It is...

Stuffing announcements, writing thank you notes, loving all the family (from both sides) being here.... yep! It's wedding weekend!

Family and friends have pitched in to take care of so many details and all the pieces are in place for a wedding tomorrow. Pictures, family, friends, cake, laughter, skype to Dallas, and a life-long covenant.

God, thanks for bringing Greg and me together! It's been fun to watch you work, God, over the last nine months and I'm so glad you have eternity in mind! You're awesome, God!

(I love you, Greg!)

Time Out to Play!

Remodeling Church Sanctuary

Posting Again?

Yeah, I know. What's the world coming to? After Dorinda makes an important post, she disappears from her blog for a month and then suddenly resurfaces with two blogs in two days.

To be honest, this morning's post is a procrastination post. I haven't figured out which part of my list to tackle first, so I'm posting here instead of tackling it. Don't worry, Mom, I'm keeping it short. :)

My wedding is in 11 days. Wow. And the house is being cleaned and the program put together and the church is being renovated. Wait. What? I don't remember the "church being renovated" as part of a regular wedding checklist. No, it's not. Just my church. And we're a tad bit behind schedule. Right now it looks like we'll be moved back into the church about 5 days before the wedding. Lots of fun!

Okay - now off to work on my newsletter (out soon!), get ready for the day, and get emails sent and house cleaned...

Playing with Picasa

Just playing with Picasa on my laptop... easy to post photos... maybe this will get me blogging again. Thanks to Tony for our awesome pictures!!!

Changes - By God's Direction and Grace

My newsletters finally got sent out and most of my supporters will get them in the next two days. I think this newsletter was one of the hardest ones to write because of the feeling and emotions behind it - emotions of joy in what God is doing and emotions of change...

As the newsletter shares with my supporters, September 30th will be my last day serving with Gospel for Asia. With my leaders' blessings, I am transitioning over to LightSys - Greg's ministry - to serve alongside him in the call the Lord has given us.

Things that will change:

• I'm leaving Dallas and moving to Kansas for the six weeks before the wedding.
• I'll be serving alongside Greg in the ministry of LightSys. We're not yet sure where long term headquarters will be, but we'll probably be in the KS area for the short-term.

Things that won't change:

• Greg and I will still be serving as support-based missionaries.
• We are still called to reach the lost world with the gospel of Christ.
• Similar to the computer support I was providing for GFA, we'll still be doing computer support for a variety of mission organizations. (Helping take care of their computer and training needs so they can do the mission work they need to do.)

We will continue to need your prayers and support! THANK YOU for praying for me so much over the years and thank you for your continued prayers.

Could you pray for me this week? It's a little bit of a busy and emotional week - wrapping up 7 years of office work, packing to move, trying to address and send out wedding invitations...

I would so appreciate it! Thank you!

Almost as if Jesus is enough

Aaron Ironside is a radio personality in New Zealand that recently visited some of GFA's ministry in Asia. He was blogging during this trip and I was struck this comment from him, posted mid-trip.

As I reflect on today I realize that I am beginning to feel sick. No it’s not my sore arm playing up (changed the dressing today- going to have a cool scar), nor was it the local curries finally catching up with me. No, I am getting sick……of me. Despite my delusions of humility, I am confronted by a seemingly endless line of believers who are much more advanced on the road to a self-less life than I. There is no talk of what Jesus can do for me, my dreams, my destiny, nothing. None of these people talk about what God can do for them. They talk about the poor and the lost, about prayer and being faithful. Don’t they realize that Jesus is waiting to unleash an unlimited life, of wealth, blessing and influence? Apparently they didn’t get the memo, it’s almost as if Jesus is enough.

Ingenuity

My new roommate had a birthday this past week and I volunteered to make the cake for the party. Roomie picked up the cake mix and frosting she wanted and I started in to create the cake. That's when I remembered that my cake decorating supplies were in Kansas. So was my 9x13" pan. So... I borrowed a 9x13 pan from my cousins and baked the cake. We used a 10x15" jelly roll pan as the "cake plate" when I flipped it out of the pan. A kitchen knife managed the icing job. And as much as Roomie said she didn't need a decorated cake, I still wanted to do something nice to it.

Enter: a "Happy Birthday" paper printout, a pasta strainer, and a bag of powdered sugar. I removed the letters of "Happy Birthday" from the sheet of paper, leaving the outside of the letters and paper intact. Then Roomie held the homemade "stencil" over the cake while I tapped powdered sugar through the pasta strainer (The sifter is in Kansas too...) onto the stencil.

Add a few candles and voila la! A birthday cake! I thought it turned out well, all things considered. And Roomie said she liked it too. Happy (belated now) Birthday, Roomie!

Helpdesk Memories

We’re switching the main HelpDesk duties here at the office from myself to Domain Admin Eric and new IT person Tim. Since I’ve been the primary HelpDesk person here at GFA for almost 7 years, sometimes it gets interesting trying to separate HelpDesk from me. Desktop Admin was telling stories today from when he was originally being trained to help with HelpDesk several years ago and people were too used to talking to me…

Answers HelpDesk phone: HelpDesk, this is Josh.

Oh, oops. I thought I was calling Helpdesk.

This is HelpDesk.

Oh, then never mind. I’ll just hang up and call Dorinda.

Poor Josh...

Cute Little Niece (August)

August brought a trip to Virginia for LightSys Team Retreat with Greg and the LightSys team. And celebrate my 30th birthday. And I got to see my new baby niece! My first baby niece! Congrats, C and J - she's a cutie and a keeper!

Worship Night

When Greg was in the Dallas area back in July, we enjoyed setting up his keyboard and having an evening of praise and worship with some of our GFA friends. It's so wonderful to have a fiance that loves to sing praise the Lord with me (and can play guitar and keyboard). Thanks, Greg! I had a great time that evening and I so enjoy worshipping the Lord alongside you!

Fun with Supporters (in March)

File from the archives - a fun memory from my March support trip was my visit with Mrs. H. - a dear supporter in the Anthony area. After visiting, we took time to sing through a few of the old hymns...

Sleepy Morning

I'm at the office early this morning, hoping to get some work done before the office gets busy. I had hoped to walk to work and enjoy the cool of the morn (it's 72 here this morning. Cool(er) mornings - finally!), but this little sleepyhead didn't wake up in time. :P

I'm hoping to get some pictures uploaded soon... pictures of me and my adorable niece that was born in August, pictures of the bridal shower that my GFA family threw for me, pictures of Greg (of course...). We'll see what I get done...

Prayer items: I need to get my newsletter written this week. Lots of important updates and I need your prayers as I put it together. Pray for "DonorStudio" training that is going on this week at the office for some of our staff. And pray that I get lots of communicating and documenting done this week. :)

I praise God for you guys!

(Random July Pics...discovering the scenic routes of Oklahoma)

God's Promises

Found in an unposted blog post from January 23^rd.

On the way to work this morning, there was the sunrise in the east and a rainbow in the west.  I wonder how many of the busy commuters took time to notice.

Who Am I , Lord?

Cleaning out my desk turned up this poem, torn from an old church handout (LIVE – October 13, 2002).

Who am I, Lord
To once again enter Your house
Begging
Forgiveness
Expecting
Understanding?

Who am I , Lord
To once again kneel at Your altar
Asking
For mercy
Anticipating
Your grace?

Who am I, Lord
To come into Your presence
And even assume
You will forgive
To dare to believe
You will understand?

Who am I, Lord?
I’m Yours.

By Marcia Krugh Leaser

Quote from ICCM '07

I was going through some old files and found this quote from someone at ICCM ’07: “God is looking for people through whom he can do the impossible.  What a pity we plan only the things we can do by ourselves.”

How true!

Crickets, Cornstarch, Clothespins, and Corelle

Aren't you glad God give us laughter!?! Last night and today have contained wonderful examples of God's gift of laughter to us! It's a little late, but here's a few abbreviated notes...

Crickets... they were all over the parking lost at Sonic last night and kept sproing-ing into the van and even jumping up on the van windshield! We decided that they thought the windshield wipers were a carnival ride, so we obliged them by using the wipers to propel them into an adventure! Greg's description is here. (I love you too!)

Cornstarch... I decided to make pancakes for Greg this morning (since I like making them and they're one of his favorite foods). He arrived at the house with the milk and we finished mixing up the pancakes-from-scratch and started pouring them onto the griddle. But they weren't cooking right... they wouldn't bubble! I finally wondered if the baking powder was bad and upon reaching for my container of "baking powder," I realized I had put in cornstarch instead! No wonder the pancakes were turning out like frisbees! We had a good laugh (all day today)!

Corelle... Not really funny stuff here - just fun stuff! We stopped by the Corellle store today and picked out the plate design we wanted! Mother - it looks like I get to have vines in my kitchen after all! :)

and last, but not least, Clothespins... the "busy-ness" of registry shopping today was delightfully interrupted by random clothespins being sneakily attached to the back of my shirt. I would eventually find the said clothespin and discover a message written on it... "You're so lovely, honey! " Each clothespin brought a new message from my wonderful love!

Yay for laughter, love and lots of grace!

Have I mentioned?

I don’t think I’ve mentioned this recently.  I like Greg.  He gives me chocolate.

What?  You say I’m supposed to list other reasons besides chocolate?  But that would make this blog way too long! :)

Off to do wedding registry at REI!!!  (Yay!)

Hiccup!

I’ve had severe hiccups on and off all day. I think I need chocolate or something. After all, chocolate cures hiccups, doesn’t it? Doesn’t it?