More christmas olympics...

merry christmas....

So we had this staff christmas party where we each had to bring a gift between $15-$25
most people got giftcards or something cool like that...
i got this.... you can't tell but its embossed with gold glitter and carved out of one solid piece of wood.

You might be asking yourself,
"What does one do with such a treasure?!"
Well i'm glad you asked....

It hangs out with my talking Moses doll.

death map....

how crazy that they made this map?
It's a map showing where deaths occur due to mother nature...crazy!
I found it on foxnews.com

welcome to georgia....

this was an actual conversation today with my boss....

doug: ray is bringing the deer by tomorrow for the christmas party
me: i'm sorry...the what??
doug: the deer...for dinner on friday.
me: I'M SORRY....we are serving deer to our students?
doug: yes
me: do we tell them?
doug: no
me: whhhhhhy???
doug: cause its free, one of our volunteers is a hunter.

poor bambi.
only in georgia....

my work!

God of Justice

keep us from just singing, move us into action...

Christmas Olympics part 2

Christmas Olympics!

We are doing an out reach event in 2 weeks that's going to be amaaaaaazing.
The first event....the christmas tree toss.

so proud

this is a video of 2 of my girls at our service project this weekend. i was so so proud of them. :)

picture time

some of my new students

Only in Georgia...

I got this from my friend Laura Sue.... it's just amazing.

my friend bethany....

she's the best.
and made me laugh pretty consistently for the last hour and a half on the phone.
The best friendships are the ones that distance can't get in the way of :)
2 seconds on the phone and its right back to normal.
i sure miss hanging out...but our phone conversations are just about as equally entertaining .
love you friend.

Jealousy.

i wish i could sing.

Like, i think i would trade my athleticism for a great voice.

For some reason i'm always surrounded by people with amazing voices...and i want to steal it

just like Ursula stole Ariel's.....do you think that's possible??

i pray for it often...maybe one day.

Baptism!

Coldest water EVER.

i love that this is my job. :)

Love.

i still have my saddleback email account and i check it occasionally and today read an email from rick about love....

"IF you are serious about becoming a truly loving person, a pro at love, a world-class, five-star lover --- your love WILL BE TESTED! Fake love wears out. Real love endures. It is only when your love is tested and stretched, that it grows to maturity."

I'm noticing this even in my friendships. My real friends, the ones that really love me and really support me and really want to be a part of my life WILL BE...no matter where i live or what's gone on between us. And that's been terribly obvious these last 2 months. Real love endures...it doesn't wear out.

Love is a big word...don't say it unless you mean it and you're really willing to endure.

Teaching...

So i'm teaching for the first time at my new church this weekend.
I've got week 2 in our family series on What Kind of Family Do I want?
Such a sweet topic.

I'm using 2 Kings 21 about Josiah and how crazy his family was but that he decided to be different and not repeat the same mistakes they made and it changed a nation.

I'm also talking about how my boss went through tons of applications before he chose me..and he chose me because we are SO different and I compliment him.
Together we make a great team.

And everytime he was in an interview he knew what he was looking for which made it easier to see things he wasn't looking for and he passed.

Because why should he settle for less than exactly what he was looking for.

So, what kind of family do you want?
Don't settle for anything less than that.

That's good right?

(that's a question, not a statment) ha.

the best part about being gone...

is knowing my girls are taken care of by someone i look up to so much.
There's no one in the world i'd rather have take over my small group than Cathy Fields.
I totally miss them...but it makes it easier knowing they are being poured into by someone I think is AMAZING.

There's No Place Like Home...

We are getting ready to start a new series called There's No Place Like Home...

It's all about how no ones family is perfect but how can you help as a high school student.

The 4 weeks are:

why is it so tough, what kind of family do i want, how can i help, and where do we go from here.

I'm writing the small group curriculum to go along with it right now...it's pretty interesting.
Part of week 1 is looking at love languages...which I find to be unbelievably helpful in learning to love people really well.

It's funny how much my scores NAILED me.
If you know me at all...i'm sure you'll agree!

bitter sweet...

my girls in california had homecoming this weekend...they knew how sad i was that i missed it so they took this sweet picture for me.
i love where i am...but i hate missing stuff like this.

Catalyst part 2

Andy Stanley is phenomenal.
He gave a talk on moral authority that was unbelievable.
He was just talking about how when we as leaders say things that don't match up with the way we live our lives we lose moral authority and we lose our influence because people don't respect us nor do they want to follow us.

The three areas where moral authority is commonly lost were
1) forgiveness
2) family
3) finances

the one that got me the most was forgiveness.
Our message is a message of forgiveness and if we are holding on to bitterness and anger in our lives...how can we expect to stand up and give an authentic talk on forgiveness. What we are saying wont match up with how we are living.

He challenged us to make changes in the area where we had lost moral authority.
If it was family...he asked people to go check out of their hotels and go home early.
if it was finances he asked people to write a big check...that it takes a generous person to lead generous people.
if it was forgiveness he asked us to go make it right.

so i did.
I had an area in my life where i needed to ask for some forgiveness and extend some...
so it was great.

i really do want to be a person of integrity and character.
i really do want what i say in front of students to be true in my life.
i really do want to be real and authentic....good or bad...i want to be me.

Catalyst part 1

One of my favorite parts of Catalyst was Dave Ramsey's talk.
You would have thought with all the economy crap going on he would have talked money....but nope.
It was all about how he manages his staff and how important unity is.

He gave 5 enemies of unity (which were BRILLIANT)
1) Poor Communication (the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing)
2) Gossip (a negative is discussed with anyone who can't help solve the problem)
3) unresolved disagreements (when the leader avoids the conflicts taking place within the team)
4) Lack of shared purpose (when the leader doesn't restate the goal or vision)
5) Sanction incompetence (it demoralizes the team when someone on the team gets away with something and a leader won't take action)

He was incredible. My favorite part was when he was talking about gossip. He has a zero tolerance policy on gossip and will fire someone on the spot for it. He said it's enforced so strongly that people are scared to even be in the room where someone else is gossiping.
So awesome.

awesome.

this is a clip from the video i'm making from our worship night 2 weeks ago....

The voice of a junior in high school....amazingly talented
And probably the most humble student I've ever met.
It's so fun meeting new students.
i LOVE my job.
i LOVE these students here.

worst movie ever.

save your money.
but i did go with some really great students :)

Sarah Palin...

i love sarah palin....but this is super funny.

Lyrics

I love good lyrics.

Our student ministries worship leader is ridiculous.
His name is Zach (funny i know) and he's so so good and he writes a ton of his own stuff....
this weekend we sang one of his songs called Where You Are....

Lord you are my light
My true salvation
The stronghold of my
life
Of whom shall I be afraid?

Though pressed upon attacked
My heart will know no fear
It’s not worth turning back
When all I
need is right here

Lord I come to ask that I might dwell here
In your house oh God with your presence near
Lord I come to gaze on the beauty
of your name

It was so so good.
One of our students sang it and she for sure has the most beautiful voice i've ever heard.
She and I hung out for a bit between service and our student leadership meeting....
its feels good to start connecting with students again.

Nephews!

My nephews came to visit me this weekend!!!
So, so so fun!!

Be The Light...

We did a worship night last night that we called Be the Light.
It was a combined high school and junior high event for small groups and it was AWESOME.
The premise was in order to be the light you first have to know the light...
and then to take a stand in your schools...in your homes....in this ministry.
So we had a short message and then had the high school students stand up first...they lit their candles and then formed a circle around the room and we talked directly to them and challenged them to be leaders.
Then we had the jr high students stand and look at the high school students and we talked directly to them and encouraged them to see the high school students as leaders, as examples.
After that we had the junior high students go up to a high school student and light their candle.
It was really, really cool.
We also had stations set up around the room for journaling, communion, prayer, and some specific scriptures to meditate on.
it was a really cool night.

favorite song.

today i miss...

My good friend Zack.

i miss his jokes.
i miss going in his office shutting the door and always having honest conversations.
i miss hanging out and watching movies
i miss laughing constantly at him
i miss his singing
i miss how much he takes care of the girls around him.
love you friend.

who are you looking at?

these are the faces i look at everyday.
:)