It's been a winter

This winter has been full of some crazy events. It's been a journey.... but as the blog title states, it's all about the journey. Here is some of the recap...

• Been supper busy, sometimes stressed, and sometimes an emotional wreck working to complete my portfolio for the National Boards Certification. Mailed it in at the end of March and now it is just 9 months of waiting.
  
• Had a crazy Christmas break and between trips to the hospital and tests galore, I gave up the gallbladder and feel better then I have felt in years!
• Had an incredible Winter Conference for our student ministry. Took about 700 folks up to the Wisconsin Dells for an amazing weekend.
• Began the process of creating a new class for school
• In the process of studying for one of the biggest test's I will ever take in my life. Let's hope it pays off...
• Went for some R&R for spring break
  
• Praying through summer mission opportunities.
  

Although I don't know that I can say that have been the best friend, daughter, sister or Aunt during these past couple of months, I believe that once I get through the coursework for National Boards there will be so much more balance back in my life. It's all about the Journey.... all about the journey...

October 6th

Tonight opened a devotional called Grace for the Moment, by Max Lucado and looked up tomorrow's date. Here is what it read.... It could not be more fitting for me right now.

"God began doing a good work in you, and I am sure he will continue it until it is finished." Philippians 1:6

"The message of Jesus to the religious person is simple: It's not what you do. It's what I do. I have moved in. Religious rule-keeping can sap your strength. It's endless. there is always another class to attend, Sabbath to obey, Ramadan to observe. No prison is as endless as the prison of perfection. Her inmates find work but never find peace. How could they? They never know when they are finished. Christ however, gifts you with a finished work. He fulfilled the law for you. Bid farewell to the burden of religion. Gone is the fear that having done everything, you might not have done enough. You climb the stairs, not by your strength, but his. God pledges to help those who stop trying to help themselves."

Tomorrow I celebrate 29 years of life and yet I still fall into the trap or feeling the need to "improve" or "fix" different areas of life. In this next year, my prayer is that I figure out what it means to let go of that and just allow God to work.

Being a Cubs fan

I have never been more upset as a Cubs fan. I can't even explain the last three games that I attempted to painfully watch. The Dodgers deserved to win. Every moment of every inning all the Dodgers players played with a desire to win. Cubs on the other hand, you sat in the dugout, you watched good pitches go by, and you played like crap in the field. My Cubs, I love you but you stunk it up, and you took an incredible season a flushed it down the toilet. I will root for you next year but tonight, for the first time, I don't want to use the phrase "maybe next year." You don't deserve to win a World Series until you show a desire to want to win.

Cubs Win

As I walked into church tonight the Cubs were up by a run. There was part of me that thought about going to the later service or skipping all together so that I could see the end of the game but I figured that watching a Cubs game may be a poor excuse for missing church. The lady two rows behind me had the right idea. She had her phone showing her the play by play and in all of her excitement, in the middle of the campus pastor's talk, she yelled "Cubs win." It was a rather funny moment. I wanted to turn around to see who it was that screamed it out but I figured she was embarrassed enough. When church was over, she was nowhere to be found. I am pretty sure her and whoever she came with made a b-line for the door as soon as the message was done. When church was over I headed over to the sporting goods store to pick up my 2008 division title t-shirt. It was pretty amazing how many they had already sold. The lady at the store said there were costumers waiting in the store at the end of the game to be sure they got one. Cubs fans are crazy! I LOVE it! This is the year and I am loving every minute of it!

A little impulse buy

I did one of the crazier things I have done in life yesterday and it felt great! My civic that I have had for the past 6 years was getting up there in age. There was really nothing wrong with it but I knew that I was getting to the point of either having to put money into it or possibly sell it. Because the financing rates are so low right now and dealers are willing to work with their price a little more, I have been throwing around this idea of car shopping for the past couple of months. I decided this weekend that I would just "go look." I had no intention of buying. It always takes me months/years to make decisions on a big purchase but I was ready to start the process. My Dad and I had a little father/ daughter bonding time and we headed to the dealer to do some test driving. Six hours later and what I think was a fantastic deal, Herbie (the civic) was traded in and now I am the proud owner of this little guy! I LOVE everything about it. I am totally one of those crazy new car people that cringes as the miles go up, parks in the back of every parking lot, and fears the day I find the first door ding. I am in need of name for this one. It can't be Conrad (who was my first Corsica) or Herbie (the old civic). Do you have any suggestions?

The foundation

Over the past several months I was blessed with the opportunity to journey alongside a church that is getting ready to launch in Shaumburg, IL. I believe that there was a sense of oasis that took place in the journey with that team that I really appreciated. God is going to use Waterfront church in some incredible ways, and there is something that I believe that they taught me that I need to get good at in order for God to really use me the way He intends. If I am honest, I believe that it holds the foundation to what is crucial to making a great team. Waterfront was incredible at taking intentional time to care for and love one another. In planning gatherings, pre-launch church services, and every e-mail contact, it was evident that the most important agenda at task was to care for others. Because of that, the pull to be a part of the mission of the church was so strong. It is so easy in life to get wrapped up in the surplus of tasks at hand and run out of time to intentionally love people well. I want to be the type of leader where my leaders feel like I care more about them as individuals then what holes they fill in my ministry. As a teacher, I want my students to know that I care more about them as an individual then the way they behave in class or the grade they earn. I know what it feels like to just be a hole filler or one that just takes up a seat and I don't want anyone around me to feel that way. I am not sure how to get great at this piece, especially when life is filled with tasks, deadlines, quotas, and numerous other things to accomplish. When I walk through the halls of my school, I tend to error on the side of being on a mission. When I sit down and talk with a leader, I have a list of important upcoming information that the leader needs to know. If time is pushed, the personal gets set aside and the informational gets tackled. I need to reverse the strategy or find a balance between the two. I was blessed to feel a part of community of people that got it but now I need to take "it" and either reproduce it or plug it into another structure.

I threw a paper airplane in church

I have been attending/working at Community Christian Church
for awhile now and there are still days where I walk away amazed at what takes place. We are in this great new series called the leader within and this week we were talking about the vision of a leader and taking things that are a holy discontent for us and living them out to make a difference. In the beginning, there was a video clip that they showed with a story of the Wright Brothers. As the pastor got started, he made a reference to the sheet on our chair that had an outline that we could take notes on. On the back of that sheet, in order to keep with the Wright Brothers theme, there was a step by step detailed description on how to turn you notes into a paper airplane. As if that wasn't funny enough, right at the end of the message (right before communion) the pastor asked us to create our paper airplane and then had us all fly them at the same time. It was the funniest thing I have ever see to have 300+ paper airplanes (not all loosened up enough to actually fly them) flying in the middle of a church service. The only bad part is after service I went to go find my airplane to keep my notes that I wrote on the other side and I couldn't find it anywhere. Oh CCC, it is so far out of the normal church box but it is exactly what it needs to be in order to help people find their way back to God.

Jumping in with two feet

I became a student again today. Last spring, I began throwing around the idea of what it would look like to go back to school to work towards my National Board Certification. For the longest time I sat on the fence with the decision. I feel like if I finish this process, it solidifies that teaching is the avenue God is going to use me (or that I am telling God he will use me). I LOVE teaching with all my heart. I love connecting with students, I love seeing them grow, learn, and mature. I love the challenges, I love the light bulb moments, and I love the collaboration with other teachers but something still doesn't sit easy in my heart. I know ministry takes place in the classroom on a daily basis but there is still something that pulls me to the wonder of doing ministry within the church. What holds me back? I am not sure, maybe it is a lack of confidence, maybe it is not being called to switch, or maybe it is lack of faith that God will give me the skill set to be successful in ministry. Even though I feel like I don't have a clue what I am going to do the next 20 years, I felt like I needed to do everything I can to continue pushing me to be a better teacher until I figure life out.

So I am jumping in with both feet. I printed out the 300 page explanation of the portfolio assessment today and about had a panic attack. As the professor explained today, "This will be the most challenging and rigorous process you have ever been through." He compared it do the level of getting a doctoral degree but condensing it into 9 months as apposed to several years. Anyone can do anything for nine months right......

Jr High Camp

I just returned from a week of Jr High camp in Lake City, Michigan. It was a pretty incredible week. The camp was amazing. It was more like a resort than a camp. The students had access to tubing, a zip line, the blob, rock climbing, high ropes, basketball, frisbee golf, the lake front. You name it this camp had it! This was my first event with Jr High students and I wasn't really sure what I was getting myself into. To be totally honest, I wasn't all that excited and was pretty terrified to hang out with them for an entire week. As I had watched other Jr high events unfold, my only take was that they are super loud and really crazy. Although they can be very high energy, they are incredible. There are quite of few of them that really get this idea of living for Christ. It is fun to hear them communicate that and see the light bulb go off in their heads as the week went on. I think my favorite part about them is their love for anyone. With high school ministry you have to prove yourself a bit. There is this window of time that it takes to prove yourself cool enough to hang out with the high school student. Jr High kids love anyone who is willing to hang out with them- no proving necessary just be goofy and spend time with them and they think your great! Here is a clip of the week to get an idea of what it was all about!

A Cubs loss and a dead car

I went into the city today to enjoy a cubs game but unfortunately I watched the cubs loose and when I went to leave the ball park my car was completely dead. Lately, I have been challenged a lot to intentionally find ways to love and help others. Today I saw myself on the reverse side of that. We walked around for a good hour trying to find someone who might help us by giving my car a jump. We heard some of the most pathetic excuses as to why people were NOT going to help us. I think my favorite was an employee at Wrigley who walked right past us and said, "Sorry there is nothing I can do." When we walked two blocks down to ask another gentlemen, the guy told us to go back to the Wrigley employee that walked away because he had the radio to get someone. We called the other two back at the car to chase the employee and when one of the them asked him once again, his response was he didn't have a radio to call anyone. (The radio was clear as day on his belt loop). When Mr. helpful cub worker walked back to where I was and I explained that his co-worker told me to have him call without a response he just walked past me once again. Luckily, at the same time a group of friendly gentlemen came walking by and without hesitation, walked over to my car and got it going. An hour later and about 20 people worth of rejections, I realized just how incredible it feels when someone steps outside their little world and offers a helping hand. I hope that I continue to push myself to be that person for others. In a hurry or not, I pray that my eyes are opened to the lives around me and not just my own little world.

Girls Trip!

I just got back this evening from a great little getaway with some pretty incredible friends. The five of us have been friends since high school but with the busy life of teachers (I know it's summer as I write this but not all months are June, July or Aug), we struggled to hang out like we used to back in the day. A year ago we started a tradition where we schedule a time each month for the five of us to have coffee, dinner, or ice cream together. This month we decided to take it a step further and spend two days in Lake Geneva at one of the girls parents lake house. We all needed a couple days to just get away and laugh like I did. There were a lot of funny moments, funny conversations, and some hysterical memories of old times. Oddly enough, one of my all time highlights was being able to ride in the golf cart everywhere we went within this beach community. There were golf cart trails, under road cart tunnels, and even lined golf cart parking spots within the community. Friendship is a beautiful thing! I pray that as I grow older I always make quality time with friends. No matter what life brings or how busy things get, I pray that every month, the five of us will continue to hang out. I can't wait to be 70 years old and sitting on that golf cart with the same group of girls!

Happy Birthday David

David turns 4 today! Happy Birthday Buddy!

StuCo serve day

Today I spent all day with about 10 of our students working on a habitat for humanity home in Aurora. About three years ago, there was a student who had just graduated from the ministry and was getting ready to be a part of a internship within StuCo so that he can begin leading. At that time, him and his dad talked about the possibility of working together to build a habitat home in Aurora. Kevin's dream was to rally students from StuCo together and his Dad would get people involved from the Community 4:12 ministry to make this happen. Unfortunately, it was during that time that Kevin lost his battle with depression and took his own life. In his honor, his parents have pushed to keep the dream alive. One week from this Sunday, they will dedicated the home to a mother and her twin daughters. There is something about serving that is incredible. If I woke up tomorrow and knew that I would have to do 6 hours of intense landscaping at my own place, I would HATE every last thought if it. Yet when I get the opportunity to serve with a group of people it is so much different. There is something about the laughter, the conversations, the memories that make every sweaty minute of it fun. Then on top of all that, there is something incredible when you get to be a part of seeing the family get a new start on life. When a family is blessed and you get to witness their joy as they take the keys for the first time. Sometimes I even wonder who is blessed more, the family or those of us that got to be a part of the making it happen. It was a fantastic day!

An incredible day!

Today was an absolute great day! We held our first ever StuCo golf outing to raise money for our student ministry. Not only was the weather amazing but everything ran so smoothly! We couldn't have asked for a better experience. We were blessed with an incredible golf course that hosted the event, some wonderful sponsors for the holes, and 72 golfers who joined us in the event. It was a huge success! As a ministry, we never want money to hold a student back from attending any of our events. As a result of today, we are able to reduce the cost to students and hopefully open the door to allowing more students to attend. I can't wait to see how God is going to move within StuCo over the next year! Here is a little video I put together of some of the pictures. If you weren't able to join us this year, please consider coming out next year!

First time in the bleachers!

I have been a cubs fan for a long time and have gone to several games but today was my first opportunity to sit in the bleachers. It was a beautiful day at Wrigley Field! It was fun to experience the game from the outfield. There is nothing quite like the thrill of seeing a ball hit and feeling like it is headed your direction. Although I came how without catching a ball, it was a fantastic day of hanging out with friends, watching baseball and seeing the Cubbies bring home the W!

4th of July

Today as I was driving I spotted my first hot air balloon sighting of the holiday weekend. I am not really sure what it is about the 4th but there is something that I love about the hot air balloon launches that they do in Lisle. Ever since I remember, we would make it a tradition that during the weekend of the 4th we would journey out to see the sunrise balloon launch. It's a really weird thing to get so excited about but there is something so beautiful about seeing so many balloons set sail as the sun is coming up. I love it! Between fireworks and hot air balloons, this holiday has to rank up there as one of my favorite!

Washington DC co-rec vs Naperville Co-rec

Tonight we played softball downtown DC with my brother and sister-in-law's co-rec softball team. Softball is one of the big social networks out here and there are leagues that run fairly often. A couple years ago I started the tradition of flying out to visit during a game weekend so that I could join the team for a game. I decided tonight that Co-Rec in DC just doesn't compare to Co-rec in Naperville. I would like to call tonights game "beer league" softball. In the first inning, with me and third and my brother at short, I witnessed my brother dive for a ball, not to field it cleanly but instead to save his cup of beer that he decided to bring out on the field with him. I may be going out on a limb here but in Naperville, our league is a little different. (or maybe we are a little different) We are pretty extreme when it comes to game day. The championship is like the world series, we keep stats throughout the season, we recruit players to play on the team, and we talk about softball 24/7 when we are in season. We don't have time to carry beer out on the field. It is serious stuff and we HAVE to win each game we play!

Although TWAN (team without a name) pulled out a victory this evening, the game ended pretty brutal. My brother hit a inside the park home run (he is a lot faster than me) and as he was rounding third and coming home, he blew out his knee once again. He had two surgeries on it before and wore a pretty heavy duty brace to prevent it from happening again but tonight it wasn't enough. The brace didn't work tonight. It looks like this is his last game of the season but it was a good thing he had a few beers in him to keep the pain under control.

Taking a little trip

I am in Washington DC for a couple days to visit my brother and his family. My nephew will be 3 in September and it is amazing how much he has changed since I last saw him. There is something about not being close to him as he grows up that is sad for me. With my other brothers kids (who live 30 min from me), when Aunt Debbie arrives they get super excited and and won't leave my side. Kyle isn't quite sure about that. He is still a little hesitant as to whether or not he is a big fan. We hung out at the pool today, played a lot of Thomas and cars, and enjoyed some time watching Sprout. Hopefully I will be here long enough to get him to buy into hanging out with me rather than running to Mom or Dad for everything. Then once I leave and return in another 4-6 months, the game will probably start all over again. Maybe by the time he is 4 or 5 it will be a little easier to remember who I am.... I hope....

Tomorrow night we have the big softball game. My brother plays in a softball league and every summer when I schedule my trip we have to make sure that it falls on a softball night. The team is pretty nice in allowing me to be a part of gang for a night. This will be the first time I put the glove back on since I broke my thumb in October. Let's hope tomorrow's game ends a little different than the last.

Why I love Honda

I have realized that I have formed a crazy sorta love for the Honda automobile. Although I am sure there are other cars that are a little cheaper on the budget, there is something about the customer service that Honda has to offer. Today I am sitting in the service center lobby of the Honda dealership waiting for my car to get an oil change. While I wait, I have the cubs playing on the Plasma screen TV in front of me, my computer picking up the free wireless Internet access, drinking a Starbucks freshly brewed coffee, and sitting with my feet up in a recliner chair. It used to be that we always got the same service guy when I went to the dealership in Lisle. I used to drive 45 minutes to visit Laird (an older gentleman that would know you by name as you walked in the door). Now that Honda switched to making you talk to the service guy that was up next, I moved my business from the Honda in Lisle to the Honda dealership down the street. Although I am sad to not see Laird every oil change, I am pleasantly impressed with the service men I have dealt with. Never once have I am encouraged to get something fixed that I did not need, nor have I gotten any run around with what was wrong with the car. I don't know when I will have to be in the market for a new car but something tells me Honda will win my service.

A Great Week!

Student Community just spent the week in Anderson, IN and it was an incredible week. I am always so amazed at how great the students are. The conference was incredible. It was one of those weeks where I honestly believe God moved in so many ways. I had so many great conversations with students who have made some pretty big steps in their own personal journey. I heard from students who are ready to be baptized, others who are going to be a part of raising awareness of issues around the world, others who are changing some behaviors they have been involved with and other students who have made the decision that they are surrendering their life to following the plan God has for them. On the last night we spent time praying for specific students who shared and I have never heard our students pray quite like they did that night. It was a heart felt prayer of student after student lifting up one another. The things that came out of students mouths was beautiful. I am truly blessed to be given the opportunity to serve in this way. There were times this past year that balancing a full time job and a part time job left me wanting to tear my hair out but this made every sacrifice worth it.

On a personal level, I was reminded of the importance of listening to how God is calling me to move. There are areas of my life that I need to give up and be more willing to trust God and take risks for God. There are areas of my life that I need to stop focusing on my "inabilities" and trust that God will continue to stand in the gap for me and work through me even in the areas that I don't feel qualified. I was reminded of the incredible opportunity that we are blessed with when it comes to being apart of the Jesus Mission.