything steal your joy…just keep smiling and thanks for reading my brain splatter

Airplane Pants September 8, 2009

There are so many stories I want to share with you from my journey…so many emotions to sort through.  Slowly I will share them one by one…the serious and the funny.  We will start with one of the funnier stories.  The airplane pants. Below is the picture that began the story…

Those who know me, know I’m a pretty fluid girl, a go with the flow kinda girl.  Things change and I am highly adaptable. This whole trip required that the team just go with the flow and do what was needed. We all did.  I can also be stubborn as a mule…well that’s an understatement in this case.

We were all packed and saying farewell to Africa but one last thing before we left for the airport in Nairobi.  Mike wanted a group picture on top of the van-bus thing we had travelled in the entire time we were there.  We all agreed.  We all climbed up the ladder on the side and sat up for our picture. Normally one would climb across on one’s knees to get down but I had taken a bit of a fall and couldn’t so I scooted on my bottom. I felt something like a rip.  As I climbed down the ladder everyone is cracking up…turns out half my bottom was showing.  What could I do but laugh.  They suggested I change my pants. My response: BUT THESE ARE MY AIRPLANE PANTS!!

Now, we were about to embark  on 37 hours of travel…a girl has to be comfortable, right?  Any other part of what I was wearing was subject to change except the pants. They all pointed out that we would be walking around Amsterdam for 5 hours…all the more reason I need comfortable pants.  My jeans & dresses were fine but not as comfortable for plane rides.  Mike, as he and the rest of us are laughing hysterically, notes how ridiculous I sound.  Me, being none other than who I am, refuses to change the pants. Michelle has a sewing kit so I go to the very back of the van where no one can see me, remove my pants and throw them up to Teresa.  Teresa then uses 3 colors of thread to sew the hole. I put them back on and many jokes and much laughter later I arrive in LA wearing my airplane pants.

I really wish that whole scenario could have been taped…then again maybe not. Anyway, the moral of the story is always bring 2 pairs of airplane pants.

Thanks for reading my brain splatter and more to come on the Africa trip soon   Have a happy day

And we’re off :) August 20, 2009

Well, it’s only 17 hours until we take off!!  So, so excited!!  Please keep us in your prayers   I’ll be back to blogging September 4th or 5th with all the amazing things I know are going to happen Watch out Africa, here we come