My SOS recap

Recuperating is probably the best word. This is following an entire week of SOS. This year we had 1,000 middle and high school kids in for a week of Summer of Service. We do this every year, and every year it tends to get bigger and bigger.

There are certain ministry areas that work on this all year, and absolutely kill themselves the month prior and are literally working from the dead the week of. (You guys know who you are.) The passion that they have is totally beyond my comprehension.

Yes, I work a few 15 hour days (when will I learn that I am too old for this stuff!), but I fear my motives are selfish. I just want to do is to be a team player, hide in the background of everything. I never want recognition for myself, but I do for the team. And if I am totally honest (and this is what I pledged to be on this blog), I am not so sure I am doing it for the kids either. [insert heart pang..ouch]

Every year I go into this week thinking that these self centered kids do not have the slightest clue as to the magnitude and the sacrifice that VCC puts out for them. Then every year God shows up and melts my heart and instills new hope in this generation. I truly believe these kids leave different people then when they came. The things that happen during this week could fill a book and not nothing short of miraculous!

This year the IT and tech team (if I my boast about them for a minute) made history. We actually streamed a night’s celebration live on the web on Wednesday. (We did it again on Friday when kids were getting baptized.) And as if that wasn’t enough, God saw to it that I was directing that night. I can’t explain the feeling of the adrenaline that was flowing through me that night. Even with some people who were new on the crew, everyone was firing on all cylinders and it was the most awesome night. I was on a high for at least 24 hours after the fact.

Then God shows up again….I hear the stories about how parents from many surrounding states watched it, and were excited to be able to experience what their child was experiencing….live! We had some kids here from Ireland, and their parents were able to share what their kids were experiencing. Could it get much better than that?

My gifting is certainly not in direct personal relationship with these kids, I am no prayer warrior, not a good outreach leader or group leader, but to have a behind-the-scenes impact on their lives is a feeling that carries me through all the chaos of the week.

I thank God for allowing me to be a part of the biggest thing we do during the year, and yanking my heart back on track. He still has a lot of work to do on me, but here is to next year’s yank!

Today = 11!!

It is hard to believe that I have been married 11 years today!

When I was younger (in my “BC” days – before Christ) I held on to the dream that there was the ‘perfect’ guy out there for me. I was not disillusioned that he would be perfect, I always contended that he would be ‘perfect for me.’ It was a belief I held on to through my 20’s and 30’s.

Little did I know how true that would be. Little did I know that it was really God in charge all the time. Little did I know that God already had it all already orchestrated to happen. Little did I know that He was still going to make it happen even as I entered my 40’s!

Obviously I knew (and still know) very little about all His wonders. I confess I did give up hope and ‘settled’ for less during that time. As I look back it just proved how little my faith was at that time. I had actually given up that it would happen, and even told Ed this when we were dating.
Not even knowing though, I was about to hear a different story from my Father. How did I know that I was confessing to the very man that I would be spending the rest of my life with?

I have never been happier than I have in the past 11 years. Thank you Ed, but most of all thank you God for not giving up on me and loving me enough to give me the greatest gift in the world!

Ahh…its Monday. It is 67 degrees, the sun is out, the birds are singing, I am sitting outside with a cup of coffee, my computer, and the interweb. Life is good. Is this what it is like when one is retired? If so, I can’t wait.

Fondly, I remember being off work for about 3 months (after Clinique closed the office I was working at and before I started working at VCC) and taking a walk every day with Jas. I was off from November through January and we walked no matter the weather. I remember walking while it was snowing one day, and she was accumulating snow on her back. Oh those were the days.

Ed and I got up early and did some exercises this morning. We are hoping to do this 3-4 times a week at least. And now that I have publicly said this on my blog (even though no one will really see it) I still somehow feel a commitment to do it.

Ed always was my motivator, so I expect that he will continue to be that. All he has to do is to get up in the morning. If he does, than I will. I feel he will, as he is much better about exercising that I have ever been.

All my life I have never had to worry about what I ate, or when I ate it. At the age of 18 I was a size 5, at 40 I was a size 8, and at 50 I was a size 10 (I sure could have lived with that for the rest of my life!). Even though the trend was going in the wrong direction, I was still ok. After all it was just a number, right? Of course I was a lot more active in those days. I loved to go dancing in my 20’s and 30’s, and was still snow skiing into my 40’s.

So what happened after the big 5-0? I guess I could come up with a list if I wanted to, but I also know that the real reason lies in me and only me. The first lesson is that I can no longer eat whatever, whenever. Someone needs to tell my body that though!

My question to ponder today is: will posting this blog give me incentive to do something more? I have no excuses for anything less. All the exercise equipment I could possibly need is right here in my home (thank you Wii Fit Plus). So I will close this asking for God’s help because we both know if it was left up to me it wouldn’t get done. I’ll go inside now and cook some good healthy oatmeal for breakfast. Thank you God, in advance.