Another Dancing Christian

So you know that I am into ballroom dancing and I absolutely love it. My lessons and practice parties at Arthur Murray Dance Studio are a super form of exercise and something of a stress reliever. More than that though, it is a time when I am surrounded by people who need Christ. For months I have been praying and looking for opportunities to witness to both fellow students and instructors. Once in a while I will have a small chance to at least speak up for Christ, but not any long discussions about the Gospel. Still praying...

There is another young woman, older than me but not much, with whom I have been getting acquainted. She attends and works for a Wesleyan church. Last night I had the opportunity to talk with her a bit longer than usual and found out that she, too, is a believer! What an incredible discovery! I had felt quite alone and out of place at the studio, despite having made a few acquaintances. Now I have a sister dancing with me! Amazing. Pray that we might be able to meet on our own time, outside the studio, to talk and encourage each other. I hope that we, together, may be able to shed light on the Truth to our lost friends at the studio. There is strength in numbers, and though we may only be two, perhaps there are others like us lacking the boldness to speak up. God is good, and I am beyond excited about this great opportunity for fellowship and the possibilities we may have to share Jesus Christ. I guess even a ballroom dancing studio can be a mission field!

Is tomorrow really Friday?!

Trevor Green helped get my desks put back together today. Desks without legs are really funny looking! This week I was blessed to have Trevor, Alex Green, megan Fowler, Josiah VandyBogurt, and Derek Wilson help at some point. Every little thing they did for me was a huge help. I praise the Lord for such wonderful young people.

My desk started the week messy and looks only slightly better now. This was yesterday...today I cleaned up a little more. I was able to work on lesson plans, first day of school plans and ideas, journal topics, bulletin boards, and so much more. It was great not to have meetings this morning. I felt like I accomplished more today than the previous three days put together. Tomorrow should be a fairly easy day, just wrapping up the final preparations. This week has gone by so quickly and now I am even more excited for school to start!

Here we go again

Today was the first day of teacher in- service at LBA. Even though I only have a year and a half under my belt, I feel somewhat like a veteran teacher. Either way, it is nice to not be the newbie. I am really happy to be back with Stacie and Katie, the other two teachers in the picture. We three are the youngest teachers, until Karin comes in January. Then Stacie will be bumped into the "old" category. He he he! =) I have a lot of work to do this week but I am eager to get to it. Today was mostly meetings in the morning and staff lunch at Jack's in Spring Lake. I got to work a couple hours this afternoon, but I really need a whole day to get into things like I ought. So, it's official, we're back in school. Yeah!

Thoughts for Thursday

This week I have been in charge of games during our church's VBS. Everything has been going quite well, praise the Lord. We have had rain most days, but thankfully our games work fine indoors as well. Ally and Marissa, two girls who were in my class last year, have been helping me this week. They do a fantastic job. The youngest group- k4 and k5 - has been a bit of a challenge for us. With so many youngsters we have a hard time keeping their attention and explaining the games to them. We have resorted to playing Duck Duck Goose half the time and letting them have "free time" the rest of the time. Next year we will plan better I am sure.

I am not terribly excited about having to get up every morning at 7:30, but this week has been preparing me for teacher in- service next week then school the following week. Since I am not a morning person I need some time to get used to waking up early to an alarm clock. It irks me that I am thankful for having to get up early, but I can't help it. =)

**Photos are Cate and Will Anhalt. My cousin's kids, and my honorary niece and nephew (plus their two older brothers).

Is it possible to have more than one "favorite"?

According to Dictionary.com part of the definition for the word favorite is "preferred above all others." Is it possible, then, to have more than one favorite? I have found in my life that there is hardly anything that I could say is my one preferred thing above all others. For instance if people were to ask me what my favorites were of the following categories I would answer this way:

Favorite...
food? ice cream, chips & salsa, cereal and milk
color? turquoise, pink, black
beverage? water, orange juice, coffee, hot chocolate
dance? samba, waltz, salsa, hustle
book? The Libraryby Sarah Stewart, The Penderwick's by Jeanne Birdsall, Ghost Soldiers by Hampton Sides
song? The Love of God, Neville's Waltz, The Way You Look Tonight


See what I mean? I could not honestly give you one answer for any of those categories, or any other you could come up with. What does it mean?! Is anyone else like that? The only thing of which I have one favorite is the seasons. Fall is my favorite season and the others can't compare. I love them all for one reason or another, but fall ranks miles high above the rest. But anyway, other than that, I am a woman of many tastes! I love to wear grubby jeans and boots and tromp around the woods, but I also love to dress up in my finest and go out for a fancy dinner or to the symphony. I love chick flicks, drama, and action films. And food, I pretty much just love any kind of food!

So here is a totally random post that hopefully shows you what an insane...I mean interesting!...person I am.

A Good Read

A couple books I've read this summer...Edith's Story by Edith Velman's and The Long Walk by Slavomir Rawicz. Both World War II non- fiction. Both amazing, stirring accounts.

I love my brother!

Just don't tell him I put this picture on here, he may not share my sentiments!

Ich bin krank!

No, that does not mean "I am cranky", it means "I am sick". No, I'm not sick now, but I was. Monday I had the icky, puky flu. Don't worry, I shan't go into detail. But I was still not feeling great on Tuesday, though markedly better, and I was reading a book about World War II (surprise, surprise) and the woman by and about whom the book was written happened to make the comment, "Nein! Ich bin krank!" which, in German, means "No! I am sick!". I loved Germany, and the language, (and the food, but that's beside the point) and I was not feeling well at all so that phrase just made my day...the other day. Heute fühle ich groß und glücklich, aus dem Haus heraus zu sein! Today I am feeling great and happy to be out of the house! I wish I could tell you that I can actually say all that in German, but I can't. Someday I will be able to write a whole post in German, just you wait. But for now, I must credit Babel Fish Translation for helping me with what I wished to say. And I decided that I am going to teach my students German this year. Actually, we will learn it together since I don't actually know the language, just little bits here and there. I think it will be fun.

Who Wants to go to Jail?

Tuesday night I didn't feel like going to jail. I know, who ever feels like going to jail, right? But I wasn't going to be locked up, I was going to do Bible study, and I just didn't feel like it. I went anyway. From past experiences I know that to give in to the Holy Spirit's prompting is always the right choice. When I arrived, one of the chaplains was giving a devotional to the volunteers as usual. He was talking about doing this kind of ministry even when we don't feel like it! Boy, was I glad I chose to go. Only four ladies were out that night, and two of them wanted to sit and do Bible study. We met with them for a bit before they got called away to medical. While they were away I went over to one of the cells to talk to two ladies I have known for some time now. Just that day the inmates in C pod had been rearranged and these two ladies ended up together. Praise God! I ended up staying and talking to them through their door the rest of the evening. We talked about personal things, spiritual things, and all sorts of other things. The whole evening was completely arranged by God, I know it, for just next door was another girl whom I had met a while back and she was listening in on our conversation. I felt used that night, praise the Lord. It was a totally unexpected and unusual situation, but it was one of the best nights of jail ministry I have ever had.

Salt & Light

This evening Pastor Mark continued the theme of serving others. He preached from Matthew 5 about being salt and light. As salt we should do three things. First we should add flavor to the lives of those around us. We need to be challenging, bold, and "spicy". Our words and actions should turns heads...toward Christ. Second, we should cause others to thirst. Our speech should pique the hearer's interest and instill a desire in that person to know more about the Truth. Finally, as salt we help preserve the world around us. "God uses Spirit- filled believers to stem the tide of immorality..." Christians help to fight against evil in our society. Being salt in these three ways takes some hard work. Rebecca Pippert said, "Unless salt gets poured out of the shaker, it remains a mere table ornament." What are we pouring ourselves into? Are we even being poured out at all, or just decorating a table somewhere?

Once we become salty Christians we ought to have doors opening wide to be the light. As light we illuminate...we shine the Truth with the goal of helping people recognize their sinfulness and Christ's saving grace. To be a salty believer is good, but without the light following close behind, the work of the salt loses its value. Take the Gospel into all the nations!

So get off the table, let your salt be poured out, and shed some light on the Truth! And when you mix salt and light, God will do great things.

Pour Me

Read Isaiah 58. Are you like the people of Israel, and like me, performing religious acts while failing to recognize and fulfill the needs of others? Go ahead and go to church, tithe, sing in the choir...but what about the person who needs a meal, a winter coat, a place to sleep? How are you pouring your soul (verse 10) into others who are hungry, poor, afflicted? As Pastor Patten mentioned in church this morning, there are hundreds of ways to serve at home, at church, in the community. Think about serving someone every single day. Do something that allows you to be used up...your time, energy, money. See how it goes. See how it changes your life. It's tough to think of someone else's needs when I have so many wants and desires of my own to fulfill. But if that's what God wants from me that's what I must do and He will enable me to do it. Are you willing to join me?

Peaceful, Magical.....Perfect

Ever had one of those "perfect" moments? The kind when everything, I mean every little detail, is just right? The moments when you want to stop time and stay in that moment forever? I had one of those tonight. I was at Sam and Jeff's babysitting. Their kids, and Mark and Marcy's kids, were sleeping soundly upstairs and down. After starting and stopping two different movies, I decided to take my book out onto the screen porch overlooking the lake. I'm glad I did so. It was at least 11 pm by then and the air had cooled considerably. The porch was illuminated only by a light coming from somewhere inside the house and the string of lantern lights along the top of the screen portion. I looked up from the pages at one point and took in my surroundings. Soft glowing lights, sounds of the lake, a comfy chair, a cozy blanket, and an enchanting book. Anyone with an imagination would have agreed that the trees looked like strong and steadfast sentinels guarding the castle with its precious people inside. But not much imagination was needed, for everything truly was as marvelous it seemed. So peaceful......and magical......and perfect.That's the kind of moment that takes your breath away. That moment could have gone on forever.

Coast Guard City, USA

This week we are having our annual Coast Guard Festival. People from all over come to enjoy the fun, food, and fireworks. Check out the Festival's website to see what it's all about. Maybe next year you can come visit; it's tons of fun! My favorites are the swing dancing in the street, the arts and craft show, the carnival, the Grand Parade, and the fireworks. And the food, can't forget the food. Deep fried Snickers and Oreos, Gyros, elephant ears...yeah, it's good. You should come...


See here why Grand Haven, Michigan is officially known as Coast Guard City, USA.

Thrilling Thursday

Today hasn't really been all that thrilling, to tell you the truth. But, Bethanie Wall and I have been emailing back and forth this week and so far our "subject" lines have been "Monday Morning Mayhem", "Turbulent Tuesday", "Wacky Wednesday", and today's "Thrilling Thursday." I am eager to see how she will describe Friday. I had Monday and today, she gets the other days.

This morning I stayed home (at the Rettinhouse's) and took care of the dog, this afternoon I went to Aunt Sandy's pool, and this evening I have a dance lesson to which Andrea will be accompanying me. Nothing so unusual or thrilling about that. I had some great pictures to post from last night at the carnival, but that is a sad story. I spent a very long time (forever) trying to do a slide show thingy like Kari has on her blog. Once I finally got everything just the way I wanted it, the dumb thing wouldn't save so I lost every last bit of it. Grrrr!!! Not a matter of life or death, just terribly frustrating. I hope tomorrow I will get it to work and you can all enjoy my lovely photos!