Poes' Place

Lessons from Subway: Humility

2011-11-21T15:59:00.000-06:00

I have a degree in youth/global ministry. I work at Subway. This has been frustrating for me. I have left Subway multiple times thinking it was my last go around and I would never have to work at Subway again. But here I am working my longest stretch at Subway...with no end in sight. A few weeks back I decided to change my attitude in regards to this job. Rather than be frustrated by it, I have decided to learn from it. And learning I am...in abundance.

The first lesson I am learning (in fact it is what made me decide to allow myself to learn from this situation) is humility. It has humbled me to obtain a college education and yet not seem to be able to move beyond a job in fast food. It is humbling to make sandwiches for young professionals (many younger than me) who come in to our store. It is humbling to have seven years of experience in a job and not move beyond the title of "Sandwich Artist." It is humbling to write resumes in which my job experience consists mostly of the above title.

Humbling, yes. Humiliating, no. Humbling because I had for some reason built up in my head that I was so far above this job. Humbling because of my own ego. Not humiliating because I am so thankful to have a job. Not humiliating because I am so thankful I have a job in which my employer trusts and respects me so much.

Because of this experience in being humbled, I have learned many more things as well...and those are to come.

More to Come

2011-11-18T07:18:00.000-06:00

We finally have internet at our new home! That means more posts will be coming soon...I know you all (the handful of you that actually read this) just can't wait ;) I have this little idea of writing a few posts about lessons from Subway. Ideas such as humility, contentment, and keeping my mouth shut will be discussed. Also...maybe some pics of the house will be up soon. Until then...

Experience

2011-10-24T18:53:00.000-05:00

Over the past few months I have sent out at least 20 resumes to various non-profits in the Twin Cities area. I have read job descriptions for dozens and dozens....and dozens more. What do they all have in common? A requirement for the job is experience. How is any recent college graduate supposed to get a job if you need a minimum of three, five, or more years experience? Especially if you have a BA in religion with a major in youth ministry and a minor in global ministry? The jobs I have applied for are ones which I think I would enjoy, would do well at, and believe I am qualified for. And if I believe I am qualified for a job then that's saying something because I am not the most confident person when it comes to trying something new. According to these job descriptions, with my education and experience I guess the only jobs I am qualified for are Sandwich Artist or Youth Pastor. What a frustrating position to be in. A call back from at least one of these places would be fantastic. That's my rant for the day. Hopefully my next post will be more constructive.

Evolution of Faith

2011-10-19T20:34:00.000-05:00

Last week I started reading Evolution of Faith by Philip Gulley. Reading the title alone has made me contemplate how my faith has evolved over the years. As if this book hasn't been enough to get me thinking about such things, a few days after beginning this book, I watched a slightly perturbed group of college students try to analyze the gathering (the Porch's weekly "service") for a paper they had to write. This brought back a rush of memories and the many frustrations I faced in college--the countless classes, chapels, and other services I spent finding all the errors in what as being taught/preached--as I found my faith shifting. Actually, my faith was more than shifting...it was crumbling.

Let's back up a bit...

My parents raised me in a Christian environment. I memorized loads of Scripture in AWANA as a wee one. As my siblings and I grew older, our family began attending church less and less as all three kids were involved in sports tournaments most weekends. By the time I was in Jr High, attending a Sunday morning service was a rare occasion, which was fine by me. While I considered myself a Christian, it was fear of getting in trouble that kept me a decent kid rather than a desire to live in the way of Jesus. In eighth grade I began attending youth group at a Wesleyan church because there was a cute boy there that I liked. I fell in love with that place (not that boy). Over the years, I was incredibly blessed to have three different, amazing youth pastors. Each challenged me in a different way regarding my faith. By the time I was ready to graduate I had read the Bible in it's entirety (twice), served for a few years on the youth group's leadership team, preached a few mini sermons on Sunday mornings (on Youth Sundays of course), and decided I was going to go on and pursue Christian ministry of some sort (as long as I was able to play softball on a scholarship at the college where I would be learning about this whole ministry deal). I was solid in my faith and nothing was going to shake me.

Until Bible college. After taking a year off from school and getting married in that time, I (with Jeff of course) moved to New Brunswick, Canada to pursue "the call" I had on my life to become a full time youth pastor. At the end of my freshman year I added a Global Ministry Major to my Youth Ministry Major. At the end of my sophomore year I dropped my global major to a global minor. At the end of my junior year I was questioning just about everything regarding the institutional church, and was pretty convinced that house churches were the way to go. My senior year was packed full of frustrations as I was sitting through lectures all about church structure and using Roberts Rules of Order at church meetings. I can't even begin to describe the anger in me as I became so disenfranchised with the church. I was disgusted with what I was learning because to me it looked nothing like what Jesus ever intended the Church to be. I wrote paper after paper voicing my frustrations and arguing my points. Thankfully, I had professors who allowed me to think this way and graded me according to my work and research and not on the premise that I had to agree with them.

Through experiences of working closely with a youth pastor on my internship for 6 months and working as a youth and young adult pastor in a church for a year after that, I have slowly morphed from being calloused, to broken-hearted, to understanding there's a place for institutional, conservative evangelicalism--even if it's no longer for me. It played a large role in my faith, and I would not be where I am today if it weren't for it.

While it began with questioning ministry practices and eventually the institutional church as a whole, it didn't stop there. Just about everything in my faith has been questioned, torn down, and is in the process of being rebuilt...hopefully never to full completion again. I'm sure there are some who think I've "backslidden" or "fallen away" because I no longer hold some of their most cherished beliefs. But that's ok. I have never had a more vibrant, hope-filled, Jesus-centered faith than I do now. I would never change where I've come from in my faith, even though I no longer hold to much of it. I'm thankful for where I came from, content with where I'm at, and excited for what's to come.

More than a Buzz Word

2011-10-04T18:17:00.003-05:00

In my last post I claimed that I miss writing. This is not entirely true. I miss the feeling of accomplishment which comes after successfully completing a thought which is a rare occasion for me unless it finds itself in written form. I do not miss the actual process of writing. If that were the case, this computer would seldom leave my lap. Sadly, that feeling of accomplishment does not come without the process, so here I find myself, in the midst of the process...

The idea of living in community is something that Jeff and I have been a bit more than infatuated with for several years now. This infatuation began our senior year of college after reading books such as The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne. Many of our peers and close friends also flirted with this concept of living life in intentional community. For some it came to fruition, while others realized it was just a phase which has since passed along with their years of living in a dorm (which is something I never experienced unless you count living in an apartment basement in a men's dorm with my husband--not quite the typical college life dorm experience to say the least). For us, the dream of living in community, the aching to share our lives so intimately with others, the conviction of living a more simplistic, interconnected, holistic life has only grown with the years.

I love shows such as Friends and Grey's and Private Practice which depict the lives of friends who are struggling together as they try to figure out life. But even more, I appreciate the real life examples I have witnessed first hand. Our friends at Reconciliation in Salem, Oregon graciously introduced us to their version of community as they seek to live missional lives and gave us hope that this was really possible for us. Our faith community, Solomon's Porch has beautifully demonstrated and invited us to join them in pursuing what God is up to in the world. My aunt and uncle have warmly welcomed us into their home where we have so enjoyed our little community.

As we have witnessed and participated in various communities, we have further developed our own dreams for community living. We dream of a community in which...
...we recognize and participate in the connection with one another as a household, our neighborhood, our city, and our world
...spirituality and the ways of Jesus are passionately sought after
...hospitality is central to all we do; dinners are a time to gather together (just like the olden days) and we always have an open room for those in need of a place to stay (except, of course, when that room is being occupied by someone in such a circumstance--does the whole loaves and fish thing apply to beds in a house or just food?)
...those living and visiting feel safe to be who they are without judgment and vulnerability is a way of life
...everyone who walks through the doors is a participant and contributor in the community
...possessions are held onto loosely and money assists us in our efforts but never guides us
...the weak, marginalized, and oppressed find welcome and rest
...further dreams are encouraged and pursued

As we dream, we are well aware that living in community will mean infusing our dreams with those of others in our community. We are under no illusion that this will be easy; that living in community won't have its struggles. If we never face a struggle, never deal with a disagreement, never make a compromise, then I'm guessing true community isn't really happening--that we are really just a bunch of roommates.

I am excited and scared out of my mind to pursue this new adventure. The thought of buying a house; the commitment to a place and a people--to stability, to community, to actually doing this thing--is terrifying yet comforting. Our closing date is October 27th. Who's in?

Here I Go, Yet Again

2011-09-29T17:33:00.000-05:00

I miss writing. A small part of me wishes I were back in school, forced by a deadline to scribble down my thoughts. I would love to say I need more time, but really I need more discipline because time is in abundance these days. So today I'm writing, but I'm starting small. Much has happened in life since the introduction of Frodo Poe. We resigned from our position at Anoka Wesleyan Church. In August we moved in with my aunt and uncle in Shoreview as we began our search for a home. Frodo has absolutely loved life with two other dogs around (as I write this, he is licking the wall...what a weird dog). I can't even begin to explain how much we have enjoyed our time here. We are going to miss it when we move. However, we are in the process of purchasing a house that we are eager to make our home .

Jeff is home and it it time to go out for his birthday dinner (he turned 30 yesterday), so I have to cut this yet-again foray into the discipline of writing short, but I will be writing more about our dreams for this new home soon. As well as much more.

Introducing Frodo Poe!

2011-03-07T22:32:00.006-06:00

Last Thursday we added a new member to our family! Frodo is a 14-week-old (approximately) dashchund/blue heeler mix. He is a spunky little guy, but also quite the cuddler. He is smart as well as stubborn. He loves his daddy, but is definitely a mama's boy. We are excited to have him as part of our family and can't wait for you to meet him!

What a Silly Question

2010-12-27T19:41:00.004-06:00

So I was sitting here, playing some solitaire (vegas scoring of course)...and contemplating life. I found myself asking myself if the root of some of the struggles in my life were spiritual...and then I thought...what a silly question to ask.

It can be so tempting to compartmentalize life...and life's struggles. It can be easy to think this is a relationship problem...that is a personal problem...this is a spiritual problem...and so on. But I realized as I was doing this with my own life that this does not accurately portray what I really believe. I believe in a holistic spirituality...one that encompasses all areas of life. This means not only that my spiritual life effects all other areas of life...but also that every area of life effects my spiritual life...it's one, interconnected life.

Take relationships for example. I believe one of the greatest ways to experience God is through relationship with other people. So, if we have no deep connections with others...if we have broken relationships with others...if we put walls up to keep others out...our relationship with God will undoubtedly take a hit (even if we are praying and reading our Bibles every day...) Somewhere in our history (recent history, might I add) we made Christianity a very individualistic religion...we made the personal aspect of our relationship with Jesus into an individualism thing...an it's just me and Him thing. But God tells us to love Him and love others...in one breath.

Our spiritual lives are not disconnected from the rest of our lives...no matter how much we act like it or want it to be so.

Getting Started...Again

2010-12-27T17:30:00.003-06:00

Just over six months ago, I wrote on here a few goals for myself. Seeing as it has been quite some time since I have updated this here blog, I thought a good way to get started writing again would be to write a little update on those goals. It seems especially appropriate as we are approaching the new year.

one. This has definitely been an up and down thing, but overall I do believe I am heading in the right direction. Still have a ways to go, but I am making progress.

two. Has not happened as I hoped it would. Need to get my bum in gear with this one.

three. Also up and down, but for sure heading in the right direction. I received Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals for Christmas and have already begun that. Excited to continue this and invite more people to join me on this journey of praying together daily.

four. Meh. Introversion and fear have definitely been holding me back, but pushing through...

five. Making great progress with this one...its exciting to see those numbers going down!

six. If my count is correct...three down (Freakanomics by Levitt and Dubner, Why Evolution is True by Coyne, and Relationships Unfiltered by Root)...two half down (Of the Imitation of Christ by A Kempis and An Emergent Manifesto of Hope by Pagitt and Jones)...that leaves seven to go. A little behind, but it will get done.

seven. Have not done nearly as much as I would have liked as seen by my lack of posts since August. However, I have been doing a bit of journaling which has been good for me. Still...must do more writing.

eight. I think we have done a decent job of this. To better evaluate this I should ask the people who spend time in our home.

nine. A daily struggle. Just because we have more does not mean we need more. This Christmas season has definitely been a reminder to me to continue this pursuit...

More stretching. More growth. On the way. We'll see where I'm at in June...

The Deodorant Enlightenment Experience

2010-08-23T16:47:00.001-05:00

I hate consumerism…to my core. I hate spending my money on non essentials. I hate convincing myself that something is an essential. I hate the small (or sometimes rather large) high I get when I buy something I’ve really wanted. I hate wanting more when I already have more than enough. I hate the “you deserve it” mindset along with the “embrace the culture to you can be relevant” mantra. I hate that churches have embraced consumerism in the name of Jesus. I hate how easily I forget that what I purchase actually impacts others. I hate that me having more often means others have less. I hate consumerism. And I hate feeling trapped by consumerism.

I find it all too easy to convince myself that I need something. That if I buy this I will be more relevant. If I acquire that I can make my home more hospitable. If I purchase this I will be more comfortable. If I can just somehow obtain that my life will be better.

And it’s in those times that I have convinced myself of the need for more that God always seems to find a way to remind me that I’m an idiot.

Recently Jeff and I have constructed something we like to refer to as “The List.” The List contains a number of items which we have wanted to buy for quite some time, but have not due to a lack of income (at least we were smart enough to not rack up more debt in the pursuit of acquiring these items). Some of the items on The List are things that we need…or will need in the near future (i.e. tires and truck alignment). However, the majority of the items on The List are things we could do without, but I have somehow convinced us that we need for one reason or another. With our first few paychecks, we have started purchasing a few items on The List…pacing ourselves, of course, so that we do not blow the entirety of our checks on these items.

There have been many times when either adding something to The List or crossing an obtained item off The List that I have had to push back thoughts of “What are you doing?” and replaced them with other thoughts. Thoughts such as “We could really use these things” and “It’s okay, we’re being responsible and only spending our ‘extra’ cash on this stuff.”

Last night we were at Wal-Mart doing some true essentials shopping. We were standing in front of the men’s deodorant section and I couldn’t believe how many different options of deodorant are available. Not just the number of different brands, but how many options each brand had to offer. There had to be at least 15 different options (possibly more) of Degree brand deodorant for men. There are many different things I could write about concerning this whole deodorant enlightenment experience (and maybe I will later), but for now, this experience turned my mind to the idea of how consumerism was impacting my life…the idea (more accurately, conviction) which I was suppressing in order to continue adding and crossing items off of The List. To add to the deodorant enlightenment experience, God seemed to keep bringing this up in other ways as well (to make sure I got the point)…the sharing on stewardship last night as well as a in a book I was reading earlier today to name a few.

I think God speaks differently to each of us. For me, I know God is calling me away from consumerism into a life of simplicity. And when I do purchase, to make I sure am being a responsible consumer. I need constant reminders to keep me from being sucked into the trap of consumerism. Thanks God…for sending me those reminders.

Dancing in the Minefields

2010-08-11T13:29:00.006-05:00

I came across this song on Donald Miller's blog a few days before our anniversary. Reading Miller's books and blog has inspired me to want to live a better story. If you have read anything he has written, you know what I mean. So it was quite fitting that I learned of this song from his blog. This song brings tears to me eyes every time I listen to it because it makes me think of the beautiful story that Jeff and I have lived, are living, and will continue to live for many years. I know it's cheesy, but it's true. So thank babe...I love living our amazing story together :)

Not sure why the whole video won't show up...but at least you get to hear the song.

Mini Garden

2010-08-04T11:55:00.004-05:00

It's so exciting to see our tomatoes and peppers growing! We thought for a bit that our tomatoes were ruined (most of the early growth developed black bottoms and stopped growing). Thankfully, we have PLENTY of tomatoes that are not affected by what we found out is called blossom end-rot. Hopefully we will be making some salsa in the next week or so!

The Evolution of Love

2010-07-30T19:33:00.010-05:00

Yesterday we celebrated our 5 year anniversary. It's crazy to think how much has changed in the time we have been married. I think we would both agree that we are different people now than we were on this day five years ago. We have both changed and grown dramatically as individuals and together. I am so thankful for where God has brought us, and I can't wait to see what's in store for the next 5 years! I love you babe!

Year 5...celebrated by going out to Joe's Crab Shack and then grabbing some ice cream at Sebastian Joe's

Year 4...time at the cabin

Year 1...weekend in Minneapolis

Was hoping to post pictures from every year, but they're not all on this computer so I guess that's not happening. Year 2 was spent on the Oregon coast and year 3 was spent fishing on the Rainy River.

Cornerstone

2010-07-19T12:34:00.001-05:00

I've been thinking about this whole concept of Jesus as our cornerstone for quite some time now. It stems from my earlier thoughts on the Pursuit of Rightness. If Jesus is the cornerstone of the Christian faith, will all our "houses" look the same? If Jesus is the cornerstone, the rock, the foundation...if everything boils down to Him, will every person's faith look the same? Will all of our beliefs, biblical interpretations, practices, convictions, and so on be clones? I don't think so.

And I think that is the beauty of the Christian faith...diversity. In my own life I have built up, torn down, and started reconstructing the framework of my belief system. The house is still in the process of being built. I don't know if it will ever be complete. I'm sure there will be plenty of remodeling and possibly more demolition in the future. I used to hold firm to every little detail...from the structure, to the paint color, to the moldings, down to the placement of the furniture...nothing could change. Now I hold firm to the what started it all...the cornerstone...Jesus. I may like the way my house is looking and prefer things a certain way, but I am also willing to let those things change with time.

An event that really triggered this thought process for me was the passing of my Grandpa. As I was staring out the passenger window at the stars over eastern Washington on our trip back to Minnesota, I was thinking about my Grandpa. I was thinking about how much he loved Jesus. I was thinking about how different our houses looked, yet we had the same cornerstone. I could get so frustrated with my Grandpa because he viewed things so differently than me. I could never understand why he was so stubborn. As I sat there that night in the car with tears in my eyes, God taught me a valuable lesson...our houses may have looked different, but our cornerstone was the same.

Sonshine

2010-07-15T12:51:00.000-05:00

For those who don't know, Sonshine is a big annual Christian music festival held in Willmar, MN. It's a pretty big deal in these parts. To kick off the festival, they have a free concert the first night. We went with the youth and young adults to this free concert last night. Remedy Drive and Family Force 5 put on a great show. It was a fun day of traveling and hanging out in some beautiful weather listening to some good music.

Starting Small

2010-07-09T16:17:00.000-05:00

Someday, Jeff and I would love to have a big garden. Over the past two years or so we have become more conscious consumers. Part of that has been trying to pay closer attention to what's in the food we eat as well as where the food is grown and by who. We by no means are perfect with this and still have SO MUCH to learn, but we are trying to be better at it little by little every day. One way to be certain bout the growing conditions of our food is to grow it ourselves, so to be able to produce our own food (at least some of it) is a goal of ours. We are excited for the day when we will no longer have to buy veggies at the grocery store. But...that's not going to be possible for a while. Living in a parsonage connected to the church means we do not have the land to have a garden (not even a small one). Thankfully a friend of ours here, Tim, was incredibly generous and made us a cedar planter for out little porch. We were able to fit two pepper and two tomato plants in it (it was too late in the season to start from seed). It's an exciting part of my day to check on the progress of our plants, and recently I found one little tomato starting to grow. Today we found a few more. I can already taste the salsa...

Quick Update

2010-07-02T12:35:00.000-05:00

We have been crazy busy the last week or so with moving, church events, job hunting and painting. I will be updating soon...I have not forgotten goal number seven :) Until then, have a great day everyone.

proof that im not just making excuses :)

my puppy while we were packing the car...so sad :(

New Phase

2010-06-21T13:07:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we received the official word that we are done with our schooling at Bethany! Our entire married life thus far has revolved around school. We are about to enter into our fifth year of marriage as we enter into a new phase of life. The last five years have been great, but I cannot wait to see what's in store. One week ago today, we moved to Anoka, MN which is a suburb of Minneapolis. We are working part time at Anoka Wesleyan Church with the youth and young adults. Housing is our compensation, so we are currently job hunting to pay the bills and eat.

I have been thinking quite a bit about what I want to see happen in my life over the next year here in Anoka. It can be too easy for me to slip into a very inactive, introverted daily routine. In order to avoid this, I am sharing my goals for the next year on this here blog in hopes that this will keep me accountable.

one. create a healthier lifestyle. This includes eating healthy, excercising on a regular basis, and not oversleeping. I do a fairly decent job with all of these things on occasion, but not consistently.

two. read bible more. Not out of obligation.

three. pray more. Especially with people.

four. build significant relationships. Put myself out there. Be open. Be honest. Love. Push myself out of my comfort zone of introversion.

five. pay of all non-school debt. Debt sucks.

six. read twelve books. By authors other than the usuals (McLaren, Miller, Claiborne, Wright, etc) List thus far...Freakanomics by Levitt and Dubner, Jesus Manifesto by Sweet, Why Evolution is True by Coyne, Sustainable Youth Ministry by DeVries, and Scribal Culture and the Making of the Hebrew Bible by van der Toorn. If you have any other suggestions, let me know!

seven. write. Most likely to be done via blog. Writing forces me to more thoroughly think through the crazy ideas in my head...and we all know those ideas need more thinking through. Writing on here gives others the opportunity to challenge those thoughts which makes me think through them even more. This includes more thoughts on the Pursuit of Rightness.

eight. create a space of hospitality. I always want our home to be warm and inviting...and for people to always feel welcomed and loved here.

nine. continue in the pursuit to live simply. Over our internship we learned that we can live on very little. Why live on more just because we can? "What if we began to see our spending, not just our giving, as a matter of discipleship?" --The Justice Project

Have a great day everyone!

Life

2010-05-14T13:00:00.000-05:00

I'm taking a little break from my thoughts on the pursuit of rightness to write a little update on our lives. Our internship was supposed to end on May 15th. Our original plans were to leave Salem on the 16th, spend a few days with my sister in Medford, go to Oklahoma for a bit, head up to Austin, MN for a wedding, and then come see my parents in Warroad, MN. From there we would figure out what to do next. That all changed last week when we found out my grandpa had cancer. They found out last week and it progressed very quickly. We left last Sunday in hopes of making it back in time to say goodbye. We were less than an hour away when we got the call that he had passed away. We've spent the last few days helping my parents out around the house as they spend time with family, making funeral arrangements. It's been hard on everyone because it happened so fast. My grandpa was an amazing man who loved Jesus very much. He will be missed.

His funeral is on Sunday. We plan on spending another week or so in Warroad before we go down to Austin for the wedding. Hopefully we will get a trip to Oklahoma in as well. The next few weeks will be busy for us as we travel, finish up internship homework, look for a new car (ours went down to 3 cylinders on our way out here), and figure out what the next step in this journey is going to look like.

A Defining Moment

2010-05-02T20:04:00.000-05:00

I do not want anyone to mistake what I am saying about the pursuit of rightness as the pursuit of truth. I think there is a difference between seeking truth and seeking everyone’s approval of my opinions. Before I go further into this, let me first make a little disclaimer…although I have been thinking through these ideas lately, I am still thinking. These are not my final conclusions on this subject...just where I am at now.

Truth. When I refer to truth, essentially I am referring to God. God is truth. God has revealed himself to us in the Bible, thus revealing truth to us in the Bible. I believe the clearest revelation of God (and once again, the clearest revelation of truth) is found in Jesus. Because Jesus is the clearest revelation of God, everything we read in the Bible should be read through the life of Jesus. I also believe that God has given us the gift of the Holy Spirit which helps us to (among other things) interpret Scripture.

The Pursuit of Truth = Seeking to know God more fully everyday.

Rightness. Now, this is no dictionary definition of the term, but rather what I am referring to when I use it (same goes for the above “definition” of truth). Rightness is the assumption that all my opinions, ideas, interpretations, etc are the only “right” way of viewing things. It is the arrogance that my understanding of Scripture is superior to your understanding. Yes, we have the Holy Spirit to guide us in this process, but is one way of understanding right while the other is wrong, or does the Holy Spirit guide us into different understandings?

The Pursuit of Rightness = Seeking my interpretations to be superior to all others.

Let me close with this…Arminians and Calvinists disagree on the interpretation of many different passages of Scripture leading to two very different (if you stick with the strictest of each branch) views of God. Is one right? Is one wrong? Is one guided by the Holy Spirit while the other is lacking? Or, has the Holy Spirit guided each of these two branches into two different understandings of Scripture? If the latter option is true, then how else may the Holy Spirit guide different groups in different understandings of Scripture? If this is the case, does this nullify God and the pursuit of truth or our arrogance in the pursuit of rightness?

In my pursuit of truth I am throwing off the pursuit of rightness in favor of asking more questions.

The Pursuit of Rightness

2010-04-26T18:51:00.000-05:00

Why do we always feel the need to be right? Why are we so afraid of questions? Of asking questions and exploring responses without necessarily having to come up with the one correct answer? I think this is something just about every human struggles with, but the “we” I am specifically referring to is Christians. We have this insatiable drive to have the one correct answer to every question asked of us. Sometimes our response should be “I don’t know.” Sometimes our response should be there are many possible answers. But, rather than admitting to this, we typically feel the need to join one side of the debate…and argue that side of the debate to no end. Whether it’s environmental issues, Arminian vs Calvinist, women in ministry, homosexuality, young vs old earth, liberal vs conservative, war…and the list goes on and on...and on. I’m not saying it is wrong to have opinions on these matters. I know I do…some stronger than others. What I am questioning is our seemingly incurable complex to be right about everything.

This is something I have been thinking a lot about lately. What I have written above is just a brief introduction to the many thoughts I have been having regarding this thing I am calling the pursuit of rightness. Many times when I write on here, it is merely quickly thrown together, incoherent thoughts. This time, I am trying to put something together that is a little easier understand. This means I actually need to take some time to think through this and organize my thoughts in a way that can be clearly communicated. So here's the deal...I am going to be writing my thoughts on this matter in segments. The above is a brief introduction on more to come. As I figure out how to clearly communicate other thoughts surrounding this idea, I will write more.

Almost There

2010-04-21T13:24:00.000-05:00

Along with our internship, we are required to take a directive course to bump us up to full time status. Yesterday, I turned in my final assignment for that course. We have less than four weeks left on our internship. While I am going to miss the people at Northgate, I cannot wait to be done with school. Only a few more journals, reflection papers, etc to go before I can finally say I'm done. The past 5 months have flown by. We're still not sure what's next for us, but I am just glad school is almost completed! FINALLY!

Journals

2010-04-15T22:32:00.000-05:00

I keep wanting to write on here...really, I do. The problem is...I am trying to be responsible...which means I write my journals, reflection papers, etc before moving onto this here blog. However, by the time I am finished writing these things, the last thing I want to do is write more. O the rough life of a North American college student...

"I'm Not a Reader" Challenge

2010-04-06T17:00:00.000-05:00

Just within the last two or three years, Jeff and I have started reading for enjoyment. I never thought the day would come when I would rather pick up a book then turn on the TV, but that day has come, and thankfully it has stayed. I cannot begin to explain the new world of thought we have entered into since we have begun this love for reading. I never thought reading could impact my life so much. To those who say, "I'm not a reader"...I challenge that notion. Stretch yourself to pick up a book...or read some blogs...I think you will be pleasantly surprised by what you find. It is not just about the experience of reading...but about the ideas presented which will challenge the way you think. Whether those challenges solidify your current belief system or open new doors to new ways of thinking...reading will benefit you.

Right now, I am taking a brief break from A New Kind of Christianity by Brian McLaren to write this blog. He is one author who has challenged my thinking like no other. So there's my thought for the day...back to my book...

New Look

2010-04-03T19:37:00.000-05:00

Well, now that I have a slightly new look to this thing, I thought maybe I should write a little something. Who knows, maybe this new look will keep me coming back to keep you updated on our lives...because I know you want to know everything about us...we are just that cool :)

We are about six weeks from finishing up our internship. While we are excited to finally be done with school, we will be sad to leave the people at Northgate. They have been great to us and we have developed some amazing friendships. Some of the things we have recently done with the church...

Jeff had the chance to preach on March 14th. He shared what God's been teaching him about the story of the Rich Young Ruler. He did an amazing job. I'm very proud of him :)

A few weeks ago, I did a special night at youth group on poverty. It was a time for students to interact with different material on poverty, justice, and God's heart for the poor and broken in the world.

We spent spring break on a work trip with the youth group. The week consisted of trimming hedges and rose bushes, chopping down ivy, clearing out blackberry bushes, and a whole lot of fun stuff like that. I had the opportnity to share with the teens about what breaks God's heart. At the end of the week, they decided to start a blanket drive for the homeless in Salem It was cool to see the teens get excited about putting their faith into action.

This am the church hosted a community Easter Egg Hunt at the Salvation Army Kroc Center. Around 400 people showed up despite the rain and cold. It was fun to see all the little kids get excited about their candy.

Other than church activities, this is what we have been up to...

My sister and her husband moved back from New Zealand at the end of February, but will soon be moving down to Medford. We've have been spending as much time as possible hanging out with them while they're so close. It has been great having my sister around :)

About two months ago, we discovered this great little coffee house called IKE Box. We go there a few times a week and spend hours doing homework and reading. Through this we have met some great people who live in community and have started a house church...reconciliation. This is something Jeff and I would like to do in the future so it has been great to see how they do things.

Our friends, Mark and Jess, taught us how to play Settlers of Catan. We can't get enough. Besides getting together to play Settlers, we also had the opportunity to check out a Leonard Sweet seminar with them. He had a lot of good stuff to say and definitely made me think.

Sorry so brief on everything, but now that you're all updated as to the happenings of the Poes, more in depth posts shall follow. I'm all blogged out for now so have a great day everyone. much love

Visit from the Poes

2010-03-16T22:03:00.000-05:00

Jeff's parents have been here the last few days. Since they have been here, we have kept very busy showing them around Oregon. On Sunday we went to Multnomah Falls and hiked to the top...this was a first even for me. Yesterday we spent the day at the coast. I know this wasn't much of a post, but I'm just trying to get back in the blogging groove. Here are a few pics from our time together...

...well pictures to come when i have a better internet connection...

long time

2010-03-08T22:44:00.002-06:00

so it has been an incredibly long time since i have done anything on here. it may continue that way...it may not. but i had an itch to update this thing tonight...mostly because i am looking for any excuse to avoid doing my I Peter inductive...and i have nothing left to check on facebook. so here's my lame attempt to start back up in the blogging world...lets see what happens...

Adair's

2009-04-13T17:26:00.006-05:00

Friday night we had the opportunity to spend the night in a cabin out at Adair's Wilderness Lodge. It was a great time to get off campus and just relax. No people knocking on our door...no cell phones...no nothing. It was a much needed time away. We didn't do a whole lot. Had some good food, played some ponytail canasta, listened to some good 90's music, did some reading. It was nice.

p-p-p-poker face p-p-poker face

Birthday

2009-04-03T14:08:00.010-05:00

On my birthday, Jeff and I went out to dinner at a pizza place we've been wanting to try for quite some time...Pomodori Pizza. It was really good. We then went to Red Whale for some cheesecake and a mocha. However, there were open dorms that night which meant Jeff had to be back on campus. The next day we went to Saint John so I could blow all my birthday money which I did with ease. Then we went to Boston Pizza where I thought it was just going to be the two of us. However, Jeff had surprised me by having a group of our friends there. It was a fun night. Here are some pictures. Enjoy.

Kendra and Carly

Dan and Matt looking so enthused...btw Dan got me one of the best bday presents ever. Due to an ongoing joke in our youth ministry classes, he got me a softball...and he had everyone who was at dinenr sign it for me. It was priceless.

My awesome hubby who arranged the fun night!

I guess we thought something was funny

Kari and Andy

Chyan and Shane

Kate and Kaylan...love these girls!

Random Udpates

2009-03-25T19:43:00.002-05:00

My deepest and most sincere apologies for the lack of posts this semester. We haven't been up to a whole lot of interesting stuff this semester. Classes have kept us busier than ever. In fact, as I write this I am procrastinating going over a sermon I have to preach tomorrow and multiple papers that are due next week...including one on entire sanctification. Isn't college life a blast? haha. Anywho, I figured I'd write a quick post with some random updates...hence the name.

Spring break...errr March break...was nice. We got some much needed time of relaxation. Drank a lot of coffee at our favorite little spot...Red Whale. Got a bit of work done. We were able to make a day trip in to Maine. It's always nice to get back to the States...even if it is only for a few hours. We also made a 2 day trip to Sydney, Nova Scotia. That was quite the drive for the little amount of time we were able to spend there. We were checking out a possible internship opportunity with a church plant there. We've been praying a lot and are really excited about the possibilities of this opportunity.

I just recently finished A Generous Orthodoxy by Brian McLaren. I was working on it between the insane amount of homework I've been having to do. McLaren has become one of my favorite authors. He has a knack for making me think about old things in new ways. I appreciate the humor in his writing. I also read the Shack this semester. I devoured that one in one weekend. Good book. Also got me thiniking quite a bit. I appreciate books that don't give all the answers, but get me thinking about important issues. They challenge me.

I have been hooked on a Justin Timberlake song recently. Now, while I like his music, I do not usually find great depth in it's lyrical content. However, this song has impacted me. Between this song and just finishing up a monster of a research paper on homeless youth, my heart just breaks for people. Here's the song:

Tried to add some pictures but Blogger's not havin it tonight...sorry. I think that's it for now. The semester is coming to an end so hopefully I'll be able to keep this updated a little more faithfully. Have a great day everyone. much love

Engagements

2009-01-29T13:49:00.002-06:00

There have been so many engagements around here lately. It seems like everyone came back from break engaged. It's really exciting. We love hearing about people's engagements. Not only have people from school been getting engaged like crazy, but I've also had some great friends from home get engaged within the last few months. And then there's Chizan, who fits into both categories (her engagement video is on facebook and I absolutely love it!). It is so much fun to watch people's relationships develop. So, there's been all these engagements going on, and today I was writing the date on my notes, and I realized that four years ago today, Jeff proposed to me. It's crazy that it has been four years already! It's not only fun to see other people get engaged, but it's also fun to think back to then and where we have come since. God is so good.

Responsive Reading

2009-01-28T11:59:00.002-06:00

I'm usually not a fan of responsive readings, but I really liked this one. We read it at the beginning of my Church Music and Worship class. It has a lot to do with what I have been thinking about lately, so I thought I would share.

Lord God,

Because Jesus has taught us to

trust You in all things,

We hold to His Word and

share His plea:

Your kingdom come,

Your will be done.

Where nations budget for war,

While Christ says,

“Put up your sword”:

Your kingdom come,

Your will be done.

Where countries waste food

and covet fashion,

While Christ says, “I was hungry…

I was thirsty…”:

Your kingdom come,

Your will be done.

Where powerful governments claim their policies are heaven blessed,

While Scripture states that God helps the powerless:

Your kingdom come,

Your will be done.

Where Christians seek the kingdom in the shape of their own church,

As if Christ had come to build

And not to break barriers:

Your kingdom come,

Your will be done.

Where women who

speak up for their dignity

are treated with scorn or contempt:

Your kingdom come,

Your will be done.

Where men try hard to be tough,

Because they are afraid to be tender:

Your kingdom come,

Your will be done.

Where we,

obsessed with being adults,

Forget to become like children:

Your kingdom come,

Your will be done.

Where our prayers falter,

our faith weakens,

our light grows dim:

Your kingdom come,

Your will be done.

Where Jesus Christ calls us:

Your kingdom come,

Your will be done.

Lord God,

You have declared that

your kingdom is among us.

Open our ears to hear it,

Our hands to serve it,

Our hearts to hold it.

This we pray in Jesus’ name.

Amen.

Your Kingdom Come

2009-01-07T10:38:00.003-06:00

Most people who know the Bible at all, are probably familiar with the Lord's Prayer. I know I hear it or pray it myself at at least one service every week. It's something I've recited numerous times, memorized back when I was in AWANA, and studied/analyzed in Bible studies. Yet, it's taken on a whole new meaning for me lately. There's this little phrase in this prayer that says "Your Kingdom come. Your will be done. On earth as it is in heaven." Jesus asks us to pray that His kingdom be made a reality on this earth. That's huge. I've been thinking a lot about what that verse means in my life, and how it relates to the lordship of Christ in my life. I'll expand later on what I've been learning. For now, I would be interested in knowing what this verse means in your life. Think about it. Have a great everyone. much love

"Your kingdom come. Run into my world. Crash into my dreams. Show me what it means not to chase these things. Or to place them before you. But to love and adore you." -Kingdom Come by Paul Wright

And We're Back

2009-01-04T14:02:00.009-06:00

Break kept us busy, that is for sure. The first part of break went as planned. A few delayed flights, but we were only 2 1/2 hours late to Minneapolis...not nearly as bad as last year. Jeff worked on his truck in Austin while I spent some time with my friend Raquel in Blaine. I got the flu the first day there, so I spent most of my time there trying to get over that. Everything with the truck went great until the morning Jeff was supposed to come up. It was a minor thing that only set him back a few hours, but that was enough time for a big storm to come in which delayed our trip to my parents'. It also kept us from making the trip down to Oklahoma as we had planned. He was able to make it up the next evening. We went out to Chili's which has become a tradition whenever we see Raquel. The next day we headed north to Warroad and spent Christmas there. The we went back down to Morris to spend some time with Jeff's family. Because of another storm coming in, we left there a bit early and crashed at Raquel's parents' house in Madison. We left the next day to head back to Sussex. We took our time getting back, stopping in Youngstown one night and spending New Year's Eve just outside of Boston. That was our trip...exciting I know. it was nice to be able to see so many different people, even if we did only get to see everyone a few days at most.

We start our last semester of classes tomorrow. That is such an exciting thought. I can't believe we will be done with classes in less than four months. It's also a bit nerve wracking as we have yet to finalize our internship placememnt. We've talked with a few people, but everything is up in the air. Any suggestions? haha. Something will work out. That's it for now. Have a great day! much love

This is what we get for waiting until right before we left to take pictures...

My spoiled little Kobe

Dad reading the Christmas story before opening presents
Jeff digging into his stocking
My mom and I right before we left
Us with Jeff's parents right before we left

Crazy Christmas Break

2008-12-11T08:23:00.003-06:00

I know I look like a blogging machine right now...however, I thought I would give some updates while our internet is actually cooperating. Not to mention, I really do not want to study for my Church History final.

My last final is today and Jeff's is tomorrow. After that, our Christmas break officially begins, but we will still be in NB for a few days. We are going to Kari and Andy's wedding on Saturday. Jeff wanted to stay around for the staff Christmas party this year, so we are not flying out until Tuesday. Be will be driving down to Boston with the newlyweds. They will be spending their honeymoon there and driving our car back to NB, and we are flying out of Boston to go to Minnesota. For the first few days we are in Minnesota, Jeff will be on the farm, finishing up his truck (hopefully). I will be staying in the Cities with our friend, Raquel. That weekend Jeff will pick me up and we will head north to my parents' where we will be staying through Christmas. On the 26th we will drive down to Morris to see some of Jeff's family (including his parents who will be up). That we be a very short visit because we are then driving down to Oklahoma. We will spend a few days visiting Jeff's grandparents in Oklahoma before driving back to NB.

It is going to be a crazy break. We probably won't get as much rest as we are used to, but hopefully we will get some. The best part about all of this is that when we get back, we will be starting our LAST semester of classes. That is such an exciting thought. Have a great day everyone. much love

Red Whale

2008-12-11T08:02:00.003-06:00

In the last post, I mentioned us drinking Starbucks. However, I am not a huge fan of Starbucks (but it does beat Tim Horton's any day). This year, through some friends of ours, we discovered this amazing little coffee house near St. John...Red Whale. Even though it is a 45 minute drive, we love going up there on date night, to read, to study, for meetings...for just about anything. They have all sorts of specialty teas and coffees. Everything is fair trade and delicious. Our favorite is their Mexico blend, although Kenya is good as well. They also sell all sorts of syrups, and have a sugar-free options which is great for South Beach. We have definitely been drinking a lot more coffee since this discovery. If you're ever in New Brunswick, we highly recommend you check it out. Words cannot describe...

Kari's Bachelorette Party

2008-12-11T07:30:00.005-06:00

A few weeks ago some of us girls went out for Kari's bachelorette party. We went to St. John for the night. We had fun walking around beautiful dowtown St John, eating some Mexican food (which is hard to come by in NB), shopping at Indigo, and drinking some Starbucks. Kari's wedding is this Saturday, and we are really excited for it.

Lady of the Night

Chillin at Starbucks

Courtney and Kendra

Erin, Jen, and Myself

Andy (the bachelor) taking pictures for us before we went out.

Season Finale

2008-11-24T19:07:00.003-06:00

Week 8, 20/11/08
4, 3, 2, 1: PAT IS THE SOLE SURVIVOR!
After 11 weeks of game play it came down to the final 2 Pat and Krista. These 2 people made it as far as anyone can in the game beating out 12 other contestants. However only one could win and in a 6-3 vote pat walked away as the winner of Survivor: Summit Avenue "the other side."
In the first immunity challenge of the night, the remaining 4 survivors were put to the physical and mental test. each person had a bucket of ice containing a key. Smashing through the ice, they would get the key and unlock a bag containing a puzzle. Pat and Alex, both lead the competition getting there keys early. Knowing that one of the puzzle pieces would be missing, Pat had solved his puzzle but had to find the missing piece in the back yard. Kerri and Krista finally joined the 2 in the puzzle but Pat came back with the correct piece and won the immunity. At the tribal council, tension was high for the 3 remaining girls. But in the end Krista, Kerri and Pat all voted against Alex and she became the 11th Jury member.
In the final 3 Immunity Pat, Kerri and Krista had to hold together blocks off the ground, if the blocks dropped out of their hands they were out. Pat was the first out, leaving Kerri and Krista to fight it out. By this time both girls were holding 10 blocks and it became harder and harder. But when Kerri dropped the blocks the competition was over and Krista had one the most crucial immunity if the game. At tribal Krista chose to take Pat with her to the final 2 sending Kerri to the Jury.
At the Final Tribal Council, the game shifted to the Jury who would vote for a winner. After receiving some very tough questions it would have looked as though it was anyones game. A lot of the Jury was mad at Krista because of the game she chose to play. As much as she tried to convince them, it did no good, the Jury was on Pats side, and they awarded him the grand prize. (a TV, $25 to walmart, $10 to the movies, $10 to McDonald's, and a box of chocolate)
Thanks to all who played, and made this season so memorable.

FINAL RESULTS
1. Pat- Winner
2. Krista- Runner Up
3. Kerri- 7th Juror
4. Alex- 6th Juror
5. Dustin- 5th Juror
6. Becky- 4th Juror
7. Travis- 3rd Juror
8. Shelley- 2nd Juror
9. Todd- 1st Juror
10. Nate- 10th place
11. Josh- 11th place
12. Greg- 12th place
13. Heather- 13th place
14. Chyan- 14th place

Spring Cleaning

2008-11-19T12:07:00.000-06:00

We have had a lot going through our minds lately. God had been showing us some crazy stuff and leading us in a different direction. Either of us could go on for hours about how He has been moving in our lives. The following is something I wrote which shows just a snapshot of what's been going on. It's a little rough and I know some thoughts could be developed more, but I will give you an idea of what we've been thinking.

The church as we know it needs a total overhaul. It’s time for spring cleaning. The rooms need to be emptied and reorganized. No one can deny that the church in North America is dying. More people are leaving church and less people are finding church. Why? Because we have strayed so far from our roots. It’s like this. Back in the New Testament, the church was this nice little clean room. Over the years we’ve accumulated boxes of junk. At one point in time that junk was brand new and did what it was supposed to. However, over time we realized it really had no purpose and it was tossed aside for the latest thing that would also eventually end up becoming junk. Those boxes of junk have piled up and up and up. Most are used, but they are never gotten rid of. There’s always that one person that wants to keep that piece of junk around “just in case.” What does this junk look like? Ministry philosophies. Styles of worship. Building styles. Preaching techniques. Traditions. And on and on.

It’s time the church goes through some good old-fashioned spring cleaning. What happens during spring cleaning? Does someone go into that room and rearrange the boxes? No. All the boxes get taken out. Each one is emptied and the contents examined. What’s junk is recognized as junk and gets thrown out—never to be seen again. It’s not easy. In fact, the mess usually grows before any real results are seen. Getting rid of all the non-essentials of our churches (including buildings being called churches when the church is a living organism) is going to be messy. It will not be quick and smooth. There will probably be pain. Someone will probably get offended.

But we need to examine the Bible with fresh eyes. We need to stop looking through our boxes of junk and into the Bible. We need to remove the boxes of junk and study the life of Jesus and the early church with sincerity and without our own agendas in mind (no matter how noble they may seem). If we are honest with ourselves and hold each box of junk up to the light of Scripture, and get rid of all the junk that has accumulated in the church over the years that does not line up with Scriptures, we’ll get back to that clean room of the New Testament church. That’s right, we might actually start resembling the church in the New Testament. The church as the church was meant to be. We will no longer have to read our boxes of junk into the Bible, because all that will be left of the church is the people of God, coming together to love one another, serve others, and worship Him. I’m mean, that’s really what it’s all about anyway, right?

Two Weeks in One

2008-11-17T13:38:00.002-06:00

Survivor was cancelled two weeks ago, so this last Thursday crammed two weeks into one. . This week is the two-hour season finale. Should be good.

Week 7, 13/11/08 Prt. 1
TOO LITTLE TOO LATE: BECKY VOTED OUT
As the Survivors came together for the reward, they had no idea what was in store for them. They knew that this was the family visit challenge where loved ones would come and compete with them, but they were wrong. Instead six staff members came to play along side them. Alex was pared with Sarah Canney, Pat with Janet Starks, Krista with Troy Carruthers, Dustin with Ben Canney, Kerri and Dana Butler, and Becky with Richard Starks. In the Challenge each survivor was blindfolded and had to get 3 clues that were scattered around, once they had the clue they could search for the reward. Dustin won the challenge and a $5 gift card. At the immunity challenge players had to stand on squares and flip them over as they moved, systematically eliminating each other. Dustin again dominated and won his first individual immunity. At Tribal Council, the votes were split between Pat, Kerri and Becky, but it was Becky who received the most and she was sent to the Jury.

Week 7, 13/11/08 Prt. 2
DUSTIN IS GONE: 4 ARE LEFT
After Becky's departure from the game the survivors were underway on another Immunity challenge. A history of Russia was read to the remaining 5 and the looks on their faces were of shock. The story proved to be confusing for the 5. After the story was read, each survivor had to answer 8 questions. 4 stations were set up and only one person was allowed in at a time. Kerri came in first followed by Pat, Dustin, Krista and then Alex. Kerri was the first up to find out her score, and she led the way through the rest of the scores with 5 winning her first Immunity. At Tribal council Dustin found himself for the first time on the outs. And with all 4 votes cast against him, he became the 5th member of the Jury.

Down to Six

2008-11-01T11:33:00.001-05:00

Week 6, 30/10/08
TRAVIS BLINDSIDED BY THE IDOL
For the last 5 weeks, the survivors have been competing in challenges and voting each other off, but now it was time to test their memory in the reward challenge. They were asked several questions pertaining to past events during survivor. the first person to get 5 won the reward, which was a tray of apples and caramel dip. Becky ultimately won, and took Alex and Krista with her. Before she left though, she also sent Dustin to Exile, leaving Kerri, Travis and Pat with nothing. At the immunity challenge the survivors learned that they would be running an obstacle course and it would prove to be the toughest challenge in Survivor history. In the beginning Travis had the lead, but after one heat became tired, as well as everyone else. Pat did well the entire time and collected all 4 flags before anyone else, and won immunity saving him from being voted out this week. At tribal council it would have seemed that the ever strong alliance or 5 would remain strong and Kerri would be voted out, but when she revealed that she had the hidden immunity idol, everyone was in shock. By the end Travis had received the two votes from Pat and Kerri and it was enough to send him to the Jury.
Only 6 remain and the competition is only going to get harder, who will be voted off next?

Game Night

2008-10-26T15:38:00.007-05:00

We had some friends over last night to hang out and play some games. Kari brought over her new espresso machine...that thing if amazing! She made all of us our choice of a latte, cappuccino, or cafe creme. They were delicious! The boys played some Guitar Hero while she was making the drinks. We then played a game that Kari and Andy received recently at a wedding shower...Imagine Iff. The premise of the game is that someone reads a card that would say something like "Imagine Iff...(fill in the name of someone playing) was a drink...what kind of drink would they be?" Then there would six options to choose from and each person holds up a card with the number corresponding to what they think is most like that person. The people who choose the majority answer get a point. It was a really fun game. We then played the classic game of Life. Jeff and I became doctors, lost our job and became sales people, went back to school and became vets, lost our jobs again and became police officers. Lesson learned...we should never go into medicine. Enjoy the pictures from the night. Have a great day everyone! much love

The former professional athlete turned lesbian mechanic

I guess she was a lesbian while she was an athlete as well...

The rich lawyers who suck at their job because they keep getting sued by the lesbian mechanic

The couple who sucked at practicing medicine on animals, so they lost their job and became hairstylists before resuming the practice of medicine...this time on people

Those who cannot practice medicine on people should become sales people...those who cannot practice medicine on animals should become cops

And Then There Were Seven

2008-10-24T15:15:00.002-05:00

Week 5, 23/10/08
SHELLEY RUFFLES SOME FEATHERS BEFORE SHE LEAVES
As soon as all the members of Zolotoy arrived for survivor they were made to fill out a question sheet that would come into play at the immunity challenge. After they completed it, the game was back on, as the survivors got to bid on a variety of different items, at the Survivor Auction. This reward saw Becky walk away with a teddy bear, and Pat with a bottle of water, Shelley with a slinky and Kerri with a note that would come into the game at the immunity challenge. Kerri also won the ability to send someone to exile and take their money, she chose Dustin to go, and for the first time he was put in exile. After the Reward challenge the tribe went down stairs for the immunity challenge. Everyone had 4 cups lined up and every time they got a question right they could smash an opponents cup, once all your cups were gone, you were out of the game. Some of the questions were very interesting to hear, as Becky was labeled as the Sneakiest, and Krista the most trustworthy, and Kerri the least important in the game. When Kerri was almost taken out of the game she used the card which she had won in the reward challenge to switch places with Travis, giving him only one cup and Kerri now had 4, although it didn't pay off in the end as Alex walked away with her second immunity in a row. At tribal council, sparks flew as Shelley, Becky and Travis argued about what was going on, and Dustin admitted to backstabbing everyone in the game. When all was said an done though Shelley argument did not pay off, and she was sent packing,and became the second member of the Jury.

Once again, pictures coming soon...soon being whenever our internet wants to be fast.

Survivor Pictures

2008-10-19T14:41:00.008-05:00

The New Zolotoy Tribe

First Individual Immunity Challenge

Top Three for the Challenge...Alex with her Immunity Hat

Me with the Second Immunity Idol of the Night (I was happier...Jeff just couldn't take a picture)

The Merge

2008-10-18T11:22:00.002-05:00

WEEK 4, 16/10/08
LINES ARE DRAWN AS TODD GETS VOTED OFF
Survivor this week was guaranteed to be intense as the tribes were now merged into Zolotoy. As the Survivors gathered together they were put to the immunity challenge at the start. Each player had to stand barefoot in the rain on a paint can. While doing this they also had to hold over their head a frozen bottle of water. Through out the challenge, deals were offered to get people to step off their paint can. Shelley, Becky, Nathan, and Dustin all stepped off to take a deal leaving, Todd, Kerri, Travis, Krista, and Alex to fight it out for immunity. Kerri was the first to fall and was sent to Exile. By the end Travis and Alex were fighting for Immunity, but with Alex standing strong, she outlasted Travis, giving her the first individual immunity. Becky also received immunity in another quick game. At Tribal council, It would have appeared that 2 sides were formed, and the vote would determine where everyone stood. With 4 votes for Krista, and 4 for Todd, only one vote was left, and Todd found himself on the outs and the first member of the Jury.

P.S. Pictures Coming Soon
P.P.S. I still do not have full feeling back in my thumbs...more than 36 hrs later

Under Bridges

2008-10-14T15:00:00.002-05:00

There's this song by Brave Saint Saturn called "Under Bridges." It's an amazing song that I recommend you check out. There's a line in it that says, "And all have hated...crucified and walked away...Savior of the prostitutes, drunkards, rapists, and the gays." Every time I listen to this song and hear this line I can't help but think of God's amazing love. Jesus didn't die just to save liars, gossipers, and thieves. His death on the cross doesn't just cover these "little" sins. His death covers all sins. While I know this, it's hard to live like I know this. It's easy to pick out certain sins or the people who struggle with a certain sin and say "they're too far gone." It's too easy for us to be the judge, when Christ calls us to love. Yes, some of the sins come with earthly consequences, but that does not mean we give up on someone. Christ died for all. Who are we to decide who deserves His love?

That song gets me thinking every time so I just thought I'd share a bit. Here's a video someone made for this song. Listen to it. It's good stuff. O, and the end is the best worship chorus ever.

Thanksgiving Weekend

2008-10-13T15:13:00.004-05:00

Today is Canadian Thanksgiving, and this weekend has been incredibly uneventful...for me at least. I brought Jeff to the airport around 4 am on Thursday. He is in Tulsa visiting his grandparents. I stayed here and planned on getting a lot accomplished. That, however, has not even come close to happening. Thursday and Friday were regular days filled with class. Friday night I discovered that surfthechannel.com is still around, so I have spent much of my time without Jeff watching movies and catching up on TV shows (for those of you who do not know, we unhooked our satellite from our TV this year so we would not watch so much TV...now we just use it for Wii and movies). I must say that surfthechannel is absolutely amazing, yet has caused me to be highly unproductive. Besides surfthechannel, I have gone to Frenchy's (a Canadian Goodwill of sorts) with Erin, played some Mario Kart Wii with some friends, tried perfecting some delicious south beach peanut butter cookies, and made my first recipe with tofu. That tofu thing was pretty interesting...an almond energy blast (another SB recipe made with tofu, almonds, soy milk, and yogurt). I'm still not sure what I think of it. That has been my extended weekend thus far. Exciting, I know. much love

Yummy SB PB Cookies...even the crab and fish want some

Almond Energy Blast...at least what's left on the glass...thick stuff

Survivor--Week 3

2008-10-10T15:49:00.000-05:00

WEEK 3, 9/10/08
DOUBLE TRIBAL TAKE ROOMIES OUT
When all the survivors showed up to compete this week, they were informed that each tribe had to select 2 team leaders. Krista and Travis were selected from Zcholtee and Dustin and Josh for Laurier. They were shocked to find out that they would be switching tribes. At the reward challenge, teams had to race back and forth truing to fill their bucket with water, but their transporting containers had holes and water was leaking out. Laurier won their second reward by 1 inch. this meant that they would compete in an individual immunity challenge. Before the challenge though the team leaders were switched back to their former tribes, allowing Dustin and Josh the privileged of competing in the immunity challenge. Again though, Laurier showed that they still could not win immunities when Krista and Travis waled away with the individual immunity. Zcholtee was first to Tribal Council, where no one seemed to know who to vote for. After Becky, Alex and Kerri all received one vote, Pat had received 4 and was the 4th person voted out of the game. Laurier was second to go to tribal, and both Josh and Dustin thought they were safe but it was Josh who found himself being the 5th person voted from the game. The Tribes have now become one, what will happen as the new tribe has to compete individually?

Survivor Week 2

2008-10-05T15:16:00.002-05:00

WEEK 2, 2/10/08
A NIGHT OF FOOD AND TWO LEAVE THE GAME
As the tribes came together for the next immunity challenge, they were all excited to eat whatever came their way. Among the dishes was Snails, and a not so bad plate of Oranges. Both tribes tied, and Krista and Heather were sent to face off against each other to win Immunity. Zcholtee ultimately took home the Idol for the second time send Laurier Back to Tribal. Before they went they sent Todd to Exile, and Heather surprised everyone when she left the game for good. But the game still went on. Laurier went to Tribal and a shocked Greg found himself on the outside looking in as he became the second person to be voted out.
11 are left what will happen next week and who will become the sole survivor?

Cast Photo (minus Chyan)

Jenn's Survivor Night

2008-10-03T08:46:00.017-05:00

Last spring, Jenn Carruthers and Darrek Thornton started a game of Survivor on campus. I was not a part of it in the spring, however, they decided to continue this semester and I am now part of the cast. It's a crazy fun, incredibly tense time. We meet every Thursday at Jenn's where we have a reward challenge, an immunity challenge, and tribal council. There is also a hidden immunity idol somewhere on campus which we periodically receive clues for. It's amazing. Every week I'll try to post Darrek's synopsis of that week (my timing will depend on when he gets it posted). Hope you're all as excited as I am.

WEEK 1, 18/9/08
NEW GAME NEW PLACE AND CHYAN FIRST OUT

The start of Survivor went off with a twist and several people left in shock. After the 2 tribes were divided they competed in their first immunity challenge, which had teams retrieving 5 bags containing letters to a phrase. The Zholtee tribe, (Pat, Kerri, Krista, Todd, Becky, Alex and Travis) won the challenge after they correctly solved the phrase, "Trust No One." This sent the Laurier Tribe (Shelley, Josh, Nate, Heather, Dustin, Greg, and Chyan) to the first tribal council. But there was a twist. Shelley and Dustin received Immunity and the Yellow Tribe picked 3 of the remaining 5 to be voted out. Greg, Nate and Chyan were Picked and in the end Chyan was sent home.

Cast Pictures

Laurier Tribe

Greg

Heather

DustinJoshShelleyNathanChyan
Zholtee Tribe

Alex
Travis

Krista

Pat

Kerri

Becky

Todd

WiiFit and South Beach

2008-10-01T08:34:00.002-05:00

For our anniversary present to each other this summer, we bought a Wii. We're so romantic, I know :) We each had a game which we really wanted. Jeff got his Guitar Hero when we bought the Wii, but we could not find WiiFit anywhere! It was incredibly frustrating. However, about a month ago we went down to Walmart here in good ol' Sussex...and, lo and behold...a beautiful WiiFit sat on the bottom shelf in the Wii case. God is good :) We have both been enjoying our WiiFit. I would highly recommend it. For people who are already in good shape, it would just be a fun toy, but for those of us who cannot say this about ourselves, it is a beast of an excerize machine! Ok, that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but it really does help. Everyday, we weigh in and find out our BMI and WiiFit Age. It is a very handy tool. The only downfall is that sometimes it says "OW" when you step on. That's not very nice to hear.

On another note, last fall Jeff and I sort of started the South Beach Diet. I say sort of because we read the book and followed the diet...when we felt like it. However, this summer all four of us (us and my parents) went on the diet hardcore (ok, so my dad wasn't so hardcore about it, but he still did great). Altogether we lost well over 100 big LBS. Jeff and I each lost between 25 nd 30 lbs. We've continued the diet since we've been back at school. In fact, we have started a bit of a trend on campus. At one points there were at least six other people who were on the diet, but I think that number has shrunk to 3 or 4. It's been good to have other people around who help keep us accountable...like yell at us when we cheat.

I'll try to get some pictures to go along with these last few posts (because I know it makes reading blogs way funner)....but we'll see how my internet goes. Have a great day everyone. much love

Jen's B-Day

2008-09-29T20:07:00.002-05:00

A couple of weeks ago we went out for our friend's 21st birthday. There was a lot of drinking. Ok, not really. Jen's Canadian so the big 21 is no big deal. Anywho, we has a good time. We went to the new Indigo (a book store) in Saint John, then to the mall, then to East Side Mario's. Here are some pictures from the night. much love

Well, there were going to be pictures....I'll get them posted when our internet will let me.

Coffee Shop "Church"

2008-09-02T16:59:00.004-05:00

In the last post, I briefly mentioned that Jeff and I have come up with the idea of a coffee shop "church." The more we talk about it, the more we realize this is not just some crazy idea that is never going to happen, but it's a matter of when it's going to happen. Without wanting to sound harsh, we both just feel today's "traditional" churches are not relevant to much of society. Yes, they do serve a great purpose. And no, we do not think that all churches are irrelevant and should just shut their doors. We know many great people who work in churches who are making incredible differences in their communities. However, we feel God calling us to work outside this traditional church setting. As also mentioned in an earlier post, I have been reading books like crazy this summer. They have got my creative juices flowing. The product of which is our coffee shop church idea.

Basically, we would open up a coffee shop and run it like any other small business. However, we would also use the building for church. This would get us in the community. It would also mean that any sort of tithes and offerings would not go toward building maintenance or salary, but would be put into the different ministries the church would have going (within the community and globally). Sunday morning services would be more discussion based rather than just listening to one person all the time. There are so many more details we have thrown around, but it's a bit much to cover in one blog. If anyone has any questions, I would love to chat. This has really become a passion of ours. We can't wait to see how all this plays out and see what God has in store for is. It's crazy exciting. Hope everyone has a great day. much love

Give Me Your Eyes

2008-08-26T18:31:00.003-05:00

So I've been pretty much addicted to this sweet song lately. You may know it...you may not. If you don't, then you need to get to know it. It's a chill song with a message that has been speaking to my heart over and over as it plays on repeat. This video that someone put together is a bit cheesy, but is accomplishes the purpose of getting you to hear the song.

"Give Me Your Eyes"
by Brandon Heath

So there you go. Can't get enough of this song. It's my prayer daily. It's my prayer as Jeff and I consider what we'll be doing when we're done here. For now, we don't see ourselves in the traditional church setting. Our idea for now is a coffee house/church. Just loving people in our community...wherever that may be. Anywho, more to come on the crazy exciting idea later. Have a great day everyone. much love

Goodbye Warroad

2008-08-01T22:58:00.002-05:00

That's right, our summer is pretty much over. We say goodbye to Warroad in the morning. We will be spending about a week in the cities and Austin visiting friends before our time in Minnesota is over. We will be doing a lot of traveling over the next week and a half, so you probably won't be hearing from us (not that you would be hearing from us in that amount of time anyway :)) It's getting late and we've got an early morning ahead of us. Have a great day everyone. much love

Journey

2008-07-14T23:49:00.004-05:00

To anyone on the outside looking in, this summer would look like a fairly ordinary, somewhat dull summer. I've just been living in Warroad, trying to make some money at Subway, and traveling around Minnesota with Jeff. Nothing all too exciting. But God's really been taking me on a journey this summer. In fact, I can see where this journey began a few years ago, but it seems to have made giant steps this summer. It all started by reading books like Blue Like Jazz and Velvet Elvis a few years back. A lot of new ideas presented themselves to me through books like these. They really got me thinking and started challenging me.

Fast forward to this summer. This summer I have just been devouring books. Books that have proved even more challenging than the ones previously mentioned: books like The Irresistible Revolution and Jesus for President. Even though I was being challenged by what seemed like every page I read--challenged by everything from Fair Trade to being environmentally friendly to the war in Iraq--I still felt as though something was missing. (Now, I do not necessarily agree with 100% of everything I have been reading. However, my positions on matters such as these have been challenged, and some key beliefs have been altered.)

Enter camp. Although I was a counselor, God still did some pretty sweet stuff in my life at camp. We had some quality one-on-one time when we took care of some issues that needed to be taken care of. But even more than that, it was the interaction with my campers that made the biggest difference. I was finally able to use some of the knowledge from classes and the books I've been reading to help out. It was good to see some fruit from all those hours of classes and writing papers. It was very encouraging indeed. While I had been reading all this stuff that had been challenging me to the core, camp helped make it more personal. I needed the personal Jesus thing to help make sense of all that was challenging me.

Since then, I've continued to consume even more books. While I have been challenged in my personal life, I have also been reading these books with youth ministry on the brain. I can't help but read these books and think about how I can integrate some of these ideas into youth ministry. (It doesn't seem all that far off now...less than a year now and I'll be starting my internship. Crazy.) God's definitely been stirring in me and putting some crazy ideas in my head about youth ministry. I'm excited to be in a position where I can put come of these ideas into practice.

That's been my summer. Normal on the outside, but a whole lot going on on the inside. It's good times indeed. I know some of this might sound a bit vague, but if you want to know more, I would LOVE to talk with you about it. All you need to do is ask. Have a great everyone. much love becky

Books I've read along this journey: Blue Like Jazz, Through Painted Deserts, and Searching for God Knows What by Donald Miller; Velvet Elvis and Sex God by Rob Bell; The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne; Jesus for President by Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw; Everything Must Change and Finding Our Way Again by Brian McLaren; Jim and Casper Go to Church by Jim Henderson and Matt Casper; and Lord, Save Us from Your Followers by Dan Merchant.

Travel Time

2008-06-14T22:05:00.002-05:00

We will be travelling for a bit. Friday after work Jeff dropped me off in the cities where I'm staying with some friends (Kate and Raquel) for a few days. Then he headed down to Taopi to spend some time with the Voigts. He's already back on his way to Warroad because he has to work this week. I'll be heading down to camp tomorrow. Jeff will be down next weekend to pick me up. I know it's not all that exciting, but that is what we are up to. I'll write more about our trips when I get back to Warroad. much love

Back in Warroad

2008-05-27T13:04:00.013-05:00

We have been keeping quite busy since leaving Sussex. Our trip out here was as good as any 40 hour drive can get. Jeff started working at Doug's (the only grocery store in Warroad) two days after we got here. He's cutting meat for them. He is enjoying it way more than the loading dock at Marvin's. I'm back at Subway for the summer. Both our jobs have been keeping us quite busy. When we're not working, we've been helping my dad out with his new venture. My parents are starting a small business, Heritage Acres. This summer they are planting blueberries and grapes. The blueberries are just about finished, and the grapes will be here next week. Jeff's been helping out with the planting and all that sort of thing. My job has been quite a bit easier...taking pictures of everything so my parents can make a scrapbook/photo album of the whole experience. Other than that, we haven't been up to a whole lot. Jeff, of course, has found the time to do some fishing, and I have found the time to watch the Lakers and do some reading. That's it for now. Have a great day everyone. much love

I Love L.A.

2008-05-04T22:00:00.002-05:00

Not much has been happening here. Campus is cleared out, and we're just waiting until Tuesday so we can leave. Jeff's been working on getting the dorms cleaned out and everything else he has to do at the end of the year. I've been laying around, doing a whole lot of nothing. One thing I have been enjoying is watching the NBA playoffs. I love watching the Lakers. I have done pretty darn good not posting anything on here all season, but I just can't help myself now. Sweep of the first round. Won game one of round two today. Kobe is probably the MVP. Gotta love it. Let's just hope I haven't jinxed 'em. That's it for now. much love

All Done

2008-04-23T01:46:00.000-05:00

We finished our last finals today. Oh what a joy that was. The end of the year has been crazy with papers, projects, and tests. It is so nice to be done with all of that, especially because it's finally warming up here. We've been able to get outside more...go for walks, play tennis, throw a softball around. It's been good. Jeff misses the snow but I'm loving the sun. We leave here on the 6th for Minnesota where we will be living for the summer. Sorry for such a bland post, but not a whole lot of news this way. I'll try and get something a little more interesting up within the next few days. much love

Devotions in Public Schools?

2008-03-27T19:15:00.000-05:00

One of the highlights of the trip was being able to share Jesus with the kids at the schools on the island. We led morning devotions at 3 primary schools and 2 secondary schools during the week.

Say "Macaroni and Cheese"

Giving my message at Charlestown Secondary School

Waiting in the principal's office

A couple of the primary schools...they are just adorable!

Inside the classroom

Ministry in Nevis

2008-03-26T20:59:00.000-05:00

Andrew with some kids at church

Children's Ministry Pictures

Saturday in Nevis

2008-03-26T20:28:00.000-05:00

The group before we left for our tour of Nevis-Amy, Andrew, Cindy, Me, Amy, Ben

Ben chillin in a tree in the Sugar Mill ruins

Some more Sugar Mill ruins

St. Kitts from Nevis

Sweet beach
Andrew and Mac

First "free" church--built by slaves for black and whites to worship together
View from a hotel on the island.

Oualie Beach
Dr. Peed, Maritsa, Me--Playing Cricket

Omiamo!

2008-03-11T18:01:00.000-05:00

Omiamo! Where do I even begin? Maybe by explaining that omiamo is a Nevisian expression which can be used in many contexts. It was our team's word of the week. The Nevisians got a kick out of us North Americans trying to pronounce it and using it incorrectly. The week was absolutely incredible. We got lots of sun, laughed until our faces hurt, and got to share Jesus with an entire nation. Pretty sweet deal if you ask me. I'm sure I will be posting more about my trip as I have time to reflect on it and soak up all that happened. For now, I'll just share a few highlights with you all.

Group shot in the van

Where we stayed...incredible

Nevis sunset

We spent our first full day on the island taking a tour and hanging out with some teens on the beach. We saw pretty much the entire island in just a few hours...it is only 36 square miles. Some of the sites we stopped at were an old sugar mill, a couple hotels with nice beaches, and some old churches. The afternoon was spent swimming, singing, laughing, eating, playing cricket, and learning an "African Dance" on Oualie Beach.

Sugar Mill Ruins

Cricket on Oualie Beach

There are seven Wesleyan churches on the island, so Sunday morning we split up and visited four of the churches. That evening we started our children's ministry. The first night was pretty close to a disaster. We weren't prepared for the number of students we had (neither were the church leaders) and we had to do a lot of improvising. It was incredibly stressful for all of us. However, the next two night of the children's ministry were amazing. We built relationships with the kids, and God used us to speak truth into their lives. It was a great time of sharing Jesus as well as just getting to know the kids. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday morning we shared short messages at different schools around the island. All the schools has a devotional time in the morning when they sing some praise songs and here a challenge from the Bible. It was a great experience to be bale to go into a public school and share the love of Jesus with the entire student body. If only we could do that in North America. Our final ministry activity was a youth rally on Wednesday night. We had a chance to experience some cultural music, as well as our team sharing testimonies, a message, and a skit. Many teens either gave their hearts to Christ or made a commitment to get serious in their walk. It was good to see God move. Gotta love it.

Hanging out after the youth rally

Some other things we had a chance to do throughout the week was go liming, be interviewed on the radio, see monkeys, tour St. Kitts (a neighboring island), visit the Flamboyant Nursing Home, eat some good food, and have a good time with the people we met. I'm sure there will be more to come, but that's it for now. Enjoy the pictures of Nevis, lovely Nevis. much love

Some tourist spots on St. Kitts

Fresh sugar cane, coconuts, and jelly (coconuts before they are fully hardened)...YUM!

I'll try to get some more pictures posted. I have over 2,000 between everyone's pictures so it is difficult to decide which ones to post. Check out my Facebook if you want to see more.

Recommended to All

2008-02-22T21:26:00.000-06:00

Paul Wright's latest CD, Kingdom Come, is incredible. Maybe it's just because I am a fan, but I cannot get enough of this CD. I definitely recommend checking it out. Here's one song that has been on repeat:

Lost

I am lost without You
Simply wrong and not true
I am lost without You
Without Your love

I've been building castles in the sand
Working hard on all my plans
One day they washed away
Leaving me with dirty hands

So come with Your love
Come with Your Son
Who died for us all
Lost in the fall

And I am nothing without You
I can't do anything
Apart from the cross I am lost
That's where I found my life
When I lost it to You

I am lost within You
It's not wrong but so true
To get lost within You
Within Your love

You show me You've got better plans
So I'll rest in Your loving hands
Your words are forever to stay
So I'll walk in the way of Your commands

And it is to love
It is Your son
Who died for us all
Lost in the fall

And I am nothing without You
I can't do anything
Apart from the cross I am lost
That's where I found my life
When I lost it to You

Are the way the truth and the life
No one can come to Father except through the Son
You are the way the truth and the life
No one can come to the Father except through the Son

I am lost without You
Simply wrong and not true
I am lost without You
Without Your love

Redirected Passion

2008-02-21T16:28:00.001-06:00

Lately, God's really been speaking to me about how it does not matter how much of a passion for ministry I have, if my passion for Him is not there. Now, at first, this may seem like a "duh" statement. You might be thinking a passion for ministry comes from a passion for Christ. And I think it can, it does, and it should, but it doesn't always happen that way. There's no doubt that my initial call into ministry and my passion that originally developed for ministering to teens came from a deep passion and growing relationship with Christ. However, since I have been at school, I feel as though that passion has diminished. Don't get me wrong, I love the Lord with all my heart. And being at school, I am continually growing in my knowledge of Him. But too often I find myself getting caught up in this knowledge of Him, and how to preach homiletically, and my philosophies regarding ministry to the extent that I begin neglecting my walk with Him. But God's really been working with me on this. My ministry will be nothing if I do not have an intimate relationship with Him. It does not matter how much I love teens, how well I can preach, how creative I am in programming, or anything else if I am not first of all dedicated to my relationship with Him. This is something that is becoming even more real to me the closer we get to being done here at school. In just over a year we will be on our internship, and after that we will be looking for a church to work at. That's just crazy. Just thought I'd share these few thoughts that God has been working with me on. Have a great day everyone. much love

More On Nevis

2008-02-14T16:28:00.000-06:00

It's getting close to that time...only two more weeks. We've been learning a lot more about what sort of ministry we will be doing there. In fact, we are planning all the programming for everything. During the late afternoon/early evening on Sunday-Wednesday, we will be leading a VBS for kids. It's only about 1 hour and 30 minutes each evening. One of those nights I will be leading the Bible story. That should be fun. Challenging, but fun. Also, on Wednesday night after VBS we will be leading a Youth Rally on the island. I'm really looking forward to this. It should be a good time as we bring in our ideas, and they show us some of their culture through this event. All the schools in Nevis have devotions every morning. We have the privilege of leading these on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. It is pretty much a 10-15 minute sermon in front of all the students. This should also be a very good experience.It has been a bit stressful as we have been trying to learn what we can about their culture while planning all of these events. Not to mention still having the rest of our coarse loads to deal with. As stressful as it has been at times, out team is really looking froward to this experience. Not only will we have the opportunity for a lot of ministry experience, but we also have plenty of time in out schedule for exploring the island and getting to know the people and the culture. Continue to pray that God does amazing things on this trip. Hvae a great day everyone. much love

The Biggest Loser

2008-01-22T21:11:00.000-06:00

I have a friend on campus who is obsessed with the show "The Biggest Loser." Her obsession has led her to start a BBC Biggest Loser Challenge. It is for all girls who want to either lose weight or just get in shape. There are probably close to thirty girls who are taking part in this challenge. Each of us has a partner who we weigh in with and who keeps us accountable to eating healthy and regular exercise. This has been really good for our campus. We just started week 2 of the 6 week challenge. Each of us is putting in $5, and the winner will get a gift certificate to Pure Indulgence which is a salon in town. I'll let you know what happens. much love

NEVIS!

2008-01-17T21:18:00.000-06:00

Because of my Global Minor I have to take a Cross Cultural ministry course this semester. In other words, I get to go on a missions trip over spring break (and write some papers and read some books). Not too long before break, I found out we are going to Nevis which is an island in the Caribbean. I am VERY excited about this. Not only do I get to spend spring break on a Caribbean Island, but I also get to minister to children and teens. The whole teens part makes this pretty much the perfect missions trip for me. I'm super excited to see what God has in store for us. However, I am also just a bit nervous. I have never been on cross cultural missions trip before (only missions I've ever done was in Chicago). I need to raise prayer and financial support which is also something I do not have a whole lot of experience in. Please be praying for me in this. Also be praying that God uses our group to do amazing things in Nevis. Thanks! much love

Check out this site for more pictures and info about Nevis.

http://www.nevisnaturally.com/PhotoGallery.htm

Back in Time

2008-01-17T21:05:00.000-06:00

Ok, not really, but here are just a few pictures from some events around BBC before we left for break. They are of my d-group Christmas party, Christmas Banquet, and Open Dorms. Enjoy. much love

Ok, not really, but here are just a few pictures from some events around BBC before we left for break. They are of my d-group Christmas party, Christmas Banquet, and Open Dorms. Enjoy. much love

Christmas Break

2008-01-17T20:32:00.000-06:00

Christmas break was much needed for us this year. Besides the traveling part of our trip, it was a very relaxing time. Tickets out of Boston were the cheapest we could find so we drove the 8 hours there for our flight. Our friend Chyan from back home in Oregon came with us to Boston. The day we were suppose to fly out was right after the HUGE storm that hit Boston. We were delayed for something like 12 hours, missed our flight in Milwaukee, and decided to rent a car to drive from Milwaukee to St. Paul. Good times. When we finally got to Minnesota, we spent just over two weeks there. The majority of our time was spent with my parents (and dogs) in Warroad, but we did get down to Morris for a couple of days to see some of Jeff's family, and a day in the cities with some of my family. We did a lot of lounging around, eating, and watching football and movies. Good times indeed. We also did a bit of ice fishing on Lake of the Woods, Jeff enjoyed his new snow shoes, and we had quite a bit of family time. I know it doesn't sound all too exciting, but it was a marvelous break. Enjoy the pictures. much love

Us and Chizan waiting in the airport

Why we were waiting...

My cute puppy Kobe

Mo Mos!

Kobe and Mo helping to open one of their presents

Jeff all decked out in his new Christmas presents

Jeff, me, and dad warming up in the truck after ice fishing

Diane successfully defending her title in the annual Heppner ping pong tournament

Mommy and Daddy

Last meal together at my mom's work

Coming Soon

2008-01-17T20:03:00.000-06:00

I finally decided to update this thing, but I guess I caught my internet at a bad time. But do not worry, a new post will be coming soon...very very soon. much love

Bethany Gone Wild

2007-11-15T20:44:00.000-06:00

Last Friday and Saturday was our long-awaited retreat for class. It was an amazingly good time. Besides the seven of us who are in the class, there were ten people who came. The weather was a tad bit on the chilly side as I'm sure you will notice by the abundance of clothes and the fires in the middle of the day. However, we still had a great time fishing, kayaking, canoing, four-wheeling, and just hangin out. The weekend wasn't all fun and games though. Kate did a great job bringing us God's Word. The theme being Bethany Gone Wild, Kate preached on Stephen being stoned. She used the passage to talk to us ask us what stones are being thrown at us. The message was preached outside by the lake under the Northern Lights. At the end, she had us write down what was holding us back from experiencing God on stones and then we threw them in the river. It was very powerful. There's just something about being outside, experiencing God's creation that makes that much more of an impact. Anywho, here are some pictures from the weekend. much love

The whole group

Andrew and Charity Thompson

Erica and me

Rachel and Kate stuffing themselves into a kayak

The girl's fire before

And with a little of this

The girls' fire became this

Everyone doin their thing

Kate trying to fish...she was mine and Rachel's entertainment

All bundled up...me, Erica, and Kate

Is This Better?

2007-11-01T10:51:00.000-05:00

This picture was also taken that night. Geez Swarty, I'm not a horrible person.

Quiddy. Reuben, and Pumpkins

2007-10-31T13:09:00.000-05:00

I've tried posting a few times, but our internet is ridiculous which has resulted in no posts for a while. Hopefully this one works. Our final day of our four day weekend was spent at Quiddy Falls. Jeff spent the time trying to find gold while I worked on some homework. Nothing like learning Hebrew while enjoying nature. These our a few pictures from our day.

On Friday we went to a John Reuben concert at Kings Valley Wesleyan Church. Chris Stephens worked real hard on pulling the concert together. It was a lot of fun. I have really missed going to concerts. Reuben is one crazy cat which made for a fun night. Atlantic (a ministry team from Bethany) opened the concert. I have to say that I was quite impressed. They will also be playing at "Encounter" aka Booster this weekend. Looking forward to that. As we were leaving the church, a YP who was there with some youth was ushering some crazy old man out of the church. The old man was going on about how this sort of thing should not be taking place in the same place where the Word of God is preached....while using expletives. Gotta love it.

Atlantic rockin out (to see better pictures check out the link to BBC pictures on the side)

Reuben...what is he dippity doin?

Reading from a book of Fables.

Some of us girls waitin for Reuben...me, Nicole, Nicole, Kate, and Erica

Monday night we carved some pumpkins. This is the first time we have done this together. It was a good time, and we are proud of the results. We also toasted the seeds for a yummy snack.

Scoopin out the innards is always the fun part

The red eye makes the picture perfect

Posing with our pretty pumpkins

Thanksgiving Part 3

2007-10-08T16:18:00.000-05:00

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving everyone! We spent a few hours today hiking around here. Jeff's been on the gold kick, so we went out to some property Coach (he's the Athletic Director/Phys. Ed. Prof./coach of just about every sport here at Bethany) owns outside of town and dug around for gold. Sounds crazy, I know, but Jeff's been reading up on it and is pretty optimistic. We then went to the stream by the covered bridge for him to pan the stuff he dug up. It was a good day for both of us...Jeff got his gold fix and I got to take some more pictures of the beautiful New Brunswick fall. Have a great day everyone. much love

Thanksgiving Part 2

2007-10-08T10:36:00.001-05:00

Although today is Thanksgiving here in Canada, we celebrated it yesterday. As usual, we spent the day the the Carruthers family. This year we went to their parents in Moncton. Chyan came with us this year which was great. It was good to have a fellow Oregonian along. Jenn, Chyan, Luke, Jeff, and I went to Moncton Wesleyan for church, and then went to the house to wait for the rest of the group. We played a thrilling game of the new Monopoly (the one with the debit cards) while we waited. The meal was incredible as usual. We didn't get to finish our game in Moncton, so we went to Jenn's when we got back to town. It was a great day with our Canadian family. More to come soon. much love

Erica and Luke with playing Legos with Uncle Tyson

Luke's mad photography skills...Joy and Leah...Troy and Erica

Our Monopoly game faces...Jenn "I Want This Game To Be Over With" Carruthers

Jeff "The Giddy Banker" Poe

Chyan "I Have No Money" Blythe

Becky "Petty Cash" Poe

Thanksgiving Part One

2007-10-07T22:01:00.000-05:00

That's right. It's time for another Canadian Thanksgiving which means we have a four day weekend (Saturday-Tuesday). Friday after classes a group of us headed to the Hatt family cabin. Jeff and I are both in Camping and Retreat Ministries this semester and our final project is to plan and execute a weekend retreat. We are having the retreat out at this cabin, so we went to check some things out and do some planning. It is a beautiful place and has us all excited even more about the retreat. We came back Saturday afternoon so Jeff wouldn't miss the Oklahoma vs Texas football game. Enjoy the pictures. much love

First night around the campfire

Jonathan, DJ, and Kerri

Jonathan and Kerri Hatt

DJ and Jeff

Jeff, Griffin, and DJ

At McDougal Park

O so cute

I love New Brunswick in the fall

The Hatt family

DJ trying not to kill himself

View from the cabin

An Accidental Lie

2007-10-03T14:31:00.000-05:00

Jeff's birthday was not the most recent event worth posting about. However, it was the second most recent. On Sunday we went to a wedding. Surprise, surprise...a wedding at Bethany. Courtney and Andrew had a beautiful fall wedding. The ceremony was at a covered bridge in the area, and the reception was at the Sussex Golf Club. Courtney and Andrew are two very unique, hilarious people. They are also very devoted Christian leaders. Glidden (Andrew) was the student body president for three years, Courtney was head of drama last year, and both have been a part of the summer ministry team Evidence. Besides being beautiful, their wedding also showed their devotion to Christ and a bit of their humor. Here are come pictures from the day. much love

The Gliddens

Being showered with popcorn

Darrek trying to save the fish from all the melted wax

The fish's doom

Heidi and Darrek

Kate and I

Darrek behind the camera

Heidi behind the camera

Cutting the cake

Phil

Anthony

Jeff's B-Day

2007-10-02T22:24:00.001-05:00

Since I have so much to update you on, I'll start with our most recent activities first (I hear this is how you should scrapbook, so I'm applying it to blogging as well). Friday was Jeff's birthday. He's an old man now at the age of 26. Most of the day was the usual with classes and meetings. In the evening, after Jeff's staff meeting, we headed to St. John. Jeff is spending his birthday money on a hunting trip, so we spent some time checking out the thrift store, Walmart, and Canadian Tire for some camo. No luck, but we had a great time together. After our unsuccessful shopping trip, we headed to Boston Pizza for a tasty meal. I know it' doesn't sound all that exciting, but that is how we spent his birthday...just how he wanted it. Here are a few pictures at the end of our night outside of Boston Pizza. much love

One down...many more to go....

New Record

2007-10-01T18:58:00.001-05:00

I haven't researched this, but I believe this may be a new record for length between posts on our blog. However, I did start a post a few weeks ago, but was interrupted and never finished. It's the thought that counts, right? Wow, so a lot has happened since that last post back in July. Where do I even begin? Well here's a brief overview of the Poes' lives for the last couple months:

I finished my time in Oregon while Jeff drove across the country by himself visiting family and friends and starting his job back up here at BBC. Once I got back, I got settled in while Jeff had a bunch of meetings. Freshman week was a blast. Although it is designed for freshman, many upper classmen arrive during the week. There were lots of games and a movie night (which is what interrupted my last blog attempt). Classes started at the end of freshman week and have been going strong ever since. And here we are.

I know this is very vague, so I WILL be posting a few more blogs in the next few days with more details as to what has been going on. What to look forward to: promised pictures, more on classes, Spiritual Advancement Week, Guitar Hero, and Jeff's birthday. Talk with you soon. Have a great day everyone. much love

Bye Bye

2007-07-31T00:37:00.001-05:00

As briefly mentioned in the last post, Jeff left today :( He's heading to Oklahoma to see his parents and say good-bye to them (they are moving to China on the 21st). Then he's going up to Morris, MN to visit some more family, and then to Austin, MN to spend some time with the Voigts. He has to be back at school on the 15th for his job. Because our summer is already cut so short with his job at school and travel time, we decided I would stay here a little longer...three weeks to be exact. That's right, we will be apart for three weeks (what were we thinking?!?) Because of our adventurous weekend, Jeff didn't get going until about 7pm, about 9 hours later than he had hoped. I didn't mind though :) I fly to Boston on the 21st where my amazing husband will be waiting to pick me up. I just hope these three weeks go by fast. I can't wait to see you again babe! Here are a few pictures of us saying our good-byes. Have a great day everyone. much love

Last meal together...where else but Taco Bell!

Last kiss for three weeks :(

Our pouty faces

Anniversary Weekend

2007-07-31T00:12:00.001-05:00

Sunday was our two year anniversary and we decided to celebrate it at the coast. We had originally kicked around the idea of going to Seattle, but because this was also Jeff's last weekend here, we decided on somewhere a little closer to home. This was definitely not a well thought-out weekend, but it was incredible. We had planned on going to the coast on Friday after running a few errands, but by the time we had gotten everything done, it was way too late to head over there. We were hoping to get to Newport by noon or so on Saturday to do some crabbing (that was high tide, and we read that's when crabbing is the best). However, being that neither of us are morning people, we didn't even get going to about that time. It took a lot longer than expected to get all the crabbing stuff we needed (a license, a ring, bait, etc.) because we had no idea where we were going or what we were doing. Once we finally got everything we needed, it was getting late and we still wanted to do some swimming so we only threw the ring over a few times before packing up and heading to the beach house. It was a beautiful day and perfect for swimming (well, at least as perfect as the Oregon coast gets). It was about 75 with NO wind. We bought a couple body boards and played on those. This was a first for both of us, and it was a blast! After we had had enough swimming, we built a fire and cooked hot dogs and s'mores. Then it was back to the dock to do some more crab fishing. We caught quite a few before the bait (and hook) flew off and abruptly stopped our crabbing adventure. We thought about camping out Saturday night, but Jeff wanted to say bye to some people at church so we drove back to Salem and got home around 1:30, cooked (and ate) our crab, and then finally went to sleep.

After church on Sunday, we rushed back to the beach for some more crabbing. Sunday was a typical day on the Oregon coast, so there was no swimming :( Once again, we got to Newport later than we hoped so the crabbing wasn't so hot. We still stayed for a few hours though. Both of us thoroughly enjoy the "thrill" of catching stuff, so even though we had to return our rented ring, we went and bought one so we could return at night for high tide. In fact, we decided to do this rather than going to Portland for a nice dinner like we had originally planned. Instead, for dinner we went back to the beach house and cooked the crab that we caught (and bought) over a fire. It was tasty! We spent another romantic evening there watching the sun set. Around 10:30 we headed back to the dock for more crabbing and stayed there until about 1:30. We had a good time and caught lots of crab.

Even though we really didn't do anything we planned, we had a great time. The weekend was full of spontaneous excitement. Much better than a fancy hotel and dinner anytime! Sadly, all the pictures are on our desktop which is with Jeff on its way to Oklahoma, but I'll post some as soon as I can. Have a great day everyone. much love

Summer Fun

2007-07-13T16:41:00.000-05:00

Our summer has been a lot of fun so far, but it's going by incredibly fast. We've stayed pretty busy with our jobs and visiting with people. Jeff is working for BrucePac...a frozen foods packing plant. It's definitely not his ideal job, but he only has 9 days of work left, so he'll make it. I've been pretty busy trying to get the young adult ministry going while helping out in other areas in the church (youth group, youth camp, and VBS). It's been a few weeks since we've had youth group...camp, the 4th, and VBS all cancelled youth. It starts back up next week with the new youth pastor, Gary. I'm excited to see how everything works out. God has great things in store for that ministry. Camp was so much fun. Britt and I were counselors together. It was a blast! God did some sweet things with the girls in our cabin. I love watching Him at work. It was encouraging and a reminder to me as to why I'm going into youth ministry. A team from Bethany led worship all week. It was good to see some friends from school. Jeff and I also spent the day after camp with them at the beach. The Sunday after camp was Jeremy, Wanda, and Carter's last day. It was sad, but God' has great things in store for that family. Tonight is the last night of VBS. I have been leading the pre-teens since it's transition time with the youth pastors. It's been a challenge, that's for sure.

Britt, DeeDee, David, Chyan, and Me....this was a fun group for the car ride to camp.

Word.

A-Town tradition...gotta trash the cabin at least one day.

O the joys of powerpoint.

The beautiful CUmmings family chillin at camp.

Nicole and I...beach trip with Bethany group

Other than church stuff, we had a great 4th. We went over to the VanSchaick's for some burgers, played some cards, and lit some fireworks. Last weekend we went to the beach with Britt. That was a good time for sure. We ate some Mo's, played on the beach, and went to Fultz's beach house (which is being built) and cooked some hotdogs over a fire on the beach. It was a beautiful day for this.

On the fourth.

Faith bein crazy as usual.

Chilaxin

Check out those bangs!

That's just craziness right there.

Love this one.

View from the beach house.

At the end of the day.

My favorite shot.

Bye bye beach.

That's what we have been up to the last few weeks. Hope you enjoyed some pictures of all the fun we've been having. Have a great day everyone. much love

Good to be Back

2007-06-16T00:02:00.000-05:00

All our traveling went really well. We had a good time with family in Minnesota and with the Swartys in South Dakota. It was really good to see everyone. We have been in Oregon for three weeks. Jeff started working this week. He's working swing shift at BrucePac. It's definitely not his favorite job, but we're thankful that he got something (we were starting to think he might not find one since he's not here for long). I've been helping out at the church...mostly with the youth group. I had the chance to speak at youth this week. I think it went pretty well. Small groups for the young adult ministry will be starting next week. It's been a slow process getting the young adult ministry started, but I'm really excited to see how God's going to use it. I will be speaking at church next Sunday. I'm a bit nervous about that, but excited at the same time. I'll be sharing my vision for the ministry and preaching a short message. It's been great to be back. I've missed it. I've enjoyed catching up with so many people, but there's still so many people I would like to see. It's been good times for sure. Well I'll try to keep this updated with pictures of church events and what not. Have a great day everyone. much love

Summer Plans

2007-05-08T00:33:00.001-05:00

Well, once again, it has been a while. Since we last posted we have celebrated my birthday by spending an evening back in the good ol' US of A, decided to change my global major to a minor so we can do our internship in the good ol' US of A, and finished up this semester so we can head back to the good ol' US of A for the summer. We are still in Canada because Jeff gets paid through the 15th. He's stayed somewhat busy with official RD business, but as the RD's wife, I have no business here right now. My last final was on the 23rd so I have been doing a whole lot of nothing.

It's been good to have a break, but we are definitely ready to get to the (you guessed it) good ol' US of A. As of now, the plans are to leave here on the 15th and make our way to Warroad to see my parentals (and my puppies) for a few days. From there, we're going to Morris to spend a day or so with Jeff's grandma. After that we are going to spend a few days with our good friends the Swartys in Rapid City. We should be arriving in Oregon (our final destination) somewhere around the 25th. We will be staying with Kathye (pretty much my second mom) for the summer. Jeff will be looking for a job when we get out there, and I will be leading a young adult ministry through Mt. View. I'm pretty much stoked about that. That's what the Poes have been up to and what we will be up to for the summer. Have a great day everyone. much love

Plus Fifty

2007-03-24T19:41:00.000-05:00

Just thought I'd keep you all updated on Kobe's scoring frenzy. Last night he scored 50 to extend his streak to four games. Wilt Chamberlain is the only other player to have accomplished this. That is incredible. And with the fourth 50+ game came another Lakers win. The Lakers next game is tomorrow, and if it happens again, I will be sure to write about it again.

Oregon also plays tomorrow. They have made it to the Elite Eight. Let's hope they beat Florida and make it to the Final Four. While I would much rather it be Oregon State playing this well, I'm just glad I can cheer on an Oregon team during the tournament. Have a great day everyone. much love

65, 50, 60

2007-03-22T23:49:00.000-05:00

Those are the amounts Kobe Bryant has scored in his last 3 games. Only 3 other players in NBA history have ever scored 50 (or more) points 3 games in a row: Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, and Michael Jordan. That's good company. The best part about Kobe's scoring spree is that it has earned the Lakers 3 much needed wins.

On another basketball note, the NCAA tournament is incredible. I've never watched much college basketball, but I'm loving it. It's good stuff. It makes me sad that I'm just now getting into it. As much as I love the Lakers, college games are way more exciting (except maybe when you're watching Kobe set records). Anywho, my bracket's looking descent and I'm having a good time watching the games. If you haven't watched and, I suggest that you start. Have a great day everyone. much love

Catching Up: Part One: Spring Break

2007-03-19T09:43:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since our last blog. Sorry about that. We really have no good excuse. I know the title says part one, but that does not mean I am promising a part two. I wrote that in case I wanted to add a part two. Anywho, spring break (March 5-9) is really the only exciting thing that has happened since we last posted. Jeff's sister came and visited us which was a good time. It was probably the coldest week we've had this winter. That wasn't such a good time. She got here Monday night. Tuesday we went to Prince Edward Island. There is nothing to do there in the winter but we wanted to go since none of us had ever been there. We did some shopping in Charlottetown, drove to the north shore, then came back and ate in Chartottetown. On Wednesday we went to Fundy. It was neat to see the frozen ocean. We had a bit of an adventure on the way home, but I will save that for another post or you can ask and we might just tell. We spent Thursday around campus, and drove Laura to the airport in Halifax on Friday morning. After dropping Laura off, Jeff and I went into Halifax. We ate some Quiznos, checked out a few stores, and then played miniature golf. This was some of the neatest miniature golf I've ever played because it was all under black lights. That was our spring break. Enjoy the pictures. much love becky

After 18 holes of mini golf

The aliens invading earth on the 18th hole

A flying whale thing

A creepy face

More mini golf fun

The snowy/icy/slushy waves

It was so cold out there

Jeff and Laura in Alma

The frozen ocean in Alma

Jeff and I at the restaurant in Charlottetown, PEI

Laura at the same restaurant

PEI's north shore in March

Accepted

2007-02-11T21:23:00.000-06:00

We watched the movie Accepted this weekend. It was a pretty good movie. For those of you who haven't seen it, it's a movie about this group of kids who start a fake college because they weren't accepted into any real colleges. It started off as a small ploy to get their parents off their backs, but it turned into a much bigger deal than this. It became a college full of rejects. On another note, I'm in a class this semester called Models of Youth Ministry. It's pretty much a class which discusses different models of youth ministry (surprise surprise) and helps us to figure out our own philosophy of youth ministry. Now, to tie this in with the bit about the movie...I like the model of the college in this movie for youth ministry. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying all the stuff that goes on in this movie should be involved in youth ministry. In fact, most of what goes on has no place in youth ministry. What I am saying is that a youth ministry should be a place where every kid feels accepted, where every kid has a chance to experience God for themselves in their own unique way. Youth ministry has become so instituionalized (like the rival college in this movie). To those on the outside, many youth ministries can look like special social clubs where they will never be accepted. There's not always something wrong with the typical youth ministry, but that's not where God's leading us. God's leading us to something out of the ordinary. We're not sure exactly what this is going to look like, but we know we want it to more closely resemble South Harmon Institute of Technology where everyone is accepted, rather than the stuffy, institutionalized Harmon University. much love becky

Baby Jesus

2007-01-29T09:32:00.000-06:00

This Christmas season got me thinking about Jesus in a whole new way. I've heard the Christmas story many times. I've read it for many classes. I've heard numerous sermons preached on it. But this year, it struck me in a new way. It became more real to me than ever. Jesus came as a baby. God, the creator of me, the creator you, came as a baby. The Almighty came into the world not as a mighty ruler, but as a vulnerable infant. Although I've hear the story many times, I've never digested the story in this way. It's never really hit me until recently. This was such an incredible thing which my God did for me. Just a thought for today. Have a great day everyone. much love becky

Another Night of Hockey

2007-01-23T11:05:00.000-06:00

Last night was Monday. That means hockey. That means more pictures for the blog. We had a great time last night, as we usually do. Blazers won, once again. Here are the pictures. Enjoy. If you would like to see more pictures from around Bethany, then check out the newly added link over on the side. much love

Me, Kate, Jen

Erica doing the "Backwards Grind"

Jordan doing the same

DJ and his Texas hat

Tiffany and Amy

Jen, Kate, Me

HOCKEY!

More HOCKEY!

After a goal.

Mmmm...McChicken

Kate loves her McDonald's and Tim's

Official RD Business

Yay for Monday Night Hockey

2007-01-15T21:57:00.000-06:00

This was our first hockey game of the semester (there was a game last week, but we didn't go). It took a little longer than usual to get there because of the snow. That's right, we're finally getting some snow over here. Still not a whole lot (about 6 inches), but plenty for me. Anywho, the hockey game was a lot of fun. We won 10-5 or something like that. Blazer hockey rocks! haha. Well, that's my attempt at trying to update this thing a bit more. Enjoy the few pictures from the night. much love becky

All bundled up

Say what?

Brrrr

Good times with Kate

Nice pass, eh?

Action

Fight, fight, fight...or not

More action

Cory Doiron showin' 'em how it's done

Christmas Break

2007-01-13T17:10:00.000-06:00

We've been back at school for just over a week and it feels like we never left. The first week of classes are finished and there are piles of homework to be completed. Although it feels as though we never left Sussex, we did--for three weeks. Our Christmas break was a lot of fun. We stayed busy with a lot of travelling. We were both in Oklahoma from the 18-27. The majority of our time there was spent visiting with family and friends. It was great to be with family for Christmas. On the 27th, I left for Oregon and spent a week there. I had a great time. I got to see my brother and sister which I am so thankful for. I didn't think I would get to me sister for another couple of years. I also had the chance to catch up with a lot of friends from high school. This was the first time I'd seen everyone back home since I've been married which was a little weird at times. As much as I miss Oregon and miss everyone who is back there, the trip back made me so thankful for where God has led me in my life. I wouldn't change a thing. While I was in Oregon, Jeff did some more visiting with family and friends. He also had the chance to do some hunting. The day after I got back from Oregon, we flew back to Providence. We stayed a night there and then drove back up to Sussex. Here are some pictures from our trip. much love becky

Christmas Dinner with the Poes @ Rib Crib

Waiting to open presents with the Poes

The Girls

The Guys

The Family

Playing 10 Up, 10 Down with the Swanson's

Grandma Way

Grandma and Grandpa Machlan, Laura, Us

Goofin' off during family pictures

"Reunion"--Zach, Jon, Amye, and Mandee

"Reunion"--Skippy, Brittany, Me

Dinner with the Siblings

Dinner with Erik and Mary

New Year's Eve with Brittany--We partied hard...or maybe we just watched chick flicks

Chillin' with Amye

@ the airport with my sister

Getting ready to say good-bye to Bethany and Travis

Friday Night Fun

2006-12-15T23:11:00.000-06:00

Last Friday was the Christmas Banquet here at Bethany. We did not go last year, so this was our first experience of the event. It was a fun night. I went over to JP and got all prettified with the girls. The dinner was really good and the show was nice. From what I understand, it was a lot more serious than previous years. There was some comedy at the beginning of the night. Dean Higle and Miranda told some pretty sweet jokes. Jenn and Troy Carruthers (women's RD and youth ministry professor) did a really funny skit about Christmas morning when they were kids. And Professor Graham and some students performed an Elvis Christmas song. From then on out was singing Christmas carols and listening to others sing. Although we would have preferred more comedy, I was reminded of how much musical talent we have at Bethany. There are so many talented musicians here and they are amazing to listen to. Testify and choral did an amazing job. That was our evening last Friday night. I will get some pictures posted soon (hopefully).

Tonight we went out to dinner with the Carruthers. We had a great time. It was one of those nights filled with making numerable inside jokes and nonstop laughter. We had dinner at an amazing Thai restaraunt and our waitor has cats with double paws (whatever that means). He was a strange guy, but a lot of fun to talk to. From there we went driving around to find a place to eat dessert because Asian restaraunts are not known for good desserts. This is where the fun really began. Joy swore the waitor slipped us something and she was the only one who didn't get any. Everything was so funny to us. I would fill you in, but you probably just wouldn't understand. Asian, porn, fastfood, thermometer and tooth fairies. See, I told you you wouldn't understand. Anywho, we went to Mike's for dessert and it was some good dessert. Then it was back to Sussex.

This is what we've been up to (besides finals). We leave on Sunday to drive to Providence, and our flight leaves from there on Monday. It may be a while until you hear from us again, so Merry Christmas everyone! much love becky

Busy Saturday

2006-12-02T19:07:00.000-06:00

We finally had another basketball game today. Our last game was at the end of October. It's difficult to get teams to play (inluding enough players for a team of our own). We played NBCC and won 77-23 with only 6 players. It was a fun game. After the game it was time to go shopping for a dress for the Christmas Banquet next weekend. I wasn't too excited about this, but it needed to be done. Buying clothes in Canada is difficult because everything is so much more expensive, and I don't like spending a lot of money on clothes (especially on a dress I am probably only going to wear once). Spending money on dresses in high school was no problem because I didn't have to pay :) Anywho, I found a cute dress for a lot cheaper than I expected, and I can wear it on other occasion. This made me very happy. After we went shopping, I had the chance to get some Starbucks. While I would much rather have Caribou Coffee (or pretty much anything) over Starbucks, it was definitely a nice change of pace from Tim Horton's. In fact, it was gourmet coffee compared to Tim's. I drink a lot of Tim's, but I'm not sure why. Their cappucinos are pretty much the same thing you can get out of the machines at a gas station (Tim's uses the machines, not real espresso). So, you can see why Startbucks is gourmet. Anywho, now we're back at home, about to watch the Oklahoma game. Have a great day everyone. much love becky

Civil War Game

2006-11-24T16:03:00.000-06:00

The Civil War game is today. For those of you who may not know what this is, it's the BIG football game in Oregon. It's Oregon State vs Oregon. I root for either team during the regular season because anyone from Oregon rocks, but deep down, I am still a Beavers fan and I would love to see them kick the Ducks' butts. I love Oregon this time of year with the huge rivalry game. It's such a good feeling. It's halftime right now and OSU is up 20-7. Go Beavers! Wish I could be watching the game, but I'm stuck in Canada. I'm envious for all of you who are able to. Have a great day everyone. much love becky

Addresses Please

2006-11-15T06:27:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone. We are going to try something new this year...sending out a Christmas letter. I know you're all so excited. If you could send us your address, that would be great. Even if you think we already have it, please send it to us because there's a good chance we've lost it during one of our moves. Please send it to craving_the_cross@yahoo.com. Thank you o so very much. Have a great day everyone. much love the poe poes

Love Hate Relationship

2006-11-12T11:23:00.001-06:00

I've never been real fond of public speaking. My hands sweat. My face turns bright red. I talk faster and faster. Speach classes have always made me real nervous. Although I have always had this fear of public speaking, I love it when it means sharing a word from God. I love sharing the truths which God has shared with me. I love being able to be an instrument of God. I hate public speaking, but I love God speaking through me. God's given me a passion for doing one of my greatest fears. How awesome is that? It's so cool to me how God works through our weaknesses. I love it. I've really been itching to preach lately. I'm looking forward to the next time I have the opportunity (it's been almost a year, and the last time was in oral comm. class). I use to prefer sharing what God's been teaching me by writing it out. Now when God teaches me something, He reveals how it could be made into a sermon. It's neat. Maybe that's why I don't write a whole lot on here anymore. Who knows. Now I'm just rambling so I'm going to be done. Have a great day everyone. much love becky

Good Quote

2006-10-30T10:36:00.000-06:00

"Well, I like have a photographic memory, but I just can't remember what's in the picture." -Jeff Poe