Starbucks

So, I got my official Starbucks aprons at work last night. I guess that makes it official, then. I also got a call right before I went to work from Home Depot wanting me to come in for an interview. Great. Why couldn't they have called a day before!? But after being at work last night I've come to the conclusion that Starbucks is really where I want to be. Building relationships with people that I (hopefully) will see everyday when they buy coffee and getting to "know" them. That's what I want to do.

I start my training tomorrow morning at 10am so today I've been hanging around home. I've done some cleaning, some laundry, and gotten some things done that I've been putting off. And drinking coffee through it all!! Wohoo!! I do love the java!!

On a side note...

I've been challenging my brother on the Wii a couple nights this week and I cannot beat him in tennis! In fact, I can hardly win a game against him! But I did beat him in golf last night! I think I'll go practice some tennis while I'm doing laundry...

O Happy Day!

Oh Happy Day!! I am done, finally, with my first bible class!! And I got a job working at Starbucks! I start today. Now I need to go buy some black collared shirts...

Wedding Shower

Andi, Josh, and Avery (their daughter)

My niece, Andi (Andrea), is getting married September 20 and this weekend my sisters, sister-in-law, I gave her a wedding shower. It was a couples thing and it was pretty fun! The weekend began by the siblings (all but one) gathering at my parents house on Friday night. We had my mom's chili (which I love!) and some interesting conversation. It started off with the guys talking about my dad, brother, and nephew's trip to see the Cardinal's play. They had seats directly behind the opposing teams dugout so they were on TV alot. My sister-in-law, Trish, was saying that every time she saw them on TV my brother, Brad, (her husband) was eating and my dad was on his cell phone. Out of the blue my brother-in-law, Brett, said, "I wonder what camera they were catching you on? Center field?" Only Brett would wonder about that...

Then the conversation moved to pizza. My sister, Laurie, said they were getting pizza recently and Brett (same guy as above and her husband) was trying to figure out the area of a 12-inch pizza to see if they would get a better deal on a 14-inch. Again, only something Brett would wonder about...or actually figure out!! Then my brother-in-law, Dave, got involved along with my brother, Dan, and they actually sat there and figured out the areas of 12, 14, and 16 inch pizzas. Wow. Then we started having math class. Dan (former math teacher) was quizzing us on 12X12, 13X13, 14X14, 15X15, etc. and asking us if we knew how to figure those out without using paper. All in all it was a very interesting evening!

The shower was good. Lots of good food and some fun shower games were played! That night we went out to celebrate Brett's 50th birthday - which will actually be on Tuesday. We went to Buffalo Wild Wings and then to one of the Riverboats. Some of us won, some of us lost but we had some great fun together.

Smiling and Favre

I spent the afternoon today doing homework and finished my second to last chapter in my class. Just one more chapter to go!



And if I can't get it finished before the weekend then I'll definitely finish it Monday. This weekend my sister's, sister-in-law, and I are throwing my niece and her fiance a wedding shower at my parents house. It should be a good time.



So, since I'm discovering I don't have much to say in this blog let's talk about Brett Favre.



Is anyone else a little miffed that he returned to football? I'm not saying his decision to retire was an easy one and it was a decision that he appeared to think long and hard about and even as he made the announcement it seemed to break his heart. I guess I just didn't want him to pull a "Michael Jordan". He had a good "last" season and could have gone out on a good note with a good season but now? Who knows. I AM glad that the Packers didn't take him back. It's just that now when he retires (again) he'll always be a Jet and not a Packer. I may have to get a new Packer's jersey as the only one I have is a Favre jersey...and I'm not very happy with him right now.

But that's just my two cents. :-)

Frustrated

Music really speaks to my heart and there's a song I've been playing over and over today that I thought I'd share with you. I had a great day today at church (I LOVE my church!) and spending some time with a friend and then going to my Connection Group where we made homemade pizza and had ice cream. I saw a beautiful sunset on the way home and was just spending time worshipping my Redeemer. Then I got home and checked my email and had one from the proctor of the class I am taking. He and I do not see eye to eye on this class and the required assignments and I must admit the email was very discouraging. I am so frustrated with this class and just want it to be over. But I keep coming back to this song and am reminded again that He's always been faithful to me...even in this season.

Back to PA

I started this post in the Detroit airport last Sunday. And when I went to post it I realized that the Detroit airport does not have free wireless internet. Go figure. So, pretend you're reading this last Sunday...

"Right now I am sitting in the Detroit airport waiting for my flight to Harrisburg, PA. Weren’t you just there, you might ask? Yes, I was…for “work”. But this trip is for pleasure. One of my Brasilian friends, Tamara, married an American from Pennsylvania and they are here visiting his family for a few weeks. I’ll be spending the next few days with Tamara and Chris sightseeing in Philadelphia. It will be great to see her and I’m praying my Portuguese will miraculously return! Not likely, though.

I flew out of Kansas City this morning at 6am. I really don’t like flying out of anywhere else but Des Moines because I don’t like having to drive 2-3 hours once I land just to get home. But this same flight from Des Moines was $400 more expensive than flying out of KC. So I drove to KC yesterday afternoon and I’m not looking forward at all to the drive home. But I’m not thinking about that yet! Once I arrive in Harrisburg today I will have lunch with my regional administrator from ABWE and his wife before Chris and Tamara pick me up. I AM looking forward to that! I’ll try to blog about my trip and post some pics but I’m not making any promises! I will at least post pics when I get home."

It turns out that my Portuguese did return (for the most part) and I didn't have access to internet service while in PA so I wasn't able to blog or upload pics. I had some interesting people on my flight from Detroit to Harrisburg as you can see in this pic...



I had a nun and 2 Amish girls on my flight. That was a first for me!

I'm home now and it was a good trip. My friend, Tamara, recently found out that she has a brain tumor. So I especially wanted to make this trip work to spend time with her before she has surgery for her biopsy once they get back to Brasil. We had fun together talking and laughing and walking (literally) all over Philly! But we saw a lot! At the end of the first day we were pretty far from where we had parked the car so Chris said he would go get it and come pick us up where we were. Both Tamara and I needed to use the bathroom so we went inside one of the really, really nice hotels near us to use the restroom in the lobby. At first Tamara didn't believe we could do that b/c you can't in Brasil. I said sure we can. Just walk past the doorman, smile and say hi! When we found the bathroom even it was incredible!! Inside each "stall" - which really was more like it's own room - there was not just toilet, but a sink with a basket full of real hand towels for you to use. She thought that was pretty cool...and so did I!

You can click here to see pics of my trip.

Weekend Recap

I went with my friends, Ryan and Julie, to the National Balloon Classic in Indianola. Ryan has a friend who is a pilot so we got to go with them and watch them set up the hot air balloon and then we got to onto the actual field while some others were inflated. It was pretty cool to be so close. I've uploaded some pics so take a look!

Yesterday while my newly painted toenails were drying, I was reading 1 Corinthians 1 in The Message Bible. I came across verses 7-9 and it really encouraged me. It says this:

"Just think—you don't need a thing, you've got it all! All God's gifts are right in front of you as you wait expectantly for our Master Jesus to arrive on the scene for the Finale. And not only that, but God himself is right alongside to keep you steady and on track until things are all wrapped up by Jesus. God, who got you started in this spiritual adventure, shares with us the life of his Son and our Master Jesus. He will never give up on you. Never forget that."

You see, I HAD forgotten that this week and God gently reminded me of His promise to never leave me or forsake me. So I had to stop right then and ask Him to forgive me. And He did. And then I went on to read of chapter one and it talks about unity and giving the glory to God that is due His name. It was a good read!

Saturday my church sponsored Art Fest at Centennial Park in Waukee. There was a smattering of artist tents, as well as some great music, free food and giant inflatables and crafts for the kids or the young at heart! It was a chance for Westwind, as a body of believers, to share God's love in a tangible way with the people in Waukee. And I think we accomplished that! It was an amazing example of the body of Christ unified and at work. And it was a blast!!

This morning I went to church at First Family Church in Ankeny. If you're looking for a church home and you live in the Ankeny area I would highly recommend checking out First Family. It was an awesome worship experience from the beginning of the service until the end. But back to 1 Corinthians. Today Pastor Todd preached from 1 Cor 11...the passage where Paul talks about how the (physical) body being a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. Just as it is in Christ. Paul says...in verse 18, "But in fact God has arranged the body..." In verse 24, "But God has combined the members of the body..." And in verse 28, "And in the church God has appointed..." And He did this arranging and combining and appointing "just as He wanted them to be." Why does God take such care in placing people where He wants them? Because He needs just the right combination of arms, and legs, and eyes, and feet, etc. to effectively spread His gospel and ultimately bring Him glory. So if God moves people from one body to the next it's not about that body or even that person. It's about His message and His glory!

So, are you where God can best use you? Or are you even involved in a local body of believers? Because when you find somewhere where you can truly be who God made you to be it's a beautiful thing!