Runnin' on Fumes....

You know, I am so blessed. I am sitting here at the church; I've been here since 8 this morning, and left here at 7 last night. I will be here until 7 tonight, and coming back at 7 tomorrow morning, only to be here until 7 tomorrow night. Now you're probably saying, why are you blessed? First, I have a job. Second, I love my job. Third, well, God is God, and He loves me no matter what. I just got done rehearsing for the Christmas Program with a couple girls that will be unable to make it to the actual scheduled rehearsal tonight. The program is tomorrow...God willing, we will be ready, well, we won't be ready...but we're going to do it anyway. :) I just had to take a break a minute because the Bell Choir Director came in; she has a piano recital in between all my rehearsals today. We had to figure out how to have the bell tables on the stage and give her time to practice in the morning, and how to move them so we can also have the program, and have a little time to practice in the morning. I don't know how we all got scheduled to perform on the same day, but we are both willing to work together so nobody is left in the dust. I am blessed to work with such great people. We haven't ran through the whole program yet. We actually will never run through the whole thing with everyone together until we perform tomorrow. There are some scenes and some songs we have not ran through at all. You would think that would make me nervous, but it just makes me laugh. It wouldn't be a church Christmas Program unless some of the cardboard flats fall down, one kid refuses to sing or move or anything, and two kids start fighting on stage. I think I would be disappointed if those things didn't happen:) My stomach is in knots, but I think it's because of the pot of coffee I drank this morning. I'm taking a fifteen minute break right now, to type this blog, and just chill out for a second...remembering what this is really all about. The show will go on no matter what. The day will come to an end with my crazy youth group kids laughing with me cuz I'm really hyper from lack of sleep and too much sugar. I will go home on Sunday night, and finally be able to lay in my bed knowing that God was glorified in all of it. God has been with me through this entire process, and I just keep laughing at everything, sometimes the laughter brings tears and I'm not sure if I'm laughing or crying, so I get caught somewhere in between. I know I will be able to look back on all of this and smile, so I figured I might as well start smiling now. My body is kind of shutting down slowly, but I think I'll be able to hold out through tomorrow. I better go, I need to go upstairs and finish painting the nativity background...I have no idea what I'm doing, I can't even draw...but I think everyone assumes the kids painted it, which they did...most of it. Unfortunately, sometimes it's more work for me to have the kids do it, so I just drew the outline and assigned each of them a different color and let them go to town. The upstairs room is a mess, but I know they had a good time. We didn't finish, so I just have to do that darn stable. I think we ran out of brown paint, I'll just mix a bunch together...that should be a fun adventure. Oh yeah, I have to sew the wings on the angel costumes, too. I know, I can't sew either, but they only have to last through the program tomorrow. I'm sure I'll find a way...I'll probably end up stapling them...that would be hilarious. I hope you don't take any of this as complaining. I feel that happy/stressed/exhausted feeling right now...like you feel after you just played a hard game of basketball or something. You know you gave your all, and you're tired but really pumped up because you won. That's how I feel. I need to go grab another cup of coffee...and start painting...to God be the glory!!

The Little Things

In times like these, I love to take moments to appreciate the little good things that each day has to offer. So many good things God brings into my life, that I miss sometimes, I think, because I'm too busy to pay attention. I am reminded of a song I heard once that I sing sometimes, in the privacy of my car or my room, of course, when things are kind of blah. It's from the Broadway musical "Mamma Mia". Artist: Lisa Stokke LyricsSong: I Have a Dream Lyrics SOPHIE:I have a dream A song to sing To help me cope With anything If you see the wonder Of a fairy tale You can take the future Even if you fail I believe in angels Something good in everything I see I believe in angels When I know the time is right for me I'll cross the stream I have a dream COMPANY:I have a dream A fantasy To help me through Reality And my destination Makes it worth the while Pushing through the darkness Still another mile I believe in angels Something good in everything I see I believe in angels When I know the time is right for me I'll cross the stream I have a dream I'll cross the stream SOPHIE:I have a dream I'll cross the stream I have a dream

Journey to the Past...Accidentally

I've been meaning to post another blog for some time. Every time I would log on, I suddenly became very tired, and wanted to take a nap instead. I never really got to take the nap, but I never ended up posting anything, either. That's kind of funny. I'm at the church catching up on Internet stuff before I get to work. Whenever I come in, I always get on the computer and catch up on e-mail, make sure I'm still in first place for fantasy football, check up on some folks on facebook, and then "punch in", so to speak, and get to work. Today I'm feeling a bit mixed about being here. I just saw an old picture from Alabama (DII National Championship Football Game) and suddenly I want to be there more than anything. That is just truly a very happy moment for me. I love hanging out at a football game, eating a hotdog and drinking a pepsi, and listening to some loud, crazy music, and then screaming at the top of my lungs as I watch my team stomp their way to victory. I might have to slip over to my sister's place and watch part of the game, and then come back and get back to work. I think the game starts in, like, five minutes. My uncle lives in Colorado and gets season tickets for the Broncos every year. He invited me to go out there and go to a game with him sometime. That would be sweeeeet! Unfortunately, getting out there is kinda tough. I would love to go see my family again. I didn't realize my uncle and I had so much in common. I would love to see my grandma again, too. I enjoy spending time with her. She's a great lady, but life has been a little rough on her at times. I really need to try and keep in better touch with people. I think about so many people all the time, but never really do anything about it. I meet new people everywhere I go, and they are always so great. I pray for them, and wish them the best, but that's about it. I'm just not one to stay in touch. I would really love to see all the Youth For Christ people I met out there, and hang out with them a bit, as well. I would definitely drive up to the mountains and hike up to my grandpa's grave. My dad had a cabin up in Beaver Lake that he built with my grandpa. My dad lived there for a while, and was completely snowed in at one point. That's awesome...what an adventure! We used to go up there when I was a kid. My dad had a special "Beaver Lake" tape he would play...I still think of it when I hear those songs. When I went back there ten years ago, I asked my dad to take me up there. He told me that he had sold the cabin, but I wanted to go up to Beaver Lake anyway. When we got there, the cabin had been torn down. My heart was broken. I would give anything to have that cabin back. My heart still aches just thinking about it. I remember the way to where my grandfather is buried. It's a pretty long hike. My dad had a huge walking stick and he would lead the way. We would walk on the trail until we got to the end, then follow the pipe that leads to the stream. We would walk up a hill that was almost straight up and down. You would begin to see a change in the trees and know you were close. The lilly pond would come into view, and you knew you had arrived. We would always find the three pine trees that were planted together right over where my grandpa's ashes were buried. It seems like a dream, thinking about it now. What I wouldn't give to be there again. Someday.