Friends and Family...

What more could I ask for? Today both friends and family came out to dinner after church to help me celebrate my 27th birthday. It was perfect!! My family (from Sanford) finally got to meet my "Durham family" as well as a few of my Summit friends. I had a hard time figuring out what I wanted to do for my birthday this year. We finally decided to go to Red Robin. Even then, I expected a small turnout. How exciting it is for me that there were 20 people that came! What an awesome display of God's goodness to me. I thank God for each and every one of you!!

everyday ministry

So far I am LOVING my summer break. I'm not yet (too) bored, which is a great thing. I've purchased some summer reading books, so I now have no excuse to claim boredom! I'm quite enjoying having time to myself, and time to spend with friends whenever I want to. :) Yesterday I went to a free movie with the Amanda, her kids, and another Mom and her 2 girls. Then, after the movie, we all went swimming in the 2nd family's community pool. While we were there, another Mom from the Summit came with her 2 girls. So before too long, I was hanging out with 3 Moms and 7 kids! I loved it. I'm so thankful that after a couple years of asking (dare I say begging!) God for a "family" in Durham, He has richly blessed me! Now I not only get to hang out and learn from the Subletts, but also from other families I meet when I am with them. Most single "20-somethings" tend to stick with hanging out with just other 20-somethings. I'm glad I am different. I had a thought yesterday that both shocked me and made me smile. While I was sitting at the pool, being the only single person there (besides the girl working), and watching Moms and kids, I thought, "I am in a great place in life - I'm content." I mean, I DO want to be a Mom someday, watching my kids play, but I was thinking yesterday about the opportunities that I have NOW because I'm not yet married with kids. Even if it's just the ability to be an influence in these kids' lives, that's awesome! In the group yesterday, there were 5 girls, all in elementary school (I think). What a great chance I have to get to know them now (while they're still naive enough to think I'm somewhat cool), and then when they're older and their Moms "totally don't get it," maybe I'll be able to come alongside them and be there to encourage, advise, and just love these girls. How blessed I am to have this chance! I pray that I don't take advantage of this period of my life. It's SO easy to be selfish with my time... I tend to be very fond of "me-time." But I don't want to waste a minute of potential ministry in the everyday situations of life.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Man... I never thought I'd be so happy about some chicken noodle soup. I guess when it's the first thing resembling food that I've been able to have in the past 36 hours, it changes the enjoyment factor a bit! For some reason, unknown to me, I woke up Monday morning with a stomach bug. I never get sick... I mean, I have never once gotten sick overseas (and I lived in South Africa for 2 years!) The last time I got sick was almost 3 years ago. I think because I so rarely get sick, I'm a big baby when I actually do. Thankfully I didn't have to work last night, but I did have to miss praise team practice. :( I still felt pretty cruddy when I went to bed last night, and didn't feel great when I woke up this morning. I took some more medicine, went back to sleep and when I finally woke back up today at almost noon, I felt pretty good! I decided to attempt some chicken noodle soup this afternoon, and it actually tasted good! Thank goodness... maybe I can start to get back to normal now. :)

lyrics

Have you ever listened to a song a thousand times and then all of a sudden, for the first time, you really hear the song? That happened to me today. I recently bought the Passion: God of this City CD and have been playing it nonstop ever since. One of the songs is called "God of our Yesterdays." It has a very singable chorus, so I listen to it a lot and love to sing along with the chorus. Today as I was listening though, I heard the verses... and they hit close to home. I know that reading a song is NOTHING like hearing it, but here are the words anyway...

When we were in the darkest night
And wondered if our eyes would ever see the light
You were there, Lord
When we were in the stormy gale
And wondered if we'd ever live in peace again
You were there, Lord
You were there in the struggle
You were there in the fight
You were there all the time

We praise You - the God of our yesterdays
We praise You - the God who is here today
We praise You - our God as tomorrow comes

So whatever lies ahead
Whatever roads our grateful hearts will come to tread
You'll be there, Lord
We will fix our eyes on You
And know that there is grace enough to see us through
You'll be there, Lord
You'll be there in the struggle
You'll be there in the fight
You'll be there all the time

We praise You - the God of our yesterdays
We praise You - the God who is here today
We praise You - our God as tomorrow comes
We thank you - for grace in our yesterdays
We thank you - for peace in our hearts today
We thank you - for joy, as tomorrow comes
We will trust you, God

You're always closer than we know
Always more involved and in control
We will trust our lives to You -
The One who was and is and is to come

You see, I've been learning that I am more of a control freak than I'd like to admit. I like to think that I'm cool with whatever comes. I absolutely love being able to say, "I trust whatever God has for me!" And I know I CAN say that with full confidence. But sometimes I don't seem to believe what I know to be true. (What a paradox I am!) I say in one breath that I trust God fully, and then hear a noise outside my window and totally freak out. I say that God has a plan much bigger than me and then get an email saying I'm not scheduled to work AT ALL for the next 2 weeks and start to panic about how I'll pay for things. I so easily freak out - WHY!?! Why is it so easy to lose sight of how awesome, powerful and IN CONTROL our God is? I'm so glad that God's grace doesn't waver like my faith does. I'm thankful for songs like this one... songs that remind me of who God is, and how I can trust my life to Him.

And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you.
(Psalm 9:10)

The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him.
(Nahum 1:7)

I'm bored!

Spending the past few days with kids made me think back to what I was like as a kid. I was such a whiner. I realize just how annoyed my Mom and Dad must have gotten with me when I would proclaim, "I'm bored!" As if they had the magical cure for my boredom. Sorry Mom and Dad! Well... I guess some things never change. I think I'm weird. I like to have down time and relax, and I'm the kind of person that freaks out if I don't get that for a while. But at the same time, once I've been alone for a little bit, I get really bored! Last summer was the first real summer break I'd had since before college. After the summer was over, I vowed that this summer I would make more plans and do more so that I wouldn't get so bored. When I get bored, I think too much... it's not a good thing. I was set on taking classes at seminary until I became 90% sure I was going to South Africa for a while this summer. Well, that fell through at the last minute, so here I am... a whole summer ahead of me and no plans. Sylvan doesn't even need me much yet, so I'm hardly even working. AHHHH!!! I love sleeping in - I really do. But once I wake up, I need something to do. I have a few house projects I want to work on, but the real projects need more skill than I have. This week's goal is to organize my room. I'm about half way there. Next week - the office. Then I'm not sure what I'll do. I'm also determined to get some books read this summer. I am notorious for starting a book and never finishing it. So I am going to read like crazy! :) I could use some suggestions, so please pass them along!

Bonnie = Beach person???

Are you kidding me?? Never in a million years would I have thought that I could enjoy the beach. I've just never been a huge fan of it. I've never liked being hot, getting burnt, or feeling like I just didn't fit in with all the bathing suit models laying out on the beach. Well gosh darn it... in the words of Amanda Sublett, "who flippin' cares?" I've been here at the beach since Friday afternoon, and I'm loving it! I did get sunburned the first day... oops... so that kinda put a damper on things, but I've still had a great time! I've learned my lesson - use sunscreen, and lots of it! I've also learned other lessons... vacationing with kids is quite enlightening! hehehe Oh yeah, I haven't mentioned that I'm here with Amanda Sublett and her 3 kids. Scott was here Friday through Sunday, but he had to go back for work Sunday evening. So now it's the 5 of us. We're having a great time. It makes me remember family vacations when I was younger. Fun times. :) Well... for some reason, I have major writer's block at the moment, so I'm not sure what to write.... I'll write more when I get home. For now - it's back to the beach!!! :)

No more kids!

Our final class picture!

Thursday night I said goodbye to my lovely Pre-Ks. I have absolutely LOVED this past year teaching. I think I only had about 5 mornings where I genuinely woke up saying "I don't want to go to work today!" I think 5 out of a whole year with 4 and 5 year olds is pretty great! Especially considering that last year by the last couple months I was saying it every morning as I dragged myself to work. I'm VERY much looking forward to actually returning to the same school for a second year. That has never happened to me in my teaching career. I'm thrilled to have finally found a school that I want to stay at. As per usual though, there is another change in my future. Though it is not 100% yet, more than likely I will be teaching a blended classroom next year. I will have 6 or 7 "typical" kids (is there such a thing? hehe) and 6 or 7 hearing impaired kids. I will also be co-teaching with a hearing impaired teacher (she's not hearing impaired, she's just taught H.I. kids before). I'm part excited, part scared to death. This will be a change. Co-teaching!? STRESSFUL!!! I'm not looking forward to that part. We'll plan lessons together, which on the surface sounds great... but the thing is, I'm not a great lesson planner... Well... I actually write great lesson plans - when I write them!! And half the time I do write them, I rarely follow exactly what is written on them. Co-teaching changes that up a bit... I will have more accountability to adhere to the lessons and the schedule. So yeah, that scares me. BUT, I am also excited at the chance to learn some sign language, and try something new! There will be 3 adults in the classroom now, which will help out A LOT since it is a HUGE classroom. Hopefully by adding another body, the kids will be monitored better. Plus, they only want to have 12 kids in the class total, and with 3 teachers, that gives a 1/4 teacher/child ratio, which is the same as I had this year and LOVED! So... I am praying that whoever they hire for the H.I. job will be a perfect match for Ms. Hayes and I. Three women in one room has potential for disaster, but I know God has a plan and I trust Him! :)

Working in the rain

So on Sunday afternoon when I called Scott to see if he could help me pick up a shed from Lowe's, I had no idea he was going to put it together too! Honestly, I just wanted it home so that whenever I could get to it, I could work on it, or my Dad could come help me. Well, Scott did plan to put it together - rain or shine! And unfortunate for us, it was definitely rain. Just as we were getting back to my house, the rains came tumbling down!! We put it together under my very small porch while the rains poured down around us. Now that's dedication!

Alex was a big help too!

Can you see the rain coming down in the background?? It really was pouring!

Meanwhile, Chris and Leanne were busy putting up a fan in Leanne's room. Usually a fan is not a complicated task, but anyone who's ever looked at the wiring in my house knows much better than to think such a silly thought. Whoever wired this house before knew NOTHING about wiring, so they're ll jacked up. Chris worked long t hard at the silly fan! Good job Chris! (And Leanne too. hehe:))

Flash Flood!

Crazy, isn't it!? I have NEVER seen the water this bad in the 2 years at my house. Work must be done SOON!

If you've never seen my house, then you don't know just how close the water is from my back door. I have to fix this soon because if it gets any worse, I'll have even bigger problems!

Here's the creepy old shed that needs to come down soon!

The water carried many things through the back yard - one being this nasty old soccer ball. Alex wanted it badly enough to trudge through the water, so it was all his!

the return to home repairs...

I've now owned this home for 2 years. Incredible, isn't it? For those of you who have been reading for at least that long... you've read a lot about this little house. My first year was all about home repairs... it seemed like every day something new was happening! The second year kind of slowed down. Some major jobs were finished, and I was out of money. Well, this summer is going to be a summer of home repairs! And I got started today. Leanne (my roommate), Chris (her boyfriend) and I went to Lowes. I bought a fan for her room and a garbage disposal (mine hasn't worked since I moved in!). Later Scott Sublett (from my adopted Summit family) came over to help me go back to Lowes and pick up a small storage shed. I have a old, creepy shed in my back yard and I've always said I was going to knock it down so I could somehow create a decent back yard. Well, the process has begun. Once the small shed is finished (Scott put almost ALL of it together today!), I'll move stuff from the creepy shed. Then, hopefully not too long after, we'll tear down the old one. Then the MAJOR project of digging a trench behind my house will begin. You see, there is an old drainage ditch behind my house and it is WAY backed up. There has always been some flooding, but today we saw an all new happening. The flooding turned into a RIVER! I'll have to post some pictures tomorrow, but I have never, in 2 years here, seen that much water flowing behind my house. It's definitely time for a MAJOR work day!!! Oh, and I also have to replace some windows. One of my little stain glass windows in the front of my house somehow got a hole in it. So yeah... lots of projects: a fan for Leanne's room, new garbage disposal, put up shed, tear down shed, whack down lots and lots of weeds, dig a BIG trench, and get new windows. Who thinks I can get all of this done before school starts in August!?!?!?! :)