Linda

Man this girl is growing up! She definitely looks older, and she is really starting to act older as well. And I am really impressed with who she is becoming.

My eyes were really opened last week on the God Squad retreat. She is a teenager. In every way. I saw boys looking at her, and her looking at boys. I must say my heart dropped a little until she pulled me aside and wanted to talk to me about a specific boy. She likes him and he likes her but she doesn't want to do anything that God doesn't want. The guy she likes is very serious about God, which is what she really likes about him. She wanted advice and prayer. Linda??

She really connected with Lindsay a lot on the retreat and has since decided that Lindsay is her best friend. This makes my heart sing. Lindsay is a very solid 16 year old who is not only serious about her relationship with the Lord, but also very serious about not letting boys get in the way. I have been discipling Lindsay for years and I LOVE that she and Linda are getting so close.

Tonight Lindsay called because she wanted Linda to spend the night at her house. Linda was already planning on spending the night with me, so Lindsay just came over with her. I love it.

Linda still faces a lot of challenges. If she does it, she will be the first girl in her family to save herself for marriage. She is scared that she won't be able to do it, but she really wants to.

This past Monday at God Squad sent me home crying, happy and sad tears. At God Squad we break up into small groups at the end of the night to talk about the lesson more in depth. I usually ask that Linda NOT be put in my group because I think she might be more open if I'm not there. For some reason, though, Andy put her in my group this week. Our conversation started out pretty lighthearted at first, and then out of nowhere Linda burst out laughing. Uncontrollable. She couldn't stop...tears were coming to her eyes she was laughing so hard. She asked to leave and spent most of the rest of the small group time (only about 5 min or so), in the bathroom.

As we were leaving God Squad, Linda pulled me aside and said she really needed to talk to me.

She hadn't been laughing. She was crying. Uncontrollably. But, she didn't want anyone to know that she was crying, so she covered it up by pretending to laugh.

Why was she crying? She had no idea. She began to share with me that during worship that night, for the first time ever in her life, she felt God. She wasn't just singing, she knew that God was there. And as we started talking in our small group, her emotions overwhelmed her and she couldn't control it. Everything that she has been dealing with, things she had been bottling up inside of her, came flooding out in uncontrollable tears. Why then? Because she knew God was there. She could finally begin to let things go.

She started to cry as she told me this, and of course I did to. I went home after we talked for a while and just wept. I cried happy tears thanking God for being her Father...but also many sad tears as I thought about all the difficulties this beautiful (not so) little girl has had to face.

At one point in our conversation she looked at me, tear streamed face, and said, "Why did my dad have to beat my mom?"

She knew I didn't have the answer, but she needed to finally ask the question.

Linda is a Kids Club leader now with me in the 7-10 year olds. Little kids are already looking up to her. Enjoying her. Wanting to be like her.

I have had the privledge of watching her grow up for the last 6 years. Its crazy to think that she was a little foul-mouthed, undisciplined and full of attitude (and laughter) 7 year old when I met her. And look at her now. Last weekend while I was in Chicago I confessed to my friends my doubts. I LOVE Bonita and Linda more than I could ever say. Yet, like with any child, I understand that there are no guarantees as to how they will grow up. I wonder all the time what will her future entail.

Linda still has a lot of growing up to do, and a lot of mistakes to make. But, I feel like God is giving me just a glimpse of His plans for her.

And no surprise...they are beautiful and perfect.

Finally!!

Yay! I finally have some time to write! And I have SO much to say! I think I'm going to post several different posts on the different topics I have been dying to talk about over the last few weeks, so get ready for plenty to read!! I hope I can get through all of it...I am having a sleepover right now with Bonita, Linda, Monique, Tasha and Lindsay. So, we'll see how long I last without being called away to judge a dance contest or preview the next great rap. I am SO thankful that these girls have the relationships that they do. I'll talk more about that in a different post...

Of course, I have to start with the cruise! I still miss it and we all are already trying to figure out when we can go again. It was an AMAZING vacation!!

I went with my friends Frank, Elizabeth, Shera, Jonerik and Emily. We flew out pf Philly early on Monday, and even had fun waiting in the airport, playing games and trying to hold in our excitement. We arrived in Miami, immediately found a cab that dropped us off at the ship, and easily made our way onto the ship; and it was even better than we imagined!! Our rooms were kinda small, but who cares! We spent most of our time touring the ship, or touring the islands!!

The itinerary had us stopping at a different island each day, arriving around 8 a.m. and disembarking (or taking off as Jonerik called it) around 5 p.m. So, we had plenty of time each day to enjoy the ship as well as the island. Our first stop brought us to Grand Bahama island. Elizabeth, Frank and Shera decided that they wanted to spend the first day relaxing on the ship, but Jonerik, Emily and I decided to tour the island. First we looked into renting scooters, but it was kind of expensive and it turned out I was the only one old enough (though that would have been a really funny picture...me driving with JE and Emily on the back of my scooter). So, we decided to take a cab into the "city" and hang out at the beach a bit.

God had something even more amazing in store for us! As we walked along the beach we saw some jet skis. We couldn't tell if they were for rent or not but started talking about how much fun they would be. So, we decided to ask and they were for rent!! So, we rented the jet skis for an hour and got to ride over a mile out to sea (over crystal clear blue waters). It was AMAZING and SO BEAUTIFUL!! We had a blast!!!

The next day we stopped at Nassau Island, which has a really amazing casino. We didn't gamble, but did go to their aquarium and took a boat tour of the island. All six of us spent the day together and had a blast (of course). We're kind of like the TV show "Friends"...when you get all 6 of us together, its just awesome. :)

Our last island day was spent in Great Stirrup Cay, a private island owned by Norwegian Cruise Lines. The people on the ship were the only people on the island. It was GREAT!! Jonerik, Emily, Frank and I decided to rent snorkel gear and check out the sea life. The water was so clear and beautiful, goggles were hardly necessary. It was the most relaxing day! The cruise ship even had an amazing lunch buffet set up for us on the island!!!

The food on the cruise was beyond delicious and we all ate way more than we ever should. Plus, every night we got to see different shows the ship had, went to a karaoke bar on the ship, and enjoyed walking around the ship (trying to work of some of the food we ate, haha). I also had some good time to spend alone reading, and hanging out with Jesus. Our only complaint was that the cruise did not last long enough. Next time we will definitely go for at least a week!!

That vacation was an incredible gift from God that I am still in awe of. Every once in a while I will find myself thinking..."I was on a cruise?!? In the Bahamas?!?".

Yes, yes I was. And it was SWEET. :)

So You Think You Can Dance!!

If you know me at all (which most of you do), you know that my favorite show of the year is So You Think You Can Dance. Its kind of like American Idol, but for dancers...and a thousand times better. The show is only one once a year, in the summer, and I literally count down the days to the season premiere of each year. I LOVE the show!

If you know me, you also know that I get very into TV shows. So You Think You Can Dance is no different. I fall in love with the people as well as the dances. Thankfully, each year the top 10 dancers go on tour performing their best dances from the season. I went to see the tour 2 years ago but couldn't afford it last year. This season was my favorite season so far, so I knew I HAD to see the show live. Unfortunately, this was also the first year they didn't come to Philly!!

Thankfully, they did have a show in Chicago, and my roommate from last summer, Brooke, just happens to live just outside of Chicago. I called her when tickets went on sale and she said she would definitely be interested in going to the show. Our friend Ashley (who also lived with me for a while last summer) doesn't live far from Chicago either and also said she wanted to go. So, I bought the tickets and we made plans for a girls weekend in Chicago.

If I thought the excitement of the show was a lot to take, the excitement of the LIVE show coupled with a girls weekend with 2 of my favorite people in the world was almost too much to take!! Thankfully, there wasn't a lot of time between the cruise and my Chicago trip (less than a month), so I survived. Barely...

So, last weekend I flew to Chicago for a weekend of awesomeness!! Ashley, Brooke and I screamed when we saw each other and had non stop fun all weekend long...even when we got into long, somewhat confusing, political discussions. We are all strong, single women who love people and love the Lord...we're like Charlie's Angels, haha!! :)

So, Friday night was the show. All 3 of us were SO excited. It took us forever to figure out how to get around Chicago (their maps were not helpful), but we made it to the show and screamed our way through our favorite dances and even getting to see all of our favorite dancers perform solos. I could have gone home right after the show and still had an amazing weekend!! Thankfully, we still had a full day of fun to go!!

We left the show and again took forever to get back to the hotel. Chicago is not an easy city to maneuver around. Plus, we didn't get a chance to eat before the show so we were starving by the time it was over. We couldn't find ANYTHING open in the city, but did find a 24 hour burger stand across the street from our hotel. Grease never tasted so good! :)

Saturday was spent touring the city (thankfully Brooke and Ashley had been there before so they at least knew what to visit). We saw some cool stuff, but really just laughed a lot and really enjoyed one another. I didn't want the weekend to ever end. We are apparently getting old, though, because by about 10 p.m., we were exhausted. We went back to the hotel, got some dessert from the restaurant next door and went to sleep after watching a little bit of Saturday Night Live.

Sunday was a VERY boring day for me, at least after we all separated. I had a 4 hour wait in the Chicago airport, and that airport is NOT fun. I did get to read, and I can't complain because the rest of the weekend was so amazing. I REALLY love those girls and didn't want to leave them. I was kinda ready to get back to Philly, but I wanted them to come with me. :)

Another Lame Excuse

You guessed it, still no cruise report, or really anything else substantial. The sad thing is, I have SO much to tell you! Just no time to tell it all. That's seriously how my life has been lately. Extremely busy with no time for anything except work, eat, sleep...I'm even really struggling to find time to work out, much less blog! That should change soon...I hope!

You won't be hearing from me this weekend. I am heading to the airport at 5:30 a.m. (ugh!) to fly to Chicago. There I will meet up with 2 of my favorite people in the world and we will spend the weekend living in up in Chicago! Oh, and we will be seeing the So You Think You Can Dance Tour LIVE tomorrow night at the United Center!! I'm SO PUMPED!!

My friends Brooke (roommate from last summer) and Ashley (AIM summer staff for 4 summers) both live close enough to Chicago to take the train, so I thought this would be a perfect excuse to get to hang out with them!! I CAN'T WAIT!!

So, when I get back I will not only have a cruise post to write, but a Chicago one as well. I need to get on the ball!!

I also got all new furniture for my house and can't wait to show the pics. I LOVE the way my house looks right now!

I also really want to share what's been going on in ministry. We've hit the "boys" stage with Bonita, Linda and Monique. I was not ready for this...

Anyway, that should be enough to keep you coming back for a little while, hehe. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, I know I will! Thank you Jesus for undeserved, but wonderful blessings!!!

Sorry...I still need a few days!

I know I promised a cruise update and I haven't delivered...I am so sorry! I hit the ground running when I got back and haven't really had much time to stop! I am extremely busy, but also motivated for once, so I'm trying to capitalize on this! I did upload all of my cruise pictures onto my Phanfare site, so you can enjoy them there! I will give you a full update in a few days...seriously this time!

A quick update on everything else going on:

* I came back to an inbox with 143 emails. I just finished replying to them all yesterday. Whew!

* I am REALLY trying to get on track with my exercise and eating. Doing great on the exercise front, not so much on the eating. I know it will take time, and I need to make sure I make that time!

* My phone has been ringing off the hook from teens all this week. They all have SO much going on!! I am really praying through my involvement with them, please pray with me. I really feel called to kids ministry, and I am realizing that teens actually get 80% of my time (if not more). I feel like the kids are getting short-changed and I don't think this is how God wants me to spend my time.

* I'm getting new furniture!! I found an awesome couch and love seat on craigslist for a really great price, and they will be here on Tuesday!! I also found a dining room table and new TV stand that I love and I will be checking them out next week as well. All of the furniture I have right now was given to me and is WAY too big for my house. (I am throwing out my couches..they are old, disgusting and are apparently Gizmo's favorite place to throw up).

* I am selling the rest of my living room/dining room furniture! I put my living room/dining room stuff up for sale on craigslist and currently have 3 people interested!! This will help me pay for my new stuff! Yay!!

* I am finally starting a retirement plan! There is a great non-profit retirement plan I found through AIM (though I can continue it even if I don't work for AIM). I'm pumped to actually be planning for the future!

* I am heading to Chicago this coming Friday for a weekend with my friend's Ashley and Brooke...and we're going to see the So You Think You Can Dance Tour Live!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Alright, that's all the important stuff that I can think of. I started a deep cleaning of my house today to get ready for my new furniture. My living room and dining room have never been cleaner! I even cleaned behind and under everything! I also cleaned the laundry room (which is so small it can't actually be called a room) and organized it so I can find things. I also made room in there for my roommate's bikes; I don't like them in the living room. I'm so anal. :)

It took forever, but I feel so much better having everything clean! My next free day will be spent on the kitchen and bathroom (probably 2 weeks from now). I really need to clean my room too, but I think I can get that done some time next week. The kitchen and bathroom need some serious time and bleach. :)

You can continue to pray for my roommate situation. No matter how many times I explain things to her, she feels like I am kicking her out...but is refusing to move in with the friend who has a spare room. So, needless to say, things could be better. I know God has a solution, so I am just leaning on him. For now, I will use her rent money to help pay for new furniture. :)

Okay, I am off! I am leaving tomorrow to go on the God Squad retreat, and I'll be back Monday night. I am kinda nervous about this trip since so many of the teens are going through so much (there was almost a really big fight at Teen Club last week). In fact, the only real reason that I am going is Linda, Monique and Pedro are all going this year. I always learn a lot from the lessons as well, so I'm excited to be challenged. Hopefully the teens will be as well.

I'm Waiting

I will post Cruise details and pics tomorrow, I promise!

In the meantime, I wanted to share the lyrics to my new absolute favorite song. Its the story of my life right now...really for the last 28 years. Its from the soundtrack for "Fireproof". I love it.

While I'm waiting

I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am hopeful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it is painful
But patiently, I will wait

I will move ahead, bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience
While I'm waiting
I will serve You
While I'm waiting
I will worship
While I'm waiting
I will not faint
I'll be running the race
Even while I wait

I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am peaceful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it's not easy
But faithfully, I will wait
Yes, I will wait
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve you while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting on You, Lord