Music Recommendation

I received a whole flash drive of music from Joe for Christmas. It was mostly free samples he's downloaded from I-tunes but the selections are varied and interesting (to say the least). I also treated myself to a new CD in an after Christmas sale. Here are my two top CDs of the week:

First, the one I got for Christmas is Building 429's latest. It's self-titled so easy to find. I loved this group's Space in Between Us CD. I've worn my copy out - luckily I also have it downloaded onto my computer and I-pod. There are several great lyrical songs on this CD. I strongly recommend this one.

Second is Tenth Avenue North - Over and Underneath. It's on sale at Family Christian stores for $7.97 until Saturday. I've barely gotten past the first two songs without conviction and encouragement. The second song I've heard on the radio. It's one of those that their name keeps coming up so I decided to splurge on their album. I have not been disappointed.

Very rarely will I put an entire album on my I-pod but both of these have been added in their entirety (such a strange word). Which reminds me - I can now listen to my I-pod in my car. Very excited for this so I don't have to keep CDs rolling around in my console any more. I can change songs and types of music much easier. I tried it out on my grand adventure to Blowing Rock/Boone today. That's for another entry...

Phamily Photo

Mom's one command of this holiday season is that we all bring appropriate apparel for a family picture. In our previous picture, Jasmine wasn't born yet and April wasn't officially a Procita. Five years later we took a new picture together (dogs included). What a bunch of goofs!

You never really know what is going to come out of Jasmine's mouth. She discussed the difference between boys and girls with me one afternoon. "Girls are more sen'stive and boys are stronger" (what were you thinking?). She asked April why she didn't have any babies yet. She asked everyone in the family why Kali and Brandie didn't have puppies. I was told that I couldn't be Aunt Holly until I got married. I could just be Holly. Her other grandparents were not going to hell because their name was Hellar. She always got on a real serious face before some of these comments and questions too! Straight from the mouths of babes...

My Little Man

Silas has been taught to be VERY REVERENT before the Lord! This was his first Christmas play and he is playing a very humble, worshipful shepherd! Little Man is the one bowed in reverence at the bottom! I hope you're having a great Christmas! I've got stories but those are for another post. Have a great one!

Exhale

Not to be too cheesy but I've been waiting to exhale for quite some time now. Life at school has been extremely busy and most of December has been jammed packed with stuff as well. This past weekend was no different.

Saturday I finished my Christmas shopping pretty early in the morning. I went to Majesty Motors to work for a few hours and ended up helping Dad with his Christmas wrapping. That afternoon Mom and I tried our hands at making candy. It was definitely a learning experience for me. Everything is edible - this we know because Dad has been sampling it all! That evening I went to church for the Gloria Tour. It involved Shaun Groves, Cindy Morgan and Travis Cottrell. It was a great concert and the church was PACKED. Aunt Barb went with and we had a good time together.

Sunday was the church thing in the morning. I volunteered to help Mom with the grocery shopping that afternoon. We each had a list and a cart full by the time we met at the checkout lines. It's amazing how much food is needed to feed my ENTIRE family. I am excited about everyone being here AND having the ability to sleep in my own bed each night (not on the air mattress of the past couple of Christmases). We had our candlelight service at church that evening. It was different this year and I didn't enjoy it as much as I usually do. Then Rena came down to visit for about 24 hours. I "forced" her to watch the rest of the Panther's football game before we went to bed. We had a good time visiting and me explaining football to her.

Today Rena and I went bridesmaid dress shopping. We have discovered that many stores no longer believe in dresses. You would think a store called DRESS Barn would have some choices in dresses! We found one the fit almost all of Rena's requirements, but let's just say it wasn't too flattering to my hips or bum. We looked at all the obvious places in Hickory with no luck. I saw a couple of girls from church at the mall AND I saw my Mini-me! That's always a happy moment. Tonight I spent a few hours making cookies. I had an interesting experience with the last batch I made but they tasted OK to me when I tried it. I didn't even have to eat dinner for all the batter tasting (you have to lick your fingers every once in awhile) and final product tasting. I can't very well share them with my family and suffer the never ending teasing if they don't taste right.

All this to say that even though it's been incredibly busy, I feel rested and somewhat relaxed. I've had some good conversations with good friends who I haven't had time to talk to in months. I'm excited about my Christmas presents for my family and that we're going to all be together for a few days. I'm VERY excited about Dad's "big" present to all of us this year, but I'm not allowed to talk about it yet. Hopefully I'll get on and share with all of you soon. Merry Three-Days before Christmas!

Good night for Basketball

VS.

I have been trying my best to get in the basketball frame of mind. Volleyball season ended at the middle school on Monday. I got to come home last night and relax somewhat (even got to cook dinner and at the table to eat it!). This afternoon was try-outs for girls' basketball. I borrowed all of Dad's basketball movies, but haven't watched one of them yet. I was very excited to see that UNCA and Duke were playing against each other tonight. Granted my alma mater is getting slaughtered by my Blue Devils, but I'm enjoying cheering on both teams. I'm proud of my university for fighting hard and as always, I love my Duke basketball! I must confess that it has helped with the basketball frame of mind. I even started drawing up some plays for my team. I'm crazy tired of being at school until 5:30 or 6:00 each afternoon but hopefully Christmas break will prepare me for the LONG basketball season ahead. I'll keep you updated on the team!

I had a moment

So at about 1:30 AM I woke up and saw my alarm clock flashing at me. I was somewhat perplexed because I had not heard the power go off. I managed to push some button to make it stop flashing and turned over and went back to sleep. I convinced myself that it must have the correct time because it has a back-up battery. I awoke several hours later to see that it was about half an hour before I had to get up. The strange part was that it was getting pretty light outside for being 5:00 in the morning. Mind you it was a night where I had my contacts out so I couldn't see past my nose AND my cell phone was charging in the living room. I staggered to another clock to check the time to find out that it was 7:05!!!! I am usually on my way to school by this time. I managed to get a shower, get ready for school and out the door by 7:25. It's a good thing I do most of my thinking the night before and can just get up and go! I made it to school on time, but only by the skin of my teeth. The scarier part was that my team teachers were pulling in with me so if I really had been late I don't know who I would've called. Maybe we all subconsciously didn't want to be at school today!

Speaking of the subconscious, I received my certificate of Christian Counseling in the mail on Thursday. I am excited to have it and am going to buy a frame for it soon. I'll hang it in my office or maybe it should go over the couch because that's where I do some of my best work. Either way I feel accomplished and am looking forward to the next set of classes that I have waiting for me.

Finally, I'm on a hunt and I'm accepting help from anyone. My friend Rena has asked me to be in her wedding in June. Rather than try to gather all of her differently shaped bridesmaids together to go dress shopping, she has turned us loose. She has given us a checklist of her expectations for a dress. The high points: black, mid-calf, no frills, and be modest. I KNOW that last one was for ME! One of the other criteria I got clarification on last night. It said straps or strapless - that definitely helped narrow it down some :). I've been searching around on-line hoping to find something during all of the Christmas sales. I hope to go looking at some department stores soon.

Here are two that I'm looking at so far:

Wish I had Pictures

I spent the weekend in Independence, Kentucky. I'm just now realizing how few pictures Melissa and I take when we are together. If you look at her blog, then you'll see pics of everyone elses' visits to her house. I don't believe you'll find any of my weekend there. How strange? Am I that non-photogenic? Maybe I didn't have any "cute" moments, picture worthy this weekend? It even snowed there yesterday and I didn't see any pictures being taken of it.

I digress...I had a great time visiting up there. Melissa and I went to the Casting Crowns Christmas concert on Friday night. Avalon, Natalie Grant, Michael English, Pure 'Nergy, and Denver and the Mile High Orchestra were all part of the show too. We have some definite opinions about each of these groups. If you're in NC, they are coming to Greensboro next weekend. It's worth the money and helps you get into the Christmas spirit. Saturday we bummed around the house. Brent had mentioned a hockey game that evening, but we ended up staying home and watching movies instead. It snowed/flurried most of the day on Saturday. It was pretty and the first snow I've seen this winter. Sunday was church, some "authentic" Cincinnati cuisine, and flying home. It was a good weekend with some good conversations along the way. It was great to be away from teenagers for a few days. I even turned my phone off for most of the time so nobody could call or text me. Now I'm home with a basket full of laundry and a crazy two weeks ahead of me. Deep breath...time to dive back into the hustle and bustle that we call December!

Celebration!

Yesterday I had to break out the bottle to celebrate! After a long 15 months, I finally completed my Certificate of Christian Counseling program. I haven't received official results from my final test, but I have "attended" all the classes and taken all the tests. It is finished! It was a 30 hour program that I worked on sporadically for the past 15 months. I have two specialty areas, 30 hours each, that I hope to work on over the next few months. I'm hoping these next two rounds won't take as long to complete. I've found a creative way to complete my classes that is working very well for me. Let's just say understanding the fast New York conversations growing up is coming in handy these days.

**A little side bar about my bottle...first notice the pink wrap on the top...I supported Breast Cancer Research when I bought this...second you all know I don't drink so this is what I really have in my refrigerator waiting to be opened and downed:



My favorite part is that the young guy at the grocery store actually put this in a brown paper bag. What would the church folk say with me carrying around a bottle in a brown bag!?!?! It makes me laugh!

Long Road for a Slow Recovery

On Veteran's Day, I headed into the surgeon's office to get a lump removed from the back of my shoulder...

A little background...It had been there for awhile and got infected over the summer. It would hurt some when I swung too hard at volleyball or when my stressed neck muscles pulled on it. I visited my not usual doctor over the summer to deal with the infection...$20 for the visit and $50 for the medicine. He said that they should be able to remove it at the Medical Arts Clinic (where my usual doctor is). Went in for a bout of bronchitis and I asked about getting it removed. I was told that my usual doctor had to look at it before he attempted to take it out. Knowing my insane schedule I set up two appointments - one to have him look at it and another to have it removed. I went to the first appointment to have it looked at...chalk up another $20 for a two minute visit to be told that my doctor didn't want to do it. There was scar tissue involved and some other excuse to refer me to the surgeon's office. Then I had to attempt to find time again in my schedule to have this procedure done.

Back to my original thought...Veteran's Day...1:30 in the afternoon. Mom has taken off work to go with me because we're not sure how extensive the procedure is going to be. I have heard practically nothing from this office throughout the process. $40 co-pay on Tuesday. 20 minutes in the waiting room...45 minutes in the exam room...surgeon comes in and says "Yeah, that needs to come out. This is where we make an appointment for some day so we can take it out." I'm starting to BOIL!!! I wanted to say "Well duh it needs to come out. I didn't just pay money for you to tell me the same thing that three other doctors have told me. That's why they referred me to you!" What I actually said is "I was led to believe it was going to be done today." He tells me that he's too busy to do it today...he's just come in and is already behind (well what were you doing all morning doc?). I sit there and tell him that Wednesday is the only day I have available to get this taken care of. I continue to push this point until he agrees to see me first thing the next morning. Mom could tell when I was checking out that something was not right - could've been the steam coming out of my ears!

We returned the next morning for the actual procedure. I took the day off from school. The entire procedure took a total of twenty minutes. They numbed me, cut me, dug out some stuff and stitched me back up. I could've had the procedure three times in the amount of time I spent waiting on Tuesday. Then they charged me again...another $40...for the second visit...for now at least until my insurance company begins to question why I had so many visits. I got four stitches and a sore shoulder/neck for a few days. Nothing sleep and ibuprofen couldn't help.

Being me, I returned to school the next day. We had a volleyball game and I didn't want to miss that. My assistant coach abandoned me and I had to take the girls by myself. I survived through school. In volleyball practice on Monday, I managed to pop out two stitches (one for each serve I did). I lost another half stitch at some other point last week. I was hoping the rest would fall out so I wouldn't have to go back to the surgeon's office to get them removed.

My wish wasn't granted. I headed back to the surgeon's office on Friday. The surgeon told me after the procedure to just stop in when I could and someone would take the stitches out. The receptionist (who must've had a tough Friday) looked at me like I had a three heads. I needed an appointment for something like this. Again, I'm persuading someone in this office that it needs to get done NOW! They eventually decide to squeeze me into the schedule (with no one in the waiting room it shouldn't have been that hard - it's only 1 and 1/2 stitches!). I wait for 10-15 minutes and get a clinician to see me (not the surgeon). It takes her longer to walk me back to the exam room than it does to pop out the stitches. Made me wish I had friends in the medical field who could've done that for me! She put some strips on the wound to hold everything together for about another week. I was given instructions to take it easy for another week or so. Fortunately, I wasn't charged to talk to this lady! Maybe I should've talked to her first.

Needless to say the medical world is trying to milk me for all the money they can get out of me. I've taken more ibuprofen for the headaches they gave me than for the ache in my shoulder! Thanks for letting me rant and rave for a few minutes. I'll try to get on later in the week to share some more positive things. I'm going to have company throughout the Thanksgiving break so that should be interesting to have a roomie for a few days. I can't wait to eat Thanksgiving dinner! The Macy's Parade! Looking at the sales paper and laughing at any thought of getting up early to shop! Hopefully getting Christmas decorations out and up around the house! Good things coming this week! Mostly I'm thankful to be AWAY FROM SCHOOL AND VOLLEYBALL!

Only Tuesday

Now if this was Dad's hospital staff I would've taken another day off to sit with Mom in the waiting room!

The grandparents and Aunt D came into town last Wednesday. They just left this morning. The reason they came into town was because of Dad's inability to simply have his gallbladder out and not make things complicated. They found some swollen lymphnodes and the surgeon did a bibopsy (as they call them on My Big, Fat Greek Wedding) early Monday morning. They did determine before they sent them away to be fully analyzed that it is NOT cancer. There are many diseases on that side of the family that shows itself through swollen lymphnodes, so we were all holding our breath on this one. Dad is wiped out. He's got all kinds of holes in his chest and stomach area from either of the two procedures. Pray for him if you think about it!

Volleyball is okay. I cut the team on Friday. We went to our scrimmage yesterday. We did better than I expected which is a major plus. I got to see some things that we definitely need to be working on in practice this week. This is going to be the team that practices really well but struggles to translate that onto the floor during a match. Today it was a totally different team on the floor than what I saw last night. Boy are they out of shape too! We've got conditioning to do. They're not overweight kids, just totally not in volleyball shape. Our first real game is Monday at home against our arch-rival (in my opinion) North Lincoln. We'll be ready, even though we won't be able to practice on Friday because of the STUPID school dance!

Finally, I'm avoiding my TV for tonight. I did my civic duty a few weeks ago. I was actually returning some library books. My library doubles as an early voting place once a year. There were no lines so I went ahead and voted. I wish because of that I could've been removed from the campaign calls. Every day for the last two weeks I've come home to see my answering machine blinking at me. I get excited because I think someone has called to say hello or wants to go do something this weekend. It was like when I used to get excited about missed phone calls on the cell phone only to not have the person leave a message. Sigh...no more messages until next election time! I do look forward to NO MORE POLITICAL ADS! Whomever wins, I know God is in control and hopefully our future President will seek Him for guidance.

PS - April is in Africa for three weeks on a medical mission trip. She's in Nairobi, Kenya. Joe and Kali are lost without her! Pray for her and her team as they attempt to make records on all the little kids in the area. She says she might bring one home...that's a whole 'nother discussion around the Procita's dinner table last week. I do love it when family is in town!

In case you needed a visual aid to see where Ape is working. I needed to look it up. I want to go to "Ug" some day!

The part I strongly dislike

So most of the time I love being able to coach volleyball. The hard part is making the cuts. It's especially hard when I have so many of the girls that I teach try-out. They think I'm awesome in the classroom so they want to be a part of my teams too. It's just hard because I had so many great girls come out this year. I had 34 7th graders come out and 22 8th graders. The average middle school volleyball team has 12-14 players (if I'm that crazy). I've cut those 56 down to 25. Tomorrow I'll cut the rest of the way. The first 6 or 7 stand out above the crowd. I KNOW I want these girls on my team. The other half of the team is up for grabs pretty much.

Two stories for this particular blog entry:

1. I kept a 7th grader through first cuts who most likely won't make the team. I'm teaching her brother this year. The family is just one of those hard-working families that struggle to make ends meet. This particular young lady usually walked around school watching the floor or her feet. She really seemed to lack self-confidence. She worked REALLY hard both days of try-outs. I told Jodi, my assistant coach, that I was going to push her through just to try to give her a confidence boost. Boy did I ever! I saw her Mom in the office one afternoon this week. She stopped me to tell me how much her daughter was talking about volleyball and how excited she was to make it through first cuts. She also shared with me about how her daughter took her saved up birthday money so she could go get a sports bra. She needed one so she wouldn't be bouncing around so much as she practiced. I about fell on the floor while her Mom was sharing this with me. The best part was that mother and daughter had this discussion rather loudly at a store as they were shopping for sports bras. Mom said that some little old lady stopped to offer help. It's a great story. The even better part is that I can see the little bit of confidence in this girl when I see her in the hallways at school. She even makes a point to talk to me just about every morning when she passes me in the hall. I love seeing that in the girl.

2. I did make 8th grade first cuts today. We have had two days of try-outs. These girls have worked hard and gotten better over the past two days. As with every school sport, there is just not enough room for everyone. This one was somewhat tougher because I just like all the girls that tried out. They are great kids with good personalities. They worked hard and improved on everything Jodi and I suggested to them. I did cut from 22 down to 10 today. Here's the scary part...Jodi and I posted the list in the lobby. For now, we take down the net and clean up (the girls will do it once the team is cut). After we get done with this I notice that there's a "mob" of parents and girls standing about 6 feet from the gym doors. It mostly consists of girls that have been cut. Here's my dilemma...they stand between me and my car. I go extra slow in the hopes that they clear out. They WILL NOT LEAVE. I'm trying to figure out how in the world I was going to get home or have to explain to ALL of them why their daughters were cut. So I take the chicken's way out...I go back to my classroom. I piddle around in there and check to see if they've left every few minutes. The janitor questions me about why I haven't left yet. We joke about how I'm going to need security to escort me out of the building. About ten minutes later, they finally get in their cars to leave. I'm still somewhat wary because there are two cars with parents still in the parking lot. I make the mad dash for my car only to have one of the kids in the car yell at me. Fortunately, it was one of the girls that made it through the cuts. I took a deep breath, did a little wave and went home. I survived my first mob scene!

Two Web Links

This first link will link you to the article that was in the Lincolnton Times-News. It talks about my JV season. I've got some great quotes in there. I also have several misquotes but overall I'm pretty pleased with it.

LHS JV Volleyball Championship

This second link will take you to an awesome website for Christian concerts and events. It also has a free download of a song each week. I've been introduced to some really cool Christian artists through this weekly download. I've also downloaded songs from some of my favorite Christian artists' new albums. They send my an email once a week to remind me about the download (even if it does take an hour to download on my dial-up). They also send me emails about Christian concerts and events close to where I live. It's a great website!

I-Tickets

I'm alive

So I realize that I haven't blogged since about half-way through my volleyball season. Let's see if I can give you a Reader's Digest version of what's been going on with me this past month:

1. High School volleyball is over. My JV team finished the conference season 15-1 and secured our second conference championship. The Varsity team (that I didn't have too much to do with this year) finished in fourth in the conference but that was enough to qualify for the state play-offs. We traveled almost two hours away on Saturday to lose a match with 90 minutes on total playing time. We then enjoyed a two hour bus ride back. Needless to say, I'm somewhat relieved that the season is over. We even had a GREAT experience about two miles from the school on the way home. I don't dare post it because we're trying to keep it on the down-low! :)
2. Thursday of this week will be the first day of try-outs for middle school volleyball. I have about three days "off" where I'm attempting to complete/decide on some church things. Middle school volleyball will be in full swing next week once I get the team cut.
3. I celebrated my 29th birthday with a pretty uneventful day. I had been sick for the previous week, including two days off from school. I did get telephone calls/conversations with just about everyone I expected to hear from. I guess as you get older, your birthday gets less exciting.
4. School is going ok. I'm learning how much of the song and dance I can do and not kill myself. Being out sick has thrown off my schedule with the kids. Having to teach computer skills for two teams has thrown off my schedule as well. Having a random workshop in the middle of all this has also thrown off my schedule. Have I covered all the required materials that will be on the 9 week benchmark tests this week? Probably not enough! Hopefully tomorrow I'll cover the rest. I'm not counting on these being good scores!
5. Dad had his gallbladder removed on Friday. I sat in the hospital with Mom throughout the morning. The surgery was "harder than expected" according to the surgeon. It also took longer than expected. Dad's home and doing ok. He's on some pretty good pain pills for the weekend and as needed after this. He's feeling where they moved everything around inside to get to his gallbladder. They usually have three incisions, but Dad has five. Pray that he rests and lets his body heal. Pray also for Majesty Motors so Dad won't worry.
6. Finally, I'm ready to vote in this election so I can stop seeing all the political adds on TV! I know this is an important election and that it's only a few weeks away, but goodness. I only get like 30-60 minutes of TV time a day and about ten minutes in I've heard all the dirt on each candidate and still have no idea what the other one stands for. Fun times! I look forward to voting in this election if only to get the adds off the TV!

I know some of you who "check" on me through here will be happy that I'm blogging. I might blog again soon...just depends on what else decides to take up my time.

Fired UP!

It was a day to be fired up! The school day was pretty normal. I got frustrated with my kids for being bumps on a log most of the day or I got upset with them for not shutting their mouths. I enjoy a good dialogue with my classes but I forget that they're middle schoolers who don't know when to stop. By the end of the year I'll have them trained well and they'll have a new teacher to get used to. We had a forever long meeting about one of our students with diabetes. He's a very hard working kid but I can tell when he's losing focus and energy. Mom was real polite and appreciative of what we were doing to help him. Then I had a meeting with our "flex" benefit lady who tried to talk me into having even more money taken out of my check - as if it's not small enough already! I did end up having a good parent conference after school but they arrived late, thus making me later to the high school than I wanted to be.

Now a paragraph on volleyball...I'm still undefeated in conference. We played a non-conference game today. I was hardly transitioned from middle school to volleyball when our match was starting. We came out half-dead in the first game. The referee made a horrible call and I confess that I started yelling. I didn't get up, just made myself heard from where I was sitting. The first time, he saw the error of his ways. The second time, I about went hoarse from my yelling. I got fired up then. We lost that game 25-14. I complained to the other ref as I switched benches. I was HOT! My being fired up, got my team up too! We came back to win the second game 25-16. We had to go to the decisive 3rd game. We play to 25 and have to win by two points. I was still pretty fired up in the third game. For those of you who have never seen me coach, this is VERY uncharacteristic of me. The final game was pretty close. We were behind on a few occasions but battled back with all we had. I used my time-outs wisely and caused some serving errors for the other team. My girls held up well under the pressure. We ended up winning 29-27. I used my last time-out at 23-24. I am so proud of my team! I realized how much I control the tempo and mood of my team with my own mood. I was out of sync in the first game so they were too. I am SO excited to coach this team when they get to be Varsity players - which will be next year in case I haven't had the chance to tell you.

As if that weren't enough, I got the best surprise after my game. I'm attempting to get my heartbeat back to normal and Mini-Me is walking towards me. Mini-Me is my favorite student of ALL time. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. She comes up to hug me and I stumble all over words. I hadn't seen this kid in about a year or more. I was looking forward to seeing her when we play at the new high school in Valdese next week. Come to find out, her sister had a tennis match at Lincolnton this afternoon. She heard the noise in the gym and came in to see if I was there. I love this kid so much and it just made my day to see her. We talked for a little while before the Varsity match. It was a great ending to an awesome afternoon. I'm not sure if I'll have any voice left for the game tomorrow by time I teach four classes, but it was SO worth it.

So I hope certain people are happy that I blogged...this should keep you happy for a few weeks!

Just Breathe

I heard this song on one of my CD's and appreciated the reminder to Breathe! It's been a good first week of school thus far. Some of the kids have definitely made a first impression - both good and bad! My classes are much smaller this year. My largest class consists of 22 students. The other three have about 20 each. I gave homework tonight so I'm going to have to figure out what to do with my silent lunch kids tomorrow. I'm doing okay with these kids but I'm realizing how spoiled I was with the kids I've had the past two years.

I'm still undefeated in volleyball. We played Draughn High School last week. This is the new high school in Valdese. Their Varsity team consisted of 70% of the girls that I coached at Heritage. At one point, every girl on the floor had been coached by me. The JV team consisted of my previous two ABC teams. All of my girls were SO excited to see me and totally unaware that I was at LHS. My JV team beat them pretty good but my varsity team lost to them. I was so torn because my opponents were MY girls - my first set of girls. They played darn good! I was so proud! I saw some of my favorite parents during this game too. I was nervous about it all day but it was a great time for me. I'm looking forward to going there in a few weeks just because I know of a few kids that will be there whom I miss terribly.

Random volleyball thought of the moment...as an odd tradition, I always sit on the second chair on the bench. During Varsity games, I'm sitting next to Coach Richardson (whom I might add has an interesting odor to him that usually makes me cough). During the JV games, Coach no longer sits with me. I leave the first seat open for the most part. I told one of the girls today that that seat belongs to Jesus to keep me out of trouble. It was a good moment with most of the team as we discussed it. I'm hoping that it will open the door for some good conversations. I definitely know how to pray for a couple of them based on the comments that were made.

I'm heading to bed now. Hopefully the dinner that I just finished eating will digest properly and not wake me up in the middle of the night. Two more games this week and three very full days at school...then a LONG weekend! Thank you JESUS!

Starting Off Right!

After having meetings today from 8:00 am until 3:30 pm, I headed to Lincolnton High School for our first volleyball game of the season. I got there in a rough mood because I was tired and brain-dead. One of the girls made the mistake of harassing me about them all being there before me. Let's just say she got THE LOOK! I got my stuff together with a few minutes to spare. I wandered and tried to regain some of my brain functions. I ended up starting three freshmen today. By the end of the match I had almost all freshmen on the floor. It was a rough around the edges game, but much improvement from our scrimmage a few weeks ago. It was a "scrappy" game, as Coach Richardson put it. Either way it was a win! I'm realizing each and every day how much these girls love, respect, and will do anything for me.

This is the team I want to become a Varsity coach with!

End of Summer

So I'm in the last hours of summer vacation. I start back at LMS tomorrow for an optional teacher workday. I'm ready to get back into my classroom. I know that tomorrow is really the only full day I'll be allowed to work there all day without the interruptions of meetings. I can't really describe what I'm thinking and feeling in regards to my job. Most of me is ready to dive into a new year but parts of me just can't give up hope on some other things.

I am praying and pursuing God's will for my life right now. As far as I know, God wants me teaching 8th grade math at LMS this year. I'm still struggling with my role in the now pastor-less youth group - even the role in my church for that matter. There are some possibilities on the horizon that may come to fruition, but right now is the waiting for the answer time. There's a verse that I've been reminded of frequently in the past few weeks that has encouraged me in my wait:

"I will stand at my watch and station myself on the tower; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint." Habakkuk 2:1

Habakkuk was in the middle of a discussion with God. He had asked a question and God had answered. Being human, he made a complaint to God about His answer. Instead of demanding an answer immediately, he climbed up on the watchtower and waited to see what God's answer was going to be. That's the point I'm at. I've asked my question and received a seemingly partial answer to my original question. So I rephrased my question and am standing on the watch tower awaiting His answer. I'm going to continue the path I'm on until He sees fit to move me.

So now I've rambled sufficiently to confuse some and bring others up to date. I have to head to bed early tonight so I'm not grouchy at school tomorrow. Thank goodness we get a week with just teachers before we have to be awake and alert for students that early in the morning. I'll try to update when possible but volleyball games start on Tuesday so my schedule just got a little busier! Enjoy your last days of summer or your beginnings of school!

Jaw Dropping

Did any of you watch the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics in Beijing? Moment after moment my mouth has dropped open at the coolness of the ceremony thus far. I'm very impressed by the Chinese people. Many things appear to be computer controlled only to find out that they are people controlled. The architecture of the buildings created for these games are amazing. I love the Bird's Nest and the Aquatic Center. Beijing has made it on my list of Olympic cities I want to visit in my lifetime.

I am very excited about the Olympics. My satellite provider has a channel that shows six different Olympic events at once. If I want to watch one of them, then I just have to push a button. I LOVE THE OLYMPICS!!!!

A few more Canada Pics

I've recently acquired my good friend Laura's pictures from Canada. She was my roommate last year and was there for both weeks this summer. We are kindred spirits in many ways and she is always willing to share her pictures with me.

This is our team picture at the end of week one. All of the "older" ladies in this picture were my roomies for the week. Dr. Phil is on the end on the right - a new friend that was quite entertaining! This is one of my t-ball pictures. We took pictures of all the kids and then delivered them the second week. Of course, us coaches decided that we wanted our own pictures too!
This is a picture from Kids Club during the first week. I was in charge of recreation time. We tried three-legged races with these adorable preschoolers. Then again us "big" kids decided to play too. During one race, I had Laura tied to one leg and Little Alex (the girl in the red shirt and white hat) tied to the other leg. It was fun but I'm not sure who got that picture!
This is everyone from Kid's Club the first week. Obviously the red shirts are our team and the local church planters. These kids came every day and spent their mornings with us. Two of these families attended Southwinds church that following Sunday. It was great to see them there!
This is a picture of most of the team from week one in front of the beautiful Lake Louise. The snow looked painted on the first week and the water was a different color when we returned the second weekend. It has very quickly become one of my favorite places in the world!

Can I get an AMEN?

When you have to visit a public bathroom, you usually find a line of women, so you smile politely and take your place. Once it's your turn, you check for feet under the stall doors. Every stall is occupied. Finally, a door opens and you dash in, nearly knocking down the woman leaving the stall.

You get in to find the door won't latch. It doesn't matter the wait has been so long you are about to wet your pants! The dispenser for the modern 'seat covers' (invented by someone's Mom, no doubt) is handy, but empty or in some new, 'cost-efficiency' bathrooms there isn't one at all. You would hang your purse on the door hook, if there was one but there isn't - so you carefully, but quickly drape it around your neck, (Mom would turn over in her grave if you put it on the FLOOR!), yank down your pants, and assume ' The Stance.'

In this position your aging, toneless thigh muscles begin to shake. You'd love to sit down, but you certainly hadn't taken time to wipe the seat or lay toilet paper on it, so you hold 'The Stance. To take your mind off your trembling thighs, you reach for what you discover to be the empty toilet paper dispenser. In your mind, you can hear your mother's voice saying, 'Honey, if you had tried to clean the seat, you would have KNOWN there was no toilet paper!' Your thighs shake more. You remember the tiny tissue that you blew your nose with yesterday - the one that's still in your purse. (Oh yeah, the purse around your neck, that now, you have to hold up trying not to strangle yourself at the same time). That would have to do. You crumple it in the puffiest way possible. It's still smaller than your thumbnail.

Someone pushes your door open because the latch doesn't work. The door hits your purse, which is hanging around your neck in front of your chest, and you and your purse topple backward against the tank of the toilet. 'Occupied!!' you scream, as you reach for the door, dropping your precious, tiny, crumpled tissue in a puddle on the floor, lose your footing altogether, and slide down directly onto the TOILET SEAT. It's wet of course. You bolt up knowing all too well that it's too late. Your bare bottom has made contact with every imaginable germ and life form on the uncovered seat because YOU never laid down toilet paper - not that there was any even if you had taken time to try. You know that your mother would be utterly appalled if she knew. Certainly her bare bottom never touched a public toilet seat because, frankly dear, 'You just don't KNOW what kind of diseases you could get.'

By this time, the automatic sensor on the back of the toilet is so confused that it flushes, propelling a stream of water like a fire hose against the inside of the bowl that sprays a fine mist of water that covers your butt and runs down your legs and into your shoes. The flush somehow sucks everything down with such force that you grab onto the empty toilet paper dispenser for fear of being dragged in too. At this point, you give up. You're soaked by the spewing water and the wet toilet seat. You're exhausted. You try to wipe with a gum wrapper you found in your pocket and then slink out inconspicuously to the sinks.

You can't figure out how to operate the faucets with the automatic sensors, so you wipe your hands with spit and a dry paper towel and walk past the line of women still waiting. You are no longer able to smile politely to them. A kind soul at the very end of the line points out a piece of toilet paper trailing from your shoe. (Where was that when you NEEDED it??) You yank the paper from your shoe, plunk it in the woman's hand and tell her warmly, 'Here, you just might need this.'

As you exit, you spot your hubby, who has long since entered, used, and left the men's restroom. Annoyed, he asks, 'WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG, and WHY IS YOUR PURSE HANGING AROUND YOUR NECK??'

This is dedicated to women everywhere who deal with public restrooms (rest??? you've GOT to be kidding!!). It finally explains to the men what really does take us so long. It also answers their other commonly asked questions about why women go to the restroom in pairs. It's so the other gal can hold the door, hang onto your purse and hand you Kleenex under the door!

Amateur

"The word amateur has been redefined over the years and has lost the luster of its original meaning. The English word comes from the Latin word, amore, which means 'to love.' An amateur is someone who does something simply for the love of it."

This paragraph jumped out at me today. I am currently struggling with some news that I received last night. This news that I cannot divulge just yet is going to require more responsibility of me that I was not expecting. I am fighting through the emotional responses currently. I waver between sadness and anger. The psychologist in me says that's the normal grieving process. During my fits of anger, I have reached the wanting to quit point. There is part of me that wants to say "Screw it all!" That's where this particular article got me this evening. What is being asked of me is something that I love to do. I won't be paid to do this. I'll have to sacrifice more of my time for this. Some unfortunate changes are happening to put this responsibility on my shoulders. I need to be willing to take on this responsibility because I love doing and I love these people. This probably makes no sense to anyone but me. I like this definition of amateur and wanted to share it.

I've been working hard at Majesty Motors. This week I'm taking pictures of the inventory and working with Joe to get it all onto the website. I have people interactions in spurts, usually around meals this week. This is my last full week of vacation. Volleyball starts next week. Teacher workdays start the week after that. School starts the next week. August is pretty full already.

I'm attempting to do some heavy duty counseling cramming. I'd like to finish this one course before next week. Then I'd like to get a good jump on one of the other courses before school starts. It's going to take some discipline, but I can do it! God is starting to form my vision of where I'm heading with these counseling courses. The details are foggy at best, but I'm still searching Him out on these. I have a big dream that only God could fulfill the details, but that might be where I'm heading. Just let me know and I'll share it with you...

Meet my new sister!

I have a new black sister, who is now living with my parents. She's a cute little thing with fur. We all knew it was only a matter of time until they got a new dog. Her name is Brandi. She's a mix of a couple of dogs, but mostly an Australian shepherd. Comparisons have been made to Aussie on several occasions, but she's pretty different. She's almost 2 years old. She was a stray to start life and then has been outside the rest of her life. She's still not quite sure about all the noises and weird things inside the house. She's a very loving dog - always willing to give kisses. She sticks pretty close to Dad. She's already been to work two days with him, so I think she'll be a regular at Majesty Motors.

Speaking of Majesty Motors...it officially opened on Thursday. As of yesterday, I was the first customer buying my new Jeep Liberty that I've been waiting for since the beginning of June. I was also added to the payroll. My job is the general whatever needs to be done. I've done paperwork and filing. Uncle Dave and I put together some bookshelves. I've helped arrange cars on the lot. I walked the dog a couple of times. Next week I'm going to work on taking pictures of the inventory so Joe can get them up on the website. It's not a high demand job and it's nice to be a part of the family business. Pretty soon they'll slap a salesman license on me and I'll be selling cars. If you need something that gets better gas mileage, contact me or check out our website.

Lumps and Bumps

I had the first of potentially many scares in my life...I had a lump come up on the back of my shoulder at the base of my neck on Friday. I've had a spot there under the skin for a few years. I had a doctor poke and prod it once and he said not to worry about it unless it started to bother me.

Friday afternoon, after a full week of volleyball camp, my shoulder was bothering me whenever I moved it. I assumed it was from over-use between the last couple of weeks in Canada and volleyball. Then I reached to massage my shoulder and found the lump. Being the female that I am, I start worrying through my diagnosis. Of course, I go to the nearest mirror to view my lump. The biggest challenge is that I have a very high pain tolerance and this one hurts to look at. I finally twist enough to see it in the mirror. It's a pretty good sized lump that is red and inflamed. Being me, I take some ibuprofen, ice it up and try to relax.

The weekend wears on and the pain increases. Given the location of the lump, sleep is hard to find because any pressure on it or movement of neck and shoulder muscles cause pain. I had Mom look at it and Dad convince me (jokingly but not taken that way) its a tumor. I tolerate it until Monday when I finally get into the doctor.

To make this long boring post short, the doctor drained the infection out of the lump. Leaving a nice gaping hole on my shoulder. He says the lump will probably reform under the skin after the infection clears up and the hole closes. I'll have to go back in so they can get to the lump without infection in the way. Currently I have gauze and tape on my shoulder. He did give me some good pain medication that helped me to sleep very well for the first time in several nights. I'm still not sure what exactly it is on my shoulder but I know that volleyball aggravates it. I'm not going to team camp this week and going to hide in my hole for a few days. Hopefully, this spot will heal without the pain and won't get infected again.

A few Canada Pics

Here are a few pictures from Canada. As I gather them from my teammates, I'll try to post them.

This is a picture of the team on Week 2. We did basketball camps in Parkland and Lake Chapparel. Adam, the guy to my left with the sunglasses, is from our church and spending his summer in Calgary. He's doing a great job!

This is my team from Parkland. Most of my team are rising 6th graders. We were called the Moose Lightning. I had a great week with these kids and some of them are pretty talented little ball players too. Skyla, the girl standing next to me, told me on Monday that she didn't really like basketball. By the BBQ on Friday night, she stayed an extra hour so she could play in the game we were playing.

The BBQ on Thursday night during Week 2 was just slightly cold. My beloved hoodie was the only thing I had to defend myself from the rain and wind. I buried myself in it as much as possible!

Canada Week Two

Week two is now complete and we're heading home VERY early tomorrow morning. Most of me is ready to be home but part of me always stays in Calgary. I had a good second week. I coached the 5th and 6th graders at basketball camp. Our team name was Moose Lightening. I should have a team photo within the next week or so. We did several community projects in the afternoon. One afternoon we got to deliver T-ball pictures from last week. It was good to see the kids one more time before heading home. We played some great basketball as a team. I hung in there with the guys most afternoons. We played Knock-out often and I kept the guys' egos in check by beating ALL of them every once in awhile. We had two more BBQs and had a few more hot dogs. God is really working in Parkland and Lake Chapparel communities. I had many questions asked of me this week that opened the door for God moments.

Saturday we went back up to the mountains. I woke up with a stomach bug of some sort. We had to stop at a little town along the way so I could dispose of breakfast. We went back to Lake Louise and it was beautiful again. It had more snow on the mountain because we had a really cold rain one day this week. The team hiked to the top of Johnston Canyon while I attempted to calm my stomach with a nap in the car. I wouldn't have enjoyed the hike anyways so I enjoyed everyone else's pictures. We spent a couple hours in Banff again where I got my shopping done. We went up a gondola to a very high peak in the mountain. The view was spectacular to put it mildly. Again, pictures coming in the future.

I worshipped at Trinity Baptist Church this morning with half the team and the other half went back to Southwinds. We were on kid duty again, but only had one kid come for class. I enjoyed the worship and the time in God's Word. I got to have Japanese for lunch, while part of the team had fish tacos (blah!). We got to come back and relax this afternoon. We're in the packing process. We're heading to bed early because we are departing at 4:00 AM for the airport. Our flight leaves at 7:00 - international flight - arrive at airport two hours early. It will be a long day of travel and waiting around airports, but as long as we all get home in one piece I'll take it.

Canada Week One

Week one is behind us. We finished up kids club and t-ball camp on Thursday and Friday. We had end of camp BBQs to have a chance to talk with our kids and their parents over hot dogs. We spent Saturday playing tourist in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Today we worshipped at Southwinds. This was an awesome experience for me because I've been with this church plant since it was in the praying stages. There were about 30 people in attendance today. We had two families visit because their kids were at one of our camps this week. We also served hamburgers and hot dogs to the community around Trinity Baptist. We had 950 people come to this annual Stampede BBQ. Upon returning to Cochrane, I took up the dirty laundry of the two-weekers and spent a few hours in the laundromat by myself. It was at moments boring but also some of the alone time I've been craving.

It's been a long week and I need your prayers for endurance. Jason and team 2 have arrived in Calgary and will be here in about an hour or so. Part if team 1 is leaving at 4:00 am. We head to basketball camp at 6:00 am for breakfast and orientation. I think I'm on the team that is doing two basketball camps each day. Check out my church's website for photos from our activities this week. Go to the photo page and you'll find a link there. I hope all is well where you are. I'm heading towards bed so I can get some much needed sleep.

Canada Bound

Tomorrow marks the first day of a 16 day mission trip to Calgary, Alberta, Canada. This will be my third trip to Calgary and I'm greatly looking forward to it. This picture shows my apparel for most of the weeks while I'm gone. The shirt on the left is our Mt. View team shirt that will probably be worn when we play tourist on Saturdays. The shirt on the right is our shirt used at all ministry sites. We will wear this shirt EVERY day for 8 hours at least. Pray for open washing machines a couple of nights so we can wear clean shirts a few days at least. It has the website of the church we work with southwindschurch.ca. We are free advertising for the church. It's pretty special to me though because I've been with this church plant since it's prayer stages two summers ago. I look forward to worshipping there next Sunday. The hat in the middle is for t-ball camp. It's a much better hat than our "old man/trucker" hats from last year. At least this one will protect my scalp from sunburn.

So I ask that you pray for our travels as we've had bumps in the road each trip. We arrive in Canada with no complications but our trip home has been tainted with complications each year. I also ask that you pray for endurance. It's going to be two VERY busy weeks full of ministry and relationship building. Week one involves t-ball and a kids camp (VBS type of thing). Week two involves basketball camp and yard work. I'm going to need rest whenever I can find it. OK, I've got to go finish packing. I'll blog if I can while I'm gone or blog when I get back. No worries, eh?!

Summer Break Routine

My summer break routine has finally started this week. It evolves into practically the same thing each day that I am home during the summer. I had two summers to perfect it when I was stuck at home job searching. It's amazing how relaxing it can become. I've even been known to suck a few people into my routine where they can relax with it too.

I usually wake up at a pretty early hour. If I awake before 8, I stay in bed and read until sometime after 8. Then I proceed to watch Good Morning America or SportsCenter. Depending on what realm of world news I feel the need to catch up on. It's mostly baseball scores and whiny football players who want more money lately so GMA usually wins out.

This morning I rediscovered my favorite appliance - my smoothie maker. I am becoming well known among my circle of friends for making good smoothies. My smoothie partner has moved half way across the country so I had to down the whole thing today. I think I got a full days vitamin requirement in this morning's concoction. Then after breakfast I either read some more or develop my finger dexterity on my GameCube. I'm in the middle of an NBA basketball season so I've got to play some each day so the season doesn't extend into the school year. I created some players named for "fictional" people who I need to develop into good players too.

At 10:00 AM drama is turned on. I get lost in the world of ER for two hours. It's still the early seasons, but it is before I started watching religiously with my roomie in college and after the seasons I have on DVD. Lunch happens around 12 and I watch Full House or Hope and Faith - depending on how long I have this free preview of the WE channel. I then decide its time to shower and accomplish something for the day.

Afternoons are filled with mission trip preparations, Bible study catch ups, counseling DVD classes or naps, depending on the energy level. I might go to a movie one day this week to fill my afternoon. I'll need to attack my jungle I call a lawn of weeds at some point later in the week. It'll be three weeks until it gets mowed again so I'm trying to put it off. If I need to go out, then I do. There is no pressure to be anywhere this week. I have volleyball open gyms on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Church is having VBS this week, which I again avoided this year. It's a pretty clear schedule that is totally up to me. I have been staying up pretty late but I've always been a night owl anyways. So there's my routine. What do you do with your summer?

Beach Bound Too!

If you read my blog, then you probably read Melissa's too. We are leaving for the beach somewhat early tomorrow morning. We'll be back with sunburns and fun stories to tell I'm sure. We're looking to our first big "adult" vacation/adventures. We've been discussing all the fun things we're going to do while in Cocoa Beach...bar hopping, finding me a man, tattoos, dying our hair some funky color, and whatever Rena adds to our list. Dad recommended that I write SINGLE or AVAILABLE on my back in sunscreen and then walk down the beach. Man, it's good to be loved. I'll post this week if I get the chance but otherwise I'll see you on the flip side!

Mef - we'd LOVE to hear from you sometime this week. Any time is good with me!

Schools Out!

Today I completed my first year at Lincolnton Middle School. The last day of school is different every year based on the age I'm teaching, if I'm coming back to this school, and hormonal level of my students. It was an emotional day for most of the girls. Some of them were crying in the first ten minutes of school and others waited until the end of the day to cry. Several of them expressed their fear of high school. Several of them thanked me for helping them get to high school. My white board is covered with good-byes and memories. I'm going to have to take a picture of it before I erase it all. My yearbook is filled with well wishes and thanks for being me. I love writing in student's yearbooks too. I love to put in ink my best wishes and prayers for their futures. Hopefully some day down the road they'll read back through it and realize how much I believe in them. My room is empty of everything moveable except my desk and my computer table. Man, is my floor dirty! I've cleaned most of my room as we watched movies this week.

I'm amazed at the amount of paperwork that has to be done to finish a student's middle school career. Today was the day of gathering information for the summer school kids. Monday brings the fun of getting cumulative folders ready for high school. Hopefully, Tuesday will be a day of cleaning and organizing my room. I'm looking forward to sorting cumulative folders and "tracking" my kids' progress thus far in their educational careers.

Don't get me wrong - I love my kids dearly. Some of them will hold a special place in my heart for years to come, but for the most part I'm glad the year is over. My body is physically shutting down. I've been waiting since 5:30 for a decent, dark hour to go to bed. I think I can turn-in soon. Now that school's out, I'll hopefully be able to post more often!

SisterChicks Go Brit!

The latest of the SisterChick books is in stores now! I'm hoping to buy it after I get paid at the end of the week. I have LOVED this series! I've even had a few random sisterchick adventures myself with my sisterchicks. We have one coming up this summer to Cocoa Beach, Florida. My favorite SisterChick book was Down Under where they went to Australia and New Zealand. I'm planning my own Down Under trip in the next year hopefully!

Go Ahead and Laugh

Just wanted to share this BEAUTIFUL picture with all of you. This is what happens by the end of the day on a Thursday of a VERY long week. Some of my crazy girls get ahold of my hair and conveniently have enough hair-bows to create this with my hair. At least I was smiling!

Barely Moving

Hopefully my students won't get any picture of me like this!!

It's that time of year again...I'm beginning to think I prefer the craziness and schedule of volleyball season to this time of year. I've put in 16-18 hour days EVERY day for about the last 10 and there's not really an end in sight immediately. EOG's are two weeks from tomorrow and Wednesday. My EOG (math) is two weeks from Wednesday.

I've also kicked church stuff into high gear recently too. We've had meeting after meeting for the planning of things that are happening soon and this summer. We've been preparing for our return trips to Canada and for our Global Focus stuff in the coming weeks. Not to mention all the logistics of moving Mom and Dad back to Hickory (which should be complete tomorrow - pray for the sale of their house in Rock Hill).


To be honest if I sit down for more than five minutes I'm fighting sleep. I am alive and find the energy from somewhere to make it through the days. Even my weekends are filling fast. If you teach school, you understand completely. If you don't then just try to catch me on the phone sometime in the next two weeks. Don't be offended if I don't talk to you for awhile!! I just wanted to check-in. Hopefully will have time to say Hi again soon!

8th Grade Field Trip!

1. This is the pathway to the beach. We did play like two seconds of volleyball but it was too windy and TOO cold. Someone did manage to hit the ball into the ocean.


2. Wright Brother's memorial...on top of a really long hill and when you're struggling with a stomach virus it was not very pleasant. The sky was a beautiful Carolina blue though. The scaffolding makes for an interesting picture as well.


3. North Carolina's most famous lighthouse. This is the one that got moved up the road to protect it from the eroding beaches. Pretty cool even if we didn't get to go up inside of it!


4. The amusement park on the beach the first night of our trip. I did take on some of the kids on the go-cart track, but those things weren't made for someone as tall as me. I drove with my knees up to my chin. I started in the back of the pack and worked my way up to the first five finishers. We had fun!


5. Fort Macon. I can't tell you too much about this fort because I was wandering with my camera as the kids listened to a talk from a historical ranger dude. They paid attention for quite awhile. It was pretty cool and made me miss Melanie because she would've loved it! I hope the pictures I'm sending her does it some justice.

My girls - well a few of them! Erika and Christy - nice sweatshirts! Sabrina - my seatmate for most of the way home - definitely made my trip better! Carson - that girl is crazy but I love her to death!

A Few Pics

Pi Day Celebration!

We measured circumference and diameters of sandwich cookies using pull-n-peel twizzlers. This is a small portion of the pies that we ate on Pi Day. We ended up with 41 pies being donated by the loving parents of my students. My countertop was full and the refridgerator and freezer in the teacher's workroom was also full.

Time with Zeke and Jasmine over spring break.

This is the fort we built in Zeke's bedroom - using mostly blankets and pillows from his room. It is where we played army most of the weekend.

Geeps

Have you seen these things? It's a cross-breed of a goat and a sheep - found in Australia. Pastor George mentioned them in his sermon today. The Christians of the world are sheep and know the shepherd and His voice. The lost souls in the world are goats. His question to the congregation at one point was "How many geeps are filling the pews of our churches?" They know the language of the sheep and can even sound like a sheep, but they are holding on tightly to the goat life-style. That was quite humbling to think about.

There are a few verses to be considered here:Matthew 25:31-33 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left." The rest of this chapter tells of what happens to the sheep and goats. It's a good study if you get the chance.

So where do you stand? On the right with the sheep, on the left with the goats or somewhere in the middle. As Pastor George says, "It's going to be a tough, painful day for the geeps because they will have to be put on one side or the other."