"Do you have a sister?"

Friday morning I was wishing that Spring Break had not already almost come to a close.  I got a haircut, packed my stuff, said goodbye to Ruby, and headed to camp.  It was a long 4 hours!  I showed up and was grateful to see everyone that was there!  I found out that I was staying in Sue's addition and that I would be in the kitchen for the weekend.  It was the Couple's Retreat and it was a lot of fun!

I crammed in the backseat of Kevin's, Dom's friend, car and Kevin, Dom, Patrick, Daniel and I headed to town to grab supper.  It was a tight, hot ride, but lots of fun!  Daniel started a conversation with me by asking if I had a sister.  I said yes and he proceeded to tell me that he had a dream that he was married to my sister.  Laughter was caught by everyone and even more so when I told him that she was already taken.  After I ate, I spent the rest of the evening in the kitchen with Debbi experimenting with Fillo dough to make dessert cups for the dessert the next evening.  It was a process, let me tell you!  It was good to be back working with Debbi and to create some yummy treats!  On the way back to Sue's that night, I just knocked my head back and looked up at the stars.  How beautiful God made their gleam!

The next morning, I found myself in the kitchen at 7 am.  I was in for a long, exhausting in a good way, day.  I started chopping vegetables,making pancakes and tuna salad.  Debbi wasn't there over lunch, so I helped out more than usual.  I'm really starting to get the hang of the kitchen.  Debbi and Katrina are very helpful with my ignorance of the camp kitchen!  I got a 2 hour break and went to grab my computer.  When I came back to the Dining Hall, Camie asked if I wanted a 5 minute massage.  I wasn't going to turn that down!  It felt great and I didn't want it to end!  It was nice to just sit and relax for a bit before things really got hectic!  The rest of the afternoon was nuts!  We made individual salads for 72 people, 64 of which I made, appetizers, 3 different choices for entrees, dessert, and then to get it all on platters and out the window at the needed times.  It was hot and when things wound down a little bit, Andi and I chugged some much needed water!  Our cheeks were pretty rosy!  All the food was delicious and the cheesecake was really great!  I think that Daniel has some pretty good leftovers for the week!  Cleanup took a while, but it was a good feeling when it was over, knowing that no one could have left hungry!  Katrina gave me permission to sneak a little puppychow early and I checked Facebook for a little before heading to Sue's to settle in for the night.  Again, the stars were beautiful and the crickbed was alive with frogs!  So beautiful!  Even if I was so tired, I had a little trouble getting to sleep.

This morning was a little hectic too.  We had baked oatmeal, like usual, and it was yummy!  I helped cut up kiwi, and I did the french toast.  I can honestly say that I've never made french toast before, and then to make it for over 70 people was a real learning experience!  I just keep learning so much more every time I go back!  I also cracked I don't even know how many eggs this weekend!  I'm getting good at cracking them two at a time!  Naturally, I didn't want to leave, but I knew that I needed to go as soon as I could after my shift was done at 12.  I helped clean what I could, said goodbye and packed up my stuff.  I talked with Sue about the next month, and vaguely into the summer.  I can't wait to go back!  Hopefully, I'll be able to go back in a couple of weeks and help again!  I am happily exhausted after another great weekend at VCBC!  :)

Dinosaur Daddy

Today is my dad's birthday.  He was born on a nerd holiday, and he is not a nerd.  

Today, he tried to look like a movie star...

...and then he got a dinosaur cake...

"Dinosaurs because I'm old as dirt.  Ha."

MN, M&Em, Mall of America

What a much needed, extended weekend I just got back from!  Couldn't have asked for anything better!  Plans changed a little last week, but it ended up being Julia, New-Z and myself going to pick up Lincoln to head to Matt and Emily's for a few days of blissful relaxation.

Saturday:

• New-Z's birthday-I gave him chocolate milk as a present, and the quart was gone in about 6 blocks.
• Julia and I have decided that New-Z will become a resident of Manly, Iowa.
• New-Z slept most of the ride, so that gave me a chance to really catch up with Julia.  We talked about EVERYTHING!  Boys, school, God, camp, summer, and everything in between.  It was great to hear about how God is using her, and what He has been teaching her lately.
• When we stopped for lunch, Julia spilled ketchup in my car.  :)
• Lincoln lives in a sketchy neighborhood, but doesn't think so.  Also, we did not get lost!  He also didn't have anything packed because I might have, sort of, forgotten to tell him...
• The boys talked the whole way to Matt & Emily's.  We hadn't realized how much we missed them and their antics.  Mostly, I missed us all just being together.
• Matt & Emily have a CUTE house!  It was so good to finally show up and tour the place and see where they have been called.  Nathan is the cutest!  He was such a ham the whole weekend and we soaked up every sweet minute!

• Mexican pile-up, Emily's chocolate chip cookies and Apples to Apples make for a HILARIOUS night of fullness and competition!  Sadly, New-Z came away the victor.  How many cookies did you eat, Julia?

Sunday:

• Julia and I had a 7:30am wake up call thanks to New-Z who set an alarm and then hid his phone in our room.  We were not pleased with him!
• Church at Northridge was really great!  The church that Matt is the youth pastor at is a really great house of God.  The people were all welcoming and the message was great.  Matt & Emily are very happy there.
• Emily made us triple-decker sandwiches for lunch.  We also had more cookies!  :)
• Julia, New-Z, Lincoln and I headed to Mall of America.  We finally got a parking spot on the roof top of one of the garages.  The elevator doors hated us!  Julia and I wandered around for a while, and then met back up with the boys before exploring the LEGO store and the Disney store.  Woody was our favorite!

• While riding the elevator back to the car, the boys had to hit every button and make the elevator hate us.  We almost fell to the floor laughing.  It's the little things like riding the elevator longer than you have to, ya know?  :)
• Matt & Emily gave me all of their Disney codes so I could enter them into Disney Movie Rewards.  This made Lindsay jealous!
• The rest of the night was spent eating more cookies, yes, I'm sure you were beginning to wonder how their could be any left by this point.  New-Z and Julia read many, many FRIENDS trivia questions and Matt, Emily and I spouted back answers as quick as we could.  We don't really know who actually won.

Monday:

• We Skyped with Whitney for a while, since she was unable to make the adventure with us.  Nathan also spit his cereal onto the computer screen.  New-Z also had fun with my camera.

• The afternoon was spent at the outlet mall where us girls scored some sweet deals on a few things.  I've also got my eye on some things for when Momma and I go shopping tomorrow!  ;)
• Still, we ate more cookies.  Then, us girls, went and popped in Heidi.  This is a classic!  I watched it so many times at my Grandpa & Grandma Strupp's house as a little girl, but it had been a good 10 years since I had seen it.  
• We had to pause the movie because Brianna arrived!  It was good to see her again!  We had a supper of $5 Pizza and Nutella filled crescent rolls.  I was happily miserable with a very full belly!
• Bri and Em had their turn at the piano and sang together again.  It was great to hear them again, and it was a great time of worship.

• Soon, Bri left and we finished Heidi.  By that time it was 10:30pm and we hadn't made my request of egg rolls.  Why not start then, right?  So, we began the process.  It was so much fun and they turned out deliciously!  :)

• The next few hours were spent talking about EVERYTHING with Emily.  Us girls talked about church, Heaven, what God will look like, relationships, God's Will, God's Voice, and so much more.  We haven't talked with Emily like that since maybe Senior High, if not longer than that.  We stayed up until around 1am.  
• We finally decided it would be time to go to bed and when Julia and I walked downstairs, this is what we found:

...so we had some fun...

...and then we ran into our room and collapsed in a fit of laughter!  :)

• Julia and I stayed up even later talking more about EVERYTHING!  It was so good to see her again!

Tuesday:

• We left this morning, bright and early.  Early enough that we didn't really get to say goodbye, but I left a note.
• The drive was nothing too exciting.  Julia got marinara with Pizza Hut bread sticks and managed to not spill!  We just had a good drive with plenty of Jesus music and speed.  I kind of just wanted to get home at this point.

It was a weekend that I will never forget!  Thanks for the memories everyone!  :)

Heels Were Worn

I will bypass all that junk about being happy it was Friday because Spring Break starts.  Everyone knows that already.  I was just relishing in what a good day this Friday was.

Last night, I did not sleep well.  I was thinking about a tragic event that happened, and a conversation I would be forced to have because of it.  I woke up well before my alarm, but continued to lay in bed, still thinking of the upcoming conversation.

I got ready for the day, and sat down to have my TAG time.  The title for my reading this morning was Today I will choose to trust you rather than fear the very real things there are to fear in this fallen world.  The verse was Psalm 27:1.

The LORD is my light and my salvation;

Whom shall I fear?

The LORD is the strength of my life;

Of whom shall I be afraid?

My day got so much better after starting it off with God.  It always does!  I did nothing all morning and it was GREAT!  I didn't have anything for homework either, and that helped me justify my lack of motivation.  

Right before I left for Phase 2, I just started jumping up and down very excitedly because of what the afternoon would bring.  The day was beautiful, and I drove for a while with my windows rolled down just taking in the early spring breeze.  I brought some heels along with me.  Naturally, I wasn't going to walk in them all the way out to the parking look, so I rocked the dress pants and tennis shoes look out to C.  I thought, why not, it's Friday!

My 4th graders are continuing to surprise me.  I don't even know how many times some of them told me they love me.  They are in need of so much love, and I must admit that I will miss them this next week.  I solved a really hard math problem, and got it right!  I also lead that part of answering the problem.  Our lesson went wonderfully today for being Friday, close to a full moon, and Spring Break.  Our teacher was just as excited as we were about getting started with break and so she let us go really early.  I then managed to head back to CF to run a couple of errands, do my reflection for the lesson, and ditch the teacher look before heading back to Waterloo to meet up with my CEF friend, Rose.

We were planning to meet at 4 Queens.  I got the directions and headed out.  I couldn't find it.  I called Rose and she told me that I had the wrong address, and told me how to get there.  As I drove there, I had a quick chat with Julia about our plans for leaving tomorrow, Racheal about parking for Julia's car, and then a couple of conversations with Rose about 4 Queens not being open, and the next option for food being closed as well.  We decided we would meet at Panera.

Rose and I were room mates during CEF almost 2 years ago.  We have maintained a friendship since then, although we haven't been able to get together since the day I headed to camp last May.  It was so good to see her!  We caught up on EVERYTHING!  We talked about what we had each been up to in the past several months, the new experiences we've had, the proposed journeys for the summer, and the future beyond that.  It was really great to hear how she's been following where God has been leading, and what she is waiting for direction on.  One of these days, we will get our 4 Queens together.  Rose is the one who introduced me to the place.  I can't wait to make my belly happy with a Nutter-Butter Snowstorm with extra cookie!

I've already watched Sleeping Beauty, and am currently watching Enchanted.  I'm not sure what I'll watch next.  Tomorrow, Spring Break really starts, with Julia and New-Z coming up here and then we are headed to pick Lincoln up on our way to a much needed and long awaited visit to Matt & Emily's!  What a great day!  :)

Noah's Beard

Tonight, I finished the first block of a set of Noah's Ark blocks.  I loved the embroidery of the swirls in Noah's beard.  The past few days, I've been thinking about how the coolest zoo has already come and gone. I mean really, what zoo has 2 of every creature and floats?  Granted that this zoo probably holds the title for the smelliest as well as the most understaffed, but they made it through.

Noah was faced with a choice.  He could have gone with what made sense.  I mean, how much sense does it make to build this huge ark and load it with every kind of animal?  Noah chose to go with what God commanded though, not completely knowing the outcome.


"Consider-Amateurs built the ark. Professionals built the Titanic."

3 Years Out

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about the high school years.  A lot of those memories are followed by, "Why did I do that?"  I also hear that line from Kenny Chesney's song, Young.

Looking back now, it makes me laugh

Why did I not know how to do anything with my hair other than to wear it in a ponytail until after 10th grade?

Why did I agree to take a blind date to Junior prom when he was just a big cootie?  I'm glad I don't have any pictures of that one!  The memories are enough!

Why did I chase after that guy for so long?  Why did it take so long for me to see things clearly?

Why did I always think that I was going to miss something if I wasn't always hanging out with my classmates?

Why didn't I tell that classmate what truly made me happy when he asked me?

Why did I let some of that drama get to me?

What the heck was I thinking when I took the presidential race for the FFA so seriously?

Why was I always so scared of the ball in basketball and softball?

Why didn't I quit softball sooner?

Why did it take me so long to stop making stupid faces in pictures?

Why did I wear a smelly blanket around my last day of senior year?

High school was an interesting journey.  I got locked out of Driscoll's class once, and kicked out of Shafranek's.  Luckily, I had just as much fun in the shop as the classroom!  I, along with a lot of my classmates, spent our last night as high school students, camping out on the front lawn of the school.  I was the one who always got picked on in basketball because I was THE WORST player on our team.  I was the best benchwarmer at both.  Almost every week at Bible Study I was crying, literally, about something good or extremely challenging that had happened to me that week.

 I wish I would have recognized my priorities sooner, but who doesn't have that wish?  There are a few minor things that if I could go back and change, I would.  I would have stuck up for my friend instead of sitting there in silence.  I would not have gotten in the truck with my classmate who had had a few, unbeknownst to me.  I would have begun to invest in the younger side of our youth group a lot sooner than I did.

Even if I would change some things, this is still my story, I still have those stories to tell.  They have helped make me who I am.  God taught me a lot back then, and I've learned a lot more about those years in the past 3 years since I left.

The Highlighter Yellow Shirt

Earlier this week, I got an e-mail from my boss from a couple of summers ago, Jill Lake.  She is the director of the Indian Lakes Chapter, for the state, for Child Evangelism Fellowship, CEF.  She was wanting to know how life was going for me and if I would be home a certain weekend.  They are having an event for CEF and wanted to know if I would be able to come and possibly speak about how CEF impacted my life.  Where to begin?!

Around fair time in the summer of '09, I was torn between showing cattle the next year, or moving on with my post high school graduation life.  Yes, this is true evidence that I am a beaver and was attempting to plan a whole year in advance!  After a couple of weeks of wrestling with thoughts of the next summer, I finally told God that He could have it and I would go wherever He lead.  I was at peace and forgot about that prayer until late in June the following summer when the answer was revealed.

Sometime early on in 2010, I was beginning to contemplate the summer ahead.  I had a couple of classes to squeeze in at Hills so I could finish my AA degree and head up to UNI in the fall.  Other than that, I had no idea what was going to happen.  I didn't really care to go back to my old job at Pioneer, and I didn't really have any other options.  One day in church, (Grandpa) Wayne came up to me and asked me what I was doing come summer.  I told him straight up what was going on.  He told me that he had been in contact with Jill and had mentioned my name.  I could remember a couple of other girls a few years before doing this "backyard Bible school" thing, but wasn't sure if that was something for me.  Jill soon got a hold of me and explained what all I would be doing if I was willing to take the job as a summer missionary for CEF.  I would be going to backyards, front yards, parks, churches, and anywhere people were willing to host a 5-Day Club.  Basically, it's like a short and sweet version of Bible School.  There are games, pledges, memory verses, songs, Bible stories, missionary stories, and a snack, if we were lucky.  I prayed about it and told Jill I would love to give it a try.

The month of May brought a lot of everything.  It brought fundraising for the summer, classes wrapping up, a couple of rough situations in my life that I had to overcome, and then finally, summer.  The training camp was June 13-19.  I was nervous!  I did not prepare as I should have and I didn't really know anyone.  This was strange new territory to me.  When we got to Faith, I was surrounded by young teens.  Talk about a maturity gap!  I definitely felt like an outsider at some points, but I knew that God had a reason for me to be there.  I was intimidated.  Some of these teens had been a missionary before and had been reciting the Gospel before the age of 10.  I had grown up differently than these guys, but I worked through that.  There were amazing leaders who prayed with us and over us daily, gave us advice on how we could tell the story better, and made us practice telling everything to a tree to get us prepared.  Despite the age differences, I made a lot of friends that week.

I taught 5-Day Club with Shane and Cheyanne all summer.  Boy, did I educate these two!  They had never heard of Indiana Jones, and I took them to Vennard a time or two; they also had a hard time getting me around their hometown of Pella.  They are still working hard for CEF as far as I know.  They have both been helping with Good News Club that happens throughout the school year.  My baby gained a lot of miles that summer, and my AC didn't work that wonderfully, but it was a great place to bond with these 2 teens.

Throughout the weeks, it was really neat to hear from Jill about kids that she saw the year before and how far they had come in the past year.  One of the most encouraging things of the summer was when a parent would thank us and tell us about how encouraging we were to them.  I still have a thank you note from one of the moms that I will continue to treasure for years to come.

I met so many incredible kids that were always excited to participate and answer questions.  Sometimes, the kids just didn't want the stories to end!  We had so many prayers of salvation between the clubs and other events that we did.  It was an amazing moment every time I saw that light bulb go on and the kids get it.  I saw God work in so many lives, including my own, that summer, and I continue to draw on things that I learned during that CEF summer.  This was the first time that I presented the Gospel, and then I had to do it to strangers every week.  Talk about disequilibrium!  Now, I know that I can in fact present the Gospel and to all ages.  It was a summer I will forever cherish in my heart.

I like horseback riding!  :)