#33: Thankful | Part 1: Past Youth/CM Leaders at SSC

Hm, so as we near Thanksgiving, I just gotta do some shout outs and some reflections.  So, this is part 1 of a series… I dunno how long it will be.

These days, reflecting on beginning my 10th year serving with PKO…. I’ve realized a lot of things… I mean when I was in youth group, I never imagined being at SSC this long, continuing to serve in this way, especially leading worship… seriously.. But I’ve realized I have so many people to thank and to acknowledge.  If there is anything good and holy in me, it is the fruit of prayers and someone else’s tears over me.

So I dunno if I can remember everyone and shout out to everyone, but will try as many as I can. 

My apologies in advance if I forget you… not intended. 

JOHN CHOI – Ah, yes, my first worship leader… what an experience.  Beyond beating me up, making fun of me, and making me cry, to this day, he is probably the only one in my life that can hit me and get away without getting punched back in the face.  WHY? BC he’s JOHN oppa.  John taught me how to appreciate music and it’s role in helping people come near to God.  He also taught me a lot about priorities… I still remember the day he made the worship team weep while preparing for VBS bc of our attitude towards it, leading kids…. Guess we thought it wasn’t as important as leading rebellious moronic teenagers. lol.   “Worship is worshipping God no matter who is sitting in the pews”, he used to say.  With that kind of rebuke (he used to swear at me too)… he really DID shape me and mold me and teach me.  And at the end of the day, he’d just give me a big hug and I knew he loved me. Thanks John.

REV. HUNN CHOI – OK, well, I still see RC at least twice a year, so I mean he’s kind of a past & current leader to me, but anyway I’ll just share some things (there are WAY too many).  RC always always always taught me to think outside the box.  Especially when it came to the Holy Spirit and how God works in people’s life.  He also has amazing work ethic and dedication to his congregation – a passion and a desire, as well as a brokenness that I just can’t explain.  But he is a tremendous blessing to the people he meets and has impacted thousands of lives.  He is also definitely passionate about all things Jesus.  I’m also incredibly thankful bc RC spent every single day with my dad since he was sick and until the day he died to talk, pray, and study the Word.  I’m thankful that he brought so much encouragement to my dad even in those hard times.  I know, bc my dad wrote so much about it in his journals.  Every once in awhile, I’ll pick it up and remember… RC passionately loves Jesus, but he also passionately loves people.  Thanks RC – your guidance, prayers, and love have been so amazing.  Words cheapen it forreal.

REV. YOUNGSEON KIM – I was such a horrible youth group student when she was a pastor at our church.  I used to just be HORRID.  I made fun of her, showed up to church in the middle of sermon, disrupting sermon.  She came to be a youth pastor when I was at the height of my rebellious ways.  It was worst bc everyone at church believed me to be the “holy” girl, the one who had manners and respected everything churchy – and I put on a pretty good show back then. But in TRUTH, I was disrespectful, mean, and I didn’t listen.  I have a very painful memory of yelling at her and talking back to her in front of the entire youth group.  I also have another painful memory of walking out of a meeting with her and some other kids who were serving at the time.  I also thought I knew everything and made the most of every opportunity to make sure she knew it too.  But you know, she was probably the one person during those times that believed in me the most.  She never lost hope in me to find truth in Jesus and grow up.  A lot of people, including people in my family, wrote me off and just told me to do what I want.  I was kicked out of the house on more than one occassion, but Rev. Kim just kept praying… and that was it… she taught me to pray and combat everything with love.  She never struck back, never got mad… I made her cry on more than one occassion, but still, she loved me, she prayed for me, she fought for me.  She constantly told me that God was going to use me someday and that I had to dream bigger, search His heart, transform… To this day, I’m certain her tears and love brought me out of a place of stupidity and into light.  Thank you Rev. Kim. (P.S. I’m beginning to understand your pain, even if it’s at a very small, tiny, amount that you went thru. I dunno how you did it.  Thank you.)

JULIUS KIM – I was so young when Julius was at SSC, but mostly I remember him driving up to my house to pick me up in his green Pontiac Grand AM (wow, that just all came out lol).  The reason I remember this was bc I was in 5th grade… and truth is, he didn’t have to take me to youth group bc I wasn’t technically a part of it yet.  But he picked me up and a lot of other kids… drove around everywhere to pick us up and take us to church.  And in his green Pontiac he would play the latest Christian music, which was like, the newest “Touching the Father’s Heart” TAPE (NOT CD) by Vineyard.. and he would try to make me and the rest of the kids comfortable… and I knew… I just knew… he really cared about my spiritual life… he always wanted to make sure I was growing and he picked me up no matter what… He taught me willingness… willingness to do what it took to make sure I was receiving… so if that meant picking me up and driving me around… he did it… he did for a bunch of kids… and his willingness blessed many. Thanks Julius!

JOEL CHOE – It’s hard to believe that he came to SSC as youth pastor from Wheaton College at age 23.  I remember him seeming a lot older than that… but I was like 11 when I met him.  At 6ft. 3in. he used to tower over people.  He always made the boys let me play basketball or volleyball with them… He told me I could be real good… He believed in me.  Sometimes, that’s all it takes… someone believing in you. He was a beloved youth pastor among the youth group members… And it was after a Bible study that he led, that God used him to bring words of truth in my life.  And after that Bible study on Friday, the next day, Saturday, in my room, I opened my Bible and read like I never did before.  And I prayed like I never did before.  And I received Christ into my heart as my personal Lord and Savior.  That day, my spiritual birthday, Saturday, February 18, 1995, would forever change my life and my course on this earth.  So, thank you Joel, for bringing the Gospel message to me that Friday Bible study.  God set my heart on fire and it still keeps burning.

ANNE KAO – Ah, yes, the amazing Sunday School Teacher.  I actually LIKED going to Bible study because of her.  She made learning about the Bible fun, but most of all, you could tell she really believed it and taught it from the bottom of her heart.  SHE enjoyed it, so naturally the rest of us girls loved it too.  It would be much later that I would appreciate such dedicated and passionate teaching at a different level, and I learned how crucial it was to youth ministry.  Thanks Anne!  Your example has given me a great standard to to aim for with each of my students.  Oh!  And I just remember she was REALLY energetic too… positive vibes all the time… It was always encouraging to be around her.  Dang.

MATT RHEE – I thought about saving him for a “Family Edition” of this Thankful blog, but since he WAS one of my past leaders and kind of fits in with this, I’ll put it here.  When Matt was a student at UIC, he commuted back to SSC to serve.  He was one of my worship leaders and he taught me discipline, the Word, & sacrifice.  I still remember to this day, how he walked from Flossmoor train station to church bc he had no ride in the rain to lead worship.  I was shocked and when I think about it now, I’m still shocked.  He sacrificed a lot of time commuting back and forth to lead us.  And I think it’s SUPER important to point out that back then, youth worship service was at 9:30am.  The worship team back then met at 8:00am SHARP.  So, for Matt to commute there by train, he would have had to leave the city like at 7am… which means he was up WAY too early on a Sunday, forreals.  Matt was also really good at training us in the Word.  We memorized Scripture.  To this day, I got Philippians chapter 3 down. LOL.  He also taught discipline… balancing practice with prayer, study of the Word… being grounded and having a firm foundation… and even though he had just picked up the guitar and was getting used to rhythm… he practiced ridiculously hard to play and lead songs with us.  Seriously… I learned a lot.  Thanks Matt!

P. DAVE RHEE- Well, if I’m gonna mention Matt, then might as well mention my other cousin, Matt’s bro, Dave.  Dave came out of U of I and started serving at our church and man… he liked to pray.  I will never forget, to this day, our mandatory early morning prayer meetings EVERY STINKIN SATURDAY.  I mean, this was like every week and for a teenager… my goodness gracious… every Saturday morning… ok you get the point.  But it was through those times, I learned to fight in prayer and to seek God’s face.  Dave also can be credited for my current nerdiness when it comes to reading and collecting Christian books.  It all started with “The Joy of Fearing God” by Jerry Bridges and exploded from there.  I became a Christan bookworm.  Love it.  So thanks cousin, errr… I mean, PASTOR DAVE!

THE DULANEYS – BRENDA & CAROL – Ok, well CAROL was like THE CM JDSN of all SSC time.  Seriously.  Not only was her run as CM JDSN really long, but she ruled with all authority.  I loved it.  I think the funniest memory I have of Children’s Ministry and Carol was at a family retreat, when she RIPPED on us girls for having the stupidest crushes on youth group boys.  “He’s not even cute!” said she… lol. Dang.  But Ok, yeah, Carol was militant about us learning the Bible and to this day, I know the books of the Bible in order, by heart, because of her 3rd & 4th grade class. Thanks Carol!  And Brenda! She never ever ever stopped encouraging me.  And later when our paths would cross again to go to Guate together thru R180, she would be the one that would always encourage me and always bring my spirits up.  When she got sick in Guate, I had the chance to just stay with her and be by her side and it brought me joy to do so.  Thank you Brenda!

NAMMEE KIM LEE – Ok, my absolute most favorite memory of Nam Mee unnie was when she was one of the coordinators of a KUMC youth retreat up in Wisconsin.  University of Wisconsin Whitewater.  Oh my.  LOL.  At this retreat, I was really sick (oh in youth group I was sick all the time… stomach issues… whaddya know?! I STILL have stomach issues… goodness) and Nam Mee seriously carted me around campus on a golf cart to get me places.  It was nuts.  Also hilarious when I think about it now. But ok really, I think one of the many things I learned from her was how much care and attention she gave to people.  She really did.  She took ridiculously good care of me… and not just at this retreat, but as a teacher and leader at SSC as well.  She also did tons of stuff in the background that most people probably would have taken for granted, but she just did it all – if she felt discomfort or frustration – I sure did not notice.  Thanks Nammee!

ELIZABETH PAIK SONG – OH my… this unnie was seriously motivated to ensure that everyone who came to SSC felt welcome and loved.  I really saw her heart for the youth at that time and how she made many kids feel a lot less uncomfortable.  We used to have this curse at SSC when it came to newcomers.. they would come once and never come back… mostly bc kids are kids and have cliques, but man at SSC we take that up a notch… or we did… I happen to believe that this unnie set a standard that many would follow after and I’m happy to report that the SSC YG is MUCH better at making newcomers feel at home.  Thank God.  And Thanks Liz!

 

To all of you and to those I’ve forgotten to name or haven’t got to yet:
You may have thought no one noticed, but your faithfulness and obedience to God changed my life.  Thank you.

#32: Cutthroat UNO

My new favorite game: CUTTHROAT UNO.
SO FUN.

Played it in college, but seriously forgot how crazy & intense it could get.  GEEZ.

Let’s play soon!
Well, the WT had a gathering yesterday for dinner.  Timmy’s mom invited us for some food and we stuffed ourselves with steak (yeah timmy!) and side dishes… we played a lil wii and then… we played some cutthroat uno (thanks mark!) And well, the losing person was eunhae, tim’s sister… but timmy, like a good brother… decided to sacrifice himself to do eunhae’s punishment… jae, not wanting to be outdone, decided to do it with him.

The punishment was to drink a raw egg.  While Jae was in the bathroom, we spiked his egg with lots of salt. muhahahaha… i kno… evil. 

Please enjoy the video *^^*

—————————————
I made some updates to the ministry & music sections so also please enjoy.

These days, I’m still job hunting, tutoring, and currently helping preparations for the winter retreat. YAY!!

#31: out of tune…

My ears are not what they used to be.  When I was younger, I used to play anything I heard on the radio and on cds by ear.  This was partly due to the fact that I cannot read sheet music, but also, for some reason, when I heard songs, it’s like I could put it together in my head.  It was so hard to do it visually trying to read sheet music.  I went to piano lessons for years, and I figured out that I couldn’t put the notes and the music together… so my teacher would play the song for me, I’d put it in my memory and then try to copy exactly what I heard.

As I got older (and through the process of suffering through a concussion or two) my ears… well… they just aren’t what they used to be… they don’t HEAR the same.  It’s interesting.  So, these days, somtimes, I can’t tell when I’m flat or when I’m sharp… For some time now.. I just thought I should just leave it be… that I’m getting older, and my memory isn’t quite the same.. and that it was just gonna progress like this naturally… But then… I was struck with this desire to train myself again.  It takes discipline, patience, and picking yourself up from repeated failures… but you just keep practicing. So these days, I’ll just listen to random youtube songs and see if I can play it on piano or guitar… trying to replay exactly what I heard.  It’s been depressing at times.  But I’m learning that I’d rather train myself to be IN TUNE all the time, than be lazy and be out of tune SOME of the time.

I think this parallels in our spiritual lives – well at least it does in mine.  Maybe I’ve gotten used to the way things are and that this will be what it is for awhile… but these days, God tugs at my heart and tells me no… being in tune with Him and training is so much infinitely better than being slightly out of tune here and there… or just getting by on what I know. It’s easy to rely on the past experiences in serving or how we devote ourselves to Him… and yeah maybe be out of tune here and there and just say.. “well, it’s bound to happen” or “it’s just like that at times”… I dunno… the heart that desires excellence probably wouldn’t say that.  It’s easy for my heart to grow complacent or just plain lazy.  And then God gently kicks my butt and reminds me that He created me to be excellent and that my heart was meant for maximum efforts, not minimum… and then… suddenly.. I don’t really wanna just let things be…

God, help me have a heart that desires excellency in everything I do.

——————————————————-

Video share! Here are some random clips of the SSC YG WT practices.  Enjoy! Please participate in the poll at the end. Thank you!

Please participate in this poll! Thank you!

———————————
Personal update (besides the top narrative).  The job hunt is driving me crazy.  Please keep praying upon that.  I am struggling with thoughts of leaving Chicago because of it, but I’m trying to stay faithful to where God is calling me.  Sigh.  Help me please in prayer.  Thank you!

#30: Something more…

HEY SSC FOLKS!

I read this recently and was really blown away: [This was taken from the Desperation Band website www.desperationband.com]

 

“In 2008 God connected a group of passionate young people from a local church in Colorado Springs eager to fulfill God’s purpose in their generation, a silver haired, soft-hearted businessman with a vision for orphans, and an organization with a mission to rescue orphans around the world. Something called Heartwork was born.

The challenge God issued to these young people was to live James 1:27. If they could give $60,000 for orphans in Uganda, the businessman would match it dollar for dollar. The end result would be $120,000 dollars, 4 orphan homes built, and countless lives changed. Challenge accepted.

They prepared for their first offering. They talked of sacrifice and fasting. They gave up cups of trendy coffee and overstuffed burritos with friends to feed kids who had no food at all. They refused to buy designer jeans in order to clothe children who dressed everyday in rags. They committed to providing family for those whose families had been ravaged by war and AIDS.

The day arrived and students came with hearts full of hope and offerings in hand. On that first night as worship ascended into Heaven, a group of high school students descended upon the altar and gave over $15,000 dollars. With great excitement they realized what just happened. One orphan home built. 8 weeks to go.

For the next 2 months high school kids worked extra hours. Junior high girls walked door to door to scoop dog droppings out of yards. Seniors drained savings accounts created when they were elementary kids. Public school clubs partnered together with the local church. Students who graduated years earlier sent checks in the mail. Friends and families, inspired by the vision, joined in and gave freely.

After 8 weeks of sacrifice these junior high and high school students gathered to give one last offering for these kids they had never met but already loved so much. The result was $67,000 dollars given freely by a group of 12 to 18 year olds. With matching funds, they gave over $127,000 dollars in 2 months to build 4 orphan homes. But they found that as they gave to rescue the destinies of orphans, their destinies were being rescued as well. Destiny rescuing destiny. This is a story of sacrifice. This is a story of worship, This is a story of Jesus at work in a generation without fathers. This is Heartwork.

And the story has only just begun.”

Hey SSC YG… just want to challenge us and remind us that we are called to live a radical life for Jesus.  I’m blown away by how these guys came together for a great purpose and were shining the light together.  Let’s not waste our lives trying to decide whether or not to be set apart and live for Him – let’s be ones who already chose what is better and are putting our faith into action. 

———————————-

The WT would like to present:

I love Tim’s yelling in the background, Jae’s facial expressions, Joe’s relatively (and quite abnormally) calm disposition, and Sharon avoiding the cam as much as possible while racing.  Gotta love it.

———————-

So these days, I’ve got a ton on my mind and since the summer, I haven’t been sleeping well. It’s messed up how my body has gotten used to it.  I’ve been trying to correct it without taking meds as much as possible, but to no avail.  So that’s a prayer request folks! Job update: a couple of interviews, a couple of offers… I’m struggling with some of the startying pay.. considering my graduate education was like $100k, I was hoping for something a little bit better than what I’ve been getting.. don’t get me wrong, I was very much aware of the low salaries that come with Social Work and/or counseling… they’ve just been lower than low? Does that make sense?  And people keep telling me that I should just be happy with any kind of job or offer… I dunno.. I don’t think I’ve been all that picky. Ask me about specifics and I’ll tell you. Till I find one I like, I’m a tutoring monster.  Yay.  It’s a good excuse to spend some time with church kids.  Gotta love that. Thanks for the prayers!

#29: ATTENTION SSC YG – BIBLE TRIVIA!

Dear SSC Youth group members,

Next Sunday, Octber 18th, we will be having a church-wide Bible Trivia competition.  Now, there’s been some “trash talk” about how the youth group is gonna get destroyed by everyone including the kindergartners and I would love to see us squash that with love.  So, the whole church is coming together for this event, which will focus on three categories:

Genesis
Matthew
Worship Songs

The worship song category will be interesting… must know lyrics and melody. Now ya’ll know there are a lot of parables, characters, and places in just Genesis and Matthew alone.   I highly suggest ya’ll to read up and maybe split the readings with some folks.  Let’s get some SSC YG pride going and take on our brothers and sisters from KM, EM, and CM!

Ya with me?

#28: Achey Breaky Heart?? no Back.

For the past week I’ve been trying to overcome a major back problem.  Lots of pain.  This is what my face looked like most of the week:

owwwiiiiieee

My friends that helped me through this process include: Mr. Bengay, Ms. Shock Thingy, Mr. Icy/Hot, Mr. Crutches, Mr. Capital One, Ms. ThermaCare Heat Wrap, and newly MR. ALEVE (not pictured).

My friends

 

 Mr. Capital One belongs to my brother, who upon seeing my pitiful state, gave me Mr. Capital One to order a pizza.  Sweet.  My other hero was Mingyung You, who went on several Walgreens trips to pick up my friends here. Thank you Jesus for Mingyung You.

Many thanks to all who texted me thru my boredom bc I was in bed all week and for special surprises like sushi (Thanks Heather’s Mom!), cupcakes (thanks Sarah!), cool emails, and singing voicemails. You guys rock.

Back update: It is healing, but slowly.  My new hero is Hannah Samonim, who is a rockin’ PT, and showed me what I was doing TOTALLY wrong (further putting me in pain, no wonder!) and what to do right (thank you Jesus for Hannah Samonim). So, I have high hopes that this will all correct itself very soon. Thanks for the prayers!

While I was down, I watched this several times for a chuckle.

————————————————–

The job hunt was on hold while I was out. It probably will be until it doesn’t hurt to walk or sit anymore.  Debating on whether to expand the hunt outside of Illinois or just to stick it thru for something I like here. Sigh. Any advice?

#27: Blessed…

So, I just realized that #25, which was a private post, screwed me up and I went from #24 to #26 on my public posts.  Sorry, that’s my explanation.  Anyhow, #27.

So, when I was in Junior High, I heard a sermon entitled “Blessed to Be a Blessing”.  A pastor gave the message at a Missions Send-off service and basically, as the title explains, we are all blessed to bless others, not to keep our blessings for ourselves.  I am hearing this phrase a lot these days… and it’s a good reminder.  I also read this book in high school called, “Out of the Salt Shaker and Into The World” by Rebecca Pippert. One sentence summary: Basically the book was about how we, as the salt of the earth, love to hang out with other salt and remain in the “saltshaker” instead of going out into the world. It’s about evangelism, sharing the truth and love of Christ to others… and that’s what the sermon was about too.  I guess I just needed another reminder of that this week. 

The Chicago job hunt is not going as hoped.  Sigh.  I might have to branch out to other states.  However, I’m still remaining prayerful and am gonna give it another couple of weeks.  I know it also has to do with the fact that I’m picky – I’ve had a couple of offers that I declined due to different circumstances.  So, yeah.  Sigh.  Please continue to pray for me.  I’m trying my hardest to stay in Chicago.

This is one song I could not stop listening to all week.  It’s great!

#26: Blazing Challenge

So after visiting with the House of Prayer Church (Church for the Homeless), I had to leave right away with some of the Indiana kiddies… Luke, Kevin, Joe, and Esther.  Fun times.   We stopped by BW3s on the way to Joe’s. Joe decided to take the Blazing Challenge… he did alright… got thru about 3.5 wings before conceding defeat against the hot hot sauce.

Luke and Kevin decided to get in on the challenge so attempted ONE each.  the first clip is them trying to act like nothing is wrong and everything is just fine and tasty.

The second video is Luke and Kevin diving for the water.  What is not caught on camera is both of them running to the bathroom.  I say an SSC BLAZING CHALLENGE IS IN ORDER.  WHO’S WITH ME?! MUAHAHAHAHAHA.  Yo Servant Committee, we should do this for fun at the end of some Fri night or Home Group or something.  LOL.

UPDATE:
Started the job search, but I’m having a really hard time finding a job I like in Chicago.   Please pray for me… I don’t want to move just yet!  I was planning to be in Chicago for at least 2 more years! SIGH.  Pray please! Thanks!

Random: Tomorrow I’m going to buy spider spray. I’m going to spider proof my house.  Um, I’m ok with killing daddy long leg spiders… they are thin and I don’t ever touch them.  Bathroom cleaner with bleach always does the trick.  However, there is a scary black THICK spider living in my room some place and I haven’t been able to sleep there since I saw it (last week).  I’ve been crashing on the couch.. crashing for like 2 hours every night because that’s the only amount of sleep i’ve been getting every night almost all summer. RIDICULOUS. sigh need prayer.

#24: One Last Hurrah!

Today I had an awesome time with the SSC YOUTH WORSHIP TEAM.  We had a great Sunday service together – the whole worship was great.  We spent the day together afterwards.  We went to Esther’s house to surprise her with a “congrats on moving to boonieville indiana” card fro the entire youth group… she was shocked and happy so that was great.  We helped her move (see facebook pictures) and then we went for a Popeye’s run before stopping at Joe’s.  Originally we had planned to go go-karting but the weather was not agreeing with us.  That’s ok, we had tons of indoor fun!  We ended up killing some spicy fried chicken and sides, had a spontaneous band practice, and then ended the night with some wii.  Wii was HILARIOUS.  We played Mario & Sonic Beijing Olympics (awesome game) and Wii sports.  As you can tell by the videos, we had a ridiculous time.  Afterwards we braved the TRUE boonies of INDY by taking the dangerous back roads to Luke’s house with my mom’s Honday Pilot (great car, 8 passenger… fun stuff today).  And then the long trek home for the Illinois people, finding out creepy things about Timothy (See below).  All in all, a GREAT day, and a final HURRAH for the WT kids before school starts and before I start working full-time.  Fun times indeed!

SO… the WT has this thing now called the WALL OF SHAME.  Basically, one wall of our wt office is gonna be dedicated to the silly things that we do… it’s so that we can laugh at ourselves and remind ourselves we need to be humble.. lol… today, there was a whole lot added to that wall.. so here is what is gonna go up on the wall next weekend… (WT if I forget anything comment on this note!)

JAE (CHAMPION OF THE WALL CURRENTLY)
**”The Cable Cutter” – During the Summer Retreat Hawon asked Jae to cut the plastic tie that held a brand new mic cable together off so the worship team could use the mic cable.  Instead of cutting the plastic off, he cut the cable in half.  He cut a brand new mic cable in half!  It is currently hanging on the Wall of Shame.
**”Six FRAGS” – FOB nuff said
**He did something else today that no one can remember anymore.  AISH.

SHARON (dangerously close to being the new Champion of the Wall)
**”Wii Baseball” – Sharon played Wii Baseball for the first time today.  She did not put on her wrist clasp.  As she was batting I saw this WHITE THING JUST SHOOT THRU THE AIR into the TV and plant.  She struck out.

JOE
**”I didn’t FELL” – apparently they don’t teach grammar in Indiana.

LUKE
**”Key Change in Shout to the Lord?” – We practiced a great key change in “Shout to the Lord” from A to B for a worship at the Church for the Homeless.  The build up was great and all LUKE to do was nail a key change up.  He instead, played in some weird key for a full verse before realizing he was in a totally different key, all the while the singers were singing in B and Tim playing very hesitantly and looked VERY confused, as did the congregation.  sigh.
**1st Time Dish Washer – Today, August 18, 2009, was Luke’s first time at washing the dishes.  It was very very sad.  He said they just put everything in the dishwasher.  Translation: His parents do everything for him.  He was pathetic.  I was so very very sad.  He’s washing dishes at every WT function from here on out.

ESTHER
**Ice Cream – she’s hyper. nuff said
More to come!

TIM
This pic:

I don't know what to say about this pic

 **SNORER – Tim was talking about how he never snores, but he does. In fact, to prove him wrong we caught him on tape.

**WEIRD SLEEP THINGS – Tim kept dropping out of our conversation the entire way home.  He kept abruptly falling asleep.  It was scary.  Also, he talks in his sleep, he sings in his sleep, and he snores (see above).  WEIRD.

—————- my oh my… but iheartsscygwt!  you guys rock.  thanks for a lovely evening guys!—————-

#23: VBS Part 2, some reflections, and a update

So VBS concluded with a BANG!  It was great!
Let’s hear a big “hip hip hooray!” for the Giggling Gators, who won the coveted BEST IN SHOW (for room decor) trophy & medals (hardcore man) and also put on a great skit.  I totally loved my students! They were great!  Here are some videos of the rest of VBS:

Greeting:
This is how we greeted the kids everyday.  Crazy!

“Get Down”
This was the ever popular song throughout VBS.  We sang it at least once a day. 

VBS was a great time of just letting loose, serving, and hanging out with my great helpers, Alex, Eric, Brian, & Sharon.  I have to say they were pretty great, extremely obedient (thank God bc I woulda killed ‘em – with godly love of course… of course! muhahhaha), hard working, and the kids really loved them.  I hope they had a good time.  I owe them dinner for all their hard work! WHOO!  I also had a great time just being involved with VBS again… It reminded me why God chose the young ones to do so much in the Bible… faith like a child… indeed!  Clean-up took forever… FOREVER… since we totally covered our room, but with help from several other yg members (thanks Esther, Tina, Jane, and whoever else I’m forgetting) and a bunch of CM kids who just wanted to DEMOLISH something (they just tore everything off the walls… crazy), we got done a lot quicker than I thought… we ended up leaving church close to midnight!

Sharon is sad that we tore everything down

Room demolition under way

Giggling Gators win BEST IN SHOW for Room Decorations! YAY!

You can check out my facebook page for more VBS 2009 pics under “Albums”. 

UPDATE: 
Dan & Caroline’s wedding has come and gone!  Congrats to the two of you! WHOO!  HIP HIP HOORAY! It was fun to see an old friend tie the knot… I have to admit it was a little weird (in a good way) because we’re not kids anymore! Yikes.  We’re all grown up! Cham!  So it made me get thinking about actually really looking for a job now.  LOL!  I’ve been putting it off all summer so I can just enjoy my summer, but now the finances are starting to pressure me a bit… sigh.. so job hunting shall begin in a furious way next week. My only concern is that after doing some initial searches, there are not a lot of jobs in Chicago that really tempt me.  Sigh.  What to do, what to do.  Prayers needed folks! Thanks.  If Ican’t find anything in Chicago I really do have to move!  CRAZY.  Just WHERE would I go? Freaks me out a bit.  Seriously, prayers folks. PRAYERS.