We've decided to sell our house....just when I got it all decorated the way I love it....oh well.
To use a realtor or not to use a realtor?
That is the question.....
Does the general population trust a "for sale by owner" deal????
Will the realtor earn her 6% commission??????
Hmmm.......
We found a house that we like in Pasco, but, we don't like the Pasco schools.
Are we going to homeschool the girls all the way through high-school???
Lacey will be in high school next year, so we have to decide....you can't put a homeschooler in public high school after ninth grade.
???????????????????????????????????????????????????
So many questions.......my brain is full.
Here's what I do know:

Nevada and I need new swim suits cuz we're goin' to Silverwood next week so... we're off to the mall.

I'm back from camp....again.....

....and I'm dog tired.
I don't recall a time when I was this tired.
Even my teeth are tired.
What does that mean????
It was a great week and I wouldn't change a thing about it...except for the bees....and the lady bugs....and the lack of sleep......and the 2 showers for 35 counselors......and the lack of asleep, besides that, I wouldn't change anything.
The first night back I slept for 15 hours....straight!!!
I love sleep.
I love my bed.
I love my A/C.
It's all good.....

a rap song....

So, the pastor asks us to come up with a counselor skit for Thursday evening worship, this is what we came up with:

A rap song to the tune of " Baby got Back" by Sir Mix-a-lot:

"We like Big John
and we cannot lie...
you little campers can't deny,
when he walks in with his hair all bright and
a colored shirt on his chest,
YOU GET BLESSED!
Gotta camp that's cool
so ya know the Lord's the Rule.
Looks like one of them Re-Treats,
Smelly girls with smelly feet.
OOH, girlie, I wanna read wich ya,
cuz your Bible's got pichyas.
My counselor tries to control me
but that Book of God...
makes me so Holy....
Oh, please Miss Billie,
Why can't we be more silly,
It's light out, light out,
don't wanna here no girls pout.
When we are praying'
and the pastor's sayin'
You got grace,
tears on ya face,
ya ain't goin' down to the bad place,
We're tired of Satan's lies,
don't believe it
or you'll die.
As a sold-out Christian,
take a look....
you gotta read GODS BOOK!
Word."

It was hilarious......

Girls camp.....

I just got back from girls camp and wanted to share some thoughts.....

I love the girls.
They represent a cross-section of every social/economic dynamic you can think up, and the one thing they have in common, this week, is being at camp.
I believe every girl was appointed by God to be at that camp, for His reason, alone.
Maybe it was to strengthen the bonds of fellowship, maybe it was to learn about God's saving grace, or to be called to missions or to ministry.
I really don't know.......
The potential for radical transformation for the cause of Christ is so there.....
The problem is....we finite-creations get in the way and get all up in ourselves and radical change gets put on the back burner for the cause of self-importance, self affirmation, self.
I sense a theme here.....
Sunday, our pastor, got more passionate than I have ever seen him over this matter of "dying to yourself".
Think about it.......
If ALL of us would simply put our own agendas, our own desires, concerns, our own GARBAGE on the back burner and put OTHERS and GOD first......we would have....God's perfect will.
"Lord, give me a heart that desires more than anything to serve only you and not myself."
All week long we faced problems resulting from this focus on SELF!!!!
Over and over I found myself counseling someone, including counselors, about this Dying to Yourself concept and how, as Christians, it ought NOT to be a problem....but it is!!!!!
It staggers me to imagine what Gods perfect plan was for this week, until WE got in the way.
All that said, however, God still moved in our midst and Thursday evening 3 of my girls sat on my bunk and received Christ into their lives......and as we listened to the angels rejoicing in heaven, I knew the reason I was there and all the rest of the it.....didn't matter.
God is bigger than the boogey-man......
Guess what?
I get to do it all again next week at Youth Camp!!!!!!!

yesterday.....

.......was the crazy busy day in which we had 4 block parties to do, two being out of town!!!!
We made all of them...whew!
I have to say that, for the most part, except when the van wasn't ready at the church cuz nobody picked it up for us and when we went to Quinalt and there was noone there cuz the block party was actually at a a school but nobody told us, everything went great.
The innersteen part of the day:
the "blue hat" of the block parties who is from Vancouver(what good can come out of Vancouver?) and has been the "thorn in our side" actually asked us if we would go on the road with him over to his neck of the woods cuz he doesn't have a drama team of his own and I said to my internal monologue," Gee, could it be your winning personality that scares people away?"
I really said to him," Are you telling me that you can't get a team of 15 people to do drama ministries in a population base like Vancouver and with all those super-churches????????"
He said, "No."
Well, that's just sad.
Anyway, today we will be traveling to Hermiston and then back for a BP in Pasco.
I love this drama team.
This week has really brought us closer together and it truly has been a labor of love.
I always wanted more children, now I got 'em.
Lord, bless us this day and use this team to spread your Good News.

Jericho 2005......

Busy, busy, busy......

Our drama team has been working very hard for about 4 weeks to perform for block parties in and around our area during this first week of July.
It has been very challenging and all I can say is, we must be going to do a mighty work in the name of the Lord, cuz the opposition is having a heyday!!!!!
That's alright....the keyword is flexibility.....we are like trees....blowin'in the wind....we will bend, but not be broken.....
It seems every move we make has been met with opposition and....trajedy.
Monday, during a Jericho event where volunteers were clearing trees from a schoolyard, a young man named Dennis was killed when a tree fell on him!
I don't even know what to say to that......except that God is sovereign and I weep for his family and their grief even as I write this post.
Yesterday, as we were traveling to Connell to perform for the community, the back tire in the church van BLEW and I a double-trailer hay truck pulled out onto the highway right in front of my truck and I was barely able to avoid hitting him!!!!!!!( I was going 70 mph, well, actually 77 mph,shhhh)
I'm not kidding...we will be lucky do survive this week.
But, really, the whole team is totally committed to what we are doing, and all that we desire is to be God's vessels and for His will to be done.We pray that the message of salvation is heard and that lives will be changed forever.
We know that people are coming to know the Lord as a direct result of these dramas, thank you, Lord for using us.
Our God is an awesome God....He reigns from heaven above......

"Do not gloat over me, my enemy, thought I have fallen, I will rise up, though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light."