in between holidays

it's 10:30pm saturday night and i'm putting off going to bed because i know it's 'back to work' tomorrow (and yet i'm excited about tomorrow too at the same time). anyways, here's some random thoughts bouncing around my head right now:
- i felt like i ate lots of food for thanksgiving; there was tons on the table and reminds me how excessive we americans can be (not that it's necessarily bad...just a LOT of food). it was delicious too, by the way.
- had a great time connecting with my parents and brother for an extended period of time. we celebrated christmas this week with them because we'll be in pittsburgh with shanna's family at christmas time. had tons of fun playing games, chatting, and just relaxing together. we're so blessed with the families that we have...
- enjoyed hanging out with todd & christa and the kids for another extended period of time. they are so encouraging and fun to be around - every time it's so refreshing...
- embarked on a new experience this afternoon - shanna and i went hunting for a tree to cut down with some friends. usually we just pick one that's already been cut, but this year we were told that for a super cheap price we could cut any tree and any size. operating on a tight budget, we jumped at the opportunity, and spent WAY too much time looking for the perfect tree. (two perfectionists looking for a perfect tree = a somewhat frustrating experience for everyone involved). we were looking for a very large tree (our obsession with big) because we have been blessed with cathredal ceilings in our apartment this year and for some crazy reason felt the need to fill the space. getting home and looking at the tree...i think it's quite possibly the smallest one we've ever gotten - lol. it's funny how God works things like that out to teach us lessons. amidst feelings of frustration, i was reminded of the series we'll be starting this thursday in youth group, "gimme more presence" - it's not about the hype of christmas, the flashy presents, and the unimportant stuff that so often clouds out the imperative. it's about being more like the kid in the smelly crib...thinking and acting more like Jesus. it's not about getting the biggest tree and paying for some stupidly high electric bill. again, not that big is bad...i'm just maybe beginning to notice how i live in excess so much of the time when so many live in need... maybe a 'smaller' tree isn't such a bad thing after all...
- i've been battling a cold for the last few days and have gone through almost an entire box of tissues. as i typed this i just sneezed on the screen actually (i bet you wish you could've seen it). hunting for the perfect tree this afternoon in the great outdoors made me want to hack off my nose with the tree saw.
- driving home from the tree farm, our friends' tree fell off the roof of their van and almost caused a wreck for the car behind us. looking back, a VERY funny experience that wasn't so funny at the time.

turkey bowl and christmas shopping

Go Old Guys! Our annual Turkey Bowl was this past Sunday and Cor sure is feeling sore the last few days. He obviously played on the Old Guys' team and helped uphold their 3 year winning streak. I made buckeye bars for the Dessert Bake-off that followed. Yum!

After that we had Community Groups. I'm feeling like we're fitting into a good grove and I'm starting to enjoy our group.

Yesterday I hung out at home, cleaned out apartment (much needed! yikes.). Then after school, I took one of my girls out Christmas Shopping. I'm so excited - I found a lot of my list and didn't have to shop solo. Cor and I are going to go out and get a few more things, but we're all set for our Thanksgiving/Christmas celebration with Cor's family.

I'm watching TV while I write this and they are discussing Michelle Obama and what role she'll play in the White House. I'm really excited to see what she'll do. I admire Laura Bush greatly and yet, I'm anticipating Michelle Obama as she forges her own role. As a pastor's wife I am watched and criticized or lauded... My tiny little "fishbowl" is more than enough for me. What a stressful and vunerable position the First Lady must fill... I've always been in awe of the President's wife.

MckMama's Blog

I've been following this awesome blog for awhile now. I previously had a "praying for MckMama & baby Stellan" button. Now I have a MckMiracle Button. To find out why (and only if you have a large amount of time... because once you start reading, you won't be able to STOP reading!) check it out. Right now MckMama is hosting a Small Fryday Contest... (hence this post). God's work in this family's life has really challenged me a lot.

mini retreat

i had the wonderful opportunity to attend a 2 day retreat with other youth pastors in our district from ny, pa, and oh earlier this week - great opportunity to meet new people who do what i do and connect in meaningful ways. HUGE encouragement to me. one of the guys, Tom, who's doing some great things for God out in the sticks, did a great recap of the weekend here. the monday night sharing time was pretty cool - and i felt like i was invited into a sacred meeting in a holy space where everyone was vulnerable and open...sharing the good and the bad. it was sweet and very refreshing...

new graphic

Our Christmas Series is: Gimme More Presence. This is the graphic I did today. I'm happy with this one, which is cool because I'm usually not happy. But, overall - I like it. :) Yay! The background is from simply youth ministry's downloadable freebies and the present is from stock.xchng I just stuck the puzzle pieces together (and extracted and applied styles and ...)

Today was my first free day at home in a long time. I was completely unproductive (other than this graphic, of course). I love being at home. Tomorrow I'm meeting a friend for lunch/shopping (? maybe) and then taking a teen out after school. And I've already scheduled next tuesday to go out with some of the girls. I LOVE our ministry and doing stuff with the girls. I wasn't able to do that while I was working this last job, but I didn't realize how much I had missed that until I started scheduling stuff again.