another thanksgiving has come and gone...as a fan of food, i definitely enjoy thanksgiving for all its yummy dishes. though i've come to the conclusion that i enjoy the day for a few other reasons. i had a conversation with a customer a few days after turkey day about why we both enjoy thanksgiving and wish it got a lot more love rather than how our society moves straight to Christmas after halloween (disclaimer: i'd say Christmas as our culture uses it for presents and spending and materialism rather than the focus on the Christ's birth).
the lady said it best when she said there's such a simplicity to thanksgiving and i absolutely agree. with thanksgiving, there's no pressure to have the right presents or spend the right amount or whatever crazy pressure americans place on themselves but instead we get to enjoy a day of family, friends, food, football(& even some basketball), and time to reflect and appreciate all we have been blessed with for which we should be eternally grateful. i'm such a fan of just hanging out and spending quality time with folks that turkey day just suits me.
and this year was no different. since i work in retail, it's hard for me to spend the day with my immediate family but i'm lucky enough to have friends who will invite me to join their family for the day. this year i spent the day with leslie & derek irons plus derek's family. it's always weird to spend a holiday without your own family but the irons' are so great at making me feel welcome and a part of the family that the Lord just told me to be grateful for the way He provided and loves me. just think some kids around the world, way younger than me, go everyday w/out their parents and are forced to be the parents. we spent the day eating, playing outside with luke, watching football, and of course good conversation w/ leslie.
as i drove home, all i could do was praise the Lord and thank Him because w/out His love and compassion and kindness nothing of the day would have been worth it.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Saturday, November 20, 2010
high quality h2o & high quality life
water is such an intricate part of my life...outside of coffee, it's the only thing i drink on a daily basis so i'm not sure what i'd do without quality, clean water. since visiting belize for a mission trip in '02, i'm reminded on numerous occasions how grateful i need to be to live in america...a country that allows us to consume one of the basics/essentials (water) needed to survive and even enjoy a quality life on this earth. if you aren't aware, access to clean water is so crucial to every human being no matter where you live because without everything done w/ water on a daily basis is done w/ contaminated water...contaminated water containing diseases, bacteria, and so on. it's blows my mind every time i think about how easy we have access to our clean water where so many across the globe barely have access to any water, clean or unclean.
2 of my dearest friends, leslie and derek irons, have decided to do something about this. they have decided to partner with an organization to raise the $$ needed to build a well for a village in sudan. not only will the well provided physical water but the organization will also share w/ the villagers how they can taste of the true Living Water. please check out their blog: http://givinglifeh2o.blogspot.com/ for more details and definitely consider partnering w/ them as the Lord desires.
2 of my dearest friends, leslie and derek irons, have decided to do something about this. they have decided to partner with an organization to raise the $$ needed to build a well for a village in sudan. not only will the well provided physical water but the organization will also share w/ the villagers how they can taste of the true Living Water. please check out their blog: http://givinglifeh2o.blogspot.com/ for more details and definitely consider partnering w/ them as the Lord desires.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Dine In and Give back
i've stumbled upon this really awesome non-profit "here's life in the inner city"...check them out here: hlic.org. well, so this thanksgiving they're giving us as believers the opportunity to dine in a few nights and give the $$ we'd spend eating out to them so they can in turn give the poor and needy across the country a thanksgiving meal.
i hope you consider giving up some meals out & providing others the chance to enjoy a yummy thanksgiving meal that we all delight in each year. for more information, check out their website: http://www.dineinusa.org/
i hope you consider giving up some meals out & providing others the chance to enjoy a yummy thanksgiving meal that we all delight in each year. for more information, check out their website: http://www.dineinusa.org/
Monday, November 8, 2010
Epic Church, the San Francisco Treat
this post is about 3 weeks late, please forgive me, better late than never right?!
well, the trip to san francisco was phenomenal, absolutely phenomenal! we arrived late wed night so our adventures didn't really kick off until thursday. here's a breakdown of our days in the city
thursday: the morning our group headed to the pilgreen's to staple 11,000 granola bars to their postcards. it was great to start the trip by getting some time w/ the pilgreen's and the other epic church staff. once we finished stapling, the entire group headed to lunch at this yummy place right across from at&t park, the home of the world series champion giants. after lunch we broke into groups and did some prayer walking around the neighborhood before we met back up to go pass out some granola bars at various train stops during evening rush hour. that night we had free for dinner and free time so some of us headed to at&t park for game 1 of the nlds, braves vs giants
friday: we met early to break into groups and pass out granola bars at various train stops during the morning rush hour. we then headed out to san francisco state university to engage with some college students through an organization that epic church has made a connection. that afternoon we headed back towards mission bay and did some more prayer walking on another side of at&t park. for dinner, the entire group as well as the pilgreen's, lees, milners and josh hamilton (all members of the launch team and staff & no, not that josh hamilton of the texas rangers) went to a yummy pizza place. game 2 of braves vs giants had just reached the 9th inning tied when dinner ended so a few of us knew exactly where we were headed...at&t park! we were able to get into the free bullpen area behind right field for the final innings of the game. as a braves fan, i was stoked to be in there for ankiel's home run & the braves' one and only victory!
saturday: the staff at epic church had organized for our group to volunteer on their behalf at fleet week which is a huge event on the bay. we all worked there for the majority of the day though a few of us endured the agony of the tide's first loss. we then headed back towards our area of the city which due to all the traffic from fleet week, we were forced to walk a pretty sizable distance rather than catch a bus or trolley. that morning on our way to the marina we did experience an old-fashioned trolley ride...so fun to partake in a true san francisco tourist attraction. that night a small group of us found a tasty chinese restaurant in chinatown which was some delicious food. (and that's coming from a person who likes chinese food but doesn't rank it at the top of her ethnic food list)
sunday: epic church's first preview service started at 11am so we had to meet all the staff & launch team at the w hotel at 5:45 am for set-up. since the church is renting space, every week they have a service all of their stuff must be brought into the hotel, set-up and then when the service is over break everything down & load it back in the trailer. the staff was incredibly prepared with how and where they wanted everything to go. the service was incredible...the worship room was packed full & i truly felt the presence of the Holy Spirit amongst our gathering. 132 san franciscans came to the service, at least 1 person wanted to accept Christ, and several more wanted to join the launch team. we finished breaking down & loading up the trailer around 2pm so our group headed across the street for lunch. after lunch, 6 of us headed out to explore parts of the city we had yet to see: painted ladies(aka full house houses) and golden gate bridge. such beautiful places especially since we made it to the bridge around sunset!
if you want to know more about epic church, check out their website here: http://www.epicsf.com/
i'm going to stop writing & post some pictures from the week now...
well, the trip to san francisco was phenomenal, absolutely phenomenal! we arrived late wed night so our adventures didn't really kick off until thursday. here's a breakdown of our days in the city
thursday: the morning our group headed to the pilgreen's to staple 11,000 granola bars to their postcards. it was great to start the trip by getting some time w/ the pilgreen's and the other epic church staff. once we finished stapling, the entire group headed to lunch at this yummy place right across from at&t park, the home of the world series champion giants. after lunch we broke into groups and did some prayer walking around the neighborhood before we met back up to go pass out some granola bars at various train stops during evening rush hour. that night we had free for dinner and free time so some of us headed to at&t park for game 1 of the nlds, braves vs giants
friday: we met early to break into groups and pass out granola bars at various train stops during the morning rush hour. we then headed out to san francisco state university to engage with some college students through an organization that epic church has made a connection. that afternoon we headed back towards mission bay and did some more prayer walking on another side of at&t park. for dinner, the entire group as well as the pilgreen's, lees, milners and josh hamilton (all members of the launch team and staff & no, not that josh hamilton of the texas rangers) went to a yummy pizza place. game 2 of braves vs giants had just reached the 9th inning tied when dinner ended so a few of us knew exactly where we were headed...at&t park! we were able to get into the free bullpen area behind right field for the final innings of the game. as a braves fan, i was stoked to be in there for ankiel's home run & the braves' one and only victory!
saturday: the staff at epic church had organized for our group to volunteer on their behalf at fleet week which is a huge event on the bay. we all worked there for the majority of the day though a few of us endured the agony of the tide's first loss. we then headed back towards our area of the city which due to all the traffic from fleet week, we were forced to walk a pretty sizable distance rather than catch a bus or trolley. that morning on our way to the marina we did experience an old-fashioned trolley ride...so fun to partake in a true san francisco tourist attraction. that night a small group of us found a tasty chinese restaurant in chinatown which was some delicious food. (and that's coming from a person who likes chinese food but doesn't rank it at the top of her ethnic food list)
sunday: epic church's first preview service started at 11am so we had to meet all the staff & launch team at the w hotel at 5:45 am for set-up. since the church is renting space, every week they have a service all of their stuff must be brought into the hotel, set-up and then when the service is over break everything down & load it back in the trailer. the staff was incredibly prepared with how and where they wanted everything to go. the service was incredible...the worship room was packed full & i truly felt the presence of the Holy Spirit amongst our gathering. 132 san franciscans came to the service, at least 1 person wanted to accept Christ, and several more wanted to join the launch team. we finished breaking down & loading up the trailer around 2pm so our group headed across the street for lunch. after lunch, 6 of us headed out to explore parts of the city we had yet to see: painted ladies(aka full house houses) and golden gate bridge. such beautiful places especially since we made it to the bridge around sunset!
if you want to know more about epic church, check out their website here: http://www.epicsf.com/
i'm going to stop writing & post some pictures from the week now...
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