REALLY REALLY Long Time, No Post

And you thought we were slacking on our blog before! Well we're back and hopefully we'll get back to being consistent about blogging again.

Since we last posted we've had a visit from Danny's parents, a trip to VA to see both of our families and a then a visit from my parents. So I'm just going to post some pictures I've taken over the past couple of months and hopefully you'll feel caught up on life!

Here's me and my favorite brother Joe hanging out in Charlottesville. I think he's really excited about his new sunglasses :)

And my favorite niece Isabel roasting marshmallows at Lake Anna

Nephews, getting so big!

Me and Danny out to dinner on my birthday (Mama and Daddy were there too)

Mama and Daddy out with us in Hilton Head

R.I.P. Mary's Orchid, April 2008- July 2008

Long Time, No Post

We know we've been bad. Some of you even stopped asking when we were going to post again, like you had given up on our blog. But don't give up!!! We've been busy and not really able to sit down and write out thoughts. Not that things have really settled down at all, but I sometimes get a little more downtime than Danny and thought I'd fill everyone in on life.


We just had a great little visit from Mom and Dad Gonzalez. They arrived on Monday night and just left this morning. It was a great time we had to show them a little bit more of Bluffton as we know it, tour Savannah and have some good long conversations about life, which Danny and I realized we don't get a lot of down here. Aside from talking to each other, we don't have people we can just really talk with, like deep talks. So it was great. We look forward to more visits :) And just to entice you, here is a picture of our newly painted guest room complete with a brand new ceiling fan installed by my wonderfully handy husband. (The room is not as small as it looks, my camera just doesn't have wide angle capabilities.)



Two rooms down and only about 8 more to paint.

Now that all the kids are out of school, we've both been using our "spare" time to spend some more time out with the kids getting to know them. Here's a pic of some girls I took shopping one afternoon. We had a great time, but I am definitely not a 13 year old girl anymore so it was a little exhausting.


Also, I am again job searching. I am still working as an assistant manager at Pier 1, but I am realizing that retail is really not a good long term job for me. Come the holidays, I'll be lucky if I can get one day off. And that would make a visit to VA for Thanksgiving or Christmas pretty much impossible. So I think I want to find something that is not quite so demanding in that way. Plus, since I often close the store I am at work until 9:30 or 10 at night, so I feel like I am missing out on a lot. I am hoping to find something part time with day time hours, so be praying for God to provide.


We love you all and miss you and hope you're staying cool in this heat. It's been like 90 to 100 degrees everyday down here!!

what is work?

Forgetting what I wrote yesterday...

Sunday morning at 2:51 a.m. a Hispanic man who was driving without a license, legal documentation, registration or insurance ran a red light and struck the side of a car carrying only the driver, a 17 year old junior Josh George. He had just dropped off his prom date (the daughter and former resident in the house that Mary and I just bought). The Hispanic was a former employee of a congregant here (he had fired him when his documentation proved false). To make a very long and very emotional story short, the young man did not make it. He was taken of of life support this evening and his organs were donated to others in need.

As you may have read, yesterday I and Mary spent a great deal of time "dealing" with this situation. Today was much more of the same. We had a prayer vigil at the church directly across the street from the High School where Josh attended immediately after school. Altogether we had over 100 come, pray, sign a banner for him/his family and watch a Nooma. (If you don't know Nooma, they are short DVD teachings on scriptural themes made by a pastor Rob Bell.) The one we watched was about prayer and it actually involved a car accident. The idea of the film is that we are to pray always and honestly tell God what we are thinking and feeling. After that, I delivered the banner to the George house and displayed it in their garage.

Tomorrow night at 7 or 7:30 p.m. there will be a celebration ceremony at the High School stadium. The churches are helping provide supplies (balloons, candles and flowers) for this event. Thursday at 2:00 p.m. there will be a funeral for him at the church (Calhoun Campus). Friday the body will be transported north so he can be buried with his father.

I had never met this young man or anyone in his family before. I had met his girlfriend only for a minute here at the house as we toured it. Yet this tragedy has brought, and probably will bring, me to tears many times. It is so powerful to see so many in such deep and real pain and to not be able to offer personal help. Rather, my role is to facilitate safe places to be hurt together. Two young women from the school thanked me for helping organize the prayer time after school. If that's all I get from all of this time, emotion, effort and diligence, then it was more than worth it all.

What is work? What is ministry? Is it calling someone on the telephone to arrange for makers and a sheet? Is it holding hands in a giant circle with people who are hurting and crying? Is it inviting those who want to to honor Josh by telling about what he was like? Is it truly thanking people for their tireless commitment to ministering in hospitals? Is it being inconvenienced by an intersection that is closed so that a half dozen police people can re-create the events of Sunday morning...an intersection that you had already detoured to reach so that you could pray again for the family at the point of attack? Is it searching a neighborhood to find an empty house...one that would hours later be filled with sorrow, frustration and anger towards God and His people...only to place a huge sign of the community's support and love for them where they could not miss and deny it? What, God, is ministry? What does it mean for me to "be at work?"

"Did you not know that I would be about my father's business?"

"Let tomorrow worry about itself."

"...He will give you rest."

Good night friends and family. May your tomorrow bring you opportunities for ministry.

Danny

P.S.
Here are some links to some local news coverage of the story.
Island packet 1
island packet 2

How was your day?

WOW...be careful what you pray for. I've heard it said that if you pray for patience God doesn't just give you patience. Rather He gives you the opportunity to be patient. So Mary and I prayed to be in ministry full-time. Hmmm...

This morning we wake up to cell phones ringing (which isn't all that rare actually these days). We find out that there has been a member of the church (16 years old) who was in a terrible car accident (not his fault) and is in intensive care in Savannah. We didn't have any relationship with the family or the young man. We were invited and acccept a ride down there to visit and pray for the family as representatives of the Lord and their church. We get there and are pretty much strangers and, even worse in the eyes of a hurting 18 year old sister, "church strangers." We left shortly thereafter to return to Bluffton where we, along with some area youth ministers hosted a place for students to gather. Tomorrow we will be hosting another one at a church accross the street from the high school where the family attends school. Things aren't looking very good right now for the young man in the hospital so tomorrow's time may be very somber indeed.

In other news, the past two nights Mary and I have dirven late at night down a very long, dark and deer infested road to Beaufort to buy and then return a table that we bought off Craigslist. It's a long story but suffice it to say we are exhausted from many incredibly busy days in a row.

Oh yeah...this was our "day off." Is there such a thing in ministry? Thank you Lord for giving me what I prayed for.

My Fives

So this is some blog thing that is going around. It's kinda fun though so I guess I will entertain you all with my answers (or bore you). I'll have to get Danny to do his later.

1. Five things under five dollars that I couldn't live without

• chapstick/lipgloss
• Honey bunches of oats
• ice cream
• conditioner
• water bottle

2. Five favorite movies

(these are all recent, I'm not good at "favorites of all time" kind of questions)

• Elf
• Evan Almighty
• Hitch
• Pride and Prejudice
• Stranger than Fiction

3. Five baby names I love

I'd share, but I don't want to get anyone's hopes up :) maybe later when I have a reason

4. Five songs you could listen to over and over again

• Awaken- by Natalie Grant
• If We are the Body- by Casting Crowns
• Life of Praise- also by Casting Crowns
• Undo Me- by Jennifer Knapp
• Fellowship So Deep- by Caedmon's Call

5. Five people who have influenced me in a positive way

• Danny
• My parents
• Danny's parents
• my sister and brother
• good friends

6. Five things that are always in my purse

• chapstick/lipgloss (although anyone who knows me knows that that is like 20 things right there)
• wallet
• cell phone
• Tide-to-go pen
• camera (seriously, I carry my camera everywhere- thanks Mom and Dad G)

7. Five moments that have changed my life forever

• First mission trip to Philly, when I truly fell in love with God
• When Danny proposed
• college (that's more than one moment, I know)
• moving to South Carolina
• I'll leave this space blank in case something big happens later today....or somewhere down the line ;)

8. Five obsessions I have now

• thinking about painting
• shopping (not necessarily buying)
• cleaning
• checking email/facebook/blog comments
• Pier 1 (more like an obligation, but still)

9. Five places I would like to go

• Italy
• Uruguay
• DisneyLand
• Berkeley, CA (this time with Danny)
• Spain (this time with Danny)

10. Five applicances or kitchen tools I wouldn't want to live without

• DISHWASHER
• garbage disposal (you'd be surprised how much you use that thing)
• rice cooker
• more than one pot or pan (I lived for 3 months with only one of each and it was no fun)
• refridgerator (I copied you Suzy, but you're totally right!)

11. Five people who I would like to see their top fives

Any of my blog friends :)

Progress!!

Sorry we haven't updated in a while, we've been busy as usual. Danny spent a couple of days away at a leadership conference last week and this past weekend was May Fest, which is when pretty much everyone in Bluffton and the surrounding areas, gathers on one street in downtown and Bluffton and it's like a flea market/craft show/fair. One of the campuses of our church happens to be on this one street of May Fest so we put on a big to do. Here's a shot of Danny with the youth band rocking out :)

In other news, we have painted one of the many rooms in our new house that needs to be painted (and by many I mean all). I think we have a before shot of this room but I can't find it at the moment. It was two tone pink. It took 2 coats of primer to cover it up. But now it is beautiful and neutral! I love it. I'll have to post another shot once it is decorated.

Another big accomplishment was dealing with our yard. Since our house was vacant for about a month and half the lawn and weeds were completely overgrown when we moved in. Then it took us about another week to actually get the mower out, find our lawn gloves and do it. So we are now on great terms with the neighbors and actually got some homemade cards from two little neighbor kids today. So sweet, we love neighbors. Speaking of our yard though, we have some interesting plants in our new yard. One of which is a fruit tree. I have consulted my only plant expert (thank you Daddy) and I am still at a loss as to what kind of fruit this is. Any ideas? It tastes sort of like a pear (yes I ate some).

I am also including a picture of my lovely orchid that we received as a housewarming gift. It's not a great shot, but I just wanted everyone to be jealous of this magnificant orchid :)

So life is good, settling in is really good. Things are going well at Pier 1. Although I have learned the strangest thing about people in Bluffton. It seems that anyone over about 50 (no offense) considers a convertible equal with a pick-up truck. We sell a lot of furniture and large items and so it's just the funniest thing when I ask someone if they will have room in their vehicle for something and they're like "oh yeah, it's fine, I have a convertible". And I would say that about 99% of the time that convertible is a Chrysler Sebring. You really should see all these people hauling furniture sticking out of their convertible "pick-up". Just one of those things about living in a retirement area, I guess.

Love you guys, we'll try to be better about writing more regularly.

30 Hour Famine...catching you up on the Ministry...

This past weekend (Friday and Saturday) was the 30 Hour Famine. This is an event by World Vision that is done by tens of thousands of youth groups all over America every year raising millions of dollars to save lives by battling hunger and malnutrition all around the world.

The essence of this event is that in the weeks prior the participants ask family and friends for "sponsors" to donate a certain amount to the cause. The student themselves commits to NOT EATING FOR 30 HOURS STRAIGHT! Here's the group (some had to leave early).


This year's event began Friday morning after breakfast (7:00 a.m.). We gathered the 110+ participants from the four partnering churches starting at 5:00 p.m. at LowCountry CC just down the road from us. We had some organized games to help them understand what other people on the world have to eat and live like. The essence of this game is throwing paper quickly...that's really it.


We sent all of the students out to gather donations from whomever they could in 45 minutes. In all, they raised almost $2200 in that time. The winning team (having raised over $700) of this contest got to do whatever they wanted to my hair..this was my team so they decided on a "wavy mohawk." Here it is with my handlebar mustache. (Mary said I looked like a bandit.)



After that we had some worship and devotional time and watched DVD clips about how hunger affects the every day lives of millions around the world. After some more free time and games, the females all went to TCOTC (our church) and got settled in. Anyone who wanted to could stay up and watch a movie so the guys watched Spiderman 3 and the girls watched National Treasure of something like that. The guys finally got settled and asleep sometime after 3 a.m.

Saturday morning the boys got up and met up with the girls for a liquid breakfast. After that, we left for our 6 service projects (my team had 3 in different locations...you can imagine the logistical fun that that was :-) ). Here is my team, Team#1, at one of our service projects just in front of the huge pile of leaf bags covering a truck.



We eventually met back up at TCOTC and served parents and congregants a free pancake Break-fast Lunch. The winning team of the games got to eat first. While they were all eating, I received my mohawk and we collected an offering as a final fund raiser.

Finally everyone else could eat and we enjoyed that immensely. The clean up was a breeze with lots of help from the kids. Overall, the event was a HUGE first in the youth group. Over a dozen kids whom I've sen since have suggested that we do more service projects (but only if they can eat) so we will certainly do more. If service means riding in the back of Danny's truck, these guys are in!


It was amazing to me how our relatively small group was so well represented. We had over 45 participants and the average weekly attendance is only just over 30.

In a slightly different topic, my title here has changed to "Director of Youth Ministry." It's a long story as to why, but it is a more accurate picture of what I am and will be doing in the church. It's technically a promotion although my pay is the same...it's more just a renaming I guess. God has provided so amazingly in every way for us.

Please make plans to come and visit us...we are almost settled!

Danny