Our Thoughts....

Wonderful Weekend

2006-11-13T19:50:00.000-05:00

So I had a pretty awesome weekend. Me and my mom had some quality time in O-Town. **Side note: So do any of you remember the boy band O-Town? Well I never really listened to them but never really thought about their name much. I mean I knew they got started in Orlando but never really made the connection. Anywho, I was passing by Universal Studios and well my mind just did the A to B to C to D thing it does and somehow ended up thinking of them and it finally clicked. Hey, it only took about 6 years or so to get it** Okay, so back to my story... We ended up staying in this condo for really cheap. It was one of those, listen to our schpeal and we'll give you a really nice room and theme park tickets practically free. We said sure, why not, we're not under any obligation to buy and we weren't on a time schedule so we did it and it really wasn't that horrible. When the guy asked us what we did for a living and I said I was a Realtor he got this defeated look on his face and just said, "oh". I'm pretty sure he knew he wasn't getting anywhere after that point. After a 90 minute presentation that wound up being 3 hours we got our tickets and headed to Epcot. They were having their annual Food and Wine Festival which we weren't aware of until we got there but oh could you ever smell it. They always say that the Magic Kingdom is the happiest place on earth, well I'm pretty sure on Saturday it was Epcot. Everywhere you looked there were very giddy drunk people. You just think, "Wow, this place is suppose to be for kids, yet here we are, everyone well past toasty." It was rather sad to see everyone like that. I don't want to pay good money to go somewhere just to wake up the next morning and not remember a thing. My mom and I only had to pay 20 dollars for both of us to go but the average ticket price is over 70 dollars plus however much they were charging for drinks! That's a lot of money to have nothing to show for it. Besides the whole disobeying God aspect of the whole thing. Well enough about hammered people. Epcot wasn't all that exciting. Honey, I shrunk the audience was funny because the person on our left was a guy in his 60's screaming like a girl anytime anything happened and the lady on our right was practically sitting in her boyfriend's lap after the little incident with a huge boa constrictor and mice running rampent through the auditorium. The GM Test Track was pretty awesome. You got to experience the different tests a car goes through beforing being sold to consumers. There was rough terrain, antilock brakes, NO antilock brakes, extreme heat and cold, corrosion, crash was for airbags and then going from 0 to 60 pretty darn quick. It was awesome.
Sunday we were off to SeaWorld. Wow, I get excited just thinking about it. They have a new Shamu show called Believe. It was VERY sappy. Seriously people, I shed a little tear at the end. If you're like me and like the splashing and cool jumping out of the air stuff this was not the show for you. Don't get me wrong, I loved it but I think that's just because I love the ocean and whales and so he could just come out and swim around the tank and I'd be giddy. We of course went to the Shark Encounter. This couple behind us was from up north and had never been to SeaWorld and just kept saying how it smelled so strong of fish and it smelled like they were cooking something really close to the entrance. Well the couple's grandson said, I bet they are cooking some of the sharks from the tank in there and grandpa said no son, they'd never do anything like that. Well I just had to set them straight and let them know that you could actually dine on fish and shrimp, etc while looking at the sharks. You should've seen their faces. It was priceless they were in total shock. It was pretty darn funny. But what was better is I'm pretty sure they checked the restaurant out after we exited.
SeaWorld also has a new false killer whale and dolphin show. Its called Blue Horizon and it is PHENOMINAL. It was so good I sat through 2 back to back performances. They have amazing costumes, awesome tricks, colorful birds and lots of air-acrobatics. I think it should be at the main stadium instead of Shamu. I got to feed some dolphins and have my picture taken and lots of other fun stuff. I also saw the Clyde and Seamore show which was by far the funniest one I've seen yet and believe me I've seen it a few times.
I have some very funny hats with me in different hats. All you people out there that know I'm camera shy should be very impressed. I took nearly 200 hundred photos and I'm in about a fourth of them. Now I know that doesn't sound like much but normally I'd only be in maybe 1 out of 200 and that was only because I was forced to be in it. Oooh and we got princess parking at SeaWorld. We seriously were in the 1st parking space of the 1st row. Ah a dream come true, the perfect day at my favorite place in the whole wide world. I could definitely work there. I mean, I'd be willing to go around and pick up trash if I knew there were perks like getting to see the animals behind the scenes and got to play with them and stuff. Truly a dream come true would be to work with the dolphins and now they've incorporated jumping off the false killer whales nose which would be pretty darn cool too. Now that would be a job I'd enjoy going to everyday no matter what. I know you're probably thinking uh huh, you think its awesome but it would get old after awhile and in reality that is probably the case but I can have my dreams! And in my perfect world it is the perfect job :O)
You know why I think I love ocean animals so much is that they are so big but yet they are so graceful. They just glide through the water with little effort or send themselves out of the water doing flips and all sorts of other cool stuff. They are also so smart. Last night as I was trying to go to sleep and thinking of everything I'd seen that day I started thinking about the training process they go through with these animals. I would love to know how they do that. How do you communicate that when I point my finger this way or make a "w" with my fingers I want you to splash the audience to talk or whatever. That is just craziness to me.
When I see these animals I don't know how anyone could think that everything on this earth was just by chance. The variety of species and how they coexist and how they survive is amazing. It just makes me appreciate God's awesomeness more and more. He truly does astound me everyday. God is so creative. If things were left up to you and I we'd been in a whole lot of trouble. Thank you, God for being in control and for reminding us of that fact.
Well that was my exciting weekend. I'll post this on blogspot and facebook so you guys that have all 3 only have to read this once.

I Love this Kid!!!

2006-05-03T18:40:00.000-05:00

Can I just say that Chris Myrick is by far one of the most AWESOME people in the entire world.

Here was our conversation...

Chris "Are you coming to Strive on Saturday"

Me "No, I won't be there, sorry"

Chris "Uh, well what about Lerah"

Me "No, she won't be there either"

Chris (with a very sad look on his face) "Ah man, no Ashburns equals no fun"

That's for making me being you Chris. Actually I have to go ahead and give a shout out to the rest of the Myrick family. They are all AMAZING.

So I know I'm a little behind

2006-04-28T15:20:00.000-05:00

Sorry I haven't posted. I don't have a whole lot of excuses. Actually I don't know that I have any. I just wanted to say that I finally caught up with the rest of the world and got wireless internet for my laptop. It is a beautiful thing.

How did we get to this point?

2006-03-20T11:39:00.000-05:00

Okay so I'm gonna start this with some quotes from last week since I haven't had the opportunity to post in a week...

"Gosh, Kenley, you screwed it!" -Ian Morrow. (Referring to Kenley breaking the chain on a ceiling fan which Ian was attempting to fix.)

There were some good ones from the beach on Saturday but I can't really remember most of then now so I guess I'll just go with the one from Ian cause it was pretty darn funny at the time.

How are a society of such "independant" people, completely dependent on so many things? Especially on so many things we have no control over.

Last week was a mess. My blackberry (aka Crackberry) died on Monday and I didn't get a working phone until Friday. I still don't have the email set up which is more than frustrating but hopefully that will be fixed soon. Over the last two weeks Sprint has disconnected Kenley's DSL at least 2 or 3 times and it took days for them to get to his house to fix it and then hours once they actually made it. We finally got everything resolved with his phone and DSL on Friday when they switched it to his new house we were also moving the office on Friday so we had no computer. ARGH!!!! Thursday I actually had a semi attack because I need to get in touch with someone and when I got to Kenley's house I had no cell phone, no land line(home phone), no internet, nothing. It's amazing how your world comes to a halt when you don't have a phone or internet or a computer. It is so difficult to do anything. Why have we allowed ourselves to get to that point of dependency on something that is very unreliable.

It's amazing to me and I'm so thankful that we can completely rely on God. He won't ever let us down or leave us stranded. I know that I don't lean on God nearly enough. I need to push past "me" and trust and rely on God so much more than I do.

Conversation question: Do you think we don't rely on or put our trust fully in God (for everything) as much as we should because everything here on earth is so unreliable? Why do we feel the need to be so independant when God wants us to be dependent on Him?

*Just a couple of questions that I'm just curious to hear other's opinions on*

Quiz

2006-03-13T15:37:00.000-05:00

So I have been getting caught up on blogs and saw this one on Adam Elliot's blog. I decided I'd post it and see if I get any responses. Have fun.

my name:
Who is the love of my life:
Where did we meet:
Take a stab at my middle name:
How long have you known me:
When is the last time that we saw each other:
Do I smoke:
Do I drink:
When is my birthday:
What was your first impression of upon meeting me:
Do I have any siblings:
What's one of my favorite things to do:
Am I funny:
What's my favorite type of music:
What is the best feature about me:
Am I shy or outgoing:
Am I a rebel or do I follow the rules:
Do I have any special talents:
Would you consider me a friend/good friend:
Would you call me preppy, average, sporty, punk, hippie, glam, nerdy, snobby, or something else (what):
What is a memory we have once had:
Have you ever hugged me:
Do you miss me...do you think i miss you:
What is my favorite food:
Have you ever had a crush on me:
If there was one good nickname for me, what would it be:
What's your favorite memory of me:
Who do I like right now:
What is my worst habit:
If you and I were stranded on a desert island, what one thing would I bring?Are we friends:
Will you repost this so I can do it for you?:

Weekends are just not long enough!

2006-03-13T15:18:00.000-05:00

I had a very good weekend....

Friday Kenley and I went to see CCS's production of Godspell. They did a good job. I have to send a special shout out to Jordan Nowlin of his great performance as Jesus. Who knew jesus could pull off jeans, a superman tshirt and rainbow suspenders :o) They all did a great job and there were a good number of NBC folks there. Afterwards Me, Kenley, Melissa and Amanda ate dinner and played with Wicki Sticks at Ted's. The food wasn't all that great but we had a lot of fun with the Wicki Sticks aka colored wax on a string. We made a cowboy complety with lasso riding a buffalo. We should of gotten a discount just for our creativity.

Saturday I went Salsa dancing at Atlantis. I had so much fun. I ended up dancing with this random guy. He couldn't speak very good english but he could dancing great. It was so much fun. I can't wait to go again. Everyone should do this at least once.

Sunday I saw Madea's Family Reunion. OH my goodness... The guy that writes the Madea scripts is sooooooo funny. Then we had youth and then we had tribal council at the Myricks. Thank you to all of you who were praying for our meeting Sunday night. The jury's still out on who is getting kicked off the island. Just kidding, we're not planning to kick anyone off just yet. Mrs. Lisa is a great cook. She made us yummy chili and brownies and somehow we got on the subject of vicking and Leif Erikson and Daniel made the quote o' the day list. Check out Jenna's blog for the exact phrase. All in all I had a great weekend but I'm sooo tired today. Man I could so go for a nap right now.

Sorry I don't have any pictures. I've got to start carrying a camera with me.

Quote of the Day!

2006-03-10T13:12:00.000-05:00

"My butt's all sticky and I don't know how it got there!" Jenna Myrick.

Boy Time Flys!

2006-03-07T12:40:00.000-05:00

This weekend went by in a blur. We had D-Now Friday night with some of the youth, Saturday I went to the Both Truth Tour with Josh McDowell and Superchic[k]. I think its funny that there are 4 guys in the band and only 2 girls, hmmm.... I was kinda disappointed with the conference overall. I didn't think Josh spoke nearly long enough. I wish he'd prepared the youth more for going back into their worlds with concrete stuff on why they believe what they believe, that faith and beliefs are WAY more than a feeling you have. I thought that was the main point but I guess I was wrong. Sunday was our Celebration of True Love banquet. It was awesome. Everyone was so enthusiastic. Those that dressed up in their best 80's attire were amazing. Props to Lerah, Calyn and Jenna for doing such an awesome job with wardrobe, hair and makeup. If you didn't hear/see Pure Life or Denise Bernath's presentations you missed out. It was amazing to see people so pumped about Christ and their relationship with Him and not letting romantic relationships rule their lives. We're so inundated with the concept that we have to have a boyfriend or girlfriend to be significant. It was such a breath of fresh air. Worship was awesome too. It was so refreshing to see everyone truly worship and to get involved. Wow!!!!!! I haven't seen that recently in our group and it was so encouraging. Well that's about all I have for now. Talk to you guys soon.

On a sad note...

Dana Reeves, Christopher Reeves' wife died today. They had a 13 year old son and I can't imagine what he's going through right now with losing his dad about a year and a half ago and now his mom too. We should definitely be praying for him and the Reeves family.

Kirby Puckett died. I'm pretty sure this is the baseball player that Todd really liked.

and finally closer to home, Lerah's dog, Maddie was attacked by a hawk yesterday. Apparently it grabbed her and she fought back and it dropped her and its talon tore a hole in her side. She is at the vet right now and we're waiting to hear how she is and what they're going to have to do. The ironic thing about this is that the same thing happened to my aunt's dog like a week or two ago.

Anyway, sorry for ending this so sadly. I'll try to have a more fun post next time. I'll write later.

Oh my goodness, two days in a row!!!

2006-03-01T18:19:00.000-05:00

So I just found out that Nelly has a blog. You guys should definitely check it out.

http://www.nellykuda.blogspot.com/

OH MY GOSH! SHE STILL EXISTS!!!

2006-02-28T16:08:00.000-05:00

So yeah, its been a little while since my last post. Sorry to all of you who use this as their regular update of what's going on with me. I haven't updated in forever because Department of Health said it was against policy to let me go to blogs during the day and by the time I got home I had absolutely no desire to be on a computer. So anywho I have a new job now where I can update my blog during the day AND I don't have to be on a computer all day so I'm not so burnt out by the time I get home, so Yeh.

So my new job.... Well as most of you know I'm now working for Kenley. I know its a scary thought but its been great so far although its only been two days. I still feel like I'm on vacation from my regular job and I'm just helping him out. I'm also going to try to get my business license really soon and open an event coordinating business. My goal is to get my business doing well and get lots of event planning experience and eventually move to Birmingham and work for Student Life. I just see what they accomplish or at least try to accomplish through their conferences and especially camps and I would love to be a part of that. That would be awesome. I guess if that doesn't work I could always fall back on what I use to want to do... being a trainer at SeaWorld. How awesome would it be to be the person that gets to play with the dolphins or sealions all day or be the person who dives off the end of Shamu's nose. Hmm... now that I'm thinking about it maybe I should see if they have any openings :o) Just kidding I really feel God calling me to the event planning. Please pray that I'll stay encouraged during the building process and that I'll keep God first in my focus as I take on these new challenges.

My grandma... If any of you weren't aware around new year's my grandmother was diagnosed with throat cancer. She spent several weeks in the hospital and just finished radiation. At the end of the week she will be starting chemotherapy for a few weeks. She is pretty well right now and hopefully will continue to improve. Thank you to all of you who have been praying for her.

Life in general... Things are always crazy but their going pretty good right now. I have a lot on my plate but I know that God will see me through it all.

Okay, so I'm sorry that my first post back into the blogging world wasn't all that entertaining but I'll try to be more regular in the future and I'll try to post some funny stuff. I wonder how long its going to take for people to actually realize I've written a new post. Calyn and Todd and whoever else has bloglines don't count. You guys have an unfair advantage since you'll know pretty quick after I've posted. Anywho, I'm gonna go. Till I blog again......

It's a Small World

2005-11-28T16:27:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I'm having my computer completely wiped today and having everything reinstalled. Well the IT(Todd, that means information technology) guy came over and started working on my computer. Out os the blue he asked me, "so how long have you and my cousin been friends?". I didn't have a clue as to who he was talking about. Apparently he is Shannon Lamm's cousin. Then he asked me if I knew Farrah and Rebekah Bryant because those are his cousins too. Apparently he also graduated from Wakulla. So there is my small world story for the day. Oh and I almost forgot that I got tagged. Weel, I'm typing this on my blackberry so its too much effort to copy the rules and stuff so here are my five habits...
1.)I always have to be in the know about everything. I've gotten better about this one but sometimes I still go through times when I feel like if I don't know what's going on then people don't want me there. Its sad I know but we all have our little querks.
2.) I'm a planner. I want things planned like 6 months in advance although I prefer fun roadtrips to be spontaneous. I know I'm weird.
3.) I'm definitely with Calyn on the whole symmetry thing. When a room or whatever isn't symmetricali will let that take most of my focus on how I could fix it.
4.)Okay, again going to copy someone. I have to pick things off of people's shirts like the random hair or piece of lint.
5.)When I think someone is mad at me or two people are REALLY arguing I will try to change the subject or start asking them a million questions to ease the tension or to see if they're really mad at me.
I also hate when my blogs arenjt justified but I can't get it to work on my bb so I'll have to fix it later. Since I'm probably the last person to actually do this I'm not going to tag anyone. Hope you guys have a great week and hopefully Lori will be here later tonight or tomorrow.

We are gathered here today for the joining of Miss Heinz and Mr. Heinz (no relation...yet)

2005-11-24T21:32:00.000-05:00

Okay, this actually happened last Sunday night, well technically Monday morning so I apologize for just getting around to blogging about it. Here goes....

Sunday night a few of us went to Steak and Shake after church at like midnight since it was about the only place open and we were all hungry. I ate my food pretty quick and was just sitting there listening to everyone talk. I noticed that we had two bottles of ketchup on the table. One was about half full and one only had about a fourth left so I decided to put the contents of the least full into the half full bottle. I'm thinking, "hey, I'm consolidating because why have two half empty bottles when you could have 1 full one?" Well apparently I committed one heinous crime in Steak and Shakes book. Our waitress came over and pretty rudely told me that she thought I should know that I'd just ruined those two bottles of ketchup. She said its considered cross contamination and that they have to throw them away now. We asked, "well what about when people come in and use the bottles? You don't know what's in them." and she pretty much said that's a risk you take by using them. hmmmm..... I said I've worked for the Department of Health for quite some time and had never heard of that rule and all of us at the table have seen restaurants use those huge containers to refill the bottles but she swears that it's against restaurant regulations. She made me feel really bad. I just wanted to add the amount of the bottles to my tab. Monday when I got to work I decided to contact the guy that is over the state's restaurant inspection office and he said that it is permissable to combine the two bottles. He said they have NO rules against it, in fact they have a term for what I did. So from now on when you combine two ketchup bottles you are "marrying the ketchup". I promise that is the official term for it. At least now I don't feel bad about what I did. I tried to get a comment about this from another S&S employee but he was away from his cell phone.

Happy Thanksgiving Everybody!!!

2005-11-24T21:15:00.000-05:00

Hey look, I'm postin'

2005-11-17T01:25:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I know everyone else has already posted about the Fall Retreat but I'm gonna do it too. God showed me lots of stuff during this weekend. This was the first time in a long time that I've truly given everything over to God and not really stressed about it. The retreat was great. The band was awesome. It was amazing I had all the words to the songs ahead of time and in order of how they were going to be sung and everything AND the bought my mega m&m's. I think I was spoiled. My, Calyn and Jenna had lots of fun and worked really hard to prepare but hopefully it was all worth it. Friday when Shannon came we went to the Russian food store and got yummy stuff. Okay well my thoughts are all kinda jumbled right now because its nearly 2 am and WAY past my bedtime. hmmm... when I started writing I had so much more to say. Okay well I'll try to write again soon if I can remember them.

Word Verification.. Beh :o(

2005-11-01T20:21:00.000-05:00

So due to very not nice people creating spam mail just about everything you do know has word verification. Blogger.com's word verification is fine. The characters are all fairly easy to read so I don't mind when I'm trying to write a comment. What has really upset me is that yahoo mail now has it. Now, don't get me wrong, I hate spam just as much as the next person but the person who created the verification for yahoo mail wasn't the brighest crayon in the box. Sorry I know that was mean but I've tried sending eight emails tonight and with everyone I've had to put in a string of characters before it will let me send my message. It took me 3 times per email to actually send it. The first character string it gives is pretty much impossible to read. You think you know what it is but when you put it in and press continue it says that I've entered the string incorrectly and I'm going to lose the message. AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! FRUSTRATION PEOPLE!!!!!!! So on the third attempt they actually give me a new string of characters that I can actually read. My favorite one tonight looked just like 2z7wd. I had both my mom and sister try to figure it out too and that was what they guess it was but apparently not. UGH. I tried to go through my settings and turn it off b/c I figure I'd rather deal with just deleting the spam but I don't have that option. I know there are a few of you right now saying "Well, Diane, if you'd change to gmail you wouldn't have this problem." I've tried gmail at work I can open a message but it won't let me open attachments or send emails no matter how many times I "ctrl" refresh. Sorry this isn't a happy blog people. I had fully intended to blog about our fun Halloween adventures through the Myrick's neighborhood and me dressed as Elvis, "uh, huh!" but alas I'm too frustrated. Well I'm gonna go do something less frustrating. See you guys later.

Diane

Stay tuned for the long version...

2005-10-30T19:40:00.000-05:00

My weekend was pretty good. Friday night I had to work at the EOC (see Friday's post and it'll tell you what that stands for). I got to leave early since no one was calling so I met Shannon, Kenley, David, Emily, Katie, Kimberly, Lerah and my mom at the mall and we saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It was weird but sooooooo funny. The oompa loompa songs beat the original's hands down. Saturday I slept in, ahhhhhh... sleep is beautiful, although the great philosopher Justin (kenley's exroommate) says "no matter what time it isn't fun to get out of bed." Anywho, I got up and went to get my hair cut. I wanted something different so I just let the stylist experiment. We had decided on a picture but I don't think it turned out anything like the picture but I like it. Sat. night I missed the youth party because I went the FBA festival. Congrats to Jake and Amy for getting superiors. Afterwards I went to pick Lerah up at Kenley's house where me and Calyn made stuffed mushrooms and palmini (yum). I'll give you a more detailed story about gettting mine and Lerah's haircut when Calyn has time to help me make it just as funny as it was. Gotta run.

Blah blah Blah....

2005-10-28T16:33:00.000-05:00

I don't really have a lot to say but I figured it'd been ten days since my last post I'd go ahead and say hello. I'm working at the emergency operations center right now but it is super slow so I have time to write. Its weird working the day shift. I usually work at night but they've stopped having people work around the clock so they asked me to work here today until 11 tonight. Right now I'm the only one here so I hope someone else shows up because its gonna be a long 5 1/2 hours if I'm here by myself. I've had a fairly uneventfuly week but that isn't a huge surprise. I helped Lerah build a raft for her english class. Isn't that funny that she had to build a raft for English, not shop or science or even math but English. Anywho it had to float, withstand wind and be able to hold some weight. We made it out of logs, paper for the sail and yarn to hold it together. It floated an was propelled by wind but didn't so much float when a rock was put on it. Sad day but I guess 2 outta three ain't bad. Hey isn't that a song title. I'm pretty sure its a song by the 70's group Meatloaf, "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad". Hmm... Not positive but I'm pretty sure. By the way, who would name their band Meatloaf? I mean don't get me wrong I like meatloaf but not enough to name a band after it. Hmm, guess that's why I'm not in a band, I'm just not that creative. Tomorrow I'm going to the district 3 Florida Bandmaster's Association Marching festival. I'm sooooo excited. I know, I know, I'm a HUGE band nerd but you gotta love me. I get so excited at those things and better yet its in the evening this year. Before its always been in the morning and early afternoon when the HOT sun is boaring down on you and you're wearing that huge heavy outfit. Ahhh the memories :o) Anywho the only draw back is that I'm missing the youth fall party. I know its gonna be a lot of fun. You all are definitely gonna have to take pictures for me. Well I'm gonna run. talk to you peeps later.

~ Diane

Lots-O-Stuff

2005-10-18T17:21:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I tried to post Sunday night and right as I was going to publish my blog it went to the "internet screen of death" "page not found". So after a day to cool down after wanting to throw the computer out the window I'm going to try again. Actually I just didn't feel like getting on the computer last night. I'll try to remember as much as possible from the pretty long post I'd written.

*Opening paragraph*
Okay so I've decided I can't be a consistent blogger for a few different reasons...
a) my life is pretty boring. Unlike other people I know *cough calyn cough* I am not cool, nor am I exciting. I have occasional exciting moments and in those moments is when I will blog.
b) when something exciting happens in my ordinarily mundane life and I want to blog about I can't get to a computer and by the time I get to a computer I've already told most of the people that read my blog so its old news and who wants to read old news.
c) I'm on a computer all day at work and they've put new blockers on our computers so I can't read or write blogs anymore and by the time I get home I don't want to be on a computer or in the rare event I do someone is usually on the computer.

Okay so there you have it *sigh* This past weekend I did have something exciting so if you're still reading....

Saturday I went with a small group from the single's ministry at church canoeing down the Wakulla river. It had been years since I'd gone and had been wanting to go for a very long time so I was super excited. I was in a canoe with two girls, Kim and Heather, both of which hadn't gone canoeing in years either. Heahter decides she wants to try her hand at steering us through the treacherous waters. Not really treacherous but doesn't that sound so much more interesting. Anywho, we make it up the river pretty good. We were able to get within a few feet of a 4 footish alligator which was pretty exciting. Sorry guys I don't have pictures but I didn't want to risk taking my camera and tipping over and killing it. When we got to the top of the river where there is a fence between the river and Wakulla springs Eddie's girls decided they want to swim but want an adult in the water with them so since I'd already been in I decide to dive back in and so does Kenley. The water was well a little on the chilly side but it was so refreshing. We swam for a little bit and then got back in the canoes in the middle of the river. Granted it was on the shallower side you should still be very impressed that not one of our boats turned over. Kenley's canoe led the way back down the river, which I'm still trying to figure out why it was harder going back then coming b/c I'm pretty sure the water flows from the spring towards the ocean which was the direction we headed back, but anyway as we are going back Kenley decided to take the path less traveled and well lets just say we decided to follow. We figured Heather had had enough practice and was doing pretty good at steering. Boy were we and everyone watching our canoe in for a treat. We made it through the first narrow area pretty good and got pretty confident about the second little area but we managed to get ourselves wedged in a v shaped tree limb protruding from the water. I used my paddle and got us unstuck and we backed out and we knew we had to make a sharp left turn buy Heather just couldn't quite make it and ran us into a huge area of rather large lilly pads and some other type of plant. All I know is that I knew that was prime area for alligators, spiders and snakes. I tried to stay calm and help maneuver us out but as we were backing out about 5 spiders fell into the boat right in front of me. I have such a horrible case of arachniphobia. I throw myself back onto Kim and stay up with my butt all in her face (I'm still very sorry about that Kim) and while standing I'm attempting to kill the spiders. We're yelling and laughing so hard by now that I know it must have been some kind of spectacle. Two of the canoes missed seeing our little event but Kenley and Ned were about 50 yards in front of us and all they did was yell, "hey, why are you standing up?". No, "why are you beating your boat with your paddle or why are you yelling or are you guys okay. We finally killed all the spiders, which as I killed the initial group more appeared so we had to kill them too. We were laughing so hard by the time we managed to get out of there AND didn't tip our boat. The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful, although we did get pretty close to another alligator and we saw a guy in a bright lime green speedo fishing. All I gotta say is that speedos should be illegal.

After canoeing I went and helped with a wedding reception of one of my mom's friends' son. It was pretty crazy when I got there but everything worked out and I think everyone really enjoyed everything so that was fun.

Sunday Mr. Don Cable taught at youth and I was really impressed with how he explained some spiritual gifts and how they all are just as important as the other and no job can get down without everyone of one of them. I just wish everyone would have paid more attention. I'm sorry if I step on any toes with this but our attention has gotten pretty bad on Sunday nights. I'm including myself on this as well. I'm just as guilty of not fully devoting my attention to the person(s) upfront whether it be the band leading us in worship or Todd or whomever teaching us God's word. I've been praying about this and thinking about it a lot lately. To me its like we're saying to God we don't want to worship you and we don't want to hear what you have to say to us tonight. We're here to socialize with our friends and to hang out, we're not here to learn anything. I'd like to challenge all of us to be more respectful of those around us, pay attention more and set a better example for the rest of the group. Let's not just look at sunday night as a time to see friends that we don't normally see but as a time to dive into God's word and to grow in Christ as a group.

Okay well I'm gonna go now but I'll talk to all of you guys soon. Hopefully something fun will happen in my life soon so I'll have another reason to blog. I love you guys.

Diane

Sometimes technology stinks!!!!!

2005-10-03T19:19:00.000-05:00

Okay so I've had some great ideas for postings lately but I haven't been able to because a. Comcast had to go and be retarded and kick us out of their system when they made updates and then couldn't help us for like 4 or 5 days and b. because I can't post or check my blogs anymore at work. So that is why I haven't posted in awhile. Let's see how consistant I can stay this time. Well today wasn't an exciting day so I decided I'd backtrack and share some of the ideas I had for previous posts.

1. Buy This Book or the Bunny Dies!
Last Tuesday I was in Borders Bookstore and ran across a book in the humor section titled "Save Toby" with a subtitle "Buy This Book or the Bunny Dies!" It had the cutest picture of a rabbit on the front and everything. I thought it was quite interesting and decided to skim the pages and see what the book was really about. Well it turns out that it really is about saving a rabbit. The authors of the book were going jogging one morning and found an injured rabbit. They took it home thinking they would just try to make the little bunny as comfortable as possible before it passed on. Well, miraculously the bunny survived and they decided to extort the bunny. Yes you read correctly. They tried to set up a fund on ebay to get someone to bid 50 thousand dollars by saying if someone didn't pay the money the bunny was going to die but people for PETA (people for the ethical treatment of animals) made a big stink and pay pal froze their account. They decided to go a different route and make a book and so they say if they don't sell 100 thousand copies by November 26, 2006 the bunny will go to the butcher and become their next meal. They even include like ten pages of cute pages of Toby and what will happen to Toby by the number of books that are sold, e.i if they sell 25 thousand copies Toby will get to say goodbye to his mother and father before he is sent to die. At the end they include recipes with pictures. There are some very disturbing people in this world but you have to admint it is kinda funny unless they don't sell enough copies. Here is a picture of Toby and you can even visit his website at www.savetoby.com

Okay 2nd

Party People, Party People!

Saturday was Janelle and Tamara's 18th birthday party. We had so much fun and soooo many people showed up. We played four men on a couch and the ladies won. Go Girls! I also tried to teach a couple of peeps a new way to whistle, it made for great photos. OH, and I got Lerah to shoot water through her lip, very cool. There were a lot more details but most of you reading this were there so I'll spare you the details.

align="justify">3rd

Somebody Save Mmmeeeeee!

Tamara was home so Smallville resumed. OH how I missed the drama of Louis, Clark, Chloe, Lex and all the other Smallvillians. The show really is corny but I love it. Louis Lane is on the show now and none of us are real big on her character. After watching one of the episodes we were talking about how we don't really like her and Mrs. Linda Stringer said "yeah she isn't really pretty either. You know what they say pretty is as pretty does." Mr. Reid comes back with, "You gotta love my wife the philosopher." It was soo funny. We've also converted a couple more to the dark side, muwhahahaha. Camron sat right between T and Mrs. Linda and watched it and didn't want to go to bed but keep watching it with us. Janelle is pretty hooked to. It was great. So now the dilemma, watch the rest of the discs we have or wait until Thanksgiving when T gets home. Hmmmmm......

Okay, well there are my posts for the last couple of days and I guess this gets to count as one for today too. Well I hope to meet you all tomorrow here in happy blog world. Until next time....

Peath owt homeslices :o)

Stuck in Travel

2005-09-23T20:08:00.001-05:00

Okay so I have found one more great thing about mobile web. When I'm stuck in gridlock traffic like I currently am I can sit and create a new blog since I obviously don't have any other time to blog. For all of you who are thinking, oh my goodness she's typing while driving don't worry I'm not moving. All road construction should be done between midnight and six am. Let's see my week.... Monday the oleg's came. That was awesome. On tuesday I got to hear "catlyn" and oleg on the radio. then tonight I hung at the stringer's for kyle's party although I only eneded up saying hi and by to kyle literally. Well traffic is actually starting to moving so I gotta run. Remember hot chicken is good chicken. That is especially for catlin, lerah and shannie.

Stuck in Travel

2005-09-23T20:08:00.000-05:00

Random!

2005-09-20T12:58:00.000-05:00

Okay, today I was getting ready to head to lunch when my phone rings. I answer my phone with"hello" and this guys says hi, I'm interested in taking a loved one to lunch. I thought he meant that he was interested in our campaign "Take a loved one to the doctor". I said I didn't think I was the person he wanted to speak to and he said aren't you Diane Ashburn that worked the hurricanes last year. He told me his name and said he'd really like to take me to lunch. I was really flattered but for the life of me I couldn't remember him at all. I felt really bad that I didn't remember him but last year was a long time ago and we've had 17 storms this year. Anywho, I didn't go to lunch with him and I felt horrible that I didn't remember him. Come to find out he actually worked with my mom and when he typed ashburn in the address book my name came up so he thought I was here. It was really bizarre.
Okay, second story.....
This morning I got to listen to Calyn and the Oleg's on the radio this morning. Actually oleg jr. Didn't say anything so it was just calyn and oleg v. They botj did an awesome job and you couldn't tell calyn was nervous at all. They are gone now which is really sad. We had so much fun last night. I wish they weren't so far away. Well I'm gonna run now. Adios amigos.

Wow, 3 in 1 day, Calyn you should be proud :o)

2005-08-31T14:54:00.000-05:00

Okay so on a happier note....

I'm going to see the Tammy tomorrow night. I'm soooooooo excited. I know she hasn't been gone very long but as Jenna, Tammy and I saw, were were like this (x)(fingers crossed like and x) and now were are like this (l l) (fingers spread apart). Its so very sad. She is like a little sis to me. If any of you guys have anything you'd like to give her you can give it to me tonight at church. Hopefully the route we are planning to take won't be too bad although LHP and MHP have said to add about 5 hours to any trip you plan to make through LA or MS. See you guys later.

Please pray

2005-08-31T14:32:00.000-05:00

I know all of you have seen the devastation that Hurricane Katrina has left in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. I can't imagine what those people are going through. As we watch the images on tv it all seems so surreal. Saturday I worked at the Emergency Operations Center and we were in touch with the leaders in LA and MS and it was so sad because they weren't at all prepared for what was about to happen and had no clue where to begin. I'm so thankful that we have a good emergency preparedness team that has gotten Florida through so many storms in the last two years. We began helping them put people and operations in place but there wasn't much we could do until after the storm hit and saw what kind of damage they were looking to deal with. As we have seen or heard there has been cities completely destroyed through wind or water. My department, Health has started sending many people including some from my office to the effected areas to help with relief. Please pray for all of the victims and for the safety of all those that are going to those areas affected and that have volunteered time away from their jobs and families to to what they can to help. This is going to be a long and very difficult process. One of the biggest ways to help is to donate items or money to the Red Cross. Many of the victims were very poor and have nothing left and will need all the help they can get to rebuild their homes and lives.

The American Red Cross website is www.redcross.org

Like a kid in a candy store

2005-08-31T14:20:00.000-05:00

So yesterday my boss came up to me and asked if I wanted to go to Office Depot. I said sure because a.) it meant I got out of the office for at least an hour and b.) I would get to go shopping and spend someone elses money and c.) I would get to go shopping for office supplies. Most of you probably read Lori's post about going school supply shopping and how much she loves it, well I'm the same way. I don't know why I love buying those types of things but when I'm feeling sad or whatever I'd rather go office/school supply shopping than clothes shopping. *Tangent* I don't understand why most girls like to go clothes shopping when they are upset because for me it is usually depressing. I find all these clothes that are super cute and they are either too big, too small, look really bad on me but great on the hanger or if I actually find something that looks good it is way too expensive. I know that I'm overweight and all but I've heard that problem from just as many skinny people as I have overweight people. That must be why I like going supply shopping instead. *Okay back to my original story* So anywho I said yes I'd love to go and asked her what she needed me to buy and she said we had like $10,000 that we had to spend (yes had to spend because we are at the end of our budget year and if we hadn't spent all the money we got then we wouldn't get the same amount next year and normally we spend everything but this year we hadn't needed near enough stuff but chances are next year we would need the same amount so we needed to use it all so we wouldn't lose it) and she'd bought all she could think of and we still had $1,500 that needed to be spent so I could go buy whatever supplies I thought we needed or we wanted. Ahh $1,500 shopping spree. Those definitely need to come around more frequently. I got all kinds of really neat things. I really was like a kid in a candy store. I just wish the spree would have been for me personally and not just for stuff to use at the office.

We should all be more like this lady...

2005-08-26T09:02:00.000-05:00

So I read Calyn's blog yesterday about hating money and how getting people to give money towards missions and spreading the Gospel is like pulling teeth. I completely agree and it is really sad that a lot of us, especially christians, are like that. I try to give to as much as I can most of the time but I'm just as guilty a lot of the times because I'm selfish and think my needs are more important than someone elses. Let's see going out with friends and spending 20 dollars on something that is just entertaining for a couple of hours or giving that money to someone serving Christ where ever that may be and where they are helping people to change their lives eternally.... Anywho, Calyn and I were discussing it on the phone last night and then I started watching this DVD that Shannon let me borrow that she got as a bonus when she bought the latest Passion CD. In the menu they had a video titled something like Journey to Boston and New York. I remembered going to the Passion conference in Lakeland (I'm pretty sure it was that one and not the one here in Tallahassee) and Louie talking about Passion's prayer to go to Boston b/c there is such a high number of college students there and so many of them are lost and how they were trying to raise the money. Well all that was part of the clips they were showing on the video. Well I kept watching because I was like hey I was part of that and I wanted to see how it turned out in Boston. To make a long story a bit shorter, they raised every penny of the $100,000 they needed for the venue and the students in Boston didn't have to pay a cent to go. One story in particular really struck a chord with me. He said that after their conference in Sacremento a lady came up to their tour bus and handed them an envelope with "for Boston" or something like that on the front of it. He thought wow, did someone hear about this during the conference and have a laptop in the back typing this letter during the event? Well, he opened the letter and started reading it and it was from a youth worker that had been to the conference in Phoenix but didn't have any money with her so she went home and prayed and felt God telling her to give her next entire paycheck to Passion for Boston. So she drove to Sacremento and gave them the check and guess what, when she got her paycheck there was also a bonus in there so God had worked everything out so that she still had money. Her paycheck that she gave to them was a little over $1,300. Isn't that AWESOME!!!! I wish I was more obedient like that. If I would have felt God telling me that I know my first thoughts probably would have been, are you sure, God, you know I have this I have to pay or that and you know it'll be a couple of weeks before I get another one and well, what if I just keep a little bit for myself and give them the rest. I would have totally missed the blessing that God would have poured into my life. I think about how many times that HAS happened in my life. God didn't need that lady's money to get His word to Boston, He would have used someone else had she not listened but she did listen and look how He blessed her. He laid it on the hearts of her employer (which was a churh by the way) to give her that bonus and look at all the hearts that were touched in Boston and how we are still hearing her story at least a year or so after it happened and it is still inspiring people to give towards furthering His kingdom. I know this was long but it just really convicted me and was right when I needed to hear it. I would like to say a special thank you to Calyn (and Jenna and Trisha) for doing all that she can and spending so much time and effort in helping Lori to raise support to stay in Ukraine. I know God is doing awesome things through Lori and Radooga ministries and we should all be excited that we have the opportunity to help out. Thank you so much to everyone that has already given so much. I have been really inspired hearing about those that have already given Lori a good amount of support when they really don't have all that much to give.

Please remember that as I am writing this I am speaking directly to myself as well. I love all of you so much and just wanted to share a little of what God showed me last night.

Diane is...... A Copycat ;o)

2005-08-25T14:48:00.000-05:00

Diane is…

*able to read the essence of a situation and provide valuable feedbackinformation. (Actually I’m usually the one asking for the feedback)
*a proud sponsor of World Café on public radio (sure, why not, I listen to NPR all the time)
*flawed (most definitely true)
*thrilled with the popularity of her famous landscape and beach paintings (I do like to paint beach scenes but I didn’t realize they were famous)
*a vocalist and songwriter (well, duh.. Isn’t everyone a great vocalist in their shower?)
*the author of over thirty children's books (Dr. Seuss stole all his book ideas from me)
*a genius (of course, was there any doubt!?!)
*currently writing a book on communicating with your teenager (because you know I’m the ultimate communicator, I mean come on, I work in communications don’t I)
*a professional member of the American Psychological Association (let me analyze your thoughts)
*a very good teacher (ha, ha, ha, now that’s funny.)
*prepared to help you or your loved ones make the informed decisions in life after 50 (have you considered life insurance yet because you know funerals are really expensive) (sorry guys, I know that was morbid but I couldn’t resist)
*a visual artist (I don’t see life in black and white or even grey. I see life more in blues, purples, greens, and yellows)
*San Diego's foremost female Magician (Abra Cadabra)
*such a giver
*a dedicated staff member and advisor (as long as I enjoy my job)
*seen regularly on national and international television (actually its probably more accurately on national and international radio, hey I was on Israeli National Radio)
*very kind, considerate and respectful with a gift for listening (huh, what did you say????)
*leaving to get some Ice-cream (peath owt, I’ll be at TCBY)
*clueless (like, totally)
*a member of the International Association of Fitness Professionals (Yes, you read correctly, I’m the epitome of being in shape…what are you laughing, why???)
*one of America's living treasures
*Green Bay's Top Realtor (watch out Kenley, looks like you have some competition)
*active within her community promoting health care (if you’ve ever talked to me you know that I work with the Florida Dept. of Health and our mission statement is to promote the health and safety of Floridians. I’m quite sure some of you have even gotten little promotional stuff from me with DOH info)
*starting a “Grief Support” group (with everyone leaving we should start a grief support group. I don’t know about everyone else or what’s up but I’ve been on the verge of crying all day)
*just fine the way she is (wow, that takes a load off my shoulders)
*a phenomenal singer with an angelic voice (in the shower of course. Everyone says great to themselves but its those around them that really have to deal with the noise. its okay guys if you think I don't sing well, that's why I play an instrument instead)
*a young lady who has dedicated her life to Christ
*sensitive to their needs and always helping students (I try, that’s a serious statement, not a sarcastic one)
*a wonderful wife and mother (well not yet but I hope to be one day)

Okay so I really didn’t know what to post about today but I figured I needed to since its been a little while since my last post. I’m sorry I haven’t posted more regularly but I just haven’t had the umf to do it lately. I guess I’ve been so busy and trying to play catch-up has been taking a lot of my time. So I did the “Diane is” thing and got some very interesting results. I didn’t have many funny ones though which is what I was really hoping for but anywho… OH but what I did discover is that apparently I’m a great vocalist and an awesome real estate agent because nearly half of the results said stuff about how great a singer/vocalist and real estate agent I was with like 10 different agencies in many states. Hmm… Its amazing what you “learn” about yourself from the internet.

Not Goodbye, just So Long for Now!

2005-08-16T09:29:00.000-05:00

This summer we have had to say "so long for now" to quite a few AWESOME people. Saying "adios, paka, ciao, bye, see ya, etc." is so hard and we will miss them all tremendoulsy. Here are a few of the wonderful people we've had to say goodbye to over this summer..

Lori Jackson
(we thought it was more temporary than it has turned out to be but we are all so proud of her, she is doing amazing things in Ukriane. We love you bunches, Lori)

The Lloyd family minus Daniel (Mr. Allen, Mrs. Rachel, Amanda and Timothy. You guys are amazing and thankfully you get the award to staying the closest to Tallahassee so we can see you guys pretty much whenever we want to take a short road trip)

For us Radooga peeps (All the awesome friends we made while in Ukraine.
There are so many that I don't want to even begin naming names and then forget someone.)

Tamara Stringer (Gooo, Baylor Bears!)
(You will do awesome things in Wacko, I mean Waco :o)

Nicole Hamm
Good luck in Miami, We all expect you to come home a lot smarter and definitely more tan)

Shandra Beavers (Shandra's last day isn't until Friday but everyone should send her an email or give her a call at the church and let her know how much you appreciate her. She is so totally awesome and the Youth and Music ministries will miss her soooooo much. We love you Shandra. You mean so much to so many of us. Good luck in West Virginia!)

I leave you will a song all of us have heard before and I feel is really appropriate for this blog.

FRIENDS
by Michael W. Smith
Packing up the dreams God planted
In the fertile soil of you
Can't believe the hopes He's granted
Means a chapter in your life is through
But we'll keep you close as always
It won't even seem you've gone
'Cause our hearts in big and small ways
Will keep the love that keeps us strongChorus:
And friends are friends forever
If the Lord's the Lord of them
And a friend will not say never
'Cause the welcome will not end
Though it's hard to let you go
In the Father's hands we know
That a lifetime's not too long to live as friendsWith the faith and love God's given
Springing from the faith we know
We will pray the joy you live in
Is the strength that now you showBut we'll keep you close as always
It won't even seem you've gone
'Cause our hearts in big and small ways
Will keep the love that keeps us strongChorus
And friends are friends forever
If the Lord's the Lord of them
And a friend will not say never
'Cause the welcome will not end
Though it's hard to let you go
In the Father's hands we know
That a lifetime's not too long to live as friends
And friends are friends forever
If the Lord's the Lord of them
And a friend will not say never
'Cause the welcome will not end
Though it's hard to let you go
In the Father's hands we know
That a lifetime's not too long to live as friends
That a lifetime's not too long to live as friends

Where does time go?

2005-08-16T08:56:00.000-05:00

This summer just flew by. Last night I was sitting around thinking about the past summer and how quickly it went by. So much happened that I just don't even know where to begin...
First off some very cool people graduated high school which was awesome but at the same time scary because that meant at the end of the summer a few of them would be leaving.
June: Lori and Calyn left for Ukraine for two months we thought but then Lori was asked to stay which is awesome. I know that is where she feels most at home and she is right where God wants her to be. It's funny how where God wants us is usually completely out of our comfort zone in a foreign place where we have to completely depend on him. Foreign doesn't necessarily have to be out of the country but can be anywhere that isn't the norm for us, hey some places in America are like going to other countries. I turned 23, wow I can't believe I'm already 23. It seems like yesterday I was in middle school just thinking about where I'd be at this age. I'm reminded of a quote "I'm 23 which is almost 25 which is half way to 30, oh my gosh I'm old" (quiz, does anyone know who said that besides me?). June was also really busy getting ready for the 4th of July Celebration, Radooga and SLC.
July: July started with a bang, literally. The 4th was a lot of fun but the turn out wasn't quite what we were expecting but I think still in the end it was worth it all. The fireworks were awesome. Then 9 very short days later we left for Ukraine. That was a trip I will not soon forget. I say not soon because I can't really say never because I don't really know what I'll remember when I'm really old and senile. Anywho... Radooga was awesome, I made a lot of cool new friends and got a lot closer to some old ones. When we got home from Radooga we had like 3 days to get ready for camp which I don't ever want to have to do again. That was crazy. We left for camp and had one of the most awesome camp experiences I've ever had. I was amazing to see God work in and through so many youth and adults. We saw a lot of unity like we haven't had in the past and had a lot of fun. I hope everything God shows us at camp sticks in the coming year and that our ministry continues to grow and become more like Christ. When we got home from camp it was already August....
August:Bowling/Pool at Crenshaw. We heard some awesome testimonies about camp and then hung out for 2 hours and then me, lerah, kenley, and tamara watched aladdin (I can show you the world...) Lerah started school on the 8th which didn't really affect me much but really stunk for her. That week we also had a leaders retreat in Laguna. We got a lot accomplished and a whole lot planned for next year. I'm super excited and can't wait to see what God has in store for us. Sunday night was promotion/senior night and my first experience with the latest version of media shout. My initial reaction is that I don't care to much for it. I mean don't get me wrong it has its advantages but I miss quite a few of the old parts of media shout. Hopefully after I read the tutorial and work with it awhile I'll get the hang of it and like it more than I currently do. Afterwards we had an awesome time of prayer over those that just graduated and are starting college soon. I love all of you guys and will me T and Nicole so much. I am so excited for all 6 of you guys and can't wait to hear/see all the cool things that you guys are going to do. I love you all and will always be praying for you guys. Okay well now that I've written tons I'll stop now. I can't believe this summer is over but I will definitely have memories and friendships that will last a lifetime.

Diane

Ichetucknee Anyone

2005-08-05T15:21:00.000-05:00

Okay, I don't know how many of you out there will read this before tomorrow morning but I figure this is one of the most effective ways to get the word out. If you want to go tubing tomorrow (8.6/05) be at NBC no later than 9 because that is when we plan to head out. We are all bringing something to make lunch, bread, condiments, cheese, meat, chips, drinks, cups, napkins, etc so just bring one of those or something else that sounds good. It cost 5 dollars to get in the park and between 5 and 10 for a tube plus a few dollars for gas so I guess plan around 20 and a food item. I hope to see lots of you guys there.

Adios for now.
Diane

Ukraine

2005-07-27T13:57:00.000-05:00

Hey Guys,

I'm sooooooo glad to be home. I missed all of you guys so much. I really enjoyed Ukraine and was amazed to see everything that God did while serving at Radooga. We had an incredible team. Go TEAM 5!!!! I was so amazed to see God move in so many lives on Repentence Night. We saw about 100 kids give their lives to Christ. Please pray that as these kids go home and back into their "normal" lives that they will stick firm to their new relationship to Christ and the church groups that they came with will continue to support them and disciple them. I loved English class. I had 10 amazing people in my class and they spoke english really well. We talked a lot about American culture and they loved learning about our education system and American Government and History. They taught me a little about Ukraine's history too which was really neat to hear. We played Twister, Red Rover, name games, Big Booty, Nerts, Pictionary and many other games. I'm going to miss each of them so much. The staff were great too and I had a lot of fun getting to know each of them. Even though the trip started a little crazy, leaving 2 hours early, getting "stuck" in Paris for a day, missing a full day of orientation and site seeing, things turned out awesome. I'm so glad I had this wonderful opportunity and would definitely reccomend it others next year. Here are some pictures from the trip. I'll try to post more later.

Notre Dame in Paris

Radooga in Kiev

"Free to Fly"

Translators: Anya and Ira

Yummmmm!!!!!!

Nothing like a good back massage

Believe it or not these actually tasted much better than they look!

Me, Jenna, Tamara and one of our Translators, Ira

Joe!!! He was from South Carolina

Roma, Tamara, Nekita, Me and Jenna

Tyoma, Dr. Dima, and Me

Jake and Cliff(Skeef)

Me and Sergey the Worship Leader. He was super excited about the Northwoods ROC T-Shirt and Reese Cups.

Last Party Zone, NOT to be confused with Late Night! Me, Tamara, Denis, Jenna

Elusha breakin' it down!

Nekita and Tyoma pretending to rap during our dance party

The gang in Indenpendence Square

St. Michael's Cathedral

Parliament

Isn't it pretty?

MC and Yura. Yura was really cool, he brought a group to camp. He spoke awesome English and was really smart.

English Class: Ira, Lena, Natasha, Anya, Dima and Nastya
Denis, Yulia, Oleg and Mosha

Awe! Poor Nekita in the Medical Center :o(

Me, Yula, Lena, and Tamara (they were two of our roomies)

Okay I guess that is enough for now. Hope you guys enjoy.

Diane

321.. Blastoff!!!!!

2005-07-13T09:39:00.000-05:00

Okay I used this title for two reasons. First because NASA is launching the first Space Shuttle since Discover blew up a year or two ago. Hopefully they have fixed the problems and everything runs smoothly. I know I'm probably weird but I would never want to be an atronaunt. I have an extreme fear that I'd be the one mission that couldn't make it back to earth. I don't know I think its that whole not being able to breath and everything being sucked out if I were to open the door. Oh well, God calls some to explore space and others to other things.

Second, the day has finally come. WE ARE ONLY 4 HOURS AWAY FROM GOING TO UKRAINE. It was funny because yesterday at work everyone kept asking me if I was okay and why wasn't I excited or nervouse since I was leaving today and I told them I was fine but at the moment I really wasn't excited but nothing was wrong, I guess with everything that has happened I was just really ready to get the show on the road. Well last night, actually this morning when I tried to go to sleep it hit me, I'm going overseas, where no one speaks my language and everything is foreign. I had a brief moment of nervousness/scared out of my mind. But them I calmed myself down and went to sleep. I woke up this morning refreshed and ready for the adventure that is ahead of us. I'm super excited now and can't wait until tomorrow at 2:05pm Ukraine Time, 8:05am US time when I will finally be in Ukraine. I love you guys lots and can't wait to show you all lots of pictures and tell lots of great stories. Please keep us in your prayers as we are traveling and teaching. Also please pray for Student Life Camp as the leaders prepare their lessons and that all hurricanes/storms will go away and not keep anyone from going (me) and keep everything on track for camp with no delays because of weather. Talk to you/see you in about 2 weeks.

~Diane

While You Were Sleeping...

2005-07-10T04:19:00.000-05:00

Okay so due to Hurricane Dennis I'm at work while most everyone else I know is in dreamland. I have to admit even though I am missing out on valuable sleep I have had a lot of fun. There is only one other person here in ESF 14 (Essential Staff Function - Media Relations). The other person is a girl that I used to work with who now works in the Governor's office. We have done lots of interviews and stuff. Hey I was on the radio, too bad it was in Tampa at 3am. I thought tonight would be pretty slow but it has actually been pretty busy. I was also afraid of getting extremely tired since I tried to take a nap today but everytime I would fall asleep someone else would call. At this point you're probably thinking, why didn't you just turn the ringer off. Well if I could have I would've but due to the fact that I am on call all weekend I had to leave it on. Anywho to stay awake I've had a 32oz. coke, 2 cups of caffeinated coffee, a Mountain Dew Amp (much better than Red Bull), and 2 12 oz cokes. I'm kinda on a caffeine buzz right now. Right now I'm trying to decide if I'm going to make it to church. Of course right now I'm going pretty strong from the caffeine but I'm afraid if I go to church about half way through tiredness is going to hit strong and I'm not going to be able to drive home. We'll see how I feel in about an hour when I get ready to leave. I've been up for almost 24 straight hours and if any of you have ever heard of my "their green, their green" story you know I'm not any good to anyone after 24 hours of no sleep. So, things I got accomplished tonight during the lulls... rooming lists and family groups lists and 2 lessons for Radooga. Okay, well the phones are starting to ring so I need to head out. Hopefully I'll see all of you guys soon. T minus 3 days and counting before we leave for Radooga. Please pray for all of us for safe travel, that all of our luggage arrives when we do, and that we don't have any problems during travel and while we are in Ukraine. I love you guys. I'll write more lata.

Diane

Hurricane Dennis GO AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2005-07-08T09:59:00.000-05:00

Frustration

2005-07-08T09:14:00.000-05:00

You know after I make a post I'm determined that I'm going get back on a regular schedule of posting and then of course I get busy, lose track and find myself where I am today having not posted in over a week. I'm sorry guys. I'll try to do better but make no promises. So......

Here are a few of the reasons for the title of my blog:

Hurricane Dennis : I really enjoy working the emergency stuff with my job and all but right now is just not a good time for this to happen. Not that most things happen at the most opportune moment but seeing how I'm suppose to leave the country in the middle of next week this is just really bad timing. A lot of people I know are expecting it to hit in northern Florida which would be devestating for our area. Many people are still trying to recover from last year. *sigh*

Scare of not going to Ukraine: As most of you guys know from Wednesday night I was really upset because my boss told me that I was more than likely not going to be able to go to Radooga if HD hits Florida, which is where everyone is predicting. Thankfully when I talked to him yesterday he had thought about it and has decided to let me go. A huge THANK YOU to everyone who prayed for me about this.

Feeling of guilt: Now that I know that I'm going to Ukraine for sure I feel guilty about all the possible stuff/staffing/help that is going to be needed in the event that HD does hit Florida. I know that God is going to do AMAZING things through me in Ukraine but I still feel bad for not being here to help out also.

Wrong Ticket: Todd sent us a copy of our itinerary for our trip next week and apparently Elizabeth Ashburn is suppose to go instead of Diane Ashburn. I called Student Life and they called the travel agent who said they keep the ticket as is and just call the airlines and let them know. Okay from everything I've heard your ticket must read exactly what your passport says which is Diane, not Elizabeth (although that is my middle name for any of you who didn't know). I called Delta directly and they said that I wouldn't be allowed on the plane with the wrong ticket and that it needed to be reissued. I called the travel agent and they seemed frustrated at me because I wanted a new ticket and tried to talk me out of it because this was extremely last minute and it would be difficult to get it done by Tuesday. She said she'd reissue it on Thursday and overnight it on Friday so I'd have it on Monday. Well, I called yesterday and she said it hadn't been reissued and that she'd let me know when she knew something and that because of the stuff that happened in London yesterday they may not be able to get it done in time and that I may still have to go with the wrong ticket but that it'd be okay. I'm not real sure what the bombings have to do with Delta, France, Germany or Ukraine (that's all the places we'll be flying) but I'm just so scared about going with the ticket that is still wrong. She assures me that they are aware of the situation and that it won't be a problem but I'm just not completely confident in that. Again *sigh*

Radooga/Student Life prep: We leave in 4 1/2 days and I'm still preparing for English classes. I was determined to have it all done so I could just read through it and be completely prepared a few weeks ago but I should have realized that was a little unrealistic with as busy as I always seem to be. I also have to do all student life preparations by Tuesday since we leave and will pretty much be out of communication for two weeks. I also have to work most of the weekend so this should be real fun trying to juggle and get everything done. At least I'm pretty much completely done packing. I have a few things I have to pick up for Lori at her house and a few things from Mrs. Debbie but other than that, it is done.

I was also frustrated this week that our 4th of July Celebration didn't go nearly as well as we had hoped or planned for. I think rain was the biggest problem but it is still upsetting that more people didn't come. I still think overall it was a success but it is still frustrating none the less.

I'm sorry that after taking so much time to finally write a blog I'm just complaining and whining. I just need to get some of this out because it is literally making me sick. I woke up early this morning really sick. I think it is from all the stress and nervousness right now.

God I ask for your mercy and grace as we finish preparing for Ukraine and as we travel. Please help us all to be prepared, to have everything we need and that we and all of our stuff makes it safely to Ukraine next Thursday. God please help me to rest and to have peace in spite of everything that is happening around me and in my life right now. I know you are bigger than anything I may be going through and that you'll always take care of me. I love you and thank you so much for everything.

Thank you guys so much for all of your prayers. God has blessed me with a great group of friends. I love you all.

~Diane~

God is soooo AWESOME!!!!

2005-06-27T13:05:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I said I was only going to do 2 posts but I just have to do one more. God has answered a huge prayer request. I have all the money I need for my trip. After working and getting my money for the 4th of July I will actually be a little above what I needed to have. God is so cool. Thank you all so much for your prayers and monetary support. I love you all and again, thank you so much.

Fun in the Sun!!!!

2005-06-27T12:22:00.000-05:00

Saturday was AWESOME!!!!! I had a wonderful birthday.

About 25 people from the Singles ministry met The Beardens and The Doll's at the Doll's lake house on Lake Eufala. The weather was perfect. There was a slight breeze, just enough sun shine and the lake was a great temp. We knee boarded, skied (well attempted to do them), tubed, jet skiied, and swam. We also had great food too. I have a few bumps and bruises and my entire body is one huge sore muscle. It was so much fun. I can't wait to go back. Best of all nobody got majorly injured. Of course most of us have a few bumps or bruises but we all had tons of fun.

Only 17 more days!!!!

2005-06-27T11:41:00.000-05:00

Okay, let me start this post with how sorry I am about not posting in a while. Last week was sooooo super busy but I have vowed to make time this week to do more posting. Since I did so few last week I am going to do 2 posts today.

Only 17 more days. I can't believe Radooga is coming up so quick. Sunday I bought the presents for my English students. I'm soooo excited. I bought some candles and a really cool light up pen and some little figurines.

Please pray that all of us that are going will be completely prepared.

23 days and counting!!!!!

2005-06-20T09:24:00.000-05:00

Only 23 more days before we are off to Ukraine. I'm sooo excited....

My weekend

Friday: worked until almost 8pm :o( went to my grandmother's house to see how she was doing after her surgery. Went home and crashed.

Saturday: woke up about 11 (ahhhh, so nice to sleep in). Did some stuff around the house. Read a book and fell asleep. got up and was going to orchestra rehearsal but Mrs. Rachel called so I went and hung out with her. We had sooooo much fun.

Sunday: went to LIFE group. Since we didn't have youth some of us went and saw Batman Begins. Good movie, I definitely recommend it.

Now it's monday and I'm back at work. Fun, fun...

Another Special Shout out!!!

2005-06-20T09:17:00.000-05:00

This one is for Mrs. Rachel Lloyd. She is super awesome. We love you Mrs. Rachel.

Here are a few reasons to love Mrs. Rachel....

>She loves the youth

>She has Daniel and Amanda's mom (and Timothy's but he isn't in youth quite yet)

>She is incredible sweet

>She is really funny

>You can never just have a "hi, how are you?" conversation with her. Before you know it you've talked for hours

>She loves to go on youth trips and she's a really cool chaperone

>She took me to dinner for my birthday (it was really yummy too)

>She can get along with everybody

So there are just a few of the reasons that Mrs. Rachel is super awesome. Thank you so much for being you. I know I speak for all the youth when I say that we're all going to miss you so much when you move. You aren't going to be that far away but it's going to be really hard not seeing you every week. I think I hear a road trip going in the near future. Love ya bunches.

~Diane

A Special Shot Out!

2005-06-16T09:14:00.000-05:00

I would just like to take this opportunity to say a special thank you to a very special person. Mrs. Debbie Reber is so awesome. Here are a few reasons I think Mrs. Debbie is such a cool person..

> she fixes yummy food at youth

>she is super sweet

>she goes out of her way to make others feel welcome and appreciated

>she's Calyn's mom

>she does the coolest glass art stuff

>she decorated Calyn's room very cool last year as a surprise when she got home from Ukraine

>she loves having youth over at their house

>she gives great hugs

>she loves Ebay

>she knows how to use a computer and email

>she adopted me for the summer, actually forever but especially during the summer when Calyn and Lori are gone.

Mrs. Debbie, in the words of Lori, You're stinkin' AWESOME! We all love you so much and thank you for everything.

27 days and counting!

2005-06-16T08:51:00.000-05:00

I am getting so super excited. We only have 27 days before we leave for Ukraine, yeh!!!! We have been hearing some very interesting stories from Lori and Calyn and I can't wait to have stories of our own. Remember that if you want to send them anything we'd be happy to take it with us. Lori said that she and Calyn will be putting a list of things together that they would like us to bring (i.e. cheeze its, beef jerky, etc.). I'll keep you all informed of their wish list.

(completely different note now)

So I was going to say not much is going on in my life right now but that is soooo not true. My life is extremely busy as always. I ask myself, will it ever slow down? Probably not, but there's always hope I guess. Here are some things that I have going on right now. First off, today is my grandmother's birthday. Happy Birthday Nana! (note to self, at lunch go buy a present) Second, I've been at the hospital everyday so far this week because my cousin just had a baby and there were some complications so we were all really worried about that but everything is fine and all are doing well. (see previous post for more details) Tomorrow my grandmother is having surgery (great way to spend the day right after your birthday, huh?). I'm planning for camp and making English lesson plans and preparing for Ukraine. Getting ready/preparing for the 4th of July event at church, which should be a lot of fun. Let's see, what else..... Oh yeah, working everyday and finding time to hang out with friends. I'm still researching stuff about getting my event coordinator degree (please pray for this one a whole bunch). I'm trying to finish graduation presents. I promise guys, you'll get them really soon. There are tons of little things I need to do but I'll get to them eventually. My to do list just keeps growing and growing. I know most of you are going through the same thing and please don't think I'm complaining because a lot of this stuff is good, it can just seem quite overwhelming at times. Well I guess I'm going to run now. Write more for you peeps layta.

~Diane~

New Arrival

2005-06-15T08:50:00.000-05:00

We have a new baby in our extended family. Congrats to my Jessica and Matt on their new bundle of joy. He was 7lbs and his name is Sebastian Zackariah. I'm so excited. I love babies :o)

ROCing in Africa

2005-06-13T09:37:00.000-05:00

Last night Mr. Scott shared about his recent trip to Africa. It was so awesome. I love to hear Mr. Scott's mission trip stories. They are always so amazing. We also saw some pictures and a clip from a video. It was so cool that Mr. Scott was on a billboard. I've always thought it would be cool to go to Africa but after hearing all the amazing stories I really want to go now more than ever. He is planning to take a group back over there to help build an orphanage. I definitely want to go. Sorry this is such a short post. I'll try to write more later.

Adios.

Sad Day :o(

2005-06-06T08:14:00.000-05:00

Yesterday Lori and Calyn left for Ukraine. I talked to them for a few minutes in between their first and Second flights. They wanted me to let everyone know that they love and miss you guys a lot. I almost cried talking to them. If any of you would like to send them anything let me know and we can coordinate something. We're not real sure if our mail will actually make it to Ukraine if we sent it regular mail so we need to send it to SL in Birmingham and they will send it with their next group. I meant to post this earlier. I don't know what happened but it saved it as a draft instead of posting it. I guess I pressed the wrong button. Oops

Sorry its been awhile

2005-06-02T08:06:00.000-05:00

So I haven't posted in awhile so I'm trying to decide where to start..... Last Saturday I went to Leon, Chiles and Rickards' graduations. Jenna, Special K, Jessica B., Kyle K., Daniel, Neecole, and the Tammy were all sooo cute in their caps and gowns. In between the ceremonies Shannon, Calyn and I bought graduation gifts and at yummy chicken from the chickie store and we got to see Gabby (yeh, happy) and we went to Jenna's graduation party. Let me just say that Mr. Paul and Mrs. Lisa are so sweet and that video was so cute. Oh, and I don't know that there was a dry eye in the room after Mrs. Lisa read that letter to Jenna.

Sunday was ROC. Hhmmmm.... How to describe ROC on Sunday night. Let's just say a bit on the chaotic side. We really had to fight to keep everyone's attention for as long as we did to discuss the street interview questions from the CLTCL series. Although it was crazy and somehow Star Wars kept coming up we did get some good responses from a few people. I think one of my favorite was from Sappy when asked what he would do if his parent's or friends didn't agree with who he was dating, to which he responded, "I wouldn't listen to my friends because they are all weird and I wouldn't listen to my dad because didn't doesn't make the best choices." It was pretty funny. I guess you just had to be there.

Monday about 10 of us went to St. Andrews Beach. I'd never been so I was really excited, although I'm not that much of a beach person. When we got there it was beautiful, the sun was shining, there was a light breeze and the water was crystal clear. I definitely think it was one of the best beach days I've ever had despite us all coming home little cooked, red lobsters. Well I guess that about brings everyone up to speed with me at the moment. This week hasn't been all that eventful so far but we'll see....

I really miss all the bike trip peeps. I'm so glad they get home on Saturday. I hope they have an awesome trip.

Not Again!!!!!!

2005-05-27T09:45:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I was just thinking yesterday that I didnt' have anything to write about. Nothing of any real interest has happened in my life lately so I haven't had any stories to write about. Until last night, that is....

I was driving to the mall last night and got an email that had a comment on my blog from Mrs. Debbie Reber. I read it and was really confused because I didn't remember putting anything on my blog or writing about anything that had anything to do with texture. I figured I must have missed a past conversation in the comments and I'd just look back when I got home. Well I went to see Star Wars *really quick tangent* the new movie was really good. It explained a lot of stuff and had a lot of cool fight scenes. Kenley, if you liked the Yoda fight scene from the last movie I think you will really like the ones in this movie. *back to story now* As we were walking out of the theatre we ran in to Todd and we talked for a second and before he walked into his movie he said "I love the painting" and I said what painting and he said, you know, the one on your blog. Well then I was really confused. But at least now Ms. Debbie's comment made sense. When I got home I looked at my blog and I saw it. That painting is REALLY not cute. That definitely isn't the type of artwork I like, but hey apparently a few of you out there really liked it. Todd also thought it would be cute to put his blog name in between each of the blogs that I read. Hmmm... Obviously someone had a bit of free time on their hands yesterday.

You know I thought I had taken my password off his computer after the last time he got into my blog but I guess not. Oh well, it is now changed. Hopefully I'll be able to remember it now.

I like this picture.

I Love This Picture

2005-05-26T13:54:00.000-05:00

I absolutely love this picture. Everytime I look at it is inspires me to go and conquer the world. What do you guys think? Leave a comment.

A night of Superheros, sort of

2005-05-19T14:14:00.000-05:00

Okay, I know what you must be thinking. I thought you were done with Smallville for awhile. Well.... Last night Todd asked me if I could help with a Media Shout picture presentation for the Senior Banquet. By the time I was finished with the slideshow there was only about 10 minutes left of the service so I figured I'd just go home since I'd already missed the majority of it. I got home about 8:05 and my mom and Lerah were watching Lost. I've only caught snippets from that show so I didn't want to watch it. I decided to go ahead and watch Smallville and it turns out it was the season finale. It was an hour and a half and boy did a lot happen. **Warning** if you want to wait until November to be surprised don't read the next part....

It started off with Lana killing someone and the first person she ran to was Lex because of course he can get her a great attorney. Let's see, Lex is getting really bad and even admits to his father (although Lionel is kinda out of it) not to worry that he is becoming the son his father always wanted him to be. Uh oh, dom dom dommmmmmmm..... And it is also very apparent that he is in love with Lana (I see a really nasty love triangle in the near future) and Lana and Clark admit they really do love each other. There is also another meteor shower that is of course connected to Clark. Louis and Clark (oh hey, another great superman show :o) ) pretty much can't stand each other. OH and the whole gang was suppose to graduate but because of the meteor shower coming they didn't finish graduation. Clark has to collect these three stones that are the cause of the shower and when he put them together they create this diamond looking stone and when he grabs it he is warped to somewhere else. In the middle of nowhere with nothing but snow around him. I don't really remember the original Christopher Reeves movies all that well but apparently that is where they pretty much start is him in the snow throwing this stone. Well that is where it left Clark, throwing the stone. I guess if you've seen the original movie the cliffhanger/season beginner in September won't be near as exciting. And like the last thing you see is Lana climbing this mound of dirt and when she looks over the edge she sees a spaceship which is bigger than Clark's so I wonder what's inside. Well I guess that is it. It was pretty good and it was cool to see one of the new episodes. Oh and after the finale they showed a sneak peek of the new Batman movie which I wasn't all that excited about seeing but after watching the preview I want to see it. I just hope they didn't show the only good parts of the movie. I guess we'll see. After that the original Toy story was on which isn't really super hero type stuff but they are heros none the less and Buzz thinks he is. Okay, that's about it.

To Infiniti and Beyond,

Diane

A Pea from a different Pod

2005-05-19T14:09:00.000-05:00

Sometimes do you just feel like you are absolutely, completely, in no way possible related to anyone in your family? Sometimes I wonder how I ended up the way I did because I don't really act like any one person in my family. Even they (my own family I mean)(immediate and extended) sometimes wonder where I came from because I'm so different. It isn't necessarily a bad thing, just kinda weird. Hmmm.... Anybody else ever feel like that?

Update

2005-05-19T13:47:00.000-05:00

Okay so a little has happened since the last time I really posted. The TEST post doesn't count. Apparently it wouldn't have mattered though since no one was able to get onto my blog. I republished the whole thing last night so it should all be working now. Well lets see what has happened in my life. Well last week I vowed to take the entire week off from all extra ciricular activities to get some much needed stuff done at home. My planned worked for the most part until near the end of the week. Thursday Lerah really wanted to go see the movie, House of Wax. My mom asked me to go because she hates those type of movies so I went. It started off slow and had way too much sexual type stuff so I was ready to go almost from the beginning. My mom was ready too but Lerah wanted to stay so we did. Well about 40 minutes or so into the film the actual action started to happen and boy did it really start. One of the main characters is in a room and the lights go out and the next thing you know the bad guy comes up behind him and cuts his acilles tendon with a pair scissors ****SUPER GROSS****. I looked over at Lerah and pretty much all the blood had drained from her face and she had her hands in front of her mouth. She said okay I'm ready to go now so we left and thankfully AMC was really nice and gave us our money back. Friday night I went to dinner with to girls I used to work with and that was pretty fun except I didn't eat because I'd gone to lunch with Shannon and it made me REALLY sick. Afterwards Seth called and asked if I wanted to see a movie. I said sure and met the group at Governor's Square movies to watch Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I will admit it had a few funny parts but for the most part it was very dumb. Saturday I went to Gainesville for Radooga training (we missed you Jenna). Not a whole lot to say about that except that the place where we actually had the training was really cool. It were in their youth room, actually it was more like their youth building. They had couches and the room was painted a dark red and their soundbooth was completely inclosed with plexiglass and a door (wow, a door, can you just imagine) *sigh*. They also had a small kithchenette that had a soda fridge and a full size air hockey table and full size pool table. They also had this huge "L" shaped couch that me, Nicole and Tamara tried to take a nap on but we ended up just talking instead. OH and for all you gamers out there, they had a few game sytems and three tvs. It was pretty sweet. Then on Sunday it was all about A Crazy Little Thing Called Love. Everyone involved did an awesome job and special props to all those involved in the commercials, they ROCKED! Especially the puddle one with Jake and Amanda. I've seen the commercials for the second one and that one is still my absolute favorite. Okay well I guess that's about all for now.

Adios,

Diane

TEST

2005-05-18T17:22:00.000-05:00

Today I feel a little confused.

2005-05-11T09:54:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I was going through reading everyone's blogs and getting caught up on all the latest when I decided I'd go and make a new post on my own. Well I was a little surprised when I got to my page and there was already an update for today. hmmm.... I wonder who could have done that? How did you get my password? I really don't remember making a post from your computer. OH well, I'm glad you had your fun for the day. I hope everyone has an awesome day. I won't see any of you tonight becasue I won't be at church tonight. I've vowed not to go anywhere but home after work this whole week. I was getting really exhausted and there were quite a few projects I needed to catch up on at home so I'm putting the majority of my focus there this week. I'm sorry I missed PALS last week but I hear you guys had an awesome time and I am really looking forward to next week. Hey, all you highschool girls. I think we have enough peeps to start a separate highschool group. If you are interested let me know. I'm thinking Tuesday or Thursday (preferably Tuesday) at 7. Well I'm gonna run now, I'm getting ready to go to lunch with some of my favorite people, Ms. Karen and Shandra. They are sooo sweet. Hope you guys all have an awesome day.

Diane

Todd is Awesome

2005-05-11T08:12:00.000-05:00

Sometimes we don't say it enough...but Todd is awesome. Have you ever met a greater guy. I mean really. We should all get together and buy him stuff on random days just to show our appreciation. As a matter of fact let's do that. Or we could just randomly put cash in his desk drawer. Whichever you prefer. Let's get behind this thing.

~STRIVE, Wedding Bells and Finding Neverland~

2005-05-08T18:20:00.000-05:00

Today we strove towards STRIVE. We got up at the crack of dawn and went to the church. On the way I realized that I had left the directions and the contact information at work. Well when we got to Piney Z I had to go to Southwood to get the information and then drove to Chairs to pick up Analiese (sorry if that is spelled wrong). We pickuped up trash and then cut down exotic plants off the trails. We walked all the way from Piney Z to Tom Brown Park, which I realize isn't all that far but it felt forever long. After we got through there we went back to Piney Z park and ate lunch and then we picked up trash off of Park Avenue. By 3 o clock we were sooooo ready to go home.

After STRIVE, Kenley and I went to Anthony Egger and Sarah Everett's wedding. It was at Maclay Gardens. It was really pretty. After the wedding we went to the Evertt's house for the reception. Let me just say, Ms. Corita is by far one of the best cooks ever.

After the wedding and reception we watched Finding Neverland. I got through most of it and probably would have made it the entire way had we not had to keep stopping the movie for Kenley's phone call.

On my way home I got stopped by a sheriff because I had a light out. Thankfully he didn't give me a ticket and I finally made it home at about 1:30.

Good Times and Yummy Food!

2005-05-07T00:10:00.000-05:00

Friday night we had a great get together at Kenley's house. I made chicken tetrazini (I'm quite sure I spelled this wrong). We also had yummy cheesy garlic break, salad, peanut butter pie. We also watched Drumline and played Taboo. Tomorrow is STRIVE.

Interesting Facts

2005-05-05T13:11:00.000-05:00

Right-handed people, on average, live nine years longer than left-handed people.
A cat's urine glows under a black light (hmmm... I wonder how they figured that out and who will be trying this after they finish reading this)
A girafffe can clean its ears with its 21 inch tongue (yuck!!!!)
The vocabulary of the average person consists of 5,000 to 6,000 words. (I wonder how many we actually use on a regular basis)
An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain (ooo, sad day)
The average person laughs 15 times a day (I've got to be above average in this one)
Ants don't sleep (what!! Sleep, no I never get enough)
Fish can't live in the Dead sea because it has too much salt (hence, the name, Dead Sea)
Everyone has 32 teeth (except me, I only have 28. I never developed my k-9 teeth)
"Almost" is the longest word in the English language with all the letters in alphabetical order
Electricity doesn't move through a wire but a field around the wire
Phobotrivaphobia is a fear of trivia about phobias
Moths actually aren't attacted to light at all, but fly towards the blackest point which is behind the light
Ancient Japanese thought there was a giant spider that lived underground and earthquakes happened when the spider moved (Now that is scary)
You are more likely to be killed by a champagne cork than by a poisonous spider (one more reason why you shouldn't drink alcohol)
Real names of butterflies: sailor, dead leaf, paper kite, blu striped crow, julia, and great egg fly
Only 10% of the world's population is left-handed (I think this is much higher at Northwoods)
A typical bed is home to about 6 million dust mites (think about that tonight when you try to fall asleep)
A woodpecker can peck 20 times a second
A cow gives nearly 200,ooo glasses of milk in her lifetime (that's a lot of milk)
The blue whale {pronounced well for all you southerners out there :o) } weighs 50 tons at birth (that's one big baby)
Dolphins sleep with one eye open (I just hope their attacker approaches from the side with the open eye)
The female lion does more than 90% of the hunting while the male simply prefers to rest (lazy bum)
You blink 10,000,000 times a year
Of all the words in the English language, the word 'set' has the most definitions

And I end this blog with a phobia question for all you nonphobotrivaphobia people out there.....

What is hippopotomonstosesquippedaliophobia?

Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

2005-05-05T12:15:00.000-05:00

Happy Cinco de Mayo everybody,

Did you know that May 5th isn't actually Mexico's Independence day. Most people think that is why the 5th is celebrated but Mexico's Independence day is actually in September. May 5th is celebrated because it is the day that an army of 4,000 mexican soldiers conquered 8,000 french soldiers that were led by Napoleon III. He had never lost a battle so they were so certain they would beat the Mexicans that they brought over a prince, Maximilian from Austria to be the new leader. Well I guess they were a little surprised at the final outcome. So Cinco de Mayo is actually a celebration of liberty and freedom.

**Interesting fact** More people celebrate Cinco de Mayo in the United States than in Mexico.

PALS

2005-05-04T13:52:00.000-05:00

We started a new girls bible study last night at the Fenstermaker's house. It was me, Shannon, Lori, Melinda Cable, Anna and Nelly Kuder, Erica Fenstermaker, and Rebekah Wright. We decided we are going to start our study with James, which is really cool. We learned a few very interesting stories about each other and we all realized just how much Melinda talks and has quite interesting conversations with herself. Next week we will definitely have to remember duct tape! Our group is called P.A.L.S. which stands for prayer accountability leadership sisters, compliments of Shannonononon. I'm very exciting and can't wait to see how things go. (Melinda, I even made my blog purple just for you)

Peath,

Diane

Choral concerts and cool buildings!

2005-05-03T14:49:00.000-05:00

Last night Lerah had her final choral concert of the year. Actually it will probably be her last choral concert of her highschool career. See, she doesn't really care to much for her class or the teacher and since she is going to be super busy with yearbook she isn't going to continue in chorus next year. All the students did their best and I even recognized most of the songs. One of the songs University Singers did, or at least a version of the same song and they did a piece that the FSU Gospel Choir did as well. I'll try to attach a picture all though Lerah will kill me if she sees it. She looks so cute in her choir robe. It was actually kinda scarry because from behind it looked like she was wearing a graduation gown. It was kinda like seeing into the future. Whoa! Oh and for the few of you out there wondering, "Wasn't her last concert last Thursday?", well you see, she thought that that concert was her final concert but it was actually an arts festival that WHS was having and not their final concert.
While mom and I were waiting for her concert to start (she had to be there over an hour early for rehearsal) we decided to go exploring. We went to the Wakulla river and then we went in search for this old country store that Lerah and mom had happened upon a few months back. Well after a few "I think this may be the road, no maybe the next one, well... what's the name of this next road coming up?" and quite a few wrong turns we finally found it in the middle of nowhere {I could here the bangos in the background (well not literally, but some of you may know what I'm referring too)}. I took a few pics which again I will try to post. We'll see how this goes. OH and check this out... when this place was up and running the price of gas was a whopping $0.39 a gallon. Just makes you wanna cry.

Sad Day :o)

2005-04-30T22:13:00.000-05:00

So I was suppose to go canoeing down the Wakulla River with the Single's ministry but the weather was really gross so we didn't get to go. Sad Day!!!!! We will definitely need to reschedule soon. Oh, and by the way you should check out Lori's blog to hear about the very interesting fugitive story that happen in her and Calyn's neighborhood last Saturday.

Not Your Typical Friday!

2005-04-29T22:56:00.000-05:00

So my Friday started out normal enough. Woke up about 7is, was very glad it was finally Friday, took a shower, got ready and went to work. Nothing too exciting happen Friday morning. Well, actually there was a book fair that was cool but I didn't buy anything so.... For lunch I had a Crisper's picnic at Rickards. (Goooo Raiders) It was me, Lori, Kenley, Tammy, Kyle, Nicole, the girlfriend (Lindzey), Nicolai (yep, don't know how to spell it but you Rickards peeps know who I'm talking about). It was a very beautiful day for our parking lot picnic. After lunch I went back to work, which again, wasn't all that eventful until right around 5 when I was getting ready to go home. I was saying bye to one someone in my office and she say "hey, I just got an email saying there is an alligator on the east side of the building." What, an alligator, at an office complex!?! My boss and I went outside and sure enough, at the side door of the building was a 3 to 4 foot alligator, just chillin'. Thankfully I had my camera and was able to get some pretty good shots. When I am finally able to download my pictures I'll add them to my blog. After work I got my oil changed (only 3,000 miles overdue). Then I picked up Lerah and Kyle at the chickie store and we went to the Stringer's for our final Smallville episode (more in my next blog). Okay that is about it for now. Talk to you guys soon.

Peath owt,

Diane

http://www.shutterfly.com/view/picture_dt.jsp?state=67b0de21ba9e4add7582&idx=4">.

Hola!

2005-04-28T10:17:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone (said very cheerfully) or in the words of the great Calyn, hello walls,

Today is Thursday, but it feels like it should be at least Saturday. This has been one of those really long weeks. Monday I had to go to the doctor so he could sign my medical release form saying I'm healthy and okay to enough to travel to Ukraine. Tuesday was fun. We had the Junction at Todd's house and quite a few people showed up. After the Junction Lerah and I went to PCBS to take a visa picture of Jenna and to notarize some documents for her and Calyn. I love visiting PCBS, they are all very cool peeps. On Wednesday I went to church, well sort of. Actually I talked to Nicole for a bit and then went with Calyn, Lori, and Mrs. Cheryl to Taco Bell and then to see The Interpreter. It was pretty good but REALLY long. And that brings us to today, which is only Thursday. Man, I don't think the clock could go much slower. You know it is funny how we have moments like I'm having right now when I think time is going by soooooo slow but then in a month or so, we'll be like man, time has flown. Time is so funny like that. I guess I shouldn't be complaining, the slower time goes, the more opportunity I have to tell people about God, to raise funds for Ukraine, to get prepared for SL Camp, the more time I have to spend with family and friends. I really need to learn how to value my time better. Tonight I'm going to my sister's final chorus concert of the year. She can't wait for it to be over because she REALLY doesn't like her class. Only a few more weeks to go! Have you ever noticed how most concerts are on either Tuesday or Thursday? I know all of my concerts, well except for Friday night games of course, were on either Tuesday or Thursday. And I'm pretty sure most all the Singers concerts were on Tue or Thur. I know they had them on the occasional Saturday or Sunday but for the most part they were on Tue or Thurs. A lot of big concerts that come to the civic center are on those days too. Like last Thursday. That concert, by the way was AWESOME. I'm not a huge fan of concerts but that was by far one of the best I've ever been to. Well I guess I've rambled enough about one of my random thoughts. I guess I'm going to run now. See you guys later.

Diane

2005-04-27T15:35:00.000-05:00

Nothing Exciting

2005-04-26T12:46:00.000-05:00

Hey Guys,
Sorry again for taking so long since my last blog. Well let's see... What has happened recently....

Last Thursday was the Steven Curtis Chapman, Casting Crowns, Chris Tomlin concert. They were all great and I had lots of fun. During intermission they had an opportunity for youth workers to go backstage and meet with Mark Hall from Casting Crowns. He has some awesome ideas and it really got my mind rolling on a few different ideas. He was very encouraging and it was exciting to know that even though their group is busy travel and stuff with their music they are still there each week to minister to the students in their own church. He was really cool and really funny. Casting Crowns has an great website for resources and ideas for youth ministry. The link is www.jumpstartresources.com Saturday I went to the Morrow's house for Ian's party. Actually I went the previous week too. While we were there we watched one of the Morrow kid's home movies. It was awesome. It was about a scientist that injects himself with something and now he can turn himself into different characters and he is killing people. By the end of the show Ian's character is the only one still alive, but does he really live? It definitely leaves you wondering. Great job guys. Sunday was church. I "taught", well I guess it would be better said that I tried to teach the 6th grade girls LIFE Group. Each time I try to teach I realize more and more that that is definitely NOT my strong point. Sunday night was fun. TREE did their final episodes of the Acts drama. Everyone did an awesome job. I have to give a special shout out to Brandon Myrick, though. That kid is so talented and super funny. I thought I was going to roll of my chair from laughing so hard when he slammed the door in Pauls face. After ROC me, Lerah, Lori and Kenley went to his parent's house and watch two more episodes of Smallville. Only one more episode to go :o( so sad... Well I guess that about brings you up to my life for the last week. I wish I had at least one funny or real interesting story. Oh well, maybe this week. See ya. Have an awesome week.

Diane

My Linguistic Profile.

2005-04-18T14:32:00.000-05:00

I definitely think my dixie would've been high than it is.

Your Linguistic Profile:
65% General American English
30% Dixie
5% Upper Midwestern
0% Midwestern
0% Yankee

Nintendo anyone?

2005-04-18T13:33:00.000-05:00

The link below is to a video from an acapella group that did a little something for all us old school Nintendo people. You guys will love it. See if you can figure out all the games that they include. Enjoy!

Peath Owt,
Diane

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/nintendoacapella.html

One step closer, and YEAH, its FRIDAY!

2005-04-15T09:47:00.000-05:00

Hey guys, I got my passport in the mail yesterday. That is so exciting. I got it a whole week earlier than expected. Now I just have to fill out my visa application.

Oh I went to see Sahara last night with my mom and sister. It was pretty good. It was almost non stop action the whole movie. It wasn't the best movie I've seen but it was entertaining especially since we were in theatre 4 (the huge one) and there were only 3 or 4 other people besides us in the entire theatre and we were all making comments and stuff during the movie. That was lots of fun.

Hey if any of you youth peeps would be willing to stand at the youth table on Sunday right after the conference leave me a post and let me know. It would be awesome to have a few of your lovely faces there.

Hope you all have a wonderful Friday.

~ Diane

WARNING Don't read while eating, if you've just eaten or if you are about to!

2005-04-13T15:32:00.000-05:00

Okay, so today at work I decided to clean out our small refridgerator that we have in our office for our lunches, snacks and so forth. Well most of the items were just your normal run-of-the-mill items like salad dressing that expired last July or cream cheese that was turning green and fuzzy. You know the usual stuff that gets thrown to the back of the fridge and forgotten. Well as I am cleaning, I picked up one of the grossest items I think I've ever come across in a fridge. One was a container that I think used to be some sort of maccaroni and cheese or something like that but it definitely looked like huge slimy brownish worms. I was just going to throw the entire thing away but one brave soul decided she wanted to salvage the container because it was a "nice" container. She opened it and I thought we were all going to throw up. It was sooooo vile. Then I came upon something that was even worse, if you can imagine. In the very back I reached for a small half opened can. When I got it out I realized it was suppose to be Vienna sausages. Okay, vienna sausages aren't that greatest to begin with but after apparently months or possibly years in the fridge they were so disgusting. There were three left in the container and they were petrified, as in petrified wood (hard as a rock) and had turned an awful green-brown color and when you shook the can they made a hard knocking sound against the can. Their color resembled the guts when you squish a big bug, you know an awful greenish brownish bile color. And to make it all worse as I was pulling a third container out liquid oozed out all over my hand. Thankfully the content was identifiable. It was squash that someone had brought in yesterday and the lid wasn't completely screwed on but it was still nasty. After all that, EEEWWWWWW, is all I can say. I don't even think someone on Fear Factor would have tried either of the items I found today. $50,000 definitely wouldn't have been enough. I don't know that $1,000,000 would be enough. So I end this with a warning, next time you try to do a nice thing like clean out a fridge or something of that nature make sure to be completely prepared with rubber gloves and a surgical mask. *Sorry for the extremely graphic details but I had to let you know the full extent of what I experienced or it just wouldn't be near as disgusting.*

P.S. I was reading back through my post to see if I could catch any mistakes that I made, which I did find a few, but there could be more, and I read the "squish" sentence and I kinda went off on my own little tangent about how I really like the word squish. It is a very fun word to say, especially if you pronounce it squeesh. Go ahead, right there in front of your computer, say squish a few times.... Isn't that a fun word :o) Okay well I'm going to go now. Talk to all you peeps later.

Diane

Update

2005-04-12T13:59:00.000-05:00

Hey guys,

Thanks so much for all of your prayers. I love all of you guys so much. My cousin, Jessica, is doing much better. The doctors were able to stop her labor and they are treating her for a kidney infection. She is still in the hospital for the doctors to continue to monitor her but she should be able to go home tomorrow.

Seems like forever!

2005-04-11T12:42:00.000-05:00

Sorry guys that I haven't written in awhile. The couple of weeks have been so hectic. I feel like this past weekend was the first time I've been able to stop and take a breath in a while. Well let's see, what has happened since my last post. Lori, Calyn, Emily Wright, Mrs. Linda Stringer, and Mrs. Laurie Sapp, one of my cousins and one of my uncles all had birthdays. Man that seems like a lot in the past week and a half. Sorry if I forgot anyone else. If I did you should let me know so I don't miss it next year. Tuesday we had the Junction at Todd's house and those of us that were there were fortunate enough to have part of the PCBS crew grace us with their presence. I wish Calyn and Jenna could have been there too. That would have been super awesome. We all sat outside for a long time on the trampoline. Actually I bounced 100 continuous jumps on one of those mini trampolines and then Christian and Josh each jumped 1000 continous jumps on the mini trampoline. I was very impressed. At one point Jake, Daniel, Christian, Josh and Drew were on the big trampoline and were trying to make Drew go really high. It was quite amusing until something happen and Drew either got hurt or REALLY mad about something. He stormed inside about 5 minutes later came back out doing his best Hulk impression. It was sssssoooooo funny. He is definitely one of the cutest kids in the world. Once the mosquitos got to bad we all moved inside where a few people ( I won't name names) almost got sucked into the X-Box. Thankfully Shannon came to the rescue and saved them both. Phew! Those of us going to Ukraine also found out on Tuesday that we had to have our passports ASAP because Student Life needs our visa applications. Man, I can't wait until all the money is raised, passports are received, visa applications are accepted and we are on the plane to Ukraine. That will be a glorious day and I can't wait. So Wednesday I went and applied for my passport which was exciting b/c passports are really cool. When I see them I just think of spy movies or something {here you go Shannon, I think of Alias :o) }. But the sad thing was that I had to pay an extra 60 dollars to expedite it }:oP Well at least I can now check that off of my major list of things to do. Thursday night Lerah and I went to Russian class. I have to say I think we by far have one of the best language teachers we could have. You rock, Calyn! Afterwards we met our mom at funstation and played an intense game of miniature golf. Well, not really intense but very fun none the less. Then we went to dinner at The Piteria/Arby's/Gutheries. What can I say, we each wanted something completely different from the other. And FINALLY we made it to Friday! Friday night, I was invited to the Stringer's to watch Smallville. Man, I was torn. I was so tired from my long week of work and other stuff, yet I really wanted to see the next few episodes. What to choose.....what to choose. Well, after much thought I decided to stay home since I was already in my pj's and I was very cumfy. I went to bed soon after and slept until 11ish Saturday morning which was beautiful. I got up, went for a leisurely stroll, went to the grocery store and got lunch for me and my sister since my mom went fishing at like 6:30 in the morning. Wow, that's dedication right there :o) I washed a load of clothes, hung out with my grandmother for a bit, then went home and took a nap. I was pretty much a bum most of Saturday but it was so wonderful. Sunday I went to church and then went home and baked a mash cake. Then went to youth where I played Ultimate frisbee. Man, am I completely out of shape. I had so much fun playing though. I've definitely got to start doing that more often. Then came so quite upsetting news. My cousin was admitted into the hospital for kidney problems and she also went into labor 2 months early. I left youth and went over to the hospital to see how she was doing. She seemed to be doing okay and they were trying to give her medicine to stop her from going into labor any further. The doctor hadn't really said too much as of this morning so I don't have any other details. Thanks guys so much for praying for us at youth last night. I really means a lot. I love you guys and thank each of you for your thoughts and prayers. Well I guess I'm going to stop now since this is pretty long. I promise to blog soon.

Bye :o)

Heya

2005-04-03T15:30:00.000-05:00

Wow, what a week I've had. I have been sooooo busy. I mean, I'm always really busy but this week was crazy. Well, anyway, I'm at church right now and the drama team or practicing so I can't think about all of my week so I'll right later. See ya guys later.

Bya,
Diane

Unveiled!

2005-03-28T11:52:00.000-05:00

Last night I went to the Unveiled gathering at FSU. It was really cool. Shannon and I rode over with Seth, Jesse and Dave and helped set up and pray before the gathering started. I was very encouraged by how many people showed up to help set up and pray for the evening and the people that would be there. Rusty Bailes led worship which was awesome. I love Rusty and Kim Bailes :o) Rusty is an awesome lead worshipper. Karina Hansen played violin and a guy named Trib (not sure if that is correct, sorry) played the drums. Well actually it was one drum, the kind that Kevin Stringer or Adam Elliot has played during our acoustic worship services. After worship we watched two sessions in a series Unveiled is currently going through called, “Love, Sex, and Lasting Relationships” by Chip Ingram. The sessions were about defining love and infatuation and the difference between the two. It was really cool. I don’t have my notes with me right now so I’ll have to give more details in another blog. In between the two sessions we watched a short video on Easter. It was a street interview video about what the real meaning of Easter meant to them and it was very heartbreaking to hear people say that they didn’t even know what the Easter message was. I know sometimes for us that have grown up in church the Easter message just becomes so routine, much like the Christmas message does sometimes. Sometimes God has to give us a wake up call like he did for me yesterday.Yesterday when I was driving through town to go to Shannon Lamm’s house and I was looking at all the businesses that were still open and thinking about how sad it was that those people didn’t get to spend the holiday with their family and friends celebrating the true “Reason for the Season”. Then after the video last night it just hit me. There are so many people that are celebrating Easter but for all the wrong reasons. They don’t even know what the REAL reason is. It’s so much more than colored eggs and bunny rabbits. Easter is the fundamental reason for us to rejoice. Jesus died on the cross for our sins and on the third day rose from the grave. He is ALIVE! So often I’m surrounded by people that are either born again or have at least heard the message that I tend to lay aside the notion that there are people that haven’t ever heard the message before. I sometimes act like the only ones that have never heard the Gospel are people in third world countries but there are so many people here in America that have never heard the good news. We can’t keep this to ourselves. It was given to us and we have got to share it with others so they can share it with others. I know this isn’t anything new. Yes, I knew this before watching the video last night but God just made me more aware of how complacent I’ve been lately. I am so sorry. God, please forgive me. You’ve given me tons of opportunities to share your word with others and I haven’t taken them. Please help me to be more bold in my faith and to SHOUT your love from the mountain tops.

Happy Easter

2005-03-27T15:42:00.000-05:00

Hi guys,
Just want to wish all of you a very Happy Easter. Hope you have all had an awesome day.

Looooonnnngggg Week

2005-03-24T12:11:00.000-05:00

This week has felt soooo long. Last night after church me, Lori, Calyn and Jenna went to the Stringer's to watch two more episodes of Smallville. Like I said before we're addicted. We also got to see Camron, Kris and Christina's son. He is soooooooooooo cute. It is really sad because he is leaving today so it will be awhile before we get to see him again :o( Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday, YEH!!!!!! It's Jenna's birthday so that is really exciting. Well I guess that is about all I have for right now. See ya guys.

OH, by the way, if anyone knows how to put together an 8 piece puzzle ring or would really like a challenge please let me know. I've had one for about a year now and I can't get it back together and I'd really like to wear it. So if you're up for the challenge let me know and I'll give you a shot. Warning, it can be REALLY frustrating.

Congratulations

2005-03-22T11:11:00.000-05:00

Congrats to Lerah for making the yearbook staff at Wakulla High School next year. I am so excited for her. Goooo War Eagles! I love you, Lerah :o)

The world really is watching

2005-03-21T13:47:00.000-05:00

I went to my blog this morning and noticed that I had a few comments on my initial blog. I decided not to read them until after I'd made my new post because I knew exactly what I wanted to say and I didn't want to lose my train of thought because as many of you know that can happen very easily to me. Anyway, I wrote my blog about what God had showed me in my quiet time from Colossians 3:12-17. I wrote how God commands us to be an example in everything we say or do and how the world really is watching and listening whether we realize it or not. Well after I made may post I went back and read the comments from my previous blog and guess what... two of the three comments were from people from other parts of the world. One was from Japan and one was from Portugal. I thought that was pretty cool so I thought I'd share it with you guys. Hope all you guys have a great day!

Nonstop Weekend

2005-03-21T13:11:00.000-05:00

Wow, this past weekend was busy, busy, busy. Friday night we had our dress rehearsal for our Easter musical, "Jesus, Son of God". Afterwards a few of us went to the Stringer's house and had a Smallville party. Those are always lots of fun. Smallville is a tv show about Clark Kent/Superman as a teenager. We watched 3 episodes, then some of us tried to sleep while others decided to peg those trying to sleep with oreos and Famous Amos cookies :o) I think everyone finally fell asleep around 4 am. Saturday we had the Easter musical at 4 and 7. Both performances went well. Thankfully most people didn't notice our little mess ups. It is awesome how we make mistakes but God makes it all sound wonderful to those who are watching. After our performances we went back to the Stringer's for more Smallville. What can I say, we're a little addicted. Sunday I went to church for our third performance of the musical. The dome was packed Sunday morning. It was cool to see so many people come. Sunday night at youth Todd spoke on the scriptures Ephesians 5:1 which says Follow God's example in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love for others, following the example of Christ, who loved you and gave himself as a sacrifice to take away your sins. And God was pleased, because that sacrifice was like sweet perfume to him. He also spoke on Ephesians 5:21 And further, you will submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. **Don't be Shelfish** :o)

So that was pretty much my weekend. I'm really looking forward to a nice relaxing week (ha ha ha).

Love One Another!

2005-03-21T11:24:00.000-05:00

Since God chose you to be the holy people whom he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. You must make allowance for each other's faults and forgive the person who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. And the most important piece of clothing you must wear is love. Love is what binds us all together in perfect harmony. And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are all called to live in peace. And always be thankful. Let the words of Christ, in all their richness, live in your hearts and make you wise. Use his words to teach and counsel each other. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. And whatever you do or say, let it be as a representative of the Lord Jesus, all the while giving thanks through him to God the Father. Colossians 3:12-17

I hurts me so much to see what has been going on with all this blogging lately. I have been praying about this a lot lately and this morning God showed me the scripture above. God has called us to forgive and love each other. He has called us to live in a community of peace. I think we need to remember that, not only when we are reading or commenting on a blog but in life in general. I think this scripture is a goal that we should be striving for in our individual lives as well as our youth group. The part that speaks to me the most in this passage is "whatever you do or say, let it be a representative of the Lord Jesus". I think we need to remember daily that the world is watching and listening to us whether we realize it or not.

I finally created a blog!

2005-03-18T10:40:00.000-05:00

So I'm a little, well okay, a lot behind most everyone else in this blog thing. I hadn't planned on making one at all but I started reading everyone's blogs a couple of weeks ago and decided that it might be fun to have my own. So I guess here goes nothing. I don't know how good I'll be about posting regularly so please don't be upset if I go a week or two without anything new. I hope you guys enjoy. Feel free to comment however you like and I'll do my best to keep an open mind and not be offended although I am human and make no absolute promises.

Our Thoughts....

Wonderful Weekend

I Love this Kid!!!

So I know I'm a little behind

How did we get to this point?

Quiz

Weekends are just not long enough!

Quote of the Day!

Boy Time Flys!

Oh my goodness, two days in a row!!!

OH MY GOSH! SHE STILL EXISTS!!!

It's a Small World

We are gathered here today for the joining of Miss Heinz and Mr. Heinz (no relation...yet)

Happy Thanksgiving Everybody!!!

Hey look, I'm postin'

Word Verification.. Beh :o(

Stay tuned for the long version...

Blah blah Blah....

Lots-O-Stuff

Sometimes technology stinks!!!!!

Stuck in Travel

Stuck in Travel

Random!

Wow, 3 in 1 day, Calyn you should be proud :o)

Please pray

Like a kid in a candy store

We should all be more like this lady...

Diane is...... A Copycat ;o)

Not Goodbye, just So Long for Now!

Where does time go?

Ichetucknee Anyone

Ukraine

321.. Blastoff!!!!!

While You Were Sleeping...

Hurricane Dennis GO AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Frustration

God is soooo AWESOME!!!!

Fun in the Sun!!!!

Only 17 more days!!!!

23 days and counting!!!!!

Another Special Shout out!!!

A Special Shot Out!

27 days and counting!

New Arrival

ROCing in Africa

Sad Day :o(

Sorry its been awhile

Not Again!!!!!!

I Love This Picture

A night of Superheros, sort of

A Pea from a different Pod

Update

TEST

Today I feel a little confused.

Todd is Awesome

~STRIVE, Wedding Bells and Finding Neverland~

Good Times and Yummy Food!

Interesting Facts

Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

PALS

Choral concerts and cool buildings!

Sad Day :o)

Not Your Typical Friday!

Hola!

Nothing Exciting

My Linguistic Profile.

Nintendo anyone?

One step closer, and YEAH, its FRIDAY!

**WARNING** Don't read while eating, if you've just eaten or if you are about to!

Update

Seems like forever!

Heya

Unveiled!

Happy Easter

Looooonnnngggg Week

Congratulations

The world really is watching

Nonstop Weekend

Love One Another!

I finally created a blog!

WARNING Don't read while eating, if you've just eaten or if you are about to!