Is It Friday Yet?

Oh, what a week - and it's only Tuesday! 

Yesterday was Bible Club at Will Rogers.  It went really well - especially because it was an open house so we had a lot of potential volunteers present!  During large group, I told a testimony about Jake and about how, when you don't do what God wants you to do, there can be consequences.  (I left out the part that he  chose to leave this world and just said that, because he chose to do drugs, he died young.)  That was really hard and I almost lost it in front of the kids, but they are so sweet and sensitive.  The young girl who, last week, asked me for a Bible started crying because she was so sad for me.  She's seven - I was so proud of her.  In my small group, one of the older girls had gotten into a fight at school so we had a really good conversation about when it's okay and not okay to fight.  I think it's really starting to click, which is great since we've been working on it over six months.

I left work with a serious migraine, and Rio and I went to bed pretty quickly after I got home.  At 5:15 a.m. I woke up and realized my sweet husband STILL hadn't come to bed - he came straight home and started working on homework.  Bless his heart.

This morning I got up and had my first Guidance exam - I am extremely excited because I'm pretty sure I made an A.  Yay!

Off to work soon - excited to see what the rest of the week holds!

The Great State Fair of Oklahoma!

I love the weekends.

Friday at Will Rogers I had a little girl ask me for a Bible so that she could learn more about God.  I am so excited!  Her reading level isn't high enough for an adult Bible, so I plan on buying her a children's Bible that she can start to learn from.  She is one of the kids I have gotten closest to so I am so excited to see her wanting to learn about God on her own!

Friday night was Bunko for Boobies!  It was a lot of time, even though I lost.  I lost so badly that I got the "lowest score" gift.  But it's always fun to spend time with my mom, sisters, and aunt, and it was for a great cause!

Yesterday I went back to Community Youth Outreach.  We had a scavenger hunt and let the kids take pictures with cameras that had been donated to the center.  They had a great time, and it was an excellent chance to get to know a few of the kids better (we were split up into "teams" so I had four young girls on my team).  By the end, they went from not really knowing me to LOVING "Miss Lauren."

After CYO, it was Miss Lillian Lee's birthday party!  I cannot believe she's three already!  She is getting so big - it is crazy to see how grown up she was at the party.  We bought her two Tangled books - which I wrapped as we were walking out the door.  I'm sure you can imagine how lovely that was.

Then Jeff and I went to the fair!  Here is what I've decided: I LOVE the fair.  I wait all year for the fair.  And what do I do at the fair?  Spend too much on admission, spend too much on greasy food that doesn't taste that good but I HAVE to have every year anyway, and walk around a dirty stinky fairground.  And yet - it is one of my favorite things ever.  :)  We went into the ag barns and they had brand new piglets - only a day old!  They were so cute and tiny.  Then Jeff played a game and won me a stuffed pink pig in order to remember the piglets at the fair.

Church this morning was amazing.  It was all about being a world changing leader.  The first step?  Coming up with a mission.  I want to challenge anyone and everyone who reads this - what is your mission?  I want to come up with my own, as well.  Something that Jeff and I will have to work on together.

And a great excitement of the day - one of my two tomato plants sprouted overnight!  Yay, baby tomato plants!  I can't wait for them to grow!

My Baby Tomato Sprouts

Kim and Me at Bunko Night!

Going to the Fair

Oh What A Week

What a great and productive weekend - what an amazing weekend and what an awesome week. 

Saturday I had an amazing time starting out at my field study with Community Youth Outreach.  It is such an amazing program - bringing in inner city children and teaching them about horticulture.  They are so young and already know so much about growing their own food, recycling, and using compost as soil.  Afterwards, I went and interviewed my grandparents for a class project.  The information they gave me was so interesting!  My grandfather talked about not having indoor plumbing until he got married and moved away, remembering the man coming in and installing electricity in his home, and having to use special stamps to buy food during World War II because of the food shortage.  My grandmother talked about all of the things that she did as a child - organ and piano lessons, singing in the church choir, and beginning hula and tap lessons at the age of four!

Sunday was just as amazing!  I went over to Amy's and we baked cookies - two different kinds.  It was great just getting to spend some time hanging out with my best friend!  Her mom and sister came over, too, so we had a lot of fun catching up, laughing, and baking cookies.  Afterwards I went to my parents' house to do laundry - not always fun, but always a great time to spend with mom and dad!

This week has been crazy busy - but extremely rewarding.  Monday marked the  year anniversary of one of my best friends ever - Jake Anthony Miller - taking his life.  I loved him so much and, although I made it through Monday okay, I broke down on Tuesday night.  I guess you just can't hold grief in.  But God is so good. 

We started small groups this week at work.  My kids at WR had some AMAZINGLY deep questions about God and being a Christian.  I was so proud of their maturity and their attempts to truly understand God and how He wants them to live their lives.  At SH, I only had four young ladies in my small group - but it went so well.  The girls were extremely kind and respectful. One young lady, who I have constantly had trouble with, came in and apologized for her behavior and was a completely different child the rest of the day.  I am praying that God is really moving in her heart and that I will have many more great days pouring into her life. 

Unfortunately, this week I found out my graduation plan - is not God's plan.  I will be taking six hours in the spring, three in the summer, and nine in the fall.  Well - Jeff and I will graduate together in December 2012! 

 Amy and Me Baking Cookies

Jake - During the Good Times

I Love Productive Weekends

What a great day!  This morning was my first day at Community Youth Outreach.  I'm doing my adolescent field study there and will get to spend 25 hours learning about these kids, getting to know them, and pouring into them - and it was so much fun!  It amazed me how much information these sweet inner city kids had soaked up from Miss Latonia.  At CYO they teach the kids all about horticulture.  They are planting seeds, creating compost, and caring for gardens.  It was so fun having them explain to me exactly what it was they were doing and why!

Afterwards, I was able to have a great time with my grandparents.  I went to their house to do a video interview with them for my Aging and Adulthood class.  How interesting to hear them talk about segregation, integration, and the lack of electricity and indoor plumbing - things my generation cannot fathom!  They gave me some great material for my project and I cannot wait to get started putting it all together. 

Once we were done with the video interview we sat around, discussing life, food, work, and family.  It is so great to have them to pour into my life - I am so blessed to be able to gain such profound wisdom from them both. 

Now I am at home.  Rio is asleep in between my legs (which is insanely uncomfortable, seeing is how I'm sitting Indian style on the couch) and I am working on finishing up some final homework.  I am so excited for my husband to come home, but am not sure I'll be able to stay awake that long tonight!  Maybe I'll clean the kitchen...

TGIF

It has been entirely too long since I've posted on here - things have been so busy with school starting up!  Jeff has started working at Akins Whole Foods Market and is moving up to a manager position in the next couple of weeks - what a blessing that will be!  He works late most nights, so I've been going to different aerobics classes at UCO in the evenings.  School is going great!  I will know whether or not I will graduate in May by next week at this time - fingers crossed! 

Today has already been a great Friday.  I had an early morning work out, talked to my mom for about half an hour, and got in an hour of homework.  In a little bit, I'm going to pick up my prints and coffee table album from our wedding - and of course have a Sonic date with Mrs. Caitlin Boswell! 

I am so excited for the weekend.  Last weekend was fun, but completely unproductive.  This morning has already been productive and so I am feeling a sense of accomplishment. 

God has really been moving in the kids that I work with.  I am seeing such improvements with many of my older kids, and I am so excited for what God has planned for their lives!

On a more serious note, I am so confused about God's plan for others.  Jeff and I's marriage is amazing, and we've never been happier.  So many people say that things change once you get married but, except for now living together, our relationship has only grown deeper.  And yet so many people we know are having severe marital, familial, and life difficulties revolving around their relationships.  It breaks my heart to see people breaking a covenant that they not only made with one another but also with God.  Though people may not be breaking their marriage, they are breaking their convenant "to love and support" one another.  I want everyone to have an amazing marriage, as Jeff and I have been blessed with, and to realize what it means to love one another through thick-and-thin, not talking bad about each other, and supporting one another through the good times and the bad. 

My prayers go out to all of those who are struggling right now.

I have been really working on becoming a good housewife (even though I also work).  I am TRYING to keep this house clean pretty much always (although it is definitely not always clean) and I have been trying all kinds of new recipes.  My favorite cooking website is skinnytaste.com.  They have the most delicious food and all the recipes are health recipes.  I made chocolate chip cookies this week - and they were well worth the expense of the necessary ingredients!

Here's the link if you want to try them!

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/08/best-low-fat-chocolate-chip-cookies.html

Pictures of the house and family coming soon!

With love!

Physical and Emotional Exhaustion

On Sunday evening, at one of the housing projects I work at, a young man was shot.  Yesterday at work one of my kids told me he had seen the shooting and watched the young man get shot in the head.  Dear God, I pray that you will please have mercy on these sweet kids and watch over them, keeping them safe and with a feeling of Your security.

I am also working on redecorating the living room.  Right now it is kind of just - blah - but I have great ideas for it - just need the money!  :)  Big prayers that money will come and assist in the needs of my blah living room. 

Day One of Blogging

Well, I decided to jump on the wagon train and join a world of technological advances to share my life with others.  With this new way of communicating with others, I am excited to be able to share my thoughts, visions, goals, and dreams with the world. 

God has been doing some amazing things in my life lately.  Getting married is one of the best things to every happen to me, second only to my marriage to Christ.  Jeff and I have been working on making our little garage apartment into a home.  Though it is taking a LOOOOONG time and a huge toll on our energy and ability to think clearly, it is really starting to come together and is looking quite quaint.  We aren't satisfied with it yet, but are on our way to really making it uniquely ours. 

While I love my job, work has been emotionally testing since we got back from our honeymoon.  A mixture of loving the time off with my husband, wanting to be home with him full time, and the emotional stressors my kids at work face in their day-to-day life has started taking a toll on the amount of energy and brain power I have at the end of the night.  I love these kids as if they were my own, and my heart breaks with their stories of abandonment, fear, and the hope that someone somewhere would care for them and love them.  I have not been sleeping well, praying for their safety and security - but mostly praying that they will come to have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus so that they might know someone loves them more than life itself.

Yes, I think I will like having a blog and using it as a way to destress and unwind from the day.