Searching for Lost Treasure

Today I went to the lake with Ira and Danielle. We had lots of fun except for the biting fish. The geese were lots of fun especially watching Danielle chase them and all of us feeding and honking at them. They squeak when they are content and hiss at you when they are mad. Well today we were doing flips in the water and my favorite sunglasses fell off and I couldn't find them. We spent 20 minutes looking for them. It was very difficult because even tough the water was faily clear it is hard to see when you are almost over your head and your feet are stirring up the dirt.
While looking we found sticks, a cell phone and eventually my glasses. We were curious to know if someone got mad and tossed the phone in the lake or if they just forgot they had it on their person and walked in the water. I always enjoy hanging out with the girls. They will keep you young.

Nothing Accomplished

Do you ever watch time go by and get nothing accomplished. I would have to say that I am the biggest procrastinator in the world. I have 2 months off in the summer and only a few goals around the house but somehow never manage to get around to it. I now only have 2 full days remaining of my summer vacation and still haven't cleaned out the closets, cleaned up the junk room etc. Sometimes I get on my own nerves and get frustrated with myself. I just don't know how to get started. I just wander in circles going from room to room or task to task. Mike tells me just organize myself and do one thing at a time but I DO NOT Know how to do that either. He and other organized people just don't understand that my brain just doesn't work that way regardless of how hard I try. Now it's time to focus and get onto the task of school. I know the first day my teacher assistant will ask me if I have been taking my ADD supplements because I will have a ton of work to do and will manage to do circles around my classroom for the first 2 hours accomplish nothing.

It's About That Time

It is about that time to return to work. I have to go to work on July 28th and the students return on August 3rd. I am not ready to return. I will be happy to see my students but I need a vacation. Summer was just too short and it is VERY WRONG to return to school in July. I have been very busy. I started off the summer shooting a wedding at the beach and it was lots of fun. I then had Thyroid surgery. While recovering from that I went to a conference for Assistive Technology(work related stuff). Upon returning I washed my clothes and then went on a vacation with Mike. We went to Gulfport Mississippi and then took a day trip to New Orleans. It was relaxing. After that I went to Miami on a mission trip (mentioned in previous blog) and now I have been enjoying the rest of my summer. I have hung out with some of the girls in the youth group, been shopping and that's about it. I am mentally not ready to return. I know once I get into the swing of things it will be ok and I'll enjoy it again. Pictured above is my team (Team Jamaica) from Mission Miami '05 and the sunshine yellow house we painted. They were a great team.

Mission Miami '05

Wow! I just go back from Miami with 12 of our youth. It was a long week. We served all over Miami through various agencies. I enjoyed the hard work but the most challenging thing for me was to drive everyday through the city. I drove 12+ hours to get there and then had to drive every day. It is not like it is around here if you miss your turn you just go to the next exit. Every exit was a new interchange another major expressway. Needless to say I got lost several times but somehow managed to find my way again. I had one of my youth on my team (Tim Barret) to become the navigator because there is no way you can read a map and drive in Miami traffic at the same time. It's kind of like our spiritual walk. We have a navigator in Christ with out him we will get lost in this adventure we call life, but it we turn to him and follow his way we will be found. There was one day that I was so tired, had a head ache, and could not think straight, I even got lost on the route that we traveled everyday and I knew the way. everything began to look the same. That day I was falling asleep standing up. Todd the director prayed for me that night for energy and the next day I felt so refreshed despite the little sleep we were getting every day. The verse in the Bible where it says "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" became very real to me because I could not have done it any other way. I told Alan our youth minister that I DID NOT want to drive in traffic. He didn't even know that we were going to have to do so every day.
I am excited about the fire that was started in our youth. The theme of the camp was Catalyst. I think it did just that, it stirred up in them a desire to serve others and they are looking to see what type of things we can do to serve here in Augusta.