Prayer

There was an ambulance in the neighborhood yesterday. I heard it come up the Valley and it kept getting closer and closer and closer. I quickly pulled up my favorite site that tells me where the fire engines and ambulances are going and there was my street name! Yikes!

Curiosity got the better of me and I went out onto our porch to look down the street and the ambulance was right next door. Yo Momma knits with Lovely Next Door Neighbor, she's been to our house a number of times but could I remember her name? Nope. All I could come up with was her husbands name. So I started praying...turns out, that's the name that God wanted me to be thinking of anyway. Lovely Next Door Neighbor was fine, it was her husband that needed the intercession.

I have a friend, I'll call her Contemplative Quilter, who has said many times that in the midst of her day, if the name of someone she knows comes to mind, she will pray for that person at that moment. It may be just a repeating of their name and a time of silence but she believes that person has come to mind for a reason and will intercede on their behalf with God. As I reflect on yesterday's ambulance moment, and as I read the email from Lovely Next Door Neighbor about what was going on while I was desperately trying to remember her name, I am fully convinced that God kept her name from me on purpose because she was not the one who needed prayer.

God works in mysterious ways...and for that I am actually pretty glad.

If I had Twitter...

this is what I would have posted today.

7:30am--little birds outside my window, if i had a b.b. gun, you would be gone.

10am--Star$'s really, really needs to be open today.

10:15am--Payten just left me a voicemail...yes a 3 month old can talk...Auntie B in tears.

10:30am--Star$'s open! Hallelujah! Everyone who sees me today will be grateful.

11:30am--Next best thing to seeing Payten, seeing Sammy.

2pm--Local store open too. Good thing. 1 pumpkin pie to bake and 3 really outdated cans of evaporated milk at home. Gross.

3:30pm--Just ran over something in Aunt & Uncles driveway...pretty sure it was the paper...don't really want to check.

4:15pm--Turkey good injected with lots o butter good. Really, really good. So is sparkling wine.

4:45pm--I love stuffing. And mashed potatoes. And sweet potatoes.

6pm--Blessed to have a family that loves to laugh.

6:30pm--Pumpkin cake w/cream cheese filling and chocolate ganache oh so yummy.

7:30pm--Is it bedtime yet?

Happy Turkey Day!

Things running through my head...

• Two phrases making me crazy..."You know" and "right?", as in "I just made this statement and want you to agree with me so I'll say 'right' afterwards." I want to scream..."No I don't know and I think you're wrong!".
• Yo Momma and I attended Big Church Meeting Saturday. I enjoyed several things about the morning but left feeling a little sad. During the course of Big Church Meeting a Pastor commented that Big Church isn't doing a great job "handing down our faith". I wanted to yell out AMEN!!! That was something that was evident the moment I entered the room. There were three of us there that looked to be 35 and younger...some 40 somethings and a lot 50 and over. Big Church Meeting ended with a presentation on how we can be healthier, as in physically healthier, not church healthier. I sat their thinking that the Church is focusing on some things, that though they are important, should take a back seat to the big elephant in the room...the Church universal isn't doing such a great job of handing down faith.
• The countdown to Mississippi is on. 25 days until I'm on a plane heading towards Pearlington. Prayer Warriors and financial sponsors still needed. Sponsors should head to this site www.ca2ms.blogspot.com for team information and sponsor information!
• Speaking of the Mississippi trip, there are 5 of us that will be spending Christmas in Mississippi. I'm looking forward to Shrimp Scampi for Christmas Eve dinner...yum, yum, yum...and a walk on the on Christmas Day.
  
• Sunday the Young Adult group went to lunch together down by the Yacht Harbor. We were sitting at a restaurant's outside patio, enjoying the sun and the heat coming from the outdoor heater that another table had requested. There were birds all over the place and one seagull decided that it needed a resting spot...and choose the top of the outdoor heater. It took about a second for the heat to register on it's feet and that bird shot off the heater and swooped down to the harbor below, feet first. I feel bad for the bird but it was pretty amusing at the same time. As was Sir Joe's reaction. I don't think I've seen someone laugh like that in a long time.
  
• Why is it that the weeks that are short on workdays are the ones filled with the most stuff to do? And the most interruptions? Back to work for me!
  

At the trampoline place

Today was the Middle School groups turn to go on an adventure. We headed over to the local trampoline place. It's basically a warehouse with a bunch of trampolines, a foam pit and a dodge ball area. The kids love it. I love watching them love it and laughing with them along the way. I was reminded, as we were driving home, why we do these things in youth ministry. It's not really about the place we go to, it's about the car ride, the time in a small space where the youth have to relate to each other. R-girl was my chaperone this time. I think it was good for her to see the other side of youth ministry as well.

The hard part, though, about going out in public is, well, the public. There were two mom's at the trampoline place that were so rude. At one point one of the mom's was berating a child (not her own, not with her, didn't know him at all) for not waiting in line. Didn't matter that she had just walked up and decided there should be a line or that this child had been jumping on the trampoline for awhile without many others around him. Then mom number two yelled at another child for the same thing. Again, the child had been jumping, no one was there, how were they supposed to know? Both kids walked away from the trampolines with a stunned look on their faces.

I'm pretty sure the mom's had no clue about their rudeness, nor did it seem like they would care very much...but I'm willing to bet if someone had treated their child that way there would have been hell to pay! I warned my group to stay away from the mom's and to make sure they waited in line, which they did. It was a good day.

Dear Brain,

I get the message...I need to exercise more.
Can you please, now, help me remember everything I'm supposed to take with me to the copy room upstairs?
Because time is running out and I keep having to run up and down the stairs after I've forgotten yet ANOTHER thing that needed to be copied, signed, placed in someones box, given to the Office Admin or done in the general vicinity of the upstairs of the church. Requiring a quick dash back to my office or back upstairs. And we both know what happens when I dash back to my office...I get distracted by the myriad of things that need to be filed, recycled, dealt with, email/phone that needs to be checked and things that need to be put away.
Please, please, please can I just remember everything and make one trip? Please?

Sincerely,
Brittany

What I did today

Today the local schools were out for Veteran's Day. I made the decision in August to do something fun with the High School Youth Group during the day and have the night off. So today we went to the Zoo. One of my chaperone's was a former Youth Group member. 10 years ago, when I started, he was in High School and he was that teenager. The one who lacked a mute button or an edit button. The one who would pull whatever stunt he could to make others laugh. The one who started the trouble and the one who was always getting "the eye" from me. I will admit to being very, very glad when he graduated high school.

The last year former YG member has moved back home and has become a regular volunteer with the High School group. He's grown up but still lacks an edit button at times and likes to pull stunts. Age has mellowed him a little, though, and the stunts are now projected onto the High School youth themselves. His favorite target is the current YG member who, I realized today, is kinda like him. Current YG member lacks a mute or edit button and likes to pull pranks, though his aren't as ingenious as former YG member's were. No kidding. As they punched each other, shared verbal jabs and bonded in the way that boys do, it occurred to me that they are much more like each other than they realize. It made me smile.

But beyond making me smile I felt grateful. Grateful for the opportunity to have been in ministry for 10 years, for the ability to see some of the youth grow into pretty awesome young adults and for the ability to spend a Wednesday in November at the Zoo.

It was a fun day at the Zoo...and a fun reminder that the faces of the youth may change over the years, but there will always be that one guy...what would we do without them?

Friday Five--What's New?

Songbird over at RevGalBlogPals says:

There's a new baby on my street, a double PK whose Mom and Dad are Methodist pastors and church planters. I'm hoping to go over and meet her today. I love new babies, the way they smell and their sweet little fingers and toes. Little K has me thinking about all the new things that please us with their shiny freshness.

Please share with us five things you like *especially* when they are new.

1. Sweatshirts. Yo Momma and Papa Bear went to France this fall and brought me home a zip-up sweatshirt from Paris. I love the soft, fuzzy feel of the lining. Hmmm...might have to wear it today.

2. Planning Calenders. It's silly but looking at a blank, clean calendar is refreshing. Then adding in all the things that I get to do during a month (in pencil, no pens allowed!), reminds me that I'm blessed to have a job that allows me to have so much fun!

3. Highlighters. I can't explain it. I just like new highlighters, which is why every time I take a class, I go out and buy new highlighters. It's the little things in life that make me happy.

4. Paint on walls. The paint fumes, not so much, but the clean look of new paint is refreshing. Especially when I like the color :)

5. Babies. Their fresh scent, their peacefulness when they are sleeping and the snuggling. I think I like the snuggling the best.

Dots of things I forgot...

• Payten came to visit (brought her parents along too) last month. We had some good Auntie B and Baby P bonding time (still working on a blog name for her) and took our self-portraits again. She got to meet cousin Anthony and they bonded at the beach. Aren't they cute? We also went pumpkin huntin'...Payten was not impressed.

• Adventure Boy turned 3 (three!) at the beginning of October. I couldn't help myself and made him a cake. Word on the street is that he liked his airplane cake.
• K, Meg and I went to a Vince Gill concert in October...that man can sing! But has terrible taste in shirts. No kidding, it was painful to look at. Anyway we took a pact, at that concert, that there were certain things we would never do. #1. Have perfect hair. #2. Overload on perfume or powder (the fumes just about did us in!). #3. No Aqua Net (see #2). #4. Will not wear clothes that have been bedazzled. #5. No side-shaved haircuts. My #6. would be never to let the men in our lives wear shirts that were obnoxious...wish I could find a picture of it!
  
• Last week at High School group our sole 9th grade boy came early to youth group. Another young lady came in soon after and both were enjoying their dinner of Nachos from Taq V (the place to eat in town) and talking about life. I can't remember the conversation but at one point 9th grade boy clapped his hands three times. His next comment was "but that word only has three syllables." It took me a moment and then I burst out laughing. I love that he had to say the word in his head and clap his hands to figure out how many syllables were in the word. To all you teachers out there, students are paying attention!
• This one happened tonight so it's not really something that I forgot to tell you but something I had forgotten just the same...middle school boys squeal just as much as middle school girls. The game of tag tonight was pierced with squealing/screaming and I was getting after the girls to be quieter when Pastor's Son ran past me, wait for it, wait for it...squealing. :)