I'll never joke about it again...

Today, I actually did spew coffee.

It happened just after I got to work. I took a drink, it was hotter than I expected and it went down the wrong pipe. I coughed, mouth closed, trying to keep the scalding hot coffee from spattering all over my computer screen. Then I coughed harder, and a fine spray of brown liquid seeped through my clenched lips. That made me laugh...and cough. Tears were streaming down my face. I spewed out another huge spray, then totally lost the mouthful of coffee all over my desk, chair, keyboard, and floor.

IT WAS HORRIBLE!!

Now, I smell like coffee and my keyboard sticks. Plus, I think I burned all of the nose hairs out of my nasal passages. I'll never joke about it again...

Real Challenges at REAL LIFE

REAL LIFE started this week. For those unfamiliar with it, Real Life is the annual student conference held at First Baptist Church of Bridge City. Over two hundred area students were present, of many denominations and ages. As always, the teaching and music were wonderful, but this year's speaker, Mike Satterfield, laid down some unique challenges that spoke to many hearts, mine included.

"Revival will begin with the men of the church," Mike said, his voice strong with urgency. He then called for the men eighteen and older to walk to the altar so that we could pray for them. In response, the men who were present were humbled, many moved to tears, and so were the rest of us. I knew then that we were in for a blessed week, one filled with choices and challenges--hopefully that will leave us with fresh convictions for the coming year.

Camp Monday

We arrived safely at camp and spent the first day just getting registered and into our rooms. The facilities here at Bambi Lake are very nice (much like the facilities at Newton). We are enjoying our first Centrifuge experience, and REALLY enjoying the wonderful weather. It's hasn't been too hot or too cold, which makes the recreations times a lot of fun.

I'll try to post some pictures for you later today. Right now, I'm off to the lake for some swimming with the kids! They've all been great, and it's been a lot of fun spending time with them all.

Leaving Comments

Hello everyone,

I understand there may be a few of you who are confused by the process of leaving comments, so I thought I'd give you a quick tutorial. :-)

Step 1: At the bottom of each post is the word "comments" with a picture of a pencil behind it. Click on the word "comments."

Step 2: A window will open up. In that window is a small dialogue box where you can type your comment.

Step 3: Sign in with your Google Account and password, or your gmail address and password. If you don't have either of these, you can sign in as "Anonymous."

Step 4: Click "Publish your comment."

And that's it, although it make take a little while for your comment to become visible on the Internet. Hope this helps clear things up a bit.

Sunday Service

What a wonderful week we had at Crossroads Community. They truly welcomed us with open arms, then blessed us by including our group in a special prayer time they had for all of the people going to Centrifuge--in both services!! Here is a glimpse of our Sunday morning worship.

After church, we took the kids to Lake Michigan for an afternoon of relaxing and swimming at the beach. They were amazed by how cold the water was! At barely 67 degrees, very few of them actually went swimming. The rest were content to lay on the beach, or swim in the boat channel, which was MUCH warmer.

Later that day, my family surprised me by stopping by to say hello. I was very happy that the kids got to meet all of my sisters and my parents. It was a wonderful afternoon all around.

Busy, Busy, Busy

It's been a busy--but satisfying--week here at Crossroads Community. Friday and Saturday, we worked on the grounds cleaning up the landscaping, painting the parking lot, scrubbing down the brick entrances, and cleaning out storage closets. What a great feeling to have accomplished so much!

Pastor Scott was especially grateful that we cleaned out the entire youth storage closet. He said we did in a couple of hours what might have taken him a full day to accomplish. Yay!

We also cleaned the sanctuary, vacummed all of the carpet, and mopped. Once that was finished, we went to a dollar movie for some down time, then went to the home of a couple here at the church for a HUGE FUGE fellowship with the youth of Crossroads Community. Along with swimming, we roasted hotdogs, played volleyball and football, and had a bonfire. What a great time! Thank you to Sheila and her husband for their wonderful hospitality.

Day 2...And Counting!

It's always fun to see kids learn to love working for the Lord! Once again, we split our group in half. Some of us went back to the park, and the rest went to work with Habitat for Humanity. What a job! Our kids worked hard clearing a site for a new home. When they finished, I'm proud to say that the area was ready for the work crew who would be coming in to start construction on the house. Great job, everyone!!

After such a tiring day, we felt it would fun to take the kids out for a little R & R, so off to Independance Lake we went. The kids had fun playing on a huge inflatable raft Pastor Scott brought...well...until their lips turned blue. It was very easy to spot the Texans. They were the ones shivering on the beach while EVERYONE else raved about how hot it was. Actually, it was a balmy 84 degrees today, and the water temp was probably around 75-80. Yeah.

Tomorrow, we'll be working at Crossroads Community Church doing some clean up and repair to their facilities. Thank you so much for your continued thoughts and prayers. God has been faithful to strengthen us day-by-day!