Insomnia? Or the Holy Spirit?

Well here we are...midnight on Tuesday. The 3rd day (night) in a row...I can't sleep! I do not know what my problem is...except that each night as I've been laying in bed...I have this heavy burden to pray and read my Bible. Well last night I spent the hours praying, tonight I'm reading.
Right now, my mom is the youth & children's pastor in my home church...and actually decided this week that she is going to start classes at Nazarene Bible College and get her local minister's license. Pretty cool!! But there are some issues in the church that I know have been heavy on her heart. And I came across these verses that I think give us a little insight into how Christ believes the church should be, NLT:
1 Corinthians 1:10
Now, dear Brothers and sisters, I appeal to you by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ to stop arguing among yourselves. Let there be harmony so there won't be divisions in the church. I plead with you to be of one mind, united in thought and purpose.
1 Corinthians 12:26-28
If one part suffers all the parts suffer with it. And if one part is honored, all the parts are glad. Now all of you together are Christ's body, and each one of you is a separate and necessary part of it. Here is a list of some of the members that God has placed in the body of Christ:

first are apostles
second are prophets
third are teachers
then those who do miracles,
those who have the gift of healing,
those who can help others,
those who can get others to work together...
No where in that list are grumblers, complainers, people looking to benefit themselves. The body of Christ exists to serve others...to seek and save the lost. Not to worry about how we are treated or how often we receive something from the church. If we are Christians it is our calling to reach out to others, to serve, to work together for the kingdom...not to worry about how we feel at church. Jesus' entire purpose on earth was to serve others. To look after and help the welfare of others...he led by serving. Whoever wants to be first, must first be a slave to all (Mark 2?) What you have done for the least of these, you have done for Me. So why are we as churches not more worried about who we are serving and helping? Why do we let politics and rules and tradition get in the way of our servant heart?

Also, as I was reading for some reason a couple songs by Rebecca St. James kept running through my head...The first is "Omega":
May the grace of our Lord be with you, Now and always may you stay blameless till he comes. May the Love of our Lord be with you...

And also her song "You then me"...which is all about the last shall be first and the first shall be last. Life should go You then me. We need to put others first. "It's your turn, it's not my turn"

I must admit that I just finished my 20 page research paper on Servant Leadership...so that may have something to do with my thoughts at the moment. But I think it applies in all areas of our lives! Why are we so focused on us? And believe me I'm as guilty as any...

can't believe it's here...

So I think sometimes we actually have to ask for the things we want. I guess I'm not very good at that....I typically assume that God knows my mind, and the desires of my heart...when maybe I should spend more time actually talking to Him about what I want.

And other then that...I have 9 more weeks of Grad school!! (one session, 2 classes)

Where's the rain?!

Well the weekend in Oregon was great!! And of course the one time I'm in Portland this fall...it is yes, beautiful! 85, sunshine...all 4 days!! Now, I know, if I was a normal person I would be very excited about this course of fate. However, I am not normal...I was hoping for at least some cooler weather, and ideally a little rain! I have been waiting for fall for now 4 long months...and my one weekend outside of Boise, to the coast...yup it's still nice outside! :)
Well one nice thing about the weather was we were able to spend lots of time outside...the kids could play on the playground and we all went swimming, and down to the river to throw rocks...and of course some went golfing :) Well the 3 little cousins are as cute as ever!

Let the countdown begin...

I don't have much to say...lately I feel like this has just become a recap of my weekend. lol. Which isn't really necessary :) Although this week I would have hot tub pix to put up...and that is why this must stop now! Shouldn't carrying a camera into 'the pool area' be prohibited! Not cool Kevin!! Although the storm Saturday was awesome! :)

Well I finished my strategic audit last night, (a paper & presentation on GM) I have a presentation in class tonight, Next monday I have a 20pg paper due with a 20 minute presentation in both classes the next week. These last few weeks have not been fun, in the homework realm. But I only have about 5 pages left in my paper...not so bad, except that I would like to finish it by tomorrow night! I leave Saturday morning for Portland!! I can't believe it's finally here! I'm so excited! My mom and her siblings (and families) are all getting together in Portland for a little "mini family reunion"! This is the side of my family that I don't see as often anymore, as we're all so much more spread out! Gma & Gpa are coming up from Cali; Ken, Courtney and their 2 boys are coming from Kansas City, Kieth, Jackie & Baby Holly are coming from Kellogg and my lucky parents get to leave Wenatchee by 5am in order to pick me up at the airport in Portland at 11:30 :) Sorry! but both my brother and sister got out of work and class so they are both coming...which I'm looking forward to! Of course, I have to admit...if all I did all weekend was play with Holly, I'd be perfectly happy :)

Me? Really?

I think I have officially turned into a 'social butterfly' :) I cannot remember a time in my life where I spent this much time with friends, and did so many different things! Amazing how a few new friends can make such a difference! We are always DOING something! Funny how it is now, at this time in my life...when I am busier then I ever have been...but I'm enjoying it. I do not know how I got any homework done this weekend! But I did! Friday night, Katie, Jessie, Kyle, James, Kevin, Josh, Macey, Craig and I camped out at the REI Garage Sale in Boise! Yes...we slept on the sidewalk! I didn't really need anything at REI but more just in it to 'hang out' :) James, Kevin, Jess & I played games, watched a movie, walked to Starbucks, and just chilled in the tent Friday night and then the guys didn't stay over for the sale. But we had 4 girls in our tent and then a tent with the other 3 guys in it next to us. And we were #6-12 in line! it was crazy! Katie set up our tents at 9:30am Friday! And yes, there were 5 people there earlier then that! What is with these people? So anyways, we didn't sleep much Friday night and they pass out tickets into the sale at 6am and the doors open at 9...so we walked to IHOP for breakfast after getting our tickets in line. After we finished at REI, the girls had a powder puff game! Which was awesome, they killed them :) Courtney & Erika are scary! lol. And James & Kevin came out on their bikes to watch... But really the majority of my crazy weekend was yesterday!!
Leave for Church with Jessie @ 10:30
Eat lunch with the boys until 1:30
The 3 of us head to Boise...
8 of us leave for Mtn Home @ 2
Air Show at Mtn. Home Air Force Base until 5:30
Back to Boise...
Bocce Ball at the Train Depot, with 6 of us until 8:30
Then all of us back to Nampa...
Super Mario & coffee, until 10:30
Concert @ the Laundromat until 11:30
FRIENDS episodes! until 12:45am
Sleep...until the alarm goes off @ 5:30am
Get home from work @ 4:30pm
Sit in class until 10...and then fall into bed!
At least that's the plan :) Oh right, I do know how I'm accomplishing this social thing...NOT sleeping! Well we all know that can't last forever...

Here's a few Bocce Ball pics...if you know what that is!


My Bench...yup, it has my name on it :)
Ben definitely dominated the 2nd half of the game!

I don't know...why must I need a title?

I feel like I could sleep for days...I have no desire to be up and at work this morning. This week has been SOOOO long for some reason, and all I want to do is SLEEP!! Too bad, I don't think it will really happen until Sat. afternoon...that is if I get the chance for a nap. Uggh, isn't it legit to call in sick just so you can sleep? :) I want sleep days!

For my mom...

Thanks...I really appreciate your wisdom and friendship. I really needed that phone call today. I love you!