My favorite quote about being single...

From a comment left on the 'Stuff Christians Like" blog:

Talking about single people, he says...

"Sometimes when we are at a wedding, and are not feeling sufficiently convicted of how pathetic we are for being the only person in the room over 12 years old without a life partner, we need a little extra reminder. That's when its always fun to stop the music, and line us up against the wall so you can throw underwear and dead flowers at us, and point and laugh."

Going to see my brother!!

Yay! Tomorrow morning I am heading out to visit my brother for the weekend! I am SO excited!! Of course, I'm also still completely freaking out about Sunday (speaking at a church, on the radio!), but I'm trying to focus on the exciting part. I get to see my brother!!

This has been an incredibly busy week. I am pretty behind with my AIM stuff, but I will catch up at the beginning of next week. I had a lot of prep to do for my Kids Club lesson this week (why did I decide to do science experiments?) as well as preparing for this weekend. I still feel very NOT ready for Sunday, but we'll just have to see how it all goes! I will be SO glad when Monday gets here!

So, most of tomorrow will be spent in the car, listening to a book on cd. On Saturday my brother is running a "boot camp" for several of his personal training clients, and I will be attending. He says it shouldn't be too intense for me...we'll see!! Not sure what we'll do the rest of the day, but I'm sure we will have fun! Sunday morning the church is having a breakfast for me, AND they are taking me out to lunch afterwards. My brother will be going to church with me (yay!), but probably not the other stuff...he's not much of a socializer. :) I'm hoping to leave South Boston by about 3 so I'm not home too late. Its going to be a quick, but fun weekend!!

Now, if I could just stop my heart from racing every time I think about speaking at the church...

Sorry

The weather was pretty much perfect for our run today.

Sorry Jesus.

Seriously??

I go running 3 days a week with the girls. We go on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays.

Here is next week's weather forecast:


Seriously??

A Dream Come True!!

Yesterday, one of my long time dreams finally came true! I got to see "Phantom of the Opera" on Broadway!!! It was AMAZING!!!

I read the story in the 9th grade as a part of my band class and absolutely fell in love with the sound track. That year, the class took a trip to New York City where we were supposed to see Phantom live on Broadway. Unfortunately, we found out at the last minute that only 20 people from the class were going to get to go, the rest would see "Damn Yankees". Even more unfortunately for me, my name was not drawn as a winner for the Phantom tickets. It was really sad for me because several people who DID go see Phantom came back talking about how they slept through most of it!!!!!

I actually did enjoy "Damn Yankees" and have since seen "Les Miserables" (twice), "Stomp" (twice) and "Beauty and the Beast" in New York, but never made it to Phantom. My usual way of getting tickets is to wait in line at the TKTS booth in Times Square. They have CRAZY discounted seats, but you have to choose from whatever shows they happen to have available that day. Of course, Phantom was never on the list when I went. So, I was still just holding out for the chance to go. 15 years and counting...

Thankfully, my friend Shera decided to see how cheap matinee tickets would be, and she found them for $30!! Of course, we were in the very top row in the balcony (the absolute farthest away you can be from the stage), but who cares!! It was Phantom of the Opera!!!!

So, yesterday became of the greatest days ever for me. First, we boarded the El Train to 30th Street Station. From there we boarded the Bolt Bus to take us to NY. The Bolt Bus cost us $10 each way, and they have wireless Internet on the bus!! Its a GREAT way to get to NY (and they go to DC and Boston as well!). The Bolt Bus dropped us off about 5 blocks from the theater, so we got some lunch and then headed to the matinee.

The show...well...it was EVEN BETTER than I imagined it would be!! I loved every second of it!!! I still can't believe I actually got to see it! I want to see it again someday with better seats. If I was enthralled from the very back row, I can't even imagine being close to the stage!!!!

After the show we grabbed some dinner, did some touring (we were also close to the Empire State Building, although we didn't pay to actually go in), and then headed back to the bus to take us home. It was so relaxing, simple, and cheap!! YAY!!!

Of course, now I am paying for taking an entire day off in the middle of the week; I'm pretty sure I will be working non-stop until next weekend...but I DON'T CARE!! I saw Phantom of the Opera Live!!!!!!!!

Freaking Out

I am more than a little freaked out right now. Its a good kind of freak out though, if there is such a thing. Its the kind of freak out where you know that God is up to something big, but its still really scary! Yeah, that's me right now...

As I mentioned before, I will be heading to South Boston, VA in 2 weeks to hang out with my brother (WOOHOO!) and speak at a church (Ash Ave. Baptist). When I agreed to speak I was under the impression that I would simply share 5-10 minutes about myself and my ministry. I was a little off...

Apparently, I am the entire service. So, I will be speaking for 30-40 minutes. In addition, several churches in town take turns having their services broadcast on the radio; and my Sunday just happens to be the Sunday that Ash Ave Baptist will be on the radio. AHHHH!!!!

Many of you are probably reading this and laughing at me, and that's fine. I hope its because you have the confidence in me that I don't have in myself. :) I know in my head it will all be fine, but I will continue to freak out until its over. (I am nervous EVERY Tuesday night before Kids Club, but I do manage through, haha). 30 minutes, and on the radio?!?

I'm not just nervous about the speaking (although that's a big part of it!), but I'm not sure how I will find the time to really prepare what I want. I guess I need to work on that whole "trust in God" thing.

This is not the only reason I am freaking out, however. There is more...

AIM will be flying me to Chicago the first weekend in April to teach a one day seminar to youth pastors. Hopefully I will have a co-leader (and hopefully he will do the majority of the speaking!), but still...more standing in front of people and speaking.

Oh but wait, there's more! My aunt has invited me (and I stupidly accepted!) to come and speak to her women's bible study group....of about 100 women! This talk (which will most likely come 2 days after I return from Chicago) will be completely different from my Ash Ave Baptist presentation. Instead, I will be focusing more specifically on the gifts God has given me and how He has called me to use them. So, while I will be sharing about my ministry, the bigger focus will be on my life with God, especially a single woman in ministry. I'll say it again...AHHHHHH!!!

Can you tell I'm a little nervous?

And, while preparing all of these talks and presentations, I also have Kids Club and Children's Church to prepare. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed. Can't we go back to the days when people just told me what to do, and I did it?

I liked those days...