WOW. . .long time no see

So. . .yeah. . .

Been a while.

Haven't really felt like writing in the last few months.

Been pretty busy.

Well, that's not completely true.

Never did finish up the last blog about Costa Rica. Needless to say, it was a great trip.

Had another great mission trip after that to Hayesville, NC. Painted another mural.

Vacation Bible School came after that.
Great times.
Great t-shirt design if I do say so myself (I admit to a personal bias as the designer).

Couldn't have been any better.
Oh wait, yeah it could have.
I could have not fallen backwards out of a pool deck lounge chair at the City of Winter Garden pool.
Fallen backwards, down a concrete wall, onto a concrete sidewalk, on my head.

I was laughing at Matt, and the predicament above that he found himself in. In fact, the chair fell backwards at the precise moment I laughed at his girlish scream of "you're pulling my chest hair!"

The next week, nothing happened.
The week after that, nothing happened.
The week after that, Youth Week, lots happened. And it ended with me playing Putt Putt Golf.
Second hole, tripped, lost my balance, and snapped my left pinky at the knuckle.

I don't have a picture of the event. This pic was taken right before my turn. The aftermath is all a blur, I know that I fainted, I know that they called an ambulance. I also know that they had to take me out on a sitting stretcher, because I could not walk without fainting again.

Did I receive a simple cast and get sent on my way?
No.
I got three nights in the hospital, lots of pain killers, and oh yeah. . .
SURGERY. . .A PLATE AND FIVE SCREWS!

 

That happened in August. The second week of August. It is now October 31st, and I still can't straighten out my finger. I'm still on pain meds.

Oh. . .I almost forgot. . .

Russ, Lana, and Leya got to come down to see us twice within the past five months! YAAAAYYY!
The first time was a birthday surprise for mom.

The second was for Leya's first birthday.

 

I also got a dog. . .Toby. . .so. . . .

Everything's great!

Costa Rica-Pura Vida 2012

Ok, so I promised that I'd give you a run down of my mission trip to Costa Rica. Oh, and share some pics.
Seeing as how my only registered followers are already friends on my facebook, I'll try to share a few here that they haven't seen.

We left on Sunday (our flight was at 10:00a, so we were at the airport at 8:00a.) No real problems at either airport, our flight was great. There was one bag from the Ocala group that got ripped (BADLY) and we ended up having to find her a replacement bag while we were in San Jose.

At OIA waiting to get on the tram

 Last year, we worked at a larger church on the outskirts of Alajuela, in Tuetal.  Our work this year was at a church in the midst of San Jose. Iglesia Evangelica Metodista "Monte de los Olivos" is a much smaller church but possesses no less passion. The church building itself is over 90 years old, and has recently suffered significant structural damage from an earthquake. Needless to say, our work was definitely not lacking. Unfortunately, the permit to repair the roof did not come through in time for us to be able to work on that. So, we switched gears and worked on the interior and exterior walls.

I had told Danny to inform Pastor Gustavo that I could paint a mural for him if he liked. So, I packed in my suitcase a painting kit that I had recently been able to purchase through a generous birthday gift from a neighbor. I was actually a bit worried that the kit would be confiscated out of my checked bag. However, God prevailed, and the paint made it to San Jose.

The first day in San Jose (Sunday) we checked into our hotel, Hotel Villa Tournon, and then dressed for Sunday evening Church service. The congregation at Monte de los Olivos had changed their Sunday morning worship schedule so that they could welcome us on Sunday evening.

The Praise Team

Jr. and the lyrics

William translated

We realized that Sunday evening while doing a walk through of the church campus, that there was more work than we could ever possibly hope to finish. So the prayer is that God will bring more mission teams behind us. We determined that our main focus would be scraping the walls, plastering them, and painting them. We would also work on replacing some over head lighting, purchase beams for the sanctuary roof, put in a dividing wall for the Sunday School room/kitchen, paint the outside fence and gate, and if God saw it possible-paint a mural in the Sunday School room.

The awesome thing about mission trips is that they always teach you the wonder of patience. Whether its because you have to sit around and wait at the hardware store, realize you're missing scrapers, realize that you got the wrong type of paint, realize there is only one jenky ladder, that the overhead lights you want to buy are extremely expensive, that the walls are crumbling and will require several layers of plaster, that there's a hurricane coming through over your heads and you won't be able to plaster the outside walls, or that you have no power saw and are going to have to cut all the 2x4's for the wall with a hand saw. Oh and you have to get everything done in four days and most of you don't speak Spanish.

Monica and her "scraper"

Matt and his "ladder"

Either you spend your spare time laughing or waste it crying. We mainly laughed. And sang.

I'm going to make this a double post. So I'll finish the story tomorrow.

Lots to do. . .

So, I'm turning 30 in 21 days. Depressing.

Been working on lots of projects for the past month. The envelope project took up a lot of my time, but the rest has been filled with updating the inside of my parents house.

I haven't taken any pictures of it yet. I'll post some when it's all done, hopefully.

I've painted the walls of mom's room, and set her up with some new bookcases. All in the name of making her life easier. I've been really frustrated with the fact that there's nothing available in terms of practical furniture for people in wheelchairs. What you do find ends up costing ridiculous amounts of money. So in the end, you have to be really creative with what you can find at places like IKEA.

I love IKEA. We found two bookcases, some wall shelves, a bedside table, storage boxes, and blinds for mom's room the other day. Great stuff. Great fun for me and mom. . .not so much when I had to go through the self-check out, but oh well.

We really should go buy some stock in LOWES, seeing as how much we've been frequenting them lately. The only excuse is that mom and dad have lived in this house for twenty years and never done anything to update since it was built back in 1991. Add to that the fact that mom's wheelchair is really rough on the cabinets and door frames, and well this refreshing was way over due.

The hope is that we'll get all of this work done before the big family birthday party in June. Which is interesting, because all of our birthdays are in May. Today is actually my grandfather's birthday. Russ's is next Thursday. Mine is the next Thursday. Dad's is the next Wednesday, and mom's is the next Thursday. So, we decided that the first weekend of June would be appropriate enough, lol.

AND. . .I'm going to Costa Rica the second weekend of June. . .I can't wait. . .this will be my second trip there. . .last year I went to Alajuela in mission with our young adult group at church. This year the same group is going, but we're going to San Jose to work on a different church.

So, be looking forward to pictures of all the work at the house and of the tropical lushness of Costa Rica.

I'll leave you with this entertaining video from the Muppets new movie.

Vaya Con Dios!

Thoughts on the end. . .

Working the soundboard for another memorial service. Which is relatively normal for me. . .the thoughts and comments that you'll find here are just what pops up in my mind every time I get to sit at the back of the sanctuary and observe the different ways that people deal with their grief. . .
Anyways. . .

Makes one begin to think about their own end.

What would they play for music at mine?
What would people say?

As much as I'd like to have a say in what happens after I die. . .funerals and memorial services are not for the person who has already moved on. . . They are for those of us left behind. . .those of us who are just trying to make sense of what death of our loved one means for our continuing journey through life.

Anyways, I figured, because I'm thinking about this now, that I'd play the song that I want people to hear. . .because the words matter just as much now as they will when I'm gone. . .

Elevated Envelope Project

I'M FINISHED!!!

You don't know how good it feels to be able to say that. A few months ago a friend of mine directed me to an art project opportunity. Through another blog site called "The Elevated Envelope" I signed up to create a group of artistic envelopes that I would mail to another group of artists. They in turn would mail me their own artistic envelopes. Basically, one big group art project.

I loved the idea. In fact, I'd actually been exposed to this kind of thing back when I was in college. My printmaking professor had an artist friend who mailed artistic envelopes all over the place. So I was intrigued enough to try my own hand at it.

However, I'm one of those kind of artists who knows just how high a quality of art that I can produce, but unfortunately fail to take in account that the ideas in my head usually require A LOT OF WORK!! This is why I try to surround myself with people who have no problem telling me that there's probably a simpler solution to my projects. Unfortunately this time around the project was mine alone, done in my spare time, and I didn't really let anybody dissuade me from the grandiose idea I had in my head.

There weren't any restrictions on what the envelope looked like, no theme. It had to be more handmade than not, it had to have a surprise enclosed, and it had to be mailed by May 1st.

So. . . here was my idea. An envelope that looked like an interweaving of palm fronds, with a little lizard crawling across it. Not an extremely complicated undertaking, right? Except I decided that the best way to combine my love of nature and God would be to enclose a miniature stained glass window. . .lol.

You're probably thinking to yourself right now that I must have been on some pretty strong pain killers or something. Who in their right mind would undertake making ELEVEN miniature stained glass windows. . .OUT OF PAPER. . .????

Well, let's just put it this way. . .I'm not doing that EVER AGAIN. . .

I'm just now beginning to feel my fingertips again.

So here's some pics of the project. Unfortunately I only had my cell phone with me, so excuse the blurriness.

Window sheet

This is what the panels of the stained glass looked like when I started cutting them out. I had to make two per window because the pieces of cellophane sheeting that I cut out were glued in between the black sheets. I made a template first, and then traced it onto the black sheet. This made it somewhat easier, but that didn't save me from having to cut all the little holes out with an exacto knife (if you'll notice the blade in the corner has a pencil grip on it. . .ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY!!)

Green Anole

The envelopes themselves were easier to produce. I made an original drawing and then copied that onto white card-stock. Then, I cut out each envelope shape. The little Green Anole is another piece of card-stock. I hand painted eleven tiny little lizards, coated them with PVA glue, cut them out and glued them onto the envelopes. Each envelope was also hand painted. The important part of that is that there are only three colors used on the envelopes. So assembly line stye, I painted first the blue, then green, then yellow.

Finished Stained Glass Window

 The panels are what took the longest, but I think they came out really well. I spent four days tracing out three different colors of cellophane sheets and then cutting out the tiny shapes. Then applying all the miniscule flimsy things to the black paper with rubber cement. Then going back and rubbing the dried rubber cement off. Then gluing the other piece of black paper with PVA. Ugh. . .NEVER AGAIN.

Let there be LIGHT!

This is what it looked like finished, though. Pretty cool with the light shining through.

The Surprise Inside

This is what will be found inside each envelope. I enclosed a stained glass panel and a card with the following "May you always know the warmth of the sun!"

Back of envelope

Envelope with postage

I made these out of card-stock because I thought that the weight of the paper would hold up better with paint and glue. I didn't think about how hard it would be to get it all closed up and mailable. Thank goodness for PVA paper glue.  That little butterfly sticker is only for show. There's no way it would hold the envelope closed. In fact just to keep it stuck down I had to add a piece of double-stick tape to the back of it.

The envelopes

 Here's the finished lot of them. I had two envelopes going to Canada, which I knew I had to pay more for. Upon going to the post office I also found out that the size of the envelopes was actually smaller than standard postage covers. So, for an envelope that was SMALL I had to pay EXTRA postage. . .for all of them!! BLAH!

All in all, I'm really glad I participated in this. I'm thinking about starting to make more artistic mail and send it to family and friends. Probably not this elaborate, but still artsy and unique. Drop me a line if you'd like to be on the receiving end of my artistic whimsies!! :)

Easter is always a busy day. . .

Well, I allowed for one day of reading on my last post. . .here's the next one.

I'm the unofficial photographer at our church ( as well as the worship tech/media person), so I thought I'd share with you some of the shots I took on Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

These are some shots of the altar area during our 

Good Friday "Tenebrae-A Service of Lights and Shadows". There are seven candles lined up on the table, representing the seven Sundays of Lent. As the seven last words of Christ are read, each candle is extinguished. At the end of the service all the Christian elements of the room are removed, last being the Christ candle. This leaves the room in complete darkness. If you'll notice the black cloth in the background, that's a shroud that is placed over the Garden of Gethsemane window.

These last three are just a few of the shots I took during both the Sunrise and later morning worship services. The white cross is found in our front courtyard (it is also featured in the movie "Letters to God" along with our sanctuary). Each Holy Week I dress the cross with the following colors: Purple for Holy Wednesday and Maundy Thursday, black for Good Friday, and White for Easter. It's my own small form of worship, especially when you take into account the prayers I lift up while climbing up the ladder!

The next pic is of the shroud being taken down during our 9:00a worship service. We begin the service in total darkness, no lights, and no elements of Christianity. As the first hymn is sung "Christ the Lord is Risen Today" the crucifer makes his way forward, followed by our Easter banner, altar cross, Bible, the Christ Candle, and finally the acolyte who lights all the candles. It is at this time, when the candles are lit that Richard begins to lower the shroud. "Hallelujah, Christ is Risen!"

The last pic is of our Easter Cross. This project is taken on each year by the ladies of the church. It's covered in sphagnum moss and then loaded with Gladiolas. It holds a particular place in our heart, because families throughout the year take their Easter pictures in front of it. The cross doesn't change even as we the church people grow old.

Well, I hope your Easter was as beautiful as mine!!

Grace and Peace!

He is Risen!!

OH! I have so much to talk about. . .and I can only talk about it now, because I've finally recovered from Holy Week 2012. . .it only took me five days of walking around like a zombie, I might add! :)

So Danny and I decided to once again produce Holy Week prayer stations this year. We'd done them for three years in a row, but in 2010 we decided we needed a break. So, it's been two years since the last time we did them, but it was so much easier this time around.
  
What is a contemplative prayer station you ask?
The entire purpose of a contemplative prayer station is to create a time and space for people to experience God in their lives. Prayer stations can be highly creative or an incredibly simple approach to prayer and spiritual reflection. Typically, a space is set up where people can enter and participate at their own pace and level. (thanks to Creative Prayer for the description!)

In fact, I have to give props to Creative Prayer, and a host of other sites online for their creative inspiration. It was a ton of work on my part to search out ideas that would work, as well as all the time that it took to edit and tweak them so that they worked for us. However, if I didn't have the internet as a resource to go to, I don't think we could have pulled any of it off.

Well, I talked about prayer stations two posts ago, letting you in on some of the stuff we'd done before. It was close to the same format this year, with only a few minor changes, stations that were replaced, stations that were newly created, that kind of thing. So I'll post some pics and their descriptions so you can understand better, and maybe utilize them in your own church or faith community.

This journey is not about an agenda or meeting anyone's expectations.
It's simply a time and a place for you to draw close to Jesus.

This first one is a particular favorite of mine. We dressed the area with everything
we could think of that could be considered "idols". 

Letting Go of Idols

 Letting Go of Idols
Matthew 4:8-10
Meditate on the scripture. Close you eyes and clench your hands tightly. Imagine all the things that you have allowed to come between you and your worship of God. This could included money, your job, relationships, popularity, technology, hobbies, or any other things you can think of. Then in your own time, still clenching your hands, turn them over so that they are facing down. Imagine God's hands underneath yours. Slowly open your hands so that the things you are carrying fall into God's hands. You may wish to repeat this several times. Then with your hands face up and your palms open ask God's Spirit to fill you afresh.

This station seemed to resonate with everyone who went through.

Forgiving Others

Forgiving Others
Luke 6:27, 28
Think about some of the people you consider "enemies". When a name (or "names") pop into your head, pick up a stone and use one of the markers to print the person's initials on the stone. While holding the stone in your hand, say a "prayer of blessing" for the person you wrote down. After the prayer, wash the stone in the water and allow God to wash away the grudge you hold against that person as the water washes the ink off. If you are able to set in motion the blessing for the person you prayed for, take the stone home with you to remember to do so . Otherwise, just place your clean stone back into the pile.

This station is wonderful for allowing people to expand their prayer vocabulary.

Praying the Names of God

Praying the Names of God

John 14:13-14

There are several ways you can pray the Names of God.

-You can simply read through the Names of God.

-You can read through the names of God and then focus on one or two.

-You can read the Names of God until one specific Name "speaks" to your spirit. Remain with this Name until your heart is satisfied.

-Read the Names of God in your prayers to shape your prayers.

Example of such a prayer:

Abba Father, I confess that You are The Supreme God, a God of Mercy and Grace, a Mountain Fortress for all Your children and the Source of all Steadfastness and Encouragement. You are my Father and You have compassion for me. You are the One who does Wonders because You are the Living God.

This one is always visually impacting.

Prayer Chain

Prayer Chain
Romans 1:9
We are called to be a community of faith, to help each other with our spiritual walk. Think about your relationship with God. Was there someone in your life who helped bring you to know Christ? Are there individuals in your life who need God right now? Do you know someone who has never heard of Jesus Christ and His message of love?
You are invited to take a strip of paper. This strip is a physical representation of your prayers. It can be for a person in your life, it can be for you and your relationship with the Lord, or it might even represent a person or persons that you would like to help bring to Christ. Take this moment to pray for them.
Write down the name or thing that you would like to pray for on the strip of paper.
Pray that God would work in your life or the other person's life.
Pray that God would bring you or the other person into a deeper relationship that revolves around God.
Pray for anything else that comes to mind.
When you have finished, loop it through one of the already completed links in the chain and staple it closed. You may make as many links as you would like.

A good day

Red Amaryllis

UGH. . .I had such a good day. . .well, actually a couple of good days, but today was particularly nice.
I love spring, it always puts me in a good mood. Which of course is mainly due to all my new baby plants popping up through the soil and the old friends who're putting on new growth. It's good to see everyone after the winter.


Got a few new plants from different places. It's always entertaining to go to the garden department (at any store), but it's even more so when you realize that EVERYBODY ELSE has the same idea! Lol. . .spring fever.

Pineapple Sage

Lavender, Kitty, and Bromeliad

Bird feeder  from Russ and Lana

Anyways, took a few pics of my plants and yard to share. . .The Pineapple Sage is so cool. It actually smells like pineapple when you rub the leaves! The lavender I picked up at Wal-Mart the other day, and the kitty is actually a watering can that my brother Russ and his wife Lana sent me for Christmas (which consequently did not arrive until March!). They also sent me the adorable little bird feeder which the sparrows and warblers adore!

Leya, my niece!

They think that I really needed gifts for Christmas, but they got me the best one when they had little Leya back in September! Isn't she adorable! :)

The next section includes pics of my adventure with my parents on our trip to Lake Panasoffkee to pick up some new Murcott trees for dad's grove.

UH, YUM!! :)

We first went to The Speckled Butterbean in Webster, which is located on the grounds of the flea market there. GOOD FOOD, if you like homegrown southern style.


 

Then, we wandered (because it was twelve o'clock and we weren't due at the nursery until 1:30p). I love wandering with mom. We always have the best adventures. Dad on the other hand, he has a hard time not having a particular destination in mind. Drives him crazy! :)

We still ended up getting to the nursery early, but they were more than willing to accommodate us (and do what southerners do best, trade stories). So, while he did that, mom and I sat in the car. . .and waited. We get in so much trouble when you leave us alone like that!

Fox Squirrel

Anyways, on the way back home I managed to catch this shot of a fox squirrel and one of the Phlox that line the highway (mom's request).

Phlox along the road

Let everything that breathes sing praises to the Lord!

Praise the Lord! Psalm 150:6

Holy Week Prayer Stations

So I haven't taken any pictures. I know. . .you're saying, then why would I bother to read this. . .blogs are all about the pictures you share!
Well tough cookies. . .I don't have any. . .
Anyways, I've been having a good couple of days. . .had Youth Sunday this past weekend. . .that was fun, but a lot of work. The kids always pull through and do a great job, which just amps up their good exposure to the church congregation. . .

Bags of sin at the cross

Holy Week is coming up, and we've decided to do prayer stations again this year. . .now there's where I could throw you a bone and put some pictures in. . .however, they're old, taken about four years ago. . .but, I'll allow them.

Holy Communion

Prayer Braids

Caring for our community

Good Graffiti

 So here's how they work. . .
we set up the Fellowship Hall, a Sunday School classroom, the chapel, and the sanctuary with different interactive stations. Each participant carries along a booklet that tell them about each station. This includes scripture, a brief devotional, instructions on the station activity, and a prayer. Participants slowly move from station to station, taking as much time as they'd like. The stations in the Fellowship Hall are all pretty generic and touch mainly on personal prayer and faith. The stations after that all follow the Life and Death and Resurrection of Christ. Hence the name "journey through Holy Week". Included among these are a foot-washing station and the Last Supper, or Holy Communion.

Danny, Richard, and I spend a month ahead of time coming up with station ideas, putting together the booklet, and making sure we have enough supplies (mainly white candles). Then the Tuesday before we spend about eight hours getting everything put together and set up. . .lots of fun.
Well, that's the main thing on my plate. . .beside two Sunday's of worship and then four services during Holy Week. Lol.