Appreciation!

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! A giant THANK YOU goes to Brandon Barker for assisting me in updating my blog with links and a wonderful picture of the Eiffel Tower. In all honesty, I shouldn't say assisting- he did it all. (I didn't realize it would take HTML knowledge, of which I have none.) So, Thank you Brandon. I am appreciative, grateful, indebted, much obliged, delighted and beholden.

Survivor Family

Last Thursday was the kick-off of Survivor. I can no longer be called a Survivor rookie. I have now loyally watched two seasons- the second of which I picked the winner for (thank you Aras!)
Every Thursday night during Survivor seasons, we gather at the Barkers house. Karla makes amazing home-cooked meals, something we singletons LOVE! Brandon will grill and engage us in interesting topics of conversation. Now, the past two seasons, it was only the Barkers, Jennifer, Monica for the first, and myself. This past week with the start of the new season, there were a lot of people there- Jon and his wife Kelly came later, Travis, Jeremy, Eric and of course the kids Grace, Seth, and Jayla (sp?). We filled the basement as we crowded around the television to cheer on our favorite players. We (or should I say mostly me) got shushed by Brandon every few minutes, as talking is NOT allowed! A wonderful time was had by all- or at least it seemed so.
I personally look forward to each Thursday night. It doesn't seem to matter how tired I am, I always get excited as I'm driving to the Barker's house. Though I have learned to enjoy the show, this is not my real reason for going; I never watched before joining everyone there. I wanted some fellowship, some friends that I could share laughter and tears with. What I got though was so much more than that- I got a family. They are my Survivor family. We are an odd bunch, much stranger than the weirdest of normal families, but we are still family. And as Brandon says, "Family sticks together." Even when their Survivor pick has been kicked off and the rookie's has won!

New experiences

Had a new experience last week. I was introduced to the game Killer Bunnies. If you haven't experienced this game- you need to! At first I will admit it seems long and extremely complicated, but once you get into it, it's a blast! Barkers taught me how to play; they own all the available decks. When we first started, I had an amazing helper, Grace. She explained cards, told me which were the good ones and tried to help me pick which cards I should play. But her assistance was interrupted by bedtime. Karla was also a valuable resource throughout the game. Almost every time I got a new card I had to lean over and ask what the card did, if I could use it, how I should use it, etc. She was ever patient and helpful, even while trying to play hostess to the rowdy bunch of us, put her children to bed and play her own cards.
One interesting thing I did learn while playing this game, you get the opportunity to see different sides of people's characters than you normally would. For example, Brandon is very mischievious, almost evil sometimes; he is very cut-throat. Jennifer tries to play sweetly and apologizes when she has to kill your bunny. Travis likes to make jokes. These, of course, are only my observations. Hopefully, none of you will get mad at me.
Anyway, I truly hope to play the game again sometime soon! It brought a smile to my face and laughter to my heart!

Time? What's that?! ...and other quandries

Wow, it has been a long time since I've blogged. For those of you still checking, I am still here. I have been very, very busy. Hence, part of the title. Time. What is time? Obviously something I haven't had lately. Fall is the busiest time at work plus you've got the kick off of everything else too. Maybe it seems busier because I haven't had nearly as much going on during the summer? No Sunday, Wednesday or Thursday night activities. No lessons. Students were too busy and were leaving for college. No regular youth. Only one large event to plan for work. Now I'm trying (notice the word trying) to coordinate 3 large events. High school Gathering started Sunday. Pledge groups start tonight. Lessons started last week. Survivor starts tomorrow. And now I'm considering taking a theology class that meets every Thursday morning at 6 am. Yes, I know everyone is busy too. I'm not complaining or whining, just stating the facts of my current life.

As I mentioned, Pledge groups (our high school small groups) start tonight. I'm sorta nervous. I'll be starting with a new group tonight- juniors. I don't know who is going to be in my group yet. I've been praying that God will bring just the right girls. Which, I am completely trusting He will. I'm also sad. I'm VERY sad because I miss my girls, the girls I had for the last two years. They have all graduated and are at college now. From reading their blogs, it seems they are all doing well; I never doubted they would. But I miss each of them terribly. And I'm feeling that sadness especially stong tonight. I know that this new group of girls will be just as special- in their own way of course. But also, no one will ever be able to replace my first girls. It's like your first love. Nothing is ever quite the same after that.

I've been reading a new book, Blue Like Jazz, by Donald Miller. I'm not very far into it yet, but my initial reaction has been, "Wow!" He verbalizes many of the thoughts and questions that have been roaming through my head for years. The experiences and stories he shares are so real and show faith in a fresh light. If any of you have read it, I would love to hear your feedback. Did you enjoy it? Did you agree with him? I could see this book, at least from what I've read so far, causing somewhat of a controversy. I was raised in the church, been going longer than I can remember. One thing that has always bothered me is the way people in the congregation seem to take the messages from the pulpit as the final word. They don't question or search for themselves to discover what they truly believe. Miller says (this is a thought he struggled with while searching for his true beliefs within his faith), "I couldn't give myself to Christianity because it was a religion for the intellectually naive." (pg. 31) I have thought this myself at times. Jesus questioned the leaders during His time on earth- why can't we question ours? I'm not saying be disrespectful or try to debate over everything they say, but ponder what they say. Read for yourselves what the Bible actually says about the matter. Discover for yourself whether you agree or not. Miller does this. He's questioning the church and some religious practices. Maybe I'm not understanding all of what he's saying, or perhaps I haven't found the point of his book yet. But he is still speaking out loud thoughts I've been too afraid to verbalize. I'll keep reading. For me he's been inspiring and freeing. I don't feel quite so crazy for some of the questions and observations I've had.