Sunday Snippits: Good, Bad, & Ugly!

Sunday Snippits! Bringing you the good, the bad, & the ugly from my world view. With a few other Snippits of life.

GOOD: This last week started with the second to last day of the ELCA Youth Ministry Network Extravaganza! This event is for ALL leaders working in children, youth, young adult, & family ministry throughout the ELCA & our partners in faith. I say this because you do not need to have any special degree or special title to be part of the network. You simply need to have a heart for serving the kingdom of God for the sake of children, youth, young adults, &/or families. This means your volunteers, parents, pastors, & youth leaders on all levels can join the network & attend the Extravaganza next year in Detroit, MI for renewal, education, & connection surrounding 1/3 ministries! Upon returning to Chebooboo the good is that the days are getting longer & there is hope that with the slightly warmer temps that Spring is on its way despite what that groundhog saw.

BAD: Not having much interest in football & knowing the Superbowl was boring. Leaving your interior car light on for a couple of days in a parking garage 12 hours from home & having little to no knowledge about cars is bad. I couldn't stay awake during the opening ceremony for the Olympics. Anybody else have this problem of wanting to eat & eat & then entering food coma?

UGLY: People's response to Superbowl commercials & how AMERican we are. People's attacks on Russia & having a bad outlook for having the Olympics there prior to the Olympics even starting.  Can we please live into each other's strengths & not worry about the things we cannot correct?

WORD: That read the Bible in a year plan I mentioned I restarted, I'm struggling. While having the Bible on all our techy devices is great, I still do better with opening up the book & reading as I was taught. Plus, I clearly work better with others or I'd not be struggling so much. So today my focus is on finishing Bittersweet & reading my daily devo from one of the many sources I have around here.

coming up: Another week of Zumba & phoning for YE & Valentine's Day & of course lots of Olympic games watching.

Sunday Snippits: Good, Bad, & Ugly!

Anybody else wanna know what kinda of carnival this picture is advertising?!

I suppose it says Catholic & that should be enough. Right?

Happy Sunday Snippits!

Thanks to Google for this random image.

Here we are in 2014 with the GOOD, BAD, & UGLY!

GOOD: Lots of people I love dearly are pregnant right now & to start off this past week we celebrated my Grandma's & Dad's birthdays. YaY LIFE! This last week I officially started teaching Zumba. It's a fun adventure, but one I'm definitely still getting used to. My brain is constantly wired for new ideas for children, youth, & family ministries & Zumba was not my first plan on how to live out this wiring of my brain after graduating with my Master of Divinity. However, God works in wonderfully mysterious ways & it was SO great to see mother & daughter come to my class today. Another good thing is that we finally feel like we're recovering from the busy busy Holiday season. We took ALL day Thursday to take down, pack up, put away, & clean all the needles & dust that had settled. Plus, another fun thing of this past week was opening an account at Family Video. Yes, that's right, we live in a town with a video store & no Red Box. Gotta love small town living, it's one or the other, not both! I also hosted my first ever Pampered Chef online party & it was a GREAT experience.

BAD: I think I'm allergic to more things than I want to know. And at this point in life, I don't really feel like being tested for allergies for the first time ever. Also, it's really hard to choreograph for Zumba with a puppy who is becoming more mischievous day by day & likes to cling to your every move.

UGLY: That the above picture & the word carnival go together. Add some fake streamers or something! If this is how the church advertises for itself, then how do non-church goers view the church. Today is the day that people around the world remember the earth quake in Haiti from 4 years ago. The destruction & despair still linger today.

WORD: Currently, I'm reading Shauna Niequist's Bittersweet & it has a chapter for people at every place in life, or so it seems. Friendship & Food are important themes, which is pretty great in my book.

Coming up: More Zumba & phoning for Youth Encounter & most likely lots more ADORABLE photos of the puppy.

Sunday Snippits...the good, the bad, & the ugly

It's Palm Sunday! The church nerd inside me is fully soaking up all the Holy Week festivities this week.

photo courtesy of Bliss Street Studios 3/24/13

Today I'm linking up again with Kate & Kati for the GOOD, BAD, & UGLY to cover the last week & move into the week ahead. If you didn't check out their blogs last week, take a few minutes & enjoy life with some other bloggers at Incorporating Color & Classy Living.

the GOOD: Life is good, though crazy busy as I thrive living in the fast lane. Remembering back more than a day ago is challenging though when you live in the fast lane. I know I had lots of meetings & appointments this last week. So I thrived in networking & collaborating with others. I also participated in Humble Walk's monthly Beer & Hymns finally! It was splendid, good times & I finally got to officially meet the talented Rachel Kurtz & reunite with a few other youth & family ministry folk that I don't see too often like Tay Wilson. Tuesday Z & I went to Anchor Fish & Chips to meet up with some friends that I hadn't seen in years. We got our food & headed over to Dangerous Man Brewery for some beer & soda. Friday night was the first of several SENIOR FUN events & this one just happened to be my event. We focused on a family friendly event with the movie Happy Feet, popcorn, root-beer floats, & photos with me in a penguin suit (thanks to AButler!). Saturday I spent all day being certified, with about 50 others, as Zumba Basic 1 Instructors. I'll let yall know when I'm able to join the ZIN program & start teaching! This morning we went to worship at St. Anthony Park Lutheran & I was reunited with a friend from working @ Camp Wapo & then came home to clean up our drying laundry for Rikki from Thirsty, Nerdy, Cats & Justin to visit. A couple of weeks ago I won a giveaway that Rikki did on her blog & it gave us a reason to see each other for the first time since 2008. We originally met through Spoke Folk years ago & have kept in touch through blogging & facebook. Here's some photos of the good stuff!

3 Spoke Folkers & their spouses

Z kissing his penguin wife!

RR, Me, J (our instructor), & SB at Zumba Instructor Training

Rikki & I! So blessed by friendships that withstand time & distance

the BAD: My thesis is a thesis & a word that I have dreaded for years now. I have a cover sheet, but that's about it. Thankfully I have till April 20th & the research work is pretty much done since I'm taking my Diaconal Ministry project & editing it. It's a good thing I'm passionate about Children, Youth, & Family Ministry & Pneumatology (the study of the Holy Spirit)

the UGLY: Two chiropractor appointments, a massage therapy session, some kenesio tape, & two slips that ended me scooting across the ground till I could find dry ground to stabilize myself on have all been helping to better or worsen my wacky muscle & joint issues. I have two more chiro & 2 more massage appointments this week & I am really hopeful that will do magic because insurance won't cover these treatments for long. Z told me I'm not allowed to talk about being old till I'm 65, so I have a few years to go!

coming up this week: I WILL WRITE 10 PAGES OF MY THESIS! This is my pledge in front of yall, to myself. A few meetings of this or that, classes through Wednesday, Holy Week festivities with the communities of Humble Walk & St. Philip's Lutheran (Z's home congregation) & Easter brunch with Dad & Mom N. Here's to productivity & a piece of holiday break!

What was GOOD, BAD, &/or UGLY about your week?

Sunday Snippits

The fact that the Oscars was simply a week ago, seems hard to believe!

Yet again, we're livin' life in the fast lane & not always sure which end is up.

Last week: Sunday we enjoyed the Oscars with good friends. Monday - Friday is a bit of a blur with classes, meetings, & a few extra things. I preached at Servant of Christ Lutheran Church on Wednesday & I spent much of Monday & Tuesday preparing my message. The podcast isn't available yet, but should be sometime soon, so I'll be sure to post it on here. The topic was LIVE CHRIST.

How have you learned to Live Christ?

The rest of the week was filled with a movie premier & a night & a night in with some good friends. The Evidence of Hope by C. Amour is definitely worth checking out. C was on a Youth Encounter team in the mid-'90s & my family was a host family to his team, so we've known each other since I was roughly 10 years old. Through the ministry world we've managed to stay in touch all these years & it's great to see how God is using him & his talents to serve the larger church.

Where do you find evidence of hope?

THE BIG NEWS! Z & I have been assigned to North/West Lower Michigan Synod  for first calls as Diaconal Minister & Pastor in the ELCA. We'll learn more about job interviews & potentially moving in the coming weeks & months.

Coming up: A few lunch dates with long time friends that I also happened to meet through Youth Encounter's ministries. A meeting with A. Root, to hopefully better hone in on my thesis topic for Children, Youth, & Family ministry. Card night with friends, prepping for the variety show on March 14th, & Last Chance Seniors (an afternoon & evening of workshops to help us better prepare for job applications & transition into life after graduate school). We'll close up the week by celebrating with our  friend B&R in their marriage! It should be a splendid week.