My Friend Rita

This morning I heard a lady on the radio whose name was Rita. It reminded me of Rita that I used to work with. So, when I got to work I sent her a quick e-mail that just said "Hi, I'm thinking of you". She's one of those people who sees the extraordinary in the small everyday life things. Here's part of her reply to me. It encouraged me, I hope it encourages you too. :)

PS-Lloyd and I just harvested our summer garden. Haven't grown one for many years. But I marveled that only months ago we planted "seeds". Small, insignificant, lifeless looking things. Many of them looked the same. We had to keep track where we had put what...

Then as things grew they took on their own unique design and now that they are ready for picking they are beautifully and individually designed and colored. The bonus is we get to eat them but we marveled just to even look at the produce as we dug or picked each one.

Lloyd remembered when he was cutting back our grapevine the teaching from the Gospel of John that Jesus said He was the vine and we are the branches...the fruit doesn't come from us but from the life in the vine. And I thought of "unless the seed falls to the ground and dies it abides alone but if it dies it brings forth much fruit. There has been a lot of life that has come from those seeds that were buried.

And then recently I read of Jesus, that He "emptied Himself" taking the form of a servant. I wondered what it really is like to live "emptied of oneself". I suppose it would look like Jesus :-)

I hope you are enjoying daily the joy of watching God use you in your family and workplace as you live in the vine.

A day in the life...

Hello everyone! I thought it was about time to send out a little update about what's going on with me. I finally have a new job. I'm working in the special events department at the university in town. So far it's going well. I like it. I like the people I'm working with. I get to help plan all the events that the president is involved in. Our next major one is in Aug and a major recording artist is going to be here and I'll get to meet them. It's a band that I grew up listening to thanks to my mom. That's kind of exciting. I'm still working a couple of Saturdays a month at the bank for a little extra income.

I've moved into a new apartment. I LOVE IT! It's much better/nicer/newer than the old one and bonus it has hook-ups for a washer & dryer...and I even have a washer/dryer that I can use. I never thought I would be excited about doing laundry, but there's the truth of it...I am. It's a little smaller than my old apt. The new one doesn't have any kind of a dinning area, no place for a kitchen table. But really, let's be honest...I don't sit at the kitchen table when I eat anyway so it doesn't matter.

The family is doing well. The boys are great. Hayden starts pre-k in about 2 weeks, he's going to school all day! He's a big boy. Rowdy is as cute as ever. When I go to their house, Rowdy comes up to me and grabs my hand and says (with his big brown eyes looking up at me) "Come pay wis me auntjenn, come pay wis me." I have no choice but to go and play...you can't say no to that.

There's been a little drama with the rest of the family. My youngest brother Brett (just turned 20) has decided to date a girl with 3 kids who is still married (she's in the process of getting divorced). My sister tells him and anyone who will listen in no uncertain terms that it's wrong and it's causing some tension between her, the parents and the brother. I agree that it's wrong, but there's got to be a way to say it's wrong and not condone the behavior while still accepting the person. My sis is so far on the truth side of things and the parents are so far on the grace side of things, that they can't seem to find a middle ground. I'm not sure about all this drama...it's driving me a little crazy!

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the drama and anything else you want to share. Love you all :)

Aruba Day 4

Kelly and I went para-sailing...That was a pretty crazy experience. It was a super windy day, so it was kind of a turbulent ride. I think I went as high up as 300 feet. I LOVED IT and I would not hesitate to do it again! Some of these pics Kelly took with my digital camera on the boat...and some of them I took with a disposable camera from 300 feet up in the air...Aruba was just as beautiful way up high as it was up close.

I have lift off!

That's our boat from way up high...and my feet :)

The view behind me

The view in front of me...all the dark spots are rocks/coral in the water...
there's hundreds of colorful fishies swimming around down there


Self portrait from 300 feet

Kelly in the air!!

The "captain" of our boat...you can't see it but this guy has INCREDIBLE arms...


We walked through one of the hotels to get to the beach where went para-sailing
and they had these birds perched everywhere. They were a little camera shy...

Aruba Day 3

Malmok Beach (right next door to Arashi). We went snorkeling here too...pretty amazing!

The Buccaneer...this is where we went to dinner. It wasn't quite what I was expecting, but it was fun. They had aquariums all over and tables right next to them so you could watch the fish and turtles swimming around.