landscaping, zoo, & movie

My morning started off with some hard work. Ya see, for parents of kids who either can't afford to pay completely for their kid to go to camp, or want their kid(s to take an active part in bringing in the funds to make to go; we provide opportunities for kids to get the money. I helped kids today to mulch and do some yard work. I believe there was 7 girls, and Kevin. Kevin is the kid who I just got to know by hanging out at his lunch room table, and for months inviting him/them to come to club. Well, not only did he start coming to club, but I got him to agree to go to camp, and NOW HE IS PUMPED!!The girls and Kevin really worked hard out there today. They made it look good too!It was fun. As I was taking Kevin home, he first told me that I am crazy (the good kind) and that he never thought he could have so much fun doing yard work. That is what it is all about.

Once I dropped off Kevin, I went and picked up Nicky. Then, we met up with Jared at the ZOO. It was a fun day at the ZOO, I forgot how much I love the ZOO.You can always find something awesome and fun to do at the ZOO. And we did, it was a whole lot of that stuff. Ya know, the fun stuff. I think that my favorite picture to share from this experience would be from the American alligator exhibit. Check this guy out.
Now that dude had some teeth!

After we were done at the ZOO, Nick and I went back to his place and just chilled for a bit. Then I went over to Tom's house. I am talking about the Tom that I had as an English professor last Fall semester at IPFW. He has been wanting me to come over and watch this movie called Brother Sun, Sister Moon. It is the story of St. Francis of Assisi. First, Tom cooked an amazing meal for me. Home made meatballs, and an amazing sauce with a suburb salad. The meal was "that good," and the conversation was non-stop fun and intelligent Godly conversation. I love that kind of conversation SO MUCH! It was good to just kind of get a re-cap of Tom's year, and it was exciting for me to explain what is about to shortly happen with my adventure to Arizona. Then we watched the movie. We had tried to do this once before, but it didn't work. This time it worked good, as Tom slipped the DVD into his fancy new Blue Ray machine. The movie was soo good! Now I understand why he has wanted me to watch it for so long. Everything that man went through, and the process of life events that God created to bring him to the point of accepting redemption, was astonishing to watch. I want, and will continue to try to attain what he brought to the world. Watching the story of Francesco (St. Francis) brought me closer to Christ, it also challenged me in how I love myself and others. I kept asking myself, "what does it really mean to deny yourself?" I keep coming up with real and applicable answers to that question, and it is exciting! Today was a good day, a real good day.

I cooked. . . because I had to

I am going to show a bit of my food skills, well because I just want to emphasize that I could cook if I had to. It's just that I still live at home and my mother owned and ran a catering business for 11 years, and was an amazing cook for umpteen years before that. So, it's like, "why the heck would I cook?" Anyways, my parents are in Mexico, so I have an opportunity to strut my stuff. My stuff is weak sauce compared to good cooks though.For lunch, I was feeling a legit Hot Ham and Cheese. it was pretty darn good. I forget what kind of cheese I put on it, but it was good. Not swiss, but sort of like swiss. Something tells me it starts with a C. . . . But, i'm kind of a forgetful sally when it comes to remembering super simple stuff like that. After lunch, I did my BSF Bible study. Wow, God talked to Balaam through a Donkey. I kind of took from the study of Numbers 22:1-22 among other things, that I need to be watching for God to be in anything. Now, that does not mean that I need to have the mind set of, "okay, if that window curtain blows to the left by the wind, then God wants me to move to China." No no no, that is foolishness. Yes, I do believe fully with all my heart that God spoke through a donkey to this Balaam jerk. I think I just need to be watching for God's work in all situations at any time. Even in situations that I don't think God would be in. I need to keep that eye open.

I went to my interpersonal communications class. Every time I go to that class, I look and view the prof and the class differently. I really do. I put change into a situation that needed to have a heart/mind change.

Then I came home and my cousin was removing the plastic wrap that we put around our back porch in the winter. If he wouldn't have done it, then I would have had to. He did such a good job, I decided to cook dinner for him and I. I'm real glad he didn't fall, he was hanging from some strange angles. Cook the spaghetti. Warmed the sauce. Cooked the succotash which is corn and lima beans for those of you who don't know. It was good, and my cousin said it was real good. The noodles could have been cooked just a few minutes longer, and some part of the lima beans did not square well with me. Maybe I was supposed to put something on them before cooking, I dunno, they were alright though. So, then it was time to go to class. So I did, and I found this little interesting note on the door. No class. Which was cool with me. I went and found a secluded computer lab. Then I wrote out a whole bunch of E-Mails and compiled one huge one for a reporter at a Milwaukee news paper about stem cells and all kinds of information. Now I am in that same computer lab, it is 9:29, and I am about to go home and be lazy for a bit, then go to bed.

Mobile add on

This is Aung, he is a Berma refuge. God connected us, i'm sure of it. I gave him my E-Mail & cell phone # as well as just talked with him and listened. I am adding this as a late add on to today's (Thursday's) post because it is exactly what I was talking about. Looking for God in all situations and circumstances. I don't know if Aung will contact me, I hope he does because he has an amazing story and is a great person with a bright future. But, right when I finished my BLOG post, he sat down next to me, I sat for a bit and then just asked him a question about his memory card thingy just to start conversation, the rest is history. I watched and listened though.That was obviously what I needed to do in that specific situation, and I had my "God eyes" looking if you will.

-Grace&Peace